The Bus

You know you’re getting old when…

One day this week I took the local bus for the first time in a while to get to and from school because M needed the car. The ride down at 8:00 was fine, and the bus wasn’t crowded. But after class I caught the 13:00 bus back to our village, and the stop is in front of the Gymnasium (grades 5-12, I think). I waited for 20 minutes while more and more kids showed up and my mood waxed darker and darker.  At 12:57 the bus arrived, and a billion kids stood in a herd of pubescent filth jostling for position, cutting in the non-existent line, shoving past me… The bus driver (I’m calling him Gustav) opened the door and barked at the youths to move back. I admire this man, though I’ve never seen him before. The "horrible phalanx of pubescence"* oozed back, and as the first two students stepped onto the bus and dutifully flashed their passes, the rest of the swarm pushed forward again threatening to crush the youngest under their filthy, impatient feet. Gustav barked at them again, and they pretended to comply and remain orderly. A kid next to me moaned, “Der Tag war so schön, bis jetzt!” (It’s been such a nice day, until now!”), which was clearly a shot at the bus driver, though I nearly said to him, “My thoughts exactly!” aimed at the kid and his cohorts! Gustav was my hero for the day.

*Reference to one of my all-time favorite films. Can you name it?

He stayed at the door as kids passed, and every now and then he must have seen someone cut in the still non-existent line (Germans don’t know how to queue – it’s something expats have been pointing out for years), and he sent them to the back of the line. One little tart dared to say, “But I didn’t do anything!” Gustav puffed up his chest, shot daggers out of his eyes at the cheeky upstart, and said, “Do you need to have done anything? Get BACK!” He was like the soup guy from “Seinfeld.” Shit, I was starting to get nervous, knowing I’d have to hold up the line while I paid for my one-way ride.

I managed to get in about halfway through the mob, paid quickly, money in hand, and sat where no kid would ever choose to sit – right behind my hero, Gustav. I watched the rest of the show silently cheering on Gustav and high-fiving him in my imagination every time he sent one of the grubby little hoodlums back to the end of the pack.

After more kids squeezed onto the bus than I would have thought possible (some had to stand in the aisle), Gustav shot them one more “Don’t mess with me” look, closed the door, and we pulled away. Our next stop was the Bahnhof, and this is where I started to shake my head at humanity. Only three people got on, all adults – a Syrian man (I know him), a woman not older than I wearing a beautiful headscarf, and a German man who appeared dirty and probably homeless. Other than the one other adult woman who had sat next to me from the Gymnasium and me, the entire bus was filled with little kids ages 10 to 17. Not one of them acknowledged the adults who had just got on the bus to offer their seat. Ok, the men were not old, and perfectly capable of standing – and probably very used to doing so. The woman was also young enough and not apparently in any special need. But when I was young 150 years ago, it was just understood – kids do not sit on a crowded bus while an adult stands. I don’t even know how I know this, because although I remember taking the city bus often when I was young to get around town, I don’t recall it ever being crowded. I also don’t recall my parents or any teacher instructing me about bus etiquette. Perhaps it was just obvious?

I am certain this was also standard protocol in Germany not terribly long ago. In fact, I am happy to say that about two years ago on probably the same bus when I had to stand because it was full of smelly kids, a young girl offered me her seat. I thanked her more than was necessary, but told her it was ok – my stop was not far. I wish that girl knew that, two years later, I still remember her thoughtful - and apparently unusual - gesture.

My students have told me about witnessing this time and time again, because they do all their traveling here in Germany by bus and train. They have told me that in Syria it would NEVER happen that an adult – especially a woman! – would have to stand on a bus or train when there are children seated. Some of them have expressed surprise at such disrespect in German kids. I actually doubt that it is blatant disrespect, despite appearances. I think it is plain ignorance (though I do not know which is worse). I think it just wouldn’t occur to most kids nowadays, who are sitting comfortably in a seat on the bus because they were lucky enough to squeeze on ahead of the rest of the mob, to relinquish that seat to anyone else.

This is not something kids should have to be taught in school. This (consideration for others) is something parents should be teaching their children. Why are children not learning to give consideration for others when they are out and about? It might be because their parents are not good models. How much time do parents spend with their faces in their Smartphones rather than noticing teachable moments for their kids? Kids don’t learn what we don’t teach them.

You know you're getting old when you find yourself grumbling about TWO generations behind you - kids who don't offer their seat to adults on a bus and their parents!

February Highs and Lows 2016

Usually I start this "Highs and Lows" post early in the month and add to it as the month progresses. Not so this month, in part because I was gone for two weeks teaching beginning German to a group of American exchange students from my home town. Then again that's a totally lame excuse because I had my laptop with me the whole time.

So here we go.

HIGHS

• continuing to teach my Syrian and Eritrean students. Every day is still an adventure, and they make me want to do my best as a teacher!


• another weekend trip to Breisach to celebrate the 85th birthday of M's father's cousin's husband.


• stocking up again on wine from the Kaiserstuhl on aforementioned trip to Breisach.


• teaching the exchange students in Esslingen. The class went better than I'd hoped - because of the students! They were great, fun, interested, and eager to learn. We spent 1.5 - 2 hours in the classroom, and then we went on walkabout to do some "hands-on" learning: each had to buy part of our picnic at a different store, they bought stamps at the Postamt and pens at a Schreibwarengeschäft, we stopped at a Blumenladen and strolled through a Friedhof, we went to an acquaintance's home for Kaffee und Brezeln, I gave them a "secrets of Esslingen" tour, they bought S-Bahn tickets from a DB Automat and we took the train to Plochingen to see the town and visit the Hundertwasserhaus, and they competed in a Schnitzeljagd (scavenger hunt) by asking strangers for help finding various buildings and spots in Esslingen based on the "Esslingen Memo" game pieces they carried with them.
  
  The photos below are posted with permission!

buying Wurst for our Picknick

after their Schnitzeljagd

This plaque shows all of Esslingen's Partnerstädte, and they all have
a foot on Sheboygan - their Heimatstadt!

buying Briefmarken from the Automat at the Postamt

posing with mannequin heads wearing hats

"Here! Let us help you!"

Hundertwasserhaus, Plochingen

• afternoon catnaps during the 2 weeks in Esslingen (since January I've been teaching during nap time!)

LOWS

• hearing that things didn't go too well in the DaF class while I was gone. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but we just began again this afternoon and will push on to the end of the class. We only have one more month!


• this teacher fail: I was a Schwarzfahrer! I don't use individual S-Bahn tickets often enough, and I forgot that they need to be stamped in a machine on the platform - there's no machine in the S-Bahn! The kids were on a group ticket and had theirs stamped on the bus we took to the Bahnhof. But I had an individual ticket and forgot to validate it!
  I squeezed a "teachable moment" out of it by telling them what to do if that ever happens to them and a conductor comes onto the train: Go up to him right away and tell him you think you made a mistake. Being proactive might get you off the hook, though I don't know.    Shame on me!!



Smiling because they are not Schwarzfahrer, unlike their teacher!

• returning to my "Englisch-AG" today after a mutli-week absence and being reminded why I was glad to leave the teaching profession. The kids are all nice as individuals, and there are only eight 8th and 9th grade students in the class, but their behavior together as a group is annoying as hell. I had multiple flashbacks to what it was like teaching in Wisconsin - two boys who can't stop touching each other, two girls who are playing keep-away with another's pen, one whining about being cold, two laughing at every answer other students gave, one telling me (after I told him he's welcome to leave and return to his regular class if he doesn't want to listen and learn) "I'm forced to be here. My dad is making me learn English." and so on and so forth.
  
  I have been spoiled with my four Americans and my Syrian and Eritrean students. They are there because they need and want to learn German, and therefore behavior and "classroom management" are not issues. I feel like a good (and the luckiest!) teacher when I'm teaching them. Today at the AG I wondered why on earth I'm bothering continuing to show up there twice a week. There are two answers to that:
      1. because I said I would.
      2. because there are two kids in that class who are well-behaved and want to learn.

Other Fun Moments

• being called "hypercritical" on another blogger's comment section. This was fun because I think the person meant "hypocritical". He was commenting on holidays in Germany - for instance All Saints' Day - which is a federal holiday here. He said anyone who takes that day off but doesn't go to church is "hypercritical". I tried to explain that everything is closed on such holidays, but he still insisted it's hypercritical to not attend church if you're not at work. Of course, going to work on such a holiday would amount to breaking and entering, since all stores and businesses are, in fact, closed for business, and most of us don't have a key.
  
  I also got to use a great line from The Princess Bride: "This word...I do not think it means what you think it means."
  
  The irony is that I probably am hypercritical - but in this case not hypocritical.


• one of my American students explaining why she needs frequent WC breaks: "I have the bladder of a puppy." 

source

Hey, look at that! A whole "Highs and Lows" post without any mention of food!

I wish you all a good start to March!

Beginner Tips for Rome

I do not claim to be an expert on Rome after one visit. However, I know how many blog posts and articles I read during the months before our trip, and I thought I'd let you all know what we learned during our five days there in case it can be of use to anyone.

Let me lay out a couple of financial facts so you can decide now if you want to read what I have to say or not.

1. We stayed in a hotel for four nights. Total cost: €408 including Rome City Tax.
2. We spent €128 on entrance fees for all the attractions we visited.
3. We booked tickets to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatino as well as the Vatican online. The Vatican charges an online booking fee of €4 per person.
4. We spent €34 total on transportation, including to and from the airport.
5. We spent €210 on meals, snacks, and beverages during the five days, (four days, really, since days 1 and 5 were only partial days), so roughly €26 per person per day.
6. We did not do any shopping beyond popping into 2 or 3 touristy shops. 
7. We did not participate in the night life of Rome. After dinner we went to bed!
8. Our total expenses for the two of us for five days, not including the hotel or flights, came to €395.
9. The attractions we saw which required a fee to enter were: the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel, Keats - Shelley House Museum, Capitoline Museums, Mamartine Prison, and the Protestant Cemetery (donation requested). 
10. For us, room and board came to €77 ($95) per person, per day. Rick Steves says one can get by comfortably in Rome for €116 ($145) per person per day for R&B, and "students and tightwads can enjoy Rome for as little as €52 ($65) a day" - so I think we did pretty well.

Ok, so if all that sounds reasonable enough to you that you think we might be able to offer some good tips, read on.

Guide Books

Get yourself two good guide books! Honestly, I think Rick Steves became my new best friend during those days in Rome. We opted not to buy the audio guide for the Vatican Museum but read his chapter on it as we went through. He encourages travelers to browse beyond his comments, but he focuses on the highlights, which is really enough for the average tourist. We also downloaded his free audio guides for the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Sistine Chapel, and the Pantheon, which we found very good! He's rather dorky at times, but truly helpful. It was Rick who recommended the restaurant where we had our best meal in Rome, not far from our hotel - Ristorante da Giovanni.

Our other one was perfect for us because we did so much of Rome on foot. It's pictured above: National Geographic's Walking Rome, the Best of the City: a Step-by-Step Guide. That book is divided by neighborhood and directs readers from one highlight to the next within each area. Both books give helpful general travel tips and included maps and guides to buses, trams, and the Metro.

Getting to and from the Airport

Unless you have money to burn or are very short on time, take the Terravision Bus. It costs €8 per person round trip and it takes an hour from Fiumicino airport to Termini Station even in crazy, heavy traffic. We bought a one-way ticket to the City Center for €5 because we weren't sure about our return trip, then ended up paying €6 for the return trip, buying the ticket at Termini Station. Taking the Leonardo Express train saves you half an hour but costs €14 per person per trip.

Hotel

We stayed at the Bailey's Hotel on Via Flavia, which is an easy  10- to15-minute walk to the Spanish Steps and the same to or from Termini Station. It was a modest hotel with very friendly personnel, an absolutely fine breakfast buffet, a nice room, an elevator if you need that, and it was quiet. I read that some rooms don't have windows or windows that don't open, but ours did. We stayed in a twin deluxe room, to which we had been upgraded for free by booking directly with the hotel and simply asking if they had any special offers when we booked a few months ago. 

On the day we left there was a transportation strike which pushed our flight later, and the concierge on duty early in the morning was very helpful in making some phone calls for me and helping assure me that we would be able to get to the airport in time. They also stored our suitcases after check-out so that we could do some more exploring without having to drag them around with us.

Bailey's is located far enough away from main attractions that the price is reasonable (but close enough that walking is totally manageable) and it's quiet enough, there are several decent restaurants and pizzerias nearby, and the neighborhood felt safe to me.

Rome City Tax

As I understand it, this is a tax charged to all hotel guests staying in Rome ("to help pay for repairs and maintenance to the city" - see link below) and is NOT included on the prices hotels list on their websites although they collect it when you check out. When I booked the hotel a few months ago, the tax was €3 per person per night. On  September 1st, apparently, the tax doubled to €6 per person per night. So €48 of the €408 we paid was this Rome City Tax. It's not the hotel's fault that this tax exists, so don't get upset with them when you check out. You want to figure that in to your anticipated expenses, though, and perhaps ask when you check in what the current tax is in case it has increased again.

a view from the Gianicolo Hill

Roma Pass

We opted not to get the 3-day Roma Pass for €36, and with that decision we nearly broke even. We paid an additional €12 for bus/metro tickets, but we visited none of the attractions covered by the Roma Pass beyond the Colosseum and the Capitoline Museums (which, according to the terms of the Roma Pass, would have been free for us). The Vatican is not included in the Roma Pass, nor is transportation to and from the airport.

By no means am I poo-pooing the Roma Pass! Just make sure you check into what attractions it covers and make sure those are on your list of things you want to see before buying it thinking you'll save money on entrance fees. If you plan to do most of your in-city traveling by overcrowded buses, trams, and trains, it may also be worth it. We took four rides - one bus ride from which we fled at the second stop and gladly walked the rest of the way to where we were going - and three Metro rides (passing on two trains and waiting for the next because they were just too full). Yes, we were tired from miles and miles of walking, but so what? We saw more on foot than we would have on buses and the Metro.

Circus Maximo (Ben Hur!) and the Palatine Hill

Getting around in Rome

Explore  Rome on foot. You will see more, and there is something to enjoy and/or photograph around every corner and down every street. To get to the main attractions at the time when you have an appointment, take the Metro. A ticket costs €1,50 for buses, trams, and the Metro for as many transfers as you need within 90 minutes from validating, and you can buy these tickets in most tobacco shops and kiosks. Always validate your ticket by sticking it into a machine (on entering the Metro station, on every bus - and probably on every tram as well, though we didn't take any trams). Avoid Bus # 64 like the plague - it's a touristy bus which Rick Steves warns is also a haven for pickpockets, and it's so crowded you will never stand as close to strangers anywhere else in your life.

Road signs (identifying which road you're standing on) are stone plaques on the corners of buildings at about first-floor level. It took us an embarrassing four hours or so to figure this out.

Being a Pedestrian in Rome

Mopeds don't have to obey any traffic lights, signs or rules that I am aware of. Pedestrians who wait for the light indicating it's safe to cross are visitors. Cars and buses will usually stop for pedestrians crossing streets to avoid messing up their cars and delaying their mad dash to wherever the hell it is they're going, but it's generally a good idea to cross at the pedestrian crossings (Zebrastreifen, in German). Don't wait for the vehicles to stop - just step into the crossing, make eye contact with the approaching drivers if possible (they're less likely to bash into people who look into their eyes), and stride confidently - and quickly - to the opposite sidewalk. 

Good luck and be careful.

Private Tours

In front of the main attractions you will find lots of tour guides vying for your attention and business, offering personal tours providing lots more information than you will want to read on the posted signs throughout the attractions. We did not bite, so I cannot speak to the quality of these tours. I can tell you that in the Vatican Museum, where we walked through rooms skipping some displays and stopping to read about others (on signs or in our Rick Steves book), one of these tour guides went zooming past us with a family stopping here and there to explain something and then saying, "Ok, can we move on now?" They went through even faster than we did, and we only looked at the highlights. My suspicion is that they want to go through quickly because that allows them to find another group to hire them. Logically, the more tours they do in a day, the more money they make.

I asked one tour guide in front of the Vatican Museum what the cost was, and he said €20 (I assume per person, but didn't ask). If you don't have a good guide book, don't want to buy the cheaper audio guide provided by the museum, and/or want a more personal tour with someone who can answer your questions, then give them a try. I don't like pushy salespeople and I don't like people getting in my face when I've decided for myself how I'm going to do something. Just know that there will be tour guides trying to get your business, and they can smell hesitance. If you make eye contact and sound unsure with your "No, thanks," you'll have a hard time shaking them.

inside the Pantheon

Peddlers

Here's my daughter's advice about the peddlers on every street and piazza selling whatever is currently hot - this year selfie sticks, portable chargers, and scarves: Do not make eye contact, and do not answer them in any way if you do not want to buy what they are selling. Have a stern (or downright nasty) look on your face, and if they don't go away continue to ignore them and do not, for the love of all that's holy, smile politely. I sucked at all of that, though I did wonder what went through their heads as they approached me while I was taking a photo with my Canon DSLR. Uh...this camera won't fit on that stick. I actually said that to one of them, which elicited a reproachful "MOM!" from my daughter.

What to See

Of course you want to see the main attractions on your first visit. But don't miss the free stuff and the lesser-known churches. That's where your guidebooks will help you. And here's something I wish I had done - when you go into a church (and I swear, every one is beautiful inside), make sure you know what it's called before you leave, and write it down including the time when you were there (to compare with your camera's data). Then you won't have pictures later on with captions like "a pretty church in Rome." There are more churches in Rome than days of the year, and you probably won't be able to find out after your trip the name of the churches you took pictures of if you don't make note of them right away.

a pretty church in Rome
(See what I mean?)

Meals

As I wrote above, we spent €210 on food and drinks during those five days (call it four because we only needed dinner on the first day and lunch on the last). On the first day we bought a six-pack of water bottles and took one with us each day. We were able to sit outside during the day and even one evening, which was nice for us in December! 

We always looked for a restaurant at least a few blocks away from tourist attractions, and went in where we saw & heard locals. Per a tip I read, we avoided places with lots of English outside and especially with pictures of menu items displayed near the door. We found the prices reasonable. My daughter stuck to Coca-Cola, and I had one or two glasses of wine in a day plus sparkling water.

We were not blown away by the deliciousness of the food, but we tried all the dishes we'd intended to - Spaghetti Pomodoro, Gnocchi, Pizza, Calzone, Spaghetti Carbonara, Tortellini, and Tiramisu - and the meals were good. My favorite meal, at Ristorante da Giovanni, was Abbacchio romano arrosto (roast lamb), my daughter had Saltimbocca ala Roma (veal with prosciutto and sage), and we shared a piece of Tiramisu. With drinks that bill still only came to €38 ($47). It is definitely possible to eat good and filling meals in Rome without breaking your wallet.

Neopolitan-style Pizza
with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil

Abbacchio romano arrosto
Food noises were heard...

Tipping

You'll read in most tour books that Italians don't tip and it's not expected in restaurants in Rome. We found this to be true. Several times we were able to give an extra Euro, but most often, even when I handed the waiter the check and the money, smiled and said "Grazie!", he gave back the extra Euro or two. We always strove to avoid the touristy restaurants and find ones off the beaten path with local-sounding people in them, so it's possible the ones that lure tourists expect tips.

I think that covers what I would tell first-time visitors to Rome based on our experience. If I think of anything else, I'll post an addendum.

Impressions of Rome

So...my daughter and I returned on  Friday after five days in Rome. Three full days, really (nearly four because a transportation strike delayed our return home by five hours), and two partial days. If you love Rome, this is probably not the post for you. I thought Rome was absolutely fine, I'm  glad we went, I enjoyed our mother-daughter trip, it was a good experience, and I'm glad - really glad - to be back home in Germany. I just didn't return with the "WOW!" feeling, which makes me feel somewhat of a blasphemer.

Future founders of Rome Romulus and Remus
being nursed by the she-wolf

We did most of the city center on foot after a horrifying bus ride on our first full day - we fled the bus after one stop - and my leg muscles gave up complaining by Friday morning. We both agree that exploring a city on foot is the way to go - there's just way too much you miss on public transportation. The food we ate was ok (with the exception of our last dinner, which was fabulous!), we saw all the major sites one should see in Rome, we stayed in a modest but nice hotel which met all our needs, we only encountered friendly people, we have lots of good photos, and we came away unrobbed despite the many warnings about pickpockets and unkilled by the crazy Italian drivers. I'm glad we went, but I'm not burning to return.

St. Peter's Cathedral

My original plan was to save money by eating sensibly - grabbing a sandwich for lunch, trying the Aperitivo (buy a drink and enjoy whatever appetizers the restaurant provides), having one nice dinner, eating at a pizzeria - but for lunch we were usually ready to sit in a restaurant rather than just eating out of the hand. We didn't spend a ton on meals, but we could have been more thrifty.

Colosseum

I found the city dirty, with garbage everywhere and overflowing dumpsters on most street corners not directly at tourist attractions. My daughter said that's just how it is in big cities, but I don't remember that standing out in my mind from my weekend with her in Berlin last year. Road rules are crazy. Mopeds don't have to heed traffic lights, stop signs, or anything else except that they shouldn't bash into pedestrians, lane lines seem to be suggestions as do the Ampelmännchen that tell pedestrians whether they may cross a street safely or not, and where there is no crossing light, pedestrians just step into the road (preferrably at a marked crossing, though in practice that doesn't really matter either) and vehicles are required to give way. Most likely they do so just to keep pedestrian goo off their cars. The honking is nearly constant, and whenever Italians are talking to each other whether in person or on cell phones, it sounds like they are about to come to blows.

Foro Romano (Roman Forum)

Crowds and lines are not at all bad in December, but we're still glad we paid a little extra and reserved "skip-the-line" tickets online. On the days in which we headed to main attractions, we got up early and arrived before opening time - also a good idea because we were able to get some pictures with few or no other tourists on them. We took the Metro to the Colosseum and to the Vatican and found it very easy to navigate - or rather my daughter did, and I just had to follow her - as well as inexpensive (€1,50 per person for a ride on any bus, tram, or the Metro within 90 minutes). I am glad we didn't buy the RomaPass since we did so much on foot and just didn't need public transportation often. Yes, we were achy by late afternoon, but since neither one of us is interested in the night life, we were in bed early anyway and had time to recuperate for the next day.

Spanish Steps by night (8:20 pm, actually)

Although this was my first time in a country where I didn't speak the local language at all (I've been to the Alsace in France, but that doesn't really count since the locals do reluctantly speak German), language was not an issue. We got by just fine in German or English and never had a bad experience due to not knowing Italian. In fact, my favorite dining experience was in a restaurant where our charming waiter spoke very little English!

Inside Mamartine Prison, where Sts. Peter and Paul
are said to have been imprisoned

We would have been fine having one less day in Rome. We were exhausted from walking anyway, so we probably should have just planned on doing the Vatican one morning followed by wandering on our own, and the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine the next morning followed by more exploring. The way we did it, we spent all of our first full day walking with no appointments at any attractions. We did enjoy that and saw a lot. As it turns out, leaving on Thursday would have meant not being delayed five hours due to a transportation strike. Buses, trains, the Metro, air traffic control... I got an email on Thursday evening saying our 14:40 flight for Friday was bumped to 19:15 (actually 20:25 after more delays), so although we had seen and done everything we wanted to already, we had a bunch of extra hours to visit a few more churches. No one got excited about the strike - apparently they're as common as pigeon shit in Italy. When we had absolutely nothing else to do, we picked up our suitcases at the hotel and dragged them to Termini station, got on the Terravision bus (€6 each - €4 if you buy the ticket online) which takes an hour to get from Termini to Fiumicino, and arrived at the airport four hours early.

Arch of Constantine

I'd have to say that I enjoyed the trip with my daughter and am glad we saw Rome (though it had never been on the bucket list I don't have), but it did not leave me with a burning desire to see other big cities of the world outside of Germany. Perhaps I love Germany just a little too much.

Inside the Protestant Cemetery - grave of John Keats (on left)

Day Trip 5: Bad Wimpfen

Bad Wimpfen is a lovely little town worth a visit even without the Christmas Market. It's a little awkward to get to by train from Horb and takes three hours with two or three transfers and a 15-minute walk, apparently (not a problem, but good to know). I decided to reserve two seats for my daughter and me on a bus day trip instead with the travel/bus company Schweizer. The drive took 2 1/2 hours to get there because of some traffic issues, but just 2 hours to return, and it cost €25 each. Had we gone by train we could have got there with the MetropolTagesTicket Stuttgart for a total of €24. The bus driver dropped us off right at the main bus parking lot and picked us up there five hours later. Granted, my daughter (21) was the youngest in the group and I was the second or third youngest, but that didn't matter. Funnily, I think we were the only ones who napped on the way to Bad Wimpfen!

Our bus driver gave us the following warning after he'd picked everyone up:
"The bus will be in the lot and we will depart at 19:30. If you are five minutes late, you have to sing a song. If you are ten minutes late, you will sing two songs. If you are fifteen minutes late, you can sing a song where the bus was." No one was late!

I never get tired of Fachwerkhäuser (half-timbered houses)

In the background is the Blauer Turm (Blue Tower),
the landmark of Bad Wimpfen

We got sucked into the Weihnachtsmarkt right away, but what we should have done was stop in the Stadtinfo (Hauptstraße 45) to get a guide book and start a self-guided walking tour of the town while it was still light out. One doesn't really need five hours only for one Christmas Market. I did climb the Blauer Turm, which costs €1,50 and is very easy. Unlike many church and castle towers I've climbed, the steps leading up are wide and straight rather than a spiral, and I wasn't even winded when I got to the top.

Evangelische Stadtkirche
Protestant Municipal Church

Salzgasse, leading from Hauptstraße up to the Marktplatz,
with Christmas Market booths along the way

One thing to know about Bad Wimpfen's Weihnachtsmarkt that is different from others is that there is no Pfand (deposit) for the cups - which means you pay for your cup (only €1,50), reuse it if you want another beverage, and in the end it's yours. You may also bring your own cup from home if you know this ahead of time. We saw lots of people with their own cups.

The rest of the time we wandered around, sampled the delicious food, bought a few items, and took lots of photos.

After you choose a snack and beverage, you find a spot at one of
these standing tables, perhaps sharing with a stranger or two.

It's true that one tends to find the same types of stands at each Weihnachtsmarkt - nutcrackers, wooden smoking men, roasted nuts, ornaments and home decorations, wool hats and mittens, scarves, Lebkuchenherzen (gingerbread hearts), wooden ornaments, candles and candle holders, products made with honey, flavored mustards or spreads, and gifts appealing to children - but each Christmas Market also has its own character. You will always find stands selling rote Würste ("red sausages") and other sausages on buns, waffles, crepes, and usually Schnitzel (breaded pork cutlet). Keep a look out for any food you haven't seen before, and try it! The first new food we saw were small donuts, which were made fresh with each order and served warm with powered sugar, sugar & cinnamon, vanilla sauce or chocolate. They were fabulously delicious!

Schnitzel mit Brot and Glühwein
The Schnitzel was good - nice and crispy, but the meat
was tender and juicy.

Crepe with vanilla sauce and some sugar & cinnamon,
heiße Schokolade mit Sahne, and Glühwein

I'm glad we had this experience - the whole bus trip to a new (for us) town far enough away that we made a full day of it with a lovely Christmas Market. If I return I will definitely plan for a tour of the town to learn more about its buildings and history, and I think I would also go for two days and include either Heidelberg or Heilbronn.

Thus endeth our three-day marathon of day trips, and we plan to enjoy a quiet weekend with M, resting up for Rome. My daughter got out of bed 90 minutes ago and she's already napping on the sofa under a thick blanket...

Have a great weekend!

Public Transportation in Germany: the good and the bad

Having lived in Smalltown, Wisconsin until moving to Germany, I don't have much experience with public transportation in the U.S.. In three of the four Smalltowns I lived in there were city buses, but they didn't connect neighboring towns and I don't know anyone who ever rode the city buses as an adult.

There is a train that cuts through Wisconsin, but you need a car to get to the train stop (it was an hour's drive [72 km] from my town). We have taken several groups of German exchange students by train to Chicago, but that requires first a one-hour drive from Sheboygan to downtown Milwaukee to get the train.

Basically if you don't have a car in the U.S. (except in the big cities - I have to assume public transportation is good enough there), you're stuck in the town where you live. My children attend college in Appleton, WI and Green Bay, and my parents live in Sheboygan. That is roughly 60 miles or 96 kilometers from either college and takes an hour or more by car, but there is no way for them to visit my parents without a car or hitching a ride with someone who has one.

I have mentioned many times that one of the wonderful things about life in Germany is that I can get anywhere I want to go by train or bus. I've been pondering the good and bad of train and bus travel for a while and decided that today would be the perfect day to write about it since the Deutsche Bahn engineers are going on strike tonight.

The executive summary of this post is that with public transportation, someone else does the driving, and there is not a single negative aspect of train and bus travel that can trump that one advantage (for me).

For those who want to read on, I'll start with the negatives so that I can end with the positives.

What's not so great about traveling by train and bus

1. You have to reckon with delays for various reasons - construction, accident, downed trees after a storm, stupid people pulling the emergency stop as a prank which causes a domino-effect of delays on multiple tracks, strikes... If you're lucky you find out about these delays before you travel, but sometimes you just get stuck in a station somewhere, on a train, or at a stop. It has not happened often to me, but it happens.


2. Travel by train takes longer than by car in many cases. Add the usual two to four traffic jams on the Autobahn, though, on a one-hour drive, and the difference really isn't that significant.


3. You spend time waiting, which is why I always have a book with me when I travel. You get off your train and then may have to wait 20 minutes for the bus to your neighborhood. If I have to wait longer than it would take me to walk home, I walk - 2.5 miles, uphill all the way; only takes about 45 minutes, 75 if the day is hot and I stop for a beer along the way.


4. You will, on occasion, encounter loud, obnoxious fellow passengers, which is something you don't have to deal with if you're driving alone in your car. I once had a guy opposite me sucking and slurping loudly on one piece of hard candy after another, and I was tempting to reach over and slap him repeatedly. I finally got up and changed cars.


5. The temperature is out of your control. It can get pretty stuffy on buses or train cars on hot days, though many have air conditioning.


6. Germs. Most people probably wouldn't think about this, but I can practically feel the filth climbing onto my skin when I have to touch anything on a train or bus, such as a bar to steady myself as the vehicle starts or stops. This probably comes partly from teaching high school students for 16 years and having to remind kids to cover their mouths when they sneeze. Seriously, kids, I have to tell you that??


7. Stinky passengers. Some people apparently don't feel the need to clean themselves or don't have the means to, and it's possible you'll have someone sit down next to you who smells unpleasant. You always have the option of pretending you're getting out at the next stop, and just picking a new seat in an adjoining car.


8. It is crowded at times, which may mean that you'll have to stand for a bit and wait for an open seat. This is really not the end of the world, but compared to the comfort of sitting in your own car, I have to acknowledge it as a drawback.

Then again, I once got on an empty S-Bahn headed to Herrenberg through Stuttgart.

What's GREAT about traveling by train and bus

1. As I've said, you can get pretty much everywhere in Germany by bus and/or train. If I want to visit and explore a town for a day, I check the schedule online, buy a ticket, and go. If I drive myself to the Bahnhof instead of taking the bus, it costs me only €1,50 to park in the Bahnhof lot for 24 hours (a benefit of living in a small community - in Esslingen I think parking is €1,50 per hour!).


2. NO STRESS! Driving here is terribly stressful (for me) at best. Parking is a royal pain in that you're unlikely to find a spot on a street, and the parking garages are tight and narrow for the kind of car we have (I think it would qualify as a mid-size car). When I take the train I don't have to worry about any of the things that make me panic while driving, and I'm not endangering others.


3. No winter weather worries! Even in Wisconsin I was nervous as hell whenever the roads were snowy or icy, which was pretty much all winter long. Snow or ice would mean a cancelled trip if it weren't for the buses and trains.

   

   Yes, even that would make me cancel a car trip.
   Who knows how long it will keep snowing??



4. I can enjoy the scenery from the train. Even the stretch from Horb to Stuttgart and back, which I take most frequently, never gets old. I can't enjoy anything when I'm driving - most definitely not the scenery.


5. I can also enjoy a glass of wine with lunch. That may sound strange to American readers, but having a glass of wine or beer with lunch is not uncommon here. I can do without it, too, but it's nice to have the option. I would not dare touch a drop of alcohol at lunch if I needed to be driving on German roads three hours later.


6. Although I have to allow for the possibility of delays, I can say with relative certainty when I will arrive somewhere to meet someone. The train I'm taking to Tübingen on Friday is scheduled to leave Horb at 11:24 and arrive in Tübingen at 11:54. If I were ballsy enough to drive there, I wouldn't have any idea how long it would take to get there and then find a parking place. I don't even have to think about that - I can leave my house at 11:00 and I'll be at the Bahnhof in Tübingen less than an hour later.
   
   
   


7. It's more environmentally friendly than driving by car. The way I see it, the trains and buses are running anyway whether I'm on them or not. Every car on the road is using one type of energy resource or another, and if I drive instead of go with the train that's already scheduled to drive that stretch (Horb to Esslingen, for instance), I'm doing more harm to the environment than good.


8. There is a WC (restroom) on most trains. I don't like to use them, but in case of urgent need, it's there. There's no WC in the car.


9. I can read, sleep, plan my day, make a shopping list, eat and drink, write a blog post, and meet people (this is highly unlikely in my case but might appeal to others) while traveling by train. None of that works behind the wheel.

This bus stop is a four-minute walk from home,
and I'm down at the Bahnhof in nine minutes..

All told, I'll take public transportation over driving any day.

What did I miss?

Things I learned this week

The following is a list of some of the things I learned this week from reading the newspaper, watching documentaries, talking with people...

• Alma mater means "nurturing mother" in Latin. I probably should have known that already.


• There is no other country in the world whose inhabitants throw away more food than the U.S.A.. 


• Despite the fact that there is a direct bus connection between our little town and Nagold, there is no way to find out by phone, email, or internet how much it costs to take the bus there because the towns are in different counties and controlled by different transportation associations. The only way to find out the cost is to get on the bus and ask the bus driver (who will not be happy to provide that information if I just get on the bus, ask him, and get off again).


• Every photo taken with an iPhone is automatically saved in The Cloud. Yet another reason why I am glad I don't have any sort of smartphone. (Then again, the most scandalous photos I take are of statues.) I don't even know if my Handy/cell phone can take photos - I use a camera for that. 


• Our local butcher is closed next week so the owner and employees can have some time off. Good for them! Bad luck for us.





• At the Internationale Funkmesse (International Radio Exhibition) in Berlin, an app was unveiled that allows a person to scan a recipe and the app will send a signal to his or her fancy oven to tell it when to preheat, to which temperature, and how long it should be on. And that's really cool because the hardest part of cooking is often turning on the oven to the correct temperature. Not only that, but setting a timer or looking at a clock is just so old-school.


• There's an app for your coffee maker, too. You can tell your phone to tell your coffee maker to make the next cup stronger. I'll bet there's also an app for flushing your toilet. In 20 years are people going to be able to accomplish anything without a phone in their hands?


• The Colosseum may or may not have been flooded several times in order for the "performers" to reenact sea battles. I thought this was already accepted fact, but apparently researchers are not able to figure out how it was flooded and drained and are therefore unsure that it was.

• Freudenstadt is known for its collection of sculptures. You can follow a Kunstpfad (Art Path) around town with the help of a brochure available in the Stadtinfo. The newest piece, which arrived this week, is this 29-ton thing called "Schwarze Wasser*" ("Black Water"), created by Wolf Brüll:

*I would think it should be called "Schwarzes Wasser," but if it is, it's a typo in our newspaper (twice). There is another similar sculpture in another location in Freudenstadt by the same artist called "Schwarzes Wasser." Apparently the patrons liked the first one so much that they wanted to provide another one just like it...?  I took this picture in a sort of "What the heck is that?" mood, and two days later it showed up in our newspaper - the newspaper photo was from almost this exact angle.