just john

This weekend I met a friend in Munich. Ludwig was born there and probably a good guide to the city in general. Munich is the city for October Fest and much like the Calgary Stamped, it's generally encouraged to wear traditional clothes during the festival. Since I'll be seeing at least two Octobers, I decided to get myself a pair of lederhosen, which literally means leather pants. They are the traditional work wear for Munchners. Ludwig and I found one of several specialty shops, though we also saw a selection in all the department stores. and proceeded to try them for size. Below is our dressing room. The panel you see that looks like a door is, in fact, a privacy screen and the view you have is exactly the same view shared by the rest of the store as Ludwig and I stripped down to underwear to exchange our street clothes for lederhosen. Actually, those are my pants in the picture.

The sales guy was riot in his own right and spent the entire time runnning the length of the store helping people. The entire staff wore the product they sold and, we later realized, modelled for their own sales copy. Our salesman is holding the dog...

It turned out to be a multi-part event and we had to go to several stores to completely accesorize with hat, vest, etc. I further cemented the reality that Germans have smaller feet than Americans as I cannot buy shoes in a city of 1.2 million people. Turns out they have special stores for me. I may even run into Hank Hill's wife. Somewhere along the way we stopped to look at the Glockenspiel. The Glockenspiel. Last time i was here i saw it running but was not so lucky this time. The image below is a composite of several pictures because the streets are too close to get far enough away with a normal camera lens. The white patch in the bottom left corner is part of my efforts to emulate the Bush administration. What I do not like is simply removed from existence.

Actually, I did not have data for that corner. It was a rally by an animal rights group against hunting. Since they really don't have much hunting here in Germany anyway, I really think they'd have a bigger challenge if they came to my home town of Piedmont. 99.3% fewer people and probably 100 times as many hunters.

This is another castle. I'll have to look up it's name later. What I do know is that parts of it are over 600 years old and members of the German royal family still live here. Unlike the UK, they no longer receive revenue from the state. For income they have to rely on working. Like managing thousands of acres of land or race car driving. This particular castle employs a staff of over 500. Again, a composite picture, not because the streets are close but because the thing is so damn big I couldn't get far enough away. There's a garden in the back, too.

It occurred to me, talking to Marcus and Ludwig about Germany's government, that it's not very old. Germany is old and their stuff is ancient but the demoncratic government they have is really only around 60 years old. Barely enough time to settle in to the constitution and much younger than the U.S.

I also realized one of my lasting memories from Germany this weekend. Little differences seem to stand out to me more so than anything people think of as major and one of the things I keep noticing is how Germans are always spreading things on bread. A huge part of the food culture here is based on bread. It's everywhere, always fresh, and in countless varieties. I guess a natural result is a host of jams, jellies, butter, liver (and other)wurst, spreads etc. At any given meal, you will see someone oh-so-carefully applying something to bread with a butter knife. The whole process is facinating because they spend what seems like minutes at a time covering the entire surface from edge to edge, keeping the thickness uniform, and somehow managing to come away with a clean knife. It's a small thing but imagery I'll probably always keep with me.