For the past three weeks, Breckenheim has been having wine stands every Friday night. Usually, they only do it every other night. I didn’t go to the one two weeks ago, because Bill was in Romania. Last week, we decided not to go because of the weather. We decided to go last night, because we hadn’t attended a wine stand in so long– not since we went to Switzerland in late June!
It’s been raining a lot lately, and about two hours before the wine stand started, there was heavy rainfall and even some hail! So most of the wooden tables were a bit warped, because they got dumped on. We had to be careful putting our glasses down!
Attendance last night was pretty decent, after the first hour. The temperature was decent; I wore pants instead of shorts. Bill ran into our neighbor, Pete, and spoke to him in German. He used the formal form of “you” with Pete, who corrected him and told him to use “Du”. I was explaining to Bill that “du” is also “you” in Armenian, and there is a “formal” usage there, as well. Only instead of “Sie”, one would say “Duk”. That may be the only thing Armenian and German have in common… Oh, and the word, “potato”, is pronounced “Kartoffel” in German and “kartofeel” in Armenian. And it’s “kartopchka” in Russian… Wonder why we English speakers call them “potatoes”…
Anyway, I got a few photos, so here they are. I’m not sure what we’ll do today. I spent this morning making a song parody that got blocked on YouTube, so I ended up putting it on my blog using VideoPress. Then, I fixed my beloved dark green purse, which I bought in Italy. Bill took it to a shoe repair guy, and he couldn’t fix it. Bill found the part that fell off the bag and I figured out to to repair the strap myself. It was as simple as screwing… (heh heh heh). Then I tuned three of our six guitars. I just replaced the strings on one of them.
We had a good time drinking wine and supporting the local clubs, then came home, listened to music, ate burgers, and made a video for Bill’s daughter, who is preparing for her latest baby’s arrival in a few months. She really has her hands full, but somehow manages to take care of everything with a smile and a good attitude. I wish I could be as cheerful about life as she is. Ah well. At least I can make snarky song parodies. If you want to see it, just click on the link to the main blog… or click here. Until I write a new post, it will be the latest one.
After a busy morning of visiting museums and climbing the Castle Tower, we were ready for some lunch. I wanted something other than heavy Czech fare, but I didn’t want pizza. We ended up at an Italian restaurant in the middle of town called Pizzeria Latran, which offered pasta dishes as well as pizzas. Looking back on it, I almost wish we had gotten a pizza there, as they looked and smelled great, and I was able to watch a female employee baking them in a wood fired oven that was visible from the dining room. But even when we share a single pizza, Bill and I usually don’t finish them in one sitting. Also, I don’t typically like the cheese used on most of the German pizzas I’ve tried here and I didn’t know if the same cheese would be used in Czechia.
I had a clandestine laugh at the very obviously American party near us. Two people in their party of four had ordered pizzas. When they were brought to their table, I heard one of them exclaim, “Oh, my STARS!” Ha ha ha… such an American thing to say. Naturally, she couldn’t finish the damned thing and had to take it with her!
Our waiter was a tall guy who spoke perfect English and looked a little over things. But I think we might have won him over, because we knew what we wanted and didn’t bother him for anything but more glasses of Montepulciano. 😉 I had a really nice Caserecce con Pollo e Salsa Creola– which was basically a pasta dish with chicken, smoked pancetta, tomato sauce, cream, and fresh orange juice. Bill had spaghetti carbonara. Both dishes were very satisfying and we took our time enjoying them over lovely Italian red wine and sparkling water. I was quite relaxed when we were finished with lunch sometime later.
After lunch we decided to wander around some more and buy a few souvenirs. Before we got too far away from the restaurant, my ears were enchanted by the sound of someone playing the banjo with impressive skill. I don’t like to video buskers directly, so I recorded the river as he played. I felt like I was home in hillbilly Virginia!
This guy was a great player! I wish he’d had a CD.
We rounded a corner and noticed an art gallery. One of my big goals for this particular road trip was finding some new art for our house. When we were in Germany the first time (07-09), we bought some art in Eastern Europe. But so far, during this stint, we haven’t been buying as much art for the house. I wanted to rectify that with this trip. So we went into the art gallery and started looking around… I saw a lot of the usual landscape paintings and modern interpretations. Then I rounded a corner and, sure enough, my eyes landed on a painting I had to have!
I wish I’d thought to take a photo of it before we bought it, as the proprietor rolled it up. We’re going to take it to Wiesbaden to get it framed, hopefully tomorrow, but possibly later. I saw another painting of a silvery winter scene in Cesky Krumlov that I couldn’t live without, so we bought both paintings. The winter scene painting came with a frame and is now hanging in my living room. When we get the other one framed, I will try to remember to share photos of both works of art. I think the proprietor was absolutely delighted. It was the end of her workday and we came in and bought two paintings without batting an eye.
We walked back to the room to put the paintings away and take a short rest, then we went out again. We bought chocolates from a chocolatier and stopped by another gallery, where we bought some handmade Czech toys for Bill’s grandchildren. The woman who helped us in that shop was Greek and she told us she speaks a bunch of languages. It turned out her German was better than her English, so Bill spoke German to her.
Outside a music shop. They were playing music I loved and I ended up Shazaming it and buying from iTunes.Banjo guy is in this photo.From a gallery where we didn’t purchase anything.Where I bought a very cool painting featuring owls…Chocolate and wine. My kind of place.A hot air balloon appeared.Lots of cute toys here.Yum!
We looked around some more for a watering hole but didn’t find anywhere that called out to us, so we headed back to our room. Bill bought a bottle of wine from the honesty bar at Monastery Garden and I reminded one of the workers there what a corkscrew is. It was pretty funny… she kept trying to call it a screwdriver! Bill told her it was a “wine tool”, and I said, “No, that’s a corkscrew!”
The lady laughed and said, “Yes, that’s it! Thank you!”
Sad how Europeans put Americans to shame when it comes to learning languages. I’d be hard pressed to identify a corkscrew in Czech!
We were set to leave the charming town of Cesky Krumlov the next morning, so we decided to get a good night’s rest. I hated to go, although you really can do a proper visit of Cesky Krumlov in a day or two. We didn’t see everything, though, so that means we can come back a third time. If we do, I wouldn’t hesitate to book Monastery Gardens again. Especially now that we know where P2 is.
That’s right. “Yuks”. As in, laughing your ass off. I think we could all could use some more “yuks”, right?
Yesterday, while I was binge watching murder porn on Snapped, Bill came into our bedroom with a shelf stable container of oat milk. He likes to use animal free products sometimes because he’s a healthier person than I am on many levels. He said he bought the oat milk because of the label. Behold…
No bullshit! It’s “fucking good Oatmilk”.
Bill and I have both noticed that while Germany has rules against “Beleidigung“, that is, insulting people (especially people in authority like cops and politicians), they have no compunction about using English swear words in everyday language. For instance, one can be listening to an American pop song on the radio and if there are f bombs in it, you will hear them in all of their profane glory. Same thing with announcers on the radio, who regularly refer to “shitstorms”.
Personally, I’m alright with the profanity. I’m not a big believer in “bad words”, anyway. I really don’t think there is such a thing. Every word, in my opinion, is neutral. It’s the intent behind them that makes saying them good or bad. For instance, as a former English major at Longwood University, I took courses in African-American literature and Women’s literature. Both courses included slave narratives in which a certain taboo racist epithet was used repeatedly.
Was I offended? No, not really. That word was part of the lexicon at the time and the books would have lost their power without them. I was offended by the brutality of the way slaves were treated in those stories and the fact that their true stories are a shameful part of history. But the use of the n-word in those books is necessary. Same as it’s necessary in certain musical pieces, like Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City”, and even in certain 70s and 80s era sitcoms, in which racism was a topic that was tackled. The word is used to convey the extent of the contempt and racism of those times. Taking it out would lessen the impact of the pieces.
Because of that– and because I love language and all its quirks– I don’t believe in “bad words”. I don’t think they should be used as weapons. I think people should be judicious in how they use their language. But I’m not a fan of “banning” any specific words… and, as we can see from the above label, even “bad” words can mean different things to different people. I know many Americans who would blush seven shades of red at simply reading that label. They sure as hell wouldn’t have bought the product! But my husband bought it because of the words “fucking” and “bullshit”. He knew that I would get a big kick out of them.
The words “fucking” and “bullshit” don’t have the same impact in Germany as they do in America, just like the words “cunt” and “fag” don’t mean the same to Brits as they do to us Yanks. Hell, until very recently, there was an old village in Austria called Fucking. I should know, because Bill and I visited. We also visited Fuckersberg, Austria, because we’re nerds like that. Fucking recently changed its name after hundreds of years of being known as “Fucking”. Why? Because Americans kept stealing their road signs and doing things like having sex under the the signs. What a shame. Typical Americans ruining things for everybody.
Sigh… I really miss traveling. I look forward to the day when I can write a post on my travel blog that is actually about travel. But, for now, I will continue to get a big kick out of “fucking good Oatmilk” that makes “sexy Milchkaffee”. Except I don’t think I could bring myself to try oat milk… so maybe not. Bill is calling me to breakfast, so off I pop. Have a great Valentine’s Day!
I ran into an elderly lady who, I have discovered on previous walks, speaks English fairly well. She has two little pugs. One is the usual fawn color and the other is dark brown. They appear to be somewhat elderly, like their human companion.
This morning, I spotted the lady coming down one of the roads that lead to the nature trail in the park behind our house. When we were close enough, she said good morning; then our dogs greeted each other. The smaller dark brown pug wagged her tail as Arran sniffed her. Zane stood off to the side with the other pug.
I looked up at the lady who said with a smile, “She is a very nice bitch. Very friendly! Like a child!” I stifled a giggle as the dogs finished socializing and we went our separate ways.
Of course, being a native English speaker, I know that it’s perfectly fine to refer to female dogs as bitches. But as an American, I had to laugh when she said her bitch was “very nice”. I may not see as many odd things in Germany as I do back home, but I have to admit that sometimes the cultural exchanges are pretty funny!
The vulgar German word for “shit” has the distinction of being among the very first words in German I ever learned. It’s also among the only German words I ever learned, though my vocabulary expands on a daily basis.
One thing I’ve noticed is that Germans seem perfectly okay with saying the word Scheiße whenever it suits them. I mean, in the United States, if you casually say the word “shit” in front of someone you don’t know, you run the risk of them not appreciating it very much. But around here, it seems to be okay.
Not that I’m complaining. I am a big fan of all words and use most of them at will. I just think it’s interesting how people drop that word casually in conversations. For example, last week, I met the German lady who cleans the apartments where we are. She doesn’t speak English and I do not speak any German, though I can understand a little bit of what I hear. I suspect her English skills are about the same as my German skills are. As she was trying to talk to me, she said the word “Scheiße”, which I immediately recognized.
Another time several years ago, Bill and I were at a train station and a young woman was standing on the platform with a cell phone and a bottle of wine. As she hung up, she said very loudly “Oh Scheiße!” Apparently, she wasn’t worried at all about offending anyone.
The last time we lived in Germany, I asked our neighbor about this phenomenon. I wondered if that word was considered “bad” here. She said it was, but I guess culturally speaking, German people don’t get as upset about dirty language, just like they are a lot more liberal about nudity.
Hell, the other day, Bill and I were in the car listening to one of the few stations on which the music didn’t sound like a perpetual Mentos commercial. A song came on; it was in English. I don’t know who sang it or what the title of it was, but one of the lyrics included the word “motherfucker”. As English swear words go, “motherfucker” is one of the biggies. It’s a heavyweight insult one tends to bring out at the end of an argument. And in the United States, you’d never hear that word uttered on the radio during broad daylight. Maybe you’d hear it on a college radio station during safe harbor hours, but definitely not at 5:00pm when kids might be listening.
I think this shit is very interesting. Maybe during this tour, I will make more of an effort to learn German… or at least German swear words. I find them fucking fascinating. But just to be safe, I’ll try to keep my language clean.
One of the less graphic pictures of Scheiße I found on Google…
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