Hatunen

On Sat, 09 Jul 2005 21:16:53 GMT, "Gregory Morrow"
<gregorymorrowEMERGENCYCANCELLATIONARCHIMEDES@eart hlink.net>
wrote:

    >Donald Newcomb wrote:
    >> I presume these Mexican students were teen agers and like 99% of teen
    >agers
    >> (when taken as a gaggle) they will tend to be a tad parochial in their
    >world
    >> view.
    >Teenagers everywhere are interested only in ONE thing: sex.
    >That's why travel is generally wasted on them.

Not to mention, as George Bernard Shaw noted, youth.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Hatunen

On Sat, 9 Jul 2005 23:19:42 +0200, "sascha" <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >> It is generally considered a mild mustard, particularly when compared to
    >> English mustard. A German friend of mine, not long in England, was asked to
    >> help prepare ham sandwiches for a picnic. She put as much English mustard on
    >> as she would have had it been German mustard, rendering them completely
    >> inedible.
    >She's probably used to use a Swiss mustard, like THOMY, the one in the tube
    >best mustard there is.

Hm. I vote for Finnish Turku mustard (turkun sinappia)



************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Hatunen

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 14:46:45 +0100, "nightjar" <nightjar@<insert
my surname here>.uk.com> wrote:

    >"sascha" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >news:[email protected].. .
    >> >
    >>> It is generally considered a mild mustard, particularly when compared to
    >>> English mustard. A German friend of mine, not long in England, was asked
    >>> to help prepare ham sandwiches for a picnic. She put as much English
    >>> mustard on as she would have had it been German mustard, rendering them
    >>> completely inedible.
    >> She's probably used to use a Swiss mustard, like THOMY, the one in the
    >> tube
    >> best mustard there is.
    >Hitler had a policy of self-sufficiency, so foreign products were not
    >available in Germany when she lived there.

This was achieved, of course, by simply annexing, one way or
another, any foreign place with desired products.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Hatunen

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 12:39:51 +0200, Martin <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >On Sat, 09 Jul 2005 16:41:10 -0700, poldy <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>In article <[email protected]>,
    >> Tom Peel <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>> 2. In Italy, the cover charge in restaurants.
    >>On a travel show, Americans were advised to use bathrooms at restaurants
    >>in Florence because the public toilets were bad in her opinion.
    >When is a toilet a bathroom?

When it isn't a rest room.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

EvelynVogtGamble

The Reids wrote:

    > Following up to Donald Newcomb
    >
    >
    >>"Bathroom" is a euphemism
    >
    >
    > as is toilet.

Oh? What do plumbing supply adverts in Emgland call them?

EvelynVogtGamble

Martin wrote:

    > On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 12:52:03 +0100, The Reids
    > <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >
    >>Following up to EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
    >>>These were Mexican students - Mexican beer isn't nearly so
    >>>bad as American! (Also, depending upon their ages, in a
    >>>chaperoned group they may not have been exposed to German beer.)
    >>they would have been surprised by British beer or belgian beer,
    >>all the rest is rather similar IMO.
    >
    >
    > There is little similarity between US beer and Munich beer.

I assume "Thank God!" is implied? ;-) I'm not really a
beer-drinker, but I think that may be the fault of American
beer, rather than any inated dislike of the beverage. I've
never had British beer, but Belgian is certainly far
superior to any I've had in the U.S.

EvelynVogtGamble

Goalie of the Century wrote:

    > In message <[email protected]>, DDT Filled
    > Mormons <deepfreudmoors@eITmISaACTUALLYiREAL!l.nu> writes
    >
    >> On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 11:25:20 +0100, Keith Anderson
    >> <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >
    >>> There were often queues in DDR restaurants, too.
    >> Tell me again why the world fell out of love with communism?
    >
    >
    > On my first visit to the USA, I was SURPRISED to have to queue at
    > Denny's on a Sunday morning. The food was surprisingly ordinary too.

But "going out" for a family (or after-church) breakfast has
become an American Sunday tradition - I think price is more
a factor than quality.

Keith Anderson

On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 19:25:30 GMT, "Gregory Morrow"
<gregorymorrowEMERGENCYCANCELLATIONARCHIMEDES@eart hlink.net> wrote:


    >Don't forget the "HO" organisations :-)

I remember them well. I stayed mainly in HO hotels when I was there. I
had to submit an itinerary to Berolina Travel - the UK organisation
which represented the Reisebüro der DDR, and asked specifically not to
stay in Interhotels as I wanted to visit places somewhat off the
beaten track. Ah memories....., rhubarb juice and and rock-hard rolls
at breakfast time.......
    >The thing was most all restaurants were divided into price "categories" and
    >the menus in each of these categories were all exactly the same...
    >[In the 80's the DDR built some luxury hotels for hard - currency travellers
    >from the West, these places had decent food, they even had French and
    >Japanese restos, etc. Of course, ordinary DDR citizens were barred from
    >such places]

The only Interhotel I stayed in was the Lilienstein in Dresden. Didn't
eat there though - went to the Haus Budapest restaurant and it was
actually quite good - Hungarian personnel.
    >Culinary school in the DDR, etc. must have been really "interesting"...

Yup - dumping leftovers into hot water and calling it "solyanka".
    >For most workers the main meal was lunch served at their workplace canteen.
    >I ate at a friend's work canteen at his hospital in Dresden (he was a
    >physician's assistant). Yeah, memories of school food, e.g. lot of macaroni
    >served plain, "stews", and bread...starch city!

The worst meal was at the station buffet in Zittau. Whether the lump
of gristle served up was pork, cat, goat or dog I will never know.
Basically it was inedible.



Keith, Bristol, UK

DE-MUNG for email replies

Citizen Ted

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 23:55:49 +0100, Keith Anderson
<[email protected]> wrote:


    >You really must try this one for size..... :-)
    >http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm

That way lies madness!

- TR

The Reids

Following up to EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)

    >>>"Bathroom" is a euphemism
    >>
    >>
    >> as is toilet.
    >Oh? What do plumbing supply adverts in Emgland call them?

bath/bathroom if you are talking of washing. Toilet/lavatory if
talking of toilets. Sanitaryware is another industry term.
(I wasnt sugesting toilet is not used, merely pointing out its a
euphamism).
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

Tom Peel

Keith Anderson wrote:

    > On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 10:55:00 +0200, Martin <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >
    >>On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 12:55:52 +0200, Ralph Holz <[email protected]>
    >>wrote:
    >>>Hi,
    >>>Juliana L Holm wrote:
    >>>>1. The amazingly low cost for great food in the french countryside.
    >>>>2. The way Germans queue (or fail to)
    >>>I noticed that, too, when abroad. It seem we lack the gene.
    >>Only a few nationalities do queue.
    >
    >
    > One of the most orderly queues I've ever seen was in Germany. It was
    > in Pankow (E Berlin) inn DDR times.
    >
    > I was wandering along, minding my own business, and in front of me
    > were two people carring bananas in a string bag. Passers-by were
    > staring at them - then running. I followed the runners to a fruit and
    > vegetable shop (probably called "Obst & Gemüse 27" or something like
    > that).where a long, rather excited queue had formed. A small truck
    > arrived shortly afterwards with the bananas. But there was no pushing
    > and shoving - but there again, it might have been because a Vopo
    > arrived to keep an eye on things.
    >
    > There were often queues in DDR restaurants, too.
    >
    >
    >
    > Keith, Bristol, UK
    >
    > DE-MUNG for email replies
    >

I visited East Germany back in the communist days several times, as my
wife has relatives in Erfurt that we visited once a year. There were
very few restaurants, and it was necessary to book a table months in
advance. From that point of view, queuing was probably a waste of time.
Certainly, the main problem was that there were not enough things to
buy. Our relatives earned quite well, and as the living costs were so
minimal (apartment only cost about 40 marks a month rent, public
transport virtually free), it was worth saving up the thousands
necessary to buy imported luxury goods (for example, 4000 marks for a
TV). My wifes uncle was on the waiting list for a new car, which finally
arrived just before the end of the regime.
For us as tourists, it was an interesting problem to spend the money
that we had to exchange. We bought textbooks, prints, and sheet music,
all very cheap.

T.

Gregory Morrow

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:

    > But "going out" for a family (or after-church) breakfast has
    > become an American Sunday tradition - I think price is more
    > a factor than quality.


Many of these post - church diners are so cheap (especially in southern and
rural areas) that in lieu of a tip they will leave the poor waitperson a
religious tract!

--
Best
Greg

Gregory Morrow

Tom Peel wrote:

    > I visited East Germany back in the communist days several times, as my
    > wife has relatives in Erfurt that we visited once a year. There were
    > very few restaurants, and it was necessary to book a table months in
    > advance. From that point of view, queuing was probably a waste of time.
    > Certainly, the main problem was that there were not enough things to
    > buy. Our relatives earned quite well, and as the living costs were so
    > minimal (apartment only cost about 40 marks a month rent, public
    > transport virtually free), it was worth saving up the thousands
    > necessary to buy imported luxury goods (for example, 4000 marks for a
    > TV). My wifes uncle was on the waiting list for a new car, which finally
    > arrived just before the end of the regime.


Someone (in a guidebook) once described the DDR as "a consumer society
without consumer goods...".

There were plenty of western consumer goods in the hard currency - only
Intershops, but IIRC it was technically illegal for DDR citizens to possess
hard currency. You could buy Intershop "coupons" as a gift for them to use,
or you could go to the shops with them to buy things for them. There was
also a healthy market for sending gift parcels to East German citizens...


    > For us as tourists, it was an interesting problem to spend the money
    > that we had to exchange. We bought textbooks, prints, and sheet music,
    > all very cheap.


Yes, "cultural goods" were of a pretty high quality and very cheap. I
bought a lot of classical records, art books, and I was able to attend top -
class musical concerts for virtually nothing...

--
Best
Greg

Keith Anderson

On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 11:43:47 +0200, Tom Peel
<[email protected]> wrote:


    >I visited East Germany back in the communist days several times, as my
    >wife has relatives in Erfurt that we visited once a year. There were
    >very few restaurants, and it was necessary to book a table months in
    >advance. From that point of view, queuing was probably a waste of time.
    > Certainly, the main problem was that there were not enough things to
    >buy. Our relatives earned quite well, and as the living costs were so
    >minimal (apartment only cost about 40 marks a month rent, public
    >transport virtually free), it was worth saving up the thousands
    >necessary to buy imported luxury goods (for example, 4000 marks for a
    >TV). My wifes uncle was on the waiting list for a new car, which finally
    >arrived just before the end of the regime.

Reminds me of the guy in the DDR who gets a letter - Congratulations -
your request to buy a Trabant has been accepted and it will be
delivered in exactly 10 year's time.

So the guy nips round to the phone box, phones up and says:

"Ten year's time, OK. Will that be in the morning or the afternoon?"

"Good grief! It's ten years from now! Does it matter?"

"Yes it does. I've got the plumber coming round in the morning!"

    > For us as tourists, it was an interesting problem to spend the money
    >that we had to exchange. We bought textbooks, prints, and sheet music,
    >all very cheap.
    >T.



Keith, Bristol, UK

DE-MUNG for email replies

Bb

On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 14:25:35 -0700, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:

    >> There is little similarity between US beer and Munich beer.
    > I assume "Thank God!" is implied? ;-) I'm not really a
    > beer-drinker, but I think that may be the fault of American
    > beer, rather than any inated dislike of the beverage. I've
    > never had British beer, but Belgian is certainly far
    > superior to any I've had in the U.S.

Belgian beer was definitely one of the big surprises of my first visit to
Europe.

British beer is quite similar to the pale and amber ales that are so
common on the US west coast. Most of the derogatory comments about
American beer seem to focus on a few cheap beers and ignore the thousands
of other brews from smaller breweries. New Belgium even does a pretty good
Belgian-style triple, though it can be difficult to find in stores.

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address