Graz–Jan. 13, 2025

I attended the first day of the intensive German course. There are five of us in the class, all from different countries. (US, Japan, Croatia, Albania, and Ukraine.) The teacher is really fantastic; good at giving corrections to mistakes and very patient with our slow speaking as we figure out the grammar on the fly.

Street Signs

I mentioned that it’s hard to find a large street sign, but there was one on a side street. FYI, Straße is the word for street, Gasse is an alley. Allee is an avenue.

Street sign with word Marschallgasse in large type. Above it, in smaller type: IV., LEND

The smaller type (IV., LEND) is the Bezirk, or district number in Roman numerals and the district name. Each of the 17 districts has a name. This is unlike San José, where there are ten council districts but many neighborhoods that can cover more than one district, or one district that can contain several neighborhoods.

Signage / Graffiti

Another advert for the Graz public transit system:

1878 the first streetcar ran in Graz. The route ran between the main train station and Jakominiplatz. Your Graz Lines

Four lines of text: Begin :) / End :( / Begin :( / End :)

Anfang = Beginning, Ende = End

Shit on capitalists, Shit on rent, Shit on gentrification.