Typhoons in Shanghai and Starbucks in Germany- What Is Going On In the World!

Fortunately for Phil and I, we are still in Germany, and have therefore avoided any stress or difficulty associated with Shanghai's Typhoon Wipha (who names these things anyway). I will admit that I only found out about this typhoon the other morning. I have been blissfully unaware of the goings on in Shanghai for the last few weeks, and am happy to say, will remain that way for a couple more.

Phil will be done working here in Germany at the end of this week and we have decided to vacation through Europe for the week after. I spent the better part of Monday and Tuesday sitting in Starbucks in front of a computer trying to decide where we would go, map out our trip, and book hotels- all of which are very difficult when you have no particular leaning and very last minute planning. Ah to have such a stress- really, I am not complaining.

Starbucks in Germany is an interesting phenomenon. For those of you who took pause and gasped at the mention of me sitting in Starbucks in Europe, trust me, I know. I avoided said establishment for over a week. There were a few things that threw me into the arms of Starbucks in the end though.

First, I will say, Germans do beer very well. They do not however, do coffee well at all. In the U.S., I would go into a Starbucks for an OK cup of coffee. In China, I go into Starbucks when I want to feel a familiar western establishment. In Germany, I go into Starbucks for a good cup of coffee! Crazy, I know. So, that combined with the fact that all cafes are smoking and all Germans seem to smoke (sadly even pregnant ones), the smoke free Starbucks was a nice break from all of the carcinogens I had been inhaling. Armed with all of those reasons and a need to find Internet that was less than 10 euros an hour, I entered Starbucks, head held high, ordered a latte, a month of Internet, and sat down.