Of Observations, Confessions, and the like:

~I know I may be descended from them, but it is impossible for me to take anything the Germans say seriously. For one thing, it sounds hilarious when they talk, but for another, I think you should never trust people who speak a language in which every single noun is capitalized. Who has time to mess with all those Capital Letters?

~If I lived on continental Europe, I would probably be completely against the use of English as a staple language, since no country ON this continent speaks it as their native language, so I do not fault the small towns for a lack of English, that is fine. I realize that it is kind of a bourgeois language, and I am ok with that. So I am not asking for that... I would have been thrilled with French, heck I would have made do with SPANISH, which I can still get by with. But nothing in Fussen or Salzburg is written in any language but German. (Which we have already discussed is ridiculous, due to the unnatural number of Capital Letters. Imagine if Everyone wrote in that Way. Nothing would get done.)

~People in rural Germany and Austria are not allowed, by law, apparently, to eat or buy food between the hours of 2pm and 530pm. If you are planning on eating during those hours, I think you must need a special visa upon entering the country or something, because everywhere I went, it was impossible.

~This completely sums up the experience of attempting to become bilingual: I walked into a shop in a German-speaking country and asked in French whether the clerk spoke English. His response? "Mademoiselle, I think a better question would be what language do YOU speak?" And I didn’t even realize what I had done till he responded to my inane question in Franglais.
((Vous comprenez? Franglais= French plus English, the Gallic version of Spanglish.))

~Furthermore, I need to confess something to you, dear friend. For the past four years, I have been nothing more than a carnivore disguised in vegetarian’s clothing, as evidenced by the fact that, while in Austria this weekend, I ate Wienerschnitzel. And I don’t even know what that is.

~I had a great time in Austria and Germany over the weekend, but note this, France-haters: the people were not as nice as in France-- I got yelled at (in two languages, no less) by an old German woman who (from what I gleaned from her guttural ramblings) was angry because I had my feet on the footstool of the train car seat across from me. She finished with "would you do that in your own house?" To which I replied, sleepily, (this was early morning after a night in a hostel, approximately 7am on my way to Fussen) "Yes?" Because I wasn't sure what answer she was hoping for... Never mind that I had been "on the road" for hours, could barely hold my eyes open... And the whole thing was loud enough for the whole train car to hear-- no matter what language they spoke. Apparently this was the WRONG answer (though it was true-- I am a college student, the idea of shoes on furniture being a problem is as foreign as... well, throwing away food that has fallen on the floor. Plus, I live in Paris. I have seen PUPPETSHOWS in train cars; people asleep on the FLOOR of train cars, and old men slumped against the door with bottles of vodka still uncapped in their hand. Sitting on any surface in a Paris train is a gamble as to what kinds of germs will crawl onto you from the surface you are sitting on; in comparison my hiking boot, which was not even muddy, is a bastion of cleanliness.) I was mortified. Well, mortified is kind of a strong word. Mildly embarassed till I thought about the fact that it really was kind of funny; she was livid over it, the conductor had just walked by and didn't even care.

This fountain is in the gardens of Mirabell Palace, a really old chateau built on the outskirts of Salzburg for the mistress and 10 children of the archbishop (who was supposed to be celibate). The funny part is I had to assume the same position as the statue in order to take this picture, so while I was crouched down to do that, a guy with his camera was standing at a right angle taking a picture of me taking a picture of the statue. This is BrotMarktStrasse in Fussen (literally, Breadmarket Street, I think... but then I only know about 6 words of German, and that is 3 of them). The church at the end is the Evangelische-Kirsche, done in true Alpine style. Ha.
A 15 minute hike (straight uphill) from Neuschwanstein castle puts you on top of Marienbrucke(Mary Ann's Bridge-- the other 2 German words I know), a bridge older than the castle itself, that hangs 2500 feet in the air. Beautiful view of the waterfall below, even though it was crazy mad foggy all day.

View of Salzburg from the Mozartsteg bridge crossing the Salzach River, which divides the old city (left) from the new city (right). In the background is the Universitatskirche Steeple, the place where Mozart first performed. See Marienbrucke at the top, spanning the cliffs? I may not get the Woolly Worm this year, but I guess I got this instead... The leaves were amazing. (This is the view through a window on the top floor of the castle.) Kind of reminds me of a certain place I used to work... Except without all the bears.
Further explanations to come, as well as perhaps more pictures... Since I have taken like 400 since coming to this country.
The French is getting better, ps. I can tell.
~B