What ever you do, Don't mention the war!

I didn't post anything yesterday, not a lot happened during the day and by the time we went out for the evening and returned I was too tired to write.

Yesterday after breakfast (I've been treated to a fresh bowl of cornflakes and the chocolate muesli has been replaced with crunchy nut muesli) we walked to the Klinik for my appointment to have a shot of Neumega to help increase my platelet count. However they did not have it there and after another blood test was taken they asked if I could return on Saturday for the shot. WBC was down again at 3.9 and platelets slightly down over last week at 56.

From there we caught the bus yet again to Bad Tolz and went shopping. Sarah had found two little paintings in an antique store earlier in the week, but when she indicated that she wanted to buy them the price seemed to be immediately inflated by the non-English speaking shop owner.

However Sarah decided that the price was still a bargain and so we returned yesterday and made the purchase. Meanwhile I hunted out another Icecream cafe and indulged myself.

The old part of Bad Tolz is absolutely jammed packed with cafes and icecream shops.. I would say at least fifteen purveyors of icecream alone. But I'm not counting, honest!

For dinner last night we had booked ourselves into the ZauberKabinett (Magic Box) show here at the Hotel. The owner, Alexander, runs a show every Friday and Saturday night. The format for the show and dinner is that everyone gathers in the main Restaurant until he is ready to see us to our tables in a separate, smaller dining area, that is decked out with all manner of magic props for that authentic "Harry Potter" feel.

There are three tables, each seats eight people. Our table contained four couples, none of whom knew each other. The other two tables were inhabited by family groups. You could tell because they were a lot louder than us. Alexander spoke to everyone at our table in German first, and then directly to us in English. He explained the way the show went, and how the Fondue worked.

Basically there was a pot of continuously heated broth in the middle of the table and you could choose your meats from the bowls on the table, skewer them and watch the show as they cooked.

There were copious bowls of salads and sauces that were endlessly delivered to our tables by a pair of waitresses. For some, this continuous grazing went on for the whole three hour duration of the evening. I stopped at about the halfway mark.

Now I have a theory about the Germans. I believe that the vast majority of them have a pretty good grasp of the English language. You can't tell me that after a lifetime of English pop and rock music, countless movies, and TV shows, that they haven't picked up more than the odd word. Add to that the fact that a lot of them would also have learned it at school and you have the basis for a very well kept secret. No one at our table spoke to Sarah or I for the first hour. They talked to each other, but acted as if we did not exist. This didn't bother us and we chatted away to ourselves quite happily.

There were two couples in their 30's and one in their late 50's. It was about the one hour mark when the older gentleman seated beside Sarah spoke out and said "you no speak German?" Sarah replied "no only English". He said "nur Nein und ja?" we agreed. Yes and No were about the only words we know besides "Danke". Nothing more was said to us for another hour.

Meanwhile, the magic show had been going on. Alexander and another magician had taken turns at telling stories entirely in German, and these stories basically padded out the magic tricks. Some involved cards, others a rope that seemed to be able to form a single length or be broken into two or three in the flick of the wrist and back again in the blink of an eye. There was another trick where people from the audience wrote or drew on a piece of paper and Alexander would by various means deduce who had written what. He got it 100% right, I'd say the paper was marked in some way.. but then again I'm a skeptic and always look for the logical explanation.

So two hours have now passed and Sarah is very impressed with the German standard measure of wine. It is 250ml, and a line is etched on all glassware to indicate the correct measure. In NZ it's 150ml. Basically, the wine glass is a bucket on a stick!

Sarah, who by now is on to her third bucket, pokes at the shredded carrot on her plate and says to me in a voice that I'm sure was loud enough for all at the table to hear. "You know the story behind carrots supposedly being good for your eyes don't you? The English started that rumour to mislead the Germans about radar" [during the war]. I shrunk about six inches into my seat. Sarah realised where this was heading and discontinued her story. Then the older gentleman next to her said to us " So where do you come from?".. sigh...

No harm done.. phew!. We explained how and why we came to Bavaria and he offered all sorts of suggestions for things for us to see and do. Later as the night progressed another of the couples who had previously not spoken a word to us, told us they were from Saxonia and asked us the English word for when the bread is dunked into the broth."Dip" was Sarah's reply. Then later again as we all returned to our table I asked if I could "squeeze past" the second couple, they knew exactly what I meant and stood aside. Yeah, they all understand English, I think some avoid it for fear of getting words wrong and embarrassing themselves, in the same way we do with German. Others like to eavesdrop on conversations... and then you have a few like the older gentleman who like to speak it when they can but need a few handles of beer before they pluck up the courage.

He told us he learnt it 40 years ago in school.

The magic show and dinner was fun, it had an atmosphere that made for a memorable evening. We were both glad we went.

As for today?... well today was exactly the same as yesterday.. only for dinner tonight we shall dine at an Italian restaurant not far from here.

I'll give you a very quick run through of our day... Went to the Klinik for the shot of Neumega, told it still hadn't arrived. Told to come back Tuesday. Got some medication for my mouth, basically a rinse and some Betadine. It's almost completely healed now anyway.

While waiting for the bus we crossed the road to the church for a look. I had been wanting to take a look around since the first day I arrived but a large sign on the gate read "mitnehmen hunden verboten" and it scared me off.. tail between my legs.. for what reason I had no idea..

Well that was until I typed it into google translate and it came back with "The bringing of dogs is forbidden" .. might explain something..

It's a beautiful church.. the inside is amazing... here are just a few of the pictures we took.

After that we caught the bus into Bad Tolz, we did some more shopping, bought a memory card for my phone and had lunch outside at a restaurant down by the river.

As we ate lunch the building beside us caught fire. The street was soon full of firemen, most of whom seemed to have no idea what they were doing. I can only assume they were volunteers. They had turned out in four fire engines, an ambulance and two support vehicles. Ten minutes into the fire (which was tiny and probably just a kitchen fire) they still hadn't blocked off the street and there were cars backed up all over the place. One group were quite young and they did everything in unison, as one person ran one way they would all follow as a group even though it appeared they had no idea what it was they were supposed to be doing. I guess the theory goes that if you just copy what the guy in front does, you can't go wrong. However where this theory fell short was when the lead person stopped abruptly and they all piled into the back of him, it really was quite funny to see. They really knew how to put on a show for the lunchtime diners. I took a few pictures because otherwise no one would believe me..

Maybe the day wasn't so boring after-all..