I don’t usually put reposts on my travel blog, because it’s a place for me to write about living in Germany and our travel adventures. But I just ran across this funny post from the Blogspot version of my original Overeducated Housewife blog, and I thought it might make a funny entry for this blog. So here it is, written September 7, 2014, and appearing here “as/is”. Please be advised that the language is a bit rawer than usual, because it was written for the original blog, and I tend to curse more there. I hope some of you enjoy it!
A few weeks ago, I ranted on my travel blog about Stuttgart Friends, which is a Facebook group dedicated to people in the Stuttgart area who are somehow affiliated with the US government. I’m pretty sure there are some Germans and other European folks on that site, too. While Stuttgart Friends and its many spinoff groups are generally very helpful, I notice that some folks get a bit uppity sometimes.
For instance, today someone posted a very interesting article about dining in Germany. Given that a lot of Americans are not familiar with dining in Europe, it was good reading. Many of us need to learn more about the local customs here. Some people were commenting about things they had or had not experienced while dining in German restaurants.
One person brought up how if you place your fork a certain way on your plate, it’s a signal to the server that you’re finished eating. I usually put my knife and fork at about 3 or 4 o’clock on the plate and, sure enough, the server takes my plate. Another person in the group dubbed this practice as “fork language”.
Well, I noticed that another person wrote a lengthy post about European table etiquette and how Americans are “backward” because, in general, we don’t eat the way Europeans do, with our knives in the right hand. Her initial post was somewhat interesting, though it bordered just slightly on snob territory. A couple more people, myself included, posted about so-called “fork language” and used that impromptu expression. I thought it was kind of a clever term, even if it’s not necessarily official. It sounds almost sexy, though the possibilities of what one might do while communicating with fork language are endless and potentially horrifying.
An old video I recently watched about table manners… They mention not having to hold silverware the “European way”. Funnily enough, Bill holds his silverware like a European does.
Our resident European etiquette expert came back and wrote how she was taught proper table etiquette, not “fork language”. She added a winky smiley, possibly to soften the blow of her holier than thou-ness. How awesome indeed!
Naturally, her comment annoyed me, because I’m not usually impressed by people who presume to school other adults in such a condescending manner. Moreover, if she was really an expert in etiquette, she’d know that it’s rude to try to chastise and correct people in that way. I mean, isn’t etiquette ultimately all about being graceful and making other people comfortable? And before anyone brings this up, I do not claim to be an etiquette expert. In fact, I delight in making certain people uncomfortable.
But really, I’ve always thought being polite and showing proper etiquette was about being charming, civil, gracious, and kind, not making other people feel like boorish twits because they don’t know how to position their forks when they want their plate cleared at a restaurant or they decide to refer to table etiquette as “fork language”. I mean, jeez!
So, being the smartass I am, I wrote, “Pin a rose on your nose…” 😉 (special thanks to Stephanie Tanner of Full House for that stale one liner…)
I mean, big fucking deal… So the proper term is “table etiquette”; that doesn’t mean the terminology can’t evolve and people can’t come up with new or creative ways to express themselves. That person needs to get over herself.
As much as I looked forward to being on our cruise, I’m genuinely happy to be home again. I think two week vacations are a bit much for me. On the other hand, I can’t think of a single segment of our trip that I’d want to omit. We had a good time in Oslo and Bergen before we got on our cruise. I’m actually kind of glad we were in Norway first, as judging by the sounds of some of our fellow passengers, I would have gotten a cold on the ship. It was better to endure the first part of that ordeal on dry land, even if I was sick on my birthday!
Bill has gone to fetch Noyzi, and I’m sitting here wondering how to start this series. I read through my older posts and it looks like I did a pretty good job covering most of the Norway portion of our trip. So maybe instead of doing what I usually do and writing a blow by blow for each day, I’ll just be more concise. It’s not like I get tons of readers, anyway.
Crocodile…
So, to sum up our trip–
*It started on June 16th with two nights in Oslo, a rather gritty city that was surprisingly hot during our visit. I saw many electric cars in Norway, but especially in Oslo! I think they are definitely the wave of the future. We stayed in the Saga Hotel in Oslo, which was a Best Western affiliated hotel in a residential area of town. There was no air conditioning, which made things kind of unpleasant, as it was hot in the room, and noisy outside.
*On June 18th, we took the Bergensbanen, an electric train, on a 6.5 hour trip from Oslo to Bergen. It’s said to be the most scenic train journey in Europe. We were in a private compartment, because by the time I booked in late April, the individual seats were all taken. We liked the compartment, except for the jerk who parked himself in front of our window during the most beautiful parts of the trip. I still managed to get some lovely photos. Pro-tip– if you ever take this trip yourself, make sure you have some local currency or bring along some food. The credit card machine went down during our journey, so we couldn’t buy lunch. I was CRANKY when we arrived in Bergen.
At the Bergen Aquarium.
*We arrived in Bergen during the afternoon of the 18th. I booked us at the Clarion Hotel Havnekontoret. It’s in a historic building, and offers some unusual perks. They have a snack during the afternoon and a no frills evening dinner. Both, along with breakfast, are included in the room rate. Once again, the room lacked air conditioning, which I would have expected in Norway, of course. But since it was warm there, it was not very comfortable, and it was even louder there than it was in Oslo. If you ever stay at this hotel, be sure to go to the rooftop and see the views of the harbor area. Next door is an excellent museum that is worth a visit. There’s also a beautiful Lutheran church right there, also worth a visit. Bergen offers a lot of things to do, and we would have done a lot more, if I hadn’t gotten sick. But beware of the throngs of cruise passengers! 😉
*On June 22, we flew on a very uncomfortable, tiny plane from Bergen to Stockholm to stay for our free night at the Nobis Hotel. I say it was “free”, but actually we paid for it by booking concierge class on Regent Seven Seas Splendor. I was a little worried about the process of checking in because we were there due to the cruise. There was no problem, though. We just mentioned Regent; they found our names; and it was all set. Our night at the hotel was fine. They gave us vouchers that helped offset the cost of a late lunch. I really enjoyed the bar, as the bartender made some wonderful, unique cocktails. My favorite was the Strawberry Basil Smash, but I also loved the Stockholm cocktail. Both were very refreshing designer cocktails. I wish we’d spent at least one more night in Stockholm. I didn’t get to see much of it.
*On June 23, we were transported by bus to Regent Seven Seas Splendor at Stockholm’s port. It was at this point that I really started getting a strong hit of our fellow Americans. I don’t spend a lot of time with Americans in my everyday life, so it was a bit of a shock. Mainly, I was just surprised by just how LOUD Americans are. Everywhere we sat, we heard other people’s conversations, complaints about jobs, family members, and business deals. The funny thing is we managed to fool quite a few Europeans by acting like Germans. I also noticed that on this cruise, we didn’t really make any new friends. The couples we talked to were all from Europe, too! But I was grateful that there wasn’t any obvious political chatter. I also noticed that Regent seems to be extremely LGBTQ friendly. There were a lot of same sex couples aboard, having a good time!
Now that I’ve gotten to the cruise portion of the trip, I’m going to start my series with that, since I have many pictures to share. Then, I will be discussing our hotels and restaurants in more detail, in case anyone’s interested in booking any of them. I may also offer some commentary on attractions we visited. Writing about this trip may keep me busy for the rest of July! 😀
Below are some more photos that I didn’t share in earlier posts. The first batch includes Oslo and Bergen pics…
“Fat here”? I bet someone did some impromptu editing…Historic museum in Oslo, where we saw exhibits about Samurai warriors, looked at mummies, and learned about money.The Nordic countries are very LGBTQ friendly. This was an exhibit about famous homosexuals in history.The crowded ship we took on our Oslo fjord cruise.A very old Norwegian lighthouse.Norwegian countryside.This JERK hung outside our door during the best parts of the train ride.Arrival in Bergen.My birthday dinner. Lovely presentation, but I had to send it back for more heat.A 3D exhibit at the Brygge Museum.Funicular in Bergen.Flying into Stockholm.You can eat whale in Bergen.A little library made from a former phone booth.Polar bear!Bill in the Magic Ice Bar. I was in the process of getting sick.I hated these in our Jettingen house, but liked them in the Stockholm hotel.Strawberry Basil Smash.Swedish burger.
I think there are a shitload of people here, about to embark on a cruise. I noticed that the Viking Mars cruise ship was parked at the port all day. I don’t know if the huge influx of people who showed up at our hotel today are from that cruise. I suspect they could be. Anyway, it’s kind of interesting to be here, because I noticed that even the Norwegians sound a lot like Americans, right down to the accent, and the lack of situational awareness in public spaces. People from the USA are LOUD!!! I think a lot of Norwegians are, too, so they kind of fit in.
I was a loud American too, before I moved to Germany. Bill and I have learned not to be so loud when we’re in public. It helps us blend in more and keep a low profile. Plus, Germans tend to hand out disapproving glares very freely if one behaves inappropriately. 😉
Anyway, after this afternoon’s adventures, I was pretty tired. I came back to the room and took an almost two hour nap, complete with dreams. Bill took a much shorter nap. Then, afterward, we went out to dinner. Our hotel actually offers “free” dinner and an afternoon snack, but the huge influx of people made us think it might be too crowded. So we went to Big Horn Steakhouse, a chain restaurant in Norway. The food was okay and the service was basically friendly, but the waiter was, in some ways, kind of inattentive. We sat for a long time with dirty plates in front of us as we tried to enjoy our wine.
I thought I might like to have dessert, but I figure that I’ll be eating a lot of that very soon. Tomorrow is my birthday, so there will be sweets… then on the 23rd, we join the Regent Splendor, and there will be lots of sweets… So, it’s no biggie that we decided to skip it tonight. In fact, based on my current body line, I’d say I could skip desserts until I’m dead! But of course I won’t be doing that!
Here are some photos from our dinner. I opted for ribs because I figured I’d be eating steak and fish on the boat (and probably here, until we get to Stockholm). Bill had a steak. It wasn’t as good as the one I had in Oslo a couple of nights ago. You can also see a horrifying ad for a nearby restaurant. Horrifying for me, anyway, since I am a mycophobe… The last photo is of the hotel lobby. It’s nice, especially when you’re waiting for hordes of people to use the one elevator to get to their rooms…
Yesterday, I had an unexpected encounter with the local police. It’s all because I impulsively ordered a new bookshelf for our bedroom. The new shelf is part of my quest to make our house more livable and less cluttered. I also bought a new “trolley” for our bathroom, to put toiletries and cleaning supplies in, as we don’t have a built in cabinet or closet. I got tired of seeing random stuff strewn all over the bathroom, and the pile of dusty books on my nightstand was getting out of hand. While I was at it, I also ordered fancy new toilet brushes! Maybe they will arrive today.
I feel somewhat accomplished, finally buying this trolley after four years in this house… It arrived a couple of hours after the minor police drama, and seems to have done the trick of giving me a new place for my stuff.
So what does this Amazon.de shopping spree have to do with my interaction with the local cops? Well, it seems that the shelf was shipped to me via GLS, which is a company that delivers parcels. The guy who was delivering the shelf was apparently “lost”, and he rang my neighbor’s doorbell, looking for my house. He claimed I wasn’t home, although I was actually home all morning.
Recently, someone in our neighborhood Facebook group posted about random people who seemed to be casing the neighborhood, possibly looking for places to burgle. I guess, to my neighbors, the delivery guy looked and acted like he might have been up to no good.
My neighbors got suspicious and called the cops, perhaps because they were going to start their vacation yesterday, and were worried about a break in while they were gone. I was none the wiser when this was happening, as I was writing a post on my regular blog and practicing guitar.
Anyway, the delivery guy eventually found my house, rang my doorbell, and dropped off the new shelf, even bringing it into the house for me. I appreciated that, given the rainy weather and the item’s cumbersome size. I still had to haul it upstairs, but aside from being kind of hard to carry, it wasn’t too heavy.
The shelf was very easy to set up– took maybe two minutes, once I opened the box. I moved our laundry hamper and set up the shelf where the hamper had been, then put the books that needed a new home on it. Then I went downstairs to do my daily routine dog poop search and destroy mission in the backyard.
I had just collected and bagged a fresh pile of Noyzi’s shit, and was about to take it to the grey bin, when the doorbell rang again. This time, it was my neighbor wanting to ask about the delivery. In my hand, I still had the bright red bag of fresh dog crap, recently deposited by Noyzi, the Kosovar wonderdog. I tried to hold it out of sight as I spoke to my neighbor.
Who knew this new shelf would cause such a ruckus?
My neighbor asked me about the delivery. I said I had just received it. His wife came over and asked me more questions. I got the sense that maybe she was the one who was suspicious about the delivery man. I reassured them that yes, I had bought a new bookshelf, and the guy– who was admittedly a little unkempt– had dropped it off a short while ago. I was kind of wanting to hurry up the interrogation, so I could finally rid myself of the bag of crap.
Then, they went back to speak to the male and female police officers. I dashed out to the trash cans so I could throw away Noyzi’s poop. I was dressed in my nightgown, and it was still steadily raining. Nevertheless, the cops wanted to talk to me, too, and tried starting a conversation in the middle of our cul-de-sac. I looked up at the sky and suggested we talk on my stoop, which has benefit of a balcony for shelter from the rain.
The cops asked me to explain everything that happened, right down to showing them the label of my box, verifying that it was delivered by GLS. I described what I remembered of the man and his white van. Then they asked for my phone number, which I struggled to recall, since I don’t call myself or give that number out to too many people.
I noticed, as I was talking to the cops, that they were both VERY young looking. They looked like they were in their early 20s. The woman was quite pretty, too. Both of them spoke English, and they were very polite and even pleasant, and not in the typical “American” sense. Germans, as a rule, are more formal than Americans are.
Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of U.S. based police videos, and I’ve noticed a lot of the American cops are pretty horrible. In fairness, so are a lot of the people they have to deal with… so I guess it’s understandable that they’d be the way they are.
Still, I was quite impressed by the German cops I spoke to yesterday. They were very mature, thorough, and professional, even though they looked like they were barely adults. They took my neighbor’s complaint seriously, even though it was probably clear to them that the delivery was legit, and not some guy looking to break into their house while they’re gone. My non-existent hat is off to them!
Twenty-four hours ago, I was in downtown Stuttgart, lying on my back, as our trusty German/American dentist, Dr. Blair, was applying a dental dam to my mouth and telling me about his ancestry. It was the first time in a long time since I’d had any fillings done. And I don’t remember any of my previous dentists using a dental dam when I did have them done. I think previous dentists were more likely to only use them for crowns.
I knew this drama was coming. Six months ago, when Bill and I last went to Stuttgart to see Dr. Blair, he said he didn’t like the looks of the filling in my last remaining baby tooth, on the bottom left side of my mouth. I’d last had it filled in 2013, when we first moved to Texas. The tooth above it– also a baby tooth– had a cracked filling, which the Texas dentist repaired. She said she believed the other baby tooth needed a new filling. I was worried, in 2013, that the baby tooth wasn’t going to survive another repair, but my previous dentist assured me it would make it through the procedure. She refilled the tooth. I thought it would be for the last time, since it’s a baby tooth.
One year later, we moved to Stuttgart, and the top tooth that had the cracked filling promptly abscessed. It had a fractured root. I didn’t have pain, because there was an exit for the infection. However, this wasn’t a condition I wanted to let go for too long. Once Bill had dental insurance again, we visited Dr. Blair for the first time. He eventually pulled the abscessed top baby tooth, and in 2016, I got a spiffy dental implant, which has worked perfectly. I know that eventually, I’ll need another implant. Hopefully, Dr. Blair can do that one, too.
Fast forward to yesterday. I was worried about the baby tooth surviving yet another filling, because it’s 50 years old, and was never meant to work for so long. But after 45 minutes in the chair, the work was done. About 45 minutes after that, my teeth were clean and smooth, although my mouth was still numb for about four hours. Bill also had to have a little work done, but his work didn’t require any novocaine.
Lately, I’ve been choosing to pair our visits to Dr. Blair’s office with excursions to places we haven’t yet been. For instance, we’ve done two Black Forest trips and a trip to a part of Alsace, France, we hadn’t yet visited. We decided to stay in Stuttgart this time, because we weren’t just having cleanings done. Next time we see Dr. Blair, unless there’s a problem, we’ll probably go somewhere else relatively nearby that we haven’t been to yet. Maybe my German friend, Susanne, will finally see us visit her hometown of Freiburg. I’ve been trying to arrange a trip there for years!
The trip to see our fabulous dentist was the main reason we went back to Stuttgart over the weekend. However, we had other reasons for going back “home” (Stuttgart has been “home” for us for six out of twenty years of marriage). The fact of the matter is, Stuttgart is a pretty nice place to visit. We made a valiant attempt to see a lot more of it during our most recent four year stint living there, but there are still a lot of places we haven’t been. There are also places we wanted to see again.
Over the weekend, we managed to visit a couple of new places, as well as a place we hadn’t seen since 2008, when we lived in the Stuttgart area the first time. We stayed in the Wald Hotel, our favorite Stuttgart area hotel, albeit in their “suite”, which we’d never tried before. I believe it was our fifth stay at the Degerloch four star accomodation, located near a sports complex and the famed Fernsehturm (TV tower).
We ate good food, drank lots of libations, experienced just about every kind of weather, bought a new rug, met new people, listened to music, picked up souvenirs for Bill’s grandchildren, and spent plenty of euros. I got pictures, too. So I hope you’ll come along with me on my latest jaunt to our old stomping grounds… Maybe you’ll learn something new… or just be entertained. Or maybe not.
I’m just happy my smile is bright again, and my tooth is fixed. Turns out it wasn’t as bad as Dr. Blair thought it was. Stay tuned for part two!
Featured photo is yet another 3D city model… I just saw the one for Wiesbaden a couple of weeks ago. Now I seem to see them everywhere. 😉
We had good weather yesterday, so Bill and I decided to go to Wiesbaden for lunch. I had a few places in mind where I’d like to go, but they were all pretty crowded. We ended up at Scotch N’ Soda, which is an Irish pub that is popular with the American community in Wiesbaden. In retrospect, I realize there’s another Irish pub near there that we have never visited. Maybe we should have gone there… but we were destined to go to the place we knew from prior visits.
One reason we like Scotch N’ Soda, besides the fact that they have a lot of scotches, is that they don’t take a midday pause. We have a tendency to get started late on the weekends, especially on Saturdays. But as it turned out, we were well within the bounds of the lunch hours when we arrived. A lot of people were sitting outside, because it was relatively warm and sunny. We went inside, where there were several tables available.
Bill ordered us a round of beers, and I looked up and noticed a reminder of Arran… We have twice been to the distillery that makes Arran Malt whisky, and it’s a good product. We didn’t have any yesterday, but it was a reminder that our dog, Arran, will always be popping up in unexpected places.
Arran’s memory lingers.
Lots of people were watching rugby on the televisions while Bill and I enjoyed comfort food. He had cottage pie, and I had fish ‘n chips with mushy peas. I actually got the small portion (one piece of fish)– they also offer medium and large. I couldn’t finish it. In fact, we didn’t even eat dinner last night. Say what you want about British and Irish food, it does stick to the ribs!
Kilkenny and Guiness on draft…Dollars and euros on the ceiling….Impressive scotch whisky collection.Excellent fish n’ chips. This was a SMALL!Cottage pie… I didn’t try it, but Bill ate the whole thing.They have lots of bottled beer, too.I told him a dirty joke to get this smile.
Before we got to Scotch N’ Soda, we walked around Wiesbaden a bit. I noticed something I’d never seen before. There’s a really cool city model near the main drag. Four years, we’ve been living here, and we never saw it before yesterday.
This was constructed in 2010 and even has Braille translation. I’m always struck by how pretty the city of Wiesbaden is. It’s so graceful and genteel, compared to Stuttgart.
And no visit to Wiesbaden would be complete without a photo of the Evangelical Market Church in downtown Wiesbaden. It is such an imposing and beautiful structure. Every time I see it, it takes my breath away.
To see this huge, majestic church in person is an experience. It always makes me feel small and insignificant. Maybe that’s the point… to remind Christians of the vastness of God. I’m not particularly religious, but I can appreciate that sentiment.
Well, it’s our first weekend without Arran… and we do miss him. This is the first time since 2002 that we haven’t had a beagle in the family. Noyzi is a wonderful dog and we love him very much, but he’s definitely different on many levels. It’s hard to get used to not having a warm doggy body on the bed with us. Noyzi probably would oblige, but he’s really too big to share the bed, even though it’s a king.
On the other hand, there are some things about Arran I won’t miss… like the fact that he was never 100 percent housetrained. He was good about 90 percent of the time, but we had to watch him, especially at night or in the early morning. Sometimes he had a habit of relieving himself on my rugs, rather than telling us he needed to go outside.
On Friday morning, Arran actually DID alert me, even though he could barely walk, and he did his business outside. But as recently as a couple of weeks ago, I found a big wet spot in his favorite place. Noyzi, on the other hand, almost never goes potty in the house. He’s always been like that, even when we first got him. It’s a definite plus!
I don’t know if or when we’ll get another beagle. We do love them… but they can be rascals, and they require a lot of diligence to make sure they don’t get into trouble. On the other hand, they’re cute, snuggly, friendly, and hilarious. And they’re also not quite as common in Germany as they are in the southern United States. I have noticed they’re much more popular here now than they used to be, though.
I suspect our next dog could be another Eastern European or Balkan immigrant… and smaller than Noyzi is. We shall see. For now, I think we’re going to enjoy having a little more freedom. It’s time to start planning a vacation. I definitely need one, and this blog needs some fresh material. So stay tuned for that.
We didn’t enjoy any excursions over the weekend because winter has come back to Wiesbaden with a chilly flourish. I also needed to wait for some new recording equipment to arrive, which it did in the afternoon. By Sunday, the weather was grim and decidedly cold. So we stayed home, ate takeout food, listened to music, and talked. We also enjoyed another weekend with Arran.
His lymph node under his left foreleg has gotten noticeably bigger. I don’t have to feel for it anymore. It’s now pretty obvious on casual view. And yet, Arran is still eating, sleeping, playing, walking, and being his adorable self. I know it’s probably not going to be much longer before he starts feeling badly again. But for now, we’re enjoying his affectionate company. He and Noyzi even seem to be getting along better lately. The featured photo was taken today. Yesterday, I actually caught them lying next to each other, as if they were pals.
I sense that Arran knows he’s going to be headed to the Rainbow Bridge soon. Most of our dogs have been like this, toward the end. Our beagle, Flea, used to insist on sitting with us in the last months of his life. Our first rescue, CuCullain, used to insist on taking walks with both Bill and me. Zane came and found me and slathered me with kisses two weeks before he died. MacGregor was probably in too much pain to show us this kind of affection before he passed, but instead, seemed to stay with us through Arran, who often acts like his predecessor.
Arran has always been a velcro dog, but he’s become even more so lately. Noyzi is also spending more time hanging out with me, rather than staying in his bed in his room, which is also an entertainment room that we rarely use.
I just took the dogs for a walk. Arran had plenty of energy, even though he has a peach sized swelling by his leg. He’s supposed to go to the vet for more chemo tomorrow. It seems to keep him feeling okay, even though the cancer is obviously progressing.
Still, I am amazed when I see Arran behave like he did in the video below, which was taken a couple of days ago. Arran truly is an amazing dog… resilient, loving, affectionate, and full of surprises. I don’t know if or when we will find his successor, but that dog will have some big pawprints to fill, even if Arran is, himself, just a medium sized dog.
Arran really is an incredible dog. He’s such a fighter!
It’s nice to see Arran and Noyzi getting along better. It was a long time coming. When we had Zane, the situation was the opposite. For awhile, Zane and Arran were actual buddies who got along beautifully. Then, Zane started having health problems. Arran took advantage and tried to be the top dog. He would pick fights with Zane, who did not enjoy fighting, but would fight if it was necessary.
Sometimes, Arran got the better of Zane, but there were a few notable times when Zane kicked Arran’s ass. I always got the sense that Zane really resented Arran for that. It was like he never forgave him for turning on him. They weren’t really friends at the end of Zane’s life.
With Noyzi, it seems like the opposite is true. Arran hated Noyzi at first, but slowly came around. And now, they almost seem like friends. I think it’s because Arran is very devoted to us. It’s like he knows he has to go soon, and he’s passing the torch. Or maybe it’s just comforting thinking for a silly human.
Maybe Noyzi has a little bit of Zane in him… and now Zane is in a much bigger and more imposing body. Noyzi doesn’t fight at all, but one time, Arran got too jealous and was eager to get into a scrap with him. Noyzi calmly put his massive paw on Arran’s back, and that was the end of that nonsense. Arran hit the ground and never tried such a stunt again.
Anyway, I’m going to try to enjoy this time… especially as the dogs finally bond a little. I’m sure that when the time is right, Arran will be back in the same way Zane is.
Bill did notice the sign was up for the wine stand this weekend. Maybe we’ll get to go. I know Hofheim is having a City Wine Fest this weekend. I hope we can get out and have some fun, before Bill has to go on another business trip.
It’s been seven days since my last post on this blog. I haven’t written because I haven’t had too much to write about this week. We had extremely cold weather last week. It lasted until Monday, when the snow we got last week turned into black ice. Sure enough, I slipped and fell on my ass, bruising my left buttcheek. Since I also did something to my right hip, that was an even less welcome development than it might have otherwise been. My butt recovered after a day, but my right hip is still painful. I might even have to break down and see a doctor about it.
Arran had his latest chemo treatment last night. He’s now in the second phase of his treatment. Bill took him in, and said the vet was impressed by Arran’s resilience. He is still doing very well. I think she thought maybe he wouldn’t take to chemo, because of his age, and because he was getting sick when we got his first treatment. His red blood cells have improved, while his white blood cells are still elevated. But they would be elevated anyway, due to the treatments. Because he’s in the second phase of chemo, he doesn’t take as much medication. He goes to the vet every other week for IV push meds, and takes less of the Endoxan (chemo pill). However, he’s still on Prednisolone, which makes him more of a stinker than usual.
We have plans to go Villa Im Tal on the afternoon of the 26th. It’s one of our favorite fine dining restaurants. I look forward to it, although I worry that Arran will try to break into the basement while we’re gone. He’s regressed in his behavior since he started chemo. I ordered a new gate– one that’s sturdier and taller– to try to prevent him from invading the basement. Other than that, he’s mostly himself… taking walks, eating like a champ, sleeping, cuddling, and being cute. We’re really cherishing this time with him.
We had a new dishwasher installed yesterday. The old one was twelve years old and broke. I’m glad we got both things done before Christmas, which is pretty much going to shut everything down for a few days. Our landlord is slowly but surely upgrading our house. He says he wants to install new windows and a heat pump, too. As he was leaving yesterday, he asked Bill if we needed more wood for the fireplace or salt for the dishwasher. We’re fine, but it’s nice to have a landlord who cares about our well-being and happiness. I’m sure he likes having the house occupied, and after four years with us, he knows we won’t disturb him unless it’s really necessary.
Getting new windows will be like deja vu, since new windows were installed in our last house as we were moving in. It was kind of a painful process, but the windows were really nice. Maybe we’ll get electric shutters, too. 😉 Ex landlady put in electric shutters on the windows in the living room. They were very nice, but sometimes they didn’t work properly. She also lectured us about not losing the remote control, which of course we didn’t. That was probably one of the only things we did right in that house. :eyeroll:
Other than that, it’s been a pretty boring week. Although January and February can be pretty bleak in Germany, I kind of look forward to being done with the Christmas season. It’s so dark over here during this time of year. And because I don’t really want to leave Arran alone unless it’s necessary, I’ve been a bit “fun deprived” lately. With more light and warmth, we might be able to take him with us more often.
The only other thing that happened this week was our neighbor had a bunch of us over for Gluhwein. It was frigid outside, so when we came back into the house, I ordered a new parka. It probably won’t get used much, but it might be the last parka I will ever buy. Oh… and my neighbor thought I was an 80s baby, which was a nice compliment. I am very much a card carrying member of Generation X, though… born in the 70s.
Breckenheim sure is a friendly little village. It’s a lot of fun to bond with the neighbors. Funny enough, several of the ones who live near us are from Baden-Württemberg! They seem to like Hessen more. It’s probably because there’s wine… and people are a little warmer. I do miss the beautiful sights down in BW, though. It will always have a piece of my heart.
The featured photo is of Arran near our wine barrel table. He was obsessed with the framed photo of my husband’s daughter’s family, because it smelled like the treats she sent in a box to us!
Today’s post is going to be different than usual. It might even be a bit controversial. I’ve decided to write about it here, instead of on my main blog, because it has to do with travel and international relations. And it also complements a piece I wrote for my main blog this morning. So here goes…
Last month, I wrote about the trip Bill and I took to Ribeauville, France for our 20th wedding anniversary. It was our sixth visit to Ribeauville, a town that has become one of our favorite places to visit when we need a break from Germany. This time, we went there because we wanted to go somewhere dog friendly to celebrate our anniversary. Because Arran has been undergoing chemotherapy, and Noyzi had never been on a trip before, we thought it would be best to go somewhere we knew could accommodate them.
Although we have visited Ribeauville many times, I didn’t realize that a lot of businesses would be closed during our November visit. I would have expected a lot of closures during the winter season. But when we got there, our host, Yannick, explained that a lot of businesses shut down for a rest just before the Christmas season, because of the surge in business when people descend on the village to shop the markets. Consequently, the tourist friendly town was pretty dead during our visit. Only a few restaurants were open, and not all of the retail establishments were doing business.
In my blog series about our most recent trip to Ribeauville, I wrote about an unfortunate experience we had at a wine shop in Ribeauville. I didn’t go into great detail about it in the blog post, because overall, we had a good time. However, Bill and I did submit Google reviews about the place where we got bad service. We would not have bothered to do that if the shopkeeper had given us the right wine, but the unfriendliness coupled with incompetence invited comment. Some people might question our decision to complain about our experience on the Internet. I would invite the naysayers to consider the value of people sharing their opinions about products and services.
The whole reason Google offers people the chance to leave reviews is so that others might be able to choose the most appropriate places to spend their money. I almost always use reviews when I decide to book places to stay overnight. Sometimes I read restaurant reviews before I’ll book a table. I look for reviews of doctors, veterinarians, and lawyers, too, because I don’t want to waste time or money on something that will be inappropriate or disappointing.
Think about shopping at Amazon. Most of us read reviews before we make purchases, right? It helps one decide between two similar products and maybe avoid bad experiences… or increase the odds of having a really good experience. It also gives businesses the chance to do some quality control, if they are so inclined. As much as business people don’t want to hear about something going wrong, they can’t fix problems if they don’t know they exist. And in the case of the wine shop we reviewed, we couldn’t have complained in person, even if we’d wanted to, because the salesperson only spoke French, and Bill and I can’t speak French.
So, Bill wrote about how, after lunch on a cold, rainy afternoon in Ribeauville, we decided we wanted to buy some wine to take home with us. We were actually hoping to get the chance to do a tasting. Ribeauville has a lot of places where it’s possible to taste wines before buying them, and we hoped we’d find such an outlet that offered tastings when we were wine shopping. Unfortunately, on that particular day, most of the winesellers were closed, either because it was too early in the day, or because they had closed before commencing the Christmas markets. We decided we just wanted to buy the wine and hole up in the apartment, since the weather was so yucky and the dogs were waiting for us.
We saw that this one wine shop was open. The lights were on; the door was open; it was a quaint looking place. Bill had successfully shopped there before, so we had no reason to think we’d have a bad experience there. We walked in and saw there was a woman behind the counter. It was apparently her job to sell wine. She was giving off unwelcoming vibes, and looked quite annoyed that we’d come into her shop. In retrospect, we probably should have just walked out. But we wanted to buy Alsatian wine, and were planning to leave the next morning. So we approached her.
Bill asked her if she spoke English or German. Her response was a flat “no.” Okay… well, it’s France, so we don’t necessarily expect that she speaks any language other than French. She had a menu available. We spotted a package we wanted. It consisted of three Pinot Blancs and three Rieslings. We pointed to that, and I said more than once, “No Gewurztraminer.” Granted, I didn’t say it in French, but “no” means “no” in English and French. So, actually, I probably did say it in French.
The woman packed up the wines in a box. We weren’t able to see which bottles she put in the box before she taped it up. Bill paid for the package we indicated, and we quickly got out of there, because we felt unwelcome. The whole interaction lasted maybe five minutes.
When we got home, we found three bottles of Gewurztraminer instead of the Riesling we wanted. I was immediately annoyed, because not only were we treated very rudely, but we also didn’t get what we ordered. So Bill and I wrote reviews of the shop on Google, noticing that we weren’t the only people who got bad service at that particular establishment. However, we appeared to be the only Americans who had reviewed their shop. Everyone else was evidently either from France or Germany.
Last night, Bill saw that he got a response from the wine shop about the review he wrote. The woman responded in French that she was “very sorry” about her “attitude” if she was the one to whom we were referring. And she added that it was “unfortunate” that we got bottles of Gewurztraminer instead of Riesling, since Gewurztraminer is “more expensive”. Her implication seems to be that we should be grateful that we got more expensive wines when we paid for cheaper wines.
I was a bit taken aback by the woman’s response. But here are my four takeaways from this experience.
This woman doesn’t care about giving people what they ordered.
I don’t know if she owns the shop or is just an employee, but apparently she doesn’t care that she cost the business money because she gave us the wrong wines.
She thinks that things that cost more are automatically better.
She doesn’t realize that Riesling and Gewurztraminer are different wines and taste different.
I will admit that I am not an expert on Gewurztraminer, but I have never had one that I’ve enjoyed. Perhaps if the shop had offered tastings, the saleslady could have convinced us that Gewurztraminer was the better choice. She wouldn’t have even needed to speak English or German to do that. Bill and I have done tastings at other vintners in France in which all the proprietor did was pour sips of wine for us and let us decide if we wanted to purchase it. But her shop didn’t offer tastings, which is certainly fair enough.
But, since they didn’t offer tastings, and I know I like Rieslings and haven’t historically liked Gewurztraminers, I ordered Rieslings– not Gewurztraminers. It doesn’t make a happy damn to me that Gewurztraminers cost more than Rieslings do. It’s not worth anything to me if I don’t want to drink it. And while I don’t necessarily assume that the customer is always right, I do think people should get what they ask for, and pay for, or something that comes reasonably close if what they want isn’t available. This morning, when Bill and I were talking about this, he said “I’m sure a pink, diamond encrusted, Mercedes Benz would cost more than our Volvo did. That doesn’t mean I want to drive it.”
I decided to write about this incident on Facebook. I posted about it on my page, and in a wine group I run. I kind of knew in the back of my head that posting about it in the wine group would be risky, since a lot of people in the group are affiliated with the U.S. military, and a lot of people in that community seem to think that no one ever has the right to complain about anything. If you complain, you’re automatically labeled a “karen” (a term I usually refuse to use because I think it’s stupid). Below is what I posted:
That last bit was a reference to an experience Bill and I had in Ribeauville back in May 2018, when we visited a restaurant. I had ordered an entrecote steak. Bill ordered smoked salmon pancakes. The waiter came out with the pancakes and choucroute garni (Alsatian dish with sausages and sauerkraut), which was NOT what I ordered. When I politely pointed that out to the guy, he immediately got really pissed and insisted that I had ordered sausages and sauerkraut. Why would I lie about what I ordered? I didn’t want the choucroute garni, because I don’t like sauerkraut. He took the dish away, then came back and tried to get me to accept it, since it would take time to prepare the steak I ordered. Bill, being the prince of a man that he is, offered to take the choucroute garni. I took the salmon pancakes, since they had been my second choice. Unfortunately, the pancakes were badly scorched.
Am I really a “karen” if I complain about this at a restaurant? Not only is it not what I ordered, but it’s burnt.
The Ribeauville wine shop lady reminded me of the waiter at the Ribeauville restaurant who gave us very bad service and expected me to shut up and color. But… in fairness to the town, everyone else there has been fabulous. That’s why we’ve visited there six times so far!
Anyway, I had a feeling that someone would assume that I brought on my own problems at the wine shop. Sure enough, I was right. Someone responded that I shouldn’t have “expected” the wine shop woman to speak English or German at a shop in France. Where in my post does it say that I expected her to speak another language? I wrote in a matter-of-fact way that the woman didn’t speak German or English. We don’t speak French. There’s no judgment about that. Many people in that region speak German, though, because it’s very close to the German border.
Lots of Europeans speak English. In fact, a lot of people from other parts of Europe speak English to each other even if they don’t come from an English speaking country. English is a very commonly studied second language in many parts of Europe. Say you’re a French person visiting Spain, and you don’t speak Spanish, but you can speak English. You visit a Spanish restaurant and the waiter doesn’t speak French, but does speak English. You can both speak English and get what you need. See? I’ve seen this happen on many occasions.
It’s generally not possible for everyone living in Europe to learn every language, although I have met some impressive people who had seemed to try. It’s not uncommon to meet people in Europe who have mastered four or five tongues, especially among the Romance languages, but they’d still be struggling if they were somewhere in rural Croatia, Latvia, or Poland and the person they were trying to talk to didn’t speak one of the languages they happened to know.
The person in my wine group continued that she had studied French in high school and college, so she has never experienced rude behavior in France. The implication, apparently, is that I’m an “ugly American” and ignorant because I don’t speak French and had the nerve to ask the saleslady if she spoke English or German.
I was pretty irritated by that reaction and response, because I felt it was pretty judgmental. I’ve lived in Germany for ten years of my life. I like living here. Otherwise, I would have gone back to America or somewhere else a long time ago. Moreover, I completely understand the importance of being culturally sensitive. Besides Germany, I’ve also lived in England and Armenia. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia, where I taught English to little kids. And yes, I do speak some Armenian, a language that I’ll bet relatively few Americans have ever learned a word of.
I also understand that it’s important to study foreign language in school. I studied Spanish for six years, stupidly assuming I’d be living in the United States, where more people speak Spanish than French or German. Believe me, if I had known I’d be living in Germany, I would have studied German and/or French. But I didn’t have a crystal ball back in 1985, when I started taking a foreign language course for the first time. I learned the language I thought was most practical. Based on how my life has turned out, I was wrong.
Someone else wrote that maybe the woman misunderstood me because I don’t speak French. She reasoned that her mother is from Greece and sometimes misunderstands accents. But I don’t think that was what happened, because “No Gewurztraminer” is pretty clear in French and English, especially when we also point to the menu and PAY the price for the box we ordered– which the proprietor says is cheaper than the price is for a box with Gewurztraminer.
Why do people feel like they need to play devil’s advocate, even when the other person isn’t even around to be offended. The wine purveyor isn’t in my wine group, after all. I didn’t even mention which shop she runs. I was just sharing an experience. Why can’t people simply have empathy, rather than try to blame the victim?
The saleslady was not only rude to us, but she also made a mistake; then she shamed us for daring to speak out about it. And instead of apologizing for making the mistake, which everybody does sometimes, she responded in a way that indicated that we were right about her disposition. She’s just plain rude, and probably should find a new line of work that makes her happier. I mean, it’s not like she was slammed with people on the day of our visit. We were the only people in her shop, which was legitimately open for business. We made a very simple request. She botched it, and was very unpleasant to boot. Then, when we legitimately complained, she continued to show everyone her ass.
I think that experience warrants a complaint… or even just a comment, so that other people can avoid that experience themselves. I comment about what happened to Americans, and some of them imply that this was my fault. Isn’t that really nice?
Listen, I’ll be the first to admit that I can be extremely annoying sometimes. This was not one of those times. This was a five minute interaction that went terribly awry for some reason, in spite of our best intentions. I simply wanted to write about it. But some people want to make anyone who sounds off a villain, especially if it involves Americans. Oh well.
We donated two of the offending wines to a Thanksgiving celebration. Hopefully, someone will enjoy the “more expensive” wines that we bought in Alsace. And next time we go to Ribeauville, we’ll try one of the other wine purveyors… providing they’re open for business. I probably should give up wine, anyway… and whine. My liver would surely thank me for it.
Once again, thanks to the weather and COVID-19, it wasn’t a very exciting week in Deutschland. Even if the pandemic weren’t an issue, I doubt I’d want to go out and about in the gloomy weather that happens every January in this part of Europe. It’s chilly–not particularly cold, which is unusual for Germany in January– and there’s a lot of rain. We had a couple of dustings of snow, but nothing remarkable. The backyard is still a slop pit. Last night, I was cutting pieces of our felled crepe myrtle and feeding them to the fireplace, surprised by how easily they burned, despite being newly cut and not seasoned.
Our landlord usually supplies us with free firewood, but he hasn’t offered any lately and Bill hasn’t requested any. We don’t use the fireplace as often as we probably should… we both love having fires, and we haven’t been lucky enough to live in a lot of places with fireplaces. So far, I count two homes with fireplaces and one with a really awesome masonry heater. Sometimes I wish we could transport this house and its landlord to Baden-Württemberg, where we had snow more often.
Anyway, none of that is either here nor there. Today’s post is about yet another Facebook purchase I made. I don’t usually buy stuff off of Facebook, but one night, I was on the brink of falling asleep, and I saw an ad for the DryMee quick dry bath mat. I was half asleep when I made this purchase decision, and once I made it, I kind of regretted it. The mat cost about 40 euros, after all. And then I noticed how long it would take to get to me– 10 to 15 work days, I think. Why? Because it was coming all the way from China!
But the mat arrived this week, and I have to say, I am pleased with it for one major reason, which you can see by the photo above. The mat is flat and thin enough to fit under the door when it’s open. So now I don’t have to stand on a wet floor after a shower or move a mat there while I’m showering. Also, while I can’t say that the mat is absorbent as it appears to be in the video on the Facebook ad I bought it from, it IS quite absorbent and makes quick work of sucking up the water from the shower.
On the Web site where I bought this mat, it says that they’re running a “New Year’s Special” with 50 percent off the suggested price of 79,90 euros. Well, folks, I think the suggested price is bullshit, and I wouldn’t pay that much for that mat or any other mat, unless it was capable of massaging my feet or something special like that. But for what it is, and what it does, I have to admit I am satisfied. It does what we need it to do, and I am delighted that I can open and close the bathroom door without having to move it.
One thing I also have to mention… When you order stuff from other countries, sometimes you have to pay duties or customs fees. I didn’t have to pay anything for this mat, although I was prepared with some euros just in case. When I made my hasty impulse purchase, I didn’t realize this would be shipped from China. If I had known it was coming from there, I probably would not have bought it… not because I have anything against China per se, but because it takes so long for orders from China to get to us. On the other hand, as I wrote earlier on my main blog this week, I have gotten some real and honest enjoyment out of some Chinese products, like the hat pictured below.
Yes, that is a picture of Mister Rogers with his two middle fingers raised.
Last year, an enterprising Chinese businessperson offered this nifty hat for sale on Amazon.de. And yes, as an impulse buyer, I decided to purchase one. The hat came in handy this week after an encounter with a drunk hoodlum in our neighborhood. You can read about that incident on my main blog, as it’s not PG rated enough for this blog. Kidding about the PG rating… but not about the obnoxious uninvited visitor. I also wrote an update after some of our other neighbors posted about the intruder in our neighborhood Facebook group.
Mister Rogers did this while singing with little kids. Clearly, he wasn’t aware that raising the middle finger is taboo.
I like how community minded Breckenheim is. I was going to cross post that story on this blog, since it needs some love, but I decided that a lot of the people who are currently reading this blog also read the other one. So if you’re not a reader of my main blog, now’s your chance to check it out. I hope it doesn’t offend.
Noyzi the Kosovar rescue dog went to the vet for some routine vaccines. He charmed the vet with his stumpy little natural bobtail, which is always wagging. He becomes more adorable by the week, especially as he trusts Bill more and more. It really is rewarding to have him. Sometimes, a little ghost of Zane (his predecessor) comes out. But Noyzi is very much his own dog with his own personality.
Noyzi does one thing that most of our rescued hounds have never done. I think the one exception was CuCullain (CC), our very first beagle mix (with husky) rescue. That is, Noyzi will often “stand guard”. He will sit or lie next to me, facing the door. CC was a tri-colored beagle mix with bright blue eyes and a horrific husky-like undercoat that shed a lot. But he did have some of those big dog– prey oriented– traits. Sometimes, Noyzi reminds me of him. Like CC, Noyzi also doesn’t bark much, nor is he a licker. He will, however, happily plunge his nose into my ass, especially if I’m bent over. As someone who usually has beagles, this is a strange thing to get used to. All of our dogs have been too short to do such a thing.
Dogs are the best company.
The only other major event that came up this week is that our landlord came over to settle the Nebenkosten (other costs– water, gas, etc.) for 2021. Once again, we didn’t use as much water and trash service as we paid for, so we got about 600 euros back. And once again, I am amazed at the differences between this landlord and others we’ve had. It’s so nice to rent from someone who is fair, honest, and treats us with basic respect. I hope we can stay awhile… at least until our stocks recover from the recent plunge. I doubt that will be a problem, given the state of the world today. But I’ve also learned after years as a spouse to a military guy, sometimes Uncle Sam has other plans. Or, barring Uncle Sam’s plans, some meddlesome, narcissistic twit who doesn’t mind upending other people’s lives based on their own whims.
Our landlord told us to just take 630 euros off our next month’s rent.
Someday, we WILL travel again. Or we will eat in a restaurant. But for now, so ends another gloomy winter week in Deutschland… as the post Christmas blues slowly wane into the February blues.
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