10-26

Day 3

I slept like the dead.  I did wake up at one point, because I could hear Jeff walking around (that would've been around five), but because he'd closed his blinds, it was pitch-black in the room and I went back to sleep.  Finally, I decided I'd better get up, and found that it was only six-fifteen in the morning.

Heck, it's now a couple of hours later, I'm contemplating taking a quick nap (the sun is low in the sky), and it's still more than an hour before my alarm would normally go off.

I believe that the rumors of my jetlag have been greatly exaggerated.

The toilet seat in Jeff's guest bathroom is broken, so there's a sign there that says (in German) Real Men Sit Down To Pee.  Delightful.*

Today, the activities were light.  Jeff has filled me with such horror stories about jetlag that I think the plan is to just go easy and let my body accustom itself.  We took a train to get lunch at a doner shop (which, of course, sounds like donuts, but was more of a Turkish sandwich with meat, cabbage, tomatoes, and some kind of dressing.  I liked it a lot.  I discovered that Germans like sparkling water and fruit juice, so when I grabbed an apple juice, it turned out to be carbonated, which was weird.  Also, nobody sells soda/soft drinks in the sizes we're used to in America (at Subway, a Large drink was half a liter), but I need to cut way down anyway. 

Shoot, the battery light is blinking on the laptop (meaning I'm down to 6% of the battery, so I guess I'd better shut it down and see if I can't find an adapter to plug it into the wall.

(days later)  Okay, I'm back.  Emily had some work to do (she knits socks for sale and had one that needed to be done before we left the country), so Jeff and I went to the main part of town, what they call Schlossplatz.

I've taken a bunch of pictures each day, to the point that my phone is somehow full again, but I'm hesitant to delete them, because even a bad picture taken on my Europe trip is one I'll never be able to take again.  

So, stuff like this:

With me "noticing" a topless green statue, is not something I'd normally keep, but I'm loathe to throw it away.

Or this one, which is just a mistake:

What I'll look like as a ghost.

Okay, that one I'll go ahead and delete.

Anyway, I was glad I had Jeff around to guide me, because I was like a little kid in Germany**, not knowing where to go or how to even ask, which train was going where, what landmarks to direct myself by, or even how to flush the toilets (but I already told you that story).

He showed me some of the local landmarks, and explained that a lot of this was bombed during the war, and instead of rebuilding things in older, traditional ways, they built to (what was then) modern specifications.

Still, buildings like this are still impressive:

We went to the town square and the heart of the city, where a military brass band was performing.  To my surprise, the song they were doing was "Major Tom" by Peter Schilling, one of the few songs by German pop groups I know.***

While we stood by and watched, a stranger approached and asked us what was going on.  Jeff was able to answer in German, though he claims not to speak it very well.  I, it turns out, speak neither German nor French, and the only times I had a chance to speak Español on this trip I was too timid to do so.

There was a big indoor marketplace we went in, that had a cheese shoppe, various meat places, a Spanish delicatessen, etc., and even that seemed exotic to me.  The fact that all the prices were in Euros (and had commas in them instead of periods) certainly helped.

I would break these sunglasses the next day, never realizing how ill-fitting they look.

Europe is a greener place than I'm used to (guess because I've lived most of my life in desert locations), and it has also been warmer than I would've expected, which is nice because, even though I brought a coat, I haven't worn it since the airport.

Why does he have to ruin even my vacation?

Anyway, we weren't there very long, but we sat on a bench and watched construction workers starting to build a Christmas village that opens next week.  I watched the people around me, some of them strange-looking****, and listened to them chatter and go about their daily lives.

Jeff showed me his local movie theater (where we're probably going tomorrow), and they're showing SMILE.  Which prompted me to take this picture:

Anyway, that's all for today (I did join Jeff and Emily on their nightly walk, but it was much more leisurely, so I'm not counting it as exercise).  But just in case the numbers were off, I went into Jeff's living room and did sit-ups before going to bed, so I could count one more day.

Exercise: Yes (25)

*I told him, "I saw the sign in there, and didn't want to disobey it, so I just peed in the sink.  Hope that's cool."

**And in England, and in France, etc..

***Though Jeff did say that Alphaville, Camouflage, the Scorpions, and of course, Nena, are all German.

****My goodness, have I had a time studying peoples' faces this week, their bone structure, and especially their noses, as they just look different a lot of the time, from the people in America.  It's probably genetic makeup, but probably diet as well.  Europeans just look like Europeans a lot of the time.

Okay, one more worthless picture, then I'm going to bed.

After I delete it, I mean.