Ich erinnere mich...

Aaaand another free (never free) lunch on a visiting cruise ship bites the dust, thanks to coronavirus. A few weeks ago it was Oceania Regatta, today it was dear old (actually quite new) Silver Muse, which regular 😃 readers will recall I spent Christmas and New Year on, starting in sunny Lyttelton and ending in smoky Sydney. Understandably, in these paranoid times, cruise companies are not keen on inviting large groups of potentially germy visitors on board - and it's quite likely to be mutual, given the current unfortunate image of cruise ships as bug incubation centres. So that's that.

Instead, I shall turn my attention to the packaging material that protected a couple of Villeroy and Boch vintage Acapulco eggcups I bought at auction, which arrived today. I was aware that the seller was German ("Familie Schultz" as the vendor name was a bit of a giveaway) and had indulged in a tiny smattering of Deutsch in the emails with Detlev - but it was a treat to unfold four pages from the inner sections of a surprisingly recent issue of the Frankfurter Allgemeine, which, if anyone ever asked me would be the sole German newspaper I could name. Name, not actually read, I have to add. My German is distant and very rusty, and all those long compound nouns are daunting to tackle.

I'm pleased to report, though, that my one day exploring Frankfurt back in 2011, when I was passing through on an Avalon river cruise, was notable for successful verbal exchanges with the locals. It helps enormously, I find, that being now so far from my rigid school days, I'm pretty relaxed about grammar and mistakes. I don't judge foreigners for their English errors - I'm just glad they're making the effort - and I reckon it cuts both ways. It also helped that I was initially wandering the city with a new friend, who I thought I might as well try to impress by asking directions as soon as we went ashore. Gratifyingly, it worked.

I liked Frankfurt, despite the guide I had later being somewhat disparaging about it as an ugly, reconstructed city. My standards for urban architecture are, by nationality (oldest stone building in NZ? 1832) less exacting, and I was charmed. It was old and pretty, plus new and striking, it felt safe and relaxed, everyone I met was nice, and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. Of course, the Apfelwein helped, as it always does...