There is no possible way I can tell you everything we did today, as tired as I am, and how early I have to get up in the morning. So, I'll shoot you some rapid-fire facts, and since a picture is 1,000 words, you can finish the story on your own here.
Smoking here is like the US in the 90s. Everyone does it. There are even vending machines for cigarettes (something I've never seen).
Garden plots: you can by a 50x50 ft plot of land with a shack to garden on outside the city, due to lack of space in the city. Tons of people do this, and they actually produce a lot of food.
Even though we've ridden the train and bus at least 10 times so far, we've only had two people check our ticket. They are very lax about ensuring you actually have one, but if you are caught without one, they'll fine you 10x the actual ticket price.
I know no German, but just being here 24ish hours, I've already picked up on some small words and phrases such as the polite way to say please or thank you, hello/goodbye, where is the toilet, excuse me, etc. For some reason I've had to be reminded several times what "excuse me" is...for some reason, "entschuldigen" is difficult to remember.
My 1st and only redhead sighting was today. I know now I'm not completely alone.
Our trip down the Rhine was absolutely spectacular. You'll see by my photos that there are *gazillions* of castles on the Rhine, and we actually got to take a self-guided tour of the castle at St. Goar. The man who takes the tickets there thought I was French, presumably because the gentleman in front of me was of that particular nationality. He gave me a French map, told me the cost in French, and since I know "please" and "thank you" in French, I guess he still thinks that. Weird.
After looking at Beer Steins in St. Goar (they're hand made out of crystal...and rang anywhere from $98-600ish. I thought about getting a particular friend of mine a Brazil Stein, but it was $200...), Hawkins and I found an outdoor pavillion where tons of people were gathered to watch the World Cup. The local news showed up to film our reaction as Germany won! We're probably celebrities by now. Anyway, fireworks are being set off everywhere, cars are (still, at 1am) honking, hundreds of people are yelling and dancing and kissing in the streets. Amazing.
That is a highly terrible and undetailed account of my day, but I am fighting a losing battle against jet lag, and I still have my family and my wonderful lady friend to talk to tonight. As I upload pictures. The busy life of a traveler!
Tomorrow I plan to write to you from a hostel in Nuremberg, assuming I have WiFi. If I don't get a post up...I don't have WiFi.
OH! WiFi saved Hawkins and me tonight. I mooched of some random German's signal, because we got off our tram 3 stops early and got a bit...turned around. Not lost. Mom.
Anyway, we're alive and getting ready for bed. Until tomorrow!
-J
No comments:
Post a Comment