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Eight more days until I board the plane to Europe. I will be starting out in Germany then going to Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, England and Scotland. I am really excited to go but scared to death as it will be a fairly huge trip. Should be a great experience though.

If anybody has some suggestions what to see in these countries
(my schedule is a bit flexible) or if any tuba/euph players in said countries would like to meet up with a strange American tubist, feel free to PM or E-Mail me.

Sorry Bill, no trips to Saigon scheduled for the near future.

Sou

It's OK. I was stationed in Berlin as a tubist with the 298th U.S. Army Band and toured with them through most of the area you described (except the U.K.) My ex-wife went to Oxford University a couple years ago and told me that British airport security is what the rest of the world should try to emulate.

the elephant wrote:While in Austria, check out all of the Austrians. They look like Bavarians, only slightly rumpled.

LOL. And they talk funny.

I can remember when such a trip would make you have a very interesting wallet: West German Marks (and East German Marks if you went to East Berlin or anywhere in the GDR), Swiss Francs, Belgian Francs, and British pounds (England and Scotland issue their own versions--still do). Nowadays it's Euros, Swiss Francs, Euros, and British pounds. I actually liked having several different kinds of currency in my billfold.

As a soldier in Berlin, I had US dollars (for shopping at the PX and commissary), West German Marks (for shopping on the German economy and at the NAAFI Club--sorta like the British version of the PX), East German Marks (for trips to East Berlin), and French Francs (for shopping at l'Economat, the French Forces minimart).

While in Europe, drink beer.

the elephant wrote:By way of example, twenty-two = zweiundzwanzig
"High" German = tsvei-und-tsvansik
Austrian German = tsvei-tsvansish

Germans love to go to Austria. And they spend most of their time there cringing at the Austrian pronunciation and spelling!

I love Austria!

I remember being slightly confused by Austrian pronunciation when I went last time. I got used to it by about the second day so it wasn't too hard to get used to.

Speaking of beer, it was in Tirol that I was introduced to weissbier. Not just any weissbier but Edelweiss The best weiss that I have ever tasted. I haven't been able to find it stateside though so it has just been a fond memory that I connect to Austria. The way that I got introduced to weissbier was by wandering into a local bar about 2 blocks off the main street. My friend and I met a guy drinking wine mixed with soda water and since he was the only one in the place who spoke english he introduced himself when we started discussing what kind of beer to order. He asked if we would trust him to order us a couple of beers and promised that we would like them. When we finished our first round the guys down the bar started singing some song in german that our new friend said was a traditional Tirolian hymn. After another round we decided to go back to the hostel and our friend grabbed our check and paid. When we stood up we found out that either that beer is stronger than the kinds we were used to or weissbier tends to affect us more strongly. Either way, that was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

the elephant wrote: By way of example, twenty-two = zweiundzwanzig
"High" German = tsvei-und-tsvansik
Austrian German = tsvei-tsvansish

Bairisch (Bavarian) = tsvoar-a-tsvontsge