The English Corner

Our  local newspaper in Heidelberg, Germany, the “Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung,” features a column called “English Corner” in its Saturday supplement. It contains articles written in English, presumably to let German readers practice their English reading skills. I read the column each week for several weeks and learned that the articles were written by a Canadian, a British, and an Australian author in succession. All three write British English. So, I wrote to the editor of the supplement and asked if it wouldn't be of interest to his readers to read an article written in American English since there is a difference in the spelling of certain words, certain words can be differently interpreted, and different idioms and expressions are used. The reply was that he was quite satisfied with his three authors, but that he would be willing to consider a guest article and that I should send him a sample of my writing. I wrote several articles in a simple conversational tone that I thought might be somewhat educational and interesting to the readers. The articles appear below. So far, two of my articles have been published: The Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and USA Presidential Elections, which I wrote during the US primary elections this spring. I recently submitted the article about great white sharks around Cape Cod, but have not heard yet if it will reach print.

Liebe Leser

In Zukunft werde ich einige meiner Blog-Beiträge („Ramblings“) in der deutschen Sprache schreiben. Obwohl die meisten meiner deutschen Freunde englisch sprechen, ließen sie mich wissen, dass sie den Sinn meiner „Ramblings“ nicht immer vollständig verstehen würden. Das passiert meistens wenn ich amerikanischen „Slang“, Sprichwörter oder Wortspiele einsetze. Ich habe nicht vor jeden „Post“ zu übersetzen, sondern separate Einträge zu schreiben. Natürlich wird es Ausnahmen geben, wenn ich eine Geschichte, ein Vorkommen, eine Anekdote oder einen Witz für beide Sprachen geeignet finde werde ich den Beitrag übersetzen und beide Versionen „posten“.

Caveat lector: Da ich als Teenager in die USA auswanderte, hörte meine deutsche Schulbildung in einem sehr jungen Alter auf und ich wechselte ins (amerikanisch) englische. Daher ist meine deutsche Grammatik und Zeichensetzung nicht immer korrekt. Dafür bitte ich um Nachsicht.

Dear Readers

From now on I intend to occasionally write some blog posts in German. Although most of my German friends speak English, they sometimes don't understand the full meaning of my “ramblings,” especially when I use American slang expressions, homilies, or puns. In general, I don't think that I will translate specific items, but I intend to write something different in each language. There will be exceptions, of course, when I find a particular story, incident, anecdote, or joke suitable for both languages I will translate that item and post both versions.

P.S.: If you want a good laugh, pass the German text through translating software and enjoy the resulting English “translation.”

Guided Walking Tour Apps

Some time ago I announced that I had created the content for three guided walking tour apps for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod-Touch about Heidelberg, Germany for a company named GPSmyCity.com. Creating the content meant selecting the sights, determining the GPS coordinates of the sights, taking pictures of the sights, writing the text descriptions for each sight, and making audio recordings of the text for each sight. GPSmyCity.com put the whole thing together by doing the programming, providing the map which directs the user from sight to sight, and getting the apps posted on iTunes. An iTunes account is necessary to download the apps. Each tour is available as a “lite or demo” version which is free, and a full version which includes the audio descriptions and step by step directions from sight to sight. These guides work off-line, hence no Internet connection is necessary, nor do they incur the costly roaming charges when traveling to foreign cities and can be downloaded via the “Free City Maps and Walks” app at:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/free-city-maps-walks-470-cities/id417207307?mt=8

So far travelers from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, the Netherlands, Estonia, Romania, Great Britain, Greece, and Germany have bought copies of the apps.

Here are the latest fliers I have created to advertise the apps.

Charming Heidelberg - A Walk through the Old Part of the City

A popular German folk song is entitled Ich hab' mein Herz in Heidelberg verloren. Literally translated that means, "I've lost my heart in Heidelberg." The old part of town (Altstadt) with its many historic sights introduces the visitor to the charms of Heidelberg. Here is a short description of a tour to some of the most important sights in this charming city.

A leisurely walking tour of the Altstadt might start at the Bismarckplatz and proceed down the Hauptstrasse (a 1.6 km pedestrian zone), stopping at the statue of Robert Bunsen, inventor of the Bunsen Burner, past the Providenzkirche (Providence Church), to the Kurpfälzische Museum (Palatine Museum), to the Universitätsplatz (University Square). There the visitor will see the Old University building, the building known as the Neue Universität (New University) and around the corner the Universitätsbibliothek (University Library) and the Peterskirche (St. Peter's Church). Then on to the former student prison (Karzer), the historic Hotel Ritter, the Marktplatz (Market Square) with the Rathaus (City Hall), the Heiliggeistkirche (Holy Ghost Church), to two historic squares: Kornmarkt (Corn Market) and Karlsplatz (Charles' Square) with views of the Castle, historic buildings and the historic student pubs, Zum Sepp'l (Seppl's) and Roter Ochsen (Red Ox). On to the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge), the medieval former arsenal called Marstall, to the Stadthalle (Congress Center) and back to the Bismarckplatz .

 

This was a brief introduction to the charms of Heidelberg. There are greater details about the sights in the old part of Heidelberg provided by a two-hour guided walking tour called "Heidelberg, Charming Old Town" which is available as an iPhone, iPad and iPod-Touch App via iTunes. You can also access it at:

http://www.gpsmycity.com/gps-tour-guides/heidelberg-2835.html

Scenic Heidelberg – A Walk along the Philosopher's Way

Heidelberg is well-known world-wide not only for its famous university, but also because of its scenic charm. Nestled between opposing hillsides where the Neckar River flows toward the Rhein River, Heidelberg displays a scenic beauty that has inspired many writers and artists to sing its praise in poetry, prose, and on canvas. Here is a short description of a tour that will take you to some of the venues that inspired artists to choose Heidelberg as their theme.

A tour with views of Heidelberg from surrounding heights starts at the Bismarckplatz (Bismarck Square), goes over the Theodor Heuss Bridge to Neuenheim, then up the hill to the Philosophenweg (Philosopher's Way) with its spectacular views of the old part of the city and the castle, a little further up to the Bismarckturm (Bismarck Tower), down the Schlangenweg (Snakes Path) to the Karl-Theodor Bridge at which time the tour ends and the visitor is free to enjoy downtown Heidelberg or to take part 2 of the Scenic Heidelberg tour.

This was a brief introduction to the scenic charm of Heidelberg. There are greater details about the scenic views of Heidelberg provided by a one-hour guided walking tour called “Heidelberg, Scenic Part 1” which is available as an iPhone, iPad, and iPod-Touch App via iTunes. You can also access it at:

http://www.gpsmycity.com/gps-tour-guides/heidelberg-2835.html

Scenic Heidelberg – A Walk through the Heidelberg Castle Grounds

Heidelberg is well-known all over the world for its romantic charm, its old university, and its scenic beauty. Many famous poets, painters, and authors have praised Heidelberg and its charms in their texts, songs, or in their paintings. A visit to Heidelberg is incomplete without an excursion to its surroundings, notably the ancient castle which keeps watch over the city.

A tour to the Heidelberg Castle starts at the Bergbahnstation (Mountain Railway Station) Kornmarkt, goes up a romantic walkway between some stately villas, through the Elisabethentor (Elizabeth Gate) to the Stückgarten (Gun Park). Then to the Torturm (Gate Tower), which is the entrance to the castle courtyard, through the castle courtyard on to the Altan (Great Terrace), then back to the Pulverturm (Powder Tower) and the Hortus Palatinus (Castle Gardens) to the terrace known as Scheffelterrasse where the tour ends.

This was a brief introduction to the scenic charm of the Heidelberg Castle. There are greater details about the Heidelberg Castle provided by a one-hour guided walking tour called “Heidelberg, Scenic Part 2” which is available as an iPhone, iPad, and iPod-Touch App via iTunes. You can also access it at:

http://www.gpsmycity.com/gps-tour-guides/heidelberg-2835.html

Heidelberg Walking Tour App

A couple of months ago I authored three "apps" for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. These apps are guided walking tours through and around our beautiful city of Heidelberg, Germany. The first of these, "Charming Heidelberg," has now reached to Apple Apps Store, the others, "Scenic Heidelberg, Parts 1 and 2," will be released shortly.

The tour "Charming Heidelberg" is a two hour walking tour through the old part of the city and takes about two hours. It is designed for the busy traveler who has only a limited time to spend in Heidelberg, but who wants to take away the essential impressions of this historic city. The traveler is guided from view point to view point via a map and is given a short audio as well as a textual description of the important features of each sight.

You can see the tour "Charming Heidelberg" on iTunes at:

http://itunes.apple.com/app/charming-heidelberg-tour/id406468337?mt=8

Book Announcement

Some time ago one of my granddaughters asked me to answer a few questions she needed to have answered for a report at school.  The questions were basically, where did your ancestors come from, when did they arrive in the US, etc.  I realized that not even my children could answer these questions accurately, so I decided to write a family history which my grandchildren can consult whenever they get around to being interested in where their ancestors came from.  This family history has taken a bit longer to complete than anticipated; therefore, I have decided to split it into five parts and to publish each part as it is finalized, instead of waiting until all of it is written, which may take a long time.

The five parts represent the five distinct phases in my life: My being born in the "Sudetenland," which is now part of the Czech Republic, during World War II, my years growing up in Bavaria after the war, my move to the United States in my teens, joining the US Air Force and making it a career, and the years after retiring from the US Air Force.

I call the series of volumes Recollections of my Five Lives and I am putting them out there for anyone who is so inclined to read them. The first of the five volumes can be obtained at http://www.lulu.com/.

Book Announcement

We have always loved dogs, especially boxers. We had two, successively, each one lived for ten (short) years. The first one was a male we named Koko and the second was a female our children named Kyra.

Last year I wrote a little book about Koko, as a remembrance for our children who grew up with him, and as entertainment for our grandchildren who never knew him. The book is an "autobiography," that is, it is written from Koko's point of view. It consists of a series of anecdotes, as told by Koko, about some of his funny and at the time vexing exploits while growing up in our family.

After I had the book printed, bound, and had presented it as Christmas presents, I was encouraged to make it available to a wider audience. So, recently I decided to publish it. The book is called A Dog's Life and is available at http://www.lulu.com/ and at http://www.amazon.com/.

My First Blog Entry

I do a lot of thinking. I think about this and I think about that. Sometimes I write down what I’m thinking about, most of the time I just keep my thoughts to myself, often intending to write them down later. However, there is no great incentive to write something down that no one will read; as a result, most of my thoughts have not gotten written down.

Therefore, I have decided to start a blog and to write down my “mental ramblings” (thus the name of this blog), as if someone would read them. This way I can pretend that I have an audience with whom I can share my thoughts without actually asking anyone to read what I have written. It is also a convenient way to keep all the random thoughts, anecdotes, essays, observations, etc. in one place. So, here goes!