We arrived in Berlin last night and it felt so nice to be in a "newer" city. Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest and Prague were full of tiny, winding, cobble-stone streets so it was a welcoming site to see the wide, paved streets of Berlin - with big-wide sidewalks. AND we actually have WiFi in our room! I've found that most places say "Internet access" but that this can be as much as Free WiFi in your room to as little as - one computer in the reception, which is a street over from the building you are staying in, and is only accessible 9am to 8pm, and you have to pay to use it!
That's the problem with these low-end places we are staying in - its hit or miss each time. The place in Prague said it had a TV in every room - which it did - and the TV did turn on, but there was no reception at all.
We of course haven't watched much TV anyway - not any time and not much or anything in English in many places. When there have been American shows on in English, they have been the bottom of the barrel - ie. its embarrassing if that's how foreigners see us! In several countries, the only American show on was "Rock of Love" (a reality TV show where a 45 year old rock star tries to pick a mate from a bevy of bimbos).
We have seen quite a few American TV shows dubbed in other languages. Its very strange to see Sponge Bob Square Pants speaking Gaelic, Malcom in the Middle and The Simpsons speaking French, Colombo speaking Italian and the movie Junior, with Danny Devito and Arnold Schwarzenegger in German. Now since Arnold is from Austria, he probably speaks German but the person who dubbed him had a very non-Arnold sounding voice.
As for other "American" influences, its true - we are everywhere. There have been Subways, McDonalds and Starbucks in every city we've been in. KFC and Burger King are also popular. And American/English music is played everywhere! Even street musicians will be playing some American or English song on their instrument. There's an old Doris Day musical called Calamity Jane and she comes back to Deadwood City from Chicago and sings a song..."I just got back from the windy city, the windy city is mighty pretty..." Well, one windy day in Venice, as we were walking past a little shop, I heard the shop owner, in thick Italian accent, start singing that song!
We are off to start our walking tour of Berlin. Again with Sandeman's - we've done their tours in 5 cities now and really enjoy them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment