Monday, January 5, 2009

jet lagged mind

Yep, I'm up way before the roosters today. The jet lag hit me hard about 2:00 this morning and I eeked out another hour in bed before I just got up, made coffee and decided to start my day.

Here is a random list of oddball things running through my jet lagged mind this morning regarding our trip.....

Pay toilets in Germany are a great thing...their public bathrooms on the autobahn are clean and monitored. For .50 euro you can actually have a decent place to take care of business.

The women in Bavaria like their fur coats. I have fur coat envy now, saw some very elegant older women sporting full length furs. Quite the vision to watch them navigate down the cobblestones in their furs and heels accessorized by a totally well mannered dog on a leash.

Europeans take their dogs everywhere. Restaurants, shops, groceries...everywhere and their animals are so well trained.

They eat better than we do, they are thinner on average than we are and they walk A LOT!

I didn't miss television for the whole week we were in Bavaria.

I didn't miss seeing strip malls along the autobahn. They don't have urban sprawl like we do and it is a total delight to see 'towns' dotting the countryside with actual countryside between the towns!

I saw lots of the tall white new green energy windmills and boy do they look cool. Not a detriment to the scenery at all...more like modern art.

I've been dreaming in German. Not that I can speak the language, but I picked up a few phrases. Now I hear other people's conversations....very weird.

Make sure you learn the phrase for tap water in multiple languages...they don't gulp the water like we do and they will bring you mineral water, which costs euro, over tap water unless you specify. I've acquired a taste for Pellegrino as my sister in law drinks it. Yum. Love that bubbly H20.

Chocolate croissants are one of God's many gifts to the planet. As is Nutella.

Europeans make better chocolate than we do...the Belgians do it best....yum.

In Europe, men don't drink cappuccinos in the evening. They switch to espresso....unless they are gay...or so I was told.

They do wear jeans in Europe, but I only saw tennis/sport shoes on Americans.

Another must have is a good scarf....you aren't dressed unless you have one wrapped around your neck...this is for men and women.

Germans make great coldcuts. No preservatives and boy are those meats, especially at breakfast (fruhstuck) yummy.

You have to ride a high speed train at least once in your life...what a delightful way to travel.

Time to get the second cup of coffee and read my old local newspapers. I stopped the metro paper while we were gone.

Happy Monday everyone!

5 comments:

Anne's BLOG said...

Interesting observations, Liz. Sorry you couldn't sleep, but glad you blogged instead!
Yes, Nutella and Falafel (sp?) and Escargot appealed to my traveling family, too. Christy observed that she could tell Americans by their shoes! :) She also said that
French McDs are frightfully pricey!A bit more than double US costs!

EYR said...

I didn't have McD's except in Germany on the autobahn....yes, it was a bit more pricey, but they have Starbucks like cafes in them, which are very cool. They also charge you for catsup and for refills...cuts down on waste that is for sure.

They serve different sandwiches there as well.

Anonymous said...

I loved the German breakfast (English is my absolute favorite). I loved the meats, cheese, and even the hard boiled egg. It warms me to know I am not the only oe who likes cold cuts in the AM.
I took a train once from Frankfurt to Berlin and forgot to buy seat ticket so I had to stand the whole 4 hours. Seeing the countryside was amazing on that trip. Didn't you find yourself more relaxed? Maybe its vacation or just simply a slower ore relaxed pace in life. Maybe they are enjoying the good things while we rush to get the sales at Wal mart.
GLad you enjoyed it
Kristi

EYR said...

Kristi..I absolutely found myself more relaxed. Not sure if it was the vacation, the atmosphere, the lack of commercialism or what...but I just felt calm the entire time.

Kim Smith said...

Sounds like a fabulous time, and quite a great time for you to get the old writing head in order... :) glad to have you back!