13 November 2010 - Mercedes-Benz Museum

("Do you want to ride in my Mercedes, boy?" - Pebbles)

Now first, let me reiterate that I am an avid and undying Audi fan. That said, there are other fine German automotive vehicles produced over here, so it only made sense that I would visit at least one of the two such manufacturer museums when in Stuttgart. I chose Mercedes-Benz and will leave Porsche for another day.

The Benz museum has gotten high marks for its architecture, and with good reason. It is really a both beautiful and functional building that reminds me of a cross between the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Reichstag dome in Berlin. After purchasing your ticket (EUR 8) on the lower level, you pass through one of two areas where you collect your audio guide (included in the ticket price) and then get on what I can best describe as an elevator capsule that whisks you to the top floor of the museum. It is said to have a double-helix structure inside, which I understand from a DNA perspective but less from an architectural perspective. But anyway, you basically walk down a series of ramps interspersed with landings with exhibits until you reach the bottom. Lots of windows on the exterior as well, so plenty of natural light. Otherwise, very industrial looking with exposed concrete.

Also quite organized and high-tech. It is, after all, in Germany! There were numerous interactive displays regarding various technologies and development of the vehicles, for example. And even the audio guide was a bit different than what I am used to in museum. Instead of having to punch in a number for an exhibit, you point the device at a dark spot in the description of the exhibit, which must create some sort of WiFi or infrared connection. The display on the audio guide device then displays a menu of recordings from which you can choose, ranging from a general overview of the vehicle/exhibit, technology involved, design, and even a special menu option for kids. Each one indicates the length of the recording so you can figure out how much time to invest. Quite slick.

As you walk down the ramp, there is a fascinating series of signs/displays starting with the invention of various inventions by Carl Benz and other founding fathers and including both world history, German history, automotive history, and Benz history. It was done in a really fascinating and integrated way that helped you understand the historical context of transportation, world events and the corresponding developments of the company. And the world history events really ran the gamut. A few examples: women's suffrage, development of branding and trademark law, social programs and workers rights, prohibition, the German Women's Automobile Association, forced laborers, Elvis, ET, break dancing, Boris Becker's Wimbledon victory, world wide web, Dolly the sheep, the return of Hong Kong to China, introduction of the Euro. Fascinating.

I learned a few interesting tidbits, though. First, the origin of the Mercedes brand. I had thought that this was the name of Benz's daughter. Not so. When cars were first introduced, they were something only the wealthy had and they hired a chauffeur to drive the vehicle, just as they might have someone to drive their horse-drawn carriage, and particularly since the vehicles often broke down and the driver needed to understand the mechanics involved. But as technology advanced, there emerged a class of "gentlemen drivers" - rich guys who decided to get behind the wheel and drive the cars themselves. Men wanting control? Really? And you can imagine what came next. Yes, men wanting to go faster. (While this may be true, I would also note that as I chick I also appreciate control and speed, so I don't mean to be sexist. And again, note above the inclusion in the history exhibits that of the German Women's Automobile Association, which was founded in 1926.) Anyway, one of Benz's customers asked him to create a car that he could race. Benz was happy to do this and the customer named the car (just as one might name a ship) after his daughter, Mercedes. He was very successful in races, and thus began the recognition of Mercedes as a brand.

The museum has a series of small exhibits throughout the museum titled "33 Extra," and they ranged from the development of the standard ordering of clutch, brake and gas pedals (influenced by the German military way back when) to CB radios to the boxes for drive-in theaters that were mounted on vehicles. I found two of particular interest, though.

The first related to steering wheelings. Early on, the steering wheel was located in the middle of vehicles, but this wasn't particularly practical, especially if anyone else wanted to sit in the front seat (and who doesn't want to be up front?!). So the wheel was moved to the right side so that the driver could keep an eye on the side of the road to make sure he (gentlemen drivers, remember) didn't land in the ditch. However, as more and more cars were on the road, the other drivers (perhaps those distracting pretty lady drivers?) became more of a nuisance, so the steering wheel was moved to the left so the driver could keep an eye on oncoming traffic. Alas, no mention of why traffic in the UK moves the other direction, but the UK would still have the driver closest to the traffic as in other countries where the wheel is located on the lefthand side.

The other interesting item was the development of windshield wipers. Of course, the first vehicles didn't even have windshields, so this wasn't too quick to develop. In Germany, Prince Heinrich of Prussia (go Preuschers!) came up with the idea in 1908 of a handheld device covered in linen that could be drawn across the windshield to clean it up, though of course this only really worked if you had an open vehicle. The Americans were a few years ahead of Germany, though. Apparently Mary Anderson submitted a patent application in 1903 for a more advanced device, having gotten the idea while riding a streetcar in New York in

the winter.

The company notes in the historical pieces along the ramp a few things about its workers through the years. Two items were particularly interesting to me. First, the company shared a bit about its use of forced laborers during World War II. I realized, of course, that like pretty much all German companies that Daimler-Benz had contributed its manufacturing capabilities to the war effort, whether willingly or not. But the used of forced laborers was a bit new to me. Essentially, the able-bodied men of the company had been forced to join the military, so there was no one to make anything. So they paid the German government/military for access to the individuals who were in the custody of the military. Within these forced laborers, there was a clear hierarchy that was visible even in the housing of the individuals. Those from western Europe stayed in inns. Those from eastern Europe stayed in a sort of barracks. And those who were already living in concentration or work camps continued to stay there and were bused back and forth and were under SS supervision at all times. The company says that at the end of the war they tried to contact these forced laborers and pay them some sort of compensation, but.... Anyway you look at it, yikes!

On a positive note, though, the company said that it was among the first to provide more benefits to workers, such as paid time off and, in the early 1900s, reducing the workweek to "only" 9.5 hours for 6 days a week. They also created Daimler soda that was distributed to workers. Out of the goodness of their hearts? Not so much. They were doing it to reduce workers' consumption of fruit wine. Nice....

And, of course, there were the cars themselves. Might seem like it would be hard to pick a favorite among all the nice cars they have made throughout time and especially when faced with some of their celebrity cars (e.g. one of the Popemobiles, Princess Diana's SL that caused such a stir in the UK, Hirohito's ride). But it's not. Hands down, my favorite is the 1936 500 K Spezial Roadster pictured here. Just a beautiful design, flowing and sensual as can be. And even back then, it had a top speed of 100 mph. Yes, miles. The display said that the price was 28,000 Reichsmark, or about €98,000. Not clear whether that is in today's EUR or what it would have been in the 30s. Either way, a nice chunk of change. And no doubt worth every scent of it.

But wait till I go back to the Audi museum and we see some real cars!!

27 October 2010 - Mixing Business with Non-Pleasure

A couple weeks ago I went to a meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany. It was only my second such event as most of the presentations are, somewhat surprisingly given "American" in the organization's name, in German. But the topics are generally interesting and this evening was no exception, featuring the chief economist of Bank of New York Mellon speaking about the economic condition and fiscal policy in the United States.

But while his presentation was very good, it wasn't quite so memorable as the conversation around my table. I was seated next to a guy (we'll call him Klaus) who had worked for Deutsche Bank for 20 some years and then for some time for Deutsche Telekom before what I assume must be retirement and starting a consulting company. In both corporate capacities, he had been posted in New York. He's married and his wife runs an art gallery near our offices. So we started talking about art, New York, the U.S., real estate, being expats and the talk turned to my experience in Germany and in which he asked whether I had come alone to Germany or.....? Awkward. After I answered that I had only brought my cats as company, he pulled in the guy (does "Karl" work for you?) seated next to him into the conversation. Karl was a nice enough but somewhat unkempt attorney who was quite pleased that he would be getting notary status soon (which is more meaningful here than in the U.S.).

When he heard about Karl's upcoming success, Klaus felt compelled to mention that would indicate Karl's income potential and then (Oh no he didn't! Oh yes he did!) asked whether Karl was married? Seeing someone? Turns out Karl is single and lives in Sachsenhausen and the neighborhood restaurant he mentioned as his favorite is, uh, also my favorite and is located less than a block from my house. So Klaus was thinking "love connection," but I'm pretty sure neither Karl nor I were feeling anything except really, really awkward. It gets a little more awkward because as we were getting ready to leave, Klaus made a big deal about ensuring we all exchange business cards -- yes, thus ensuring that Karl had at least my work number. He also made it convenient for Karl to (I am not lying) walk me to my car.

The next few days I lived in perpetual fear that I would see Karl in my neighborhood or that he would actually call me up. Fortunately, it seems I was correct that neither of us felt the love connection. But it did make for an interesting evening. Not sure whether I'm up for another AmCham event in the near future, though!

12 October 2010 - Frankfurt taxis

{"Get Out of My Car" - Toby Keith}

The firm has a taxi/car service company that provides flat rates between the airport and the office and also operates as a taxi for other destinations. So when traveling on business, I often have them pick me up at home rather than hoping that there is a taxi waiting a few blocks away at the Südbahnhof. So when I flew back into Frankfurt tonight, they were waiting for me. But not apparently looking for me.

I knocked on the window of the driver and he looked up in surprise and slight embarrassment. He said he would explain once we were en route, which indeed he did, and much more. Fascinating. So here's what I learned about Frankfurt and surrounding area taxis. I should note that this is based entirely on his representations and has not been independently verified by me. (You knew there would be a caveat, didn't you?)

For starters, there are apparently too many taxis (something like 1,700) in Frankfurt for the fares available. So there has, at least in the past, been fierce competition for fares. The government (not clear whether it is the federal government, the state (Hessen) government, or the Frankfurt municipality) has passed laws in response to promote consistency, ensure access to taxis and protect consumers.

What he had seen was, a few cars ahead, a rather heated (okay, angry) discussion between two taxi drivers. Apparently, one must pay a specific fee to pick up individuals at the airport, perhaps not unlike how the taxis in some U.S. cities charge you an additional fee for the airport which is a pass-through of such costs. Anyway, this driver apparently had not bought this item yet nevertheless was soliciting passengers at the airport, which was turning the cranks of the other taxi drivers who had paid their fees. Now, if this guy is caught by the authorities, he could lose his medallion (or whatever the equivalent is in Germany) and would not be able to pick up anyone in Frankfurt or surrounding areas. That, of course, was of little consolation to the taxi drivers from whom he was stealing fares that very minute.

Another law/regulation that was passed requires taxi drivers to deliver passengers within a certain zone at agreed upon meter rates. The purpose of this seems two-fold. First, it protects consumers (particularly tourists) from a taxi driver who tries to bargain for a fee and requires just the meter. The issue of the taxi driver taking a longer route to rack up a higher fare remains, of course. Second, it protects developing neighborhoods (okay, those living in the ghetto) from being denied access to taxi services.

Another law says that I can choose any taxi in the queue that I want; I don't have to choose the first one. Apparently a lot of taxi drivers take a bit of offense at this, but the law was designed so that the passenger has meaningful choice and can select a cabbie s/he feels comfortable with.

There is cooperation but mutual respect for the different municipalities. So, essentially a cabbie is free to pick up and deliver anyone in his/her home area (it is unclear whether this relates directly to the license place location or something else). But if you are going into a zone that's not your own, you can drop off anyone, of course, but a pick-up is only possible if someone has scheduled the pick-up. So using the example of the firm's car/taxi service, they are based in the Taunus area, not Frankfurt. They can deliver me to the Frankfurt airport, which is in the Frankfurt area. However, they can't pick me up at the airport unless I schedule/request a pick-up. (So you can imagine the ruckus that would break out if a Taunus driver showed up at the Frankfurt airport without the right medallion and soliciting fares directly!)

Outside of the zone in which the cabbie must deliver passengers at the agreed upon meter, cabbies can negotiate a fare. So, if you think of the volcanic ash issues a few months ago, if you were stuck in Frankfurt and wanted a cabbie to drive you to, say, Amsterdam you'd need to bargain with him/her.

Interestingly enough, a recent survey performed by a motor club (think AAA) indicated that the taxi service in Frankfurt did not rate very highly. Cabbies were often trying to bargain with tourists to take them to their destination at a flat rate. They also tended to take the longer rate to drive up the meter and corresponding fare. They also ranked low for their ability to speak German as well as English. It's unclear to me from the conversation whether the current laws/regulations were passed in response to this survey, or if the survey is evidence that the regulations don't work.

So there you have it. When you come to Frankfurt to visit, I'll try to pick you up myself. ;-)

11 July 2011 - Eurovision meets Weldmeistershaft (aka World Cup)

["Schland o Schland" by Uwu Lena]

So, on the heels of Eurovision and its national pride comes World Cup 2010 or, in Germany, WM 2010 (WM standing for Weldmeistershcaft which is something close to world masters).


As background, Germans, given the country's unfortunate history, have been somewhat hesitant to display much national pride or flag waving. The 2006 World Cup was held in various venues in Germany and was really the first time when Germans started actually displaying the flag with some degree of pride. I was in Düsseldorf on business during part of that World Cup and got to see this first hand. It was also my first real exposure to World Cup soccer because, as a typical American, I didn't follow soccer. At all.


So fast forward to 2010. I am much more aware of soccer (or fußball/football) though I probably still couldn't tell you how a team from the Bundesliga gets elevated to the Champions League. What's clear, though, is how many great soccer players there are from all over the world who populate these teams throughout Europe. Which brings us to WM 2010.


Germany, as indicated in my Eurovision blog, was full of national pride with the win of Germany's 19-year-old, Lena, in the final competition. So I suppose it was only natural that with the WM 2010 starting only about a month later that someone would find a way to link the national pride involved in both events. The result, for better or worse, is the viral video, "Schland o Schland" by Uwu Lena, which should be easy to find with a quick search on YouTube. Essentially, a German guy dons a wig of long, black hair and dresses up in a black dress not unlike what Lena wore in the Eurovision performance. Surrounded by crazy German soccer fans, he proceeds to sing "Schland o Schland," a song set to the tune of Lena's "Satellite," complete with footage of vuvuzelas. "Schland" standing for Deutschland. It is patriotic kitsch at its best. I highly recommend viewing it.

While I am not sure whether Schland o Schland had anything to do with it, Germany did quite well in the World Cup this year. Alas, it came to an end for us last night. The first stage was a group stage or something of a round robin with eight groups of three teams each. (There were pre-qualifying games that I will not go into, but not every country gets to even this round. I was delighted that both the US and Germany made it to this round, particularly since some countries that have much more interest in soccer than the US were eliminated in prior rounds.) Both Germany and the US advanced to the Group of 16 with the following results.

UNITED STATES:
England 1:1 US
Slovenia 2:2 US
US 1:0 Algeria

GERMANY:
Germany 4:0 Australia
Germany 0:1 Serbia
Ghana 0:1 Germany

Unfortunately, the US lost in the Group of 16 in a 1:2 loss to Ghana. Germany, however, advanced with a decisive 4:1 win over England. Now, throughout, there were a lot of German flags flown on cars and such (another favorite is black, red and gold striped covers that go over the mirrors of your car). But these demonstrations got even more pronounced as Germany continued to win. My aunt and uncle were here in Germany and we were able to experience one of the public viewings during the Ghana game. By the time of the game with England, the public viewing area in Frankfurt was packed and closed around two hours before the game even started. There were also huge crowds in the Commerzbank Arena.

Germany also won in the quarterfinals with a 4:0 win over highly-hyped Argentina. There was another great song around this time that set the "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" lyrics to German with some humorous references to Miradona (coach of Argentina), though I have not been able to find this online for your/my listening pleasure.

And finally, there were the semi-finals this past Wednesday. Alas, we lost to Spain, 0:1. Very sad, very sad. Things were not quite over, though, as there was a match for the losers in the semi-finals to play for third place. I don't really like the idea of that. But nevertheless, Germany played that game last night and defeated Uruguay, 3:2.

All in all, it was just an interesting experience. I gained a greater appreciation for soccer, but for me this was less about the game itself than the national pride and the bigger ideas the game brings. The World Cup only comes around every four years, like the Olympics, but is in many ways bigger than the Olympics. It is just one game, so easier to follow (though I will not try to explain here how a tie in the group round counts), and it is really accessible to all countries with good players. I loved the number of African and Latin American countries that have very few resources, commerce or other things going for them but that excel at soccer. I mean, there's something fascinating about Ghana being able to eliminate the US, right? Now, in the end, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places will go to European countries (the final between Spain and the Netherlands is tonight), but still, it was a great world competition. And I can't wait until 2014!

30 May 2010 - Eurovision 2010

["Satellite" by Lena, obviously. Alas, it doesn't seem to be available on iTunes in the US as it is here in Germany, but you can see a replay on Eurovision's site]

A year or so ago, I heard through a US podcast (Rachel Maddow Show) about some crazy European singing contest. I had not head about it over here, so I figured it was some one-off thing. Au contraire. The Eurovision Song Contest is a big deal and has been going on for over 50 years! It has featured (spawned?) such acts as ABBA, Celine Dion (one must assume for France?) and Julio Iglesias. And this year I was invited to a viewing party at my neighbor's place last night. Awesome.

This year's contest was held in Oslo. It apparently started with 39 countries, but there were only 25 artists/acts remaining in the finals that were shown last night. One of which was, naturally, Germany. "Our" contestant from Germany is a girl named Lena. She just turned 19 and is in the midst of completing her finals in high school. Apparently she had limited experience with music and no formal vocal lessons, though she had taken dance lessons. And even before the finals, her song was one of the top downloads in Germany. I had heard it several times on the radio, but didn't realize the history behind it all.

The way the show progresses is each of the final acts performs in a pre-determined order and with no commercial breaks. There was slight variation last night because while Spain was performing, a spectator apparently got up on stage during their song, so they got to do a do-over at the end (without the spectator). Anyway, as each act performs, their number is flashed on the screen and viewers can then send text messages to vote for their favorite candidate. At the same time, there are professional judges in each o the 39 participating countries who also vote.

After all acts are done, there is a live report-in from each of the 39 countries in which they give 12, 10 and 8 points for, respectively, their first, second and third place picks. This is apparently a combination of both the popular vote and the votes of the professional judges. The countries cannot, however, give any points to their own country's act, if applicable. It was interesting to see some of te political dimension, though, with neighboring countries tending to vote for each other, the countries from the former Soviet Union tending to stick together, et cetera.

Some of the acts were pretty good, but some were seriously awful. It was fun watching them with a group of about 15 Germans to see how/whether my perceptions aligned with theirs. (For example, we all agreed that the dresses of the act from Iceland were wretched and, in particular, the red hue clashed quite horridly with the hair color of their singer.) As the countries started reporting in, I got this big sense of national pride each time a country assigned points to Germany. And what was particularly charming was someone at the party had brought a kind of grease pencil with the three colors of the German flag combined and she applied the German flag my face just like everyone else. I was honored.

In the end, Germany won!! We had 246 points, followed by Turkey with 170 and Romania with 162. I thought Spain might get higher ratings since they played twice, but they came in 15th with 68 points. See www.eurovision.tv for full results and more coverage. I thought Lena did a really great job of representing Germany and was very humble and normal in her comments both before and after winning. Though I admit I was a bit horrified that she let the German flag touch the ground, but apparently there are different flag-handling rules here than in the U.S.!

Great and fun experience. And a great warm-up to World Cup Soccer!!

22 May 2010 - Visiting the Doctor

One of the things that I have successfully avoided in my time here so far was being sick enough to actually have to find a doctor here. As discussed in the posting on the pharmacy, the idea of trying to explain symptoms is not exactly something that is covered in a basic German language course. So I continue to seek online counsel from my doc in the US.



But about six weeks ago, I was feeling really dizzy for a couple of days, one day it was bad enough and getting worse that I left work while it still seemed safe to drive. The next morning was bad, but I figured I must have some kind of inner ear issue and should get in to see a doctor. I recalled that my assistant had found a walk-in clinic for a Polish colleague, so I figured wherever that was must speak English. Alas, she could not recall where she had sent him, but she did note that it was Friday and the doctor came to our office a few hours that day.



Now, if you're like me, you did a double-take at that. A doctor? In OUR offices? Recall that I work for a professional services firm, not someplace with dangerous machinery (though sometimes our paper jam prone copier becomes a danger when I want to kick it), so the idea of a doctor around is, well, odd. But then I realize I am in Germany and somethings things are a bit different here. So she got an appointment and I went down to see him. Nutshell, no inner ear issue, but I had high blood pressure at the time, which was news to me. He asked if I had experienced much stress lately. Ha!! Anyway, he suggested that I go to his regular office the following Monday morning. At that time, they would outfit me with a blood pressure monitor that I would wear for 24 hours, it would record my information and they could then download that at their office and determine if there was a persistent issue or if they had just caught me at a particularly stressful time that Friday. And his office was conveniently located in Sachsenhausen, my neighborhood. Perfect!



So Monday morning came and I set Hudson's GPS to the task of finding the office. As I approached it, I was a bit confused, because it looked like an apartment building. Yep, pretty much. But there was a listing for him and another doctor, so up the stairs I walked, passing apartments listing the family names of the occupants. Not exactly what I am used to.



When I arrived at the right floor, the door to the office was slightly ajar. Okay.... I walked in and found a guy sitting at a desk wearing a sweater, not exactly what I expected of a receptionist or nurse or whatever. But he showed me to the waiting room, which, this being an apartment and all, had a balcony outside of a sliding glass door. I have not encountered that in a doctor's office before. All of the magazines were in neat little matchings covers. Interesting.



The doctor finally came out himself and took me to an office. He was wearing a blood-red cashmere v-neck sweater and some corduroy pants. No lab coat. No stethoscope. No trappings of doctor power. Interesting. He took me to what seemed like a regular office and we sat across the desk from each other and he asked if I was ready for the blood work. Um, blood work? I thought perhaps something had been lost in our conversation the previous Friday and reminded him that I thought I was just there to get the blood pressure monitor. Oh, ja, ja!



So he took me to a different room that also featured a desk and seem more like an exam room, except not really. The other sweater-wearing guy came in and tried to outfit me with the device. Couldn't get it to work. It's like a really ugly black sportswatch and it has to be calibrated twice in order for it to work. For whatever reason, it refused. We tried various combinations and permutations. We tried the other arm. The doctor attempted to assist. 90 minutes later still no deal. I swear, all jokes about accountants and lawyers being heartless aside, I DO have a pulse! But as I was watching all of this and having my wrists yanked this way and that, I continued to examine the examining room. What strikes me the most is that the entire office is carpeted. I don't think I have ever been in a carpeted exam room for, I assume, the obvious risk that some messy things can happen in exam rooms that might be difficult to clean up on carpet.



They never did get the blood pressure monitor to work. I ended up buying an automated blood pressure cuff and took some hourly readings for a few days. Not surprisingly, I experience pre-hypertensive readings primarily when I am in the office, particularly when I am talking about budgeting and capital expenditures. Go figure. I keep the cuff in my office and every once in a while take my blood pressure just to see where I am. I do, of course, track all of this on an Excel spreadsheet and have made some graphs that I find both fascinating and horrifying. But it has become something of a joke, now. When my guys see I am getting worked up about something, they ask if I'd like to take some time out to check my blood pressure. All in good fun, of course. Makes me laugh. Which I suppose probably brings my blood pressure down. Love my peeps!

7 March 2010 - Leipzig Roadtrip

[Take your pick of Bach's Brandenburg concertos.]

I have 20,000 kilometers per year available under my lease for Hudson. His "birthday" is coming up at the beginning of May, yet I realized that I hadn't even tipped 10,000 kilometers. Miles are a terrible thing to waste.... So I decided it was time to begin taking longer roadtrips. Looking at my map (a colleague gave me a huge one that I have now hung in my hallway, which I love, but is probably not very aesthetically pleasing, as evidenced by said colleague's wife refusing to let him hang the map in their home -- but since I don't have a wife....), I randomly decided that it was time to visit Leipzig. This selection was based primarily on two considerations -- the up-and-back drive seemed doable in an overnight trip and Leipzig happens to have a Luxury Collection property from Starwood that seemed a steal at €125/night. All that, plus a colleague was also up for the adventure and not dissuaded by my disclosure that I have a navigation system and driving tour book, but I might divert course at anytime if something of interest arose.

We left Saturday afternoon and, despite predictions of rain, it was a beautiful, sunny day and perfect driving weather. Our first stop along the way was Wartburg Castle. If you put on your Christian history cap, you may recall this as the place where Martin Luther hung out after being excommunicated by the pope. I didn't realize that he translated the New Testament into German here as well. It is on the top of a ridge and a nice drive up there, followed by a walk to the to that is both breathtaking and leaves one breathless with the steep climb. Really beautiful views all around. Nice grounds, though part of the castle was under construction and neither the tower nor the baths areas were open. There are also some cannons along the wall, which one of the Sarah Palin action figures could not resist (who DOESN'T want to ride the war machine?)

It was a bit chilly, so we ducked into the little restaurant/coffee shop for some kirschkuchen (cherry coffeecake) and some coffee. It was a quaint place, but quite packed. Anyway, the waiter asked if we were Americans. We confirmed that we were and a short while later he came out and planted a red, white and blue flag/pennant on our table. We were unclear whether it was to mark us clearly as the non-German in the room or as a gesture of welcoming, but chose to believe the latter. Nevertheless, the other patrons looked at us a bit strangely. We decided to milk it for all it was worth and had our picture taken there for the true tourist experience.

Wartburg is located in/next to the town of Eisenach, so we took a quick stroll through the town since we were there. Unbeknownst to us, this is said to be Bach's birthplace. There is both Bach Haus where he was allegedly born (and which is now a museum), next to which has been constructed a new and quite modern-looking Bach museum designed by a student of Frank Gehry. Who knew? Alas, it was getting late in the day and both venues seemed to be closed. But the musical features didn't end there. No-sirree-bob. The big church in town was hosting that night a World Gospel Tour concert and another place was hosting an All-80s party that began at the same time. Such options were just too diffcult for us to choose between, so we choose to continue the still-long roadtrip to Leipzig.

Now, I love Hudson and his/her navigation system. But they are in no way infallible. For example, we were to take the A4 autobahn (not to be confused with the excellent Audi vehicle of the same name) for part of the journey to Leipzig. Except there was construction. And a brand new section of road. For whatever reason, the A4 just seemed to end in construction at one point with no way to proceed and no detour noted. Hmmm.... Fortunately, my driving tour book had some paper maps in the back and I was able to point Hudson in a different direction that linked up with the A4 later. But part of that new section of the A4 was not apparently in Hudson's navigation system. He noted that we were "offroad" and started kind of freaking out, something like Robot on "Lost in Space" when he starts just flailing his arms about saying, "Danger, Will Robinson, danger!" Except Hudson just kept saying in German something in the way of, "Seriously, it is ill-advised for you to be cruising at 180 kph offroad. You should turn aroud and get back on the highway. NOW!" I guess I need to contact the dealer and see what the process is for getting his maps updated.

Leipzig was nice and I really enjoyed the hotel, the Hotel Fürstenhof, which upgraded me to a nice junior suite. I did not have the chance to see their indoor pool, but it really looked nice online and my colleague confirmed that it was also quite nice in person. Instead, I took an exploratory run around the city in the rain the next morning, which was not quite so pleasant as a swim in the pool, I suspect.

You may recall how much I love Mexican food and the difficulty I have had in finding some over here. So imagine my delight when I saw a reputable-looking place called "La Enchilada" across the street. Oddly enough, though, the menu in the window did not include any, um, enchiladas. Such a tease....

There were quite a few interesting sites to see, but the most memorable was nowhere to be found on the city map. I was roaming around and thought I heard seeing some people singing. Hmmm... I went to investigate. It was a Cossack Choir. Not joking. Guys dressed up in some interesting uniforms of a sort and singing with much gusto. So much so that I actually bought their CD, which unfortunately contained more Russian Orthodox hymns than the things they were singing live, which were more akin to a soundtrack you might expect for a Russian submarine saga or something.