Baldur

That sounds so much like what I saw there sheftali.
We were given an apartment withiong their home for a week, it was fully furnished and had a separate entrance, her it would be considered an inlaw apartment.
There was no central heat. We were there in early December, so it was fairly cold. The stove in the kitchen was the heat source, and there was a small water tank in the bath that also put out enough warmth to keep ice from forming in the toilet, if indeed there was water in the toilet.
That was a culture shock moment as well.
Eveywhere else that I've traveled, if I ventured to look into the toilet bowl there would be water. Not so in central Europe.
There you do your business in a dry porcelain bowl and when you flush a brief flood of water rinses it all away. That took some getting used too.

Sleeping in a bedroom that had a room temperature below freezing wasn't bad though. There were piles and piles of quilts and coverlets,
After the first invigorating shock of skin again ice cold cotton it became progressively warmer until it was actually comfortable.

Baldur

withiong -o -g =within

Baldur

Now DumDum also had a large number of relatives still living in this town.
One of his duties was to visit them.
Part of the family ran a popular Greek restaurant, not that they were Greek but that is besides the point.
They invited us all to dinner and we had a huge table set up there just for his family, and us. AnneMarie thankfully came along.
Dinner was excellent, I believe everything on the menu appeared at our table, large platters kept getting passed around until we were stuffed.
They also kept the Ouzu flowing.
They drank to everything, and offered toast after toast.
DumDum was completely trashed very early into the festivities. Baldur confiscated his shot glass and kept it until it was exchanged for the car keys. There was no way D-2 was going to drive the rental car that day.
Baldur had all he could do to stop them from refilling my own glass. Finally what worked best was just to keep my hand covering the overturned empty glass.
I had learned that any time I sipped a little of the ouzu somebody immediately refilled it to the very top. What worked best was just to drink it down and not let them near the glass.
There was a brief wrestling match with one of the older cousins who tried to move my hand, that was funny because it looked like he would succeed. But he couldn't make me budge.
It ended with him all bright red as a beet and laughing.
He gave me a big bearhug and I hugged him back while he said something incomprehensible into my ear. While this was happening he thought I didn't notice him refilling my glass once more.
I smiled, gave him another big hug and silently poured my ouzu in his coffee while he was thus occupied.
There was an immediate deafening round of laughter and applause from all around the table. The waiter happened to be gliding by just then and Baldur placed his empty shot glass on his tray.

sheftali52

Ah yes--the waterless toilets! Quite an experience, eh? And heat? Well, Sheftali and husband slept in a bedroom with the heat turned off at the radiator. We slept under a divine, light as a feather, down comforter that kept us toasty once we dived under the covers. It was always dicey in the mornings during winter--we'd pop out of bed and dash into the bathroom, which had a heated floor---aaahhhhh!

I will say, though, that the waterless toilets in Europe were not nearly as shocking as the "bomb sites" Sheftali encountered in Greece and Turkey. I had been warned of them, but to actually see one for the first time when I really, really needed to "go" was perplexing. I actually used the (ahem) hole in the floor, and used the bucket of water next to the hole to wash away the evidence. Sheftali also learned that one was expected to bring one's own toilet paper, or (ahem) use the bucket of water to clean one's hand if no paper was available. At some places, there was a little lady at the entrance to the bathroom, and she would give you a paltry few pieces of toilet paper ONLY if you threw a few coins into her strategically placed cup. She glared at you if you passed her without obliging her cup with the coins. Sheftali carried her own roll of toilet paper when out and about, and suffered the glares.

Baldur

DumDum get extremely and loudly sick that evening; Baldur pretended to sleep through it.
At breakfast however Willi led the offensive and was being decidedly loud.
'Accidentally' dropping a metal skillet on the tile floor, clattering his flatware on the table, it was quickly obvious he knew DumDum had a hangover.

I love Germany.

sheftali52

Bravo on pouring your ouzo into the coffee! Sheftali is amused at a Greek restaurant in Germany. Our little town had one restaurant, and it was Italian! Ouzo is nasty stuff, guaranteed to give a headache after just a little imbibing. When we partied with our German friends, we learned to walk home. There was no way either of us could've driven. Those were the days!

sheftali52

I know I would've liked Willi. Sheftali snickers about DumDum. And she still uses the word scheisekopf from time to time, hoping no one around her understands that bad word. Alfred Leisner liked to say "sh--" though, as his compadres did not understand that, and he knew Sheftali and husband did! Alfred would use that word when talking about someone he didn't like. He'd say, "Marcel is sh--" and we'd immediately know how he felt about that person!

Baldur

You actually had radiators though, even if inactive.
There just was no heat source in our bedroom whatsoever. It was still a lot of fun.


After the Greek dinner we went back to the home of the cousin who tried to wrestle Baldur. It was full of antlers.
There were rows and rows of mounted antlers hanging all over the walls.
Probably enough to cause extinction of whatever species of small ruminant they had belonged to.
Baldur does have a 'few' antlers here at the Chez, they are all rather old. But to hang that many seems obsessive.

They served us coffee and dessert while we visited.
We were still quite stuffed but knew we had no choice.
The dessert was marvelous but wreaked havoc on my digestive tract.
It was Egg Tort.
There was a shallow baked pie shell filled with a mixture of raw egg yolks, sugar and rum. The yolks congeal but aren't really cooked.
My slice must have been the equivalent of 8 egg yolks. Dear Lord.
My poor arteries. Nonetheless it was quite delicious.

Baldur

I never understood why Willi didn't care for DumDum from the moment he first laid eyes on him
D-2 was quirky at times, but this was a snap decision based on a first impression.
Baldur was in, DumDum and Frank were out.

sheftali52

Eating in Germany--how do they do it and not weigh 400 pounds? We learned there were at least four eating occasions daily--breakfast, lunch, kaffee, and supper. All were extensive meals. Sheftali ran a lot while in Germany, which not many folks did in her little town, or she would've waddled a bit. At first, there was a bit of leering, but then everyone got used to Sheftali and just waved as she ran by. Yes, the arteries took a beating in Germany, but the food was so darned good. I loved the freshness of the food, which most of the hausfraus shopped for daily.

Baldur

When visiting Austria there seemed to be more Hungarian Restaurants than anything else.
The most challenging restaurant that I ate at was a Chinese one in Salzburg. The menu was obviously in German, but just try to make sense of Germanicized Chinese menu items! One of the waiters spoke English and kept coming over to chat with Baldur (totally ignoring Frank and DumDum of course). He was totally enjoying our trying to make sense of the menu and offered to help. I thanked him but told him it was fun trying to solve it like a puzzle. I ordered a pot of tea in the meantime and told him what Chinese American food was like.

When Baldur goes out with friends (even way back as a young adult), it is always assumed by the waitstaff that Baldur is the head of the party.
This has happened all over the USA, in Canada, Mexico, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The waiter or Maitre D' always approaches me, the bill seems to always come to me as well.

People tend to talk to me, even for no obvious reason.

In LA for the wedding I had a brief conversation with a homeless man while waiting to cross the street. There were perhaps 12 people standing there at the curb and he starts talking to me. We chatted until the light changed and he headed off in another direction.
My son later turned to me and said that the homeless man never asked me for money. He had assumed immediately the guy wanted a handout.
Perhaps he did but got distracted by the conversation.
We made our way to dinner at Kung Pao Kitty without further incident.

sheftali52

Be glad you were "in", Baldur. That was an honor. Sheftali and husband had no idea why we were "in", but we enjoyed it. Alfred owned a little bier garten, and it (like most) had a special table for the "chosen" few. Alfred always had us sit with him at this special table, the Stammtisch, and we felt honored. Some of the folks in the bier garten did not like Americans, but Alfred fought them (and he was an old fellow) and made them accept us. Sheftali loved Germany, too.

Baldur

People in Germany seem to walk much more than we do here, but even that cannot compensate for that midafternoon plate of pastry.
Will you have the Mohnstrudel or the Vanillekipferl?

Baldur

Perhaps the Eidbeertorte, the Linzertorte, the apfelkirschtorte?

sheftali52

I believe you must have an aura about you, Baldur, that makes folks want to talk with you. That can be both a blessing and a curse, as you have discovered! In the scheme of things, I think it is a blessing, as your life is immeasurably enhanced by interesting interactions with a wide variety of people and cultures. My Dad was similarly blessed, and anointed Sheftali to try to follow in his footsteps.

Baldur

Baldur would stop in a Konditorei and order a pot of hot chocolate.
It would arrive in a liittle silver pot on a tray with a porcelain cup and saucer, a small spoon and a little bowl of whipped cream on the side.
Then I would also choose either a slice of pastry or perhaps a few incredible cookies

sheftali52

Baldur, you would thrive in Germany! Sheftali cannot remember the specific kuchen und torte she liked, but she liked them all! I also liked the use of good china and silverware that seemed to be common in Europe, and the fact that folks dressed up even to go to the grocery store. The simplest parties we attended in Germany were very elegant affairs, and Sheftali often had to pinch herself and appreciate Uncle Sam sending her (and hubby) there.

Baldur

Maybe those Shokoladebrezeln, little butter cookies shaped like pretzels and dipped in chocolate.

It's not a curse, just difficult to explain sometimes.

When Frank's father passed away a few years back an incident happened at his funeral.
Vito had been a scoutmaster for years, and a good number of the people at his funeral were scouts he had in his troop. The rest were relatives or people from his parish, mainly middle aged or older people of Eastern European descent.
After the funeral everyone made there way to the church hall for cake, coffee and a light lunch.
I'm sitting there with a couple of the older exscouts, when a middle aged gentleman of African-American descent enters the hall. He sits down and promptly a hush falls across the room, half of which is staring at him.
Baldur excuses himself from his friends and goes and asks the newcomer if he might join him at the table.
He welcomes me and we introduce ourselves and sit chatting while slowly the deathly silence that has fallen across the room disapates. We get up, fix ourselves a couple plates and chat for a half hour or so.
During this time 'Travis' asked me if I had been a boy scout, to which I replied I hadn't. He noticed that several scouts are there in uniform but none had approached him to even say hello. It turns out that he is the district scoutmaster, fairly high up in the eschelons, and came as a courtesy to Frank's father.
He thought it humorous that none of the scouts thought to break the ice and come over when he was alone and in an uncomfortable situation.

Anyway after a while he thanked me and left after which I was immediately besieged with questions as to who this man was.
Sigh.

Baldur

One of my friends, an assistant scout master, was horrified to learn this man's identity as he had been hoping for a chance to speak with him for some time.
He blew his chance.

Baldur

-there +their