Seeing:

* thousands of bejeweled, be-feathered, and be-leathered LGBT folks gathered in Hamburg last weekend for the Christopher Street Day festival. I somehow find it touching that Gay Pride here is named after the street in New York City where the Stonewall Riots occurred.

Hearing:

* Hindi from the movie Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, a Bollywood flick that was shown at the open air cinema in front of the Hamburg Rathaus last weekend. Although I’m usually not a big fan of musicals, the song and dance numbers in Bollywood movies are my favorite and make me secretly wish that I was Indian so I could learn how to dance like that without looking ridiculous. I especially got a kick out of seeing hundreds of Germans sitting on cement for almost three hours, in front of one of the most traditionally German buildings in Hamburg, to watch a film in Hindi (no dubbing, only subtitles!).  And everyone seemed to love every second of it!

Tasting:

* sushi for lunch. Still doesn’t live up to my Brooklyn standards, but it’ll have to do for now.

Feeling:

* my scratchy, dry contact lenses. I need to either stop spending so much time in front of the computer or start wearing my glasses more often.

Smelling:

* freshly washed bed sheets!