New site

Since I'm not in Germany anymore ... and since I've not been updating this site ...

I've got a new one up and running at:

... changed my mind on the new site. I'm keeping this name, just moving it (and making the English spelling correct).

http://ueberdiebruecke.wordpress.com/

Back in Germany

Back in Germany for the first time since leaving in March, I'm thinking ... how could I have put up with the smoking here for 8 months?

I don't remember it being all that bad, but maybe now after living in relatively smoke-free Ohio it seems worse. I was at a trade show this past week, and at every entrance from one hall to the next, or any doorway leading outside, you had to run the gauntlet of smokers. I swear my clothes smelled like smoke by the end of the day.

My teammate Tris had sent me an internet link about the problem of obesity in the US. He said Americans are eating themselves to death. Looking at the people here in Germany, the contrast is pretty stark. While the Germans may on the whole be thin, they are perhaps smoking themselves to death. I'm not sure which is worse.

It's especially disturbing to me to see the young people smoking in such large numbers.

At some point, the smoking restrictions we now have in the US, and that are present in many other countries, will eventually come to Germany. From my perspective, that will make Germany a better place.

***

At the moment I'm in Nürnberg. I stayed here after the trade show because they have one of the biggest Christmas markets in Germany, and it seemed worth checking out. Unfortunately because it is such a big event it draws a huge crowd.

After a day of walking around the old part of the city, I went down to the opening of the Weinachtsmarkt. Imagine trying to fight the crowd rushing to the men's room at halftime of a football game. Couple that with live cigarettes in peoples' hands, which becomes quite deadly in close quarters.

The atmosphere is wonderful -- food, spiced wine, people in a festive mood. If there were only about 1/2 of those festive people it would be great.

An hour's worth was enough for me. Craving a little peace, I found a nice Italian restaurant on a quiet side street, where I had one of my favorite meals: beef carpaccio, pizza with prosciutto and mushrooms, and a couple glasses of wine. Guess I'd had enough German for the day.

Opportunities to speak

Living in the U.S., going about your daily affairs, how often would you think you could use a foreign language? I suppose if you lived in Miami or San Diego you could use Spanish quite often. What about Italian, or French, or … German? How often would you be able to use those languages?

You might be surprised.

As I wrote previously, my friend and colleague from Germany was here recently. We attended several work meetings and then got together a few times after work. It would have been easy – for me – to just speak English. It probably would have been easy for Viktor too, since his English is close to perfect and he wouldn’t have to suffer through my mistakes in German.

But we just started speaking German, just like we did in Germany. It was difficult for me at first, having been away from hearing and speaking German every day. I was having trouble getting the right sounds to come out of my mouth. But before too long I felt reasonably comfortable again. Encouraging.

The following week I had a work trip to California. One of the people I met had coincidentally lived and worked in Düsseldorf for several years. He had married a German woman, and spoke fluent German -- though with a California accent.

So one night at dinner, there we were, standing in the bar in San Jose speaking German – a comical scene, and something I never would have imagined.

On the way back home, at one of the airport shops in Houston, I noticed the cashier had an accent that sounded German. I asked, and yes, she was from Germany. We had a short conversation, as the line of puzzled customers started to grow behind me.

In Chagrin Falls, just a couple miles from where we live, there is store called the Ski & Sport Haus. The spelling of “Haus” might lead one to think that someone there has at least some knowledge of German. I stopped in the store not too long ago, and one of the women working there had an accent. She was one of the owners (or from the owners’ family), and she told me she was from Austria – which was then apparent from her accent when speaking German.

I had 4 years of Spanish in high school, and another semester in college, but never felt I was very fluent. When I think back on this, not once did I ever have the opportunity to speak it, as I did in these little interactions in German. I wonder now, was it that I didn’t have the opportunity or was it more that I didn’t look for the opportunity?

Many people have told me, if you want to learn the language, you have to be willing to try it – to speak it and to make mistakes. There is a saying in German, “Übung macht den Meister“. Literally that means „practice makes the master“. People said this to me on many occasions when I would apologize for my many mistakes. I wonder what my Spanish would be like had I followed that advice.

Foreign in Cleveland

It’s an odd feeling to be sitting in a restaurant in Cleveland speaking German, surrounded by people dressed for the Indians game that day. Or standing in front of the Rolling Stones exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

My friend and colleague Viktor was in the U.S., and we had gone downtown to visit the Rock Hall and get something to eat.

In Germany, I was self-conscious that my German gave me away as a non-native speaker. Here I could sense people around us turning their heads and noticing that we weren’t speaking English. I imagined what they might be thinking – that we were foreign tourists out sightseeing. It seemed a bit comical -- and fun-- to be a foreign tourist in the place where you live.

I had asked Viktor what he might want to do, and offered some suggestions such as the Indians game, or visiting museums at University Circle. I was surprised when he said he wanted to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It turns out he had played bass in a band when he was younger, and he was pretty knowledgeable about bands from the 60’s and 70’s.

I suppose it would be natural to go to a Beethoven festival in Germany, or to a Mozart exhibit in Salzburg. So it shouldn’t have been too surprising to visit the Rock Hall in Cleveland.

We took the train (the “Rapid”) from the Rock Hall to the Tower City complex to get something to eat. Not having done this in Cleveland before, I realized that I knew more about taking the train in Germany. I had no idea how often the trains ran, how much they cost, and where to get a ticket. We played tourist again, and asked some other people waiting on the mostly-deserted platform.

The difference between here and Germany was striking, as there was no ticket machine, no timetable for the train posted, and no display that told you when the next train would depart. We had to pay the driver on the train – something that would create a certain delay during busy times.

On the short trip we noticed the driver continuously chatting with one of the attendants, beneath a sign that said “No unnecessary talking with driver.”

Viktor turned and said, in German, “That must be necessary talking”.

Here was a cool benefit of a foreign language: being able to talk about someone and not have them understand.

Souvenirs from Germany

After an 8-month stay in Germany, you might reasonably assume I’d accumulated souvenirs and other German stuff to bring back home. But I resisted the temptation to buy a bunch of stuff that would just collect dust on a shelf.

I did come home with a couple of functional items: 2 beer glasses from Belgium, and my GPS unit.

Each brand and style of beer in Germany (Belgium, too) seems to have its own special glass. If you go into a bar or restaurant, and order two different beers, you’ll get a different glass each time. So ‘collecting’ beer glasses could get completely out of control.

Driving back to Düsseldorf after a work trip to Brussels, I stopped in the Belgian equivalent of Wal-Mart. I wandered around a bit, and found an entire aisle of Belgian beer. I’ve been told there are over 900 different beers in Belgium, and it seemed this store had a good percentage of them (that is only a slight exaggeration).

Belgian beers seem to be often served in more of a goblet than a beer glass. This store had a package of Leffe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leffe), which I like, along with 2 Leffe glasses. I figured this would be my beer souvenir. It’s possible to find Leffe in the U.S., so I figured I’d be able to use the glasses for their intended purpose.


The GPS unit was less of a souvenir. Since my car in Germany had a built-in GPS, I’d gotten used to having one. It saved me many times trying to find my way along streets that changed direction seemingly at random.

I bought this particular GPS unit because it has maps of both the U.S. and Europe. I’ve written previously about my experience buying this in the Düsseldorf airport and trying to get a VAT rebate, with no success.

On my way out of Germany, in the Köln-Bonn airport, I tried one last time. I went to the customs office, showed them my receipt and passport, and asked about getting the tax rebate. As in Düsseldorf, they said no, I’d been in Germany too long. But in contrast to the agent in Düsseldorf, they were quite friendly and apologetic. It occurred to me that this confirmed the perception that people from Köln are friendlier than those from Düsseldorf, who can have, shall we say, a bit of an attitude.

Back in the U.S., I’ve kept the German voice on the GPS unit – one of those little ways to keep some exposure to German. There are actually 4 German voices to choose from: Katrin, Stefan, Lisa, and Werner. I’ve got Katrin giving me directions. It’s comical at times to hear the attempts (computer-generated) at pronouncing U.S. road and city names. “Interstate 480 West” just doesn’t sound right in German. Neither does “fahren Sie auf die Autobahn”, when I am only able to legally drive 65mph.

Losing German

After 8 months away in Germany, I became pretty comfortable hearing and speaking German. I wasn’t fluent enough that people would mistake me for a native speaker – well actually people did, but they weren’t native speakers either.

Although I wasn’t completely fluent, the longer I was in Germany, the better I became at navigating what I did and didn’t know. I could hear a long stream of German, and from that mess pick out enough to understand the basics then use what I knew to say something back, or ask for clarification. And I always had the option of saying I didn’t understand.

Since returning to the U.S., I’d been wondering how quickly I might lose what I’d learned.

Viktor, my friend and colleague from Germany, called the other day. I hadn’t talked with him in a couple of weeks, and when he called and started speaking German it was a shock. I had to listen very closely and struggled with how to answer. I felt self-conscious speaking German and was starting to sweat.

After a few minutes my comfort level started to improve, but it was obvious and a bit discouraging to recognize that after just a month my German had already started to decline.

I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising – if you hear a language every day you’re bound to absorb something. And if you use it every day, even just a little, you’re bound to improve.

The little realization I had is how much easier it is when everyone around you is speaking the language. You don’t have to make the effort to immerse yourself in it – it’s all around you. You’d have to make an effort to avoid it.

It would take a fair amount of effort and diligence to get even a portion of the language exposure I had while in Germany. I would need to: listen to German stations via Internet radio while at work (www.dw-world.de), listen to German-language podcasts while in the car (www.schlaflosinmuenchen.com is a good one), tape the daily Deutsche Welle show on the SCOLA cable channel, read German newspapers. This is all reasonably doable, but without the imminent need to use it on a daily basis, it’s easy to get lazy.

I liked to ask people in Germany about learning English. More than one person told me that learning English in Germany was quite different when they knew they would need to go to the US or England and use it every day.

That’s the other realization: the motivation to make the extra effort with the language comes easier when you have a compelling reason.

Ugly and dreary

I don’t want to bash the place where I live. But I guess I’m going to do it anyway.

It seems so dreary here. In part that's because it’s winter again: almost 3 feet of snow over the weekend, in my backyard at least. The roads are dirty with salt and cinders. Trees are still without leaves.

But it’s more than that.

A few weeks ago, my first weekend back home, I drove down to Mansfield for a bike race. On the way there, driving down I-71, it occurred to me how unattractive things seemed. I passed the big outlet mall, the sprawling truck stops, junkyards you can see from the highway.

Mansfield was lots of concrete and ugly 50’s-style houses, with other areas of bulldozed farmland sprouting new “McMansions”. None of it was attractive.

Now there are certainly aspects of Germany that are dreary: the heavy industry in the Rurhgebiet north of Düsseldorf, open mines, graffiti in the city. But it never seemed very far to the next open space or town center with a pedestrian area. Even heavily populated areas were broken up by green space. This is something I miss about Germany, though I don’t miss the heavy traffic the goes along with the population.

It’s particularly disturbing how we seem to be paving over more and more green space in this area, despite an overall decline in population. People then wonder why there are problems with storm water runoff after heavy rain.

I’m sure the weather here is affecting how things seem right now. I’m hoping things will look different when the sun and green return. But even the sun and green won’t stop yet another redundant cluster of Home Depot-Petsmart-Bed, Bath, and Beyond from being built.

More bad driving

I don't know what was worse, driving in Mass or driving yesterday from Cleveland to Ann Arbor, Michigan and back.

Though German drivers are certainly aggressive, they are at least predictable. You almost never see someone pass on the right on the Autobahn (since it is illegal), and you don't see drivers going slow in the fast lane. Slower traffic stays right. Faster traffic passes on the left.

On the way up to Ann Arbor, I found myself getting more and more annoyed at the people who just drive in the left lane without passing. I saw one car get on the turnpike and immediately cross 2 lanes to drive 60mph in the passing lane. All the way to Michigan I suppose.

It is a very simple concept: stay right, pass left. Why don't people get this?

It was even worse in Michigan -- both the drivers and the condition of the roads (though at least the speed limit is higher).

They also had more the interesting road hazard reports: basketball hoop in the right lane on I-75 (disgruntled Ohio State fan?); refigerator door in the center lane on route 23.

Mass. confusion

This past week I was in Massachusetts for a few days. It was the first time I've traveled anywhere in the US, outside of home, in more than a year.

There was something oddly disorienting about the trip. I couldn't put my finger on it at first, then realized I was somehow expecting things to be "foreign" -- as in European. Over the last year, anytime I traveled I was a foreigner.

And here I was, back in the land of English (although accented), familiar food, familiar customs (like getting the check in a restaurant without asking for it).

It was, in a way, foreign. Just not in the way I'd gotten used to.

We lived in Massachusetts for a few years, back in the mid-80's. One morning I got up early and drove through the 2 different neighborhoods where we lived. I expected everything to seem familiar ... but it didn't. I recognized the houses where we lived and a few landmarks, but mostly it seemed unfamiliar. Business had changed, new houses had gone up, roundabouts had become big intersections, there was now a WalMart (doesn't that always seem to be the case?).

I drove along in the rush hour traffic -- Mass. drivers seemingly much more dangerous and unpredictable than anything in Germany -- thinking again how what we expect is rarely what we find.

Are you from England?

When I first arrived in Germany, I was so self-conscious about being foreign. I would walk down the street thinking that somehow everyone knew I was here from the U.S. It felt as though I was wearing a big sign advertising where I was from.

I recognized there was something a bit neurotic about this. I asked my German teacher if he thought people would easily recognize that I wasn’t from Germany. He said yes, but it didn’t have anything to do with how I looked or dressed. He said there’s something intangible that people would pick up on.

After a few months of living in Germany and walking down the same streets every day, after the newness and strangeness had started to fade, I didn’t feel so self-consciously foreign.

But then I would start to talk with someone, and immediately they knew I wasn’t a native. This was never a problem; if anything people were even friendlier when they found out I wasn’t from Germany.

After asking if I spoke English, people almost always asked if I was from England. I suppose that makes sense: English … England. And of course England is much closer to Germany than the U.S. People were often surprised when I said I was from the U.S. Here I was thinking it was so obvious where I was from, and people really didn’t know.

This happened in Spain and Italy too – people assuming I was from England.

And then in Italy and France I encountered people who thought I was German.

In a restaurant in Girona, Spain they asked whether I wanted a menu in Spanish or Catalan. They were surprised when I asked if they had an English menu – which they had, but which was not very well translated. One of the desserts was “scum of milk with fruit”. I almost tried it, just out of curiosity but I was already beyond having eaten enough.

One of my favorite encounters happened my first week in Germany. While out for a bike ride an older woman walking on a farm path stopped me. She was complaining how someone had run over the reflectors on the edge of the path. She spoke no English and my German was just starting to come along. I was wearing my team Torelli kit, riding my Torelli bike, and she asked if I was a bike racer from Italy. I thought for a moment about playing along and saying yes. But I did know how to say in German, “no, but I can wish.” We talked for quite a while -- mostly her talking, as she complained about the current state of affairs in Germany with all of the foreigners. She didn't seem to have a problem with me though -- I think because I was learning German -- and as I rode off she wished me best of luck during my stay.

Deutsch outside of Deutschland

I never considered that learning German would be all that useful outside of Germany.

But there are other German-speaking countries besides Germany, even if their German is not always the same as the one I understand. In September I went to Austria to see the World Championship road races. My German was useful at the hotel desk, and with waiters at restaurants. Then while trying to navigate the race course I stopped to ask for directions from a policeman. After a moment of confusion I quickly realized what he spoke wasn’t the German I knew. He could understand my Hochdeutsch, but when he spoke it was in the Austrian dialect. I imagine it was similar to what would happen if a German who learned English in, say, Cleveland had traveled to Arkansas for the first time and spoke with a real local. Fortunately I had a map – pointing works in any language.

Traveling from Germany, it was not surprising that other travelers would be speaking German. Coming back to the U.S. at both Thanksgiving and Christmas, I found myself in the interesting position of helping the person seated next to me fill out the U.S. customs form. They each spoke decent English, but I know from filling out official forms in Germany that “official language” is not so simple. How do you explain in simple terms in German the meaning of, “have you ever taken a child whose parent is a U.S. citizen out of the country?”

I didn’t think I’d be speaking German in France though. Sitting at breakfast the first morning I was in Cannes, the waiter came by and asked me in German what I wanted to drink. Without thinking I answered him in German, before realizing, “hey, we’re in France.”

He had noticed the German newspaper I was reading. He said he was from Turkey, but had lived in Germany (in Düsseldorf in fact) for quite a few years and spoke fluent German. The rest of the week every time he saw me he would speak German.

Just a few weeks later in Italy, I was surprised to see many signs in shops written in both Italian and German. I’m sure this is because of tourism. There were several occasions where people thought I was a tourist from Germany. One afternoon I stopped in a combination wine store / restaurant, and when I didn’t understand Italian the owner started speaking to me in German. On several occasions people apologized for not speaking better English or German.

One morning at the hotel I heard German coming from the TV in another room. A team from Südtirol was also staying at the hotel. Südtirol is a region in the border area between Italy and Austria. It was still winter there, so these guys had also come to Tuscany for some decent weather and good training. They spoke German, Italian, and of course the Austrian dialect. Listening to them at dinner, they seemed to speak mostly in Austrian. But to the waiter they spoke Italian, and we had a few brief conversations in German.

Europe is appealing in this way: the mixture of languages and dialects, relative compactness of the countries, blending of the border areas, pockets of different language within a single country. It makes for interesting cultural textures that change so quickly from place to place.

I’m still in awe of people who can switch between multiple languages so easily. Learning one foreign language has been hard enough. People have told me that it gets easier, each new language you pick up. Easy for them to say now. I'm not sure I would have the stamina to test it personally.

Doorways and other things

For some reason in Italy I was always wanting to stop and take pictures of various doorways. There was something compelling about the old buildings, the doorways, and the way they often had window baskets or flower pots out front. Many of the little shops clearly had living spaces up above or next to the shop. I wondered what these old buildings looked like inside, who lived in them, and how does one come to live in or own such a place?



Back home now from Italy, I find myself missing the morning ritual of cappuccino, croissants and prosciutto with a wedge of cheese. Espresso in the afternoon. Wine and olive oil at dinner.

There is something about espresso in Italy. I remember this from the being there previously. I'd never really liked espresso all that much, but this was different -- rich, and with a creamy froth on top. It seemed every little bar or cafe knew how to make espresso well. I was told it had something to do with the type of coffee they use, something with the water, and the skill of the 'barista' who made the espresso.

I also learned that one just doesn't have cappuccino after breakfast. They say it's not good to have all that milk sitting in your stomach. After breakfast, you either have macchiato -- espresso with just a stain of milk, or you have espresso. Otherwise they look at you strangely, or in some cases even give you a hard time.

At the hotel restaurant one night, one of the teams was eating dinner at a big table. After dinner one of the guys ordered a cappuccino and a large groan came up from the rest of the guys at the table.



I was also fond of how the Italians seemed to linger over a long lunch or dinner. Instead of having all the food brought out at once, it's common to have a multi-course meal with antipasti, then a pasta dish, then a meat dish, then a salad or cheese, then a dessert. The portions weren't huge though, so I never felt like I was overdoing it (of course it helps when you are free to ride the bike for a good part of the day).

I was noticing one day at lunch how every person, at every table, had a glass of wine. This was mostly "table wine", so not quite as strong as what you might get in a more expensive bottle. There was one family with a couple of small children, and I noticed how they added a little wine to the water that the maybe 8-year-old girl was drinking.

After 10 days there, Germany seemed like a long time ago.

This was a good transition -- leaving Germany, then something completely different, then coming back home.

Now I'm looking to get my espresso machine cleaned up, so I can try to make something resembling Italian espresso. Oh, and then there's the 4 bottles of olive oil and 4 bottles of wine that resulted in my suitcase weighing 25 kilos (55 lbs).

Tuscan hill towns

The sight of a town up high on a hill is one of the lasting images I have of Tuscany. Everywhere I rode there seemed to be several hilltop towns along the route. These towns were all very old -- I'm sure that in the middle ages it was important to have the town strategically located up high.

There was something intriguing about seeing one of these towns off in the distance, and then having the road eventually start climbing, often with switchbacks, all the way up to the top. Always a good workout too. In this area of Tuscany, the mountains weren't too big -- maybe 600 meters at most. But that's high enough to require some significant effort to climb, and high enough to have some fantastic views at the top.



In the area close to where I was staying, there was Casale Marittimo, Monteverde Marittimo, Sassetta, Suvereto, Massa Marittimo, and others. These were not really tourist towns -- people seemed to live and work there, and they were not big tourist destinations.

Then a little farther away were bigger tourist areas such as San Gimignano and Montalcino. These towns were interesting, and had some of the classic views that you might see on a postcard. But to me they seemed somewhat overdone in their efforts to be a "destination".



On one of the rides, I took an unplanned detour to climb up to a town called Sassa. The climb was difficult, and when I got to the top I found this tiny little town, seemingly perched on the edge of a cliff, with very old cobbled streets and stone buildings. There were no shops or restaurants that I could see. Just a few houses where people lived. There were a few people standing outside, talking or walking the dog. I felt as though I had intruded in someone's backyard. I felt funny taking picutres ... but couldn't resist.

Rain day

Before deciding to come to Italy, I was talking to my boss about it, and said I was afraid it might be too rainy this time of year. He said, “ah, but Tuscany is beautiful when it rains.”

When I woke up to the sound of rain I figured I would get the chance to see if he was right.

I debated on going out and riding, but looked to be the kind of soaking rain that would not let up any time soon. So instead I grabbed my raincoat and guide book and set out for Volterra, which I had driven through the other day and which looked interesting.

Along the way I bought another two bottles of olive oil, meaning I may have to leave behind still more clothes.

Volterra is another very old, well-preserved hilltop town. From the valley floor the road climbs for 10km, with many switchbacks. Many of the drivers here seem to look ahead and if they see no oncoming traffic do not hesitate crossing the center line through the sharp turns. There was a small truck in front of me, and in my little car I could not keep up with him.

Once at the top, there are great views across the valley. Even in the rain, with the clouds very low (see picture above), the views are worth stopping to take in.

I spent a few hours walking around on wet, cobbled streets. I thought about going in one of the museums, or the old cathedral, but honestly it was more interesting to walk around the streets, looking in the shop window and watching the people.


I’ve noticed this before: often you will see 2 or 3 people just standing on a corner, or in front of a shop, talking and gesturing. As I walked through the town it seemed comical – on every corner there would be a few people standing and talking. I was thinking back to what the guy at the car rental place said: “no one wants to work today”.

I found a little café called “Web and Wine” – a combination wine bar and Internet café. It was too early for wine, but I stopped in and ate lunch, while using the first reliable Internet connection I’ve had here.

It was looking like the rain had eased up, so I drove back to the hotel, thinking I might be able to ride. As I was getting ready, it started to come down hard again. Finally, with about 2 hours of daylight left, the rain seemed to let up. I put on as many warm clothes as I had and rode in the drizzle, eventually becoming completely wet. I did find an insanely steep climb just around the corner from the hotel that goes up to Castagneto Carducci. Even more insane was the number of cars that were using it.

I did come to appreciate the best thing about the rain. Next morning, when it had stopped and the sun had come out again, things were even greener than they were the day before. I'm sure the grape and olive farmers were happy.

Hot springs and vino

If I could, I would ride every day. But I know that you need rest days too. My body was sore in odd places from riding a strange bike, so when I read in my guide book about some hot springs not too far from here, it seemed a good idea for a rest day.

I decided to head for a town called Bagno Vignoni. It looked to be a 2-hour drive, and was also not far from Montalcino, which is known for a particular type of very good wine (Brunello) produced only in that region.

Arriving in Bagno Vignoni, I was surprised to find an extremely charming, very small town, mostly deserted at this time of year. There is a large pool in the town center, surrounded by old stone buildings. They don’t allow bathing in the pool anymore – I can imagine it would make the town center a mess, especially during the high season.

To use the hot springs, you must go to the local hotel (and pay), where the hot water flows into a large pool. Just like the rest of town, the pool was mostly deserted. The water was very hot where it poured into the pool, and then a little cooler farther away. I soaked for a while and enjoyed the views out over the valley.


I left to eat lunch, outside at a small restaurant just in view of old pool. I had an excellent meal of polenta baked with cheeses and tomatoes, and broiled pork tenderloin wrapped in pancetta and served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar – simple but made very well.

After lunch I came back to the pool and soaked for another hour. It was incredibly quiet and peaceful. I felt as though I had been extremely lucky in finding this place, at this time of year, without any of the tourist crowds that are surely here in summer.


On the way back home I stopped in Montalcino and sampled the wine at one of the many wine bars. Being so relaxed, I couldn’t resist paying way too much for a bottle of one of the good Brunellos – something I wouldn't do under normal circumstances. I may have to ditch some clothes to make sure there is room in my suitcase for a well-protected bottle of wine.

Cycling paradise

This is a great area for cyclists. It hurts me to say this, but in terms of enjoyment I think my first three rides here equaled 7 months of riding in Germany.

The roads are mostly quiet and the scenery is beautiful – I have to resist the urge to stop every few miles to take pictures. There are lots of hills, some difficult but also many that are long but with a gentle grade. You can ride all day without seeing a traffic light. And then there is the food at the end of the ride.

Apparently other people think this way too. There are 3 different teams staying at my hotel: 2 junior teams from Italy, and a group from Südtirol – a region with parts in both Italy and Austria.


Paolo Bettini, who won the World Championship road race back in September, comes from La California which is just a few kilometers from here. You can see his picture on a road sign as you come into town.


Every day I’ve seen large teams out on the road training. They’ll be riding in a big group, with a team car following, taking up the entire lane on the road. But the other drivers don’t seem bothered. Other times I’ve seen teams out motor pacing, where riders will be following closely behind the car, which is normally driving 25mph or more.

It’s not hard to understand how Italy ranks as one of the top countries in international cycling. Seeing 2 junior teams here training – with team managers, sponsors, cars, and bikes – it’s apparent that there is a good support system. But it’s even more telling that they can train on the roads without drivers (or police) giving them a hard time. It seems they’re actually encouraged to be out on the roads.

I’m reminded of the time when 3 of us were pulled over by the police on a quiet Sunday morning, on a quiet country road, because we were riding 2 abreast and had delayed the local mayor for about 5 seconds.

Out riding the other day, one of the teams passed me, and I took it as an opportunity to get some free training. They were doing an exercise where guys were going out around the team car, one by one, then catching up to the guys ahead. I made a big effort and caught up to the car, then rode behind it for a while after the driver waved at me. Then I went around the car and caught up to the tail end of the group.

The car pulled ahead then turned around to go back for a few guys who had been left behind. The driver waved again as he passed. The group turned around too, while I was faced with a 4km climb up to one of the towns on my way back to the hotel. I just kept thinking: more free calories for dinner.

A normal day in Italy

My first encounter in Italy goes like this: I walk up to the rental car desk to pick up my car. After messing with the computer the guy says the software is not working, and he will have to do everything by hand. When the time comes to get the credit card authorization, no one will answer the phone. “No one wants to work here”, he sighs. There is a sign on the window that says to throw the keys on the floor if no one is there.

This says so much about how different Italy seems compared to Germany (or the U.S. for that matter).

My car is missing a hubcap, the clutch pedal squeaks every time it’s pressed, and the seatbelt indicator beeps even though the belt is fastened.

Right away I notice the difference in driving: lack of turn signal usage, passing without regard to road markings that disallow it, edging the car out into traffic and leaving it there though oncoming traffic must swerve.

I’m reminded again that the afternoon siesta is very much honored – with many stores and businesses closing somewhere between 1:30 – 3:30.

I’d made some arrangements to rent a bike – I hoped. After a brief phone conversation 2 weeks earlier, I hadn’t been able to reach the bike shop. The phone number appeared to no longer work and emails went unanswered. I was a little worried,

On my way to the hotel I stop by the bike shop. It’s being remodeled and is completely gutted. But the owner happens to be there watching the work, and says he can bring me a bike later in the afternoon. I pick up the bike, a very nice Colnago -- not something you’d normally see for a rental. I don’t fill out any forms, sign anything, or give a deposit. I guess that means I can take it home with me.

I’m thinking of two very different books I’ve read about Italy: “Under The Tuscan Sun”, by Francis Mayes, and “Italian Neighbors”, by Tim Parks. While the first is more poetic (ignore that it was made into a bad film), Tim Parks’ book captures so much more of how things are -- the absurdity, chaos, contradiction, and at the same time the importance of stopping to enjoy life. (Parks also wrote a very enjoyable book, “A Season with Verona”, about a season spent with other fans – often quite obnoxious -- supporting the Verona soccer team.)

This trip I think is a good transition to life in the U.S. I’ll try to take some piece of it back with me.

Tuscan vacation

I take back what I said about wanting to live in Girona. I really want to live in Tuscany.

I wanted to take a little vacation at the end of my stay in Germany – somewhere I could spend a week or so riding. After visiting Girona, I thought it would be there. Then I went to France, and the food was so good I thought maybe that would be the place.

But I hadn’t been to Italy since I’ve been here, and had never been to Tuscany. Riding and eating in Tuscany had a nice sound to it.

About a month ago I read where the Lampre professional cycling team held a training camp in a place called Castagneto Carducci (shown in the picture above). I figured if this was where they chose to hold a camp, then the area must be good for riding. Without much more than that to go on, I found a hotel that seemed to cater to cyclists, and booked a cheap flight to Pisa.

It was a good decision.

The area is beautiful – green and lush even in early March. The roads seem quiet. There are vineyards and olive groves everywhere – meaning there is locally produced wine and olive oil. Some initial sampling indicates both are very good.

I now have to make sure I put in enough kilometers in the saddle to make up for the calories I’m sure to take in.

Leaving Oberkassel

I had one last work meeting, 2 hours away in Frankfurt. This meeting was with a group of engineers from different companies, part of an ongoing series we’ve been doing for the last couple of years.

We had met in May, when I was here looking at apartments, then again in September. With a common event such as this to compare, I can gauge how far my German has progressed: not quite as much as I’d hoped, but more than I had feared.

Last May, I struggled to keep up with even simple conversations, and fumbled with trying to say things. This time I was able to carry on a conversation, talking with one guy about his recent skiing trip to Italy, telling him how I was going there also, to do some cycling. I made a joke when he asked if my wife was coming. I said no, I was taking my other wife -- mein Fahrrad (bicycle).

I had an early flight the next morning, and thought about staying in a hotel near the airport. But I wanted to have one last night in Oberkassel. I walked to the grocery and bought some Rostbratwurst that I could cook on the small electric grill I had bought. This was one of the little things that made me feel at home when I first got here.

The movers had come the previous day to pack up all my things. The apartment seemed empty and more like a hotel room than somewhere I had lived. It was good to come back and see it not as mine anymore.

Anxious about waking up on time for the early flight, I couldn’t sleep. So finally I just got up at 3:30 AM and made coffee. I went through the apartment yet again, somewhat obsessive-compulsively, to make sure I hadn’t left anything. In a nightstand drawer I found a money-pouch I had brought with about $50 and a few blank personal checks from home.

Finally I unhooked the apartment key from my key ring and left it on the counter. My car was parked right in front of the apartment – the night before the parking gods had smiled on me and left that space open. I drove off for the last time, leaving Oberkassel over the Rheinkniebrücke.

Counting down the days

For a while I’ve this always-present sense of my time here counting down. It started maybe a week after returning from the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. I suddenly became aware of the imminence of leaving. It reminds me of the last-days-of-vacation feeling, when you realize something good is coming to an end.

I find it interesting to notice the change in perspective from when I first arrived. Take something simple like walking to the bakery. At first the sense was, “wow, this is where I’m going to be able to buy all this great stuff.” Over the weeks this transformed into simply a walk to the bakery to buy bread. And now it’s, “I’m going to miss walking here.”

It’s been this way with so many things: eating at the cafeteria at work, riding the train around town, walking through the neighborhood, riding on now-familiar roads, getting my hair cut. Everything is new, then things blend into the background, then suddenly it’s at the end and I notice all these things I’ll miss.

When I came here in July it seemed like there was so much time, and in a flash it has passed. Isn’t it always this way?

On Sunday I visited my friend and co-worker Viktor. He had invited me out to breakfast – something called a “Bergisches Kaffeetafel”. This is a custom local to the “Bergisches Land” – the hilly area that begins just to the east of our office. We ate waffles, milk rice, different kinds of sweet breads with preserves and sour cream, and drank coffee served in a special type of coffee pot.

Afterwards we visited the Schloss Burg -- the local castle -- then went back to Viktor’s for tea and more cake. It was very sad when it was time to leave. He and his wife have been very nice to me.

I walked through the neighborhood in Oberkassel, to mail a letter and buy coffee cream. Church bells rang off in the distance. I love how the streets are narrow and lined with houses, one attached to the next. The tram went by. At the bakery a line of people spilled out the door. I just had to stop and buy a another baguette and piece of poppy seed cake