Würzburg

I survived the 8 1/2 hour flight to Frankfurt, sat next to an American girl on the train who was nice enough to wake me up when we got to Würzburg (she was getting off there too), and then managed to party all night with my host Bernhard and his friend Jens. Today, I went out by myself and saw the Festung Marionberg and the Residenz (far backgound barely visible on the left and background above), both huge amazing buildings with enormous grounds. I think I could live in a castle if I had a yard that big. It was pretty awesome.

While Bernhard and I were out wondering the city yesterday afternoon, he asked me what about the city made me feel like I was in a foreign country, other than eveyone speaking a foriegn language and the signs all being in German. I thought it was an interesting question, so I'll share with you all what I came up with:
Small Cars - not just that there are the tiny smart cars, but there are hardly any SUVs or big trucks.
Curved Streets - not just that some of them curve, all of them do, and intersections are rarely 90 degrees. Bernhard told me there is one german city like that, Manheim, built by the Americans after WWII, with streets all square like in the States, but as he put it, you wouldn't want to live there, ehhh.
People Walking - all over.
Public Squares - I love these. One here has a farmer's market that is awesome.
Statues - everywhere, in obscure corners, on roofs, on bridges, in fountains...
Plus the general mixing of old and new. Nothing in the US is more than 200, maybe 250 years old. Here you have buildings from the 1300's, mixed with ones from the 1700's, next to ones from 1999.

So that's what makes me feel like I'm in a foriegn country. That, and I can't understand anything people say.