International Incident

Tuesday, August 10th

Today was a travel day, which shouldn't be too exciting, except that I unwittingly became involved in an international incident...it wasn't pretty.

I'm really gonna miss this view
from our balcony!

Breakfast Room

To start the day, we had a wonderful breakfast at the Hotel Bavaria with a gorgeous view. I never used to make a big deal of 'views', but they have really impacted this trip in a very positive way.

After breakfast, we returned to our room to pack and I posted my blog for the previous day. We checked out and left our bags at reception while we went to Lake Konigsee, a gorgeous Alpine lake.

Lake Konigsee

I was surprised at how touristy Lake Konigsee was. All the pictures I had seen were of this peaceful, pristine lake...getting off the bus to rows of shops (it had a flea market atmosphere) was completely unexpected. I'm not complaining, it just wasn't what I had thought it would be. We took pictures, ate lunch, shopped a little, and giggled at a man wearing speedos.

Then it was time to catch our train to Munich...I was tired, so I sat in a set of four empty seats facing each other and tried to take a little nap...my body was stretched over two seats and my feet were on one of the empty seats directly across from me. I began to doze when a German woman dressed in all white plopped down loudly in the empty seat next to my feet. I immediately pulled my feet down and she said something in German while pointing to the empty seat. I assumed she was telling me I didn't have to move because every German I had met thus far had been so kind and accommodating. I said, 'It's okay...no problem.' She then yelled, 'It's obviously okay for you, not me!' I was stunned for a moment, not really understanding what had just happened. I decided to just sit in my space, so I adjusted my things and crossed my legs. As I did, one of my sandals touched the empty seat. She yelled again, 'Don't touch my white!' I replied that I hadn't...at this point people were looking at us. Mike got up and asked what was wrong...did I want to switch seats. I shrugged, but decided to stay. Long story short (I know...too late), she continued to talk about me in German to anyone who would listen. The Austrian gentleman Mike had befriended (he's been making lots of friends) actually got into an argument with her. So, because of me, Austria and Germany are now at war.

After all was said and done, I did cry a little about it. I am pretty sensitive and hate the thought that I had made her angry because my feet were on the seat (that's what I assume was the problem). The Austrian guy said that it is acceptable to put your feet up on a seat as long as you take your shoes off...well my sandals were on, so I have become the ugly American that Europeans hate.