Fanny Packs and Talking Loudly in Restaurants

Elaine, my German brother-in-law always complain about us being loud, but that's usually when he hasn't had a few drinks. Once he starts drinking, he talks, sings and laughs louder than most Americans we know! LOL Glad you had a good time. I have seen many Europeans with the dreaded fanny pack. They must know something we don't. When we stayed in an AI in Spain (Calella), the loudest people by far were the Russians and Germans.

"As to posters who think only ugly Americans talk loudly in restaurants, they must not be talkng about restaurants in Germany. Germans have a good and LOUD time when they go out to eat." You must be eating at different restaurants in Germany than I do. I generally find the overall volume much lower than comparable restaurants in America. In fact, one of the things I really enjoy about the corner restaurant near where I live is that it I can go out for a meal and eat in such a peaceful environment.

Ha! I taught in Hungary for a few years. The fanny packs seemed all the rage with my high-school aged students! Even some of my toughest boys sported them. We joked about bringing the look back and trying to sell our American students on it, but we figured we'd be laughed out of the classroom.

A half dozen sightings out of hundreds if not thousands of people doesn't sound like much of a trend. We were just through the Christmas markets from Strasbourg to Prague and did not see one. Of course, the heavy winter coats were probably covering them.

I am one of those proud fanny packers. My digital and cam corder fits in it. I like both hands free during the day. I use the PacSafe Stash Safe and really love it. Would not and do not travel without it.

Never said it was a trend Frank - calm down. Was just surprised to see ANY...and all were worn on top of the down parkas. I did the markets from Nuremburg to Vienna - guess the ones I visited weren't as classy. JB- I think I agree with you. They do seem like a good idea for cameras. I had an unfortunate incident last year when my camera escaped from my jacket pocket.
I used a fanny pack 20 years ago when I did WDW with an ADHD toddler. Guess I'll have to search the attic and see if I can resurrect it. Tom - you're not hitting the FUN places in Munich and Nuremberg .

uh, you guys do know that fanny has a completely different meaning in the UK? If you want to avoid that connotation, you can use the word hip pack or waist pack. That said, I sure wouldn't say they were trendy over here, though you might see the senior set wearing them. Messenger bags are the way to go. Safe against pick-pockets, hands free, stylish colors and designs and men or women can wear them.. From working in restaurants here, the loudest customers are Russians, Italians, Eastern Europeans and people from the Middle East. They talk really loud on their phones on the trains too. Put booze into any group from any country and they are going to get loud. That is just a fact of life. Germans do like to sing though, when they get drunk. I hear them walking down the sidewalks at 3 a.m. singing their hearts out.

Jo: Thank you. It's helpful to get fashion reports from actual European residents. "Senior set", I like that. And as Jo mentions, for gosh sakes don't call 'em fanny packs in the UK! Nigel will tell you why!

I googled fanny and found this amusing website that translates British slang. It's a fun read = ) www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml

I 'm a big fan of the messenger bag (actually a fan of anything that can be worn cross-body) - used one on this last trip and you can get a lot of stuff into one. It's a very secure feeling. The only drawback - mine doesn't have easy access for the camera, so I had to use my jacket pocket again. I 'll think about a waist bag for my camera for the Do-Over in 2012.

Before I read Jo's comments, I was going to guess it was mostly seasoned citizens wearing fanny packs. Makes sense when you consider that's really about the only folks I ever see wearing them here. Elaine: Take a look at either Simple or Timbuk2 for messenger bags...some models have a pouch/pocket outside for easier access to whatever you place in it. It's good for a smaller digital camera.

I always loved wearing my "bum bag"/fanny pack. It was so nice to have my hands free, yet have my meds, first aid kit, sewing kit, even a small bit of make up, some kleenex, pen and pad, etc. very accessible. It could even sub for a day bag except when I was expecting to buy bigger souvigners (umbrellas could be clipped on the side, and a windbreaker/gortex jacket wadded up and fit, too). I wore one when I wastraveling in my 20s- didn't stop until recently (now in my 50s). The last one I bought has to be the world's largest- it could even hold some of my art stuff and converted to a purse (cross body), too. I liked the way it is organized. It was by Eagle Creek and i still use it as a purse sometimes. Now if we ever get to go back to international travel, I'll know I can use it without trepidation.

Toni's got it - = - it's bum bag in the UK and Ireland. Fanny Pack would be seen as rude. "Fanny" in the US is a light euphemism for the male or female back-side. In the UK and Ireland it is a rude word for the female genitalia, somewhat less rude than the "c" word. I wonder if "Fanny" is acceptable in Oz?

Nigel, how about 'bits bag'? ;-)

The only thing mising are the Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse T-Shirts, now you know why we are called "Ugly Americans".

As a Brit I have to say that a fanny pack sounds like either a venereal disease or at the very least some sort of icepack to eleviate vaginal overheating. Is it an American form of Tena Lady? I work in our local Gaststaette and love the fact that most evenings end up with Germans singing loudly, tunelessly and emotionally about times gone by. They also ask us to sing our national songs, which we can also do just as badly and tunelessly.Nothing agressive intended, just an airing of old folk songs many of which unfortunately in Germany are now forbidden because of their association with the Nazi party, despite the fact that these songs are old folk songs adopted by the Nazis. I love these evenings and it saddens me that so many Germans feel that their musical history (and I'm not just talking Wagner) has been soiled by its association with the Nazi party. No one should be allowed a high horse.

Jerry - Are you having a bad day? You're so negative in all your posts tonight.

If they don't like the law as it relates to banned anthems, they shouldn't have allowed a crackpot to take over their country. Normal Germans prefer the music of Haydn to the lyrics of Wessel, thankfully.

I know the word "fanny" means something different in the UK, but if that word does not have the same connotation in the US, what is the problem? They know what we mean and we know what it means, so we should be okay. Most of us won't use a "fanny pack" anyway. I always thought they were the dumbest, most unsightly things to begin with. I don't know a person in my family or any of my friends who used one of them in the past or who would dream of using them in the future. Except of course if King Rick starts selling them and shows just why they are the best thing to travel with! Then I would surely purchase a "Rick Steves fanny pack!"

Good Riknik, Eli, Good Riknik! The brainwashing is complete ;-)

Eileen, I am first in line for the RS "fanny pack!" No pushing now :-) I promise to post pics of me in London, Rome, Paris sporting my fanny pack...

Fanny Pack? We'll need the 26" RS rolling bag to hold all of our Dio (RIP - making 'devil horns'), Judas Priest (The Priest!), Iron Maiden, and Scorpions - cassettes, CDs, (including any and all remastered offerings), DVDs, and perhaps an 8-track somewhere... Last autumn, I saw the Scorpions on their Farewell Tour. Unfortunately, we thought we'd stay closer to home and saw them outside, but NOT in a proper ampitheater. (pained groan) HUGE mistake. The sound literally blew with the wind, and there's a lot of wind around here. I was sitting on my fanny and talking loudly over the cheers...(brought cleverly back to the OP): Farewell, Scorpions. I hope you retire just like the Rolling Stones...AND Brett Favre, Sean Connery, Lance Armstrong...;-)

Michael... Germany has a very rich history of folk songs and I'm not talking about the Horst Wessel song which I can understand folk not wanting to sing any more. The songs I am talking about are not banned as such but many avoid singing them (unless they are in a closed community) which I think is a shame, songs such as Erica which is a beautiful folk song about mountain heather used unfortunately as background music to many British and American propaganda films during the war years and as such now stigmatised. I think it is a great shame if for whatever reason a musical heritage is forgotten that goes back hundreds and hundreds of years.

Shoni, someone is pulling your leg there in that little town you live in. Erika is not a sweet folk song, it is a military marching song written in the 1930's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erika_%28song%29 The fact that some songs might be stigmatized is not the British or Americans fault, wouldn't you say? I don't know where you go hang out, but the only songs I ever hear Germans singing in pubs is "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and "You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille" Now, how this thread changed from a discussion about wearing hip packs and talking loudly in restaurants into what a shame it is that Germans are ashamed to sing their "old" songs is beyond me.

Well, again, the songs wouldn't have been banned or stigmatized had they not been co-opted by or associated with Nazis. Don't point the finger at the U.S. or Britain. And bringing this back to fanny packs, they can be used to store the CDs with all of that great old folk music. Mine will be packed with Scorpions and Iron Maiden CDs. And tying all of this to European travel, I missed Iron Maiden playing in Reykjavik by one day a few years back. What a letdown! I almost forgot...didn't Lena win Eurovision 2010? How's that for some new German music (although the song was quite terrible). Eli: I would need to double check, but I believe my Scorpions and Iron Maiden albums are in a box right behind all of my cassette tapes in the basement...probably right in front of my Dio and Judas Priest records. Probably the best thing is to just burn all of them along with the parachute pants.

OMG Michael! I can't believe we have Iron Maiden and Scorpions in common. Who knew? :-) Okay, I will have to order my RS "fanny pack" as soon as they are out, and pack my CDs in them. But wait...what shall I do with the LPs?

The only songs I ever hear drunken Germans singing are Schlager tunes. The women all seem to love that "Ich bin die du" song. What a musical legacy- Bach, Beethoven, Mendelsohn, Schuman, Brahms, Wagner... and now "Ich bin die du" and "Satelite".

You forgot Nena and Falco.

A good list of the great composers...I would add Carl Maria von Weber too. If you know and recognise European military marching music as a genre, be they French, British, Austrian, Prussian, Bavarian, or Russian, you hear sometimes marching pieces played by marching bands other than where that piece originated. I have seen the Changing of the Guard in London numerous times and recognised the bands included traditional Prussian-German marching pieces in their repertoire, but the rendition was a little different. The band for that particular day does not always play only British marches. Sometimes you'll hear a traditional Prussian one too. I have seen in France, ( not in Paris,) in the Pas-de-Calais area in the evening of a 14 July celebration a military band's medley of marching pieces also included a German piece (which did surprise me), "Alte Kameraden." No discrimination there.

"I have seen the Changing of the Guard in London numerous times and recognised the bands included traditional Prussian-German marching pieces in their repertoire...." Let's see, what is the ancestral home of the House of Windsor? I mean the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas?

I think you could say there has been a great deal of diversity among the royals of Europe for many centuries. Between Empress Maria Theresa and Queen Victoria, their direct descendants sat on just about every throne in Europe and Mexico(other SA countries??). These monarchs, most of whom, by today's standards had dual and triple citizenships, were in direct line of succession for many of the other thrones of Europe. So in my mind, I can understand how military marching songs, and other music, spread across and got adopted in other European countries.
Besides, Music is the international language. .

Are Texans loud especially when they wear "fanny packs?"
Is it the fault of "fanny packs" that Americans in general tend to be louder than most? These are pressing questions which I hope can be answered. All this singing and German music is taking away from the fanny packs. After all, Fanny Packs came first on the title of the thread.

One place where you can hear a band play a potpourri of different types of music is at a Schützenfest, which I've been to twice in Westfalen. No tourists go there, only German ones. The recommended one is in Neuß. You'll hear the old songs, folk songs...if you're lucky you might hear "Erika," Schlager from the '70s and '80s, tango, foxtrot, and also a few marching songs too, two of which I recall seeing the bands play, "Alte Kameraden" and "Preußens Gloria" Most tourists go to the Hofbräuhaus (Munich) to drink and or even get plastered. What about listening to the pieces the band is playing, one of which I most definitely recall my last time there in 1989 was a Bavarian marching piece...Bayerischer Defiliermarsch...pretty good rendition.

Of course we Texans are loud when wearing our fanny packs - those spurs dig into our Texan tummies ;-) Of course, if RS had a fanny pack, we'd be 'as quiet as a temporary local'... I'm going on record as saying it's my firm belief that Bach would have regularly worn his fanny pack. Anyone want to join me?

As is often the case with 'new' songs they are often rewrites of old folk songs. Having listened to what locals here tell me is the original version of Erika written pre German unification I would say that it is in my opinion the original of the modern day song Erika, there is too much of it that is similar, not only the tune but a substantial part of the lyrics.

Has anyone mentioned how loud the Italians are in restaurants? We practically had to shout out our order when we dined at a small obscure restaurant off of Via Urbana.

whoa!! Italians? Loud? Who'd have thought? My son's godparents are second generation Italian......when the family gets together, you can't hear yourself think.