SUNDAY, 9/9:
Really? There are people who would
want to eat sushi for breakfast?
Greetings from the seething pit of
humanity known as London's Heathrow Airport, where it's just after 9
am local time and there are actually people sitting and eating at the
sushi & caviar bar a few meters away. Now, I like seafood as
much as the next person, but eating it for breakfast? Before getting
on an international flight?
Uhm...not so much. But maybe that's
just me.
The first part of our journey went
well, and if you're actually reading this then we made it to Chicago,
where I'm planning on posting it. Hopefully, then, the final part
is just as smooth, we make it home in one piece, and we can stop
living out of a suitcase.
Although, if I have to admit, it has
been kinda cool doing just that the past 12 days.
Like I mentioned yesterday, there are a
few topics & tales that I didn't get to while we were in Germany,
but I still wanted to discuss. For instance, do you know that most
people think we're Germans?
No; seriously. More often than not,
when we were just sitting and eating breakfast at the hotel or trying
to buy something in a store, people would actually start speaking to
us in German like we lived there. And lest you think I'm strange
(well, more strange than usual), I'm not. We would be in line behind
fellow Americans, and the German clerk waiting on them would speak to
them in English. Then, when we walked up, they picked up the
conversation in German, at least until we started to speak. I don't
know what it is, although I have a sneaking suspicion it's because we
don't act like Americans.
As an example, sitting down the row of
seats from me are two American couples, and you can tell they're
American. They're loud, they're large, they're wearing baseball
hats, and they seem to have this attitude that screams out “Look,
we're 'Mericans”. In Europe, Americans stand out, and that's what
Loraine and I go out of our way not to do. I mean, it helps that
we're not loud and not large, but more than anything we try to fit
in. We try to act like the locals act, and do what the locals do.
When we're in Europe, we try to be European, and not American.
And that, I have a sneaking suspicion,
is why many people in Germany (including the sweet little old guy
complaining about the rain one day) think we're Germans.
We're okay with that.
Next, the tale behind Watzmann. You
remember Watzmann, Berchtesgaden's iconic mountain, right?
This is a mountain that greets everyone
heading to the Berchtesgaden National Park in (far) southern Germany,
and its unique structure has inspired a tale. Apparently, if you
look at the peak, you see an old king of the area and his family.
Something bad befell the royal family, and instead of leaving the
area they turned themselves into stone to they could stay in their
beloved land forever. The peak on the right is the king, the smaller
peak on the left the queen, and the little peaks in between are their
seven children.
They may have turned to stone, but they
get to rule over their lands forever.
Now, it's time to issue a correction.
What seems like forever ago (but was, in reality, only a week ago
last Friday), I was talking about the Wagner opera based on a German
folk tale called “Lohengrin”. It was one of King Ludwig's
favorites, and I mentioned that it may have something to do with a
giant killer swan that led Bavarian soldiers to a great military
victory.
Well, I was slightly wrong. Lohengrin
was in fact NOT a giant killer swan that led Bavarian soldiers to a
great military victory. Lohengrin was, in fact, a human who led
Bavarian soldiers to a great military victory. According to the
legend, in fact, he did so while in a boat that was being pulled by a
swan, probably not the greatest form of locomotion while in battle
but one that does make the legend just a little more colorful.
So my apologies to lovers of Bavarian
folk culture for getting the story wrong.
And my apologies to this guy, too--
He was actually thinking he was descended from someone special.
Now, a tradition that (surprisingly)
some of you actually look forward to. I've been doing this every
time I've gone to Europe, and this is my (counting on my fingers
here) 13th trip. Right before my first trip, my (then) 6
year old niece Mallory was bummed because she couldn't come with us.
So I took a bookmark with her picture on it, and shot a picture of
that bookmark in Europe so I could show that she DID indeed go with
us. Well, I've done it every trip since, so for 13 times the now
21-year old Mallory has come with us.
Mallory, here you are in the sleepy
little town of Bernau-am-Chiemsee--
How about a few pictures I didn't get
to use? Pictures of the exotic language they use in German stores--
Of ducks--
Or even weirder looking ducks--
And, of course, of the greatest
creatures Europe has ever produced--
Speaking of which, we drove down many
roads with “Cow Crossing” signs. I personally love this one,
which combined a “Cow Crossing” sign with a “Dip in the Road”
sign that makes it look as if the cows have, uhm, left their calling
card--
That's right. I'm easily entertained.
This whole trip, of course, was
inspired by Loraine's interest in the 19th century Brian
Wilson known as King Ludwig II. I've tried to share some of the
stuff we've found out about him, but there's a whole lot more to
tell. If you're interested, check out the Bavarian Palace Department website for all kinds of cool stuff on the dude (and in English if you want,
to boot). And if you ever go to tour the area yourself, I highly
recommend buying the 14-day Bavarian palace ticket, which allows you
to get into almost every single Ludwig-related attraction, plus lots
of museums and monuments, as well. It was 44 Euro, and I think it
paid for itself after just the second or third day.
Loraine's been working on this trip on
and off for three years now, and I think this may have been one of
her masterpieces. There was a ton of research and planning she
needed to do, and I have the sneaking suspicion that what started out
as a quixotic little vacation turned into a labor of love for her.
So thanks for that labor of love, my love. I enjoyed every single
second of it, and, as always, stand in awe of your trip planning
abilities.
You're amazing.
Well, that's about it for this little
expedition. If you enjoyed these ramblings, I write stuff like this
(usually minus the cows and the mountain views) every day for my day
job. You're more than welcome to check them out. As for what's
next? Well, it's going to be a little different in a few ways. One,
we're doing it next April, not at the end of summer. And two, it's a
down and dirty, much shorter with one major purpose.
We're going to Leipzig to see a
professional soccer match featuring RB Leipzig (our favorite
Bundesliga team) going up against Freiburg (the team from my favorite
German city). We don't even know what day the game is (just the
weekend it's scheduled), so that's how on the fly that trip will be.
So until April, thanks for reading
these. Hope you've enjoyed them, and hope you didn't get too sick of
these guys--
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