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Three German oddities on a weekend
Nov. 9th, 2007 09:41 pm1. Young kids just wandering around town on their own. I came home at seven (a couple hours after dark) and a couple of brothers--maybe 10 and 12--got off the bus with us. From their bags, they'd just had an evening shopping at the mall. No parents, and nobody seemed to think this was too weird.
2. And speaking of malls, if you need to use the bathroom in one, I hope you have cash. Brand new mall in town (Germans don't generally have malls and so this is like, a shopping temple and Circus Circus all rolled into one). Young child with me needs to go. We find the bathroom hallway, and in the hall in front of the his and hers is a counter with a couple of uniformed mall guys and some large plates with coins in them. I ask how much it costs. They say, whatever you feel it's worth, lady. I pay 20 cents, knowing that bathroom duty is worth a lot more than that. Ah, well.
3. Ever wondered why the German-speaking lands have produced such a huge body of classical music? Maye it's because they don't think it only belongs in the ears of snooty, overeducated adults. What was my toddler watching while I did housework Friday morning? Cartoons. Mozart cartoons. As in, Mozart's got his own show here. The other show she loves is Sissi, based on the life of a Bavarian princess who married Franz Josef of Austria. The real Sissi had unfortunately a much more tragic and unhappy life than the one in the cartoon, which is very romantic, with True Love and princes and princesses, horses, chase scenes, etc. The fact remains that real places we've been to, like Palace Schoenbrunn, are in the cartoon.
(Lest you think it's all culture all the time, she also loves the Mr. Bean cartoon.)
2. And speaking of malls, if you need to use the bathroom in one, I hope you have cash. Brand new mall in town (Germans don't generally have malls and so this is like, a shopping temple and Circus Circus all rolled into one). Young child with me needs to go. We find the bathroom hallway, and in the hall in front of the his and hers is a counter with a couple of uniformed mall guys and some large plates with coins in them. I ask how much it costs. They say, whatever you feel it's worth, lady. I pay 20 cents, knowing that bathroom duty is worth a lot more than that. Ah, well.
3. Ever wondered why the German-speaking lands have produced such a huge body of classical music? Maye it's because they don't think it only belongs in the ears of snooty, overeducated adults. What was my toddler watching while I did housework Friday morning? Cartoons. Mozart cartoons. As in, Mozart's got his own show here. The other show she loves is Sissi, based on the life of a Bavarian princess who married Franz Josef of Austria. The real Sissi had unfortunately a much more tragic and unhappy life than the one in the cartoon, which is very romantic, with True Love and princes and princesses, horses, chase scenes, etc. The fact remains that real places we've been to, like Palace Schoenbrunn, are in the cartoon.
(Lest you think it's all culture all the time, she also loves the Mr. Bean cartoon.)
