Baldur

Heavens, Radio Baldur has just hit the 800 comments mark!

Is there no end in sight?

Baldur

I have a friend who's parents came from Germany
Mrs Winter was always fun to listen to, her words frequently became Germanicized in conversation though she certainly spoke English quite well.
Her pronunciation of 'chocolate' came out as 'shock-a-lahd'.
Perhaps my favorite bit of transposed English was when she told her son that she wasn't cooking dinner one particular night, they were going out for 'Kentucky Shickin-Fry'

lilalee

I use to work with a German girl, who would be talking about someone, and instead of saying, "they want to be in lime light", she would say, "they want to be in the lamp light"!!

Baldur

and yes I love to say 'COCOA'

Baldur has been lucky enough to visit Europe twice, mostly Bavaria and Austria. In Austria they have these amazing places called 'Konditorei', rather somewhat of a cross between a bakery and a cafe'.
In cities such as Salzburg there seems to be a requirement that there must be at least one on every city block.
A typical Konditorei will have an elaborate early 20th century cast iron and glass storefront. The front window will have an array of elegant tortes, pastries and cookies all arranged temptingly on doily covered plates and cakestands.
You enter and it's crowded, they are always crowded.
The immediate thing you notice is the smell of coffee and the quiet sounds of silverware on china. The tables are small and often made of a disk of marble on an ornate iron base. The floors are often checkered black and white marble.
Baldur often ordered hot chocolate when in a konditorei with whatever looked amazing in the window.
The waitress in her black uniform with the crip white starched apron would bring me a small silver chocolate pot, a marvelous china cup and saucer, and a small bowl with a dollop of whipped cream and a small silver spoon.
Whatever sweet you may order always arrives perfectly presented on a small plate, and always on a doily.

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I have a German friend who speaks very good English. The only place she goes wrong is to swap over W's and V's.
She once said to me, on a very cold day "I am wery vorried about my son. He has gone out viz out his west."
That made me chuckle and she wanted to know why. I explained to her that she'd swopped the V's and W's over and her indignant reply was "Ven you can speak Deutsch as vell as I speak English, Zen you can laugh."
We'll she was absolutely right ... I couldn't argue with that.

Baldur

I loved Austria and Germany, though I wish I had seen more of Germany.
We stayed in Munich and the surrounding area and never ventured very far north. At the time the Berlin Wall still stood but there were plenty of places to go if I had had more time.
We went all over Austria however. I loved it all: Salzburg, Graz, Linz, Wien.
It's a very beautiful country.

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Did you enjoy Munich? I feel very comfortable in that city.

lilalee

Sounds so lovely!! Something so simple, to make one feel so rich!! My neice travels out of the country at least twice a month for her job, and comes back with tales of these wonderful cafe's. She was in Paris recently, and was telling us of a Vegitarian Festival she came upon. She is a veggie, so for her it was like heaven! This week she is in Panama!

Baldur

My German language skills are horrific, but this brings up a good point.

On my first trip over I went as an adult with my parents who were insecure about going on their own. They figured that I could handle a foreign country well enough to smooth over any difficulties.
They seemed to be correct, I did the translating for them as best I could, I did all the driving and toted their luggage everywhere.
What was amusing was that whenever I struggled with my German, someone would always help me. I swear everyone there speaks English and because of that they would ask me in English what I was trying to say. They then would construct the sentence for me, often having me repeat it a few times to get it right.
My parents however were intimidated by the language and wouldn't even try to say as much as 'Thank you' in German.
During the entire trip they ran up against resistance from people.
The people there wouldn't admit to understanding English if you forced it upon them.
It was a lot of fun.

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I've never been to South America. I used to long to go there when I was younger but I think I have got the travel bug out of my system ... for a while, anyway.

Baldur

I love Munich, and for both trips I was there in early December when everything was gearing up for Christmas.

Baldur

The furthest South I've been was Mexico. We went to Cancun in the late 1980s.
It was very beautiful but too warm for Baldur.

Baldur

I've had the same problem with New Orleans. That city is one of my favorites to visit, but for half the year it's so hot and humid that I want to burrow into an air-conditioned room and never leave.
The people are fantastic, the city fascinating and the food excellent.
I should note I've been there both before and after 'Katrina'.
It's still a lovely place.

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I have a habit of apologising for my Deutsch before asking any question. It always surprises me when the reply comes back in English ... from bank clerks to shelf fillers.

Baldur

English is a requirement in the schools there. I was amazed at how well they spoke it too.

Baldur

Two years after my first trip to Germany and Austria I returned but with a couple friends this time. It was a lot of fun and because we shared a room everywhere it was quite economical.
I was the only one of the 3 of us who had been there as an adult so for the first couple days I played tour guide. They caught on fast.
Everyone seems to think Europe is intimidating when planning their first trip from their armchair at home. That changes once they get there and realize how easy everything is.

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Mmm ... much more difficult in France ... unless your French is very good.

Baldur

Even simple things are wondrous. I went to a restaurant in Germany and an older man came in with his dog. The dog sat quietly by his side for the entire meal. Can you imagine that happening in the United States?
The health department would be beating down their doors because dogs are unsanitary.
I guess if one were to eat their meals off the floor where the dog's butt had just been it would be an issue. I prefer using a plate however.

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But you're right, Europe is much easier than most people expect. The Dutch speak excellent English.

Baldur

Baldur really should learn French.
Baldur really really should have taken Latin in school. That's always been a big regret of mine