March 08, 2004
Random Observations II
Random observation no. 5:
The hotel I stay at in Frankfurt has a mezuzah in the doorway, as does the hotel next door. For me, non-Jewish as I am, it's a reassuring thing. We have a mezuzah in our home (long story) and I am used to touching it upon leaving and entering the house. I love that I can do this here too. It also gives me a pang of pain to think of the rich culture and valuable impact on our society that we managed to destroy. The dark shadow of history.
Random observation no. 6:
A note for a future post: The CSU/CDU candidate for president of Germany, Heinz Köhler, has his roots in the former Romanian region of Bessarabia; his parents have lived there until they were "re-settled" to Poland. I wonder whether this has been noted in Romania yet?
Random observation no. 7:
The Frankfurt metro and regional train system is very poorly marked. I'm a frequent traveller and if I get confused, it must be really hard for foreigners who can't just turn to the next person and ask for the way. Something has to be done about that.
Random observation no. 8:
The streets are getting really bad. I noticed it for the first time yesterday in a Frankfurt suburb. I drove and found myself saying "eep! That's like in Bucharest!"
My Mom, who is a local polititian -- if from Ostheim, not Frankfurt -- drily noted that this is the case everywhere in Germany. Government spending on road construction has been cut due to the general lack of money. Hm.
Random observation no. 9:
In the bookstore yesterday, I counted no less than 14 titles with Anti-Bush contents - both translated American and original German. Boy, they really don't like him here!