09 July 2007

Weekend Update

Okay, so this post won't quite live up to it's Saturday Night Live namesake, but here's a brief overview of my thank-God-it-is-not-raining weekend. Friday night was spent thinking of how to spend an entire Saturday doing something, all quaintness aside, Marbach isn't quite known for tourism precisely because there isn't too much to do. So I went to Stuttgart. Hence my trip from Stuttgart back to Marbach that I wrote about in my last post.
I was surprised by how metropolitan this local capital was; Gucci, other Italian fashion gods whose names escape me, and the usual American suspects like Lacoste. German cities are known for their "Fußgängerzone", which for the Minnesotans is like Nicollet Mall. An uninterrupted pedestrian zone lined with shops. A jumble of historic churches and sleek buildings, Stuttgart was a busy place but nothing impressed me more than the Schlossplatz. Picture the palace of Versailles meets "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and you wind up with the center of Stuttgart life. Crowds of people laying out, tanning themselves in long pants and colored socks (Europeans, explain yourselves!) in front of a miniature palace.
Aside from wandering around the city and enjoying bits of the LiveEarth concert, which was broadcast by the Green Party on the Schlossplaty, the one entertainment that was unintended was the strike. Now I know the French like to do strikes the old-fashioned way, throngs in the street making life miserable for everyone else, but the Germans . . . they're like the Northwest workers who stand by the drop-off area; fifteen people in a circle, shouting with signs, something reminiscent of a tribal pow-wow. The store in question was H & M, a Swedish clothing chain. My only question is, what could the Swedes possibly do wrong?
Yesterday I took a Stadtführung, a city tour, of Marbach and it was very interesting. The tour started with the college orientation week questions: What's your name, where are you from, etc. I was last in line (a line of 5), and the others proudly stated they were from across the river in Benningen, from Zurich and from Berlin. "Oh, all the way from Berlin! I bet you don't understand my accent, you're from so far away," the tour guide said. My turn. "From America?? You are the champion!" Yes, a title I deserve after the 11-hour flight. His English was quite good when he sprinkled it in for linguistic flavor, even the occasional "that's Schiller in a nutshell." Although the weather made for bad picture taking, it was fun to hear a native, life-long Marbacher brag about his little home. I promise you all pictures when I get back, but for now, Tschüs!

1 comment:

  1. What are you talking about, Europeans can get away with anything! =)
    -Vanessa

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