Guten Tag

My hotel room in Stuttgart looks out towards the vast Daimer-Chrysler factory with a huge Mercedes-Benz symbol slowly rotating for all to see. It's vaguely disconcerting.

I tried to learn some phrases in German before this trip, but it didn't appear to be necessary. Almost everyone I've encountered speaks English very well. One man approached me on the street (with that "I'm going to ask you a question look") and addressed me in German; I responded "Ich spreche kein Deutsch." He responded: "Oh, that's a pity. Do you know where the theater is?"

The Germans are crazy for cellphone ringtones and p0rn. During the day, the TV is flooded with ads for ringtones; at night, they switch to commercials of topless women asking you to call them on your cellphone. The German MTV is heavy on rap and hip-hop.

Much more later...I need to check some news sites. The international version of USA Today is about eight pages long and CNN International repeats the same three stories every half-hour (yes, I know Colin Powell is in Sudan, OK?)

Peace out.