I enjoyed my work trip to Basel. I find my work colleagues there to be cordial in personality and gentle on my German. This is my third trip to Basel and my fifth to Switzerland.
All things being held equal, ie:
-if my job wasn't in the Koeln/D'dorf/Leverkusen area
-if i was not spending all time outside of the office exposed to the German from this area
-if from a purely raw number perspective, if the German of Germany wasn't the largest group
I think I would have preferred to have learned something a little closer to one of the Swiss varieties. Specifically, in flipping through the TV at the hotel and landing on some of the Swiss stations interspersed with the Germany ones, as well as in the meetings with the Swiss the next day, I enjoy the soft, musical quality of the Swiss speakers. It seems so differently from what I am used to hearing all day in the office.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
travels planned
- Tomorrow afternoon I go down to Basel by train for an all day meeting on Friday. I'll be taking the bus to the Koeln Hbf to avoid the train strike.
- In november I have booked a Thurs-Mon trip to Iceland.
Why iceland in november?
1. flight/accomodation prices fall drastically (compared to high season summer prices)
2. it's easier to find accomodation, and it's not booked months in advance
3. fewer tourists allow more interaction with the locals
4. there is the possiblity to see the northern lights in the winter weather
5. the cold, blustery weather makes for perfect conditions to escape inside for strong iceland coffee or to the hot water outside of the blue lagoon
- In november I have booked a Thurs-Mon trip to Iceland.
Why iceland in november?
1. flight/accomodation prices fall drastically (compared to high season summer prices)
2. it's easier to find accomodation, and it's not booked months in advance
3. fewer tourists allow more interaction with the locals
4. there is the possiblity to see the northern lights in the winter weather
5. the cold, blustery weather makes for perfect conditions to escape inside for strong iceland coffee or to the hot water outside of the blue lagoon
Monday, October 22, 2007
the angry whopper continues to fascinate me
I've been busy with work and offline, but when I look at the recent stats, 30 some visitors found me recently from this post.
Searchers are typing:
"angry whopper" (80%)
"angry onions" (8%)
"how much does an angry whopper cost" (1%)
"angry-gram burger" (1%)
A good number of them are from google.co.uk and one from google.de (both countries where this whopper is sold), but a number of others are finding me from non-selling countries such as the US, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
Check out the cultural/marketing differences in these Angry Whopper commercials, from the UK and from Germany.
Searchers are typing:
"angry whopper" (80%)
"angry onions" (8%)
"how much does an angry whopper cost" (1%)
"angry-gram burger" (1%)
A good number of them are from google.co.uk and one from google.de (both countries where this whopper is sold), but a number of others are finding me from non-selling countries such as the US, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
Check out the cultural/marketing differences in these Angry Whopper commercials, from the UK and from Germany.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
oh so happy
I do not need to take Deutsche Bahn tomorrow, with their planned strike. I take a regional train to/from Cologne each Wednesday for class, and all other trips to visit Cologne are usually occasional and optional on the weekends.
Last weekend I had a long distance ICE train trip already booked and paid for, so I needed to take the train or bus to/from Cologne on Friday and Sunday night. Friday was ok and trains were almost empty but Sunday was absolute chaos with trains running 90 min late and the boards not displaying arriving trains. Fortunately I know the bus routes very well around this area and it is possible (although longer) to take the bus completely and to bypass all trains.
What I do not understand here--coming from normally pro-union Philadelphia, where a strike actually means all operations cease and it will go on as long as it has to--how they expect to win this one when 20% of the workers are not striking and will continue operations, (as lackluster as they may be).
As a transit rider, I can certainly recognize how important you are if I cannot get a ride at all, in particular for a longer time period. You suddenly realize and appreciate what you do not have when it is completely gone. This pseudo-strike with its partial schedule only serves to irritate me as I can still get a train but with an unknown schedule, I must look at the website to see if this is one of the scheduled strike days, and it makes service even poorer than normal with sporadic trains and no announcements.
Last weekend I had a long distance ICE train trip already booked and paid for, so I needed to take the train or bus to/from Cologne on Friday and Sunday night. Friday was ok and trains were almost empty but Sunday was absolute chaos with trains running 90 min late and the boards not displaying arriving trains. Fortunately I know the bus routes very well around this area and it is possible (although longer) to take the bus completely and to bypass all trains.
What I do not understand here--coming from normally pro-union Philadelphia, where a strike actually means all operations cease and it will go on as long as it has to--how they expect to win this one when 20% of the workers are not striking and will continue operations, (as lackluster as they may be).
As a transit rider, I can certainly recognize how important you are if I cannot get a ride at all, in particular for a longer time period. You suddenly realize and appreciate what you do not have when it is completely gone. This pseudo-strike with its partial schedule only serves to irritate me as I can still get a train but with an unknown schedule, I must look at the website to see if this is one of the scheduled strike days, and it makes service even poorer than normal with sporadic trains and no announcements.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
More on the Angry Whopper
I've seen a few comments around the internet about Burger King's latest campaign here in Germany, for the Angry Whopper. The "Angry Whopper" comes with "Angry Onions." But you can also buy Angry Onions separately, if you so choose--as I did today for lunch instead of fries. Unfortunately they do not have an 'Angry Vegetarian burger', only the normal non-angry version. ;-)
-If you're only visiting Germany, you'd probably think--well that's a little goofy, those wacky Germans.
-If you live here as a non-native Germany speaker like me, you probably blinked and automatically went into 'backward translation mode' trying to figure out what word they were working off of to mistakenly come up with 'angry' in English.
If you did as I did, you were automatically assuming that it was a bad English translation, or one of those goofy uses of English in Germany that inundates life here.
And if you did make that assumption, then you would also be wrong. :-) Check out the UK's campaign for the Angry Whopper:
http://www.burgerking.co.uk/
http://www.angry-gram.com/
Although notice that the UK has the additional description of 'hot-headed jalapeños' while in the German version the jalapeños seem to go together with the onions under the shared 'angry' adjective, although not angry in and of themselves.
BTW, my German work colleagues thought this campaign was goofy in German thinking as well. "Angry onions, what is that supposed to mean?"
-If you're only visiting Germany, you'd probably think--well that's a little goofy, those wacky Germans.
-If you live here as a non-native Germany speaker like me, you probably blinked and automatically went into 'backward translation mode' trying to figure out what word they were working off of to mistakenly come up with 'angry' in English.
If you did as I did, you were automatically assuming that it was a bad English translation, or one of those goofy uses of English in Germany that inundates life here.
And if you did make that assumption, then you would also be wrong. :-) Check out the UK's campaign for the Angry Whopper:
http://www.burgerking.co.uk/
http://www.angry-gram.com/
Although notice that the UK has the additional description of 'hot-headed jalapeños' while in the German version the jalapeños seem to go together with the onions under the shared 'angry' adjective, although not angry in and of themselves.
BTW, my German work colleagues thought this campaign was goofy in German thinking as well. "Angry onions, what is that supposed to mean?"
Monday, October 08, 2007
The Oct 3 holiday in review - Part II
Following on Part I of the story, we walked all the way to the end of the street festival. I was surprised at how crowded it was considering it was still the work day, but we later found out it was the last day of the fair. Along the way we saw lots of rides and games, but nothing really stood out. I would have done the nice ferris wheel, but neither of us had brought a camera to capture the surrounding view.
I pointed out to D the camel racing game. It was a game I played often at the Jersey shore while growing up, but ours were jockeys on horses. It's sort of like skee ball, you have a small ball and must roll it up and aim for one of the 7 holes. The more difficult the hole the higher the points, or if you aim poorly the ball just comes back down the gutter and you get no points. As you get points, your camel/horse moves forward, competing against the other 13 or so players doing the same thing.
D. kindly offered that we should play a round, after I mentioned that I was 'the absolute best' at this game in my younger years. After overcoming the embarrassment that it was mainly children playing, we were signed up for two games each. Of course I won. I'm not sure if D was more embarrassed that I was as good as I said, or that his gf just triumphed over a group of 8 year olds. Then I lost the second game by a hair to the little girl sitting one seat over from me. The winning little girl gave her prize to her little sister who was sitting next to me. So I then gave my prize on the previous game to that little girl.
All gamed out we wondered back through the town for some final shopping. It was also a shopping Sunday that coming Sunday. Back at the car we had planned to have a drive back to Roermond to go to the supermarket. It was just before 17, but fortunately there wasn't much of a commuter backup in Weert. We made a quick stop at the garden center on the way out of town, but they did not have what I was seeking.
Earlier in the afternoon I had spotted a farm selling I was guessing pumpkins and that sort of thing based on a big pumpkin filled cart in the field. They had a Dutch flag out front and a sign saying something in Dutch, but it may as well have said 'Dutch drugs' for all we knew. I spotted it on the way back and we took a chance in pulling into the driveway at exactly 17.00. Once in the driveway you could see what you could not see from the road--the most beautiful display of bright orange pumpkins, along with other assorted gourds and that sort of thing.
It seemed to be a hobby farm as all they had were pumpkins and gourds, and each one had a tiny little handwritten price sticker. The display was laid out tastefully and meticulously in the garage/barn. Each item had been handwashed so everything was without a speck of dirt. The stems were fresh like everything had come from the immediately adjacent field. The best part was that the prices were a lot cheaper than in Germany where pumpkin retails for 1.50 eur/kilo.
D and I ended up with all that we could carry for 14 euros. For that princely sum I bought one perfect Halloween pumpkin, perhaps 5 pounds, a tall dark green gourd maybe 3 pounds, a short, squat and bumpy varigated 2 pound gourd, a small perfect pumpkin perhaps 2 pounds to sit next to my door in the hallway, a one pounder for the office, and two jack be littles at 50 cents each to give away to Germans who are temping for me. Yes, Halloween is my favorite holiday still.
-->If you want to go to this wonderful pumpkin stand, it's easy to find and a short trip if you've already made the trek to Roermond. Go to Roermond to the outlets. If coming from Germany from the east you'll probably come in on the N280, so that the outlet center is on your right and town proper is on your left. Just stay on the same main road and follow the signs toward Weert. The road will narrow down from two lanes in each direction to one, and you'll start to see crop fields.
The farm has a large Dutch flag out front and a sign in Dutch that meant nothing to either D or I understanding German. IF you happen to pass it (and you may as it is only a little driveway between a house and a cornfield), don't fret. You'll know for sure if you've passed it once you see a large horse-drawn cart filled with pumpkins etc. parked in the field next to it, which would be your signal to turn around.
Anyway...with the car filled with pumpkin purchases, we kept heading back in the Roermond direction, and upon reaching the outlet area again at 1720, we found it to be an absolute parking lot. No worries as we had planned to turn off anyway to go to Jumbo in Roermond. I like Jumbo as much as I like Tref in Venlo. Both have nice selections overall and good vegetarian selections. And, some recent good news:
JUMBO IN ROERMOND IS OPEN ON SUNDAYS FROM 12-17 FOR THE REST OF 2007 as some sort of trial phase. Supermarket shopping every Sunday of the year if I would like. Do you live in the Cologne/Dusseldorf area? Send me a note and we can arrange a train station where I can find you and I will drive you over to Roermond to share in my happiness and my desire to shop there on Sundays to show support of such a policy. My Dutch colleague found it amusing that the announcement was in Dutch on a sandwich board in front of the supermarket, but that they also provided a smaller translation in German.
While I shopped, D had 'bottle duty.' I have begun to carry around all extra bottles that need to be recycled outside of Germany. Like it's not enough of a hassle inside of Germany. Since I sometimes have worktrips to Belgium I end up picked up some raspberry beer there, as well as sometimes in Holland. I had around 20 extra bottles that belonged somewhere, but I was not sure where. Interestingly, the exact same cherry beer has two different bottle shapes depending on if it is purchased in Holland or in Belgium, and of course it can only go back from whence it came.
The people in Jumbo Roermond were so helpful trying as D was putting things into their automated machine and making it unhappy. Sometimes when you get a person, they know the bottle dimensions, so they will override the machine and take another bottle if they are selling the same exact thing but of a different variety, so the person recognizes what the machine cannot with its barcode rules. At the end of the day they managed to take everything except one type of Hoegaarden bottle that they explained says on the back that it is not a deposit returning bottle (oops) and a six pack of Budweiser bottles that they sell, but in a different bottle shape, so not returnable there.
We hopped back into the car at 18.00, but traffic was still an absolute parking lot so we decided to stop for dinner rather than risk getting home at 21.00 starving. We parked up and took a walk around already knowing in general Roermond town center. We went to New Delhi Indian restaurant which is located on Neerstraat 32 (very near to the town/mall entrance of Jumbo NOT the parking lot side) and is open Mon-Fri from 18-22.30 and Sat 17-23. It was not 'burn your mouth out' Indian, but a gentler, full of flavor Indian. Everything tasted like it was freshly prepared. The man and his daughter who run the customer side (I think Mom was in the kitchen cooking) were absolutely delightful in personality. Highly recommended and we would go back even if we didn't need to wait out a traffic jam. They do not serve alcohol, and my only regret was that I did not try their alcohol free wine as I saw another table order a second glass.
Finally it was after 20 by the time we were back in the car, and thankfully all the Germans were back over the border so the drive home only took an hour or so. We got pummeled by the fantastic rainstorms upon arriving back in the Cologne area but that was the first rain we saw all day, so ok.
I pointed out to D the camel racing game. It was a game I played often at the Jersey shore while growing up, but ours were jockeys on horses. It's sort of like skee ball, you have a small ball and must roll it up and aim for one of the 7 holes. The more difficult the hole the higher the points, or if you aim poorly the ball just comes back down the gutter and you get no points. As you get points, your camel/horse moves forward, competing against the other 13 or so players doing the same thing.
D. kindly offered that we should play a round, after I mentioned that I was 'the absolute best' at this game in my younger years. After overcoming the embarrassment that it was mainly children playing, we were signed up for two games each. Of course I won. I'm not sure if D was more embarrassed that I was as good as I said, or that his gf just triumphed over a group of 8 year olds. Then I lost the second game by a hair to the little girl sitting one seat over from me. The winning little girl gave her prize to her little sister who was sitting next to me. So I then gave my prize on the previous game to that little girl.
All gamed out we wondered back through the town for some final shopping. It was also a shopping Sunday that coming Sunday. Back at the car we had planned to have a drive back to Roermond to go to the supermarket. It was just before 17, but fortunately there wasn't much of a commuter backup in Weert. We made a quick stop at the garden center on the way out of town, but they did not have what I was seeking.
Earlier in the afternoon I had spotted a farm selling I was guessing pumpkins and that sort of thing based on a big pumpkin filled cart in the field. They had a Dutch flag out front and a sign saying something in Dutch, but it may as well have said 'Dutch drugs' for all we knew. I spotted it on the way back and we took a chance in pulling into the driveway at exactly 17.00. Once in the driveway you could see what you could not see from the road--the most beautiful display of bright orange pumpkins, along with other assorted gourds and that sort of thing.
It seemed to be a hobby farm as all they had were pumpkins and gourds, and each one had a tiny little handwritten price sticker. The display was laid out tastefully and meticulously in the garage/barn. Each item had been handwashed so everything was without a speck of dirt. The stems were fresh like everything had come from the immediately adjacent field. The best part was that the prices were a lot cheaper than in Germany where pumpkin retails for 1.50 eur/kilo.
D and I ended up with all that we could carry for 14 euros. For that princely sum I bought one perfect Halloween pumpkin, perhaps 5 pounds, a tall dark green gourd maybe 3 pounds, a short, squat and bumpy varigated 2 pound gourd, a small perfect pumpkin perhaps 2 pounds to sit next to my door in the hallway, a one pounder for the office, and two jack be littles at 50 cents each to give away to Germans who are temping for me. Yes, Halloween is my favorite holiday still.
-->If you want to go to this wonderful pumpkin stand, it's easy to find and a short trip if you've already made the trek to Roermond. Go to Roermond to the outlets. If coming from Germany from the east you'll probably come in on the N280, so that the outlet center is on your right and town proper is on your left. Just stay on the same main road and follow the signs toward Weert. The road will narrow down from two lanes in each direction to one, and you'll start to see crop fields.
The farm has a large Dutch flag out front and a sign in Dutch that meant nothing to either D or I understanding German. IF you happen to pass it (and you may as it is only a little driveway between a house and a cornfield), don't fret. You'll know for sure if you've passed it once you see a large horse-drawn cart filled with pumpkins etc. parked in the field next to it, which would be your signal to turn around.
Anyway...with the car filled with pumpkin purchases, we kept heading back in the Roermond direction, and upon reaching the outlet area again at 1720, we found it to be an absolute parking lot. No worries as we had planned to turn off anyway to go to Jumbo in Roermond. I like Jumbo as much as I like Tref in Venlo. Both have nice selections overall and good vegetarian selections. And, some recent good news:
JUMBO IN ROERMOND IS OPEN ON SUNDAYS FROM 12-17 FOR THE REST OF 2007 as some sort of trial phase. Supermarket shopping every Sunday of the year if I would like. Do you live in the Cologne/Dusseldorf area? Send me a note and we can arrange a train station where I can find you and I will drive you over to Roermond to share in my happiness and my desire to shop there on Sundays to show support of such a policy. My Dutch colleague found it amusing that the announcement was in Dutch on a sandwich board in front of the supermarket, but that they also provided a smaller translation in German.
While I shopped, D had 'bottle duty.' I have begun to carry around all extra bottles that need to be recycled outside of Germany. Like it's not enough of a hassle inside of Germany. Since I sometimes have worktrips to Belgium I end up picked up some raspberry beer there, as well as sometimes in Holland. I had around 20 extra bottles that belonged somewhere, but I was not sure where. Interestingly, the exact same cherry beer has two different bottle shapes depending on if it is purchased in Holland or in Belgium, and of course it can only go back from whence it came.
The people in Jumbo Roermond were so helpful trying as D was putting things into their automated machine and making it unhappy. Sometimes when you get a person, they know the bottle dimensions, so they will override the machine and take another bottle if they are selling the same exact thing but of a different variety, so the person recognizes what the machine cannot with its barcode rules. At the end of the day they managed to take everything except one type of Hoegaarden bottle that they explained says on the back that it is not a deposit returning bottle (oops) and a six pack of Budweiser bottles that they sell, but in a different bottle shape, so not returnable there.
We hopped back into the car at 18.00, but traffic was still an absolute parking lot so we decided to stop for dinner rather than risk getting home at 21.00 starving. We parked up and took a walk around already knowing in general Roermond town center. We went to New Delhi Indian restaurant which is located on Neerstraat 32 (very near to the town/mall entrance of Jumbo NOT the parking lot side) and is open Mon-Fri from 18-22.30 and Sat 17-23. It was not 'burn your mouth out' Indian, but a gentler, full of flavor Indian. Everything tasted like it was freshly prepared. The man and his daughter who run the customer side (I think Mom was in the kitchen cooking) were absolutely delightful in personality. Highly recommended and we would go back even if we didn't need to wait out a traffic jam. They do not serve alcohol, and my only regret was that I did not try their alcohol free wine as I saw another table order a second glass.
Finally it was after 20 by the time we were back in the car, and thankfully all the Germans were back over the border so the drive home only took an hour or so. We got pummeled by the fantastic rainstorms upon arriving back in the Cologne area but that was the first rain we saw all day, so ok.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Travel advice-->Basel?
I have an all day work meeting in Basel on Friday Oct 26th. As a result, I can:
1. Stay in Basel until Saturday or Sunday, and take the company-paid train home then. However, I've already spent one weekend in Basel under a similar situation last year and that seemed to be sufficient.
2. Just come home Friday night, arriving around 21 or so in Koeln as the meeting lasts until 17.
3. Use Basel as a launching pad for a cheap flight elsewhere (not company paid). I still have five days of unplanned vacation left so it can be a long weekend, assuming I can find a one-way out (mainly EasyJet from Basel), and a one-way back (mainly using anyone but EastJet to CGN or DUS).
Thoughts?
1. Stay in Basel until Saturday or Sunday, and take the company-paid train home then. However, I've already spent one weekend in Basel under a similar situation last year and that seemed to be sufficient.
2. Just come home Friday night, arriving around 21 or so in Koeln as the meeting lasts until 17.
3. Use Basel as a launching pad for a cheap flight elsewhere (not company paid). I still have five days of unplanned vacation left so it can be a long weekend, assuming I can find a one-way out (mainly EasyJet from Basel), and a one-way back (mainly using anyone but EastJet to CGN or DUS).
Thoughts?
Saturday, October 06, 2007
The Oct 3 holiday in review - Part I
Earlier this week, Wednesday Oct 3, was the German reunification holiday, so a mid-week day off from work. I had not bothered looking for any travel opportunities because the Germans tend to book 51 weeks in advance, so the prices get jacked up.
I'm so far over on the western side of Germany where the only comment upon the day is to grumble about the reunification tax coming out of one's paycheck and how 'we never should have gone back together with them'. In the local paper there was a flea market scheduled, but otherwise, it would have been a day of sitting at home with all of the shops shut. So therefore, you know the drill...
At 10.30 we were off and heading immediately west, destination Roermond. We had planned to wander around the outlets and around town, wrapping it up with some shopping at Jumbo supermarket in Roermond. The expected drive time should have been one hour 20 minutes. However, as expected, the approximately 70 billion other Germans in the Cologne/Duesseldorf/Duisberg region, all also wanted to go over the Dutch border to shop. And they say Germans don't want the stores open any more than they are now. Pffui.
The traffic was obnoxious, so we finally rolled into Roermond at just before 13 and the outlet parking lot was closed which pushed us into the town proper where I already know that parking options are limited. After listening to the German cars beeping each other (which was why I was leaving Germany in the first place, for a break of Germany), I made the executive decision that we were getting back on the road and continuing westward.
D got out the map with the instructions-->find the next big Dutch city from here, which turned out to be Weert, a mere 17 km away. By this time we were rather hungry as it was working toward 14, and just in need of something like a McDonalds. The highway transitioned to a one lane road which then changed to a brick road--in Weert. Lo and behold a McDonalds sign pointing us toward the Centrum. Weert seemed from the road to be laid out in a circle, so we decided just to park and head in on foot.
I chose a parking spot, and as I was parking noticed that someone was watching me from a balkon. I take extreme (although laughable) pride in my parallel parking, and living in Germany has only made it that much better. If you need to get your manual car in or out of a spot uphill in in the sleet with a one inch clearance on either side, give me a call. Add added difficulty on this spot was that it crossed a bicycle lane, and as it was Holland a cycle was passing every 15 seconds, as well as a vintage Mercedes was parked behind me.
As we got out of the car--of course only after I asked D to confirm who the best parker in the Western world is--the older man on the balkon shouts something down to D. As we were coming from Germany, I was expecting him to shout at us to get out of his 'private' spot on the public street, based on the fact that he looked to be of retired age. D tried to figure out what he wanted in German, but wasn't getting it, so scurried off to get the parking slip. As I got out, the man's wife joined the man and he tried again with me.
He was commending me on my superb parking job. THIS is why I go to Holland. It made the almost three hour drive almost worth it, to have someone who appreciates good parking. (And I think it was his vintage Mercedes behind me.) D came back with the slip to put on the dashboard and we stood there a moment trying to figure out the best way to McDonalds. The ever helpful Dutch couple, seeing our confusion, starting to shout and point to direct us which street to take. How did they possibly know we wanted to go to McDonalds?
It became a little more clear once we followed their instructions, there was a huge street fair going on, and that is what they directed us to (conveniently located next to the McDonalds). We were so hungry we just went to the McDonalds anyway. I was a little disappointed, they did not carry the 'Groenburger' or the vegetarian burger that many Holland McDonalds sell. We then took a stroll down the main shopping street, where various things street fair things were set up, like games, food, rides, etc. I ended up finding a plain piece of pizza so all was well. The street fair went on for quite a long while, if you were speed walking from one end to the other, I imagine it would have taken 20 min, but we took our time, stopping to go into the open stores also.
To be continued...
I'm so far over on the western side of Germany where the only comment upon the day is to grumble about the reunification tax coming out of one's paycheck and how 'we never should have gone back together with them'. In the local paper there was a flea market scheduled, but otherwise, it would have been a day of sitting at home with all of the shops shut. So therefore, you know the drill...
At 10.30 we were off and heading immediately west, destination Roermond. We had planned to wander around the outlets and around town, wrapping it up with some shopping at Jumbo supermarket in Roermond. The expected drive time should have been one hour 20 minutes. However, as expected, the approximately 70 billion other Germans in the Cologne/Duesseldorf/Duisberg region, all also wanted to go over the Dutch border to shop. And they say Germans don't want the stores open any more than they are now. Pffui.
The traffic was obnoxious, so we finally rolled into Roermond at just before 13 and the outlet parking lot was closed which pushed us into the town proper where I already know that parking options are limited. After listening to the German cars beeping each other (which was why I was leaving Germany in the first place, for a break of Germany), I made the executive decision that we were getting back on the road and continuing westward.
D got out the map with the instructions-->find the next big Dutch city from here, which turned out to be Weert, a mere 17 km away. By this time we were rather hungry as it was working toward 14, and just in need of something like a McDonalds. The highway transitioned to a one lane road which then changed to a brick road--in Weert. Lo and behold a McDonalds sign pointing us toward the Centrum. Weert seemed from the road to be laid out in a circle, so we decided just to park and head in on foot.
I chose a parking spot, and as I was parking noticed that someone was watching me from a balkon. I take extreme (although laughable) pride in my parallel parking, and living in Germany has only made it that much better. If you need to get your manual car in or out of a spot uphill in in the sleet with a one inch clearance on either side, give me a call. Add added difficulty on this spot was that it crossed a bicycle lane, and as it was Holland a cycle was passing every 15 seconds, as well as a vintage Mercedes was parked behind me.
As we got out of the car--of course only after I asked D to confirm who the best parker in the Western world is--the older man on the balkon shouts something down to D. As we were coming from Germany, I was expecting him to shout at us to get out of his 'private' spot on the public street, based on the fact that he looked to be of retired age. D tried to figure out what he wanted in German, but wasn't getting it, so scurried off to get the parking slip. As I got out, the man's wife joined the man and he tried again with me.
He was commending me on my superb parking job. THIS is why I go to Holland. It made the almost three hour drive almost worth it, to have someone who appreciates good parking. (And I think it was his vintage Mercedes behind me.) D came back with the slip to put on the dashboard and we stood there a moment trying to figure out the best way to McDonalds. The ever helpful Dutch couple, seeing our confusion, starting to shout and point to direct us which street to take. How did they possibly know we wanted to go to McDonalds?
It became a little more clear once we followed their instructions, there was a huge street fair going on, and that is what they directed us to (conveniently located next to the McDonalds). We were so hungry we just went to the McDonalds anyway. I was a little disappointed, they did not carry the 'Groenburger' or the vegetarian burger that many Holland McDonalds sell. We then took a stroll down the main shopping street, where various things street fair things were set up, like games, food, rides, etc. I ended up finding a plain piece of pizza so all was well. The street fair went on for quite a long while, if you were speed walking from one end to the other, I imagine it would have taken 20 min, but we took our time, stopping to go into the open stores also.
To be continued...
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Why no educated rabbits in Germany?
I was doing a little online shopping and was on the Playmobil site. My cousin's son turns three this year and he is the first boy in 20 years, so he's facing a mountain of hand-me-down girl toys. In particular, I clicked the USA link and then the link on the left called 'Products' to be taken to the main products page. Usually I like to bring by holiday gifts that cannot be easily purchased in the US, so I was curious to see what other countries were offering/not offering so I drilled down through a few of the different country sites.
In particular, if you go back to the US products page from above, and then if you scroll all the way to the bottom, you'll see a bunnies link, which then takes you to another page with a few products, among them the bunnies' school.
So riddle me this batman--why isn't the equivalent product on the Germany page? I realize that cultural differences are considered in the decision to sell a product or how to market it and that you won't find wool socks so often in Florida, for example, but generally I find that so many things such as toys are global these days. So much that you see the same packaging here in Europe and in the US, with 14 different languages on it.
Curiously, in addition to the US site, you can also find the bunny school in these countries: Canada, Netherlands, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. It's missing under the flags of Spain, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Why wouldn't this product be sold in the same place on the website in German speaking countries as the others? I searched but couldn't find it hidden elsewhere either. Although, I must admit, the lack on the Spain site stymies me.
-Would it be because school is serious and not a place for rabbits?
-Is there no love for the rabbit in general in Germany? I searched for rabbits and bunnies on the German site, and there are plenty of them located elsewhere such as in the Noah's ark set or in the magician set.
Accepting any theories on this one.
In particular, if you go back to the US products page from above, and then if you scroll all the way to the bottom, you'll see a bunnies link, which then takes you to another page with a few products, among them the bunnies' school.
So riddle me this batman--why isn't the equivalent product on the Germany page? I realize that cultural differences are considered in the decision to sell a product or how to market it and that you won't find wool socks so often in Florida, for example, but generally I find that so many things such as toys are global these days. So much that you see the same packaging here in Europe and in the US, with 14 different languages on it.
Curiously, in addition to the US site, you can also find the bunny school in these countries: Canada, Netherlands, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. It's missing under the flags of Spain, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Why wouldn't this product be sold in the same place on the website in German speaking countries as the others? I searched but couldn't find it hidden elsewhere either. Although, I must admit, the lack on the Spain site stymies me.
-Would it be because school is serious and not a place for rabbits?
-Is there no love for the rabbit in general in Germany? I searched for rabbits and bunnies on the German site, and there are plenty of them located elsewhere such as in the Noah's ark set or in the magician set.
Accepting any theories on this one.
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