The Stoners Echo Chamber

You should really time your visit to Stonehenge then...

 

Same with Sambuca, had the worst drinking night of my life on that stuff when I was 20, almost dragged to hospital to get the stomach pumped. Haven't been able to touch the stuff since, that or Ouzo, which smells like it, brain is like nup nup, you're not touching that shit again

 

I've seen your pics bro.
Thought it was clear I was talking about you.

But you know what I mean, all the gasbagging tourist. I'm not a tourist im a traveller. I don't stand and stare and talk and gossip, I want to experience. That's what travel is for me. so I want that personal connection and at the Externsteine you pay a slight fee and get a token and go through the turnstile and then you're able to climb the rocks and visit the alter and the stump of the Irminsul which is covered in blood from heathens. It's an experience.

Seeing stonehenge from a distance? No Thx. I wanna touch the stones. I want to stand where the ancients stood. Yes I know they would have walked where you stand and look, but that's not my idea of an experience, it's gotta be in the structure itself.

 

Best thing about our Stonehenge visit was the 2 hour walk in the fields around it. No tourists there at all And the ones who build it walked and stood around there too

 

Lol im watching an ESPN doco about Michael Vick who we all remember as the #1 Dog Killer!

Anyway his justification is laughable

"oh well you know what I'm saying like growing up in the project and stuff like we saw dog fighting all the time and the cops just drove past so you know like you know what I'm saying like we thought it was okay and nothing wrong with it you know what I'm saying?"

fuck off idiot.

But what I didn't realise was all that stuff happen before he made the NFL. I just thought he got caught during his career but it wasn't. Seems like the case just took years.

And his mate that says "well you know man white folks they all do cock fighting, ain't no black people do cock fighting cause we like to eat chickens"



Yeah that'll hold in caught ya fucken moron. I dunno what goes through peoples heads sometimes.

 

We are good people to meet but we hold anxiety in our country. We're timid of foreigners, it's true. We keep to ourselves. We know... Every tourist ever that comes here "nazis" you can't get around it and we as a people feel that and so we are timid and shy. We don't know what our expectation is from the world. Do people walk around wondering, were nazis here, is that a Nazi, was their parent a Nazi... and that's what the people feel, so you meet a German person outside Germany it's refreshing for them. They get to communicate on their terms and not this pre mediated term that we have to feel here.

I'll be first to admit, it's hard for a foreigner, especially a non western to come into Germany and not feel some seclusion and we know what the obvious and initial thought is, but I feel it's the opposite. We're timid of that thought that we're constantly reminded of every day.

I feel it'll be at least two more generations before those feelings are lifted for us here. By then maybe the world will be hating on America.

You know, I work in tourism in the hostel, and I know what tourists want to see I hear it all the time "we heard in Munich there's some buildings still with bullet holes all through them where can we see that?" that's why I like where I work. Most folk they travel in hotels it's a different breed of people that come to hostels. They're generally more open and fun and a bit more adventurous. no fucks given type of person. So they're on point with that they say and want to see.

I really do think this country has been shamed into submission a reason why I think Germany hold great festivals is to bring us out of that rut too and bring in tourism to mix and associate with normal fucken people of Germany who have no connections or ties with the past which I see is a good thing too.

But outside this country, I think our personality starts to shine with charisma and that's why pretty much everyone says they met a German or few and they were cool as. I can attest to this with my own parents who I could physically see grow happy and comfortable where they live in Australia. Where my dad could be himself, a shit stirrer and a laugh and good banter with a hoarse of multi cultured people in Australia.... and they'll never move back, never thought of it once.

 

Of course all that is my own perception of course and I may or may not have a "proper" sense of reality ie. Forced fed bullshit. but whaaateveerr. That's the way I feel.

And I might have had a few too many bourbons, and I might have one bloody more before bed too. and y'all know I talk the truth when I'm under the unfluence of alcohol.

 

What bourbon are you drinking?

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Irm, Your belief that Germany invokes fear in the outsider is not misplaced, and you’re not being paranoid.

I’m sure you’re a wonderful people but your past is inescapable, and a visit to Germany would most likely include WW II civilian bunkers in Berlin, in Munich a trip to Dachau concentration camp would be in order,
Berchtesgaden to see the Eagle’s Nest, and of course while in Berlin a trip to the house where the Wannsee Conference was held would also be a trip back in time.

On the streets of Berlin you encounter a blonde haired blue-eyed girl with Aryan features and ask yourself was she a product (two generations removed) of Hitler’s Lebensborn racial hygiene program
(and if so, can I get her phone number..lol..)

 

Other people have the same refreshing, or more like familiar, feeling when encountering fellow countrymen on an abroad travel

Not in my experience The foreigner have to bring that with them. If not, and they're not busy with that part of german history, it is a complete non issue, as germans won't bring it up out of the blue either

Nazis will likely not be perceived very different. The nazi part of german history may be put better in perspective in 2 or 3 generations. The people who have the biggest issues with contemporary germans because of WW2 generally don't go to Germany anyway and are diminishing more and more as they are usually the ones who lived through it.

 

Many people go to Berlin for art and party and alternative scene. It's between your ears any visit from a foreigner automatically includes WW2 history. Certainly not true for european visitors

 

Its likely you may be disproportionally confronted with foreigners focussing on and being busy with nazi history and how it relates to present day germans, because of your own interests.

 

Ugh I know right? So many good places that throngs of tourists just completely ruin

The western NC mountains are my happy place

 

Yeah, personally I’d go for the food and beer. Then maybe some historical sites too but WWII is such a small snapshot of kraut- ahem, Germany, I likely wouldn’t even think of those places.

Ok I might *think* of them but if thats what I’m traveling to see I’d be going to Poland.

 

You don't have to. There are plenty of concentration camps etc in Germany too. I mean you wouldn't have to go out of your way to Poland for it.
If i would visit Poland I would skip nazi stuff. Rather see and experience some other parts of polish history, culture and architecture.
Although the amount of history brushing the Polish gubberment is currently doing brings out rebellious feelings in me. Very unfortunate, not in the least for the Polish themselves, who of course in the end get duped with this distorted and glorified portrayal of their country during WW2...

 

I don't like anything that involves guides or admission prices or a lot of tourists. I'm planning a trip to Prague and Vienna with my sister and I can see such a difference in how we travel, I'm not sure how this is going to go. She has all these tours in mind and I just want to walk around and eat good food and talk to the locals

 

Venues? In those particular cities? How so?

For a metal fan you have to visit outdoor festivals in Germany. They have some of the best! Heavily recommended!

 

Most locals i met in Czech and east Germany couldn't speak english... This may be better in a city like Prague, and i bet also in Vienna. I'm naming east Germany because that's how i travelled to Czech

 

West Germany it's not uncommon to find only German speaking people. It's much more cultured in the west. Brandenburg, SAxony, Lower Saxony and Bavaria have a strong cultural tradition, I dunno wtf the rest of country is doing but I strongly suggest people don't go to Berlin, you may as well be visiting Atlanta. Go west to Leipzig, Dresden and such, that's where it's at.

 

*gesture and grunt unintelligibly at the locals then