Yesterday on the train from Basel to Frankfurt, I sat next to two middle-aged German couples who were obviously taking a vacation together. At 9:00am one of them, a roly-poly guy with a silver necklace with a German Shepherd pendant (all that was missing was the lederhosen and an oompah band) busted out a huge bag of pretzels and a bottle of champagne wrapped in tinfoil. Next thing you know the four of them were downing champagne from plastic cups and munching on pretzels (the big kind like you can get at baseball games)--it was like our own little beer hall on the train.