A story that came out recently about a woman who documented Deutsche Bahn’s (lack of) punctuality by knitting a color-coded scarf and selling it on eBay for charity reminded me of a story one of my students told me about the railway company. My student, who I will call Sepp and the woman who knitted… Read More Germans Surprised by Punctual Train (F)
On Christmas Eve in 1705, a group of peasants, farmers and working men from all across Upper Bavaria, gathered in Sendling, a few kilometers southwest of Munich. They did not come to hear priests or other holy men speak about Jesus or Christmas or anything else religious. They came to overthrow the yoke of the… Read More A not very Merry Christmas
Originally posted on Laptops And Lederhosen:
In the United States, July 4th is a day of celebration, and in many ways it reaffirms America’s belief in its destiny, especially ‘Manifest Destiny’. In Germany, if there is a day that is similar to America’s July 4th, it would be 9 November. It is the day that…
Since the death of Richard Wagner, the story of music in Germany has been one of a long, slow, seemingly unending and inexorable decline, The Scorpions, Kraftwerk and Rammstein, the excepted. Perhaps there is no brighter glaring example of this than at Oktoberfest. The songs heard at Oktoberfest with German lyrics are often also sung… Read More The Top Ten American Songs at Oktoberfest (F)
This is not a normal post for this blog, but it seemed appropriate for the day. A true story. Many years ago, when I was first cutting my teeth in the restaurant business as a server, I was scheduled to work a dreaded Valentine’s Day evening. All the ‘newbies’ got these shifts because all of… Read More A Valentine’s Day Ghost
You, Oktoberfest, are without compare, Overpriced everything, and especially the beer. Drunken Debauchery, in December we do detox, Fill up on roast pork, dumplings, or a slice from an ox. Fill up my glass, sir, ten euros is very dear. . With girls scantily clad, call it tradition I might add, After a liter or… Read More An Ode to Oktoberfest (Free Verse)
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