The Carpet Flower
Mr Einbahn
My mother started to explore her new surroundings in Germany with touristic awe.
Driving around in her car she was fascinated by the advertisements on large billboards.
She made lists of places to visit, as well as products and services to investigate further.
She even read the street signs.
As she drove thru a few towns she was not surprised that some street names were reoccurring.
One street name however was especially frequent.
The name of the street was "Einbahn Street".
My mother tried to explain to herself how a street name could be this common in a country and came up with a theory.
Streets are often named in commemoration of people that made important achievements, she mused.
"Mr Einbahn" then, she further reasoned, must have been a very significant person during the rebuild efforts after the second world war.
A hero of the people!
In any case, she made a mental note to ask my father for clarification on this matter.
My father was at first confused when my mother asked him about who this "Mr Einbahn" was.
He had never heard of him.
When my mother ran thru her reasoning, my father started to laugh.
"Einbahn" he explained was German for "One-way".
To give my mother credit, the German "One-way Street" sign looks similar to regular street name signs.
Driving around in her car she was fascinated by the advertisements on large billboards.
She made lists of places to visit, as well as products and services to investigate further.
She even read the street signs.
As she drove thru a few towns she was not surprised that some street names were reoccurring.
One street name however was especially frequent.
The name of the street was "Einbahn Street".
My mother tried to explain to herself how a street name could be this common in a country and came up with a theory.
Streets are often named in commemoration of people that made important achievements, she mused.
"Mr Einbahn" then, she further reasoned, must have been a very significant person during the rebuild efforts after the second world war.
A hero of the people!
In any case, she made a mental note to ask my father for clarification on this matter.
My father was at first confused when my mother asked him about who this "Mr Einbahn" was.
He had never heard of him.
When my mother ran thru her reasoning, my father started to laugh.
"Einbahn" he explained was German for "One-way".
To give my mother credit, the German "One-way Street" sign looks similar to regular street name signs.