Funnily enough despite the size of Wuppertal their railway station is relatively small so I had to go to the information desk to ask where to get a ticket and got pointed to the Relay shop,which is a stationery/snack shop type affair,to get it.All very village post office…
It was in these two exchanges i met the two German responses to the question „“sprechen Sie Englisch?“ The first is the humble brag „“ Only a little“ before reeling off a stunning soliloquy worthy of the bard himself.These are usually older people.The other is the dead eyed stare coupled with a „“ Of course“ not only that but there‘s probably a follow up of „“ I can also do regional accents if you want or we could do French,Spanish,Dutch,Italian,Polish or Russian.I‘m also dabbling in Cantonese but I must apologise as I am a bit rusty“ these are normally younger German‘s serving you in a shop as you point at an item to buy…German education appears to be slightly better than ours but then ours does seem to be just Tik Toks…
I digress…so Dortmund seems cool what I saw of it.They‘re beginning to gear up for the Euro‘s as the city,being a huge football area,is playing a big part.Indeed this part of Germany is heavily involved especially as it has a high proportion of high standard stadiums…I also got bitten by a sharp bit of humour.Got to a small bar with no indication of which beer was which on the taps.When asked what I wanted I pointed to a fella‘s beer saying „“was ist das“ „“Das“ the barmaid paused for comic effect „“ ist ein Bier“ the few people at the bar all pissed themselves and in truth I did too but that might just be the old age and diabetes…
Toodled about in central Wuppertal when I got back then visited my local and got distinct „“Cheers“ vibes.The bar is just a single room,I have never seen more than maybe ten people in there,all about my age.As I walked in I needed a piss but got a „“Hallo“ from all in there then coming back a beer was waiting for me at the seat I have been regularly using with a Bier mark on the bier mat…nobody called me „“Norm“ though.Infact thinking about it nobody has really spoken to me in four days,no names exchanged,no awkward small talk shared.They know I’m English and that’s it…not one person has attempted to get to know me and yet it’s really friendly in a way I can‘t explain..The friendliest unfriendliest bar in the world…
Today is my last day in Wuppertal then I’m off down the Rhine Gorge to stay in Koblenz for a good few days.It’s only a short train journey tomorrow so there’s no real rush.Plenty of trains… I find as I am getting better at finding my hotel in various places( I rarely take taxis)I am not in a rush also checking in isn’t till mid afternoon usually…anyway that’s tomorrow and today it’s grey & rainy so it’s a case of having a good mooch around the place…
Laters alligators..,
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