Trip to Germany

On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 23:40:33 +0200, Martin wrote:

On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:09:46 -0400, Cathy L wrote:


My possible relatives were not home when we went to their house. I
left a bunch of "family tree", papers in their mail box. Along with
our e-mail address. We have been exchanging pictures for the past
week. We are not positive of the connection, but it looks like we
might be related.

That must have been a big disappointment for you all. Didn't you tell them you
were coming?

We didn't know them before we went. We used the on line Germany phone
directory. It gave us four names in the town we had. So, we just
talked to people in the town and were directed to a particular family.
Even though, in communicating with this one, they say all of them in
the town are related.

Cathy

Cathy L wrote:

On Wed, 3 Oct 2007 22:47:11 +0100, (David Horne,
_the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

Lennart Petersen wrote:

[]
No. Cologne and Nuremberg are both correct spelling in English.
I didn't include them in the 15 out of 35 misspelled names.
But was it Wittenburg or Wittenberg ? Quite different places.
And the whole story is a joke... right ?

Jeez, I hope so!

Exactally what "story" are you referring to?

Yours. Isn't it a parody?

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"He can't be as stupid as he looks, but nevertheless he probably
is quite a stupid man." Richard Dawkins on Pres. Bush"

On Wed, 3 Oct 2007 18:05:46 -0500, "Gregory Morrow"
wrote:


Martin wrote:

On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:09:46 -0400, Cathy L
wrote:


My possible relatives were not home when we went to their house. I
left a bunch of "family tree", papers in their mail box. Along with
our e-mail address. We have been exchanging pictures for the past
week. We are not positive of the connection, but it looks like we
might be related.

That must have been a big disappointment for you all. Didn't you tell them
you
were coming?


There's that pesky language barrier...

Yes, it would be wonderful to know how to speak German. This relative
writes perfect English, in his e-mails. The two men we talked to, on
the street, spoke very good English. We met an older woman, in the
cemetery, that didn't speak a work of English. She tried so hard to
communicate with us. We used our little book as best we could.

We stopped at the only restaurant / hotel in the town. We would have
loved to have stayed there, but the two rooms they had were taken. We
talked to five men that were guests there. Four were from Ohio and one
from Switzerland. They were doing extensive genealogy research. They
showed us over a hundred pages of family tree information. They
offered us their appointment at the courthouse in Bamberg for the next
day. They weren't going to use it. The man from Switzerland looked up
his notes and said we were related, way back when.

Cathy

On Oct 4, 2:57 pm, Cathy L wrote:
On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:19:42 -0700, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"



wrote:

S Viemeister wrote:

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:

"Plenty" of citizens in almost ANY European country speak some English
- But it's strange how easily they forget it, when accosted by
arrogant Ameircan tourists who address them in English without even
bothering to learn the basic pleasantries in the "official" language
of the country!

But we don't know whether they actually said 'good morning' or 'guten
morgen'.

True, but having read their posts for some time, now, I
think it's safe to assume no word of a "foreign" language
would ever sully their lips!

Yes, we carried a translation book and always tried to use it whenever
possible. We found, in most countries, if you make an attempt, people
help you more.

In Munich, as we walked down Landsburgerstrass, When someone
approached, we would smile. Only younger people would smile back.
Older people would not. It was morning, so Bill would say, " Guten
Morgen".


What would happen if you approached people on the New York subway and
said "Good Morning"?

Cathy L wrote:

On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:37:27 -0700, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:



Cathy L wrote:


On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:04:55 +0200, Martin wrote:



Jens corrected your spelling so that when you next mention any of these places
you will be able to spell them correctly.

By the way how was your meeting with your long lost relatives?


Bill wasn't very correct with not adding the umlauts and all. I do
think everyone got the drift of where we went though. Obviously it was
just an attempt to make fun of him. I don't think there is a lot of
difference between Cologne and Köln, do you?

Not if you discount both spelling and pronunciation!
(Granted, it's the same city - but how would you know, since
apparently you didn't stop long enough there - or anywhere
else - to actually SEE it?)


We stayed at he Holiday Inn, at the Koln airport.

But how much of the city could you see from a hotel at the
airport? I've not been to Cologne, but most modern
airports, whatever the city or country, seem to be
surrounded by wide industrial areas, then slums, before you
actually encounter the city proper.

Iceman wrote:

On Oct 4, 2:57 pm, Cathy L wrote:

On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:19:42 -0700, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"



wrote:


S Viemeister wrote:

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:

"Plenty" of citizens in almost ANY European country speak some English
- But it's strange how easily they forget it, when accosted by
arrogant Ameircan tourists who address them in English without even
bothering to learn the basic pleasantries in the "official" language
of the country!

But we don't know whether they actually said 'good morning' or 'guten
morgen'.

True, but having read their posts for some time, now, I
think it's safe to assume no word of a "foreign" language
would ever sully their lips!

Yes, we carried a translation book and always tried to use it whenever
possible. We found, in most countries, if you make an attempt, people
help you more.

In Munich, as we walked down Landsburgerstrass, When someone
approached, we would smile. Only younger people would smile back.
Older people would not. It was morning, so Bill would say, " Guten
Morgen".



What would happen if you approached people on the New York subway and
said "Good Morning"?

Dunno about the subway (I always either walk or take cabs,
when in NYC), but I've never found New Yorkers particularly
unresponsive to a smile, a "good morning", or a casual
comment about whatever's going on in our mutual vicinity!
(Unless, of course, everyone I encountered was also from out
of state.) ;-)

On Oct 4, 4:13 pm, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:
Iceman wrote:
On Oct 4, 2:57 pm, Cathy L wrote:

On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:19:42 -0700, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"

wrote:

S Viemeister wrote:

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:

"Plenty" of citizens in almost ANY European country speak some English
- But it's strange how easily they forget it, when accosted by
arrogant Ameircan tourists who address them in English without even
bothering to learn the basic pleasantries in the "official" language
of the country!

But we don't know whether they actually said 'good morning' or 'guten
morgen'.

True, but having read their posts for some time, now, I
think it's safe to assume no word of a "foreign" language
would ever sully their lips!

Yes, we carried a translation book and always tried to use it whenever
possible. We found, in most countries, if you make an attempt, people
help you more.

In Munich, as we walked down Landsburgerstrass, When someone
approached, we would smile. Only younger people would smile back.
Older people would not. It was morning, so Bill would say, " Guten
Morgen".

What would happen if you approached people on the New York subway and
said "Good Morning"?

Dunno about the subway (I always either walk or take cabs,
when in NYC), but I've never found New Yorkers particularly
unresponsive to a smile, a "good morning", or a casual
comment about whatever's going on in our mutual vicinity!
(Unless, of course, everyone I encountered was also from out
of state.) ;-)


My point is that if you say hello randomly to people on the street in
almost any place, most would be confused, or assume you want something
from them.

If you actually talk to people in New York you will find that most of
them are friendly.

Iceman wrote:

On Oct 4, 4:13 pm, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:
[]
Dunno about the subway (I always either walk or take cabs,
when in NYC), but I've never found New Yorkers particularly
unresponsive to a smile, a "good morning", or a casual
comment about whatever's going on in our mutual vicinity!
(Unless, of course, everyone I encountered was also from out
of state.) ;-)


My point is that if you say hello randomly to people on the street in
almost any place, most would be confused, or assume you want something
from them.

Depends on the context. If you're walking along a country path in the
UK, it's customary to say hello to the people passing you. In a busy
town/city, it's unusual, though in some suburbs, it still happens.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"He can't be as stupid as he looks, but nevertheless he probably
is quite a stupid man." Richard Dawkins on Pres. Bush"

Cathy L wrote:
In Munich, as we walked down Landsburgerstrass, When someone
approached, we would smile. Only younger people would smile back.
Older people would not. It was morning, so Bill would say, " Guten
Morgen".

Okay, now I understand:

1. No local would ever *walk* down Landsbergerstrasse. Why should you?
It's long, ugly and mostly pretty weired people hanging out there.

2. Somebody looking at you and greeting this way is really arousing
suspicion.

3. If I would have to walk on Landsbergerstrasse for some unfortunate
reason ("didn't find a spot in front of the door") and somebody would
approach me with an unusual smile greeting "Guten Morgen", I would be
sure that they would offer me a Watchtower or Awake! magazine next.
For that reason, I would have tried to look straight in front of me
with a fixed stare and I wouzld have tried hard to not even ignore
them.

4. When in Rome ...

Jens, spoiled by 20 years residing in Munich

Martin wrote:
You should have written first.

Caution! Adapting local customs could lead to breaking some of your
precudices.

Jens