travel impressions

foggy distance view of neuschwanstein castle in VERY southern bavaria

i'm in munich on a long weekend with sabin. we're having a lovely time, tho' it's raining. here is a quick list of experiences/impressions, since there are many and i love lists:

1. the food is seriously white in this country. or perhaps only this region. white asparagus is clearly in season. and i don't get it. totally overrated as far as i'm concerned.
2. people think you are a bit mental when you carry around 6 cameras.
3. 6 cameras are HEAVY.
4. have officially seen it all on SK1665 CPH-MUC on may 21, 2008: story about caffeinated soap in Scanorama.
5. you can spot germans by their socks. it's clearly a totally different sock culture.
6. you can spot north dakotans by their light-colored, high-waisted, mid-90s lee jeans.
7. did i mention that the food is seriously all white or shades of white--sausages, sauerkraut, asparagus, potatoes...
8. i now officially understand the word "kitsch."
9. there are a lot of average american women who have clearly had too much access to inexpensive plastic surgery and/or botox.
10. risotto made with ordinary rice rather than arborio. not good.
11. white asparagus. totally overrated. (i'm aware i mentioned this before, felt it bore mentioning again.)
12. italian waiter in germany, pretending to also speak english and spanish. not good.
13. spotted on the train: two elderly women (approaching 80), clearly twins, dressed identically and visibly upset about having to sit across the aisle from one another. wonder if they've ever been apart in all their lives?
14. brief moment where i considered putting on a danish accent to avoid being identified in any way, shape or form with shocking amount of arrogant american backpackers which seem to currently be unleashed on europe.
15. it's only been 36 hours and already i'm dying for a green leaf of lettuce. i WANT to embrace the food culture where i am, but i'm not sure i can deal with all this white food! i need other colors!!
16. while starving yesterday afternoon wandered into large apparent tourist trap german restaurant and found it full of...germans. not bad at all. and the beer is superb.

home on sunday...more then if not before.