9/21/12
Broken modem at the house for a couple of days, & today it just started working again.  So here I am with more to share than I have time this morning.  Chris, Dana, Dave & I are going for a day trip to the Rhine for castle touring. 

I must talk about pastries!  There's a bakery in nearly every block & in every office building, & the food just makes you mouth water just looking at it.  Dave & I walked to one yesterday, & the food picture reflects what we bought.  Delicious. 

There's also a picture of Karl at the swim club where he's decided to try out for a team where there are some really hotshot swimmers.  He takes public transportation to get there at night. 

That brings me to the idea of how this move is enabling the kids to go out on their own more & become independent in a new way.  They have bus & rail passes which they use everyday to get to & from school. 

You'll see their small but efficient kitchen in another picture, & then Jessie in the living room doing homework. 

Sorry to be brief---off to the castles!

9/19/12
Jet lag---so far, so good.  We managed to stay awake until 9 PM last night followed by a good 8 hour sleep.  We woke up feeling good, & are still going strong this afternoon.  I hope that means we're past the threat of getting jet lagged.  We felt pretty tired & sleepy most of yesterday afternoon & evening, but we even managed to take a cool bracing walk after dinner.

We've been running errands all morning with Dana.  Chris, Dana, Jessie & Karl had only been moved into their house 2 days when we arrived, so we've been helping with all the little things that come with a move.  Today, we actually found the right vacuum cleaner bags at Toon, the German equilivent of Home Depot, minus the day laborers hanging out waiting for jobs. 

Their house is really cute with a lot of dark wood inside, so light bulbs need to be as bright as possible.  Jessie & Karl need desks for their rooms, so we went to Ikea which is very closeby.  Now, Dave's putting the desk pieces together, & Dana's trying to figure out how to put the bag in the vacuum.  They have 220 electricity here, so most appliances are new except the vacuum which the previous tenants left behind.  I'm mostly putting in new light bulbs & writing this, aka, staying out of the way! 

Driving is on the right side of the road is a good thing here, but the signs & painted indicators on the actual pavement are confusing.  The freeways are plenty fast with lots of lanes, but the streets within towns are narrow.  Factor in many bicycle riders, & it's time to be a most vigilent driver!  There's no right turn on red allowed. 

The pictures are of their house.  Notice the cute fireplace & nice patio. 

9/18/12

We arrived Frankfurt this morning, & Chris was there to pick us up.  I'm writing this about 4 PM, & we're still awake!  We going to bed at a decent hour tonight will get our body clocks headed the right direction.  Dana had a hardy German breakfast (several kinds of pastries, cheese, a delicious round loaf of bread fresh out of the bakery's oven, juice & strong coffee).  We even got to see Jessie & Karl & walk with them to their bus stop.  They take a bus, a street car & then a train, to school.  All public transportation, & they seem to be enjoying the freedom of getting around on their own. 

Chris left for work, & Dana gave us a wonderful walking tour of Oberursel, the next town over from where they live.  Their town is Bad Hamborg.  Bad means bath in German, & there used to be lots of spas here in its heyday.  We had lunch in a beer garden, & it was delicious.  Dave had sausages & sauerkraut, of course.  I had the most delicious refreshing drink---apple juice (not cider) mixed with sparkling water.  We sat outside, under a big walnut tree with lots of the nuts on the ground around us.  We went up & down lots of quaint streets with half-timbered houses, saw several churches & even went in some, & stopped in a tea shop around 3 PM for a sugar & caffine fix.  Boy, the Germans make great pastries! 

I'll write about their house & garden later.  Suffice it to say, it's charming, roomy & comfortable.  I'll include pictures when I write about it.  Today's pictures are from Oberursel &, of course, Dave in the beer garden! 

So from a sleepy me, I'll say until next time............

At OHare Airport in Chicago.  We arrived early & are waiting for our flight to Frankfurt.  I plan to take a Tylenol PM after we board with the hope of sleeping a few hours.  I wonder if it will work...If it does, maybe I can stay awake until bedtime on our arrival day.  

Red Carpet Clubs are great!  Free drinks & snacks, comfy chairs, free wifi, nice bathrooms, & friendly fellow travelers.  

OK, all packed.  I love the packing envelopes from the Abels.  I got 12 tops in one & 6 pairs of pants in another one.  The latter is the one you see on top of the open suitcase just before I zip it.  

We talked with Velma, Dave's mom, this afternoon, & she sounds tired from being up all night at the hospital but better.  She assured us we should take off on the trip, so we are.  I just hope she can feel better very soon.  

I guess my next post will be from Germany.  Auf Wiedersehen!.

9/16/12

We plan to leave well before dawn tomorrow morning, at 3:30 AM to be exact!  Barbara Abel, an angel, will drive us all the way to SFO.  Yes, Dave drove them to the airport no so long ago, but it was at a much more decent hour.  Thank you, dear friend.

We had a scare last night.  Dave's mother had a medical emergency & spent most of last night getting checked out at the hospital.  Turns out, she has a UTI, which was a surprise since she hadn't complained of symptoms.  Her speech was all wrong, so we suspected a stroke.  She might have had a small one, a TIA, but that's not easily diagnosed.  We were thinking of cancelling/rescheduling our trip until Dave's sister assured us Velma was improving already with iv antibiotics & resting comfortably at home in her own bed after a night of tests & no sleep.  There's another angel, Dave's sister, Karen, who oversees Velma's needs & care in Phoenix.

So, the packing's still on for today after church.  I am excited to try the packing "envelopes" the Abel's loaned us.  They got them at the Container Store & said they work really well at keeping wrinkles to a minimum & things organized within the suitcases.

9/14/12

Getting ready to pack by putting things not to forget on guest bed.  Kindles, Tamiflu, prescription meds for 7 weeks, cool clothes, cold clothes, cameras, cords for laptop, cameras, cell phone chargers, decent pj's for sharing bathroom at Chris & Dana's, workout clothes, Rick Steves' Germany 2012 book, etc.... Will all this plus what's hanging in the closet behind the suitcases fit?  We're using miles to upgrade to business class, so we do get 2 free checked bags.  Good thing!  What am I forgetting?  If I'm lucky, it will only be one or two inconsequential items.