A couple of additional thoughts

... the bees in the forest today were very confused. They kept sniffing at S and me, thinking we were flowers. Then, at lunch, they kept sniffing at the cloth flowers on the picnic table, thinking they were REAL flowers. Stupid bees.

... children speaking German are less cute than children speaking French

... the size (larger) and the fashion (garisher) of Germans as compared to the French makes Germany feel more like America than France did, even though we heard much more English in Paris than we have in GaPa.

... German beer is awesome

... French cheese is awesome

... today, S and I saw a quartet of fit 60-something men, all fully-padded up, riding mountain bikes through town on their way to the trailhead. I don't think I can name one sixty-something man I have ever seen on a mountain bike in my life, until today.