A few cultural notes from Germany:

Grüß Gott
Bavarians greet each other with a cheerful “Grüß Gott!” This is meant as a benediction — it’s an elision of “Grüß dich Gott,” originally “God bless you” — but my tin ear always translates it literally as “Greet God!” This sounds like something the Terminator would say to you down the barrel of a high-tech weapon: “Prepare to greet your God, baby.”

Burqa Bintis
There are many Arab tourists at my hotel. Most of the women are wearing chadors and hajebs (long black robes and headscarves), and a surprisingly large subset are also wearing face veils. This is huge political issue in Europe and also in Muslim countries like Tunisia where the government is trying to suppress fundamentalism. Many governments have banned or are trying to ban head and face coverings, a law I can’t support. Sure, the veil is a symbol of women’s oppression, but so are stiletto heels and push-up bras, and you can just imagine the outrage if Western women were told they couldn’t wear them. I say that women should be free to participate in their own oppression! They just shouldn’t be required to do it.

Anyway, although I can mentally give an “Ente imshe, binte!” (you go, girl) to a young woman in a burqa, I have to admit it’s a huge shock to see a masked, robed figure glide into the room. As I checked into my hotel this morning under a cloud of jet-lag, my first thought was, “Holy cow, who let the Dementors in?”

Penne Pasta
Although I am a fairly adventurous eater, I draw the line at red meat. I can’t stand anything fatty, gamy, or rare. (Husband would say this is the definition of an unadventurous eater, but I’m good with everything but meat.) German meat is even named disgustingly: Rindfleisch, Kotelett, Döner Kebab. (Donor meat? Yeesh.) My two stand-bys when in Germany are Wienerschnitzel (which is at least always cooked through) and pasta. For some reason, every pasta dish in Germany is made with penne. Dear Germany: There are other pastas. Italy is not too far away. Please look into it.

Dirndl Damen
All the department stores are showing dirndl-and-stomacher combinations in their windows. I hope these are costumes for Octoberfest, but the vitrine displays have the look of something that is supposed to be high fashion. If women in your region start showing up at clubs dressed like the St. Pauli Girl, you’ll know where it all started.

Krazy Krauts

It was stunning weather today, so I walked out to the Englischer Garten and walked along the Eisbach (Ice Creek). The water is nearly flush with the bank, and the bank is neatly bordered with pavers, so it looks almost like a man-made canal, but the water flows through at such a fierce speed that it has to be natural. Near one of the bridges, some underwater obstacle creates waves several feet high, and today there were young men surfing on the creek.

Surfing! On a creek!

Someone has already obligingly posted a video.


Das ist so gnarlig.