Observations on Wiesbaden

After two months of walking around Wiesbaden, I can make ten basic observations:

First, there are a fair number of lady-guys (shemales, fake-women, transexuals, etc) in Wiesbaden.  A guy will walk around and notice things like this.  Maybe it's just a statistical thing, and I'm in the right part of town.  Maybe it's just the urban nature of Wiesbaden.  But it just seems like way too many guys attempting to look like women when it's a dismal failure.

Second, the folks that tend to walk into upscale bio-foods only groceries?  I spent forty minutes this morning, in a waiting situation....sipping coffee and eating cheesecake....across from one of these bio-grocery shops.  That's the only thing they sell....nothing else but bio.  From the dozen folks who walked in.....all were dressed in what a Bama guy would call 'church-going clothing'.....meaning they were dressed up.  You don't see working class folks buying the bio stuff.....just the folks with cash to burn.  Maybe this says something....maybe not.

Third, after a while, you come to note that there are a heck of alot of high-maintenance wives in Wiesbaden.  Basically, you can spot them them from fifty feet away....dressed in swanky stuff and fancy shoes.  Maybe there's some really lucky guys who live in town, and patting themselves on the back each day with the great paychecks, a perfect house, and Lady Gaga-like wife.  Course, when the gig runs out....will the trophy-wife still be there?  That's the million-dollar question.

Fourth, folks in Wiesbaden tend to drink coffee and apple-cider (the hard stuff and the soft stuff).  Wine is on down the line, and beer is probably like the number five or six on the drink list.  A guy could feel out of place sipping a beer.  As for the coffee?  I'd make a guess that every adult in town is sipping three to four cups a day minimum.

Fifth, fashion in Wiesbaden goes from fancy Paris-gaudy to trailer-trash slutty.  The Gothic folks have their fashion.  The $400 sweater guys have their fashion.  The cleaning ladies have their fashion.  The banker wives have their fashion.  The punk kids have their fashion.  And somewhere out there....are the 75-year old guys who are still dressed in 1966 plaid-suits....looking sharp, but way out of date.

Sixth, the Burka-gals don't ever stop or allow themselves to be seen in a book shop....unless it's a kid's book shop.  You can walk for hours and hours.....around twenty odd bookshops in Wiesbaden, and you just don't ever see a Burka-gal.  Maybe it's fear of being seen there by some friend of the husband or some threat by the clan....it's hard to say.

Seventh, if a guy woke up and realized at 9AM that it was his wife's birthday....Wiesbaden is the only town in the world where I think he could hustle into, find an appropriate gift in sixty minutes, wrap it, and have it ready to hand over an hour later.  There's virtually nothing you can't find.....in some oddball shop, that won't work as gift for someone.  The thousand-odd shops in town are bound and determined to sell you just about anything you need.

Eighth, if your doctor was telling you that you've bundled up way too much stress....on the verge of some heart-attack....then I'd tell you to pack up and come to Wiesbaden for two weeks.  Sip some apple-wine.....take a two-hour walk in the park....admire some graffiti.....listen to some jazz....or just gaze at 1880's construction.  A guy's blood pressure will lessen after just a week, and you keep wondering if there's anything possible to get you all stirred up.

Nineth, you keep looking for gangs or thugs.....and it's hard to find them in Wiesbaden.  After almost two months of walking around.....I can't think of any situation where there was even a hint of gang activity or dopers.  Now.....drunks?  Oh, yeah....there's always a guy here or there....whose had a few apple wines too many.  But thugs?  No.

Tenth.  I think around fifty percent of the population of Wiesbaden.....if you offered them a chance to move anywhere in the world.....would decline.  You could toss up a fancy job and apartment in New York City, a lakefront property in Zurich, a big house in Berlin, or even a ranch house in Montana.  It wouldn't matter....they'd refuse to leave.  These are people who are handcuffed, and grinning on a daily basis....with no necessity to ever think about leaving.