Drinks, Dancing Dog, Bread & BBQ

10/6/12
I almost cursed the weather person today!  We had planned another trip to the Rhine but moved it to tomorrow because rain was predicted for today, & by noon, we hadn't seen a drop.  But it did show up--all afternoon, so our decision was affirmed.  We hope to do that trip tomorrow & used today for errands & housekeeping.  Don't remind me later, but it actually felt good (maybe familiar is the right word) to vacuum, dust & do laundry....

I digress from the title.  Let's drink!  First beer.  Getraenkmarkt, is the word for a beer store with some wine, & today a big vat of apple cider, slightly fermented.  These places almost feel like supply houses, or a beer distributor.  Beer's available in all quantities (but I haven's seen six packs or canned beer yet).  Today, Chris & Dave bought 2 cases of half liter bottles of beer for about one euro per bottle.  The cases are plastic, & most people just swap their empties for full ones at the time of purchase.  The bottle deposit is about 10 cents apiece.

Large, one liter bottles of water, sparkling or still, are also available at the drink store.

This is the delicious unfiltered unpasteurized cider they brought home.  It tastes just like crisp tart apples.  I know the photo doesn't make it look good.  I was too lazy to lift that big container out of the frig.

Dave & I bought these 2 breads today, & both were quite good. The first is a seed bread, & the second is called farmers bread.  Both are sturdy with delicious crusts.  My trusty bread baker husband gave them thumbs up & even says he thinks German bread is better than French except for baguettes.  Yikes---that's high praise!

Dana & Chris really did like the placemats we bought them, & here they are on the table.

We had another tasty dinner thanks to Dana.  Chris grilled pork chops & veggies with Diego's help.

And Dana made a traditional German salad, 3 in 1, 3 salads together in one bowl.  It's a carrot salad, a white radish one & a Caesar.  Quite different & good---a salad buffet if you will.

It's still raining, & I'm about to go to bed.  I hope the weather predictions are correct for tomorrow with only a 20% chance of rain.

Here's a great picture of my favorite granddog, Diego, dancing!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  Penn State just beat Northwestern, so Dave's happy, & Laura Beth isn't.

A Day in Bad Homburg

10/5/12
We stayed close to home today & explored this nice town some more.  Jessie went with Dave & me into town where we discovered a wonderful large department store, Karstadt, http://www.karstadt.de/jsp/filialen/bad-homburg.jsp that reminded me of Macy's, even down to the basement food court including a complete grocery store stocked with some very fancy items like foie gras & caviar. On the first floor, we discovered a chocolate counter with every strength of chocolate & ingredients formed into sheets.  When you ordered one, the clerk broke off a hunk & then weighed it.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  I resisted, but Jessie said it was the best chocolate she'd had in Germany so far.

We hadn't given Dana & Chris a housewarming gift yet, & we found some rusty orange placemats in Karstadt's that match their furniture.  I think they were pleased.

We strolled the shops & looked at clothes, purses & shoes with Jessie.  Dave enjoyed Jessie's enthusiasm & fashion sense as much as I did.  We then found an all seafood place to have lunch & sort of shared our 3 plates of food with each other.   We stayed on the wonderful wide pedestrian street & perused the various farmers' produce.

These colored eggs were in many stalls, & the one man I tried to ask about them spoke no English.  They have to be dyed, don't they?

Have I mentioned sandwiches yet?  They're in all the bakeries & are delicious.  Germans eat them for breakfast sort of like they eat cold cuts, bread & cheese for breakfast.  The sandwich rolls are magnificent, seeded (or not) delicious foils for salami, ham, cheese, slices of hard boiled eggs, a ring of yellow or red pepper, & a mayonaisy-cream cheesey spread.  We Ami's (Jessie tells me that's what the kids at school call Americans) prefer them for lunch.

After lunch, we walked up the street to the Schloss (Castle) Homburg, built in 1780, a youngster relatively speaking.

That white tower in the background has 186 steps to the top.  Jessie & Dave were going to climb it, but it was closed.

Buses & trains are a way of life here.  Walking & using public transportation is the norm within the towns.  We took a bus home which drops us about 5 blocks from the house.  Buses are constantly rolling into the stops, & there have to be many routes.  We could choose from 4 that would get us home.  School was just letting out, so it was a junior/senior high fest from where I sat.  Was I ever that young, dynamic, darling, dorky?  I guess so, but it's too long ago to remember much......

Here's a picture of Jessie beside her favorite kind of car--a Smart Car.  These colors are quite unusual, kind of silver & gold, but subtle.  We decided on the adjective elegant.

Last photo is of a man & his dog, aka, Chris & Diego.  I think Chris was studying German at the time. Yes, he continues to work on the language.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  Much to appreciate

A Rainy Day, Speed, Yards, Trails & Refrigerators

10/4/12
We slept in late on this rainy, blustery morning.  There's a leaky pipe under the kitchen sink, so we're waiting for the plumber to either call or show up.  Dana took Jessie for a haircut, & Karl's downstairs playing video games.

 That leaves us to plan next week's trip to Belgium & back.  So far, we've rented a car & reserved our first night's lodging in Kerkrade, Netherlands & the next 3 nights in Bruges, Belgium.  We chose a hotel in Bruges based on Rick Steves' recommendation.  It's supposed to be centrally located where we can park the car once & walk around the rest of the time.  We'll see.  Our plans are to take about a week to leisurely come back with part of the time in the Mosel River Valley.

While Dave's on the internet making reservations at places we've chosen, I'll write about some of my impressions of Germany so far.

FAST CARS!----The left lane should be avoided unless you like to drive 100+ mph.  I'm not kidding, they were zooming past us when we were going 80 mph in Chris & Dana's minivan.  Motorcycles were some of the scariest moving vehicles in the fast lane.  My favorite highways have 4 lanes going one way & 4 lanes going the other way.  We haven't driven yet, so it will be interesting.  We rented their version of a mid sized car, an Opel.

BRUSQUE PEOPLE---Whether a clerk in the store, one of Chris & Dana's neighbors, people at church, etc, folks seem more curt, efficient in their interactions with us so far.  Perhaps they're unsure of their English, or our minuscule knowledge of German language, but whatever it is, things are short & to the point.  I have encountered friendly people, & they're the ones who seem to want to use their English skills.  I should be cautious to judge since I can say only a few words in German.  There's always a "good day, evening or morning" from people which is very nice.

NEAT & TIDY YARDS---There's an amazing amount of hedge trimming in this neighborhood.  Straight lines are along all the paths.  The yards are small, but well maintained & pretty.  Even though it's fall, there are plenty of blooming plants.  This is a lovely green, leafy, heavily-treed area.

NEIGHBORHOODS THAT ABUT FIELDS---Fields of crops, mostly sugar beets & corn, have wide walking paths woven though them, & they are well used.  Every evening, we see some people walking dogs, riding bikes or just strolling.  It's quite bucolic.  I like it!

SMALL REFRIGERATORS---Small kitchen leads to small frig leads to small packages for food & drinks.  Finding large portions, like a family might eat especially with teens, is hard, even in the commissary.  For instance,  getting enough mozzarella to make a big lasagna requires the purchase of many small balls of the stuff which gets expensive.   Luckily, the previous occupants of this house, a State Dept. person & his family, left a full sized frig in the basement.  That really comes in handy! 

Well, the plumber's here, & he speaks English with a big smile!  No pictures this time, sorry, but we've been inside all morning--as Karl says, "all cozy."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  Germany's beautiful.

Heidelberg

10/3/12
Rick Steves says Heidelberg isn't worth the effort while other sources call it the best attraction in Germany.  I'm somewhere in the middle.  Yes, Rick, it is full of visitors, but the castle & town are wonderful.  We took a guided tour of the castle, & it was full of interesting facts (unless you're Karl who dislikes old stuff).  Tracing today's monarchy in the UK back to German royalty was most interesting; stories of love, tragedy, wars, etc, all were fascinating.  We had a good tour guide whose English was very precise & clear.

The poor old Heidleberg castle has been through a lot--war, fire, neglect & renovation of one of its palaces to the style of the time, about 100 years ago.  The renovated rooms we saw were grand but not true to the castle's origins.  The ruins are spectacular.

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We trooped among the crowds & a myriad of eateries only to happen upon one with the worst service possible.  We probably should have left, but we were hungry & kept thinking our food would come out any moment.  When it did begin to arrive, it came in waves, three to be exact.  First, we hungrily watched Karl eat his pizza.  Next, everyone but Dave got their food which we shared with him, because well after we were done, his sandwich arrived.  We figured we'd better ask for the check when his food came or we might never get out of there!  All that angst for not-very-good vittles!

Views from the castle were incredible of the hillsides, homes, the Neckar River & vineyards.

The castle overlooks the old town, & there's a funicular that takes you up & down the hill.  It's a marvel of engineering & holds just under 100 people.  Here's a view of the castle from the town below:

These are some shots of the old town:

A huge wine barrel sits inside the castle courtyard.  Really, I think I heard it's the biggest in the world, & if I misheard, you'll have to agree it's gigantic!

Everyone but me climbed to the top of it, & notice how small the people are in relation to the barrel.

Dave saw this poster in town, & we're all kind of wondering about its meaning.  Note the organization's name.  Tonight's the first presidential debate back home, & I hate to miss it.

This is a nice picture of Dana, Chris, Jessie & Karl.  If you see it on our Christmas letter, pretend you haven't seen it before!

Thanks to everyone for reading this blog.  Please feel free to comment via Facebook or my email.  I love hearing from you.


THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  It takes more than bad food & service to dampen our spirits!

Old Town Frankfurt

10/2/12
Dana, Jessie, Dave & I went to Frankfurt today & did all kinds of touristy things.  In the oldest part of the city, there's a section that is very charming.  Here's what it looks like:

I was struck with the contrast of the old & new sections, so close together.

The Dom is beautiful inside & out.

In a small farmers' market area, we saw all these meats cooking in this most unusual way.  That's a big  wood fire under the huge pan which slowly rotates.

Jessie loves to shop in Frankfurt, so when we left old town, she became our guide.  First, she took us to a bridge over the river Mein, which I might be misspelling.  It's late, everyone's in bed, & I left my notes downstairs, so forgive my lack of specifics tonight.  Anyway, back to the bridge----it's one of those "locks of love" where lovers sign & date locks, attach them to the bridge & throw the key into the water.  Those of you who read my Paris notes might remember that Dave & I put a lock on the Artists' Bridge there & sealed it with a kiss!  The locks are creatively hung all over the bridge.

I wish the shadows weren't on Dana & Jessie's faces, but here they are on the bridge:

Next, Jessie took us to a very modern shopping mall, 7-8 stories tall right in the middle of downtown.  It's loaded with shops & eateries & even has an observation deck.  We took the longest escalator I've ever ridden up to the top passing along the way a humongous glass vortex.  These pictures don't do it justice.  It was amazing.

Jessie introduced Dana & Dave to bubble tea.  I had some before with Eric, Zach & Skyler.  It was a tasty treat after so much walking & walking....Can you make out the strawberry flavored bubbles in the bottom of mine?

By far, this is the best picture of the day---Jessie on the bridge.

We took trains & buses today, & this is a nice shot of Dana & Jessie walking arm & arm.

Karl is loving this week off from school, so he stayed home & took it easy with Diego.  Chris went to work, & we all sat down to dinner just as Chris walked in the door.  Right after dinner, he & Dave took Karl to swimming.  While they did that, Dana, Jessie & I watched the last Harry Potter movie.  Those two have read the books many times & have seen the movies a lot too, and they love them.  It was so much fun watching with them, cozy in the basement "lair" all snuggled up on the big sectional couch.

Tomorrow, the 6 of us plan to go to Heidelberg to see the castle & other attractions.  We've heard mixed reviews as I've said in another post, but we want to give it a try.  We'll go & come on the same day since it's an hour's drive from here.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  Family is fun

A Day at the Consulate & Army Post

10/1/12
Two steps forward, one back---that's what today felt like.  We would go to one place for Chris & Dana to fill out forms only to be told they needed to be at a different place.  We'd go there & be sent somewhere else or perhaps they didn't have exactly the forms required.  This sent us scurrying for a few hours between the Consulate, the Air Force Post, the Army Post, from one bank to another, & on & on & on.... Chris & Dana have an amazing amount of paperwork & errands to run to get things in order for living here.  Yes, when we civilians move, there's a ton of stuff to do, but nothing like this.  After all is said, at the end of a frustrating day, they both have kept their senses of humor.  On top this, the internet at their house is very unreliable, & the cable company keeps trying to diagnose the problem without any success so far.  So if you don't see a blog from me nearly everyday, blame it on the internet connection!

Chris gave us a tour of the US Consulate in Frankfurt today, & he said he believes it's the largest consulate in the world.  It's impressive.  Built in the 1930's to be a hospital for the Luftwaffe, it is a sprawling place with wide halls & over sized doors to each office that used to be hospital rooms.  We saw the Consul  General in the hall!  He runs the whole place & reports to the US Ambassador in Berlin.  Chris has a nice big office with a little terrace.  Our camera was not allowed at the Consulate, so I have no pictures from there.  I guess the reasons are obvious, but I took it along just in case I could get a pic of Chris' office. They kept it while we were inside & returned it to us upon our exit.

We went to the Army PX to look for pillows (none there), & after a quick look, I'd characterize it as a K Mart or Target.  The PX is another little slice of America with all kinds of fast foods: Subway, Burger King, etc.  We opted for a Taco Bell lunch.

Dave & I went to the bakery happy hour, & the Frau who waited on us was very patient with our lack of language.  At least, Dave can count, so we got the right number of rolls & loaves.  What they are is a different matter.   Dana loves quark which is something like yogurt, so tonight's bread purchase was quark bread.  It's brown & will be tasted at breakfast.  Tonight, Dana, Karl & Dave are making pizzas. As you can see, Karl loads up on the pepperoni!



THOUGHT OF THE DAY: A smile or a chuckle makes everything better.