During the three years we’ve been together, Alan and I have established a nice tradition of celebrating Christmas on New Year’s Eve. We grab a stack of books, some good bottles of wine, a bag of board games and go somewhere rural with a fireplace. This year, that place was Gramercy Mansion, just north of Baltimore in Maryland horse country.
The house was beautiful and the staff was friendly, and the added bonus was the resident cat, a huge white footstool of a thing named Romeo, who purred like an idling freight train. Don’t believe me? We pet him on the upstairs landing of the staircase while an elopement ceremony was being performed on the main level and they could hear him. Here’s Romeo:
Since I don’t have a television at home, when I stay in hotels, I enjoy browsing around to see what sort of stuff is on the more obscure cable channels. Which explains how we ended up watching “High Hitler” the History2 channel Sunday afternoon. Three interesting things I learned during this show:
- Hitler was regularly injected with meth by his personal physician, who claimed it was a multi-vitamin.
- Hitler is believed to have contracted syphilis from a prostitute in his teens, which would explain why he a) railed against the disease (calling it an enemy of the people) and b) was crazy.
- Hitler was vegetarian and had serious digestive issues, which his doctor treated by dosing him with a mixture of peasant feces.
Fascinating stuff. In fact, so fascinating that it gave rise to the following discussions with Alan:
Me: Remind me, how did Hitler die?
Alan: Shot himself.
Me: Right. And Eva Braun?
Alan: Cyanide, I think.
Me: Yowsas. Cyanide isn’t immediate is it? I mean, it’s painful, right?
Alan: Pretty sure. Let me google it.
Me: You better hope nothing happens to me this weekend. Because if they search your technology, you’re f*cked.
Who says I’m not romantic?
pithypants 