River Cruising Water Cooler

[Canal archive]

Daisi ohhh wow now I can add Father Christmas as a tree topper, well done for keeping him going. 🌟

[RDVIK2016]

On 12/17/2023 at 1:39 PM, notamermaid said:

We have a tradition of the Rauschgoldengel (which came from Nuremberg), but I think most people put the bauble style top on the tree.

 

I have not decided on my tree topper yet, I will choose one of the two bauble ones I have got (I may be persuaded to change my mind by the family). Anyway, this year is different as for the first time in many years it will be a real fir tree!

 

notamermaid

 

I would love to have a Rauschgoldengel, but it would be so much more satisfying to buy it in Nürnberg, especially at the Christkindlmarkt and ideally if we could be there for the Prolog when the Christkind opens the market. Realistically that may not happen for us, but we can maintain the hope. 

[notamermaid]

We have storm warnings for the whole of Germany, especially around the coasts, heavy rain, and over Christmas flooding may return to the Rhine valley. White Christmas? Naah, wet Christmas. Not fun.

 

Many folks are ill, including some of my team at work, or cranky. I got so annoyed with a woman at a food stall today about her treatment of me and her attitude towards the food she was preparing for me, I complained heavily, yes I can shout when I want to (and nearly did). I am stressed too and not in the best of mood but try to be civil at all times. Not sure why that is but the male species seem to keep their nerve before Christmas better. Seriously.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Canal archive]

Off to celebrate my little (both shorter and younger) sister’s 50TH wedding anniversary today. She lives  just outside and between two of the biggest sea cruise ports in the U.K. Southampton and Portsmouth. I know there’s a Portsmouth in the USA is there a Southampton? I’m a Portsmouth aka Pompey football supporter and my DH is a Southampton aka Saints supporter and yes okay we’re still married after over 50 years! (Rivals, just a bit).

[Ritabob]

We have a Southampton in Ontario on the shore of Lake Huron. (One of the Great Lakes)

[notamermaid]

Still my favourite fun geography trip I have not got round to doing yet: driving from Boston to New York in a car in 20 minutes. Both are small places in Lincolnshire, England.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_Lincolnshire

 

In Germany we do not share many geography names with the Anglophone countries but one I know well (no pun intended with the word). I have been to both Welling in the Eifel region of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Welling in Southeast London.

 

notamermaid

 

[capriccio]

Southampton, New York is one of the towns that make up the Hamptons (some of the most expensive real estate in the country) on Long Island.

 

Portsmouth, Virginia is located on one of the world's largest natural harbors, Hampton (named after the 3rd earl of Southampton) Roads.  Other cities in Hampton Roads include Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Newport News. It is home of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. 

 

There is also a Portsmouth, New Hampshire which according to Wikipedia "A was named "Portsmouth" in honor of the colony's founder, John Mason. He had been captain of the English port of Portsmouth, Hampshire, after which New Hampshire is named."

[UDChE89]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

Still my favourite fun geography trip I have not got round to doing yet: driving from Boston to New York in a car in 20 minutes. Both are small places in Lincolnshire, England.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_Lincolnshire

 

In Germany we do not share many geography names with the Anglophone countries but one I know well (no pun intended with the word). I have been to both Welling in the Eifel region of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Welling in Southeast London.

 

notamermaid

 

There are a fair number of German place names in the US with the most common one being Berlin

[Host Jazzbeau]

7 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Still my favourite fun geography trip I have not got round to doing yet: driving from Boston to New York in a car in 20 minutes. Both are small places in Lincolnshire, England.

My DW tries to do that in the US!  😅

[notamermaid]

49 minutes ago, UDChE89 said:

There are a fair number of German place names in the US with the most common one being Berlin

Ah yes, the imports in the US that have stayed the same. Had forgotten about those. There is of course New Brunswick in Canada but that is an altered word. I know mostly of altered words or new names, like Bethlehem founded by the Moravians from Germany.

 

It is very stormy here now with quite a bit of rain, some small hail mixed in. Glad that I am inside my home and do not have to travel.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

6 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Ah yes, the imports in the US that have stayed the same.

Sometimes we keep the same spelling, but change the pronunciation.  Cairo, Illinois ['kay-row']  Milan [MY-lan']

 

But sometimes the government gets is wrong.  Vienna, Illinois is pronounced 'vy-AN-uh' – but the pronunciation is correct and the spelling is wrong!  The founders agreed to name the town after the first child born there.  The first birth was twins:  Vy and Anna.  When the US Geologic Survey came through, those Ivy League know it alls decided to correct the rubes' ignorance.  But as we know now, there's no ignorance like Ivy League ignorance!  [Wikipedia agrees that Vienna, IL was not named after the Austrian capital, but doesn't have a source.  My source, my uncle who was a font of knowledge about Southern Illinois, is no longer alive to repeat the story.  But I know it's true!]

[gnome12]

39 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Ah yes, the imports in the US that have stayed the same. Had forgotten about those. There is of course New Brunswick in Canada but that is an altered word. I know mostly of altered words or new names, like Bethlehem founded by the Moravians from Germany.

 

It is very stormy here now with quite a bit of rain, some small hail mixed in. Glad that I am inside my home and do not have to travel.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Canada had a Berlin (not far from Toronto) but it was renamed to Kitchener in 1916. We also have New Hamburg (not far from Kitchener).

[franski]

7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Sometimes we keep the same spelling, but change the pronunciation.  Cairo, Illinois ['kay-row']  Milan [MY-lan']

 

The one that always gets me is "Ver-sales" (Versailles) Kentucky!!   

 

Fran

[franski]

21 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Off to celebrate my little (both shorter and younger) sister’s 50TH wedding anniversary today. She lives  just outside and between two of the biggest sea cruise ports in the U.K. Southampton and Portsmouth. I know there’s a Portsmouth in the USA is there a Southampton? I’m a Portsmouth aka Pompey football supporter and my DH is a Southampton aka Saints supporter and yes okay we’re still married after over 50 years! (Rivals, just a bit).

Just back from the UK a couple of months ago and loved the time in Yorkshire.  It was always fun when people asked where I was from - and I answered "Whitby...Canada".  And it was interesting that Scarborough was just down the road there - as it is here!!

 

Fran 

[Canal archive]

Ah Whitby & Scarborough both famous for their excellent seafood.

[RobInMN]

16 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Sometimes we keep the same spelling, but change the pronunciation.  Cairo, Illinois ['kay-row']  Milan [MY-lan']

In Minnesota, we have a Montevideo, but it is pronounced MON-ta-VIH-dee-o (as in audio/video). A few years back, something happened there that made the national news, and it was funny hearing them pronounce it MON-ti-vi-DAY-o, as in the capital of Uruguay.😅

[Canal archive]

Okay this side of the ‘POND’ your side of the ‘POND’ I’m glad to see it works en-country and all pronounciations are ‘ vice La difference fantastic it works around the world.

[Daisi]

My cousin teaches in a town in Ont. called Baden, so if we go visit, we tour. We've found Luxemburg, (New) Hamburg, Mannheim, (New) Dundee, Paris, Oxford (Centre), Washington & Boston so far, but there are many more. So many European names in Canada as that's where most of us came from.

[Canal archive]

Darn predictive not vice but viva.

 

I taught my Girl Guides map reading by comparing place names and finding strange and or weird place names.

[Ritabob]

1 hour ago, Daisi said:

My cousin teaches in a town in Ont. called Baden, so if we go visit, we tour. We've found Luxemburg, (New) Hamburg, Mannheim, (New) Dundee, Paris, Oxford (Centre), Washington & Boston so far, but there are many more. So many European names in Canada as that's where most of us came from.

Daisi,

Make sure you get to Punkydoodle's Corners, just west of New Hamburg on the way to Shakespeare and Stratford . Or drive south toward Lake Erie to Copenhagen.   Lots to discover. 

[Daisi]

@Ritabob yes, we've been to both those areas.  We hate highways, so back roads and a couple of hours give us lots of interesting places to discover. 🙂 

[sharkster77]

54 minutes ago, Daisi said:

@Ritabob yes, we've been to both those areas.  We hate highways, so back roads and a couple of hours give us lots of interesting places to discover. 🙂 

In western England we saw probably 30 town-names that were also towns in Massachusetts where we live--too many to list here!

[Canal archive]

We live here in the west of the U.K. and travelling through both Canada & USA especially when we first crossed the great divide and using the map supplied by the car hire companies was the most amazing and history learning experience.

[Daisi]

1 hour ago, Canal archive said:

We live here in the west of the U.K. and travelling through both Canada & USA especially when we first crossed the great divide and using the map supplied by the car hire companies was the most amazing and history learning experience.

 

 

Yes, there are certainly some "interesting" names for towns in both Canada & the USA. I know Newfoundland and Labrador, and Pennsylvania have some very good ones. 🙂

 

[CPT Trips]

On 12/21/2023 at 2:38 PM, UDChE89 said:

There are a fair number of German place names in the US with the most common one being Berlin

Our post office address here in NJ. 

 

8 hours ago, Daisi said:

 

 

Yes, there are certainly some "interesting" names for towns in both Canada & the USA. I know Newfoundland and Labrador, and Pennsylvania have some very good ones. 🙂

 

One of my favorite place names in Pennsylvania is King of Prussia.