American-German third culture army brat. Jack of all trades, master of none. A man between worlds, languages and disciplines. Shaping metal, wood, paint, electronics, mechanics, acting and music, a savvy cat in the world oyster. A time traveler who lost his time machine and somehow wound up in this crazy 21st century!

I'm from Milwaukee originally, but relocated to Germany. I lived in Bavaria for 28 years, and in 2018 I moved to my current location, Hamburg. Life here in the north is different from the south, that’s for sure! I met my girlfriend through the couch surfers back in 2012 and it was the best thing that could happen to me. We still host guest together to this day! :)
You can check out here profile here: https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/bredda

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Humans are social creatures and we like to keep engaging with people form all walks of life! We’ve been active in the Munich, Freising and Hamburg groups. Socializing, drinking beer (the German thing to do!), showing people around, having a good time! I love to laugh!

Interests

I play the banjo and sing quite a bit, performing in various places in Germany and the US. I want to buy a piano at some point and really dedicate some time to this instrument as well.

Transportation history, especially old steam railways. I’ve been on a number of steam train excursions all over Europe with Poland offering the best footplate excursions! In 2022 I fulfilled an old dream of taking the train from Germany all the way to Istanbul with Britta. And it really was a remarkable trip.

I’m interested in natural phenomenons like volcanoes and tornadoes, though I’ve yet to see natures fury in real life! So far I’ve climbed a number of either dormant or extinct volcanoes. I had a near miss with the Meradalir eruption in Iceland in 2022. I really wanted to see it but the eruption ended 2 days before my arrival. It was nice seeing some northern lights as a bonus.

I love to paint and sketch. I travel with a backpack full of sketch and painting equipment. My favorite medium is Gouache as it is quite literally a happy medium between watercolors and oils. If you enjoy painting maybe I can share the experience with you too! I am a member of the Urban Sketcher community in Hamburg and at times take commission work, whether it’s portraits, abstract, etc

I have a degree in woodcarving/sculpting and love working with scale models. My favorite at the moment is the Chilean diorama artist Zerreitug.

I am interested in all sorts of scientific and technological topics, but I really enjoy old school stuff the most like steam engines. Gotta love steam locomotives! I feel sometimes like I was born 100 years too late!

Talk about history, culture, architecture of sorts. Always fascinating

I'm also a passionate tinkerer, so anything that involves machines, communication and history is good! I feel like I was born too late, I should have experienced the world between 1870 and 1970, living through amazing times and working in an occupation that has been lost to the ages, like a steam train engineer. Watching brilliant worldchanging people working their miracles, like world famous people, musicians for one! :)

Anything about steam engines is great! I'm not too crazy about modern technology, all sleek and whatnot, it's just not that interesting to me. The older machines are the better! :)

I also love geology, volcanoes in particular, I want to see an active one real up close some day!
Other natural occurences like Tornados are also fascinating to me, something I hope to see as well before I shuffle off this mortal coil!

I'm also into visual arts, having a background as a sculptor and painting all my life, so it's a fairly wide spectrum of interests

• arts
• culture
• books
• cooking
• beer
• drinking
• technology
• movies
• socializing
• painting
• music
• rock music
• guitar
• blues
• hunting
• boxing
• animation
• engineering
• geology
• history
• languages
• visual arts
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Too much to list really. I know an awful lot about movies and music. In short, I’m a complete movie buff who can blurt out movie quotes and do voices without warning.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Seeing a space shuttle start in 1990, that was pretty amazing.

I witnessed the removal of the wall in Berlin and sectors along the former Iron Curtain first hand.

Riding in the drivers cab of a steam locomotive in Poland.

Busking on Frenchman Street in New Orleans.

Climbing Mt Vesuvio, a childhood dream since I've always been fascinated by volcanoes. So being on the rim and seeing the entire Gulf of Naples, as well as the steam plumes venting out of the Crater of this legendary famous volcano, was amazing.

I had the privilege of meeting geologist and ocean explorer Dr. Robert Ballard, the discoverer of the Titanic wreck just a few months before the James Cameron blockbuster was released.

I experienced the 1999 solar eclipse in the Black Forest

Witnessed 3 northern lights so far

Spent a season working in Norway, my families ancestral homeland.

I celebrated my 29th birthday on a volcanic island just off the Iceland coast, and I climbed to the top of a volcano called Eldfell which emerged out of nowhere in the middle of the night in 1973. -So quite a recent volcano!! The crater rim was still hot, venting out burning hot odorless air, I even was able to cook stuff with it like an oven!
And I had a magnificent clear view of the neighboring volcano island and the infamous Eyjafjallajökull in the distance!

Seeing the clear evening skies over Egypt while cruising the Nile... The colors were incredible!

Riding in a balloon over the Nile in the morning was the real highlight!

A clear night sky on the island of Texel in August 2013 with shooting stars and taking a dip in the dark North Sea, where the alginates illuminate parts of your body for a split second when they get into contact with you.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have a bunch of musical instruments, so if you feel like making a rackett, then don't be bashful and go right ahead! I paint a lot lately, love to fill up the new apartment with canvases.

What I Can Share with Hosts

My experience living in Germany, especially Bavaria. My outlook on life as a German-american living in Europe.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, United States