Germany, Day 3 Part 2.

[theweaselking]

Friday, March 10th. 11:20AM
On the road again, this time to Bonn. There's a few stops along the way, but we'll be on the bus travelling for a good 8 hours. Laptop is working beautifully - apparently the wireless-induced BSODs were something that was produced only in the village last night.

Sad state of affairs: I've never formally taken German. I literally know maybe a hundred words, and can form only the simplest of sentences.

I'm probably the strongest non-native speaker on the trip. Most, not all, of the students have several years of German classes under their belts. My laughable (but still comparatively strong) prowess stems mostly from my willingness to try to talk to the Germans, and I'm happy to admit "Ich verstehe nicht", "Mein Deutsch ist shrecklich", and make liberal use of "Sprechen sie Englisch?" and its Franzosicht compatriot. That, combines with a basic grasp of sentence structure, and how to use bitte, danke, einshuldigung, and auf wiedersehen means that I can have simple coversations in shops and the like without ever reverting to English or French. I get stuck, but not flustered, if something goes wrong, and I ask for a translation at that point.

Most of the students can't manage this.

I weep.
===========================
11:45AM
When it comes to drivers, apparently Quebec and France have one whole hell of a lot in common.
==========================
3:15PM
Rothenburg (Pronounced "Wotanbourg", but you roll the "W" somehow) is billed as a town that hasn't built any new buildings in the last nine centuries.

That's not quite true, but the original city walls, battlements, and a truly gargantuan cathedral are still there.

They show their age - the Cathedral of St Jackob has stone steps worn round and thin with the passage of a millenium's worth of pilgrims. The streets are narrow and cobblestoned. The doorways are small, the archways carved, and even the smallest openings are filled with thick, iron-banded, weather-beaten doors that wouldn't look out of place in a stage production of Dracula.

And they have the first open, working post office that I've been able to find in Germany.

And they had a payphone that SEES THROUGH TIME and enabled me to finally reach somebody at home.

Now all I need is an internet connection. While I'm familiar with the premise of driving around an urban centre until you find an unsecured wireless connection, it somehow doesn't scale nearly as well to driving cross-country on the Autobahn at 100km/h.

I can't ever imagine why.
=================
10:45 PM.

Finally have internet connection. Wireless network will not talk to laptop. can't find out why - they see each other just fine, handshake keys nicely, and then it just won't give me an IP. Managed to check email anyway, using a separate PC already working on that network.

Will have to update this to internet later. You must wait for my wisdom. WAIT, I SAY!

[And now, pictures of Rothenburg]


City walls





Street scenes


das Judengasse - "the small street of Jews"



St Jackob's. Yes, that IS a road going underneath it.




The only picture that came out from inside. Too bad, really.


A large building.


GIANT TEDDY BEAR OF DOOOOOOOOOM!

Comments

[jirel.livejournal.com]

Do you mind if I save some of your pictures and (remote possibility) maybe use them in a painting some day? I keep saying I'm going to get back into watercolors some day and I see some neat ideas here.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I totally don't mind. If you ever finish it, toss me a link.

Incidentally, *all* of these pictures are compressed and cropped from the originals. If you want a much bigger version of any of them, just ask.

[eididdy.livejournal.com]

Um, that's Rothenburg and I don't know who was telling you to pronounce it with a rolled w.

I swear, you took the same trip I took in '92.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

All the Germans pronounced it that way.

[eididdy.livejournal.com]

Might've been a dialect thing then. I didn't hear anyone call it that when I was there in '92, but I was up by Hannover where they speak "Hochdeutsch" which is what's commonly taught. When I was in northern Bavaria in '96 the local accent pronounced k's like g's and p's like b's.

It's still Rothenburg with a t though. Check your bear picture...

[rgovrebo.livejournal.com]

Rohenburg (Pronounced "Wotanbourg", but you roll the "W" somehow)

Isn't that just a guttural R?

I'm probably the strongest non-native speaker on the trip.[...]

It's not easy to go out and actually use the foreign language you've been formally learning in school. I had that problem with English for years, until I realized that I couldn't do a much worse job of speaking it than many of the native speakers. Being shy doesn't make it any easier. Alcohol helps.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

> Isn't that just a guttural R?

Kind of. All the Germans mocked me and said I sounded French when I rolled my R. I pointed out that this was because I'm a Canadian, and learned French at a very young age, and they mocked me more.

I don't know why I put up with them.

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

It's really more like making a purring sound with your R. (Which, obviously, doesn't translate well to print, but if you try it, you'll get it.)

I'm kind of surprised that anyone gave you a hard time. I found that folks were appreciative of my efforts and were very gentle with their corrections. Times change, I guess.

Have I told you lately how much I appreciate seeing these pictures?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Oh, they were NICE about it. They were just giving me a hard time.

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

It's not easy to go out and actually use the foreign language you've been formally learning in school.

Oh GODS, no kidding! I had a migraine for three straight months when I moved to Germany, just from trying to communicate. This after seven years of instruction, and living with people who often spoke German at home.

You're right, it doesn't get better until you just say "Well, fuck it", and start using it.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

You'd be amazed how many native English speakers can't manage to make that sound. The gutteral 'r' and the 'ch' a la Ich were things that my fellow German students in Jr. High and High School always seemed to have problems with. I'm sure there's a phoneme somewhere in the world I might have an issue with, but I haven't met one yet. This is apparently not normal.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Try the "click" noise. And use it in a sentence.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

Click noise? I'm not familiar with that one. Native American, Aussie Aboriginal, or African tribal language of some sort? I know there's a "!" in one of the African languages that's apparently seriously difficult for non-native speakers to pick up, but I've never heard it pronounced, only seen reference to it in print.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

That's the one. It's a "click" noise in the back of your throat.

[jirel.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is that I speak German with a Southern German accent. My German teacher in high school was a native. Evidently he lived in south Germany and taught us all his way of speaking. So I say ish instead of ich. Caused me problems in College as they wanted me to relearn to say everything in 'high' German.

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

Geez, I remember going to Rothenburg for school trips when I was in 3rd and 4th grade.

Do they still have the Torture Museum?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Not sure, sadly. We really didn't have much time to visit the place.

Bad Mergentheim, No Donut

[xydexx.livejournal.com]

Those are awesome pictures. I haven't been to Germany in a long time. I hope to go back again someday.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

The village looks cute... like people should have liederhosen.

[kenzo-tenma.livejournal.com]

You should try going to this hotel. I believe it's in Berlin.

http://www.propeller-island.com/rooms_neu/room_detail/01/index.php

If you're ever in K-town, holla. *LOL*

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

The large building looks like it probably is/was the Rathaus (Council-house), the seat of the mayor and city council -- in Germany usually found with a Ratkeller (Council-cellar) underneath where you can usually get something to eat.

Also, I'd translate "Judengasse" more along the lines of "Jew Alley", even though alley has some connotations in american that I don't think entirely apply -- but it does roll off the tongue much better. XL streets are boulevards, promenades, avenues, regular streets are Street, streets with trees are Lane, small streets in inner cities are.. I'd still go with alley, I think, from the english/American I know.

Looks like you had fun.