A few words on the aforementioned sexist tour guide. First of all, he was an impostor--he wasn't a real German. He was British and had been living in Germany for 30 years. He had been speaking German so long that he couldn't speak English properly. He also had a think British accent when he spoke German. If this is what happens when you become fluent--you become mediocre at 2 languages--then I'm sticking with English, y'all.
To begin with, he assumed we were dumb Americans. The tour was moving a bit slowly ("could you repeat that again? What did the ladies do in the bathroom? What was the sink for?"), yet he asked the Fulbright guy in German whether he was going too quickly for our comprehension. The Fulbrighter answered, "some of these people are getting their PhDs in History." "I was just wondering. Our last American group was from the Bush Administration." Hmpf.
Sexist/Arrogant things he said:
1. "This was the system for calling the servants at the turn of the century. The princess pressed this button, and the servants knew exactly where to go in the castle. I suggested installing one for my wife. She didn't take kindly to it."
2. "That was back in the day, when servants were trained."
3. "His wife had a name, and so did his sword."
4. "This is the largest private collection of weapons in Europe. Of course, ladies usually aren't interested."
Just to spite him, I bought a cannon keychain.
Here are some views of Freiburg from the Schlossberg.
I think I would have been tempted to comment to the guy, "Gee, I wish we had a button we could push so we could tell you were to go."
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures I can't wait to see the ares.
The tour guide,being a Brish man, was probably a latent homosexual and his wife butch. How's that for a stereotype. At least he got the Bush administration right. We have voted, by the way, not that it will help!
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