We had fruhstuck and it wasn't much...but it was nicely presented. And the lady here is really nice. Somehow...the same area we had fruhstuck had been a lively bar/pub last night for the locals. This morning she had the tables covered with linen table cloths, fall leaves on the tables for decoration, and a pretty floral china service to eat off of.
I visited with her for awhile and then I was talking to Dad and she said to me in German...."so you speak English???!!!"...she was very surprised about that. Then she told me that my German was very good....ahhhh, that's nice to hear...and better yet to know that my pronunciation of the German language was without a foreign accent. Still, I fumble often for the right word and the correct verb conjugation. And sometimes I just don't have a clue what they are saying...but as time goes on here, I am improving...and I am having so much fun speaking German. Dad is picking up more this time than last trip, too. I think it helped taking that German class at SECC.
I think it is interesting, that people here (Germans) respond positively to a person that at least attempts to speak their language. They probably get tired of Americans in particular coming over and being upset that they don't speak English. But when you try to speak their language I think they have an instant (at least slight) respect for that. I think many times we have been treated better than we would have if we only would have spoken English. I don't think you have to be fluent, but it shows consideration for their culture if you at least know some basic words. I'm thinking that maybe that was the reason that the people in Poland and Czech Republic weren't so friendly. Just some thoughts on the matter.
Before we left Bad Orb, we stopped at the local post office to mail a package home. Here's the parking lot close by. It reminded us of Nebraska parking!! This is very unusual...cars here are usually jammed together into very tight spaces.
We went to the spa here and it was ok..but not on our favorite list. The light and sound room here wasn't as good as the other toskana spa..or as the one in Bad Krozingen. But it was still nice and there was a flume so we got some good exercise in salt water with the nice cool air in the outside pool....with the water nicely heated.
Here's one of the sights as we went down the road today. I call this "Marshmallow Fields Forever"...it helps if you sing it!
Also going down the road, we thought we'd give you an example of how some drivers here are just downright crazy...driving like bats out of hell. Here is a video...I hope it works for you. Dad is driving down the autobahn with no speed limit. He is going about 130 kph or just over 80 mph. Then you see a blur go by so fast you can't even see what kind of car it is! He was probably going about 135 mph...and to tell you the truth...they have passed us going faster than that! It scares the crap out of you and sounds like the Indy 500 as they go ripping by you! Sometimes I think we should be wearing Depends as we drive on the autobahn!!
I'd try to send a video of the even faster cars going past...but I can't get my camera out fast enought!!
Arrived in Bad Salzulfen and we are staying at a hotel/pension that is very nice...only one not-so-nice thing is that it is up 4 flights of stairs...and of course, no elevator. None of the places we have stayed have had elevators, except for 3...all in fancier hotels. Otherwise, it's lug the suitcases and bags upstairs!
We walked into the old part of town. Here's what the little streets look like:
We found a restaurant and ordered their daily special...schnitzel westphalien...or of this area. It was pork schnitzel topped with slices of bacon and then topped with 2 eggs over medium. It sounds strange...but it was really good. Of course we had our nightly beer, too.
I don't think I've mentioned a very strange phenomena here...so much of their food includes pork in one form or another...schnitzel, medallions, bacon, ham, specially smoked ham...and on and on. That's not the odd part. The strange part is that in all of the nearly 4,000 kilometers that we have traveled here, we have NEVER seen any farms with pigs!! Not once! Where do they grow them...in China??? Ich don't think so! It's very perplexing...somewhere along the way before we leave I need to ask someone where all the pigs are!! I just need to find the right moment and the right person to ask. I'll keep you posted.
After dinner we took a slow walk back to the pension
Dad wants me to tell you that we spent tonight washing out some clothes in the sink. We have had to do this several times as we have not seen a laundromat anywhere...and really haven't wanted to spend time looking for one. So we wash them in the sink using shower gel or shampoo or whatever is around...then we have an elastic stretchy rope that we string across the room and we hang our clothes on them and hope that they dry in the morning. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. The best thing we have found is if we have one of those towel heaters in the bathroom...we can drape our clothes over that, crank up the heat, and the clothes get dry every time! I'd take a picture of our handy-dandy clothes line, but no one wants to see Dad's Ghandis handing on an elastic rope!!
Location:Bad Orb to Bad Salzulfen
No comments:
Post a Comment