Today felt peculiar because of the time-change; they do Daylight Savings here too (I didn't see a single clock an hour off, and there's a lot of clocks here - that fabled Teutonic efficiency). When I entered the dining room this morning I discovered my hotel, the "Erbprinz", had television for breakfast - a Korean War air-combat program was on, and two blonde children were giving it their complete attention. I tried not to watch, but the eye-magnet proved to be irresistible, especially when the shot-at planes crashed. This hotel's Frühstück turned out to be poor - they served sliced bread, the ultimate disappointment! Frühstück in Deutschland means, at minimum, coffee (tea is available too) and two of the rolls called "brötchen" plus something to put on them - butter and jam, and/or cheese and meat. The once-special extras of a small orange juice and hard-boiled egg are becoming standard. It's a moot point compared to the high-end hotels, where everybody's snarfing down the breakfast buffet with its many breads available, but most days I avoid those hotels, so I get only what's served. Brötchen is one of the reasons I love Germany, so I get a little browned off when I don't get some in the morning. I stayed in München another day, but found a different hotel.

I got a great deal in a cheap train ticket yesterday - a "Wochenender" (weekender) which is good on any local train. I used it yesterday to get from Rothenburg into Munich, and it's been working fine on the trams and subways I've been riding around today. I'm composing this entry on a Fujitsu computer in the drafty lobby of the "Hotel Jedermann" <1>. Although their rooms don't have televisions, the hotel's management is up-to-date in offering internet access to their customers: that's this machine I'm on. It's a small place; not much action in the lobby. Through the ripply old window-glass I note the occasional tram sliding by in the Bayerstarasse outside - reminds me this ticket's still good - I'm off on another trolley ride real soon!

Saw a sign today for "DIANETIK". A German translation will not be provided.

While riding these trains I'm reading this paperback: Anne Tyler's Earthly Possessions. Here's a sample:

"But then I never did place much faith in physical things," said my mother. "Oftentimes I've set a cup down and left it somewhere, and been surprised to see it there two weeks later. You would think that just once there would be a lapse of some kind; the cup would forget and be back on the shelf when I looked at it again. Or gravity: you'd think you could take gravity by surprise, just once, and set a tray very suddenly on air and have it stay. Wouldn't you?"

The customer would clear his throat.