Germany

This page will serve to journal the experiences of my husband and I in Germany.

5/31/2012
Unless you know Hans, you probably don't know what this is.

I live on the ground floor of our house. This means that whenever someone comes to the house and rings the bell, they always ring my bell knowing that I'll answer. The other two tenants must go up or down stairs to answer the bell. And unless they are expecting someone, good luck getting them to the front door. Usually the rings that I get are from people selling things; apples from the Red Sea, faster internet - you know, the usual crap. ( I can't wait for the day someone comes to the door with a vacuum.)
This morning the doorbell rang. I had just wet my hair and had it wrapped in a towel, but I was decent so I answered. Immediately upon opening the door I am greeted by a man with a box, who doesn't speak English and needs a signature. Mind you, the box is a recycled Pampers box with lots of tape around it. I was skeptical, but I saw my landlord's name and address so I figured there could be little harm. I signed and as the man handed me the box I noticed there were air holes carved on each side. When I asked the man what was in it (because fearing the worst, I thought it might be a snake) he told me they were pigeons. I had to laugh. Why am I signing for a package of pigeons early in the morning with no shoes on and my hair wrapped in a big yellow towel in the middle of Germany? Because it is the neighborly thing to do.
I think most of you know this, but my landlord raises Carrier Pigeons. He is a champion racer, second generation; so I wasn't too surprised to learn the contents of the package. What is slightly perplexing however, is why? I know he breeds the birds. I have blogged about the babies and the eggs. I'm wondering if, in the last race, these couple of pigeons got off-course and once found, they had to be mailed back to him. I wonder if I know enough German to find out. 


5/29/2012

I woke up to a mellow thunder shower this morning. Out the window the sky was dark lavender. It made my yard appear electric green. You could almost see the energy in the air. I actually think that is what woke me up. Even though it was too early I decided to stay awake. It was good. I got a bunch of chores done that I have been neglecting. I even had time to finish a couple of scarves before my friend called me to go to lunch. Despite the early morning precipitation it turned out to be a gorgeous day. I think the weather here can be as unpredictable as it can be in Colorado. 

We went for a walk in the city park before lunch. It is called the Orangerie. It was much bigger than I thought. Most of it is lawns, trees, and wildflowers. In strolling on the paths I found an abundance of slugs and snails. One snail had an interesting shell. It looked like something straight out of the ocean. 

There is another part of the garden, on the northern side near the city's Residenze (old house of royalty) that is manicured to perfection. There were so many interesting and exotic plants there, I wished I knew more about them. Close to the home there were three rows of potted trees. Lemons, limes, oranges, and a few citrus plants I had never even seen were all represented. One fruit in particular looked like an orange, but was smaller than a kumquat. We tasted it. The flavor was unbelievably sour, considering how cute it looked. 

There were also olive trees, fig trees, cherry trees, and apple. It was enchanting. Further down in the gardens I found a new favorite flower. The magenta and purple colors were inspiring. I have featured it above. I want an outfit that makes me look like that.

The Orangerie gardens even have an agave cactus. As my friend and I were admiring it and trying to guess how old it is a man approached us. He started to say something in German. I thought he was asking us for directions. (as if we don't look like tourists) When he realized we didn't speak German he spoke to us in English. He invited us to the opening of a painting exhibit this weekend. Awesome. He handed us an invitation in an envelope and everything. Of course I'm going. I'm pretty delighted actually. Two art exhibits in two weekends…I'm on a roll. 

After our stroll we ate at a Greek restaurant, Korfu. I didn't find the wait staff to be as warm and welcoming as in the other Greek restaurant in town, but they sure made up for it with their delicious bean soup. I had a plate of mixed appetizers for my entree. On it was something called red caviar. I thought it would have been better than it was, or at least have had a more outstanding flavor. I mean, come on, it's caviar. Right? It was creamy and thick. It didn't taste anything like tahini, but that is the closest texture comparison I could make. I'm glad I gave this red caviar a whirl, but it's not going to make my "favorite flavors" list. 

I am happy to report, on a side note, that I got through the entire lunch speaking only German. (Not to my friend of course, we spoke English)

Here is me going on a bit of a tangent:

Seeing all the tiny slimy creatures on the ground reminded me of a brief conversation I had with Ludwig a day ago. We were speaking of words that are similar in German and English; like house and Haus. Ludwig's next example is the word schnecke, which we apparently have many of in the garden. I almost freaked out. I hate snakes. I was happy to leave them all in Alabama. I didn't think a snake problem was going to follow me to Germany and end up in my backyard. I expressed this to him and he said, "not snake, schnecke, with the house on their back." 

"Oh snail!" I realized my misinterpretation of what he said and was quite relieved. He then proceeded to tell me a story about how his father worked (for a brief time) in the sugar cane fields in Luisiana. One day his dad found a huge rattle snake crawling up the cane stalk. Ludwig's dad chopped the head of the snake off with a machete. ( I can see where Ludwig gets it from) When he brought the snake to his boss the man was delighted. (Dem's good eaten' ...Of course) Ludwig described with a discussed look on his face how the boss skinned the snake and grilled it up, right there, and all the Americans ate it. Inside myself I found the humor in Ludwigs disgust at eating a snake, considering I wouldn't eat half the things that Ludwig would….blood sausage anyone?…or maybe some stuffed cow stomach?…I mean, Hello!

5/28/2012
I was out and about this weekend. No doubt.

Friday night some new friends showed me around Nuremberg. We ate at an awesome restaurant called Mount Lavinia. It is the first Ceylon restaurant of Nuremberg; not that I even know what Ceylon is. The menu was Ceylon, Ayurveda, Thai, and Indo cuisine. I'm in love. I had the lentils of my life; red lentils in a coconut sauce. And the Lion Beer will knock your socks off. I also found out what schnittlauch is. It's chives. (I'm not sure why my neighbors think it is in the garlic category.) After dinner we checked out the Beach Festival in the Old City. I've never seen anything like it. For about two months in the summer they dump a ton of sand right in the middle of the city. They build it up with tiki bars, huts, cabanas, palm trees, bamboo...the works. They even have a man made wading pool with tables in the middle of it. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was at Martel's Tiki Bar in NJ!
I spent Saturday resting up for my big day, Sunday, and the African Music Festival in Wurzburg. It was awesome. Music Festivals in Europe are extremely similar to those in the US. (in case you thought they were wildly different, they aren't) There is a huge mix of people from young to old, but mostly hippies. There are more people running around with no shoes and dreadlocks than should be allowed by law. (But they are super nice so I cut them a break)
The festival grounds were mostly dirt from so many people everywhere. (standard) I was glad I wore my old sneakers. I haven't had so much dirt up my nose since summer camp. I forgot what that felt like.  
A large part of the festival was an African Shopping Market. I could have shopped all day. I wanted a dress, a hammock, a print from the photo exhibit, a t-shirt for Phil, a zebra skin rug, some lanterns, some spices, and a hat. I settled for a Necklace. It was made by a fashion designer that was a featured seller. Her name is Rama Diaw N'Deye. All of her materials are directly from Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania. She is accredited with founding an association of craftswomen, and you know I think that is just awesome. I bought one of her pieces just because I wanted to meet her so badly. She was obviously too busy to chat. Here is a link to some of her stuff.

Another highlight for me, aside from the music which I will get to in a minute, was the food. There was an awesome array of international food, especially African. I had a simple cous cous, vegetable, and bean dish, but it was wonderful. I could have just gotten full from all the amazing smells coming from all the tents mixing together, but I am glad I decided on eating something. I actually wish I could have brought food home with me. I also had the most amazing mint ice tea. I can't stop thinking about it.
 Now I get to the part of the Festival that I found most German...the language everyone was speaking. I am joking of course. Yes, everyone was speaking German. Despite the fact that the fair grounds was transformed to make you think you were somewhere exotic, we were still in Germany. 
What was incredibly German about the event was the waste management. Unbelievable. There was not much trash, anywhere. Every time I bought a drink I had to pay an extra 2 Euros for it. When I was finished with the drink I had to bring the bottle (or glass) back to be disposed of. This is when I was refunded the extra money. Also, all of the food tents were setup with dishwashers. I ate out of a real bowl with silverware. I had to bring it back to the tent I got it from when I was done eating. Isn't that amazing? Can you imagine all the extra work that is for the food people? I bet it's worth it though, for the amount of trash that is nonexistent after the festival. 
Oh, before I get to the music, there was a beautiful Photography exhibit. This man traveled through some of the remotest areas in Africa doing portraits of the people. They were the most striking portraits I have ever seen. The people were so graceful and serious in his capturings. There was something that he did with their eyes in the picture (or they do with their own eyes) that was mesmerizing. You can see some of the photographs on the link above.
OK, so the music was the mission. Mission accomplished. The first band I saw was Mamadou Diabate. It was a really fun percussion band. Next up on stage was Fantcha. She has wild hair. I loved it. Her voice was beautiful too. Her sound was a soothing mix of Africa, Cuba, and Portugal. It went perfectly with my mint tea in the middle of the day. Next was this guy named Bebey Prince Bissongo. He, like Mamadou Diabate, was from Burkina Faso. He was funk and Jazz and African mixed. His sound was really fun and creative. One of his band members actually did a beat box duet with a percussion guy. I've never seen that before. 
These afternoon performances got me warmed up for the main event, Sona Jobarteh and Afrocubism. Sona is from Gambia and she is the first woman to play the Kora. She explained that the only people to play the Kora before her are men, but also you must be born into the family. Not just anyone can decide to play the Kora. (So she is in the family and that's why she has had the opportunity to learn.) I thought that was amazing. This woman really blew me away because not only could she sing beautifully and play this traditional instrument, but she ripped on the guitar too. And I am going to put the icing on this cake, right now, and add that she played the concert last night pregnant! (seeing a pregnant bandleader was another a first for me yesterday) Towards the end of her show, she had a song that she wrote for the women of West Africa. She felt like they deserve a song for their courage, strength in keeping families together, and their ability to keep traditions and stories alive. In order to add her personal story to the song she had her young son (about 6) come on stage. He sat in a chair and played a drum for, not only that song, but the rest of the concert too. It was gorgeous.
It was easy to get a good position in front of the stages all day. At night it got a bit trickier. The show was in a huge circus tent. It had a semi circle of seats and clear standing room in front of the stage. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it standing the entire time, so I was sitting for Sona. It had been a long day and it was going to be a long night. When her show was over though and they were setting up for Afrocubism,  something in my heart (and my feet) told me I should go down to the floor. I am so glad I did. Afrocubism was amazing! I got to stand two people back from the stage, so I saw and heard it all. They had 12-15 musicians on stage at all times. What a party! Half of the guys were from Cuba and the other half were stars from West Africa. It was such a great mix of instruments and voices. This band has an amazing story too. They are a project that has been in the works for 15 years. Toumani Diabate explained some of the history of the band. (he is actually Sona Jobarteh's cousin and he plays the Kora also.) In short, West African musicians and Cuban musicians have always had a strong relationship. The West African guys would go to school in Cuba to learn how to write and read music. They have always known how to play it, but never knew how to write it. From these lessons the musicians became close and now some of them are in this band together. I think it's a great story. I rounded out the night by dancing for the next two hours. I'm telling you; you can not hear this music live and stand still.  I highly encourage you to check out Afrocubism and The Buena Vista Social Club, if you don't already know who they are.


5/25/2012

I took some pictures of my backyard today. It's like I have a park…in my yard. All of the trees and bushes are so lush, and there are many different types of flowers. Of course, most of the flowers are here thanks to Ludwig's hunting excursions. He brings plants back home and replants them. Yesterday Katarina had me upstairs and was showing me the birds out her kitchen window. I think they are called Star Birds, or something similar. They migrate every season from Africa. Right now they are nesting eggs and babies. She told me we have 12 bird houses in our yard. I sat in the sun today for a bit and just listened to all the different bird sounds. If you focus your attention to it, it becomes so dominating. I have been told many of the German names for the plants and animals in our yard, but I can't remember most of them. It's funny, every time Ludwig wants to teach me something he goes into his library, grabs a book, and comes back to show me the page with the name and picture. I can't help but think if he was 40 years younger he would just look it up on his iPhone. I wonder if he even understands that that is a possibility. They don't have a computer.

It's also amusing to me how people tend their yards here. For example, the people across the street just mowed their lawn. They had a couple of daisy patches here and there. When they mowed they chose to mow around every flower, no matter how insignificant. So their grass is cut, but there are all these random flowers sticking out everywhere. I think it looks cool. If it were me I would have been so focused on getting the job done I would have gone straight over those flowers. I also think I would have preferred a yard of uniform grass at the expense of a few minor flowers. I'll think differently the next time I mow a lawn. A new perspective always helps.

In other news, the Bake-Off happened again. I baked Carrot Cake Muffins for my landlord since he did all that work for me hanging pictures. Then, his wife came right back at me with Rhubarb Cake. I am no match for these Fabulous German Bakers. And of course tonight was going to be the one night I was going to skip dessert….there's always tomorrow :)

5/22/2012

I think my 75 year old neighbors are my new best friends. They take such good care of me, it is unbelievable. We just had lunch today. It's only been two weeks, but it is becoming a weekly event. Yes, they made me drink beer in the middle of the day again. It was Bockbier this time. They said it is good for napping in the sun :) Katarina is a good cook, although she claims to not like it. Today she made rollantini, but German rollantini. It was thin beef rolled up with pickles and bacon…sehr gut! She is the best German cook I know. She served the roulade with a gravy sauce she made with wild mushrooms. I know what you are thinking. And yes, these are wild mushrooms that Ludwig picked while hunting, and Katarina dried in the sun. Unbelievable, right? Ludwig is so manly. I can just picture him in the woods hunting in lederhosen. (although he doesn't actually wear lederhosen) He's got a rifle in one hand, flowers in the other, binoculars around his neck, and a pocket full of mushrooms. 

I wish you could see all the dried wild mushrooms in their house. Ludwig has pictures of himself, in years past with bushel upon bushel of these mushrooms. He used to pick them and sell them to the nearby hotels. Now he just picks them for himself. I asked him if he would take me to pick mushrooms this August and he said no. Apparently he thinks it is too dangerous and dirty a hike for a lady. But he promises to bring me some. I probably get bored waiting for him to finish hunting anyway.

This lunch was another lesson in the German language and German nature. I learned some new Deutsch words, as well as some new Flora and Fauna. I am now able to decipher between the three different types of deer and the three different types of garlic. 

I don't know if I have previously mentioned this before, but Ludwig has a trophy room. All of the walls display the antler from the deer he has hunted, except one. It is antlers that still have the fuzz on them. I asked about those, because I know you can't hunt deer so young that they still have this fuzz. He said the deer was killed by an automobile accident and the Jaegermeister (?) gave them to him because he makes nice mounts. (He carves them out of wood by hand.)

With Katarina and Ludwig I have also learned the difference between the three types of garlic in Germany. One, knoblauch, is what we know in the US. Another, bearlauch, is a long big leaf. It tastes exactly like garlic but milder. There is a third, schnittlauch, but I don't know anything about that one. Bearlauch is awesome. I wish we had it in America. You can cook with it, put it in a salad, or in a sandwich. Katarina served her fish last week with a pesto-like sauce made from it. This inspired me to puree some up with garbonzos and make a bearlauch hummus. It was, obviously, delicious. I apologize, here I am, rattling on about food again. (It does make the world go 'round. Does it not?)

I taught them a new English word today too, thimble. Apparently, in the woods there is a plant called fingerhut which literally translates to "finger hat." This is what Germans call a thimble. I also confirmed the name of the bird I mentioned yesterday. It is a Birkhuhn. It looks a heck of a lot like a turkey, only fancier. They used to be prominent in Bavaria, but all of the farmers and farming have forced them into the mountains. You can still hunt them, but only close to the border in Austria.

Another huge topic of conversation around the house is me trying to sell Ludwig's furs online. I get so many questions from potential buyers. I can not express how difficult it is to effectively answer these questions when I don't know anything about hunting, furs, and German. It's pretty entertaining actually. I will be happy, one day, when (and if) any of the fur sells, and the buyer is happy.

5/20/2012

I received a grand tour of my surrounding lands today, thanks again to my neighbors. To start, we had lunch in a super gasthaus, in Muhr am See. On the way we saw a stork and Ludwig pointed out a huge bird's nest on the steeple of a church. It had a stork baby in it. It was amazing to see this nest balanced on the side of this steeple, with a baby in it!

At the restaurant, Zur Jaegerluck. I had the seasonal vegetable, white asparagus with those delicious golden German potatoes and a hollandaise. We ate out on the veranda. It was lovely…and crowded. There was a large group of people there, all in one of those traditional bands. They were dressed in costume, singing, playing instruments, and joking together. Part of their costume reminded me of a hat my mother in law owns. The hats had these curly black feathers on them. They were cool. Ludwig said they must be plucked from a bird that lives in the mountains. (I think he called it a Berkhan, but I'm not sure. And I couldn't find it online) 

The band had one member blindfolded and he was trying to guess whose beers he was drinking. It was pretty funny.

After lunch Ludwig and Katarina showed me around the lakes, of which there are quite few. They are great places, similar to state parks in the US. They have beaches with swimming, fishing and boating. They have picnic tables and grills, and of course they have restaurants that serve beer. Also, around these lakes is a wonderful amount of trails for hiking and biking. You can even rent the bikes (or rickshaws for families) there. The three of us went for a big walk around the Muhr Am See. It has a bird island in the middle, so Ludwig let me take his binoculars on our walk. Of course we saw geese and ducks, but we also heard a cuckoo. Ludwig says every time you hear a cuckoo you are supposed to take your wallet out and shake it. It will help your money to multiply. Since I had no money I took out my empty pocket and shook it. Ludwig also thinks it's a good idea to wear traditional garments whenever possible, so he put a goose feather in his hat. (I'm just being silly, but seriously, he did)

He and Katarina also pointed out many trees and flowers along the way. We picked a lot of flowers and greens that were edible. In one instance, however, Ludwig was a bit mistaken as to what a particular green was. We all put the leaves in our mouths and began to chew. It tasted awful. The three of us spit the leaves out at the same time. It was really funny. I hope someone was watching us and got a kick out of it. Ludwig said we were all going to die. I said, "Shoot and I didn't write my death note." And they laughed! (a small victory) 

After a loop around this lake we got back in the car and drove to see the other lakes. And then we took a different loop home. When we drive, Ludwig points out everything, multiple times. I find it so helpful, especially since it is in German. It's enabling me to recognize, not only places, but so many words also. I saw new towns with great cafes and restaurants, breweries, potato fields, strawberry fields, fields of hops. I also saw some of the spots where Ludwig fishes, for fish and eel. Yikes!

If you don't mind I am going to list some of the places now so I don't forget. And if you are in my area you should think about checking them out too. They come highly reccommended :)

Gasthaus GrunenBaum

Gasthaus Blummenthal

The second cafe on the road in Ottmannsberg, overlooking the GrosserBrombachsee.

Strandhotel at Kleiner Brombachsee

The town of Spalt has a couple of nice eateries, and a brewery.

Oh, and he also showed me this sweet outdoor pool-lake-thing in Windsbach. It was made by Hitler. (for his Army to PT in I think) I'd swim there. It way cheaper than the Aquella :)

I am really lucky. All of this stuff is located about 30 minutes from my house. It's gonna be a great Summer.

5/17/2012
I already know what you're going to be thinking...only three days went by and I was back at it again. But in my defense, Spring is the season of the Festival in Germany, and there seems to be one holiday after another. How can one not participate and expect to fully immerse themselves in the culture? Today is Ascension Day, and I think unofficially Father's Day, but a day to drink beer nonetheless. My friend invited me to the picnic in her town. It was great. The lunch was hosted by the Bayern-Munchen Fan Club. (soccer) And since I am not yet partial to any one soccer team I bought lunch and a beer to support the cause. There's a brewery in the town, Landwehr Braeu. So I had the local keller beer, and even met the poster girl. One of the highlights of the afternoon was learning a new saying..."Du hast einen Aufgewaermten." The non literal translation would be drinking the hair of the dog that bit you. Only the Germans prefer to say that you are reheating your drunkenness leftovers. I think I like the German version better. There was (finally) a traditional band at this event, so I also got a taste of something other than German cover bands. There were also some cute activities like a horse drawn carriage doing loops around town, mostly for the kiddies. (I did not get a ride, although it was offered :) 
I would have loved to have taken a photo or two to share this experience visually, but it may have been pretty awkward. I would definitely have been the only one with a camera. It was definitely not a tourist event. I preferred blending in as much as I could when everyone knows everyone but me....and I'm the only one not speaking German...and I'm wearing a neck tie...come to think of it I should have just brought my camera :) Next time.


5/15/2012

I had my first 1 liter beer yesterday. It's because I went to my first Fruhlingsfest, here in Ansbach. My neighbors took me. And thank goodness because who wants to drink an XXL beer by themselves?
The festival was exactly like a carnival back home, or like the boardwalk at the beach, but with a German twist. There is no funnel cake, but there are crepes and chocolate covered fruit. There aren't any cheesesteaks, but there is plenty of bratwurst and grilled herring! Of course there are also oversized pretzels and more cheese than you can shake a stick at.
We walked to the festival so we could take a taxi home. Once we got there we did one loop around the event before we settled in to our table. Ludwig is good at giving tours. He pointed everything out to me and explained what it was in German. I don't know if he realised it, but it was great for me that he did that. I already knew what everything was, so I learned a few German words because I understood what he was talking about. (pretty clever) 
It was still sunny out, so Ludwig decided we should sit outside first. I ordered my XXL from a man in lederhosen. Awesome. The beer was quite refreshing after the long walk we had. One of Ludwig's fishing buddies joined us for a bit. But he doesn't drink beer, only cappucino. He just bought a computer, and is learning how to use it so he can make more money at work for the newspaper. He likes computers more than he thought he would. (I picked all this up on my own from what little German I actually understand.) 
You can't drink a huge beer like that without eating something too. So we all got brats on a small roll. I ordered my bratwurst like Katarina, dark with mustard. Too bad for me, on my second to last bite I lost a bunch of mustard out of my roll and onto my jeans. What a rookie!
By this time the band was starting so we went in the tent. To our dismay it wasn't traditional music. It was an American music cover band. I tell you what, it is hard enough trying to speak with my neighbors with our language barrier. It was impossible to have a conversation with a language barrier and loud music. We had another beer anyway. And of course you have to eat something, so Ludwig got us a huge pretzel and Swiss cheese to share. It was delicious. When the pretzel was all gone, he tried to convince me that we needed a fish. Unfortunately, I had no room left. I told him I'll have to save that adventure for the next festival. I think I'm gonna need to mentally prepare for eating a wholefish (head, bones, and all) off the grill. At least I'll have lots of beer to drown it in if it doesn't go down easily.
 We ended he night at a reasonable hour and scored a taxi home. For the record, it takes Ludwig and Katarina just as long to get a cab as it would take Phil and I. (I felt good about this.) It was a really interesting night. It is amazing to me, the things we find to speak about. Our conversations last night consisted of food, fishing, shellfish, beer, cheese, art, and of course, the Army.
My neighbors enjoy my company so much that I got invited to lunch today. They want to make sure I don't get too thin. It's also a priority of theirs that I try every single food offered in Germany that isn't offered in America. And yes, this does mean that I had half a beer with lunch.

5/11/2012

I'm really starting to feel Spring in the air. The weather this week has been gorgeous; thanks to all the rain that we got out of our system last weekend. It won't last long however. The newscasters are calling for near freezing temperatures by Sunday night, but such is modern life. Gone are the days when the seasons could make up their mind.

5/7/2012
We were forced back to real life this week. I got my first speeding ticket in the mail. This is a bummer, but not uncommon. It's almost a German driver's right of passage. Although, my ticket isn't German. It's from one of our ski trips in Austria. The roads here have cameras set up. They snap your picture as you speed by. Then, two months later the ticket shows up in the mail. I am lucky. My ticket is pretty small in comparison to some others I've heard about. But I don't really drive too fast. (I was going 70 km/hr in a 60 km/hr)
Also, our car broke. The timing was annoying. Luckily, I knew where to take it. A while back I got the car's oil changed at a dealership off post. Because of this I had a preexisting relationship with the shop. It was easy to call them, tell them what was wrong, and get them fixing it. As you may remember from my previous post, the oil change cost an arm and a leg. Being faced with a larger issue we thought we were looking at another seriously pricey job. The problem our car was having is the same problem we had with it a year ago. In the states we paid $525.00 to fix it. Now we assumed it would be doubled. To our surprise, it wasn't. We only paid, in Euros, 225.00. I'm giving this specific information to encourage anyone that lives around here to explore alternative options to bringing their car on post.
Of course, getting the vehicle fixed wasn't all simple. When I initially brought the car to the dealership they didn't want me to drive it after they inspected it. They were concerned I could lose the tire and have a larger problem to deal with. I agreed, but was wondering how to get home. They asked if I had a ride. My brain worked through the issue quickly. I lied and said I lived really close, I didn't want them to feel troubled or have to give me a ride. Phil was at work, so I didn't want to bother him either. (I live 4 miles from the dealership.) I resolved to walk, and it was one of the most pleasant things I did last week. It took me over an hour, but it was a beautiful day. And here, there are nice paths to walk everywhere. It's not like I was walking down the shoulder of a major highway like a bum. I realized on my walk why we don't walk as often anymore. Simply put, it takes too darn long. And if you are trying to get a million things accomplished in one day, you don't have time to walk. That day, I sacrificed my time to prove to myself that I could "waste" that hour and not be any worse off than I was prior. Mission accomplished.
As you may have seen, Phil got a raise last week too. His promotion was fun. He is officially a W2. To celebrate we rode bikes to the next town over for dinner. It's funny you can ride to and from dinner and it is still light out when you get home. We used as much German as we could during dinner. It scored us complimentary after dinner drinks from the waitress. Even cooler, the next day we saw the waitress in the German supermarket. She recognized us and said hello. Phil and I felt triumphant.


5/1/2012

I've been enjoying it while I can though. Yesterday I took a huge bike ride through the country. The air was thick with a refreshing sweetness coming from the budding bushes. Even in my own backyard, I have a natural wonderland. I don't know how the landlord keeps up with it. 

Today I took another trip to Rothenburg. That town is bursting at the seams with Spring Flora. I walked around the town on its outer trails and stopped to dip my feet in a Wassertertranlage. (If I spelled that correctly, it's a little public pool to dip your feet in.) It was delightfully refreshing…and peaceful. It's practically hidden amongst a few overgrown bushes. I had dinner in Rothenburg, followed by ice cream, and of course a schnee ball for breakfast tomorrow. On the way home I stopped at a tiny flower stand. It's my neighbors' 50th Wedding Anniversary tomorrow. I thought I'd give them some flowers. While I was paying I got totally confused as to how much I owed (because I can't think fast enough in German) and I wanted too much change back. The man and his son were patient with me, and ended up giving me a single rose. That bonus flower really brightened my evening and I was quite glad I stopped.

Oh, I almost forgot. In walking back through the city I went through some of the other parts of the walls. The places I saw today were much wider, with doors and a high roof. Around one turn there were even a couple of cannons lined up out the windows. It was really neat. And while I was having dinner a wedding party drove down the street. The bride and groom were in a horse drawn carriage followed by an entourage of honking cars. It was so sweet. The couple was delighted to draw such attention to themselves in the streets. They looked terribly happy. They were waving at each and everyone of us spectators, happy to share in their joy. It was a good day.

We went to France! No, not Paris…France. Eventually we will get to Paris. And when that time comes; I am excited to see what this other side of France has to offer. For now I’ll paint a picture of the France that I saw.

4/17/2012

Sorry if this grosses anyone out, but I thought it was too cool.

4/15/2012

They say if you dream in a different language that you have finally learned that language. Does that mean that if I have a dream about living in Germany that I‘m an official resident? I bring this up because last night I had a dream I was driving downtown and I got pulled over while exiting a parking lot. In my dream I thought I was getting pulled over because I forgot to close the passenger door. But the Polizei wrote me a ticket for speeding at 120 km/h. I immediately started crying because I was defenseless. How can you drive 120km/h out of a parking lot? That’s ridiculous. I was obviously getting scammed. The bummer about the dream is that, while crying, I pleaded my case in English, not German. I was really crying hard too. It was pretty pathetic and the German Polizei had no sympathy. I’ve still got a lot of time int his country. These dreams better start improving.

We got our first German house warming gift yesterday. Coffee mugs. We’re drinking out of them right now. We had the neighbors over for dinner last night. It was fun. We spoke a bunch of English that they (probably) only half understood. And, in turn, we had the same experience with their German. Phil made his famous chicken parmesan and poured the beers. Katarina baked again. This time it was a rhubarb peach merengue, I think. It was delicious. Her husband brought the old photos for us to look at. It’s so cool, he’s got a bunch of pictures from the 50’s when he was in the German Army. I researched and practiced some German before they came over. (So in this relationship I bring the entertainment with my horrible Germish)

I also showed them the painting I’m working on. I told them all about how I make the canvas and evrything. They were excited to see the progress from the day I was outside spray painting. This also prompted Lug to give me a bunch of paint brushes. Apparently there is a brush factory and museum not too far from here. (I’m definitely going to go.) They hand make all sorts of brushes, including paint brushes. Some of their brushes have nice, expensive hairs. I’m excited to see it. I’m really stoked on all my new brushes too. As you know painting supplies in Germany, especially Ansbach, are hard to come by and quite expensive. We also had a conversation about artists. I named a abunch of German artists that I enjoy. And for the first time, Lug named great artists form other countries. Normally he is very good at focusing on Germany. His favorite artists are from Holland though.

I find Ludwig’s pride and knowledge about Germany fascinating. The paint brushes for example. It’s cool to know someone “in the know.” And because he is hunting and fishing all the time, he knows so much about German nature also. Sometimes it’s funny though. Like, we told them we are going to France to surf next week. Lug said, “Why France? We have great surfing here in Germany.” And then he named a bunch of rivers or lakes where you can water ski and wind surf. Not knowing German and trying to explain how it isn’t the same, while trying not to be offense can be a bit rough. But any time my neighbors are up for teaching me about Germany, the land, the people, and the language, I’m game. 

4/12/2012
This is a risky attempt on my part to keep you entertained and informed, if only slightly. I am on a computer at the library. I am here after being kicked off a computer at the help center on a different kaserne. I've been using our installation's free internet spots. It isn't easy. I mean, it's great that they are here, but it's slower than mine at home, almost. I'm like, "1998 called, they want their internet service back." Geez!
When you are at these internet stations you can only stay for so long, thus the bouncing from one to another. Obviously, at home the issue isn't resolved. I'm working on it though. I'm interested to see how long it will take and if I can uncover someone in tech-support that actually speaks English. Or, if it takes long enough, I may learn Deutsch in the mean time.
I've been having fun with German food lately. When you go to the supermarket there is a large dairy section. Obviously, I'd expect nothingless from Europe. But the different kinds of butter you can buy are seriously impressive. I wish I knew which one was the best. I have found that a lot of them are unsalted. I don't love it, but I think it will grow on me and ultimately be a good thing. Recently I bought yogurt butter. I'm a fan. It's always spreadable, even out of the fridge. I have balked with it and it is good. And tastewise, we don't really notice a difference. As far as I can tell, it doesn't have any creepy ingredients either.
Speaking of yogurt, we've been eating lots of different kinds. I think the Swiss really have this situation on lockdown. We've also been eating Kefir. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but it's great. And the process it goes through is a bit different than yogurt or "johgurt." It's a fermented milk drink made with kefir grains that originated with some shepherds. They discovered that fresh milk carried in leather pouches would occasionally ferment into a carbonated beverage. The Kefir is prepared by inoculating milk with kefir grains. Traditional kefir was made in bags that were hung near a doorway; the bag would be knocked by anyone passing through the doorway to help keep the milk and kefir grains well mixed. You hippies might know what I'm talking about. I bought it because I thought it was yogurt and now I like it. Funny how that happens.
As I am about to get kicked off this computer. I will end there. Hopefully I'll get back at you again soon.

4/9/2012

I couldn’t leave you hanging. I had to come right back at you with a good day.

I went for a run early this morning. I ran through a neighboring town just as their church bells were ringing. And I could even smell the incense from the church. It was peaceful. I felt like I was getting a rejuvenating workout and a spiritual cleansing. In Germany it is Easter Monday, so I am guessing they have church services today too. I’m glad I got to, indirectly, be a part of it.

Yesterday was cool. I baked awesome muffins and then just painted the rest of the day. In the afternoon Phil and I went for a walk. It was refreshing to get out in the chilly evening air and enjoy the last bit of the day’s sun. When we returned from our walk our neighbors were outside. Our landlord was flying his pigeons. He invited us into his yard to have a look. What he showed us were his new baby pigeons. It was great. He showed us the eggs, a baby chick on it’s way out of an egg, a day old bird, and a two day old bird. In addition to this we got to watch the birds that he is training in action. He wistles and they fly away. He whistles and they fly back. It’s that simple. He showed us the food he gives the pigeons. It’s seeds with uncooked rice in it. Weird, right? I think the rice is to fill the birds up so they don’t eat too much seeds. He said if the birds eat too much, and get too heavy, they won’t fly so much. (I guess that is a universal law of nature.) Hans also had a big bucket of eggs. We asked him what they were for. He explained that they were the birds he didn’t want. So he sacrifices them, literally. There is a predator bird that hangs around the pigeon house. Hans fears for his birds so he walks out into the woods with these bad eggs. This lures the predator out and away from the house and keeps him fed so he doesn’t need to eat the good pigeons. Knowing information like this makes me feel like I’m really getting in the know. Our other neighbor, Katarina was telling me that someone rented the house before and moved because they said the pigeons stunk. I found this really funny, and ironic. Our entire street, neighborhood, town, city, etc. absolutely wreaks right now, and has for weeks, from all the manure they are enriching the fields with. There is absolutely no way the birds compete with this. That tenant must have been crazy.

This whole time Phil and I have been thinking that it is cow poo we smell. However Katarina has informed us that it is pig poo. Apparently there is a pig farm somewhere near hear with 6,000 swine. Whoa. They fertilize with pig poo. I find this interesting. I don’t know why, but it makes me think of Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. “A pig is a filthy animal…” And I wonder if someone doesn’t eat pork, would they eat a vegetable that was grown out of pig fertilizer. And further more, do vegans have an issue with animal byproducts coming into contact with their vegetables? Does manure make vegetables not vegan?

After the bird show we got into a conversation with Hans about the fruit trees in our yard. Mind you, Hans doesn’t really speak English, so it is a miracle that we hung out for as long as we did. Anyway, he proceded to tell us, show us, and give us a tasting of his liquor he makes from the fruit in our yard. How incredible is this guy? I love him. He’s retired as a landlord with a gorgeous property, full of fruiting trees and gardens which he tends, he is a champion pigeon trainer, and he makes schnapps. ( think in America we’d call this moonshine.) No wonder the guy is always smiling. Even better yet, he’s good clean livin’. He doesn’t drink the alcohol he makes. He gave us two small bottles as a gift, cherry and plum. But he also makes apple schnapps. Is there nothing these Germans don’t enjoy doing? Too cool.

After our visit with Hans we spent some time with our upstairs neighbors. We chatted with them for a good long time. The wife speaks great English, thus helping our conversations to fully make sense. Every time we talk to them we find out really great information. I have four plants in my house. Each one of them has a layer of white stuff over the soil. This whole time I was thinking it was mold and I was hesitant to water them. I was thinking maybe our house was too humid, something. Nope, Katarina said it is just lime from the water. What she does is water her plants with water that has been boiled. In fact, she saves her potato water and waters her plants with that. Genious. I gotta hang out with these two more often.

There are bird pictures on the FB, and hopefully video too. But I am having trouble loading that stuff. You know, the internet issue thing. And I also appologize because I can’t load any pictures here for the same reason.

4/8/2012

We’ve got a long weekend here, in Ansbach. It’s Easter of course. Or, as we Germans say, Oster. (this comment may seem ironic later) Monday is also another holiday. Isn’t that lovely? To me it seems the Germans have a lot of holidays, more than us. I like the extra time to relax. Once I become more familiar with the holidays maybe I will actually celebrate.

We’re hanging home this weekend again. I’ve got this painting that I am still working on. I’m right in the thick of it now, and it is hard to turn myself away. Friday, as I was in hour four, I must have been ferociously painting. Phil was on the couch reading (napping) and said the brush strokes were so loud he thought I was going to put the brush through the canvas. Oh no, he thought, here comes the part where she gets frustrated, thinks it looks ugly, whites it out, and starts again. I have been known to get mad and react that way in the past. I wasn’t about to resort to that on Friday, but I did take Saturday off.

Saturday was, again, not my best day in Germany. I feel as though I say, and think, that more often. Life is a rollercoaster though, right? And you got to have ups with your downs. What I am learning, or trying to learn, is how to embrace the downs and use them as fuel to improve my situation. To me this seems like a better option than turning the downs into excuses as to why I am unhappy or can’t do things.

Our Internet has been really slow for the past couple of days. Yesterday I got an email from the company saying that our bandwidth usage (or something) had been exhausted for this billing period and it would resume as normal on the 22. In short, I don’t know how this could have happened. I had trouble researching it on my own. I tried to go the store and get help, but it’s Saturday and you can’t call head quarters, everything is closed on Sunday and Monday is a holiday….bad timing. Phil also brought up that a lot of people have issues with Internet poaching here, maybe especially Americans. I don’t know, but if someone is poaching our Internet I am going to be so annoyed. This is on top of the fact that my computer is giving up in general. I can’t use the SHIFT key to capitolize letters. (how simply aggravating is that?) As a reader, you are fortunate to see capitalization where it should be, it’s an extra effort on my part. And did I mention that my sewing machine is broken and in the repair shop too? I feel like I’m falling apart.

OK, so that was part of Saturday. The other part of Saturday consisted of Phil and I taking a trip to a local brewery, or so we thought. Phil’s friend had recommended it to him, and I found some positive reviews for it online. So we went. To best describe it, I would say don’t picture anything similar to a brewery in the States. It’s much more common and less of an attraction. If I understand correctly, most towns brew a local beer. They use a simple, fresh, five ingredient recipe that hasn’t changed since 1516. Pretty cool. Anyway, this particular brewery, in Vestenberg, is noted for its bock, or dark beer, or so we thought. I called ahead to make sure they were open. This was one of my usual phone conversations where I pretend I am speaking German and can understand exactly what the person on the other end is saying. For the record, just because I understand the individual words being said does not mean that I understand them in their sentence form. When we arrived at said brewery, that I thought was open until four, it was closed. It had a restaurant across the street that didn’t open for dinner until five. Huh? We, disappointedly, went home.

As a side note, I will say that we had an additional substandard moment in our day. We had to go to post and get gas before we went to the brewery. Upon entering we were greeted by German protestors. I’ve never really experienced something like that before. And by this I mean, I’ve never been face-to-face with a crowd saying they didn’t like me, or my husband, or the work he is doing, or our occupancy of their town, and asking us to go home. It made me feel self concious, dumb, and like any effort I have made to join the surrounding community was in vain. It was most troublesome to me because I also couldn’t really understand what they were doing, or what they were saying. Their signs were in German, and the leader of the protest was speaking German. I like living here. It’s sad to think there are people that don’t want me here. (Not to digress, but this makes me think of all the peoples, in many parts of the world, that live in a situation where they are not wanted, with more severity than my situation. I feel sorry for them, and the people that dislike them. What a waste of energy.) Apparently this is a pretty common occurance around here. There are a lot of locals that don’t like the American occupancy of this, once German, base. But I think I may stop my description here, as I do not know enough about the history or local opinion to go in depth. I only know, very superficially what I experience. And sometimes it is a buzz kill.

So despite these two assimilation set backs Phil and I had a nice afternoon. We went to the Saturday market downtown, bought our produce, and I accidentally purchased some really expensive chicken. I’m sure it will be great, and flavorful, and all natural, and all that business. But I am still really bad at thinking on my toes when ordering in German. I am slow to understand the price of something per gram as opposed to pounds. (Maybe if I ever sold drugs I could have been better at this. Oh well, not a good enough trade off for me) And let’s say this chicken was $8 per pound, ouch, and leave it at that.

We also bought some great olives and artichokes from the Greek guy, and guess what. We bought Doners! I had my first Doner lunch yesterday. It was quite good. A Doner is a turkish dish that comes in many forms. Essentially it is shaved turkey meat, very similar to the meat in a Gyro, but not lamb.

We decided that the whole brewery situation shouldn’t be a total loss, so we went back at five, to the open restaurant, to see what the deal was. We were the only two people in the joint; us and the lady running it. She was so nice, but didn’t speak any English. From what we could deduce the brewery is kaput and her husband now works at a different brewery in a different town. Bummer dude. We sat down and tried the beer anyway. It was good beer and Phil and I had a brief chuckle about our “happy hour” because it was pretty lonely and quite. We didn’t laugh too long though, because more people started coming in. Our table was soon full of locals, as were a couple of other tables. Everyone was greeting one another, and us, and we were all smiling, and that is where it stopped. The nice fellas around kept trying to make small talk, as did we, but alas, we didn’t know enough German and they didn’t know any English. I don’t want to say they didn’t know enough English, because it is not their job to know English.

I am pretty good at asking someone their name in German, so that was my angle. When I asked the gentleman to my right, his answer, in so many words, was, ”Karl Wagner.” And when he said it he was kind-of laughing. I couldn’t understand why. I thought he was teasing me. I said, “Like the Opera guy?” He stopped laughing and became confused. Our conversation was saved by a wonderful gentleman, to our far left who must have been evesdropping. But he translated for Karl and said, “Yes the Opera composer from Bayreuth.” That was the end of that conversation. Phil and I stuck out this odd happy hour for two beers. We wanted to stay, but were having mixed feelings. There were a lot of awkward silences. And these may, or may not have been followed by questions about the Army, or the bases. And it was hard to tell if they were just trying to make small talk, or bring up a topic for which they had distaste. Phil and I didn’t want to jump to negative conclusions, but I think we were a bit self concious from earlier events of the day. And then I would try to talk about something else, like Easter, and Easter Egg Hunts, and everything would get all lost in translation and we would all give up. I had my Germish dictionary with me and Karl Wagner told me to just put it away. He said it isn’t worth a lick for translating the Bavarian German. When we left the guys stood up, everyone was all smiles, and we were, of course, invited back. So despite our lack of language knowledge I’m guessing we didn’t do that bad.

We were exhausted when we got home. Assimilating can take a lot out of you. Our remedy? A huge, homemade meatball parm dinner, featuring fresh mozzarella and fresh bakery rolls, one more beer, and a double feature of really crappy movies. This combo put us in a really deep sleep. This morning we are ready for another day. I’m baking mixed fruit muffins for Easter breakfast and we will explore more options for German language schools. And we are determined to not give up. We’re going to go to happy hour until the pain of miscommunication disappears, darn it.

Happy Holiday Everyone.

4/4/2012
Sometimes  have days to myself where I am thinking, "This can't possibly be my life because it is too fabulous." I am working on a painting, in the sun, and waiting for my laundry. When the wash is done I will hang it in the sun to dry. Soon I will ride my bike to the hair dresser. I want to pinch myself...hard. There are a ton of birds flying around me. They are pigeons. They live in my backyard. My landlord trains them to fly away and come back, Carrier Pigeons. It's beautiful to be a part of. I hope this new appreciation for life, my life, never goes away. I want to take full advantage of every day.
I am deep in the trenches of this newest painting. I am anxious to share with you, it's outcome. As you may, or may not know, I always start with a layer of spray paint. I completed this phase of my work in the middle of my backyard. My upstairs neighbors came out for a peak. Just before I started to spray, Ludwig asked me why I was going to spray so much product in my hair. It looked perfectly fine to him. Of course, he said this all in German. His wife laughed, and then translated it for me. I laughed. I had no idea Ludwig knew so much about girls from New Jersey.....we do love our hair product :)
Anyway, I explained to them that I was applying paint to the canvas in a stamp-like fashion. I explained how I love the techniques of graffiti, but not on public property. They found this interesting. I guess they didn't know I was a painter.
We also had a chat about our gardens. Apparently a lot of the flora came from Ludwig's hunting trips. He hunts in our local forests, and has for years. When he's got down-time (if that's what hunters call it) he picks flowers and berries. He brings it all back and replants it in our yard. Or, like with the berries, his wife makes jam. She gave me a jar of raspberry jam. It's amazing. I think they are a great couple. I love that they are my neighbors.
I love them for adding a new element to my painting process too. I build the canvas, which takes an afternoon. Then I sketch out the composition, which takes two minutes. Then I build a stencil on the canvas from masking tape. This takes 3-4 hours. But then, when I spray the stencil it only takes fifteen seconds. With my new neighbors, this spray paint process is now a solid 45 minutes. As neighbors, when we are outside it is impossible to not have a super-sized small chat with one another. I think it's great....

4/2/2012

Breakfast.

I tried to write this last night. My computer froze just as I was finishing. I lost it. I really lost it. I threw this computer through a wall. I excavated it this morning and began again. Here was our weekend:

We never actually made a plan for what to do, so last minute we found a great deal on a flight to Sicily, we figured, why not?…Just kidding.

Actually we spent the weekend relaxing, we watched movies, did some cleaning, Phil wrapped my hair in curlers, I painted his toe nails….Just kidding.

But Seriously, we did stay home and it was nice. Saturday morning Phil ran a team 10K with some of his coworkers. I came along as the professional photographer. Despite the weather being kinda junky, it was really fun. There was a lot of prerace hello-ing and how-you-do-ing. I got some fun pictures of the team warm-up. The DJ played The Humpty Dance, and after that everyone was pumped and ready to race. I got some pictures of the team on the starting line, and then they were off. Once the race had begun I was thinking I’d like to get some shots of them at different obstacles. As I was asking around to see what my best course of action would be for meeting up with them and making it back to the finish line, one of my buddies from Outdoor Rec suggested I just borrow one of the mountain bikes they brought. “Great idea”, I said, “thanks a lot.”

“Don’t forget a helmet”, he said. I obviously gave him a funny look. Do I really need a helmet to casually bike a mile and back? He mocked the look on my face, did a wiggle and said, “do I have to wear a helmet, their so uncool?” I laughed, because he was totally right, grabbed a helmet, and was off. For the record, this was my first time on a mountain bike, in like, 10 years, maybe more. They are awful to sit on. It’s the most uncomfortable bike in the world. It is no wonder to me that I’m not into the sport. I think my sit bones are thankful for it. I hadn’t biked more than ¾ of a mile on my way to find an obstacle to photograph from and (out of nowhere and for no reason) I absolutely fell off the bike. I was just riding and not paying very good attention, I guess, because the bike went left and I went straight. The bike stopped and I continued moving, right over the handle bars, hands first. Oh wait, not hands first, camera first. Yup, I never put my camera back in the case. Like a lazy fart, I was riding with it dangling from my neck. I think this regard for my camera and my safety is what prompted the stars to align to teach me a lesson. I couldn’t believe it. Slow motion, I have this vision of myself falling and holding my head as far back as possible hoping that that would keep the camera from smacking on the ground. Nope. It smacked the ground. Oddly enough, despite a few scratches it is completely fine. I’m so glad. I would have had to punch myself in the face if I had broken my camera by falling off a bike. I think I must have used my one get out of jail free card with the camera. I hope here is no next time.

Phil’s team didn’t win, but they stuck together and had a great time. This is a lot more than can be said for many of the other teams. I think this speaks highly of the relationship between him and his coworkers. I’m glad he found such a great group of people. After the race there was more chatting, classic rap, and free beer. We stayed as long as my frigid body would allow.

Saturday night we went out around town, dinner and a cover band. We decided to walk. The evening was pretty nice and we thought it wasn’t that far. Half of our brain also thought we might find a cab and not actually have to walk the whole way. This was not the case. We walked 5.5K to the restaurant. So Phil put in 15K, total, that day. He is such a champion. And to top it off, after dinner we walked to the bar with the band. The bar was cool, the cover band was not. But I give them credit for not trying not cover any Bruce Springsteen or Michael Jackson. I have had a difficult time in Germany, so far, finding some great live music. I think I may not be looking in the right places.

Phil has the hardest time getting Germans to understand him. At the bar he tried to order our beers. He said, “Ein Beck’s und ein dunkel, bitte.” The waitress said, “OK, Beck’s..and what?” Phil said, “dunkel.” “what?” “dunkel.”…..”Ooohhh, dunkel.” “Yea, dunkel, that’s what I said.” In his contemplation of what just happened Phil realized it’s not dunkel, like a slam dunk-el. It’s dunkel like sand dune-kle. Sometimes you just can’t catch a break.

On Sunday I went back to visit the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It is so lovely there. This time it was made so, even more by some great weather that included lots of sunshine. In a place where the sun can be far between, it makes everything so gorgeous when it is actually out. A new German friend of mine met me there, showed me around, we had lunch, I got some great photos, and climbed the tower.

She lives near there, so she knows all the great spots. We had lunch at a potato restaurant. It was awesome. All of the entrees are done with potato, potato pizza, potato cordon bleu. Yea, they actually make a dough out of potato and stuff it with cheese and ham and fry it. As is customary it is served with a delightful selection of German greens. I can’t wait to take Phil back to this spot. It was really cute, and the food was too fun. After lunch, because I was in Rothenburg, I had to get a couple of schneeballs. This time we went to Diller’s. It’s the best spot for a schneeball. It’s all they do there. They have, like 15 different kinds. It’s hard to choose. I got apple cinnamon and nutella. Next time, who knows? At Diller’s they even have a guy who talks to you and you can watch him making the balls. It’s fun. We walked through a nice park after we picked up the schneeballs, and also went to a beautiful bridge. I scored some more really awesome pictures of the town. They are all from different views, high and low. I feel fortunate to have had the inside scoop on these spots.

When I got home, Phil and I shared some of the schneeballs for an appetizer before dinner. We had the rest for breakfast with coffee. I think I like them better as breakfast than as an appetizer. Maybe if they made a pepperoni and olive schneeball, that would make a good appetizer. But that is probably just too out of context for the lovely ball of goodness.

3/29/2012
Recently, we've needed an oil change on the car and Phil has just been too busy to do it. I'd like to say I did it, but I don't have any idea how to change the oil in a car. Vehicle maintenance doesn't light my fire. In order to get it done successfully I did a bit of research. The obvious choice is to get it done on post. At Katterbach, we have one small auto shop for thousands of people. As one might imagine, they are swamped. The pricing for simple services is the same as in the States and they speak English. For these two important reasons people go no further in their quest for car care. I found this situation to be frustrating. I want better customer service than I thought I might get here. How much can you really care about me, or my car, when you tell me that in order to get any service I have to show up at 7:30 and wait. And you, as the mechanic/shop worker can not give me any information beyond that because you have no idea how long the line is going to be. Am I going to wait for three hours and then you are going to tell me you just used the last new filter and aren't getting another shipment for three weeks? (Just kidding. I'm sure it isn't that dramatic.) I decided better of scheduling a drop-off. Instead I filled the car with gas, got my complimentary Twix bar (to put in Phil's lunch) and got outta there.
In an attempt to obtain better piece of mind I called around town. I looked up all the Subaru Dealers in my area online. I called all the numbers, asked if anyone there spoke English, inquired about services and prices, and made a decision. To you it may sound complicated, or it may sound simple. I feel like many people wouldn't go to this effort, but it is part of my adventure. For me it was satisfying. I weighed all my options and decided to take our car to a Subaru Dealer located less than 5 miles from the house. This location offered the best price, but it was by no means inexpensive. In fact, it was probably around twice the price it would have been on post. But that was not what was most important to me. On the way to the shop however, I was saying a mini prayer in order to not regret the decision I had made. I wanted to do the German-thing, and be stoked on it.
My prayer was answered. The Subaru dealership was the cutest little thing I have ever seen, tiny, and located smack-in-the-middle of a neighborhood. It was a bright sunny day, and the air had its, now consistent, smell of manure. (On a side note...the smell of poop and pee is unbelievably pungent around here this time of year. I had no idea...I try to pretend I don't notice it, but it is worse than anything imaginable. I could never be a farmer. We have been fortunate enough to see the manure spraying machine in action. It's pretty funny) I could have farted in the car on the way to the shop and the mechanic would probably not have known the difference. (Always blame it on the animals around here.)
They did an awesome job on our car. I know it's just an oil change, but still...They were super friendly. I felt at home, which is challenging in a foreign country. The service was pretty quick and I got to read a magazine in German while I waited. I understood more of it than I thought I was going to. It helps that I always carry a dictionary with me. While in the waiting area, with my magazine, I was fantasizing in my head that I was totally normal. It was one of my best days so far. The best part is that I'm now no longer intimidated by what to do if I need help with my car.
The magazine was pretty interesting, by the way. There were a lot of older people in it. I found it really refreshing. I am more drawn to an ad with a middle aged woman using products than a teenager. No offense, but I trust the older woman's opinion more. The older I get, the less I am attracted to youthfulness. Does that sound crazy?
On the topics of German services and youthfulness, I would also like to report that I got my hair done for the first time in Germnay! Yay! As you know, I really wanted to go to that salon in Wurzburg that I embarassed myself at, but it was just too far and I couldn't squeeze it in. I decided to just go somewhere local. What I found was salon WHITE. It occured to me later that I chose the salon with the name in English, although prior to going I hadn't noticed. The girls in there were great, although they didn't speak much English. Luckily for me, the word blonde is universal. My experience was wonderful enough that I am looking forward to my trim and touch-up. It's funny though, you realize how long an afternoon in the salon actually is when you aren't gossiping the whole time. I actually read while in the salon, a book. Unlike the price for an oil change, the price for a cut and highlights is significantly cheaper than I found it to be in America. This is of course, unless you know Bethany Cannon. Ah, how I do miss my old stylist. She is in Savanah now. The Army does that to you. Somehow, I learn to survive.
It was funny. I hadn't thought about bringing my own reading material to the salon with me. When I realized I was going to need to entertain myself I dug through my purse and found a little book I have previously mentioned, The Xenophobe's Guide to Germans. Anew friend had given it to me and I hadn't finished reading it yet. I, self-conciously, read it while getting my hair colored. I was very careful not to let the cover show. I didn't want to give anyone in the salon the wrong impression. Is that weird? Either way, I have developed some new thoughts about myself and Germans, based on my findings in this book. But I will save that for another day....

3/24/2012

Today I am hanging up the snowboards to dry out for the summer. I am throwing the boots in the basement to collect spiderwebs and mouse droppings, and I am washing our outerwear with over priced Tech Wash. Yup, our Winter is over. As easily as we could convince ourselves we should ski one last time, we won't. This past weekend we said good-bye to this season of snowboarding. We feel like we've had an epic Winter. It's been years since we've gotten a week's worth of amazing mountain shredding. And that's about what our collective time this year amounts to, 7 days. We're so lucky though, these 7 days have been spent in the Alps. (I never thought I'd ever say that.)
On a whim we decided to go back to the same place we went snowboarding the weekend before, Soelden, Austria. We stayed at the same accommodations in Nederthai, Austria. Why not? We already had the car pass for Austria. We couldn't let it go unused. That would be like not buying another bag of tortilla chips to finish the open jar of salsa.
Phil's buddy came with us and we drove up Friday night. They were chatting up a storm in the front, I was twiddling my thumbs in the back. When Phil stopped for gas I decided to buy a beer to entertain myself for the rest of the drive. I sat in the back, drank my beer, and played Boggle on the ipad. I was really having a good time until I made myself car sick. I guess playing Boggle in the backseat is similar to trying to read in the car. They both make me want to ralf. Now I know. I couldn't even finish my beer. By the time we got to the Ambiente Austria, I had to go right upstairs and go to bed. Phil and his buddy went to the town hang out to say hello to everyone. They had fun and I missed out. Let that be a lesson to me.
The skiing Saturday was great. Apparently it had snowed a couple of times last week. And here, I thought it was going to be straight-up Spring Skiing. Wrong. It was Spring Skiing with Sugar on Top. I love Spring Skiing, not because the conditions are always the best, but because it is such a fashion show. When your main concern isn't staying warm, you can focus your attention on more fun things. I wore a Florida Scarf both days, and Phil let loose too. We remembered the sunscreen this weekend. So our goggle tans aren't as dark as they could be. This is for the better. I don't need to be the bearded girl in the neighborhood.
On Saturday we rode an apparatus that I have never seen before. I call it a Tramola. For those of you that ski, it looks like a cross between a Tram and a Gondola. For those of you that don't ski, I took a picture. It's an efficient way to get a lot of people over 9,000 feet, quickly. At Soelden they have three peaks over 9,000 feet. To get to the other peaks you have to take a couple of gondolas and a couple of chair lifts. It can take a while.
I also took a picture of something I forgot to mention last weekend. At Soelden they have, what looks like, a church at the top of one of the peaks. It's very tiny. You can't ski to it. But it's great to look at, and make jokes on Sunday about how you're at church, even though your not at church. Nonetheless, the structure peaked my curiosity. I did a bit of quick research on it, and found nothing. But I did find that Soelden, and the surrounding region, have a rich history. This history includes the remains of a man believed to be from 3200 BC. Crazy. Imagine how many years people were skiing over this man before they found him. What else are we skiing over?
I tell you one thing I skied over this weekend..... Four Euros...that's right. I found Four Euros, on the ground, in the snow, right when I got off the lift. Awesome. I have a couple of stories about finding money on the ground, but this is the first in Europe. You wanna know what I bought with it? Chocolate. In Austria they have a delicious chocolate wafer thing. It is light, creamy, delicious, and until recently I thought could only be found in Austria. The people we ski with buy the gas station out before they leave Austria every time. This time, I did it too. Anyway, the candy is called Kagi Fretli, and if anyone ever offers you some, do not pass it up. This might sound like kooky advice coming from me. If you know me, you know I'm not big on sweets. But I am now, sweet on, Kagli Fretli. Thanks to the Google Monster I found out that Kagli Fret is actually Swiss. And you can buy it on Ebay if you're so inclined.
Pictures on the FB

3/23/2012

People love to give you their opinion about what sights are a must-see when you are visiting a place they are familiar with. (Obviously, Frommer made a career out of it. There is even a TV channel for it.) Of course, what I try to do is find places to go that no one has told me to go. A couple of weeks ago, for Phil's mom and I, that place was Bayreuth. Bayreuth, Germany, is not "undiscovered" by any means. The likes of Wagner and Liszt have contributed to its notoriety long ago. But before our visit, no one had mentioned the town to me. Army Wives even have a guide book they put together, and Bayreuth is barely mentioned. Let me tell you, it was fabulous. And I will go back, and it will be equally as fabulous.
Seeing how (wealthy) people lived 260 years ago fascinates me. The differences, and the similarities, are astounding. Experiencing the care they took to express themselves in dress and decor, inspires me for my own life. I realize I will never wear a dress that is 6 feet wide, but I won't hesitate to wear a blue sequin skirt with red shoes and a neck tie. And when I need to decorate a house. I shall not be afraid of bright colors, texture, and pattern everywhere. It's my life. I live in it, and I want to celebrate every second of it. In the process, it is delightful entertaining those around you. 
This town had a lot of tempting sites. There is only enough time in one day, and one brain, to see a few. We chose the Opera House and the New Castle. The Opernhaus was extremely ornate. It was built in the 1740's entirely of wood. The amount of carving is unbelievable, and the painting and gilding are of equal measure. What's interesting is that this Opera House, is like, the J.V. Opera House. Wagner had the Big-Dog-Festspielhaus built in 1876. I have yet to see it. I reserved that for next trip.
The next site we toured was the Neues Schloss. (New Castle) It was a great tour. The guide was really knowledgeable, and spoke killer English. I never thought about how influential those characteristics can be, until now. A Tour is not a tour. This castle had many rooms renovated, plenty of light, and lots of style and personality. Again, all very important details in sightseeing. I loved the inside of this Rococo Era home so much that I definitely (did not) ask to take pictures. At the guides request, I (did not) take pictures when she wasn't looking. Don't worry, when I (wasn't) taking pictures I didn't use a flash. You (can not) see these pictures in the FB album. The rooms were absolutely amazing. They had sculpted flowers all over the walls, and butterfly wallpaper. The wallpaper was silk, and it matched the curtains and chair coverings. Some of the chandeliers were even sculpted porcelain, like the flowers on the walls and ceilings. It was just breathtaking. As the guide explained, the goal in this day was to show wealth, but also to bring the outdoors in. They wanted to bring man closer back to nature, not be so removed. One of the most interesting points of the tour was the Grotto. When the guide introduced it I said, "The only grotto I'm very familiar with, is that of Hugh Heffner." And she said, "Exactly. These grotto's were built for cooling off, but inside things definitely got hot." We all laughed. I lament. I could not photograph the grotto. And to describe it could not do it justice, but I'll try.....It was a room with no windows, all the walls, ceiling, and floor were decorated in a mosaic style, like a kitschy, tchotchky of seashells hot glued together as a paperweight you'd buy at a beach dollar-store-gift shop. It was awesome. The amount of shells in there, and crystals, and limestone, was pretty impressive given our geographic location. The designer and builder were true visionaries.
Which brings me to another important lesson of the trip. This one is a bit of history. Wherever you have a town full of fabulous art, I'm finding you have a large female influence. Bayreuth is very much acclaimed for its arts. And this is solely due to the importance of the Arts in the life of the Magravine Wilhelmine, sister of Frederick the Great. The reign of she and her husband Magrave Frederick was from 1735-1758. It's been a second since I got the lecture, so excuse me if my details aren't exactly correct. But she was Frederick's second wife. His first wife, her niece, died two years after their wedding. Then eight years after Wilhelmine married Frederick, he died. She remained single and was able to travel and do all this cool art and charity work. Some of the other rooms in the Castle were insanely artistically decorated. A few had a lot of Asian influence. I found this particularly interesting, as I've never known Germans to be particularly interested in the Orient.
I could go on about how cool I thought she was, and how great that castle was, but I won't. But I will plug Women and the Arts one more time. I got an article in the mail yesterday from my mother-in-law. It was about the National Museum of Women in the Arts, in Washington D.C. This museum was begun by a women named Wilhelmina also, Wilhelmina Holladay. Coincidence?
If you are interested this museum has a website, blog, and FB page, and a lot of great programming.

3/21/2012

We have had an incredible number of sunny days in a row here. Where ever you are, I hope it is the same. It's been three days now since we've been on our snowboards and Phil is starting to get the shakes. He says we must go again this weekend, while there is still snow. I agree. I think this is why we get along so well. I remembered a few more anecdotes from the trip I'd like to share.
The first of which, is that I baked cookies to share with our group this past weekend. This is no surprise. I made the recipe up in my head. (also no surprise) Of equal unamazement, I used half the normal amount of butter and substituted peanut butter. Guess what. Germans don't like peanut butter. It makes their face scrunch up. It's so funny to me. I guess they've been eating Nutella so long, that the peanut is just not gourmet enough. This fact aside, they did like my cookies. I think that was mainly due to the fact that I substituted chocolate chips with a chopped up white chocolate Toblerone. I recommend this to anyone baking for Europeans.
The house that we stayed at had it's own kitchen, so we ate at home a few times. One night, an American in the group cooked. He made ribs. Americans love ribs, unless they are a vegetarian. Germans love ribs too, more than Americans. There aren't many German Vegetarians. However, they apparently don't do ribs in Germany. Isn't that funny? All that swine, and you don't see ribs anywhere. Maybe that's because they don't really do the grilling thing, or BBQ sauce thing, or peanut thing for that matter. I will be exploring this in further detail. And I will also not be encouraging Germans to visit the American South, as they may not be too keen on it :)
This weekend was the first time I have spent an extended period of time with some locals. And by locals, I mean Germans. I love them. I am so glad I live here. The opportunity to live with another culture is priceless. I love sharing things, and breaking down social boundaries. I just wish I could speak their language. Luckily, they can speak mine. One of the girls I met this weekend has already mailed me a gift, The Xenophobes Guide to Germans. This was quite thoughtful of her. I am halfway through the book already, and learning a lot. Obviously, the book is a joke. Although, I hope I didn't actually give her the impression that I am afraid of foreigners.
One night in Austria we went out to eat. The restaurant was called Don Camillo's, Biker House and Pizza. The name was too curious, we chose it for this reason. That, and there wasn't a single motorcycle outside of it. The food was awesome. Phil and I split a Caesar salad, which wasn't a Caesar salad at all. It had multiple kinds of fine lettuce in it, no romaine. It was topped with bacon, and tomatoes, and a delicious light and creamy garlic dressing. I think the Italian-Austrians might rival the Germans for best salad in Europe, so far. This restaurant was the first time I have experienced actual European wait service. I guess since they are not working for tips, they really do take their time. Dinner was unbelievably slow, but delicious. So when all is said and done, I should just get used to it. The restaurant had a bunch of great frescoes painted everywhere. As we were admiring them all, one of the girls told us who Don Camillo actually was...
Don Camillo was a character created by an Italian writer and journalist. He is based on the historical Roman Catholic priest, WW II partisan and detainee of the concentration camps of Dachau and Mauthausen, Don Camillo Valota. Don Camillo is one of two protagonists, the other being the communist mayor of the town, known to everyone as Peppone. Their stories are a representation of what rural Italy was like after the second world war. Most of the Don Camillo stories came out in the weekly magazine Candido, founded by the author and his friend. These "Little World" ("Mondo Piccolo") stories amounted to 347 in total and were put together and published in eight books. What is also funny to me is that our favorite restaurant here in town is Piccolo Mundo.  have written about it before.

3/18/2012
I can't believe a whole week has gone by already again. Actually, I can believe it. So much has happened. I still haven't reported on my Bayreuth trip and that was like, 3/9. Good thing I took notes and I just need to post them.
Now, however, I am much more excited to announce that we just got back from skiing in Austria. As is typical of Phil and I, we had a blast. It was Spring skiing, for sure, but still killer. The town we stayed in was called Nederthai. It's like, smaller than my town I currently live in. The people there were incredibly friendly. We stayed at The Ambient Austria and went snowboarding at Soelden. Our accommodations were great. We were with a large group of friends in a house. It was a really fun setting and the people that ran the house were unbelievably cool. They also ran the watering hole in town. Needless to say, there was some apres ski going on, nightly.
The highlight of the trip for me was when Phil clocked his speed on one of our runs. Are you ready for this? 123.31 km/hr. Absolutely. Not a lie. We were laughing because Phil doesn't even drive that fast on the autobahn. (and neither do I) To make this true story a bit more unbelievable...we got home and Phil realised he had mounted his bindings on the board backwards, and so he had actually been riding the board backwards! That crazy fool! Imagine what he could have clocked had his snowboard been facing the right way.
One of Phil's buddies put the trip together. We all drove separately and met in Austria at the house Thursday night. In order to drive there, Phil and I got International driver's licenses. Cool, huh? Now I have two passports, one ID, three driver's licenses, and a partridge in a pear tree. Phil drove there. I was relieved. Winding mountain roads are no joke in a foreign country in the middle of the night. I don't know how he did it. Oh wait, he's a helicopter pilot :) Luckily, it's a pretty quick drive, 4 hours.
Thursday night we slept like peacefully, and woke up Friday morning as eager as ever, only to realize that I had sabotaged Phil. To keep it short, let's just say that I accidentally forgot to pack the base plates that hold his bindings on to his board. So when we got to the mountain, before we could ski, Phil had to go to a shop and buy some replacement parts to mount his board and bindings. What a process. I felt like a jerk, but at least I remembered everything else. I think he was in such a hurry, mounting Friday morning, that he must have mounted his bindings backwards, and then not noticed all weekend. Phil is excellent at riding switch, but this puts him on another level. He jokes that he could go down the mountian on a lunch tray if he had to. I don't doubt it.
Friday and Saturday were both super sunny days. It was gorgeous. As is typical of the Alps, the views were amazing. We skied all day, both of those days. Today, we were exhausted. I am actually surprised I am still awake. Luckily, the beds at The Ambient Austria were comfortable and we got a solid night's sleep every time.
I don't know if I mentioned this before, but, no one uses top sheets in Europe. (or at least not in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria) I must say I find the situation to be slightly lacking. You know? For those times when you just want to kick the blanket around your bottom half and have the sheet over the top? It's obviously an option not afforded to you. But who am I kidding? It's a small price to pay. I'll just start packing my own.
The lift tickets at Soelden were more reasonable than back home. It cracks me up that world class skiing is cheaper than the Poconos. I think maybe the resorts can keep the price of the tickets down, because they make so much damn money off the Europeans on booze sales. I'm not kidding. European skiers waste no time hitting the bar. We stopped to have coffee at ten. We were at an awesome outside set up. We parked right next to two chicks drinking beers, doing shots, smoking, and eating brats. Already! In Austria they call  a Jaeger-bomb a Flying Hirsch. And, not that I had one, but they serve them as an airline bottle of Jaeger, sitting in a high ball glass half full of Red Bull. They looked fun, for someone with a rock-gut. I kept it social, with coffee. Coffee at 9,000 feet is plenty of party for me.
I was fortunate enough to drive home today. In the sunshine, those winding mountain roads are fun to drive. I really enjoy the European countryside. Before we left town we stopped at a cafe and got some more incredible coffee. Phil pointed out that (Austrians are so into skiing) even their coffee cups are shaped with a corduroy pattern. It's true. I've never seen a cup like it in my life.
On the way home Phil and I discussed where we will be going on our next trip. Since it looks like we'll be packing away the ski gear, our next destination is still a mystery. The suspense is killing me. It's a tough life I live. How do I do it?
We took a bunch of amazing photos again. They'll be in the FB album soon.

3/11/2012

We learned about an interesting fruit-veggie-thing last night. It's called a physalis. It's popular in Germany, more served as a fruit than vegetable. It's in the tomato family. I think it's similar to a tomatillo, but it is orange, the size of a cherry, and sweet. It is lovely. I tasted the apple strudel of my life, last night, and this edible, decorative gem was on the top. The Germans got this plant species from South Africa. If it wasn't in my plans to get to South Africa before, it is now.
The restaurant we ate at last night is called the Windmuhle. It is located in a hotel, down the street from the actual city of Ansbach. It was great. Although, I must say, I was sceptical at first. At 7:30 pm, on a Saturday night, we were the only table in the place. Despite this interesting dining environment, we stayed. And boy, were we rewarded. The Windmill serves typical German fare, but it's the best I've had here so far. And the service can't be beat. The woman, who was our waitress, must be the owner. She must be 80. She is tiny, and German. She is all business at her customers' tables, but there is something so warm about her. I think when I miss my own grandma, who is across the ocean, I will visit this restaurant to get my fix.
As I said, dessert and dinner were great. The beer is always good. The place is traditionally decorated. The waitress wears the cutest handmade apron, takes her time shuffling back and forth from the tables to the kitchen, but you eat in a timely fashion. But I would like to also take this time to highlight the German Salad. I believe this portion of the meal doesn't get enough credit. It is always served with entrees, but never mentioned on any menus. The lettuce in Germany is fabulous. In particular, they have a leaf called feld salat. It's marvelous. And if you aren't served feld salat, it is something equally as refreshing and buttery. The salad is always handmade, and fresh. They don't premake 100 of them on a weekend evening to be served crushed and brown, as is what so often happens at an American restaurant. And I'm not sure what they make their dressing from. It seems to me to be, maybe, a ketchup-mayo deal, similar to 1000 Island or Catalina. Anyway, my point is I like vegetables and the Germans need as much credit for their salads as they do for their brotchen, pork, and apple desserts.

3/9/2012
We've been pretty busy recently, and I have a lot of great things to write about. But I've got to keep it a bit short today, I have the Spring Bazaar. I went running this morning to burn off some energy. Yes, it was freezing. While I was running I passed by some road kill. Unlike Alabama, it was not an armadillo. They are disgusting. Here, it was a fat white bunny. It was cute, even though it was still disgusting. I like passing by road kill that I wouldn't mind keeping as a pet. (if it were alive) It is so much more pleasant. Likewise, our house has a slight bug infestation. No, it isn't cockroaches, or millions of tiny ants. It's ladybugs. Isn't that so darling? I think I will miss them, come Spring and Summer, when they go back outside.

3/6/2012

Having family in town, and not a whole lot of time, is a great excuse for exploring more of your local town. Lucia and I saw a few more sights around Ansbach today. For starters, we met a couple of other ladies for coffee. We've got a small chain of bakeries in Ansbach, called The Brothaus. I like to compare them to Starbucks. Yea, Brothaus is like Starbucks, except the pastries are fresh and the coffee is better. I say the coffee is better because it's frothy on the top. The Brothaus coffee, is so bangin', I drink it black. They've got a crazy pastry there I am sooo tempted to try, but haven't yet. It's called a Spiegelei. It looks like a danish with a sunny-side-up egg on top and a candy glaze. I am wondering if they egg is real. It must be, and if it is, will it ooze when you slice into the danish? One day, but not today...and I will bring a bib.
After brunch we went and toured the historical residence of my city. It's called The Residenz, but I think they're all called that. We had fun. It's got over 300 rooms, but you only see about fifteen. Again, like the churches, it was freezing. What I found most impressive was the keys the tour guide used to open and close the locks on the doors. She was still wielding the original keys, 700 years old. Isn't that wacky? They were, like, big skeleton keys. Too cool. Also, some of the rooms, that were more decorative, had original silk still on the walls. Awesome. I want silky walls...to match my sheets. Just kidding. I don't have silk sheets. I'm going to tell Phil to work on the silk walls though...and matching chairs...and a chandelier.
The other thing I saw that I really liked, were these two deer head trophies mounted on the walls. Someone must have shot a huge deer, a couple of them. They saved the antlers and mounted them on a new head carved from wood. It looked to me like a horse head. I tried to ask the tour guide about them, but she didn't have a great answer for me. After a minor Google search on the topic, I am (pretty sure) the carved heads are supposed to be deer. They just looked like a horse head to me, and Lucia. I don't think the guide ever contemplated the idea that the heads looked like horses. She didn't really strike me as much of a contemplator. Oh well. There was a lot of amazing porcelain in a couple of the rooms. In particular I saw a chandelier of porcelain, from the Rococo period, really unique.
After the Residenz, we took two mini trips to the dueling churches on either side of the old city. Lucia hadn't seen the inside of them, and I felt like she needed to. I mean, going to Europe is about history and churches. I'm sure these will not be the last two churches she will see on the trip. Tomorrow is another day.
After the tourism, we went back to real life. I came home and started preparing Florida Scarf for the Army Bazaar coming up this weekend. And Lucia did the mom thing, with an-in-Europe-with-Phil-and-Sarah-twist. This means that she rode a bicycle to the local grocery store, bought fruits and vegetables, cheap wine, then biked home and cooked an amazing dinner.
We've got some serious travel plans for tomorrow. I hope it's sunny.

3/4/2012

So we made it to Rothenberg ob der Tauber on Saturday. (Obviously, this means I got my chores done in a timely manner.) What a great city. We all loved it. Every street in town is still cobblestone. There were horse-drawn carriages. The entire city is still surrounded by a wall. This is the kind of architecture that is common place in my new life, but yesterday, I felt like a time traveler.

The walls are huge. You can still walk along them. And there are shops, restaurants, and even houses and garages built directly into them. One can be completely satisfied by simply walking around the town, but a highlight for me was St. Jacob’s Church. It’s got stained glass dating back to 1350. It’s the oldest, original stained glass in Europe. The only reason it survived WWII was because they removed it until the end of the war. Interestingly, they’ve recently had to cover it’s outer face in a layer of glass to preserve it from pollution. It’s color was inspiring.

That was not the only wonder housed in this place. When we arrived at the church, we were just in time for the English speaking tour. Without it we would have missed out on some fabulous information regarding the art in the church. For instance, there is a sculpture of the Trinity. This is a rarity, but considering the dates of origin of the church, not surprising. Due to illiteracy, everything had to be illustrated. The church had two alters. I think this was due to additions being built through the years. My favorite one, was the alter carved out of wood. I believe the guide said it was lime wood. The carving depicted the Last Supper. But it wasn’t the typical dinner scene. The artist chose instead, to represent the moment when Jesus told Judas that he would betray him. So, the center figure wasn’t Jesus, it was Judas. Jesus was like, in the back. To enhance this unique depiction, the artist carved the left side of the table out of one piece of wood, and he carved the right side out of another. But Judas was carved alone. In order to close the doors on this alter, Judas has to be removed. Creative, right? I wish you could have seen what we saw.  I don’t think my description could do it justice. The way this artist carved the facial expressions out of wood was amazing. It made me question what his tools were like. I mean, it was the 15^th century. He probably had to forge the tools before starting the sculpture. Equally as impressive were the folds in everyone’s robes and the angel wings. The alter was situated in front of a window. To take advantage of the natural light, the artist gave this alter a glass background. It gave the entire scene a beautiful back light. I could have stared at the scene all day, but the tour pressed on.

Luckily the alter was followed by a sweet organ. I actually liked it better that the organ in my town, sorry to say. This organ had 5,000 pipes. Does that sound right? Maybe I am exaggerating. I’ll have to confirm that with Phil.

 I will say this though. For all of the gratifying things in this church, there was one very important thing missing. Heat! It was freezing in there. It was, no lie, colder than outside. We could see our breath! I would have gladly paid an extra Euro for a bit of warmth.

In describing all the work that had been done in building the church, our tour guide explained some history for deeper explanation. She claimed that St. Jacob’s was quite a large church for a town with a smaller population. The long end of the short is that the monks of the church built it up into a pilgrimage site to bring money to the town, and church. I call them some Sneaky Petes. That’s like tourism of the Dark Ages. Those guys were obviously onto something because it is a tradition still carried out today. Imagine…South-Of-The-Border is a modern version of a church, containing a relic, on a Pilgrimage route. Only the relic, is like, an over sized sombrero.

To balance the church tour, and the toy museum, there is also a torture museum in Rothenberg.  To the disappointment of Phil, we did not have enough time for this. We’ll have to start there first, next time in Rothenberg.

We ate lunch right in the Marktplatz. It’s basically the town center. Our restaurant was pretty kitschy and we all ordered local fare, and beer of course. This meant we all ate pork products again. During lunch, Phil commented on how much pig is served in Germany. It’s everywhere. He notes, that you see a lot of pork product, but no pigs. Where are they? I plan on exploring this in the future. I want to find the pig farm.

After our lunch that was so traditional, we continued the trend. We went to a coffee shop, had a hot beverage and shared a schneeball. Schnee means Snow. I had heard mixed reviews on the schneeball, but we couldn’t resist deciding for ourselves. Besides that, you can’t walk through the streets of Rothenberg without tripping over all the schneeball dealers. They’ve got them in every flavor, in every shop. We split the vanilla sugar schneeball, and found it delightful. It was way better than I thought it was going to be, especially when dipped in my coffee.  I would say it is a cross between biscotti and funnel cake, if you can imagine that. And it looks like a Christmas tree ornament.

While we were in the coffee shop, the clock tower struck 4:00. This clock has figures that pop out, on the hour, in celebration of an event that saved the town from destruction. Legend has it that Rothenberg sided with the Swedes during the Thirty Years War. Unfortunately for the town, it was occupied by the Catholics and General Tilly in 1631. Apparently, Tilly agreed to not destroy the town if a councilor could down a 5 pint tankard of wine in one gulp. This guy did it, he tackled 3.25 liters in one swallow, to save the town. They celebrate the event to this day.  Feel sorry for whoever has to do the reenactment.

3/1/2012

What could have been....

My mother-in-law is in town. I know for many this is a dreaded event, but for me, not so much. I am one of the lucky few with a fabulous set of in-laws.
Lucia arrived two days ago, and she's been a real champ. With the time change I mean, she hasn't skipped a beat. I think sleeping during the overnight flight is the key.
Anyway, yesterday was her second day in town. I showed her our local sites on her first day, so I thought we could venture out for day two. A friend of mine suggested we go to a castle in Nuremberg. She said it is a nice day trek, not too far, and there is a great church across the street. Making this idea even more perfect in my head, was the fact that I had two items to return at Ikea, which is also in Nuremberg. Lucia is up for anything, so she was down with my plan. We would go to Ikea, return my items, then site see.
The poor woman obviously had no idea what she was getting herself into. You can't just go into a store like that without looking around. She hadn't been in an Ikea in years, since she lived in Europe in fact. So we thought it would be fun to just cruise through, since we were there. Bad idea. It turned into us getting the last few odds and ends I needed to complete a functioning house. Three hours later we were outta there; after the return,  the browsing, the collecting, the paying,  the VAT form refund, and trek to the car. Needless to say, after that it was pretty late in the day and we needed to get back to pick Phil up from work. So we had to skip the pretty castle and church, in exchange for a traffic filled journey back to Ansbach.
 I felt guilty, like I had tricked her...Hey! Wanna go see some great architectural history?! OK. All we have to do is run one little errand first.....Know what I mean?
It's reminds me of when I was a kid. On weekends my uncle Dan would be like, "Want to go to Six Flags today?" And would be like, "yeah!" And he would say, "OK. We just gotta go into Philly first. You can help me tidy up my wood shop, and then we'll go." Very often, we conveniently, ended up without enough time to go to Six Flags.
I totally pulled an Uncle Dan on Lu.
The funny thing is we are talking about going to Rothenberg today. I hope to make up for yesterday. But it's my week, and I just have to clean the stairs, the foyer, and the basement of our house before we go.....
2/29/2012

I went to an antique store and a thrift store, for the first time, here in Ansbach. It was a beautiful drive, 45 minutes through woods and fields. We drove through a few small towns, each as charming as the next. I love the little firehouses in every town, and small hotels (Gasthaus). Every building is painted in cheerful colors. It almost reminds me of the Caribbean in a way. Some houses even have frescoes on the outside. And just so you understand, these towns I speak of are really no larger than a neighborhood in the US. Oh, and there is a cigarette vending machine, outside, in every village. It cracks me up. Especially the ones that sell the "Johnny Player Specials." Really? Who are they convincing?

The antique store was a big to-do, three barns. They even have their own website. I learned a few things about German collectibles. For starters, people collect, and sell, the tables from Oktoberfest. Great idea, right? Who wouldn't want to own a beat up wooden table and benches, with iron legs that fold, that a bunch of people partied at for days, ate rotisserie chicken and brats on, and maybe (if your lucky) relieved themselves on/near? Did I mention they are stamped for authenticity? I need a set. Also, in Germany, you can get old sugar molds that people now use for candle holders. It is a nice farm-chic look for your dining table. Until yesterday I never knew what a sugar mold was. It sounds like too much extra work for a hostess, but something I may attempt since I like to "wow" my guests. You can see a photo of a sugar mold on the website. Also, in Germany, not a lot of things are built into houses. Especially in older houses, rooms are just rooms. So this place had a ton of shranks, (stand alone closets) standing sinks, standing stoves, ovens, you name it. Some of it was so cool. There was also a lot of kitchen utensils and irons, and farm equipment. A collector could really go nuts...and empty their wallet in the process. I thought this place was a bit pricey, but I don't know a lick about old treasures. I just like a deal.

Oh man. I saw one treasure though, that I wanted so bad...yup...not exactly like the picture above..but similar...only a lot cooler. The dealer had a wood carved viking-merman-thing that looked like it came off a ship. It was still painted and almost as tall as I am. I inquired about the price, 400 Euros. Too rich for my blood, but I went home and told Phil about it anyway. He was not as appalled as I thought he was going to be. I'll keep that in mind for the future.

 Rest assured, I did buy some interesting treasures. The likes of which will have to remain nameless, as I am giving them to my mother as a gift soon. You will, hopefully, hear more about them once she uses them.

After shopping we went to the coffee shop for lunch. As you know, I LOVE the coffee in Europe. One thing I'm not on board with in Europe, is their excessive use of butter. I ordered a cheese sandwich, on a delightful seeded roll. It was buttered on both sides, had four slices of brie, and lettuce and 1/2 a slice of tomato. I was a bit disappointed. I would have gladly traded the 1/2 stick of butter on the sandwich for the other 1/2 of the slice of tomato. I can't wait until I know enough about Germans to politely ask for no butter on my sandwiches, so I may begin to experience the rest of the ingredients my future sandwiches will have to offer.

Dude, I was even in the market the other day and I saw butterkase. This translates to butter cheese. Who needs butter, in their cheese? I think cheese is creamy enough. Maybe it isn't supposed to be a literal translation. I may never know. But I can't lie. I tried it, and honestly, it tasted like American.

2/26/2012

I'm still uploading pictures of Switzerland. And still dreaming about snowboarding every night. Good thing we have another trip coming.
This is one of Phil's photos. Isn't it great? This will definitely be a painting soon. There are a few more pictures in the FB album too.
Since living in Germany, I write a lot. Before this I wasn't much of a writer. I find myself experiencing life as if everything I do is noteworthy, or not. It is an entertaining perspective, for sure. I am constantly trying to remember things to fill in my "Germany Diary". Sometimes this causes me to actually forget great instances. (Isn't that, so, backwards?) Anyway, yesterday I remembered one of the funniest things we did in Switzerland...We hitch-hiked. Isn't that wicked? I never thought I would do that. But somehow it seems safer in a ski town in Europe. Is that crazy?
I feel like I should actually segue this with describing some of our, more recent, trials with public transportation in unfamiliar cities. First, there was New Orleans. (my favorite place until I went to Switzerland) One night in New Orleans, after lots of amazing music and fun crowds, it took us four hours to score a cab back to our hotel. Apparently, after 11:00 pm, no cabbie wants to drive 15 minutes away from Frenchman St. (so obnoxious, but helpful in inspiring you to wander around and find late night pizza) But hitchhiking here, absolutely not! Then, there was Ansbach, Germany. Similarly to New Orleans, no cabbie can be reached to drive you back to the Army base at midnight. You are going to have to wait, and it is going to be pricey. You may have to contemplate eating at Mcdonalds while you wait. You may try to walk home, get 1/2 mile into it, and turn around because your shoes are hurting your feet, and contemplate eating at McDonalds again. But hitchhike, still, no. And finally, in Switzerland, it happened our last night. We had such a great two days of skiing we wanted to celebrate with a little Apres Ski. After a two hour apres ski, however, you need to eat dinner. And after dinner you will need to indulge in a flaming dessert. Unfortunately this is going to force you to take the last train out of town, which will force you to miss the last bus back to camp. So, once back down the mountain we came to terms with the fact that, we were going to have to hoof it. A two mile walk at night isn't a big deal for someone in snowboard boots. But we had a skier in-tow. The poor guy had had his ski boots on since 8:00 am. That is a long day in rental ski boots, schlepping your skis and poles around too. So when the first car came upon us Phil stuck his thumb out. The car stopped. Some friendly Irishmen hopped out, opened the trunk for our gear, and we all piled in. They drove us to our campsite, no problem. It was a 45 second drive, up hill, that would have taken us eons to walk. I was so grateful to not have to walk, that I didn't think twice about getting in the car with a stranger. I would not recommend this type of solution for every problem. But it seems to me that Europe has been bringing out (of me) certain personalities I never knew I had. 

2/22/2012

Switzer Land

The land of the Switzer. It was everything we dreamed it would be...and more.

All I really heard about Switzerland, before we went, was how expensive it is. What people should actually be spreading the word about is how amazing it is. I can't imagine that there is anywhere more majestic and enchanting than this glorious land of winter sports.

We stayed at a campground. This is a smart way to do Switzerland if you're on a budget. It was rustic, but well kempt. I'd never been "camping" in the winter time. I was lovin it, until I took a luke warm shower and realized my hair dryer wouldn't plug in. Being outside with a wet head in winter was a new experience for me. It wasn't as difficult as I thought. Also not as difficult as I thought, waking up in the middle of the night and going for a stroll to the bathroom. I didn't even have to put my coat on. 

We started every morning with gorgeous pastries and $5.00 coffees. It was, hands down, the best coffee I've ever had. Charging $10.00 would have made sense to me. Breakfast was followed by a sweet train ride, up the mountain side, to the Ski Resort. Where we were located, the passes gave you access to four resorts. We visited two, Murren and Wengen. But included in the passes is the ability to ride any mode of public transportation you want, for free. You can even ride a train up to the highest point in Europe.

The snowboarding was killer. We rode our faces off! I think I actually rode until my thigh muscles fell off. There was a lot of snow. And the groomed trails led us through some pretty incredible views. One time we were skiing, and it like, went through some one's farm. Phil stopped to photograph some sheep. They were just hangin' out, wearing their traditional Swiss Bells, watching skiers. Another time, Phil stopped at the bottom of a chairlift. An older gentleman skied up next to him and just started to yodel. He was a real yodeler. It was great. There was a lot of traditional music being played throughout the resort. We heard it a lot while we were riding. It made our experience, just a bit more, enchanting. On Sunday, it was actually snowing all day. This made the visibility tough, but not any less enjoyable.

On Sunday we stopped for lunch at a restaurant/hotel called Aspen. We skied right to it, my favorite. I thought the name was funny. You can kill two birds with one stone by going to Switzerland and stopping to eat in Aspen. Our food was simple, and delicious. The presentation was so perfect I had to take a picture of it.

The Aspen restaurant was located on one of the longest trails I've ever skied in my life. The whole route took 40 minutes to complete. There were quite a few trails like that. It was so much fun, but pretty exhausting. You can only make the most of a trip to Switzerland by being in shape. Some of the lifts and gondolas took just as long to ride. We were lucky in that it was very easy to negotiate your way around the mountain. We never wasted time getting lost or traversing where we needed to be. And that is always good, more time on the slopes.

The most interesting fact I learned while in Switzerland: Fondue tastes a million times better than it smells. (this statement is not intended to offend anyone) I had no idea. They never tell you that. The first restaurant we went into I thought to myself, "What is that smell?" And I wasn't the only one. I heard a few other people on the trip saying the same thing. Phil was the one who pointed out it was the fondue. It almost made me not want to order any, but when in Rome.....

Order Fondue! It was very delicious. Our waitress was kind enough to point out that the best cheese bits are the ones that are crusted to the bottom of the crock. You have to scrape at them with your fork. Those cheese bits were burnt, greasy yumminess. A perfect accompaniment to my beer.

Of course we didn't leave Switzerland without buying some chocolate. No, I didn't buy the Lindt out of the vending machine. Although, I was tempted. Instead we bought Villars, by Swiss for Swiss. Of course there is a bar in the mail for my mom. I wanted to go crazy and buy some cheese to take home to. But it is always good to practice self control. And now I have an excuse to go back.

I think I'll go back in spring or summer. The hiking looks amazing. There are trails everywhere, with plenty of places to stop. It would be the most luxurious hiking trip one could have. So who wouldn't want to have.

Put Switzer Land on your bucket list.

I keep saying Switzer Land because there was this funny, little kid on our bus who pronounced it like that. And for Phil and I, it has stuck.

P.S. We did the trip with the Army Outdoor Recreation Team. It was totally reasonably priced and fun. It was my first group trip. I would definitely do another, with any group. It has been my experience that people that like to travel are cool.

You can see all our pictures in the FB Album.

2/16/2012
Last weekend I baked for the first time in Germany. It's hard to find motivation to bake here. One doesn't want to bother because there is an awesome bakery on every corner. One thing the bakeries are lacking is cookies. I don't think cookies are very German. Waffles, dark bread, and pretzels are German baked goods. So this weekend past, I baked peanut butter cookies. And since there was a holiday approaching, and Phil and I are new here, I shared them with our neighbors. I even hand wrote a sweet note in German and attached it to the treats.
It wasn't much, but a nice gesture, and our neighbors loved it. Lug (that is apparently short for Ludwig) thanked me the very next day. He said the note was perfect German. I just saw his wife Katarina today. She thanked me too. She politely scolded me for not knocking on the door and coming in to drop off the cookies. She would have liked a sit-and-chat apparently. So now we have a coffee date next Friday. She also said she had something for me. She went upstairs and came back down with a plate of dessert for me and Phil. It looked awesome. It was a plum cake that she baked with frozen plums from our backyard. I was honestly excited, that despite a language barrier, I seem to be developing a positive relationship with my neighbors.
This afternoon's lovely incident comes on the heels of me sabotaging Lug yesterday. I thought I was on their naughty-list, but maybe I am mistaken. It's been snowing quite a bit here lately. Each apartment rotates weeks to sweep and shovel. This week is Lug's week. Well, yesterday he got up bright and early to shovel, for the first time. He came down his steps to realize that I had left the house door unlocked and it swung open in the middle of the night. Snow had been blowing in our foyer for hours. Not to mention, the heat was blowing out. I didn't know what to say except, Es tut mir leid, which is German for sorry. I'm sure Lug was pretty aggravated about the extra cleaning. Who wouldn't be? But he obviously wasn't aggravated enough to not allow his wife to share her baked goodness with me. And to top it off we have a date. I'm going to go up and have coffee. Of course I'll have to bake. But what? How do I top the home-grown plum cake?
When Phil got home from work I showed him. He laughed and said, "She totally one-up'd you."
I almost forgot. I totally took pictures. Mine. And Katarina's.

My excuse is that she is older, and thus better at this kind of thing than me :)

2/15/2012

You know that workout video "Insanity"? It's actually not a workout video, at all. It's a video of me trying to shop for furniture....
So Ikea is like, the best, right? Totally. If you want inexpensive, modernish-looking furniture that you get to build yourself, it rocks. In Germany, many houses have very odd spaces for you to live/work in. Ikea is ideal for finding the perfect furniture to fit your crazy space. Armed with this information Phil and I went to Ikea on Saturday. This was mistake #1. As you know, the entire world has off on Saturday and they are looking to do some home improvement. Phil and I found some cool stuff, but couldn't commit to buy anything, as we were on overload.
So I ventured back, alone, yesterday. My plan was to run in , buy everything that we saw that we wanted on Saturday, and run out. It seemed so simple in my head.
I must preface my story with an explanation of a few details. In Germany everything is taxed 19%. From the Army, we can purchase Tax Exemption forms to avoid the 19%. At Ikea, you buy everything first, then take your receipt to Customer Service to get a voucher to get the paid tax refunded, then get back in line at the register to get the voucher redeemed. Then you can leave the store with your items and your money. Also, you have to buy everything in cash.
OK. So, even though I was there on a weekday, knew exactly what I wanted, had exactly the right amount of money, and had been briefed on how the Ikea system works, I still had the shopping day from hell.
(Please keep in mind, although this excursion was insane, I still think Ikea is great and would recommend it to everyone I know. I especially recommend it to anyone living in this area. If you need an Ikea Guide, I could be for hire.)
I left for Ikea at 10:30. I got there at 11:00. I had all my items picked out by 12:00. Some of them I had in a cart, others I had order forms for. Some of the items that had order forms, I had to find in a warehouse before I went to the cashier. Other items that had order forms, I had to pay for and then pick up from a different warehouse. One of my items was too large so I had to buy it, pick it up, then drop it off at another desk to order delivery. In figuring out all of this, I had spoken to two sales people who were polite enough to help me, in the best English they could. Their assistance was prompted by something I call Germish. Germish is the hideous term I use to describe the act of me attempting to speak German. It is down-right awful, especially because I normally deliver it with a scrunched face.
So armed with a vague idea of where I needed to go, and what I needed to do, I headed to the warehouse. That was another 30 minutes of me fumbling around, trying to use a computer that only speaks German, entering item numbers, trying to score help from sales associates, and piling heavy boxes onto my cart.
I got to the cashier. She didn't speak any English. Luckily, that went smoothly anyway.
Then I waited in line at Customer Service. I had to get a voucher to get back the sales tax I had paid.
Then I went back to the cashier and got my money.
Then I went to the warehouse to get my items I couldn't get myself.
Then I went to Delivery to schedule the drop off of the large item.
Then I hauled everything else out to the car.
I packed it all quite successfully. It was 1:30. I was pumped, thinking I'd be home by 2:00.
NOPE!
As I was packing the car it occurred to me that one of my items may not be correct. To keep this story as concise as possible, let's just say, it looked too small to be what I needed. Against my better judgement (because I just wanted to be done) I went back inside to inquire. Going back inside means walking a 1/4 mile back to the building, going in, upstairs, and then another 1/4 mile to the kitchen department. I waited for a free sales associate. In Germish I explained to her that my large item I just bought was missing a part. After quite sometime we came to the confirmation that I WAS missing something that I needed. At the very end of trying to convey the problem to me she says, "How do you say it in English?".....
And out of nowhere this man behind me says, "Sold Out!"
And the woman says, "Yes, that's it."
I went into a state of shock. I had just spent 3 hours conquering this mission (plus our time on Saturday) and I was being told I couldn't get my goods. I just stood there, frozen. The woman got on the phone and talked to someone. She told me something about going downstairs to a room, to the right of the cashier and getting what I needed.
This was another 1/2 mile trek through Ikea. I got to the room, didn't see what I need, but found a doorbell on a wall. I rang it. More Germish ensued. Finally this sales associate said, "Ah!" Thank God, she knew what I needed. And there is was, the piece I needed to complete my order. My trip was not in vein.
I will summarize the rest of the afternoon. The sales associate had to hold the piece for me. I had to hike back out to the car, get the pieces I didn't need, (because my new piece was a complete package) wait in line at customer service, make the return, go back and get the new piece, buy it, go back to customer service, use a tax form, go back to the cashier, get my tax back again, and get my new piece to the car. Mind you, this new piece is 120cm x 90 cm x 60 cm and made of stainless steal. I'm guessing it weighed as much as I did. I was confident (but not sure) that it was going to fit in the car. I had to take everything else in the car out. I got that piece in. (I'll just say that it was extremely difficult, but I did it, and I didn't scratch my car) Then it was like Tetris trying to get the rest of the goods in around it. Some of the items I had to remove from their boxes to fit in. That meant another trip, this time to the recycling bins at the center of the parking lots.
But I did it. I was done. And I, quite successfully, had managed to get everything I wanted. It was 3:30.
In leaving Ikea and driving home, I got stuck in what is called a "stau." That German for traffic jam. My drive took forever. I almost cried. The GPS actually asked me if I wanted to switch to pedestrian mode! My saving grace was a German classic rock radio station I found. There is nothing more amusing than a German radio announcer's banter followed by some awesome 80's and 90's music.
By the time I got home last night I was fried. Another good thing is that I had bought new wine glasses at Ikea and had a $2 bottle of slammin' French wine to help me forget how stressed my day was.
And the Moral: Nothing is easy. Nothing is cheap. It all comes at a price. and it is a price that I will happily pay. I'm proud to have completed this mission. If I was at home, in the US, this day would have just been aggravating, not noteworthy. But being a foreigner makes every extreme. You know. I may not work a 9-5 and bring in a paycheck. And I may not be a soldier. But I do my part for my country by making sure my husband and I have a cool house to live in with cool furniture, damn it! And it isn't easy.
And the jokes on me because Phil and I decided we still need some more furniture. So it will not be the last time I go to Ikea this week. Yikes! I'm wearing a mouth guard next time :)
P.S. I have no idea what that sign means. I found it on the Internet. Google translates it into "Men need to work. Women on the changing table." And I find that amusing. To further complicate the translation, the sign is in the style of our town signs and the road.

2/10/2012

Oh man, what a day yesterday. In the event that you are pressed for time, I'll begin with the most significant event...Me and the Polizei! This picture is obviously a dramatization. I don't dress that much like a boy anymore.
I spent a portion of the day touring my new city on foot. It was blistery cold and snowing, very beautiful. I snapped some photos with my phone. check them out on the FB. I'm walking to my destination, eyes to the sky, looking around, day dreaming...and all of a sudden a police van whips in front of me and stops. I was stunned. My brain said, "Are they pulling you, a pedestrian, over?"
The answer to that question was, "Ja!"
The cop jumped out of the van and started yelling at me in German. I probably had the stupidest look on my face. In German, I told him that I didn't understand him. At first he looked at me like he wasn't buying it. He asked me where I was from. I thought it was a trick question. I didn't want to sound sarcastic in my answer, but I was like, "Uh, America?" I didn't know what answer he was looking for, like maybe he meant to ask where I was coming from. Anyway he scolded me for crossing the street at a red light. In Germany, when the light is red you DO NOT cross the street, even if there are no cars coming. I had no idea. To make matters worse, I have a horrible habit of walking out into the street whenever I want. Phil yells at me all the time. But Phil has never scolded me as severely as this officer. The way the cop spoke to me, it was like he was personally insulted by my action. He said, "Right there! Right in front of me! You are seeing the red light and walking anyway! You force me to drive over here! You can not just be walking whenever you want! I should be making you pay for this right now!"
Unfortunately for me, I have another bad habit of smiling when I'm nervous. I try to hide it so it comes out more like a smurk. I was fighting, with all my might, to hold it back. I didn't even know what he was talking about. I looked back at the light and asked, "That light?"
"Ja.", he said as he looked at me like I was a jerk. It was the only light, but I was confused because it wasn't a big intersection so I didn't see what the big deal was. Luckily, I pulled myself together in enough time to apologize, call him Sir a million times, and thank him for not taking any Euros from me on the spot. I promised to never do it again. I hope I wasn't lying. It's just that I zone out, and go auto-pilot so easily when I'm walking. But the last thing I want to do is be insulting and irresponsible. So I'll mind the law at all times.
Geez! And before that I was having such a good day too. I translated more paperwork and got a few things taken care of. I even had a successful post office trip. German post offices are nice. In another comparison of Germany and America, our paper is shorter and our envelopes are longer. Isn't that silly? Pricing at the German post office was pretty similar to America. I am glad for this. It won't be too debilitating to my US market.
I went shopping and bought the popular local coffee. I ordered it in half-German. It's hard to speak German when I'm really bad at it, and the clerks know broken English. I wish more of them would force me to sink or swim. This coffee store was weird. In fact, I find a lot of stores around here weird. Most of them don't just sell one thing. They sell a bunch of random items. It's like, you never know what you're going to get. In addition to coffee, this store sold kitchen items, bras and underwear, hair electronics, soap dishes, waffles, cellular phones, and ski pants. Huh? It's called Tchivo, and apparently they have a catalog. You can shop them online, www.tchivo.de.  The only reason you would be interested is because it'll remind you of SkyMall.

2/8/2012

This is the kind of night we are having tonight. I think it's full. Even if it isn't, it's still breathtaking. Nature's beauty is not shy in Germany, day or night. I could stare into my new landscape forever.

But there just isn't time for that :) Our world just keeps on spinning.

There is never a dull moment for us here at our new home. I feel like I am insanely busy. I think one of the reasons is because even the smallest task takes so much extra effort when you're in a new country. (I will now share the small tasks I have completed that have enabled me to breathe easier.)

In our house there are three apartments. We share some chores. There are two signs posted about cleaning and garbage. Today it took me an hour and a half to translate them into English. It's a good thing I did, because today was yellow sack day. I'm glad I didn't miss it. In the winter time it is only twice a month. The yellow sack is the one that contains your plastic. (and by plastic Germans mean anything that isn't biodegradable, glass, metal, a hazmat, or a dirty bandaid, or a light bulb) Even Styrofoam goes in your yellow! I hope they actually know how to recycle Styrofoam. I don't. But I do know how to put the bag out all by myself. (check that box please)

My glass, metal, and old shoes don't get picked up. So I walked them to my neighborhood recycling pods and disposed of them. I had a brisk jog down the steep hill I live on to get there. I'm fortunate not to have had a run-in with any black ice. (check that box please) On my way back up the hill I found my neighborhood mailbox. In Germany they are little and yellow with a horn symbol on them. I dropped a request to my phone company in there. (check that box too) The funny thing is I left myself 45 minutes to complete those tasks. I guess I thought they were going to be impossible. I was done in ten minutes. I gave myself bonus points for that. Lastly, I decided to work on our phone. We got it free from the phone company. The screen and the voice were all in German. I was (35 minutes) into translating every word on it until I translated the words that lead to you switching the language of the phone from German to English. "Hot Dog!", I thought, "I'm really on a roll!"

Since I got my phone to go English I almost decided to skip my evening activity, but then decided better of it. I had my first German lesson tonight. Phil is taking the class with me. He's a real champ for doing it because his work days are pretty long. The last thing I think anyone wants to add to a long work week is an extended hump-day. We both had fun at class. And there was free pizza! One down, nine to go! The classes are free with the Army. It's a hidden bonus. You have to be willing to look.

Side note: The pizza in Germany isn't very impressive. Luckily, that's not what I'm here for. I think when Germans want good pizza they go to Italy. I bet the 'kraut in Italy is horrible.

The other thing that I think is really funny about this Army base is how spread out it is. You got a library 20 minutes from the commissary, that's right next to the gym, but the theater is on the other side of the highway (through a different gate that you can drive through but if you walk you have to show ID again) and if you're an Apache pilot your 45 minutes away. I haven't seen a campus this disjointed since I attended NYU. Too bad there aren't any subway stops connecting all of our Kasernes. (Isn't that cute? They call the bases Kasernes. I'm guessing it's a German word, but I haven't looked it up.)

2/6/2012

As I was unable to get a great shot of Phil or me on a T-bar, I found a substitute on a blog called Tara in Bamberg. Here's the link for credit.
It has been quite an exhausting five days, but in a good way for sure. On Friday all of our possesions arrived. Unloading and sorting took all day. The moving men were great. I bought them donuts. (I don't know what they're called in German) Friday was so long. The thought of doing this every three years is enough to make me never buy anything, ever again. I don't want to have to keep packing and unpacking it. But it was nice to sleep in my own bed, for the first time in two months.
We were barely unpacked and off to snowboard early Saturday morning. It was a great trip to Oberjach, Germany. The resort was pretty small. The lift ticket only cost E 29,0. (that's $38) If anyone is a skier you know in America the average lift ticket is $70. The resort was cute. There was only one six pack lift and the rest were T-bars. T-bars are fine, if you ski. They are a snowboarders nightmare though. I have a bruise on my hip from riding it. At one point, Phil tried to take my picture riding the T-bar. For show, I decided to ride it like I was playing it as a guitar. Of course, I fell off. We were only halfway up and I had to ride down to start all over again. I found it quite amusing, so did the people behind me. It wasn't the biggest mountain we've ever skied, but the snow was great. The bus ride back was fun. We got to chatting more with the other people on the trip. They were all Army or DoD civilian workers. The trip was hosted by our outdoor recreation club. It was reasonably priced and stress free. I would say it was the perfect experience for our first in Europe. We will go on many of these Outdoor Rec. trips in the future. I hope some of the folks we met do the same thing. One of the highlights on the drive for us was the rest stop. The bathroom was packed! And, as I have said before, you have to pay to use it. This time it was 70 cents. But with this trip to the bathroom came a voucher for 50 cents to spend on rest stop refreshments. I thought it was a nice idea. Phil was like, "What am I going to do? Buy a cup of coffee so I have to pee again? This vicious cycle will never end."
P.S. When I say packed, I mean PACKED. You literally cram in, and out, of the same turnstiles. What is funny is that we noted later this is the same procedure the Germans use for getting on the lift. It's a real Charlie-Foxtrot. The bathrooms were crazy clean though. When you are finished there is a sanitizer machine that protrudes out and cleans the seat for the next person. I like it.
That was it for our R&R this weekend. On Sunday it was back to the grind of unpacking, sorting, and cleaning. I tried my hand at laundry. It sucked. As excited as we were about our new washer and dryer, it isn't as easy as it looks. It is highly efficient (which is great) but it takes forever. Literally, one load took me 4 hours to wash and dry. Needless to say, I will not be a clean-freak in Germany. Nor will Phil and I be using cloth napkins like we did at home.
We are still working on figuring out the trash/recycle system here. There are some items I just don't know what to do with. We also have no idea when the stuff gets picked up, and what we are responsible for dropping off. It'll all come in good time I'm sure.
The good news is our phone and Internet are fabulous.
According to our neighbor upstairs Germans don't warm up their cars before they drive. They don't like letting out the extra pollution. Phil is not down with this, but we don't want to offend the neighborhood. So, we will comply for now. I will say though, that a cold car does not get into gear easily. Nor is the power steering stoked to get moving when it is super cold. I'm sure we will come across many nuances like this in our new life. Thankfully, the bottom line is that we are still lovin' it. It is such a super opportunity to be able to engross ourselves in a new culture and lifestyle. It is so different than what we've been used to. It really is like putting your shoe on the opposite foot.

2/1/2012

My new house is the best. Here's the view from my kitchen door. Check this out: It's -7 degrees Celsius, and I am eating a snack here, and I'm not cold at all! How's that for insulation? This is definitely a first for me. Usually, in the winter, I avoid doors and windows. If this joint wasn't so sealed it would be a buzz kill because we've got a lot of windows and doors.

I'm a day late here. Yesterday was spent with me cleaning every nook and cranny of my kitchen. Really, it took me all day. I was exhausted, and ran out of time, so I bagged any computer stuff. In case your interested, you could definitely sip champagne out of my trash collector. You could store your toothbrush in my drawers or eat sushi off my oven door. No nasties anywhere. We'll see how long it stays that way. Luckily, there are plenty of cool eateries to try in town.

A small shipment of goods came yesterday. Unpacking that was fun too. Check out the tape ball I made. I placed the canteen there for size reference. This is the packing tape that came with 400 lbs of stuff. I plan on saving it to have to compare to the 4000 lbs of inventory coming on Friday.

I also saved the wrapping paper everything came in. Of course Phil wants to recycle it (to get it out of the house) and I want to reuse it. My vision is that I will make lots of paintings, and sell them, thus making this packaging a must keep. If only I could reuse tape. I plan on photographing my enormous pile of paper when I'm done too. I need to show everyone. I think you will find it as incredible as I do. As I was neatly folding it all I couldn't help but multiply in my head. It was 400 lbs. The maximum weight allowed is 12,000 lbs. Let's just say that's the average weight of goods on a move. (really it's probably a lot more) 12,000 lbs of property gets wrapped, for every family, every three years. Then, I'm assuming, the paper gets thrown away. Who ever owns this packaging paper company, that sells to Covan, loves the Army. And other people move a lot too, so I'm sure they love them just as much.

1/30/2012

The yogurt here is freakin' awesome! I love it. It's rich, and creamy, and sweet. (without tasting like sugar) Most of the dairy seems to come from Denmark. In my nightly prayers I have been thanking ?God for Danish cows. Now I wouldn't cook with it, but the Danish yogurt would crush Greek yogurt in a throwdown any day. It's truly like desert. If I was blindfolded and you told me I was eating melting Ben and Jerry's I might believe you, especially if you read me the nutrition facts :)    
In other news, I spent the better part of the day cleaning my new house. Half of our goods are coming tomorrow, and the rest on Friday. I figured I should give the house a good scrubbin' before all that goes down. Because doing it after 4000 lbs of stuff arrives would just be more complicated. Our kitchen cabinets and drawers are crazy. I've never seen anything like them. They are an organizer's dream. Our neighbors were bustling around the house today too. We all had a chat. (as best as we could have) Katarina and Ludwig live upstairs, and Ava lives downstairs. Isn't that classic?
Our washer and dryer come tomorrow too. They are Army issue. Sweet, huh? They also issue us closets, because German rooms don't have them. Some people that live on the economy don't have a real kitchen. The Army sort-of issues them one. I don't know if I could deal with that.

1/29/2012

Yesterday Phil and I shopped our butts off. We got actual snow, that stuck to the ground and stayed there. It was beautiful. It’s the first snowy day we’ve had in a while. Unlike most people who stay inside when it snows, we ventured out. Mostly we traveled on heavily trafficked roads, but twice we detoured on some back roads to explore more of the countryside. It was lovely. And it was also really fun to take the Subaru around on some white roads.

Our first stop was the local chain coffee shop. The coffee at the hotel was really starting to get us down. I know that we are snobs about our coffee, but this hotel’s coffee is pretty pitiful. The coffee shop is called the Brothaus. It’s a bakery and coffee place. Of course you know we had to have some bread with our coffee too. Fruhstuckescroissants to be precise.

After breakfast we hit the stores. Since we were so pumped about our snowboard trip next weekend, and it was actually snowing, we headed straight for the ski shop. We have one at our mall called InterSport. I guess they are pretty big in Germany. They have their own line of ski equipment, a store brand, if you will. The equipment is actually manufactured by a legit ski company that allows Inter Sport to put their name on it. If you’re thinking that Phil bought a new snowboard you are wrong. We bought cross country skis. Isn’t that a riot? (and by riot I mean a bit out of character  for us) Part of me was thinking that it was a bit fogey of us, but the other part of me was excited for a new sport. It’s a sport that we can enjoy in our own backyard. We’ve got these dreamy ideas of leaving our house with the skis on, cruising to the next town, getting lunch, and cruisin’ back home. Whether or not this comes to fruition will be dependant on us actually getting enough snow. Where we are geographically located isn’t necessarily known for its snowfall. Most likely we will end up driving a bit south to enjoy our new toys. But it’ll still be cheaper than a lift ticket. There remains a fighting chance however, that the tail end of winter could pick up in the snow department. You just never know.

I would recommend Inter Sport to anyone here interested in getting some sports equipment. The staff there was great. In particular, our salesman’s name was Barry and he was kind enough to speak English to us. He also gave us a bunch of great tips on where to go to enjoy our equipment.

After our unextreme-sports-equipment purchase we headed out to get some necessities for the house. Discovering the many home improvement store options here was great. In Germany it’s a lot like America. They’ve got a Lowe’s. It’s called Praktiker. It’s signature color is blue. It is attached to the mall. This makes it the easiest one to go to, but not the best. Germans also have a Home Depot. It is called Obi. And you guessed it, their signature color is orange. They have a bunch of items that Praktiker doesn’t have. But the store that really takes itself seriously is the BGU. BGU stands for something but I can’t pronounce it or spell it. This store was like the gourmet store of tool shops. It was huge, and located in an industrial complex. It is where serious German craftsmen and farmers get their fix. The store was wonderful, and it smelled like wood, not plastic. In addition to the normal hardware store department, they also have a framing and arts & crafts department.  I was in heaven. Luckily for us BGU has a staff member that speaks English. His name was Herr Stokes, but he let us call him Carl. He gave us a tour, complete with a description of their massive splitters. Like Inter Sport, BGU has its own line of equipment and they are very proud of it. Machines that cut down trees, split logs, and gather them, are amazing. The number of Germans that cut down their own trees was surprising to Phil and I. So many people here still burn a lot of wood. I think it is lovely and I wish Phil and I had a fireplace or wood burning stove. But alas we do not. We bought some candles at BGU instead.

We ended the day with dinner at Piccolo Mundo. I think it is our favorite restaurant in Ansbach, not that we’ve really been to that many. The waiter, Dino, is incredibly nice. He smiles a lot. He lets me talk in German. He lets Phil talk in French. And he speaks back to us in English, German, and French. The three of us were having trouble communicating about seafood. So Dino just brought out all of the options, in the flesh. For me he chose a whole fish and had the kitchen fillet it and serve it in a light lemon and tomato sauce. Phil got spaghetti and clams, Dino’s favorite.

By the end of dinner and the end of the day, our bellies were full and Phil’s wallet was empty. He had nothing more than a few cents in his new coin purse. We slept like rocks.

1/27/2012
One of the toughest decisions we've made, so far here, has been who to get Internet and phone from. In Germany there are a lot of competitors, plans, contracts, clauses, and inopportunity based on location. Throw the Army into the mix and you don't know who to believe. We've had to decide between going with the government contracted TKS and choosing our own. We get the option to decide since we live off post. In trying to get opinions from folks around here you get a million answers..."don't do this...do that...my friend did this and got screwed." The only thing you can be sure of is your own research. And I did it, to find that there is no one great answer. But I did find an extremely helpful and friendly salesman at Kabel Deutschland. So we went with them. We're confident that we made the right choice. Our Internet should be as fast as our location would allow. We're not under contract for the Internet. We're under contract for the phone, which is funny. Germans apparently love contracts, and they don't translate them into English. But our contract has a military clause. Our phone plan covers calls to US landlines and cell phones, but not German ones. Funny, right? I could go on, but there is no need to bore you. I was just serving it up as another slice of our life.
If you find this topic interesting I will go on to describe how Germans don't call land line to cell phone or vise-versa. They only call handy to handy, and land line to land line. And with cell phones (handies) you don't get a plan with minutes. You get a plan based on which cell phone providers' customers you are calling. Could it be more confusing?
Needless to say, I do not have a cell phone yet. I may not get around to getting one. Phil has one. He got it with TKS so he can talk to everyone to/from work. The plan isn't bad and the phone was $1.
Everything seems OK so far, but I can't wait for the first month's bills to come in. I'm planning on buying a couple of biers for that day!

1/24/2012
Yesterday was the first difficult day Phil and I had here so far, and really it was not that bad. I think it felt worse because I have been on Cloud 9 since my first day. So it was good to be brought back to reality.
When you move in the military there are a million bases you need to make sure you cover. This is not only at the place you just left, but the place where you are. And forget about it, if there is anything in between. And by this I mean, you're screwed if there's a 29 day holiday in between. I think it is impossible to keep track of all of your paperwork and such.
As many of you know, when you move you pay for it up front and the Army reimburses you for most of it on the back end. Without getting into it, this was our snafu yesterday. A Personally Procured Move is not for the faint of heart. Trying to handle this DPS business, and license plates, and registration, and medical records, and dental, and Internet, and phone, and furniture rental, and UB drop off, and finance, and trying to feed ourselves was a bit much for me to handle. Good thing for me I found a new theme song. You might know it. It is called Be So Happy by The Heartless Bastards. The Album is called The Mountain. I don't love it, but I do love this song. I memorized the words from the first time I heard it. I had to sing them to myself yesterday in order to keep a smile on my face. They are as follows:

I could be so happy
If I just quit being sad
I could be so happy
If I just quit being a drag
I could be so sweet
If I just quit being sour
I could do all these things
Oh, I have the power

I'm going to see what tomorrow brings
I'm gonna make it to the midnight train
I'm going to see what tomorrow brings
I'm gonna take it to the world outside

So I took off running
I ran over the hills
My oddessey through concrete and steel
Gonna keep on going
I don't want to stand still
Gonna keep on going
I don't want to stand still

I'm going to see what tomorrow brings
I'm gonna make it to the midnight train
I'm going to see what tomorrow brings
I'm gonna take it to the world outside

I think it is absolutely normal to get overwhelmed with life. It is messy and intimidating. But one thing I refuse to do is let it prevent me from living it. I definitely hate standing still. So pick up a few of these song lyrics the next time you need encouragement. It's these little things that can work wonders.

Today was a much better day. I actually tackled everything that got messed up yesterday. And it has been my experience thus far that as long as you are pleasant in dealing with people, they are pleasant back. I 100% enjoyed everyone I dealt with today. This especially includes the guys from Outdoor Recreation who signed me and Phil up for our first trip to ski Oberjoch. Woo-Hoo!

1/23/2012
So, I've noticed something about all of the public restrooms in Germany. Each stall has a toilet bowl scrubber in it. It took me a second to catch on. But then I realised it is there for each individual to clean out the bowl, should they need to, after they use it. (hopefully you know what I mean) What a great idea. Keeping the public restrooms clean is everyones responsibility. Imagine that. Caring about other people is caring about yourself. I love Germany.

Since I'm on the toilet topic I will also add that I love the double-setting on the flusher. Unfortunately it did not make my photo's composition. Anyway, it's got a big flush (hopefully you know what I mean) and a little flush. Too cute.

1/22/2012
So I thought Germany's weather was pretty similar to the Northeast. I was a bit off in that assumption. It's definitely colder. It is so cold, and wet, that your car doors will freeze shut. When you try to open them the foam around seal rips. In order to prevent this from happening you've got to lube it up. Isn't that funny? The other day Phil had to buy a tub of Vaseline and rub it all down. Oh yea.

Recently there have been many (alternative) habits that Phil has to get into. One of my favorites is carrying around, what I like to call, a man purse. It is necessary to carry around a lot of coinage here. And it doesn't fit in a wallet so men must carry a bag of change. So Phil and I went out and actually shopped to find him a change bag he could relate to. In addition I bought my first umbrella ever. I'm not used to needing an umbrella. Normally I just choose to suffer. But here it rains too much, and I'm outside too much, not to have one.

And since we don't know the language it is a must to carry around a German-English dictionary. Phil and I actually have a couple. I have found one to be much more useful than the other. In fact, the latter sucks. I recommend to anyone traveling/living in a different country to be smart when choosing a language dictionary. And get yourself comfortable with using it prior to needing to do so. It can save you a lot of aggravation.

Lastly. Don't forget. Nothing in Germany is open on Sunday. Actually, I bet Europe is closed on Sundays. Unless you are a baker, working is against the law. We made the mistake of trying to shop today, figuring they made an exception to this rule for the mall. Boy, were we wrong. This isn't Kansas Toto.

1/21/2012

1/19/2012
I learned how to ride the Deutsche Bahn today! And Phil got his license and a house for us! We pick up our car tomorrow (via train) and sign a lease this weekend. We're still waiting for our household goods to arrive. So it'll be a hot second before we're out of the hotel.

Today my train ride was to Wurzburg. It was awesome, with the exception of the torrential down pour all day. The city is beautiful, and full of vineyards. We saw a couple of landmarks, including the oldest wine cellar in Germany. It also appears that there is killer shopping and salons around those parts. No kidding, Germans love shoes. There are shoe stores everywhere... and bakeries. Germans love shoes and bread. I'm excited to go back to Wurzburg with Phil when the weather is better.

1/18/2012
It has been a busy couple of days. We are still living in the Army hotel, but are actively seeking housing. Actually, Phil is doing most of the house hunting. He's doing a great job. We've got one in particular that we really like, but I'm keeping the cat in the bag until things are for sure.

I've been attending something called the "Newcomer's Orientation." It's been in credibly informative. It is a three day crash course to learn all about the installation and the surrounding area. We got a private tour of the commissary on post. We got a long lecture about recycling in Germany. Recycling here is awesome. It is exactly like the trash sorting at Whole Foods, except the entire country does it. Today we rode the bus downtown. I learned how to ask for a ticket in German. We stopped in a Bauernladen. Literally that means "farm store." It was like a gourmet grocery without crazy prices. Wednesdays is also the outdoor farmer's market. I would have taken a picture of it, but my hands were too cold. We also went to the local mall for window shopping and lunch. I had Turkish food, that I ordered in German! After lunch we got a tour of the Ansbach Hospital and the swimming center. I was glad to tour the hospital. I'll be more comfortable if one of us ever ends up there.

While I was doing all of this Phil was continuing to "in-process." There are many people he needs to see upon arriving here. He also got a phone today. Yay! It only cost him one Euro. Sweet deal.

Tomorrow I will be riding the train to Wurzburg. Hopefully I will get some pictures to share. If my hands aren't too cold :)

I’m happy to report that it’s been another couple of days in paradise for Phil and I. Yesterday, in particular, was an awesome day. I’ll take you through it. As I said, Phil got his license on Thursday. Our main objective was to get the car Friday. In order to get to our car in Schwienfurt we had to catch a shuttle to the bus stop, catch the bus to the train, to another train, and finally hop in a cab to get to the lot where our vehicle was shipped. Luckily I had attended the Newcomer’s Orientation, so I knew how to ride all these modes of public transportation.

Schweinfurt is an hour and a half drive from our Hotel. We figured this out on our drive home. Our journey up there took five hours. We boarded the shuttle at 5:52. We caught the bus at 6:57. This part was pretty funny. It was dark, and freezing, windy, and snowing. There were no buildings open on post to wait in, so we stood outside the whole time. As you know, I was freezing. While waiting for the bus Phil mentions how he heard German public transportation is very punctual. As the bus pulls up to the stop Phil tested this theory. He was cracking up, and so was I. The bus was exactly on time, not a second late or early. And we know this to be true because Phil’s watch is set to the atomic clock. We boarded the bus to notice that we were the only ones on it over the age of eighteen. It seems German children ride the public bus to school. I felt really silly. The children were probably wondering what the heck we were doing. It worked out fine and we got to the train station in plenty of time to get a tasse kaffee and use the toiletten for fifty cents before boarding. In Germany you have to pay to use the public restrooms, but they are very clean.

The train and taxi ride were wonderfully easy, no problems. But we were ecstatic to be reunited with our car. Of course Phil vacuumed it out immediately. And, lucky for him, they give you a coupon for a free cleaning at the local car wash. The car didn’t need it, but we took advantage of it anyway.

On the way home Phil got to drive on the mini autobahn. It was only two lanes and had a speed limit. (I apologize if you were expecting something more exciting. We stopped in Wurzburg for lunch before heading home. I have a book titled Backroads of Germany. In it the author recommends a restaurant named The Ratskeller. We used our Euro GPS to find it and ate there. The atmosphere was amazing. You can check it out yourself at http://www.ratskeller-wuerzburg.de/. It was the best meal we’ve had in Germany yet. This was my first time using any recommendations from this book. I’m so pleased by the experience I will surely use this book a lot in the future.

Walking back to the car after lunch we passed an Aveda Salon. Any one who knows me knows how I love to get my hair done, especially at an Aveda salon. Even Phil was excited that we found it and suggested we go in to inquire about their services for me. It is at this point that I did the most embarrassing thing I’ve done in Germany yet. As we walk into the salon the woman says, “Hello. May I help you with something?” I was wearing a hat with two hoods over it. I didn’t really hear what she said. Assuming she said something in German I replied, “Hallo. Sprechen Sie Englisch? Phil started cracking up. She laughed too. It was so funny. I had to laugh at myself too. Thankfully she was nice about it and I’m sure I will go back to get my hair done soon.

With that idiotic situation under my belt I am full of confidence to continue to explore my opportunities to make use of my tiny knowledge of the local language. I believe it couldn’t get much worse than that.

It snowed our entire drive home. We were in heaven. Since we had the car we took it upon ourselves to drive by our new house. We were excited to sign our lease today.

1/16/2012
Here's who Phil will be working with:
12th Combat Aviation Brigade
Wings of Victory

1/16/2012

It is the morning of our fourth day in Germany. We are, still, so excited to be here. Thanks to a couple of friends, we got our first tour of the city of Ansbach yesterday. It's a quaint city with cobblestone streets, neat shops, cozy coffee houses, and beautiful restaurants. In between the monuments of history still alive, we were able to uncover some modern art too. I'm going to love it here. 

In a few of our former towns of residence, Phil and I were privy to extrememly fresh seafood. In St. Augustine we had a market two blocks from our house. I could walk there in my bare feet, order a fish, and have it freshly fileted while I went next door and bought some produce and fresh bread. In Manasquan I was acustomed to eating seafood right off the boats, literally. A scallop could go from ocean, to boat, outta shell, and into my mouth in less than an hour. I didn’t even need it cooked. I miss those culinary treats. I never thought we’d have anything like that in Germany. We aren’t exactly living on the water. But we do live near water, lakes and rivers that is. And I am fortunate enough to have a neighbor that loves to fish. (and hunt…and pick berries…and drink beer)

Yesterday evening Phil and I were preparing for a normal Monday night. I was going to steam vegetables, dress them, and we would eat them with rice. That’s when our door bell rang. It was the neighbor. She had a casserole dish with a big ‘ol fish in it. She asked us if we wanted it. Her husband had just gone fishing and they had six, so they thought they’d share one with us. Jack Pot! “Sure,” we said, “but what do we do with it?”

As much as I love fish, I’ve never fileted my own fish. So Katarina proceeded to come inside and show us how she prepares Rainbow Trout. She demonstrated the fileting, the scraping of the scales, the dressing, and her cooking time. It was cool. She left and Phil got down to work. I wasn’t ready to chop the head off a fish. It was still moving! I snapped a photo of it.             We cooked the fish like she said and had a blast eating it. It reminds me of eating crabs, or something. It’s not easy. There is much work to be done getting out the little bones in between each bite. I wish I had had a savvy way to remove them before hand. Anyway, thanks to the neighbors, dinner went from drab to fab. It was neat to enjoy the fresh offerings. And by that I mean a fish caught with a man’s hands, not farmed.

It’s like everyday, that I am getting new surprises from life. I can’t wait for what the future has in store.

THE DRIVE:

We decided to drive instead of taking a plane or a train. In retrospect I’m not sure this was the best idea. But, at the very least, we can say that we have a European Cross Country under our belt. It is over 1000 km from our home in Ansbach to Biscarrosse Plage. It is easy for a foreign driver to be comfortable in France. They don’t drive nearly as fast as they do in Germany, which is a relief. But I wouldn’t say they have any less issues. Between the two countries we hit a healthy amount of traffic and saw more than one accident. We never got lost, which was nice, but we did have to take a few detours. It was good to have a GPS as well as an atlas. Gas costs a bomb in France. Not including filling up at Army posts we spent 504.00 Euros. ( $650.00, Yikes!) The tolls were a bit over the top also, 135.00 Euros. ($175.00) On the way to our destination we hung north in France and on the way home we hung a bit south. I think we encurred less tolls on the way home because of this.

The views out the car window were marvelous. We saw everything you could imagine; quaint villlages, lush green fields, electric yellow crop fields, windmills, farms, cows, rolling hills, snow capped mountains, vineyards, beautiful skies, churches, clock towers, castles…the list could go on for pages. The gorgeous scenery was worth the price of admission. There is something so romantic about driving. Aside from having a new world out the window to entertain us, we also had language learning CD’s I got from the library. On the way to France we practised French, and on the way home we practised our German.

ORLEANS:

The drive from Ansbach, with stops, was about 7 hours. As I mentioned, it was easy enough. Our hotel in Orleans was great, St. Martin. (www.hotel-st-martin.fr) It was small, clean, reasonably priced, and had free parking. The door attendants were lovely. This is crazy though…the hotel had no elevator. We were four flights up! Luckily, Phil and I enjoy a bit of extra exercise.

Orleans is a great weekend city. They have just the perfect amount of things to see, as well as entertainment to be enjoyed. Navigating the city is easy and safe. It’s the perfect walking city. We found a new favorite beer in Orleans, Pelforth Brune. (www.pelforth.fr) One of my guide books recommended an awesome restaurant with a ton of charm, Brin de Zinc. We shared some escargot for an appetizer. It was Phil’s first time, my second. They were served on a slate. We both had a huge pot of mussels for dinner. Mine were topped with a huge slice of blue cheese. Marvelous. It was also nice to have a selection of beers from different countries on the menu. In Germany you, usually, only get the local beer. In France you get French, German, and Belgian selections. Rue de Borgogne was a fun street in Orleans. It’s like the main drag. Phil and I made a mini bar crawl out of it. We were looking for some jazz mentioned in the guide book. We never found it. The guide books are interesting company. Sometimes they are spot-on, and sometimes they’re spot-off.

BISCARROSSE:

This was the main event in our voyage. We chose Biscarrosse because it is known for its waves. After too much great skiing, Phil and I thought we’d plan an early surf trip. Great idea, right?…Keep the good times rollin’ in ol’ Europe….Mmmm…maybe not. Let’s just say the cosmos were lined against us on this trip. They were lined up against us like the starting defensive line of the Packers. Faced with this situation, knowing there was fun to be had somewhere behind this defense, we grabbed our guide book and scurried right between their legs. In other words, despite terrible weather, no surf, and a less than desirable rental (for five days) we had a blast.

Biscarrosse is a great beach town; very quaint. If you are familiar, it is a lot like Mannasquan, NJ. There are a few hotels, but more visitors stay in small houses. Our house was nice, but it didn’t have heat. Yikes! And because of the hellacious weather  we were forced to make constant use of the space heaters provided by the owner. It was a bit like camping…in a house. I needed to stay close to the heat source.

As I said, Biscarrosse is one of the best places to surf in France. This is the reason we went. And as can happen on any ski or surf vacation, we got skunked. The waves in Biscarrosse are some of the most consistent in the world. Unfortunately for us (more unfortunate for Phil, the actual surfer) the weather made it imposssible to surf. The weather made it practically impossible to do anything. This region of France, Arcachon, is known for its outdoor activities. 45 knot winds and pouring rain don’t necessarily allow one to enjoy being outside.

Needless to say, our first day there, my birthday, we sought alternative means of entertainment. Our first priority was to reach the beach and see where the water was meeting the sand, at any cost. We quickly retreated back to town though. We found a nice spot for happy hour on the beach front road, La Friterie Belge, and the sun came out a bit. The owner, his daughter, and his brother-in-law, were terribly welcoming to us. We talked to them for a while, in English and a bit of French. This was the first time Phil realised he remembered way more French than he thought. In chatting with these people I was amazed at how many different cultures and languages Europeans can be familiar with. This is obviously due to the proximity of so many countires to one another. But it also seems that people have had to move to find work, or escape war and persecution. As an American, I am jealous of the rich cultures and traditions these people understand. But I also feel quite fortunate to never have had to run from anything, or look too far to find something. The differences I shared with the family of this restaurant were intriguing. Nando, the brother-in-law, makes a killer french frie. Of course, he has a secret ingredient which I will not share. But I will say, vegetarians beware. He has also invented a nifty carton to hold the fries and your dipping sauce. He is currently awaiting a patten.

For dinner we ended up at the hippest pizza joint in town. The owner, Lu Lu, is a former flight attendant, artist, gallery owner, and restauranteur. It seemed to me that his spot was a bit of a hang out for local artists. (And really I should say grafitti artists.) There is a lot of grafitti in Biscarrosse, and in Frnace in general. Unfortunatley, much of it is really good. Phil and I were really turned on to the art of the town. Lu Lu introduced us to a few of the artists and we bought a painting. The painting was like a second birthday present for me.

My birthday didn’t stop there. After dinner we went to the town casino, for giggles. I’ve never been to such a mini casino. We played a couple of rounds of French Roulette (It’s different than American Roulette. They use a huge bouncy ball that looks like a Hand Ball) We were up 10 Euros and left the table because we got scared. We obviously aren’t gamblers. After roulette the manager of the casino (had recognized it was my birthday on my ID) and brought us a bottle of Moet & Chandon to celebrate. How sweet is that? Apparently it is the custom in France. Fancy. This night we got home at a typical European hour J

But so as not to waste any of our vacation, we were up bright and early. To really kick start my day, I ran and jumped in the ocean. This would be the only time either one of us was in the ocean all week. I love the ocean. It was awesome. (And for those of you that know me, I did not stay in long enough to get an allergic reaction.) Continuing with customary behavior we had coffee in a bar. This struck us as too funny to pass up. Most of the bars were open. They were aired out, bright, squeezing fresh orange juice, perkin’ some killer coffee, serving croissants, and playing the latest music videos on TV. It was ridiculous. No, we did not order any alcohol.

Our afternoon entertainment that day consisted of the Musee de l’Hydraviation. There is a huge lake in Biscarrosse. Historically it is known as the birthplace of European Sea Planes. It was neat. (for Phil)

Back in town that night we had the most awesome Paella and home made ice cream ever, at La Casa Luis.

The next day the clouds parted long enough for us to visit Arcachon. It is a town just north of us, known for its enormous sand dune, Dune de Pilat. You wouldn’t believe it. The thing is over 300 ft tall. It is still growing too, 4ft per year. It swallows everything in its path…trees…even a hotel! We had fun climbing up and down this dune, taking some photos and video, and splashing in the water again. I am glad I had rubber boots.

That night we had dinner at the fanciest seafood joint in town. Surprisingly, we didn’t love it. The menu boasted Calamari Romaine, fried calamari. It was nothing like in America. We were so disappointed. To describe it I would say it was calamari fried in funnel cake batter and served without marinara. We also ordered some local oysters. We love oysters. However, the French do not serve their oysters with cocktail, crackers, lemon, and extra horseradish. (I don’t know why I thought they would.) Instead they serve them, in the shell, in a pool of ocean water. They were so small, and sooo salty. I ate one and couldn’t go back for more. Despite not loving dinner, we enjoyed the restaurant. The people who worked there were great. We had a funny conversation with them that consisted trying to understand a French quote. They found it impossible to explain due to their  lack of English, and our minimal French. The matron actually called a friend of hers and put her on the phone with Phil. It didn’t help, but we all had a good laugh. The quote is Changez la thon, Iodonez vo la vie. This restaurant also had great wetnaps that looked like mints. Phil and I would have tried to eat them if the waitor had not demonstrated the procedure. They put the “mint” in a dish and pour water on it and it grows into a large wetnap. Genious.

BORDEAUX:

Wednesday we rode the train to the city of Bordeaux, and proceeded to do a ton of walking. As is typical we saw a couple of churches and an Opera House, but only from the outside. We weren’t having any luck with getting in. We did however, have some great coffee at the cute café of the Opera House and bought some amazing chocolate across the street at Maison Larnicol. (www.vosges.com used to be my favorite chocolate. Now it is www.larnicol.com) We saw the bridge and their famous outdoor sculpture, Mirror D’eau. The funny thing is this sculpture is a small layer of water that reflects the historic city buildings. Since it was so rainy and windy, the sculpture wasn’t at its prime. (Pretty standard for our trip.) We also saw La Marche des Capucines, this is a market really similar to the Reading Terminal Market. We almost felt at home. My favorite site in Bordeaux was the Musee d’art Contemporain. It’s a beautiful old salt factory turned contemporary art house. We didn’t love any of the current shows, but it was amazing to tour the building. They are in the process of building a huge half pipe on the ground level. They will paint it and throughout the summer you can go and watch skateboarding in the museum…trendy!

Something they don’t allude to in the guide books is how seedy the city actually is. On your walk to the center city from the train you pass a bunch of adult shops and skeevy stores. A couple of times we found ourselves in neighborhoods that were less than awesome. In trying to find the main catherdral of the city, we walked into a bad neighborhood and found the abandoned catherdral (I’m guessing) and were a bit confused. The guide book said the catherdral wasn’t known for its beauty, but the one we stood in front of was really awful. We renegotiated the map and righted the situation. Another time, against my better judgement, I bought a crepe from a stand in a park. It turned out to be the crepe of my life. I guess you never know. 

THE MEDOC:

Thursday we took the train to Bordeaux again. This time it was to join a tour of wine country. Group tours aren’t necessarily our bag, but considering the luck we’d had on our excursions we figured better safe in wine country than sorry. ( For a number of reasons) The train to Bordeaux leaves from  a cute little town called Gujan Mestras. It’s a fishing town. We were a bit early for the train so we strolled around and took some pictures. I love photographing boat docks and big gnarley fishing boats. We also had a cup of coffee and croissant in a bar. (I really can’t understand why this is the deal…in every town.)

There are many a chateau, in many a region surrounding Bordeaux to visit. Our bus went to two chateaus in the Medoc. I was happy to not have to decide where to go. The bus wasn’t bad, and we got a lot of history about the wine industry from the guide. A Bordeaux wine is never made of only one grape. It will always be a blend, usually cabernet and merlot. The grapes of the regions have many different characteristics. The wines of the Medoc have characteristics of the mountains, as opposed to others which can have characteristics of the sea. Our first winery was in the Margot Appalacians, Chateau La Laudey. The guy that owns this winery is the guy who produces all the wire nets that go around certain brands of wine. Random, right? (Like…this winery is owned by the guy that invented pliable erasers…or whatever.) At La Laudey we were served three wines and given a complete description of the process from grape to bottle. (I will not bore you with the details now, but I will suggest you go on a wine tour of your own someday.) They were all good, but surprisingly we liked the Rose the best. It was the dryest rose I’ve ever had. Who knew? On our way to the second winery the bus stopped at a winery that you are not allowed to enter. The guide suggested that we all get out and snap photos from the gate. I was a bit appauled, but everyone else was into it. (They all probably read tabloids too, and have been on the tour bus that goes to all the famous people’s houses in Beverly Hills.) Anyway, the second winery was Las Combes. It was fabulous; charming, enchanting, everything you’d expect from an 18^th Century vineyard. It’s currently owned by the doctors and dentists association of France. We had two wines there. The second wine was worth 86 Euros a bottle…and we didn’t finish it all! Phil and I joked about sneaking it back with us in his bookbag. (typical Americans!)

After the wine tour we had dinner in the city. We ate at Café de Arts. We tried duck for the first time. It was amazing. Phil now calls ducks, flying cows. I couldn’t believe how unlike chicken, duck actually is. Marvelous! Café de Arts was one of the bonus dinners on the trip. The restaurant had great charm, friendly service, and reasonably priced wine.

PARAY LE MONIAL:

And that brings us to Friday Morning, our last few hours in Biscarrosse. It was sunny, of course, and the ocean was perfect. We got up, grabbed coffee, pastries, bread for the drive, and checked the beach. By this time there were already five surfers in the water…practically getting barrelled. I felt so sorry for Phil. I’m not the best surfer, so I didn’t mind our inability to surf. But I know he was really bummed about it.

Our drive back through France was awesome. As I said earlier, we started in on our German Language Learning. It was so funny to hear Phil speaking German after hearing him speak so much French. (I don’t know if I stressed this enough, but Phil spoke a ton of French while we were in France. I don’t think we would have had as great a time as we did, were it not for his language abilities.) At 4:30 we hit stopped traffic. We literally had to turn our car off and get out and wait. It was so weird, that’s never happened to me before. I hung out in the highway, for like, an hour. When we started moving again it was to be turned around and led off the highway. There was slow traffic on every mini-town-road we went down. In the town of Diou we stopped in a Tabac (French convenience store) and the gentleman working directed us to the town of Paray Le Monial, to stop for the night. What a great town it was! We really lucked out with this unplanned stop. We stayed at a lovely hotel called 3 Pigeons, which we found terribly amusing on multiple levels. We had a fabulous Italian dinner on the riverfront and tasted some of the local Burgundy wine. I was surprised to note how different it actually was from Bordeaux wine. We walked the town after dinner, which was complete with many darling shops , a romantically lit clock tower, and an 11^th Century church. As is standard procedure, on our walk we found the one bar in town. It was called Palace of Beer. (What a funny name.) We met a couple of really great people at the bar, who are now (obviously) my friends on the FB. It was perfect because Phil got one last chance to use his French speaking skills. He actually made a joke that night. He was failing in an attempt to ask our new friends if he could buy them a drink. He asked how one says it in French. Very innocently the frenchman replies to Phil and says it. Phil realised the door he just opened, and said in French, “I’d love a drink! Thank you for asking!” (note to self: this joke could work in any language, in any country) We all laughed and Phil bought the drinks.

The next morning we were up bright and early. We visited the French bakery one last time and were back on the road.

WALDENBURG, GERMANY:

On our way back to Germany I had many an interesting thought. My first thought was that I’m good on wine, and cheese, and croissants, and rain, and European traffic for a while. I was beginning to look forward to my house, German Spring sun, my blooming yard, and maybe some dark bread. I was looking forward to recycling again. We didn’t recycle once in France. I realised that hotel breakfast is always a rip off. I was glad we took some extra fruit and cheese for the road. I also recounted all the new sayings we learned in French and I hope I never forget them.

While in France we learned so much about the language, the history, and daily life. We didn’t get to surf, but we had great adventures in the supermarket, at the gas station, and at the dinner table. In a week’s time Phil and I grew to feel quite at home in France. But there was something so relieving about crossing the border into Germany. We both cheered on our way back in. I realised that Germany is beginning to become familiar to us too. It was an exciting feeling.

Dinner time rolled around and we were still in the car. We had about an hour to Ansbach, but just felt like we couldn’t make it. We pulled off the highway and set the GPS to the nearest restaurant. This was to be our last adventure of the trip. To our wonderful amazement the GPS toured us around a charming road, that led up a mountain to a quaint town called Waldenburg. I couldn’t believe we had lucked out again. It was gorgeous. We ate a fresh, delicious dinner on the terrace of La Pietra, overlooking the countryside at sundown, across the street from a castle. It couldn’t have been more unbelieveable. To really put icing on our cake, the waitress was nice and let us practice our new German language knowledge with her. The poor woman; our German isn’t nearly as charming as Phil’s French. But we’ll get there I think. Waldenburg was so incredible we plan on going back again. If you’re in the area, I strongly recommend it.

Based on this vacation I have redefined the word adventure for myself. An adventure is a potentially miserable, stressful situation that you turn into a enjoyable situation with the powers of your mind and its possitivity. Thank you for checking in with me, and Phil, and our European adventures.