I love Putzi.

Thursday evening, on my way home from work, the air was filled with the magical scent of peppermint. At first I asked myself, "am I dreaming?", then I took a good long whiff of the air, and, lo!, I was not. The air was truly full of the delicious pepperminty smell of Putzi children's toothpaste. I am lucky to live with the Putzi factory just behind my house, and sometimes when I open my windows, my apartment is filled with the fresh smell of toothpaste.
Unfortunately, the fresh smell of peppermint in the Neustadt is also often counteracted by the smell of beer and vomit on the streets, which is just a bit disgusting. Maybe I'm getting old, but all this beer drinking and puking is pretty disgusting. And, god, sometimes you can't even walk down the street with all these puking beer drinkers standing around. But I guess that adds to the flair of this place, and if they weren't there, what would I have to complain about? Honestly, it might just be a bit boring. And knowing how annoying it is to not be able to walk down the street in the evening makes sunny weekend mornings when the streets are empty and the birds are singing and the shops are all just opening and the people are waking up that much more enjoyable. (The only problem is all the dried puke on the sidewalk from the night before.)