Strasbourg Pictures Are Up!

With a lot of "major" European cities already in the bag for us (and a few more in the planning stages), we've made the conscious move to explore lesser-known, more localized places for our 3 day weekends and daytrips. Strasbourg France on the French-German border isn't a white-hot tourist trap, but it does have its share of history and places to see, and it's a relatively short 3.5 hour drive from our front door. Despite it being fairly small (population of 272,000 or so, and France's 7th largest city), we still didn't have the time to check it all out. We'd like to go back. The photos on display detail the 2 cities we spent the most time in: Strasbourg, and the small village of Ribeauville on the Alsace wine route. We had a good time, and to all European readers, it's worth the trip. You can access the photos by clicking here or by going to the "Our Photo Album" link on the right side of this page. As always, you can view the shots on a roll by hitting "slideshow," or can go into each photo individually to read some of my pithy and most likely factually correct commentary. Enjoy!

Hey, There's My Old Language School!

It' been said "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." True dat. But to that I'd like to add the corollary "A lousy teacher repels." I will never claim to have been the best student in the world, but in my first German school (circa late 2008), I was solidly middle-of-the-pack, and the teacher was wonderful. Moving from the long-term hotel to our apartment interrupted my classes, so when I resumed I went to a different school (white building, pictured) with a curriculum that promised practical "everyday language" usage and instruction-- sounded good. Even under ideal circumstances German is a difficult tongue to master (16 different ways to say "the," 16 different ways to say "a/an," and 32 ways to change adjective endings-- and that's first term stuff folks; it only gets harder from there), but this teacher was just... awful. For a start, it was her first-ever teaching gig, plus she she was from Berlin, openly despised the local dialect and was determined to teach "proper German." This teacher so turned me off on the language of the country I'm living in that I chose not to pick up any further classes, even though B's work would've picked up the hefty tab. In the meantime my "everyday German" proficiency has slowly crept up-- I have to get through my daily routine here after all-- but I doubt I'll ever be fluent, and that's a regret.

Sorry About That Chief...

Try as I may to keep this here blog updated, I've been falling a bit short. It certainly isn't for lack of material (I have a backlog of trip photos that need to be posted after all); it comes down to lack of time and motivation. I managed to pick up some smaller work projects and the sudden change to decent weather after a brutal winter and a miserably cold and wet spring really makes me want to ditch the laptop every chance I get, go outside and burn off my winter weight gain (the unholy triad of the standard Teutonic diet: sausages + bread + beer really did me in). Seeing as we're heading over to the USA in a couple weeks (volcano dependent, of course), the updates will continue to be a tad sporadic for a spell. Fear not-- I'm on the case. Stay tuned.

Au Revoir, Danke

Off we go on a 4-day trip (Thursday is yet another public holiday here in Bavaria) to the French city of Strasbourg on the German border. Strasbourg and its immediate environs were constantly being fought over by the French and Germans, and the border between the countries has shifted back and forth for ages-- sometimes Strasbourg was in Germany, sometimes in France. So what we currently have is a French city with a heavily Germanic influence-- bad for me because of my lousy command of both French and German, though seeing as I routinely mix the 2 languages up when speaking (hey, any Euro language in a storm), this may well be the only area in the whole of Europe where I make any sort of sense. Strasbourg is also the capitol and principal city of the French region of Alsace, justifiably famous for its world class wines. Sightseeing, wine tasting, and relaxing are all on the docket. Have a good weekend everybody!

Happy Mother's Day

I can't say this directly to my own mother, seeing as she is on a cruise ship bound for Norway as I type this (and won't be back home until late May), but to all the Moms out there (including my terrific Mother-In-Law), let me say it again-- Happy Mother's Day. And for all you negligent sons, daughters and dads out there, be happy you're not in Germany where the stores are all closed up tight on Sundays, meaning you can't get that last-minute box of candy or bouquet of flowers at the supermarket. Interestingly enough Germany, like most of Europe celebrates Mother's Day the same time as the USA, but there are a few countries who hold it on different dates (Ireland, U.K., France, Spain, Portugal, most of Scandinavia). But I look forward to sending my Mother her gift on either Polish Mother's Day (May 26); or maybe that of Bolivia (May 27). Everybody now-- Call your Mother!

German Spargel Party!

Not to be confused with the flamboyant awesomeness that is the German Sparkle Party*, Spargel (white asparagus) is something of a national obsession with the Germans-- it's quite seasonal, but when it's available Katie bar the door, because it's positively everywhere, including being featured in ethnic restaurants whose own national cuisine doesn't even have spargel-- it's that pervasive, and I'm just waiting for some enterprising soul to come out with spargel ice cream because it would be a runaway hit here. Meh. I've never been a vegetable guy to begin with, and never much cared for asparagus on top of that, and I find this white stuff on the mushy side. But hey, I'm not from around here.

* A tip of the hat and credit where it's due: German Sparkle Party idea and video link shamelessly lifted from the excellent Still Here Still Foreign blog written by Megan, an occasional commenter here, and also an expat currently living in Nuremberg. Cheers!

Germans: Selectively Following The Law Since 962 A.D.

File this one under "another cultural myth exposed." The general view/knock on my countrymen here in Germany is that they absolutely, rigidly, and yes, blindly-- follow the letter of the law--is utterly untrue. This photo is is from a large construction site (an extension of the subway line is well underway here), and all foot traffic has temporarily been re-routed to this narrow strip of pavement. The sign you see is at both ends of this trail translates to "cyclists dismount," and is clear as day. I have yet to see a single cyclist walk their bike on this 100 foot path-- but I have seen plenty of near misses with pedestrians.

I have multiple camera shots of the locals smoking up a storm in bus and tram stop booth/windbreaks with a "no smoking" sign over their shoulders, but this is a better example of this phenomenon. No, as a whole Germans aren't a nation of scofflaws, but they are not rule-following robots either. It is safe to say that Germans will follow the law-- as long as they agree with it.