Taxonomy, Trekking, and Other Generalizations Like Bird-Keeping

I have a ten minute walk to the office. Every morning I pass a cemetery, a tanning salon, the recycling containers, a youth center, a posh bike shop, a bar, and a music school. Across the street from the hospital, I enter my building and ascend four flights to the attic. Accouterments consist of a window (through which I occasionally see the MedAir copter), a plant, a fan, a couple of lamps, and an Ansel Adams poster. Oh, and Germans like to keep lots of Leitz folders. Like bookcases full of them. Not to mention email folders, network folders, etc. There's something to having a historical record you can be proud of I guess.

In fact, I have heard that German paintings always have something to do with history, the Italians with stories, the French/Spanish with beauty, and the Dutch, well, the Dutch just have observation. That was a Dutchmen speaking by the way. Is this what people mean when they take about cultural identity and European history?

Germans are also really into complicated diagrams and taxonomy. For more complicated diagrams and taxonomy, see Owen's brain in the links below.



At Marienplatz, I've seen this one man dressed in traditional Bavarian standing around with his large bike trailer. Not quite so out of the ordinary, until you notice the humongous goose at his side.



And just the other day on the U Bahn, all these people in my car were staring at this crusty as he got on. Now, I was surprised as the next guy (but probably more relieved too) to see a dreaded-out stinky jeanjacket crusty in Munich. But these people were really staring. Well, when the guy sat down, he began feeding the crow that was everso calmly perched on his arm and I thought to myself, oh, OK, this all makes sense now.



Also, you can never tell whether the Germans are trekking to the market or the mountains. Backpacks holding snowshoes, a hand-powered unicycle for the legless busker in a wheelchair. I'm talking headbands. I mean, let's drop by the chocolate shop and then why not a little trip up the Matterhorn, sure why not.

And oh, don't worry, that fur-wearing blonde who just rode by on her bike won't forgo even the leisurely bend to her forefingers as she presses that torch of freedom between her lips.