Lessons learned? There were a few:
* I really do like London. The last time we were there, I said we either needed to skip it next time out or just move there. Now I’m leaning toward just moving there.
* Being in Mürren for three days was amazingly relaxing – the town was very quiet, mostly closed down, but it was cool and peaceful and I was able to relax. Either I need to do this more often, or maybe I really could survive in a very small town where I could keep to myself and go to the one bar.
* There were a slew of German flags everywhere, tons of red and black and gold in time for the World Cup. It was apparently the biggest show of patriotic spirit anyone could remember, especially since decades of Germans don’t even know the words to the national anthem. For lack of a less blunt/crude analogy, the Allies did to Germany what you do when the dog shits the rug: pick him up, rub his nose in it, and scream “NO!” For over six decades, the drumbeat has been steady for Germany, from Germany: we did a bad, bad thing and we must take responsibility for it – and for making sure it never happens again.
* The fact that I was there with Cousin Pa, and thinking about how the man had a Rebel flag on a pole out front of his house three years ago, made me think: the South was let right up off the mat. There was no punishment, there were precious few consequences – a few National Guard troops were stood around, the Justice Department did a couple of prosecutions, and five years after standing in the schoolhouse door George Wallace drew 13% of the vote in a national Presidential election. Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976, Dallas and The Dukes Of Hazzard opened the 1980s as the top shows on TV – the latter featuring a car called the General Lee, with a rebel flag on the roof. It all got swept under the rug, quickly, and within a couple of decades the very people who had been at the edge of rebellion were being held up as “real” Americans. Even by – especially by – people who should have known better.
* I’ve come back into the United States seven times since 1988, and this was the first time the person swiping my passport and checking my status smiled at me on the way back in. The last couple of times, I was treated like I had oily smoke pouring out of my carry-on. I don’t know who said something, but it needed saying: no matter how uptight you are about security, you can at least make an effort to be civil to your own passport-holders.
* “Spezi” is the German word for a blend of cola and orange soda – although it may carry the Fanta label, it’s closer to Orangina than the radioactive antibacterial-orange stuff by that name here – and the Coca-Cola corporation actually bottles something called “Mezzo Mix” that is pre-mixed Coke and orange. It’s surprisingly good. And yes, they already have Mezzo Mix Zero. It’s apparently only bottled in German-speaking countries, more’s the pity.
* I would love to be able to do without a car. I loved inter-city trains. I even enjoyed the overnight sleeper car. I loved being able to walk out to the high street and browse up and down the shops in the evening.
* I didn’t really have much in the way of souvenirs I was looking for – I made a little noise about footwear and Swiss Army knives and watches, just for form’s sake, but nothing really jumped out at me the whole trip. Inasmuch as I had a souvenir, it was the iPhone 4 that I watched being launched from a lobby PC in Munich and picked up in person a couple weeks after – because I would love to have been carrying an HD video camera and 5 MP camera all bound up with my music player and email checker.
* I’m happy that I got to see the World Cup kick off in a place that was insane about it. I’m equally happy that I got to see the World Cup carry on in a place that became insane about it.