We just returned last week from Munich and everyone was very nice. I did notice on the street that people didn't return smiles (only a few people in a week did) but I didn't think they were rude. On our last morning in Munich we were walking on the street in the rain with our luggage trailing behind us and a map in our hands and a taxi driver got out of his cab, asked what we were looking for and then pointed us in the right direction.

We didn't get any "looks" either.

ps - Oktoberfest was a BLAST!!!!

> hostile and cruel to traumatized children and starving young adults
Well, I'm amazed, you know a little about recent German history.

Just returned from 3 weeks in Germany and Austria tonight. Have also traveled there several times over the past couple of years. Like everywhere else, there are people who will go out of their way to be friendly and kind and those who just go about their business without paying you much attention. We found many people who genuinely seemed to enjoy helping us when we had questions. We also had quite a few people start conversations with us who continued the conversation even when they realized we didn't speak very good German.

I do know of one instance when we had to share a table with a German couple at the Zum Baeren Hotel in Meersburg at dinner where my husband said they were making fun of the way we were holding our utensils and the fact that we were tasting each other's food. I guess they didn't realize that he understood what they were saying. But as my husband said later, we've probably been guilty of doing the same thing (but hopefully they didn't realize we were making fun of them at the time!!).

logos999 -
>>That's easy "American" are any "western looking" nationalities that come as tourists and Japanese are any "asian looking" nationalities.<<

No wonder I sometimes get confused looks when I tell people here in Cologne that I am American. I'm one of those "Asian looking" Chinese Americans! ;-)

ira -
>>Aw c'mon, im. How many Ecuadorans call themselves "Americans"? How many Mexicans call themselves "citizens of the United States of Mexico"?<<

Actually, a woman from Uruguay in my German class was not too happy when I said "ich bin eine americanerin" because "America" is more than just the USA. Now I just say "ich komme aus den USA." Or maybe I should try "ich bin eine USA-nerin"! :-)

>"ich bin eine USA-nerin"! :-)
You should say "Ich bin aus Amiland", and everything is clear. ;-)

Hi NG,

>..Actually, a woman from Uruguay in my German class was not too happy when I said "ich bin eine americanerin"...<

Lucky you. You found the 1-in-a-thousand politically correct Uruguayan. :)

((I))

Here's a little story to go with the others here. My wife and I were in Germany in September, and while on a train between Koblenz and Cochem we unkowingly sat in the fist class section with our second class ticket. A large group of Germans, about 60-70 years old, was in our section too, also inadvertantly with second class tickets. They got kicked out about five or ten minutes before we did, and as we made our way through the car into the nearest second class section, they all insisted we sit with them because they found it hilarious that we all got kicked out of first class. They could tell we were American, but only one person in their group spoke just a smidgen of english. I speak enough German to get by in limited ways. They didn't care, however, and we all joked and communicated as best we could before saying our farewells in Cochem. They were really nice people, and we encountered many of the same throughout the area the whole time we were there.

Gruss Gott Logos!

During our stay in the hotel in Ortisei, a German guest continually corrected our mistakes.

"Wear a bathing cap in the swimming pool."
"Close the sauna door" (we weren't the ones who left it open)
"Wear the right shoes in the swimming area."

My American relatives were getting pissed at him but I decided to engage him in a nice conversation. He was a nice elderly man who just enjoyed having everything correct. I told my relatives to take it with a grain of salt and realize they are speaking to an older generation of Germans. The younger Germans are more interested in drinking beer than following every rule blindly.

Gruss aus Schweizerland

>Gruss aus Schweizerland
Now, do you invite me to correct this ;-)
;-)
The name is St. Ulrich btw. Did you meet many native italian speakers there? ;-)

Did you visit Luis Trenkers home? His movies are still of a beauty hardly ever seen nowadays.

I was waiting on a street corner In Heidelberg for the light to change. An elderly German man stopped to inform me that I should not cross the street on that corner, but rather on the one that had the zebra striped crossing. I obeyed.

In recent years in Munich I've seen signs at traffic lights for pedestrians suggesting that people obey the lights "to give good example to the children."

I think these instances are rather typical of German attitudes. I believe these attitudes help explain why Germany is so clean and so safe. When we stopped to Linderhof, we had to leave our luggage in sight in the back of our car, which had no covered luggage area.

I thought "This is Germany. No one will steal it." But for reassurance I asked the young man in charge of this big, wooded parking area if he thought it would be safe. He looked at me with a rather puzzled expression that I would be concerned about theft. Sort of an "of course not" expression.

I can't think of another country, including my own, where I'd leave my luggage exposed like that while I wandered around for a couple of hours.

Mexicans are citizens of the United States of Mexico; Americans are citizens of the United States of America--just a result of the the name of the country.

Salü Logos,

No, I didn't, though I believe I saw his name somewhere. I've heard of the films you mentioned but have never seen them.

While in St. Ulrich, I heard both Italian and German. Both the Italian and the German town names were used everywhere.

>but have never seen them.
I'd really recommend it, it's not only southern Tyrol, but also stunning pictures of the swiss mountains. He was a pioneer both in mountaineering and also in using "portable" cameras up there.

German nitpicky and off the subject perhaps but ...Mexicans consider themselves "Norte Americanos" and are insulted that we think of ourselves as the only Americans in the hemisphere...Spanish 101

Gimme a break with the "insult" of calling yourself "American." There is only one country on the continent that has the word "America" in it, so why would it be so strange for the citizens of that country to call themselves "American"?

I've noticed that when this conversation comes up, generally in Spanish speaking countries (possibly Portuguese as well), the entire stretch of land from the southern tip of Argentina to the top of Canada is referred to as "America". I've even read that schools in these countries teach this to be one single continent.

Now I, nor any geographical or geological thinker outside the Spanish speaking world seems to consider this to be one single continent. So I suppose that it could well be a concept held on to more for historical pride than anything (ala, we discovered the whole thing!). But if one gives an credence to that premise, then any resident on this single continent would be "American". Same as a German is also a European.

For the rest of us in the world though (ok, or according to me anyway) who choose not to see this as one continent for very good and logical reasons, then there is no continent called "America". There is a North America or a South America (there's still no continent called Central America - that's a part of the north). Mexicans and Canadians are also North Americans. Peruvians and Brazilians are also South Americans.

None of them are Americans, because they don't live within any region called specifically "America" because one doesn't exist. Pretty much left the name open then for the first that wanted to use it, wouldn't you think?

Ok, so... this was about Germans then? Or was it Bavarians? My family came from the Mosel area and were perfectly lovely people when sober.

>Now I, nor any geographical or geological thinker outside the Spanish speaking world seems to consider this to be one single continent.

Funny, that's what we learn in school over here!

logos, just clarifying, you were taught that N. and S. America were also one continent? Just curious, as there was a topic on it a while back and most of the people educated in Europe seemed to have learned them as separate.

Not surprising, I suppose. I've seen some that were taught that Australia is part of Asia. Europe, of course though, is a completely separate continent all it's own, despite there being no actual reason other than politics to designate it a continent at all.

For what it's worth, the Americas only recently collided and cnnected at the current Colombia/Panama border in geological terms and were previously floating about on their own continental plates. As far as adjoinging landmasses go, the two are about the most logically identifiable as separate continents as any on earth, while Europe isn't really more than a political distinction. Which, I suppose, is what the term "America" is as well.

>Funny, that's what we learn in school over here!

Strange. I was taught (just about 300 km west from Logos) that North and South America are separate continents. And I never heard about Australia being a part of Asia.