Monthly Archives: September 2011
The Sport for Real Men
This is a crowd of over 10,000 people on their feet, holding out their long mufflers as they cheer on Fussball-Club Kaiserslautern, or 1FCK, during their match against Mainz this last Saturday. How do I know these people are on …
The other night, I was watching the European Jumping Championships on Eurosport. An excellent German rider was all set to win the gold medal when his horse took down a bar on the very last jump. That bar, said the …
Strolling and Nibbling
This Saturday and Sunday, Rodenbach and nearby Weilerbach teamed up to host their annual Kulinarische Wanderung–literally translated, a culinary stroll. This proved to be every bit as enjoyable as it sounds. The three-and-a-half-mile (six-kilometer) route passed nine different tents offering …
I just learned via a brochure I picked up this weekend that there is a museum only 15 miles (25 kilometers) away in Bruchmühlbach-Miesau dedicated to the invention and development of der Staubsauger. It looks like a lot of fun. …
It’s a Small World After All
It’s a beautiful day, and I’ve just returned from a walk through the gorgeous German countryside, where I snapped the photo above. I decide to share my good mood and call my grandmother back home in Texas. “Hello?! Hello?!” Her …
It’s been rainy and chilly. Last night was a crisp 43 degrees F (6 degrees C). Today is beautiful, though, sunny and hot–unseasonably warm for September. But it isn’t the start of Indian summer, as my friend Heidi points out. …
My Last Garden, continued
Joe and I found the example graves at the Koblenz National Garden Show completely fascinating. They were so unlike anything we’d seen. Some were as elaborate and elegant as a Japanese flower arrangement. Others were just downright different. Joe’s favorite …
My box of German cereal informs me that I’m getting 3,7 grams of Ballaststoffe in every serving. Now, I know that die Stoffe is stuff–or, to put it a nicer way, material. And I can guess pretty quickly that der …
My Last Garden
Graves. Headstones. Birth and death dates. Are we in a cemetery? No, we’re back at the Koblenz National Garden Show, where the program assures us, “a romantic woodland glade is the perfect setting for cemetery landscapers and stonemasons to demonstrate …
As I flip channels on my German television set, by far the most surreal experience I can have is pausing on channel 29, TV5Monde: French television with German subtitles. The juxtaposition highlights how almost ostentatiously different the languages of these …