I flew Lufthansa Airlines!

The trip started off with a journey to Bush Intercontinental Airport on the northeast side of Houston. The first flight (with Lufthansa Airlines) was a long, uncomfortable ride from Houston 'across the pond' over to Frankfurt, Germany. Although the stewardesses were nice and helpful and the in-flight snacks and drinks were plentiful, the trip would have been better if I were able to sleep a little. The seats, although soft, leave a lot to be desired in the comfort department. They do recline, but only about and inch or two and there was very little room to stretch my legs. After a few hours, I finally conceded that I wouldn't experience comfort until my feet once again touched terra firma eight hours later. Fortunately, the 'in-seat entertainment system' offered over a dozen channels of audio to help me pass the time. International news was broadcasted on two of the channels (one channel in English and the other simulcasted in German). On occasion, the audio would be supplemented with the corresponding video coverage of the news broadcast on the overhead TVs. I oftentimes found myself testing my German language skills by listening to the German broadcast. I understood only about every fifth word. I discovered that news broadcasts very quickly lose their value when the audience can understand only twenty percent of the words. Finally, I gave up and switched back to the English audio channel.

About three hours into the flight it was time for the first in-flight movie. It was a movie that I had seen a few times before: Monsters, Inc. I enjoyed this movie. It was fun. It was cute. It was good, clean harmless entertainment. About half way through the movie, my curiosity got the best of me. Even though I had very little luck listening to the news broadcasts in German, I decided I would try to watch Monsters, Inc while listening to the German audio stream. Contrary to my experience a few hours earlier with the news, this language experiment turned out just fine. I discovered that the translation added a whole new brand of comedy to the already fun movie. It's amazing how many things in our pop-culture do not translate completely into other languages. Also, the German voices never seemed to match the animated monster characters. For instance, someone with a small, weak, squeaky voice performed the German voice-over of the main character (voice of John Goodman). Needless to say, it didn't work, but it did add a new, comical dimension to the movie.

The next movie was Gosford Park. For some reason I was entirely disinterested in this selection, so I didn't bother at all with that movie in either language. Instead, I read magazines and the USA Today that I had bought at the airport before I left.

Finally the plane landed in Frankfurt. I had about an hour and a half to waste before my final flight into Munich. For the first time, I am totally inundated with Germany. I can't read the signs. I can't totally understand what the voice on the airport PA system is saying. I can't understand any of the horrible and offensive things that the guy who is setting a few feet away must be saying about me. As I walk into one of the outrageously expensive airport gift shops, I barely recognize any of the brand names. But, there is one big red symbol of America that I recognize. COKE! Throughout the next week, I come to the surprising conclusion that it seems like Coca Cola is even more popular in Europe than it is in the United States.

Finally, the time has come for me to board my flight to Munich. The flight was only about an hour long. I found my seat and pulled out a magazine and prepared to spend an hour catching up on the newest hi-tech widgets and gizmos in the recent issue of Popular Science. Not long afterwards, I notice an older lady (probably about 65 or so), walking down the aisle dragging a large and obviously very heavy suitcase. She stops next to me and I see her trying to lift the suitcase into the overhead compartment directly above me. The news headline of the day flashes before my eyes: "Man Dies When an Old Lady Drops 3 Tons of Luggage on His Head". For lack of wanting to make the headlines on that particular day, I decided that I better offer some help. So I asked "Do you need some help?" She just looked at me funny and said something in some form of German that I have never heard before. But I did recognize the words "hilfe" and "bitte" (those words mean "help" and "please"). So after a few seconds of struggling to put the suitcase in the overhead compartment, we both take our seats. After a few minutes, I ask her something like: "where are you from?" or "where are you going?" or some other reasonably appropriate small talk. She responds with something like: "Meine English good very is not." "Well", I think to myself, "what do I do now?" Somehow I managed to utter the words "woher kommen Sie?" and then I nervously wait to see if, in my attempt to be polite, I may have inadvertently said something offensive like "your grandmother is a very large and extremely ugly pig and stinks like one too". Apparently she understood that I was trying to ask her where she is from. Much to my relief, she tried once again to answer in English and she said she is from Argentina. After a few minutes of conversation with her, partially in English and partially in German, I come to the conclusion that I think I can actually survive around here without having to wear a sign on my back that reads, "ATTENTION: Excuse my ignorance! I am an American and I don't know a thing about that language that you are speaking."

Throughout the flight I slowly start to figure out that this woman was born in Germany, but has spent most of her life in Argentina. She is coming back home to visit a friend that she has not seen for twenty years and to visit her hometown, which she has not seen since before the Nazis over took it when she was a very young girl. We seem to alternate between English and German every few minutes with her teaching me a few new German words and I teaching her a few new English words. She pulls a Lufthansa Airlines Magazine out of the seatback compartment and opens it up to the inside back cover where there is a world map. She points to South America and shows me the area of Argentina where she lives and what the landscape is like there. The tells me about how bad the roads are in most parts of Argentina and compares them, rather unfavorably, to the "nice, large and smooth" freeways that she saw when she visited her sister in Seattle (her only trip to the United States). She said: "it would be a pleasure to drive on the freeways in the United States". I laughed a little realizing that she has not yet experienced just how much of a "pleasure" it can be to drive in Houston during rush hour.

Before I knew it, our flight was about to end. I told the lady that I had to find the correct train from the airport to downtown and that I didn't know the first thing about how the German trains operated. I asked her if she knew anything about how to find the correct train and what they cost and other such questions. She told me that she did not know much about them either, but the friend that is going to be picking her up at the airport would most likely know.

After an uneventful landing at Franz Josef Strauss Airport, we picked up our luggage and then met her friend. I could tell that they were very happy to finally see each other again after several years. After a few seconds of greetings, I explained to the friend where, and at what time, I was supposed to meet Roger and she said in somewhat fluent English, "No problem. You have plenty of time. The train we are going to take goes right by the stop where you will have to get off." She even told me that the ticket that she had was good for up to five people. Much to my surprise, she then volunteered: "You can ride with my ticket". I'm beginning to like Germany already!

Deutches Bahn Train Route Diagram

Most of me was relieved that I didn't have to figure out by myself how to use the somewhat overwhelming train route map that was hanging on the wall inside the airport (shown to the right. Click it for a larger view). On the other hand, I was a little disappointed. I had been looking forward for the past few weeks to the challenge of fending for myself in a foreign country and seeing if I could manage to find my way across town from the airport to where I had planned to meet Roger. Maybe it was a combination of my tiredness and my hunger, but I decided that it was very much to my advantage to allow these two women to show me where to catch the train and, most importantly, at which stop that I needed to get off in order to meet Roger at the time that we had planned. After a short five-minute wait, the correct train arrived and we got on and found a seat. This was a totally new experience for me. I had never before ridden a public train, except for very local tram services such as those at Disney. After just a few minutes, the train came to a stop and I started to grab my backpack and head for the door. Then I noticed the two women smiling and laughing a bit while one of them said "no, not yet!" Once again, I saw on the ceiling of the train over the doors the same diagram of the routes and stops of the train system. After having some time to just set back and look at this diagram, I came to the conclusion that I did indeed make the smart choice when I let two women setting just across from me show me the ways of the DB (Deutsches Bahn). To someone who knows very little of the language and who has never ridden on a train before, the diagram is a bit confusing at first!

After about 20 minutes of looking out the window and seeing cornfields and cattle and farmhouses (nearly all of them with red clay roofs), we entered Munich. Thirteen train stops after I had gotten on the train, one of the women told me, "You get off at the next stop. Marienplatz is the stop that you want." For the past several stops, the train had been underground. One of the women told me that there are 3 layers of train tunnels under downtown Munich and that we were currently in the top-most layer. Within a few minutes, the voice on the PA system said "Marienplatz." I thanked the ladies for their trouble and I went on my way wondering what the next leg of my journey might bring. If you look at the diagram, I traveled on the S1 train (light blue line) from the middle top of the diagram down to the left to the Laim stop and then on through the Hauptbahnhof and then on to Marienplatz.

Hofbrauhaus in Munich

Roger and I had pre-arranged to meet at a central location in the middle of Munich. This was because I was coming from the airport on the northeast side of town and Roger works on the southwest side of town. We were to meet at 6 pm at the Hofbrauhaus in downtown Munich. During the train ride, one of the ladies told me the general directions from the train station to the Hofbrauhaus. After walking about four blocks, I decided that I better ask further directions. I asked a middle-aged woman "Entschuldigen Sie, bitte. Wo ist die Hofbrauhaus" (I.e. Excuse me, which way to the Hofbrauhaus?). She must have detected my strong English accent because she answered in English. She told me to walk two more blocks and go left and walk another two blocks. I was somewhat amazed that after I had walked the prescribed number of blocks and just before I turned left that as I looked back I saw her standing on the sidewalk where I had interrupted her and she gave me a wave as if to say, "Even though you are on the wrong side of the planet and your German language skills are terrible, you can successfully follow directions. Way to go!" She had taken the time to stop going wherever it was that she was going just to make sure that I had taken a left turn at the proper block and then she went on her way. I thought that was quite nice of her!

Hofbrauhaus in Munich

I arrived at the Hofbrauhaus about 3 hours early. Before I left home, I checked out the web page for the Hofbrauhaus (click the picture to the right) and was very impressed with the interactive camera views listed there. With the webpage, you can practically see every square foot of the place from your computer. So when I first entered the building, I recognized it immediately. Even though the facility is surprisingly large, I managed to walk around and explore the place feeling confident that I knew what was located where. But I was somewhat surprised that the building is at least 3 stories tall. The web page didn't mention that! After I explored nearly all that there was to explore, I decided that since it was such a nice cool, sunny day, I would try to find a table outside in the courtyard. There were probably 400 people in the restaurant, but since it is so large and has so many different sections, it didn't seem crowded. However, there were not many empty tables outside.

This is the fountain in the courtyard at the Hofbrauhaus (from the Hofbrauhaus webpage). This picture was taken at night, of course. Imagine this scene with many tables and chairs spread throughout the courtyard. Click the picture for a larger view.

I managed to find one near a water fountain in the middle of the courtyard. Not soon afterwards, a waiter came over and asked if I needed anything to eat or drink. He asked in German, but I understood just enough of the words to figure out the reason that he was there. So there I was; exhausted, suffering from a mild case of culture shock, hungry, relieved to have finally just found a place to give my feet a break and this guy suddenly comes up and asks me if I need anything. So, you may ask, what do I do next? Well, let me backup the story just a bit. I had been studying German for the past two to three months and I felt that I had learned enough to be able to handle at least the basic questions such as "where is the restroom?", "how are you doing?", "what would you like to eat or drink?", etc. So, here I was, tired and not really thinking about what going on around me. I was just finally glad to find a seat and this guy comes up to ask me if I would like anything to eat or drink. So naturally I say "Ich mochte ein water please". Now for those of you out there who don't understand German, you will be able to understand at least half of my response. And for those of you out there who don't understand English; one, what are you doing reading this, and two, you will be able to understand the other half of my response. The words "Ich mochte" means "I would like" and "ein" means "a". You see, without even thinking about what I was saying, I spoke half of the sentence in German and the other half in English. "What an idiot I am", I immediately thought to myself. The waiter just gave me a frown of disgust as if to say "Oh shit! Not ANOTHER American." Fortunately, he spoke English and understood what I intended to say.

So now, I have something cold to drink on the way. I have a place to set down for a while and relax. It is a nice, sunny day. I hear the calming, bubbling sound of the nearby water fountain. There are a couple children running around and being, well, just being kids. My over-packed backpack is lazily lying on the ground next to me instead of burdening my back and shoulders as it had during the past hour of walking around. Needless to say, things are going well! After about five minutes my anticipation of the large, cold glass of ice water had reached a peak. So imagine my disappointment when the waiter brings my water in a glass that resembles a wine glass and it has no ice! I take a taste of the water. My initial thought was to spit it right back out because it didn't taste like anything that I had ever called water. But then it dawned on me. This is not regular tap water, but rather, it is soda water! After a few drinks of it, I decided that I actually like it. But still, the surprise of it not being what I thought it was threw me off guard just a little, I must admit.

After about 10 minutes of relaxing and drinking some water, I decided that I had taken care of my basic needs, but then my stomach started yelling, "But what about me?" So I picked up the menu that laid before me on the wrought-iron table and start to read though it. Once again, I realized that my brain is not totally aware that I am no longer in the United States. I was a little taken aback to realize that not a single word of the menu was in English. Fortunately though, I was able to translate enough of the words to be able to pick out which of the menu items corresponded to a meal of bratwurst, kraut and mashed potatoes. This time, I didn't even bother trying to impress the waiter with my German. I ordered in English. A few minutes later he returned with my meal. It was so good that I decided to follow it up with some authentic German "apfelstrudel" (apple strudel to you and I).

I think the waiter forgave my previous lingual faux pas when I paid the eight euro and ten cent check with a ten euro bill and told him to keep the change. I had never seen a waiter so appreciative of a tip. I thought that this guy must be a hungry street person and has never before received a tip in his life. I later learned that this might very well just be the case. Later that evening, Roger mentioned to me that the prices listed in the menu are exactly what you are obligated to pay. The taxes and tips are already ‘built in’ to the menu prices. What a novel idea! Why can’t menus and pricelists be this way in the U.S.? So, it is no surprise that the waiter smiled so widely when I told him to keep the change!

I still had a few hours to waste while I was waiting for Roger, so I ventured out on the town lugging my backpack and another piece of luggage on a short tour of the several blocks surrounding the Hofbrauhaus. I discovered many smaller shops and restaurants lining the old-timey cobblestone roads of downtown Munich. I decided to splurge on a pretzel from a street vendor. It was one of those jumbo pretzels like you get at fairs and carnivals. I discovered throughout the next week that pretzel, bread and ice cream vendors are the key to the whole European Union economical system. These vendors seem to be everywhere and business is always booming!

Eventually, I found my way back to the same table at the Hofbrauhaus that I had collapsed into a few hours earlier. I spent a few minutes watching a little boy and little girl throwing a few coins into the water fountain. I was tempted to give them a few more coins to extend their fun, but then I decided that I would save myself the embarrassment of discovering that these five-year-old children have more German language skills than I will ever have. This was the first of many instances that my initial thought about a German child is: “that kid is so smart”. You see, I had spent many weeks of several hours per day trying to learn the language and these kids were just rattling off complex sentences left and right. I started to think that these kids are showing off! They know that I don’t have a clue what they are saying. They are just showing off! But then it dawned on me. Of course they know German. That is the only language they have ever heard. It was somewhat humbling to think that I, a person who has both a Bachelors and Masters degree, am not even capable of talking to a five-year-old child without asking them to repeat their sentences slowly several times. How many times throughout a typical day can an adult be totally envious of the knowledge of a small child? Typically, I would think that the answer to that question would be zero, but I happened to find at least one instance of that phenomenon that day.

About 10 minutes later, a backpack-totin' Roger came in and officially welcomed me to Deutschland! Soon afterwards, one of Rogers’s friends, Justin, joined us and we spent the next several hours at the Hofbrauhaus talking amongst ourselves and trying to learn a little from the new waiter that we had. This guy seemed more good-natured and entertaining and understanding of my ignorance of the culture and language than the previous waiter.

The Rathaus (The New Town Hall) in Munich

At about 10:30 pm we decided that we had better move along. Justin had to work in the morning and Roger and I had lots of exploring and site seeing to do. We had a short walk to the train station, but along the way we saw a few of the more popular buildings in Munich. Among them was the Rathaus (New Town Hall). Isn't it appropriate that the government building is called the Rathaus? The construction of this building began in 1867 and the portion of the building with the tall, pointy spires was designed in the Gothic-Revival style. The main tower, called simply The Town Hall Tower, contains an intricately designed carillon and several automated figures. These unique mechanical wonders come to life several times per day. The several blocks around the Hofbrauhaus and the Rathaus are considered to be the heart of the city of Munich. There are dozens of old and historic buildings in this area of town, all of which deserved much more time to explore than we could afford to give them.

During the first several weeks of Rogers stay in Germany, he could not find an affordable apartment in which to live. Therefore, he had stayed at a Youth Hostel until he found more permanent housing. Eventually, he found a nice middle-aged woman who was renting out the second bedroom of her apartment for a relatively inexpensive monthly fee. However, there was a catch! For some reason, the woman was not very trusting of strangers. Therefore, guests were not allowed to visit Roger's home-away-from-home while she was not there. For this reason, I rented an inexpensive room at a small family-owned hotel only a few blocks away from Roger's apartment.

This was the 'scenic' view that I had from my hotel window in Munich. It seemed that every house in Germany had this style of roof.

I am a big fan of Bill Bryson. He is a travel author who has traveled extensively throughout Europe and many other parts of the world. Anyone who has read Bryson's book "Neither Here Nor There", knows that one of the constant themes throughout the book is his never-ending comments about the extremely small size of European hotel rooms. Sometimes he describes the rooms in which he stays in a complimentary fashion. However, at other times, he is far from complimentary with his comments, but he consistently comments about the claustrophobic symptoms he suffers while staying in one of these rooms. For this reason, I knew to expect a small room while checking into this quaint, neighborhood hotel. And let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Now, don't get me wrong, the room was nice and clean and neat, but after I unlocked the door of the room and walked in, I had the feeling that it was barely more than a hallway with a window and a bed at the end. The view out the window wasn't exactly what I would call breath-taking, but at least it allowed me to take a closer look at the ever-present red clay tiles that seem to make up all of the house roofs in Germany (Seen in the picture at the right. Click for a larger view)

The next morning, we decided that we would go to where Roger was working for the Summer. It is called DLR, (essentially, the German NASA equivalent). The DLR is located about 15 miles southwest of Munich near Oberpfaffenhofen. To get there, we had to walk about one-half mile to the train station. After riding on the train for a few minutes, we had to walk about a mile to get to the facility at which he worked. This was yet another time that I noticed how different the cultures of Germany (and most of Europe, for that matter) and the United States are. Can you name ANY American who would walk about one-half mile, then ride a train and then walk another mile to get to work and then reverse the trip to get home in the evening? We Americans are typically so lazy that we will leave one store, get in our car, drive down the road fifty feet, park the car again, so that we can go into another store, which is right next door to the previous store that we visited! Europeans walk everywhere and they don't mind it one single bit!

During the walk from the train to the DLR complex, we went across an overpass for a relatively large six-lane highway. Roger points at it and says: "that is the Autobahn!" "Wow!", I thought! It didn't look like the cars were going 120 miles per hour like most Americans believe they should be traveling on the Autobahn! It was just a 'regular' interstate highway. At least, it appeared that way!

Well, consider the following tidbits about the Autobahn! Contrary to popular belief, only approximately forty percent of the Autobahns highways have no posted speed limit. However, the German government recommends a speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour (about 80 miles per hour), which is not much different than typical speeds on most of the Interstate Highways in the United States. On the remaining 60% of the Autobahn, for safety’s sake, it is necessary to enforce a lower speed limit. In fact, it is common for speed limits to range from 90 to 120 kilometers per hour (approximately 55 mph to 75 mph). Again, this is not significantly different from most US highways. In construction zones, the speed limit can go as low as 60 kilometers per hour (about 35 mph), once again, about the same as US highway construction zone speed limits.

As noted above, the speeds on the Autobahn are not much different than the speeds that you and I experience while driving to visit Aunt Betty during your annual family road-trip on Memorial Day weekend. With this in mind, it may come to a surprise to you to hear that the death rate among drivers and passengers is significantly lower for Autobahn travelers than for travelers on U.S. highways. This is because safety is given a much higher priority on German roadways. Seatbelts are required for ALL passengers in a car, as apposed to only front-seat passengers. Vehicles that are stopped at the rear end of a traffic jam are required to turn on their flashers as a warning to quickly approaching cars behind them. There are very stiff penalties for drunk driving, including huge fines and long-term loss of drivers license. Also, the roadways are maintained much better than most U.S. highways. It is interesting to note that periodically, every meter of the roadway system is inspected and if any flaw, crack or pothole is found, the entire section of the road is replaced.

Perhaps the American stereotype that the Autobahn is a never-ending, unregulated, high-speed, public super-speedway is due to the “first to get to the market” effect. Although the Autobahn system is second in size in the world only to the U.S. Interstate system, the beginnings of it were built (from Dusseldorf to Opladen in 1929) nearly 30 years prior to the passing of the Federal Aid Highway Act, in 1956, which led to the United States’ Eisenhower Interstate System.

This is a picture of the WWII era grass covered airplane hangars that are still present in Germany.

After Roger and I crossed the Autobahn, the city street that we were walking on slowly transformed itself into a country-road with broad shady trees overhanging the roadway and vine-covered fences encompassing both sides of the slightly curvy road. Eventually, we came to the DLR complex; a large tract of land covered with dozens of buildings, some old and some new. This place is located at the site of an old Nazi airport. There are still several visible signs of WWII activity there: grass-domed bunkers used as plane hangers to hide Nazi aircrafts from our spy planes, old guard towers, etc. The picture at the left shows one of the grass domes. These are still used as airplane hangars to this day!

To Be Continued...