Home again

#7 So, I realize I went on a tirade last post, but really I am happy to be home. I am still jet-lagged and grumpy, but the weather is nice, I had some good sushi last night, and a full night’s sleep. I should be back in the swing of things by the end of the week.

I think I've boiled down what I was really trying to say in my last post: I simply feel like a citizen of the world after traveling abroad. You see how small and how big our planet really is in one swipe. Had a great time, and I feel like I learned a lot, again. I think it would be a good idea if 2-6 months of travelling abroad was a requirement for all young people, wither right after high school, or during college. I'm sure our country would be a lot different. America has so much potential to do good, but it so rarely uses it. Well, hopefully the things I've learned by travelling I can use to make my own home better.

Anyway, if you haven't gone on a trip to a foreign country, what are you waiting for? Go for it!



Coming in a few months: Africa!

Customs

#6 Ok, so flitting from country to country in Europe was very easy—No official border crossing from Germany to France for example (is this the EU at work? Dunno), I just drove to France. When we initially arrived in Frankfurt, I practically had to wake up the dozing and grumpy agent, but he just grabbed my passport, stamped it, and there were no problems. In Iceland you had to go through a passport control booth, but basically she just told me where to go for my connection (nice little “kill two birds with one stone move”). I have already mentioned the fun little security team at the Cologne-Boon airport. It’s like they are saying “Sure, c’mon in to our country. Enjoy yourself”! SO…

When you get to the United States, then begins the dog and pony show. In other places, you have the opportunity to actually get off the plane, go to the bathroom, maybe throw on a clean shirt, get a snack or a drink, etc. Not in the US. The passengers are immediately routed through customs as they disembark. The pleasant flight attendant’s voice on the intercom is rapidly replaced by a young American man’s voice stating with practiced emphasis: PLEASE MOVE DIRECTLY TO THE CUSTOMS AREA. DO NOT MAKE ANY TEXT MESSAGES OR TELEPHONE CALLS IN THE CUSTOMS AREA. DO NOT REMOVE ANY OF YOUR CLOTHING. HAVE YOUR CUSTOMS FORM AND PASSPORT OUT AND READY. ETC.

What kind of peacock feather show is this? I ask myself. I’ve been traveling for 20 hours, I’m strung out on airline coffee, and hey, at least I’m a US citizen, so my questions are easier—while these bastards are giving Swedes and Icelanders a thorough body cavity search in Minnesota, WE’RE NOT PATROLLING WHAT NEEDS TO BE PATROLLED. This is just stupid. It’s like the country is saying “WE’RE KEEPING AN EYE ON YOU.” Meanwhile, 2% of industrial shipping containers are being searched (if we’re lucky) after moving onto US soil from our bays.

I was ashamed. I was ashamed of the fear mongering. It felt like a propaganda parade. “Look how ‘together’ we are here”! I was embarrassed. (I awas also embarrassed just about every time I saw American kids during our travels. Always the loudest. You can pick ‘em out at 100 yards).

I’m not trying to bash my country. However, I have seen some alternatives, and I am sad that my country is not willing to try them. I am proud to represent the USA when we go abroad, because our governement is also not very popular over there, and it's a good thing to be an ambassador. American tourists get a lot of sympathy and well-wishing--Europeans realize that regular people have nothing to do with the governement--but Europeans all roll their eyes when anyone mentions Bush. I don't blame them.

FUßball!!!

#5 FUßball! Yeah!

We were completely amazed that there was any fußball to be found in all of Germany or Austria-BUt as luck would have it, Salzburg was playing. However, it was completly rainy and cold the entire weekend, and we thought we would end up just going back to the room. Wife was sniffly, with her rain gear starting to soak through, but a bus came by the stop and we saw fans with their rally towels and jerseys on. We looked at each other and said, "Let's do it!". So we did. We got student-priced standing tickets (8 euros each), and filled ourselves with wursts, leftover schnitzel from dinner, and Stiegl bier while we wtched the Salzburg Bullen (Red Bulls) win 2-0 against Fenster-Ried! Also very cool--when you order drinks at the game, we couldn't figure out why they charged 2 euros over the proce of the menu. Linh didn't argue, but was very confused. Later on, we got our answer: We eventually noticed that the beer and coffee cups were really substantial. There are cup girls walking around, who will take your cups, and give you back a euro for each one returned. This way they can clean and reuse them, rather than putting them in the landfill. Brilliant! Linh returned her plain coffee cup, but of course I sucked up the $1.43 or so to keep my Stiegl logo cup that you can see in the picture.




Confession: Because we wre feeling under the weather (and the whole point of the trip was for the wife to sing there) we actually skipped out at the 79th minute to catch the bus back to town, since it was clear that Salzburg was going to win, and we were not about to hang around for the rush of 16,000 fútbol fans (and get home two hours later). What a great time though! Safe back in the dorm, we boiled up some tea, and I packed up my suitcase for home.

Salzburg sights

#4 Salzburg is a pretty, provincial little town. The Festspiele is in full force (probably the biggest classical music festival in central Europe), so classical music is in every nook and cranny of the city. We actually went to three shows in the evening: Listened to Copland's Quiet City (one of my favorite orchestral pieces) at St. Peter's Kirke, then dropped in on an act of The Marriage of Figaro in a student production nearby, then had a dessert and appetizer in the platz behind the Salzburger Dom while watching a 20 foot high telecast of Purcell's King Arthur.





Yeah, Salzburg's pretty cool. What will be crummy is that my wife is staying for two more weeks, while I have to go back home for rehearsals. Boo. But I've had a great vacation, and will be happy to get back in the swing of things at home. Have a really busy autumn coming up, so it's time to get back to work. As I do so, I really want to keep my German going--I plan to get some books in German, which was my German cousin's suggestion. She lived in Canada in the 90's and has kept up her english by reading books in the language.

There is a strong possibility that we willbe going to see Salzburg's Red Bulls play at the Bullen Arena tomorrow night. I'll let you know if I can go.

Anyway, signing off. Be back soon from stateside.

Friends and Family

#3 It's fun to live our little adventurous life, even if the whole thing starts off on the wrong foot. You have to do that with traveling abroad, and actually with every endeavor you undertake. I've always had what I considered to be a good philosophy about this kind of thing, but now that I've gone through it again as an adult, I feel like I've grown even more. We've been to three stops on our trip, having flown into Frankfurt (didn't stay--took off straight away!) on to Koblenz to visit my friends from conservatory.

Our friends Stelli and Jaco, and their colleague Michael, a British basso.


Noticed a few things in Germany that were really great. In many places in a downtown area, if there is a staircase, there is a section that is made for strollers. They really take care of mothers and women here--the other thing was that parking garages reserve spots near the entrance not only for parents with children, but also a section for women, so that they are less likely to be attacked, or at least be able to run outside. We need this kind of courtesy in the US.


Headed down to Bühl to visit my extended family, the descendants of my great, great, great grandfather's brother who stayed in Germany, rather than traveling to the United States in the late 1840's. Incredible how genetics work--the look of some of my relatives was uncannily similar to the US side, and could have fit in among my direct uncles, aunts, and cousins very easily.



The south of Germany is very laid back, maybe because of it being the beginning of their two-week holiday, but we think it's like the south of any country. Plus, Strasbourg, France is very close by, so my cousin's husband was cool as a cucumber and French-seeming. My cousin teaches kindergarten, and her husband has a good government job. But this was holiday time, and they were ready to relax. Going out to a café twice a day was not a big deal at all. Near Baden (just a few kilometers down the road) we visited Schloss Favorite, a summer residence of the local Grafine (little contessa).

Hardly Versailles, but the schloss had all the excesses of the very rich at the time. Mirrored rooms, Japanese rooms, and rooms themed on the signs of the zodiac--very cool. We followed the guided tour witha drive out to Baden-Baden, an upscale spa town further south. Gorgeous.



After a few days there, we drove up to Köln for two days of voice study, fresh food and Kölsch bier. We stayed with our wonderful voice teacher and his new wife, who was probably the most beautiful woman my wife and I had ever met--when I walked up after parking the car, my wife was actually petting her!




The couple brought us on a quite complete tour of the Altstadt, and took us to a standup dinner at Peters--many small glasses of fresh Kölsch-style beer and delicious pork medallions with steamed vegetables.





Flughafen Köln/Bonn. Off to provincial Salzburg, where I studied in 1994. We're here very early, and it is a complete breeze through security. Overstaffed, but not in the crummy American bumping into each other style. Here, we've got a trading-off system, where three security people are calmly herding you through, and helping you get your stuff into bins and onto the belt. We've got a few more people who seem to be in charge of keeping the others entertained, and one pretty security staffer reclining slightly on a high chair with her feet up on an unused belt. The whole scene could be from a film or sitcom about an airport security station. I should copyright that scenario, shouldn't I?

Waiting at the gate, the people seem a bit more affluent, and dressed up, ready to go on their holidays, perhaps. Seersucker suits, miniskirts on women of all ages.


Next: muddling through in Austria.

Landing in Germany (Finally!)

#2 [6:00 am]: Arrival at Frankfurt Flughafen. We first try to find the Iceland baggage counter--we eventually track it down about 40 minutes later. Frankfurt is a decent-sized airport, and is currently under construction. She is very sorry about our problem, and mentions "that is a very bad way to do that". She cannot find our bags in the system, and lets us know that the last airline that you board is responsible for your baggage. We head then to the United counter, who sends us to Lufthansa's baggage desk, which handles the lost baggage for about 15 airlines. The lady is very kind, puts in our claim, and hands us each a courtesy overnight pack.

I've got this to say about the Germans. They are efficient, and very nice. They sometimes neglect to tell you all the information, but I think that derives from an actual service-minded mentality: they have a specialist for everything, and it is that person's job to take care of it. Also, most Germans speak English pretty well--they all take it in school, and it is the preferred universal language on signs and announcements throughout Europe. Lucky for English speakers. My German has improved a bit, buit since so many people speak English to you, I am getting less practice than I had wanted.

We pick up the car, after getting major attitude from the (American?) Avis agent--she's really smarmy. They were supposed to give us a VW hatchback, but she's got us down for a SmartCar. That would've been fine if we were staying local, but not for the long-distance travelling we've got planned on the Autobahns. Too flimsy. So we upgrade to a slick little Fiat hatchback. Realearning how to drive a stickshift on the fastest highways in Europe--brilliant idea, G.



OK, driving in Deutschland. This is the right way to do it, and my German roots come out in force on the road. Sorry Americans, it's not about the speed--that's never been my style. It's about order. They go really fast in the left lane, medium in the middle lane (although you are not supposed to cruise in the middle for long periods--you should get over to the right when you can), and slower traffic stays in the right. Now, I know what you're thinking: "that's the way it is in the States, what's the big deal?" Here's the deal. American expressway=chaos. People passing on the right, jerks, etc. Here, everybody knows and respects the rules, and for the most part, everything runs like a big clock. Only a time or two, on a two-lane section, did we have to make a quick brake, as someone cruising in the right lane had to pass a slow-moving truck.


I think I did very well on the roads, and we only got lost once, as we came into Köln. Left lane drivers will blow past you at incredible speeds, so if you have to pass, you really have to look and judge wheter or not someone will rear-end you at 150 kph. Yahoo Maps served us pretty well. However, they put the distances in miles, which might make it good for Americans that have trouble judging the actual length of a Kilometer, but the signs are all in Kilometers, so having to make a switch in your mind seems an unnecessary step.

Next time: friends and family

Off to the races?!

#1 (We're just trying to get out of here...)

Welcome, gang:

I decided that this would be my first blogging--an exposé on my travels in Germany and Austria during the summer of 2007. My wife won a singing contest at her university, from which she received a scholarship to pay for a two week masterclass at Salzburg's Mozarteum round-trip airfare, and expenses. I had to pay my own way, but I saved up my extra monthly money to spend two weeks with my wife in Europe before she had to start her programme and I had to return to reahearsals for next touring season.




We've had some adventures so far, and I will put these stories up on this blog in installments, as I get a chance to record our experiences. Enjoy!

Day one:

4:20 pm: arrive airport departure scheduled 7:20 pm
5:20 pm: gone through security, waiting to board at gate
6:20 pm: there's a problem with the coolant system! We'll probably be late
7:20 pm: Oh, yeah, we're not going anywhere...better go get a banana.
8:20 pm: Still working. Two Torchwood episodes down, no word yet on flight status.
9:20 pm: "We're going to bring you out cheeseburgers soon".
10:20 pm: No cheeseburgers yet. Lack-of-food-headaches are intense.
11:20 pm: Still no cheeseburgers, but received blankets. Had pretzel chips and apple juice. Eyes bloodshot.
11:45 pm: A strange combination of "La Choy" pseudo-asian-style rice and spices, but with Swedish meatballs--interesting...and horrible. Everybody seems in pretty decent spirits, though, despite the incredible delay. Europina says: "We're going to be here all night." Who knows what's next.
1:20 am: they send everybody local home, and the poor Scandinavian tourists to the few rooms in town that are left, since Northwest Airlines had sucked then all up after cancelling a bunch of flights again (bad company, that one--avoid if you can, they treat their employees like garbage, and give their bad management raises). Iceland Air says they will reimburse taxi charges if we send them a letter and receipts. Sorry, but I want miles and a shoeshine after this ordeal.

NEXT DAY:

8:00 am: Call airline--the flight will take off at 1pm--18 hours late, and a lot of money flushed down the toilet.

10:00 am: Arrive at airport. Everything's fine, except we have a connection that we've also missed. The question: how and when on earth are we going to get to Frankfurt? Iceland Air has at this point enlisted a couple of women from Sun Country to man the check in counter. Sun Country lady checks us in, but seems quite stumped that our final destination is not Reykjavic (would have been cool, but c'mon). She says "I dunno--let me see if there's anything that Jessica, the Iceland Air rep can do for you."

Lady goes into the office to see Jessica. She comes running out with two tickets to a United Air flight to Chicago connecting with a direct to Frankfurt. She says "RUN! Don't worry about your bags, just run!" By this time it is 11:15. Flight leaves at 11:50. Not enough time to shuttle to the other terminal, check in, go through security (we were flagged for additional screening, which took up even more time), and we make it just in time for our boarding.

Now, in Jessica's defense, she is the only company representative in the airport, and we know she worked through the night to keep things going, but this was the dumbest thing to do to us. All we wanted to know was what to expect for an arrival time at Frankfurt after a connection, not to get thrown into a whirlwind. At this point, we have only our backpacks, because our bags were locked down on the plane because of the computer breakdown. Now, since the United flight was leaving so soon, it hits us as we board that Iceland wouldn't be able to get the bags off the original plane in time for the new flight. We call Jessica from the other terminal, and she says that she will send our bags on an immediate flight to Germany, that will arrive 6 hours after we arrive in Germany.

We ask the United guy at the desk what we should expect at least three days before we can get our bags. "WHAT?" The problem is that we are now in Koblenz, then in Southern Germany, then up to Köln, then flying to Salzburg, etc. He says to put a trace on our bags when we get to Germany, which will then only START the process to get our bags back. He actually laughed when we mention that Jessica would send the bags along. To get our stuff, we are told by United guy to talk to United, we are told by Jessica to talk to Iceland.

MORE TO COME...