I don't have a lot of memories of the pre-Vatican II Church, and my childhood church got a new, young, dynamic priest shortly afterwards who removed the statues and all. Here's a Christ child figure in a case with a pile of toys, mostly cars.

These churches do seem much older than any US Catholic Church I've been in for the last 40+ years, and seem closer to the Orthodox cathedrals in Russia or some of the Slovenian and Croatian churches.

Speaking of those trips, I did not try to learn any Spanish before coming here, figuring that I could pick up what I needed on the fly or else rely on Jennifer (she is in Spanish school, after all). And while I don't think I've done all that poorly, my mind does get jumbled up with similar phrases in Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and German (since I was taking that in the evening last year).

I had been able to at least keep those languages out of my mouth when addressing folks, but the other evening I slipped up and said "Dobro noches" to a bathroom attendant.

C'est la vie!