Odds and ends

WE ARE IN PARIS! WE ARE IN PARIS! But more about that a bit later! I wrote the following on the train in the last few days...

Munich seems more relaxed (or chiller, as they say) than its big brother over there in the East. But it doesn’t lack Berlin’s excitement at all, or its hordes of tourists. There are more here, actually: they come to sample the biergartens and see the Glockenspiel (sadly, under repair for us—all we got was a weak squawk out of the animatronic owl), and shop at the designer stores. The city apparently has always had money... the medieval cathedrals and Aston Martin dealerships prove that.

The absolute best thing about Munich Hauptbahnof, the train station, is that it has a little EurAide office with an English-speaking attendant, and we found an AMAZING pamphlet with every bit of information we ever abstractedly wondered about our Eurail Passes. I guess when you roll into a strange city with three hours of broken sleep on an ICE train, a fluent English speaker and a concisely written brochure are all you really need.

A bit more about Neuschwanstein: it was crawling with tourists from around the world. Hundreds of people braved the long walk in the pouring rain to climb to the top of the castle’s hill. The fog made everything gloomier, yet somehow not more depressing. It added to the atmosphere—and distinguished the castle slightly from its famous cheery knockoff, the Disneyland one. The similarities go further, too... in addition to the throngs of people (how many synonyms for “crowd” am I allowed to use??) Ludwig even has his own little cartoon self. The Germans affectionately call him MinniKinniLuddi, and he has his face on dishes, flags, pins, and everything else. It's a cute way for the tourists to digest a complicated, mentally ill 19th century monarch, and buy things :)

Oh, and I must explain: the Internet's sparse availability and my laptop’s spastic response to it have been contributing to the irregular posting that’s been going on. But I’m glad to hear people are reading, and it’s been so good to hear from you!

We just arrived in Paris, and we’re actually going to go eat a croissant and visit the Eiffel Tower. That’s seriously the plan. So off we go ... in a city where we finally speak the language!

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