Damn, I knew there was something I forgot

Some friends asked me if my German held up while I was in Deutschland and Österreich. Well...

My own evaluated scoreboard
Written German (not that I got to practise in writing German while I was there but based on my correspondences with Schnappi, K and HM)
- bearable with some grammar errors. I think I can rectify it if I concentrate on my German grammar books.

Reading German - not too bad, I see myself as reading at Kindergarten level. I had no problems reading German TV subtitles, some instructions and most signs

Understanding German speech - took me a long while, but I think I got it like 20% of the time when they talk fast, and 50% when they talk slowly. No problems understanding kiddie shows, so I ended up watching cartoons a lot in Germany. B1 was reduced to watching XXX ads on tv, because as he said, it was the only thing that didn't require understanding of German. Hahha.

Speaking German - BOMB! EPIC FAIL... It is either nervousness or some shit, but I had a lot of difficulty pushing words between my lips. Unless they were food-related. Then again, I never had problems ordering food in any language, even Korean.

In a nutshell, a long time ago, I decided to focus on reading and writing German (when I have the time) and neglected the speaking part of the house, as I told Schnappi. Point being, no one to actually speak German with in Singapore, whereas I could always buy books online or at Kinokuniya. This was not a good idea, as I found out when I went to Germany.

I bought some German kiddie videos on the last day, while B1 was moaning that I did not bring him to any Computer shop in Germany at all.  So I took him to Saturn at My Zeil, which I had asked HM before we went to Germany. Saturn is like Germany's Challenger. It sold computer and other electronic gadgets at eye-watering prices, and CDs and DVDs upstairs.

He bought Diablo II (I seriously don't remember the graphics being so lame) while I got some Richard Scarry and the Muppets Shows (Teil 1) in German. *Keeping fingers crossed for miracle now*

Adoring Gothic Architecture at Michelstadt

Through the rabbit hole and into the beautiful town of Michelstadt

First thing HM did upon leaving Frankfurt was to drive us to Michelstadt, which I simply adored, because it has all the old Gothic timber-framed houses *love love love*! I lingered long after the others, taking photos of all the old houses I could find. Some of them were so old that the floors sunk because the timber stretched over the centuries. I could have a ladyboner just looking at some of these houses.  Some people dig Disneyland, me, I just really love looking at life-sized half-timbered houses. I drew one of them when we told to draw our ideal house back in convent school, though I made some bad judgement and used cream walls against the dark wood.

My dream house had a balcony like this one too!!! Mr B approves!

I wish I could sell up and move to this idyllic little town. Seriously.

Michelstadt's town hall or Rathaus

It even came with a cute ass super old Rathaus (town hall) which was built in 1484 and once captured on a Deutsche Post stamp.

Mr B sits inside the Rathaus, with the super picturesque background

I like the grapevines climbing up the sides of this house with the iron kitty. Greyish blue is a cute look too!

'Drei Hasen' literally 3 Hares. Check out the 3 hares on the signs!

Could see that the inhabitants tried to keep the original flavor of their many droll buildings. For example, there was a Backerei (bakery) sign over one little door, but was actually fronting a flower shop now. The Drei Hasen Hotel and Restaurant was another pretty building with three hares everywhere. If you look on the top left of the picture above, you will see a golden hare haunched on a sign.

Toy shop in Michelstadt with old storybook characters painted between the frames

The toy shop "Spielwaren Dietz" has a lot of old storybook characters painted between the timber frames. Check out (clockwise from top left): Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel, the Billy Goat Mother (you know the one where the wolf pretends to be her when she is away and ate her children and she cuts its tummy up to release her babies) with the scissors, Red Riding Hood, the 4 musicians from Bremen, Cinderella, and one of Snow White's Dwarves. NW knows her fairytales ok! *victory sign* I also bought one in German from my trip but that is another story.

There were a lot of private walled gardens near this park. There used to be a little river running through the old moat on the other side the town, but it has long dried up.

Cute little wheelbarrow with lots of flowers!

HM brought us to Cafe Siefert (within Michelstadt) for frühstück which is another wonderful experience that can only be captured in another entry by itself.

Till Pee do We apart

When we were coming down on the Tegelbahn (cable car up and down the Tegelberg), we encountered this young European couple kissing each other passionately in the building, tongues and everything. Even after they finally came up for air, the guy slowly moved away from his other half and their fingers lingered so until they were holding onto each other's fingertips before they regretfully parted, fingers tingling like "magic fingers". The girl even made a clutching gesture at her heart as the guy walked away.

[Roy Lichtenstein's Kiss. Img source: bobkessel.com]

We thought that it was because only the guy was going up the Tegelbahn, but turned out, he was only going to the loo.

Take so long, later your bladder burst into flames. *sourly*

B1 said "this is a case of till pee do them apart".

You have to give it to the Caucasian people, they really love and hate with true passion.

Mr B is one with the Occupy movement

Didn't find the bear and bull but found the huge Euro sign and the Occupy Frankfurt camp around it...

Updated!!!

Just read that the German police went in and cleared the camp. So sad. 10 months of Occupy Frankfurt has ended.

Awesome view that greeted us at Schwangau

This was the most awesome sight we saw when we reached Schwangau, at the lake Forggensee.  The sun coming through in shafts of light against a darkening sky. It was truly a magnificent sight and I consider this the highlight of the trip.

The water and howling winds were awfully cold though. However we were so lost in the sight that we forgot that we had not unpacked the car, and Mrs HM was waiting patiently for our lazy asses.

When I was explaining this to the QoE, she said that I was describing one of those relevation posters for Christianity. Perhaps she is right.