cafe 24

i think the highlight of my friday was my discovery of Cafe 24. it's a little cafe not too far from the hotel where we are staying. i stopped with a book to get some lunch and a cup of coffee and struggled to speak with the server. he asked if i spoke english and then began speaking it perfectly. turns out that he came to Germany from Seattle, WA about 20 years ago. he worked somewhere else and then opened up the cafe and is having the time of his life. i ate a delicious bagel and sipped a mocha for about 2 hours.

when nate got back from work we went to the stuttgart spring festival in a suburb called bad cannstat. or something like that. the festival was a bit like a gigantic turkey festival (the festival in my hometown). rides, rollercoasters, lots of food, and plenty of interesting characters to stare at. nate was in heaven as they had a stand with basically just mushrooms in a variety of sauces. i was in heaven with my nutella crepe. i think i've been averaging two of those a day.

i think the funniest stop was our stop in a large bier tent. people were dancing and singing on what we thought was a gigantic stage. in fact, they were really all just standing on tables. we started to recognize what they were singing.... the song kum-by-ya. lots of drunk germans singing a religious song in a beer tent. hmmm...

today we toured our first apartment. it was huge with a gigantic bathtub. actually bigger than we needed, but oh so nice. we then strolled around the city in the rain, ending up a traditional german restaurant. i had sauerbraten and nate had a schnitzel. both completely different that anything we've had before at a german restaurant in the states! but yummy! we learned that i love spaetzle and nate doesn't like it... no big surprises there. i do love my carbs.

after touring i took nate back to cafe 24. at first the owner didn't recognize me, but after i ordered the mocha again he said ahhhh, yes it's you from yesterday!!! we shuffled through our cell phone brochures (still not sure about that one) and finally asked him for some assistance. he told us that he had spoken to some gentlemen about phones, etc. today and that they had left a phone number. so, he called the phone number and three german sales men came running over to the cafe.

we sat, drinking coffee and talking for quite a while. at first about phone and internet plans, and then about nothing in particular. it was really fun. so far the germans have been quite friendly. well, at least the ones that are trying to sell you something : )