Western Wyoming: The trip to eastern Germany and the Czech Republic has concluded, and we're once again home. This final travel blog entry contains some wrap-up thoughts.
First, flying west around a third of the globe creates an amazingly long day. We took off in mid-morning in Prague, flew to Frankfurt, changed planes, flew from Frankfurt in early afternoon, and landed in Denver in late afternoon of the same day. Finally we left Denver in early evening and arrived in Jackson in mid-evening and drove home just over an hour arriving home around eleven p.m. Our Monday, June 25th lasted roughly 32 hours. No wonder we get jet lag.
One of the things I look for whenever overseas is the extent to which English has permeated the local signage. There is significantly less English in eastern Germany and Prague than in western Germany. The reason: because Russian, not English, was the second language there from 1945 to 1990. Whatever Russian had permeated the local signage is completely gone now, but English has had 45 fewer years to influence the local dialog.
Throughout Europe many firms use English in their signs to seem "international" and trendy. There is an underlying assumption that most people understand a fair amount of basic English, although my encounter with a hotel maid suggests that assumption may be an exaggeration.
