Weekend #2

Weekend #2 in Deutschland was a good one!

On Friday night we were both pretty tired so we grabbed a bite to eat at a local Italian place. I got a meal that ended up being three different pasta dishes. One spaghetti, one pesto, and the other something red with mushrooms but a bit creamy. It was REALLY good! Nate got a salad and proceeded to stare longingly at my plate until I gave in and let him eat some of mine in exchange for the big chunks of salami on top of his salad. We then just walked back to the hotel and watched some episodes of West Wing before crashing.

We set alarms for Saturday morning, but unfortunately turned both of them off and slept until.... 11! Yikes~! So much for all of our plans for the day. Nate's coworker called us, and then picked us up. Her parents also live in Germany and have a very lovely American washer and dryer set. We had an entire suitcase stuffed full of dirty clothes, and were very thankful for her kind offer to let us use her parent's machines! Interesting tidbit... in Germany there are a bunch of cycles they use when washing their clothes. Sometimes it can take 3-4 hours to clean just one load of wash. We put it on the schnell-wash, and only had to wait 70 minutes. Thankfully! So, while our loads were washing, we explored the town her parents live in. And, best of all, we ate at this place called Rainbow Thai. I relished my curry chicken, oh how very good it tasted! Just like the Thai places in DC!

We also went to a nice German grocery store and bought ping pong paddles, balls, and a badminton set. In the park near our hotel we found an outdoor ping pong area and badminton net!!! Yeah! So we spent a small fortune to get the gear, and are really excited about playing when it gets a bit less dreary.

That night we were all excited about trying out this little Schwabian place we had found earlier. We had seen the owner out grilling bratwurst, and it smelled so good. We stomped in, much to the suprise of a bunch of locals that were sitting around smoking and watching TV. We tried to get out to the biergarden where the grill was, but the door was closed. So we sat down... and... waited... Eventually some guy came over and told us that they weren't serving food. We felt pretty stupid, and I was really hungry!!!! So we left with our heads hung low and just walked around. A few blocks later we heard music. Near the SchwabenGallerie a little 30 piece band/orchestra was playing. So we stopped in the courtyard and ate at a little restaurant near the music. The food was great and the atmosphere was terrific. I was glad that our earlier plans were "smoked" out. Ha!

Sunday morning we got up and trekked to a German church we had heard about called City Chapel. It was hard to find, but thankfully after following a couple of girls we made it. They had little headphones with someone translating the service (not so well, but better than nothing!). The singing was great, and the general church population looked young and friendly. Some guy stopped us on the way out. He spoke less English than we spoke German, but we "talked" to him for about 5 minutes, laughing all the way. He handed us a little card listing their services (they have another service on Wednesday nights) and away we went.

Just after noon we met up with Peter and Bettina, some relatives from my mother's side of the family. We hopped on the S-bahn and went to their home in Ludwigsburg. What a wonderful time we had! Peter and Bettina have two girls, one is 11 and the other 14, and a beautiful home with lovely gardens and fruit trees.

The day was pretty much spent talking and eating... literally! They showed us around their garden, and then we ate outside (on the patio) a delicious traditional German feast. Goulasch, spaetzle, and salat. For dessert, icecream with strawberries. My husband was in heaven. After a lot of discussion, out came some sort of cakes... finally, around 7pm, I mentioned that they probably wanted us to leave, and they said OH NO we haven't even eaten supper yet! So, we stayed for supper. Bread, sausages, cold cuts, olives, sheep cheese (yum!), tomatoes, cucumber, and the like. All very good. We sat around talking inside their sun room until the light went away, and then around 9:30 left for Vaihingen.

Oh, and we didn't leave before Bettina gave us 4-5 jars of homemade jam and canned rhubarb. And invited us for their big cherry picking. They said that Peter's mother has a huge cherry tree that needs picking every year. Nate loves to climb trees and quickly offered our help. So I believe he will be climbing, picking, and eating whatever he can in a few months!!!!

Today I've been working here at the hotel, and I went downtown to meet with one real estate person to look at a few apartments. Both apartments were on the top level of apartment buildings with no elevators. AYE!!! I was struggling a bit by the second apartment. Did more nodding than speaking : )

I'm still not sure what we're going to do for an apartment. The places that I have liked the most were (of course) quite expensive. It is going to be an interesting experience learning to live on a smaller salary. But, I'm sure a very good one. Less is more I hear.