allyson and bryan

German Pub Quiz: What Does the Indian Word 'Stupa' Mean? /


Our time with Tim and Inka has been delightfully American-retro. Sunday night was spent at a local pub watching the Giants v. Eagles (courtesy of Sky TV satellite), while on Monday night we opted to stay home and enjoy wine, a home-cooked dinner, and the requisite card games. Then, lo and behold, Tuesday found us back at the pub for some SF-style trivia night action. I regret to report that we got our butts whooped by the local experts, despite having the advantage of both English and German speakers at the table -- one of whom holds a PhD. (The questions were read aloud in both languages.) While the format was similar to your average U.S. pub quiz, I'd like to think that the difficulty level was distinctly German.

If you're wondering how you'd fare abroad, here's a sampling of questions:

1. What Russian instrument has six letters, with the fourth letter being "i"?

2. Name the four longest bones in the human body.

3. What soccer player was voted third player of the century in both Europe and South America?*

4. In Norse mythology, what is a "ragnarok"?

5. What does the Indian word "stupa" mean?

And for all our child-bearing friends...

6. In which month are the most babies conceived?

*The quizmaster took pity on "the American team" and actually gave us the answer to this one, so I'll do the same.

Of course, we've also been enjoying the European-ness of it all, shopping at the outdoor markets, exploring Freiburg by foot and readying for our journey to Austria tomorrow. Today we spent the afternoon in Switzerland (how weird is that?) touring the old quarter, visiting an art museum, and marveling at the extreme expense of every single thing for sale. (The boys bought $4 peaches but passed up a $35 -- yes, thirty-five-dollar -- burrito.)

Tomorrow we arrive in Salzburg, Austria, sans hotel and with hopes of kicking off Bryan's first viewing of The Sound of Music. We'll spend two days there before heading to Vienna, the city from which, I just learned, my grandmother's family emigrated. From there we hope to book a cheap flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia -- where we only by days missed the local film festival (Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson were on the scene, apparently, according to my expensive imported US Weekly.) The rest of our short-term plans are still in-the-making. We do know that we'll be meeting up unexpectedly with Kelly and Jerry in France in mid-October, where they'll be on a break from overseas work with a little someone named Bruce Springsteen. Go figure.

And let me know how you do on the quiz, okay? I have the answers when you're ready.

stars, they're just like allyson @ 2:26 PM  

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