Fall 2004 - Trailcon

S IN EUROPEwere ample records to guide inthe restoration. That’s why thetwin onion-domed towers ofthe “Frauenkirche” – Church ofOur Lady – continue to dominatethe skyline to this day,though not without controversy.While my buddy and I choweddown and imbibed atOktoberfest, the twoladies took a side tripto Salzburg, Austria,about 150 kilometersfrom Munich, wherethey took in a fourhour“Sound ofMusic” tour. An eightpersonvan tookthem to the birthplace ofWolfgang Amadeus Mozart inOld Salzburg, and to locationswhere the story of the vonTrapp family was filmed. Theyalso visited the ancient fortressof Hohensalzburg – consideredto be the largest fortification inEurope – the magnificentBaroque Cathedral, and theshops in the old town, referredto as the “Altstadt.”All too soon, it was time toboard the plane, fortified withsome hearty German beer andlots of fond memories, back toToronto.Next on the itinerary wasMunich for – what else? –Oktoberfest, the largest festivalin the world. I can onlydescribe it as a lot of Germansdrinking a lot of beer and consuminga lot of meat and fishof every description. Not anideal pastime for abstainersand vegetarians, but plenty ofGerman “Gemütlichkeit.” I waspleasantly surprised by theabsence of high-rise buildingsin Munich. After the devastationof the Second World War,residents had voted by a narrowmargin to restore the cityto its original condition – andhence, no high rises. As theNazis had taken photos ofvirtually every square inch ofMunich before the War, thereSee ya laterIn sharp contrast to the efficiency of the trains in Europe, wenoticed an item in the newspaper recently noting that U.S.airlines are on pace to set a record for lateness. Late arrivalsnationally, at 710,000 for the first six months of the year, andlate departures, at 574,000, were both up about a third overthe same period last year.Can the cansWhile there’s plenty of beer flowing in Germany – manysmall towns have their own breweries – you won’t find any ofit packaged in cans. Instead, Germans quench their thirstfrom returnable bottles. The deposit on one beverage bottle isa whopping 1 Euro, equivalent to about $1.50. That’s a prettystrong incentive to return the empties for recycling.