I risked getting Paris syndrome by traveling from Osaka to Frankfurt via Charles de Gaulle Airport, but I seem to have made it through intact. There were a Japanese couple on the plane wearing striped shirts and berets, clearly pretty keen on their trip to Paris. It looked like fun to me, but I was straight onto the next flight.
There are probably all kinds of reasons why this is wrong and why it makes me a bad person, but in Frankfurt there were lots of men who dressed like villians in action movies or computer games. I half expected Liam Neeson to turn up and mercilessly slaughter everybody. Now I'm sure this is really just that costume designers had a look at what the average bloke in Europe wears, but I couldn't get it out of my head. I'm going to blame Hollywood anyway. Combined with the stories people told me about how many thieves are out to prey on tourists in Europe, I was a bit afraid to ever stop and pull out my camera. Not that I actually know any of this, but coming directly from Japan, where almost nobody would steal your stuff, I was aware that I'd need a shift in mindset.
I did actually have a German guy ask me directions (I think), and a lot of people seem surprised I don't speak German. I would like to think this means I'm capable of at least briefly not looking like a tourist, but now that I write this I recall that I get a lot of strange looks just walking into a room, so that can't be right. It will surely make no sense once you see my cycling get-up.
If I were to get a kick out of taking photos of things called "Dom", well I've come to the right county. Yet I refrained from photographing the streetsign for Domstraße.
I take comfort in the knowledge my water bottle does not contain body parts.
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