Rhine River Cruise

Floating Down the Rhine

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Germany, its splendid Rhine River, and its gorgeous castles       in the countryside: how romantic!

Castle on the Rhine

How magical it is to cruise down the Rhine River atop a boat sipping your iced tea, looking left and right to gaze upon one after the other Medieval castle? Some were more like forts and some were more like palaces.

Some are now open as hotels to defray expenses.

Once upon a time, castles housed lords who charged tolls to all those boaters who passed through "their" part of the Rhine. It must have been nice to have a fiefdom, and have your serfs collect your tolls!

According to the tour guide, the Rhine is the most heavily traveled river in the world. I find that dubious, but who knows. There were obviously many deutchsmarks to be made in the toll business.

Your Imaginary Friend,

Patsie

I Think I'm Turning Japanese

Dear Imaginary Friend,

Tan Carlo and Pale Patsie

I am possibly the palest person you have ever not met. And in America, it is a negative. Here the tan, whether real or fake, is admired. Pasty white people are considered unhealthy looking.

Well, I finally found out where I need to move to: Japan.

On our cruise in Germany, one of the passengers was a Japanese obstetrician. She was a young woman around 30 who appeared to be allergic to the sun or perhaps mentally ill. She covered up her entire body even while inside, with black sweater sleeves that extended down to her mid-fingers. Outside, enduring the 93 degree heat, in addition to her entire body being covered up, she wore a ginormous hat that hung down to her chin, with a see-through green plastic inset, through which she could gaze. 

I thought, what in the world is her situation?

It turns out that in Japan, the whiter the skin, the higher the class. She was deathly afraid of getting freckles or tanning.

Whee ha! Sayonara!

Your Imaginary Friend,

Patsie