AFTERTHOUGHTS:
I have a few more observations, which may or may not be the final ones as I continue to recall (or am reminded of by others as they read this) more memories of the trip……….
SMOKING: There are very few nonsmoking areas in Europe. By the time we returned home, our lungs were raw from the secondhand smoke. We’re awfully glad to be back in the land of limited smoking, soft toilet paper, and AIR CONDITIONING!!
THE SMART CAR: This popular, tiny car was seen everywhere. Invented by the same man who invented the Swiss Watch, or SWATCH, it is very easy on gas. This is crucial, as gas in Europe can cost up to $8.00 a gallon. The Smart Car is adorable, but it seems rather unsafe, although we never saw any with damage from an accident. We never saw a single pickup truck anywhere. The largest passenger vehicle seen was the minivan.
METRIC SYSTEM: It certainly would be easier and more convenient if the U.S. would convert to metric, since the rest of the world is based on this system. Once we had the formulas memorized for distance and air temperature, it was relatively simple to make the conversions, but it was still a pain.
OUR FAVORITE ERICH-ISMS: We all loved Erich, our tour director. He traveled with us, gave us many interesting facts about the areas we were visiting, and went overboard to be sure we were well taken care of. His English was extremely good, but he did have a few really cute phrases that we all came to love. By the way, Erich is a very intelligent and scholarly man. He had an early career as a concert pianist, but arthritis in his hands forced him to take a different path. He now teaches piano—particularly his specialty of jazz—when he’s not doing Globus tours. He has several PhD degrees, and he is writing a sociology book. The following Erich-isms are remembered with great fondness.
“Ah you ready foh ah new adventchah?” (This is how Erich greeted us every day as we started a new leg of the tour.)
“Jijantic” (gigantic)
“C like in Sue”
“I have the schnitzel in my nose.” (Erich’s home is outside Vienna in Modling, and whenever a tour takes him close to home, he expresses his yearning for home with this phrase.)
“You may want to change your pants and panties.” (This was after a series of treacherous hairpin turns going through the Maloya Pass, where most of us suffered from white knuckles at the very least.)
“Slowly by slowly” (a combination of slowly and little by little)
“I think by myself” or “I said by myself” (I think to myself or I said to myself)
“Magnifikant” (magnificent)
“small plates” (menu items which turned out to be a lot bigger than expected)
I have a few more observations, which may or may not be the final ones as I continue to recall (or am reminded of by others as they read this) more memories of the trip……….
SMOKING: There are very few nonsmoking areas in Europe. By the time we returned home, our lungs were raw from the secondhand smoke. We’re awfully glad to be back in the land of limited smoking, soft toilet paper, and AIR CONDITIONING!!
THE SMART CAR: This popular, tiny car was seen everywhere. Invented by the same man who invented the Swiss Watch, or SWATCH, it is very easy on gas. This is crucial, as gas in Europe can cost up to $8.00 a gallon. The Smart Car is adorable, but it seems rather unsafe, although we never saw any with damage from an accident. We never saw a single pickup truck anywhere. The largest passenger vehicle seen was the minivan.
METRIC SYSTEM: It certainly would be easier and more convenient if the U.S. would convert to metric, since the rest of the world is based on this system. Once we had the formulas memorized for distance and air temperature, it was relatively simple to make the conversions, but it was still a pain.
OUR FAVORITE ERICH-ISMS: We all loved Erich, our tour director. He traveled with us, gave us many interesting facts about the areas we were visiting, and went overboard to be sure we were well taken care of. His English was extremely good, but he did have a few really cute phrases that we all came to love. By the way, Erich is a very intelligent and scholarly man. He had an early career as a concert pianist, but arthritis in his hands forced him to take a different path. He now teaches piano—particularly his specialty of jazz—when he’s not doing Globus tours. He has several PhD degrees, and he is writing a sociology book. The following Erich-isms are remembered with great fondness.
“Ah you ready foh ah new adventchah?” (This is how Erich greeted us every day as we started a new leg of the tour.)
“Jijantic” (gigantic)
“C like in Sue”
“I have the schnitzel in my nose.” (Erich’s home is outside Vienna in Modling, and whenever a tour takes him close to home, he expresses his yearning for home with this phrase.)
“You may want to change your pants and panties.” (This was after a series of treacherous hairpin turns going through the Maloya Pass, where most of us suffered from white knuckles at the very least.)
“Slowly by slowly” (a combination of slowly and little by little)
“I think by myself” or “I said by myself” (I think to myself or I said to myself)
“Magnifikant” (magnificent)
“small plates” (menu items which turned out to be a lot bigger than expected)
"smile rooms" (WCs/potty rooms/restrooms)
Erich, when you read these, know that we all love you and enjoyed our time together. These phrases only endeared you to us, making us smile as we remember them.
Note: Please excuse the absence of umlauts where they are needed. There may be a way to add them in Microsoft Word, but I do not have a clue as to how to do it.
In conclusion, I want to give a special "hug" from Dallas, Texas to our wonderful new friends from this trip: Asta and her daughter Talvi from Ontario; Inna from Brooklyn; Dorothy, Sherry, Dan, and Sinai from Oregon; Tina and Gunther from Ontario; Helmut, Marianne, Helga, and Horst from Germany; Luis and Iliana from Puerto Rico; Bill and Marlys from Wisconsin; Ardis from Florida and her granddaughter Danielle from South Carolina; Larry from Toronto, along with his daughter (Amazing) Grace and his mother Anne; Ed and Sara from Vancouver; Robin, Michael, Lindsey, Meredith, and Julia from Ohio; Erich from Austria; Massimo from Italy; and of course, my sweet sister Lisa and brother-in-law Bob from Florida. I will never forget you and the wonderful time we all had together.
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2 comments:
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