Dear Diary,
Phew what a busy day. I decided to take advantage of some free time so I took a ride out to Rotenberg Germany. A few people highly recommended it, one went so far as to say, if he only had one day to spend in Germany, it would be there. So I decided to check it out.
As my journey started I was on the A6 (autobahn 6). The posted speed limit was 120 kpm (yes there are sections of the various autobahns that have speed limits).
Out of the corner of my I saw a polizei car. I then noticed the polizei car pulled out from its post. I thought, I wonder if they are coming after me, although I was only going 10 kpm over the posted limit. Anyway the polizei pulled in front of me, and had a flashing sign that said "Bitte Folgen", I had no idea what that meant, the next flashing sign said, "Please Follow" now I knew what that sign mean. All I could say was "Scheisse".
So I followed them to the parking area, and I immediately stated that I did not speak German. It was not the time to practice my German language skills, an umlaut in the wrong place could have gotten my car impounded or worse in jail.
So the cop asked me where I was from and for my driver's license. "Let me zeee you papiers..." hahahaha no, she didn't say it like that.
She then asked me if I do drugs, to which I clearly stated I did not. She then asked me if I had any weapons, again, an emphatic, "No" was expressed. She then said, "Ok you are fine you can leave. I asked her what I had done wrong, and she said I didn't do anything wrong. I asked if going over the speed limit by 10 kpm was a problem, and she said no, that is not a problem.
So unlike the US, I guess you are able to pull people over without a reason. When I shared this story with my German friends, they said, the police may have thought I was in the military (profiling), because the US military is known to cause a great deal of problems.
Although it turned out to be nothing, it really was quite something. I kept having images of the show from National Geographic called "Locked up Abroad" with German Shepards barking in my face.
I then continued to my destination of Rotenberg. It took me about 1 1/2 hours to get there. It was such a fantastic place. It is functioning city which is contained within fortress walls which were built around the 1300's.
It was quite a large area. There were a great deal of chachca shoppe's and bevy of restaurants, bakeries, and drinking establishments all serving the same product. Regardless, it was still a really cool place to go.
I walked around the "Kriminal Museum" It was about the methods of torture used back in the day. It was interesting because they had even realized back then, that torture produced false information. I'd recommend Dick Cheney to revisit but, oh yeah... he'd be arrested if he stepped foot on German soil, so I guess he won't be going anytime soon. Also I suspect he get more ideas of torture.
I then came home because I had birthday celebration of one of my former colleagues with whom I had developed a friendship with over the years. I had a really nice time, and met some really cool people. I was a bit apprehensive, because I didn't know if anyone would be speaking English. My German can only take so far as conversation involving food, beer, and the location of the bathroom.
As it turned out many people spoke very good English, and welcomed speaking English for their practice. It was a win win. I did find it interesting that some of us had a conversation regarding a corkscrew. This thing was serious. The handle was made from a thick tree branch, stained, and shellacked. I really looked like a turd with a metal corkscrew coming out of it. The picture is in the slide show.
Overall I had a great Saturday, and today I took it easy and did some work for my workshop.
Next weekend, destination Munchen!
Phew what a busy day. I decided to take advantage of some free time so I took a ride out to Rotenberg Germany. A few people highly recommended it, one went so far as to say, if he only had one day to spend in Germany, it would be there. So I decided to check it out.
As my journey started I was on the A6 (autobahn 6). The posted speed limit was 120 kpm (yes there are sections of the various autobahns that have speed limits).
Out of the corner of my I saw a polizei car. I then noticed the polizei car pulled out from its post. I thought, I wonder if they are coming after me, although I was only going 10 kpm over the posted limit. Anyway the polizei pulled in front of me, and had a flashing sign that said "Bitte Folgen", I had no idea what that meant, the next flashing sign said, "Please Follow" now I knew what that sign mean. All I could say was "Scheisse".
So I followed them to the parking area, and I immediately stated that I did not speak German. It was not the time to practice my German language skills, an umlaut in the wrong place could have gotten my car impounded or worse in jail.
So the cop asked me where I was from and for my driver's license. "Let me zeee you papiers..." hahahaha no, she didn't say it like that.
She then asked me if I do drugs, to which I clearly stated I did not. She then asked me if I had any weapons, again, an emphatic, "No" was expressed. She then said, "Ok you are fine you can leave. I asked her what I had done wrong, and she said I didn't do anything wrong. I asked if going over the speed limit by 10 kpm was a problem, and she said no, that is not a problem.
So unlike the US, I guess you are able to pull people over without a reason. When I shared this story with my German friends, they said, the police may have thought I was in the military (profiling), because the US military is known to cause a great deal of problems.
Although it turned out to be nothing, it really was quite something. I kept having images of the show from National Geographic called "Locked up Abroad" with German Shepards barking in my face.
I then continued to my destination of Rotenberg. It took me about 1 1/2 hours to get there. It was such a fantastic place. It is functioning city which is contained within fortress walls which were built around the 1300's.
It was quite a large area. There were a great deal of chachca shoppe's and bevy of restaurants, bakeries, and drinking establishments all serving the same product. Regardless, it was still a really cool place to go.
I walked around the "Kriminal Museum" It was about the methods of torture used back in the day. It was interesting because they had even realized back then, that torture produced false information. I'd recommend Dick Cheney to revisit but, oh yeah... he'd be arrested if he stepped foot on German soil, so I guess he won't be going anytime soon. Also I suspect he get more ideas of torture.
I then came home because I had birthday celebration of one of my former colleagues with whom I had developed a friendship with over the years. I had a really nice time, and met some really cool people. I was a bit apprehensive, because I didn't know if anyone would be speaking English. My German can only take so far as conversation involving food, beer, and the location of the bathroom.
As it turned out many people spoke very good English, and welcomed speaking English for their practice. It was a win win. I did find it interesting that some of us had a conversation regarding a corkscrew. This thing was serious. The handle was made from a thick tree branch, stained, and shellacked. I really looked like a turd with a metal corkscrew coming out of it. The picture is in the slide show.
Overall I had a great Saturday, and today I took it easy and did some work for my workshop.
Next weekend, destination Munchen!
Glad you were able to make it to Rotenberg! I was there the first time in Germany, with Lorraine and the Harts, but missed the "Kriminal Museum" )o: Did you walk along the wall? Glad the traffic stop worked out the way it did! Loved the pic of the corkscrew, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Mark! I had a nice time in Rotenburg. The Kriminal musuem was good and disturbing.
ReplyDelete