This is topic How an ignorant American can enjoy travel. in forum Officers' Lounge at Flare Sci-Fi Forums.


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Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :
 
When I was stationed in Germany, we used to engage in an activity we referred to as "castle hunting". The objective (ostensibly) was to go somewhere we hadn't been before and "find the castle". We avoided places with famous castles, since that would make the search too easy.

The first Saturday after payday, we'd go to the NCO club and cash some dollars into Deutschemarks, then go across the street to the taxi stand and get a ride to the train station in town. During the ride, we'd encourage the taxi driver to go as fast as possible, just for the sheer novelty of legally travelling faster than 55 mph (which was the national speed limit in the U.S. at that time).

When we got to the train station, we'd find some place on the map we hadn't been before and buy second-class tickets to that place. First class is too much like riding on an airliner, but second class got to sit in the old-fashioned compartments! We bought some snacks, got on the train, and went to our destination.

When we arrived, we would start looking for the castle. Of course, being ignorant Americans, we had a broader definition of what constituted a castle than the Germans did, but that just meant we were unlikely to be dissappointed. While we looked for the castle, we would wander around town, looking at all the historical sites, admiring the cars we never saw in the states, and occasionally stopping at a streetside beer stand to get refreshments (I really miss currywurst). We got plenty of opportunities to use our (mostly poorly-spoken) German and the Germans got an opportunity to use their (often better than ours) English on us.

Occasionally a shop would catch our attention.

    "Hey! Look at this!"

    "What is that stuff?"

    [Sniffs] "It's gingerbread!"

We would all traipse inside and purchase some of whatever the product was. Bakeries and wine cellars were always favorites.

Eventually we would find a castle. Of course, the Germans wouldn't always agree.

    [Spoken in pidgin German:] ~How old is that castle?~

    [Spoken in real German or sometimes very good English:] "What castle?"

    ~That one over there.~

    "That's not a castle. It's a Monestary"

Monestary? Riiiight!

You can't tell me that wasn't a castle. It might have been a monestary, but it was a monestary built by folks who wanted to be sure of their privacy.

--Baloo

P.S.: It never occurred to me at the time, but I think the German word for "castle" might have implied that nobility lived there, whereas the English word includes "stone or brick fortress" as part of the definition.

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Remember: pillage before you burn!
-- G. Khan
www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8641/


 


Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
 
OHHH!! sounds like fun. A lot of people who have been to Germany, told me how much they enjoyed it.

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Fool of a Took, throw yourself in next time!!
Gandalf



 


Posted by The First One (Member # 35) on :
 
Over-paid, over. . . sexed? *looks at Baloo* Nah. Over-cultured, and over here. 8)

When I lived in belgium I used to AFN. I couldn't get over the DJs having ranks!
 


Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :
 
Overpaid? Nah!

Oversexed? Well, I have ambitions.

Over-cultured? Can a pearl ever be too big?

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Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
--Mark Twain
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8641/
http://members.tripod.com/~Bob_Baloo/index.htm

[This message has been edited by Baloo (edited November 12, 1999).]
 




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