"That sounds like a Frenchman!"

so basically the owner of the hotel I stayed in hated me. when I checked in, he said he didn't know any english, so we did the whole hand guestures and fragmented language to get across what we needed to say. the first morning I was in the hotel, I go to breakfast and he wouldn't let me choose where to sit. I had to sit at the table for 1 since I was by myself...and I was totally sensitive about being by myself. mealtimes aren't really fun alone. I was at breakfast at 7:45am and I was the only person there. 10 more people would have had to come to breakfast for it to be a problem that I was sitting at a table set for 2 people. grr.

so the next day, I have to change rooms. from 7 to 9, no big deal. his wife comes and changes front door keys with me, from the one labeled 7 to labeled 9. I guess so I remember which room I'm supposed to sleep in. and frau hotel lady tells me that I can leave my bag on the floor because the room is not ready yet (told to me in half german, half english). so I go and grab the #9 key to put my bag on the floor and all hell breaks loose. she starts fussing in german and so I stop what I'm doing...and then the mean hotel owner yells at me in english! ENGLISH. did you manage to learn a new vocabulary overnight? I don't think so....you're just a jerk! this same morning I also used the telephone in the "lobby" of the bed & breakfast. I used the german toll free number to use my phone card just like in every other place I've stayed in europe. all's well, I have to leave my bag in the hallway (because that's the safest place for it, not to mention, anyone could pick up any key they wanted) when I came back downstairs I was fussed at again! and in english fyi, because the phone didn't say how long I had been on it, so he didn't know how much to charge me. I tried to explain that it was a free call and that it was toll free, but that didn't mean anything to him. "there's no free calls! I have to pay for it!" grr.

so check-out day: I turn in my key and it's like he's trying to talk as little as possible. my bill is for 3 nights, with no phone calls. I decide not to question it because I think he's a stingy whack-o. but I know that he's not the type to forget when someone owes him money, so I think that he called the phone company to see what phone calls were made from his b&b. and surprise surprise my call didn't cost a thing. and while he didn't charge me, I didn't get an apology either...


traveling alone is supposed to teach you about yourself....mine was more of a smack in the face reminder of what I already knew. I know I don't like being alone in general, so traveling alone in a new place definitely wasn't the best thing for me to do, but I'm really glad I did. a little bit of personal annoyance and the bad luck of the hotel owner was majorly better than sitting alone in tautenburg with my computer or sitting in my hotel because I'd managed to at least get away from the telescope. besides, I know I'll come back at least to italy and probably won't make it all the way north to france.