Ich konnte in Amsterdam leben.

Aside from the tourists, prostitution, and legalized marijuana use, I could easily live in Amsterdam or somewhere in the Netherlands close.

Monday morning we checked out of our B&B by leaving two bottles of beer and saying thank you to our gracious hosts. We headed back to Amsterdam Centraal station and left our bags in lockers. This inexpensive service is greatly appreciated by visitors and is available in all the main stations I have traveled to in Europe so far. Fortunately our bikes were still locked how we had left them the previous night so we rode around the city again, stopping at a street market outside the tourist center. It was a typical flea market scene with shoes, clothes, nick-nacks, and household products. I was able to accomplish something on my itinerary  by trying the "raw" herring that is so popular. It is actually cooked in salt, so safe for human consumption, and served with onions and pickles. I found it quite tasty!

We kept riding and picked up various items for a picnic lunch in Vondelpark. After returning out bikes we made two liquor store stops. One to pick up a small bottle of jonge (young) and oude (old) jenever, or Dutch gin. The young is similar to vodka with a hint of juniper and the old is closer to whisky. I look forward to trying them soon. The second stop was to the local beer store, The Bierkonig. We were able to find a few local brews recommended by the shop owner and a beer glass. *More information to come on our Netherlands beer finds.








Since we still had some time to kill before our late night train ride home, Ryan and I did some people-watching and took pictures, like creeps, of people riding down the bike lane. Here is what we found:

This week has been pretty uneventful so far, but the weather has been great and I have been enjoying my daily 2 hour walk with Ladell. Sadly, I have not done any cooking or baking from recipe books either. Quite a relaxing week if you ask me...

Amsterdam niemals schläft!

So Amsterdam does sleep from about 4 am until 10 am, but there are always people everywhere!

Sunday morning we woke up at a decent time for breakfast in our room at promptly 8 am. Our "Dutch" breakfast was a pretty standard European breakfast including lots of bread, rolls, and croissants, deli meat and sliced cheese, yogurt, and soft boiled eggs. Side note - I think I hate soft boiled eggs. We were out the door shortly after breakfast to walk across the bridge to Zaanse Schans to look at the old windmills. The windmills are still used today to press oil, saw wood, grind dye or make paper. This place was interesting but definitely a tourist trap. We enjoyed strolling through the streets along the river and taking pictures, bypassing the shops. Many of them did not open until later in the morning anyway. The crowds became overwhelming as we were leaving. There were approximately six or seven coach buses unloading tourists from all over the world so that they can run through the old Dutch neighborhood, snatching up overpriced souvenirs, and clicking quick pictures. I would have enjoyed checking out the coopery  wooden shoe workshop, and distillery museum with a tasting room but we were so turned off by the crowds that we decided to leave.

*In the picture of me on the river, the green house with the boat in front and the B&B on the deck is where we stayed.

Once back in Amsterdam, we headed to a key photospot that I found online where you can see 15 bridges. I ended up laying on the cement to try and capture this "unusual sight." Unfortunately it turns out that you can only see the great view from a boat in the water and there was a service van park in an inconvenient location. *I took the picture through the bicycle spokes on purpose. This is my attempt at being artistic to capture two of the elements that define Amsterdam.

We went to the Bloemenmarkt, the world's only floating flower market, on the city's southern canal belt. Founded in 1862, the market includes 15 florists floating on barges filled with gifts, flowers, and bulbs. I was absolutely overwhelmed by the variety of bulbs that were very reasonably priced.

For lunch we found a neat "take-out" cafe on the lower level on a busy shopping street. We were very pleased with the variety of cold items available and loaded up a tray with quiche, a salmon sandwich, a red cabbage salad, and a smoothie. When I asked if there was a place there that we could eat, I was told that we can eat upstairs but this is the take-out area and everything has to be paid for here. When we walked up the stairs we found a huge cafeteria style restaurant with hot food served on real plates instead of to-go containers. Oops...

After some quick shopping we walked towards a bike rental shop recommended to us by the owners of our Bed and Breakfast. My plan was to rent a bike just for a few hours to ride to a brewery and then return it. Since the shop was closing early, the owner talked us into renting the bikes for 24 hours and I am very glad that we did. The popular style of bike in Amsterdam is more of a 3 speed, heavy cruiser with a big seat, no top bar, a completely enclosed chain, and wide set handlebars. The seat on the bike I was given was way too low for me and I initially had quite a bit of trouble peddling, which was very embarrassing! Thank goodness for quick release seat posts because once I was comfortable on the bike, the ride was fun. The easiest way to kill tourists though is to let them rent a bike in Amsterdam. Although there are many bike lanes, riding around the unfamiliar city is still very dangerous. One has to be aware of cars, delivery trucks, pedestrians walking in the bike lanes, other cyclists that are not tourists, mopeds and scooters, bridges, one way streets, narrow paths, children, garbage on the road, driving stoplights lights, bike-lane lights, and pedestrian walk lights; all while following directions to arrive at the intended destination.

I thoroughly enjoyed biking Amsterdam though and it made for a quick and cheap transportation method to the Brouwerij 't IJ which is on the outer beltline of the city. We arrived at the brewery now located in an old bathhouse next to a windmill just in time for a beer before the brewery tour in English. We were lucky to find a place to lock our bikes at the somewhat crowded brewery with a large patio. The bikes have an intense locking system including a thick chain with a key lock and a Dutch lock on the rear wheel that requires a key to remain in the unlocked position. The lock seems quick secure but I guess a large number of bikes are stolen in the city each year. The beer was great and the tour was definitely the most interesting brewery tour I have ever been on. I am relatively sure that the guide was "high" but spoke near perfect English and seemed somewhat knowledgeable. He described the action of yeast as a "giant orgy" that involves "sweating, feeling great, and being tired afterwards." One of the most interesting things he said though was that the US craft brewery scene serves as a guide for breweries in Belgium and the Netherlands. They want to brew like us!

We stayed for a few beers including a dubel, tripel, barley wine, and witbier. The founder was an intelligent business man serving his craft beer in a small glass with two fingers of head. The concept is newer to Europeans but the brewery is very successful as they just opened a second brewery for bottle production. By the time we were leaving, the bar and patio were absolutely packed.

For dinner, we biked to Winkel outside of the tourist center as well. I believe winkel means "shop" or "store" in Dutch but I found the restaurant in a 10 Best of Amsterdam book because they are known for their apple pie. The restaurant was in the residential northwest side of town with long narrow apartment buildings on diagonal streets. As an appetizer we enjoyed Bitterballen, a local dish similar to fried meatballs served with a spicy mustard. The meatballs are soft in the middle though as if they were mixed with condensed cream of mushroom soup. Dinner included a curry dish for me and a local fish filet for Ryan. Side note: There is actually a small China Town in Amsterdam and curry dishes are extremely popular. We had to try a slice of their apple pie served with a heaping pile of whipped cream and it was fantastic. Different than traditional American apple pie but equally delicious. The crust was thicker and harder, not a pastry crust. Yumm!

After locking our bikes in a popular spot near the train station, we headed back to our B&B. We really were not supposed to leave the bikes unattended overnight but we were not sure of the rules on the train and there was just no way that we were going to make it back to the city in the morning on the train with 2 bikes, 1 rolling suitcase, 2 backpacks, 1 purse, and 1 full shopping bag. That would have been quite a sight for the locals! I'm sure they find the tourists amusing sometimes.

Amsterdam ist eine sehr vielfältige Stadt!

Saturday morning we boarded the train bound for Amsterdam! During our short layover in Cologne, Germany we left the terminal to soak up the sun on the plaza. So far that is all that we have seen of Cologne but we may be headed there later this summer. We arrived at the Amsterdam Centraal Station around 4 pm and we were very confused. This was my first experience in a European Train Station outside of Germany. Nothing made sense and it ended up taking us over an hour to figure out which train we had to take 20 minutes north to the Koog Zaandijk stop. Our first experience in the station was stressful and the customer service desk for the regional trains charges you 50 Euro cents per transaction if they help you. We ended up paying for help. I now have a strong appreciation for the orderliness and efficiency of the German rail system.

Upon successfully exiting the train at our stop, we were overwhelmed by the smell of cocoa. There is a cocoa processing factory directly opposite the train station in Zaandijk. The smell was delicious and very strong but disappeared as soon as we walked a few blocks north. The owners of the B&B where we stayed said that sometimes the smell is a putrid waxy smell but it rarely makes it into the neighborhood. Something out the wind in this area has a great effect on the aromas. We walked down brick roads through apartment complexes to single family homes on the Zaan. I had reserved a room at a Bed and Breakfast in town for both nights and made the arrangement via email.

We arrived at the B&B Zit aan de Zaan just when we were expected at 6 pm and the large green door in the alley was answered by a 10 year old boy. While it turns out that we had rented a large room in a family's home. The couple that owns the narrow and long house on the river were wonderful and had just finished having a casual boat race with friends in a huge 10 man boat when we arrived. They welcomed us into their home with a beer and gave us a tour of the lower level and patio. Their house used to be a restaurant and they had it converted to a living area years ago. The room we stayed in was at the front of the house and had a private shower and sink from the bedroom and the bathroom toilet was accessible just down the hallway. It was a wonderful first B&B experience for Ryan and I and I know the couple would have enjoyed sitting and chatting with us if we had more time in the area. But I had an itinerary...

After settling in, we headed back to the train station to head to the city for dinner and the busy Red Light District. We walked through the Niewmarkt and took in the sights and sounds of Amerstdam. Here are a few things I noticed:

• The Dutch are TALL!
• Amsterdam is a huge tourist city. There are people everywhere.
• The language is similar to German and almost every word has a J in it.
• Everyone speaks English and many Dutch speak English, German, and Dutch.
• There is still some hostility among the locals towards Germany.
• The streets smell like pot. There is literally a street of "Coffee Shops" and it reeks of marijuana.
• Amsterdam is extremely bike friendly and there are bike lanes and highways. Bicyclists actually have the right of way over pedestrians and if you stand in their way you will get hit. Nobody wears a helmet and I was shocked to see people piled on bikes, riding while texting, smoking, drinking, and eating.
• The canals and bridges are awesome!
• Some of the buildings that are tall, narrow, and packed very close together lean. They either lean forwards or to the side and it is quite obvious that the floor is not level.
• There were too many bachelor and bachelorette parties to count. Amsterdam seems to be a popular party destination for young people from the UK. 

We had dinner at the De Bekeerde Suster, a brewery where nuns used to make beer. Ryan and I had two wonderful beers each, shared deliciously dense beer bread, and enjoyed entrees. I had a quiche and Ryan had pork with a mushroom sauce. The main courses on the menu were very similar to German dishes but the beer was incredibly different. We had a tripel, belgian style light and dark beer, and blonde. The beer here is similar to that in Belgium and served in smaller glasses. Germans are very good at hefeweizens and pilsers served in giant half liter glasses and the Dutch are very good at making a variety of beer but I do not feel that they have completely mastered some of them.

After dinner we walked through the busy Red Light District. There is definitely a touristy and mild Red Light District comprised of just sex toy shops, bars, and sex shows on one street. When you round the corner and cross a bridge the scene changes and the walls are windows bordered by a glowing red light. Many windows have the curtain drawn but many more are filled with scantily clad women hoping to get your attention. There really was a woman for everyone as there was young, old, thin, thick, black, white, and the list goes on. SEX!

We called it a night around midnight to get ready for our busy day in the morning. 

Frühling macht meine Tage mit Ladell besser!

So this is random but when I usually make these posts online I use a VPN tunnel to make it seem like I am in the US. Ryan and I also use the internet tunnel so that we can watch Netflix here since it is not available overseas. All of my post titles are in German so when I VPN in, they remain in German and the browser does not translate them because it thinks we are in the US. Today I did not use the VPN so my Blogger homepage is in German and then for some reason it translated all of my blog post titles to English. I was rather confused for a few minutes...

Anyway, this past week has been great. On Sunday I biked just about 50 miles to Tubingen in the afternoon. I stayed mostly on the roads but ventured onto a paved path at one point for safety. There was much more traffic out then I imagined since the weather was so nice. People came out of the woodwork to ride motorcycles and in convertibles, walk, bike, and just sit in the sun eating gelato. You think ice cream is big in the US, well gelato is the most popular thing ever when the sun is shining here. There are gelato stands or restaurants everywhere and the line is always at least 15 people deep.

So this is what Germany is supposed to look like...

 The picture to the left is of sheep! As I was coming into Tubingen I saw these people moving their herd down the river. Downtown Tubingen is pictured on the right. The streets were absolutely packed and there is a bike area next to the river where you have to pay to lock up your bike just as you would pay to park your car on the street. The funny thing is that all these people were just out walking or eating because none of the stores are open on Sundays.

One night this week I make a Chicken Fricasse dish with mushrooms and white asparagus. It is a rather bland looking dish but was quite good. Spargel or white asparagus is very common here. It tastes a little bit different than the traditional American green asparagus but it has the same effect on one's urine.

Ladell and I ventured out into the woods one day for a hike. It was relatively cool but I worked up a sweat carrying all 19 pounds of him in a Baby Bjorn. He fell asleep for half of it and missed all the great views of Stuttgart.

On Wednesday night, Ryan and I had dinner with the Director of Automotive something.... for Bosch North America. He was in Stuttgart for business and invited the two of us to dinner at Restaurant Zum Reussenstein. I usually walk by the restaurant twice a day since it is close to our apartment and I have been curious about their Swabisch food. The menu was great and I ordered Fish with Root Vegetables and a Dill Cream Sauce. My plate arrived with a whole fish on it including the head and a small portion of caviar. I had to filet the fish while avoiding the bones and still looking professional. The dish was delicious and now I can say that I have tasted caviar.  

Ryan is currently away for the next two days at a conference about 30 minutes from Boeblingen but they still put him up in a hotel. Since he is gone and I have absolutely no groceries, I made dinner plans with Rebecca. We have reservations tonight at a Tex-Mex place and I am excited to have a margarita.

Saturday morning we leave for Amsterdam! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Die Schweiz ist sehr teuer!

So first let me start with food and then I will share adventures in Switzerland.

The following was on the menu this week:

- Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Cheddar and Tomato Basil Cheese
I attempted tomato soup from scratch...not my greatest accomplishment but when paired with a delicious grilled cheese sandwich who cares.

- Stuffed Bell Peppers with Oven Roasted Potatoes
These were a great success and the creamy tomato sauce that accompanied them was wonderful with the potatoes too. Yum!




- Brownies mit Guss (Brownies with Frosting)
So my landlord lent me her Amerikanisch Backen book in German and I swear most of the recipes are for things that I have never heard of or seen in America before. There are some trifles, torts, pies, and cakes but they are all very different. I decided to attempt brownies with frosting so I translated the ingredients and directions and went to the store. The brownie part was pretty standard and the only difference was using packets of Vanilla Sugar instead of Vanilla Extract. They are probably the best brownies from scratch  have ever made before. Then we get to the Frosting. The ingredients include orange juice, butter, whipping cream, and susser fruchtspeck. The last thing literally translates to "sweet fruit bacon" and I had no idea what that was. I went to three grocery stores and asked two store clerks and two shoppers (in German of course) what it was and where I could find it. Nobody knew and since one woman suggested I use confectioner's sugar (which makes sense) I tried that. Well it turns out that sweet fruit bacon is an important ingredient because my frosting did not turn out. It made the brownies sweet and moist but FAIL.


- Kaiserschmarren (sweet pancake pieces with raisins)
I made this for breakfast this morning and it was quite delicious. Served with plum compote and actually made with dried blueberries since I bought them on accident, the dish is not as sweet as a typical American pancake. Next time I will serve them with a little bit of honey drizzled on top.

Now onto Switzerland, the most expensive country in the world where the median household income is the equivalent of $100,000. The people have much lower purchasing power though because everything is super expensive. For example, in Zurich, a Double Cheeseburger from McDonalds cost $11! For only the sandwich! One nice thing about Zurich though is that the public bathrooms were free.

We drove into Zurich with two other American trainees early in the morning on Saturday and got right to hiking. We drove to the outskirts of the city where the locals walk, accidentally parked next to the Police building (which we realized upon our return) and walked up hill. We hiked in a rather zigzag fashion to Uetliberg at the top and then walked down a steep incline back to our car. The views were great but I think we did the paths backwards.

Then we drove downtown into the city, parked and walked around the Altstadt. To make the trip cost effective we had lunch from a street vendor of sausage and burgers. We did not obtain Swiss Francs but everyone we encountered accepted either Euros or credit cards. It was definitely a gorgeous day so we enjoyed the views of the city and then decided spontaneously to take a 1.5 hour round trip boat ride around the lake. The wind was a little cool but we enjoyed the lakeshore views of the city and surrounding areas. We window shopped for a little while before heading back to our car to drive South to Rapperswil near the bottom of the lake. The drive was about 30 minutes on the interstate with the lake on our left and the mountains on our right. Pretty awesome!

After parking in this small old village, I wanted to check out a brewery that I found online. It was located in a  warehouse subdivision and we almost missed it. The craft brewery had a bar and small tables with the brewery in the back and when we walked in we heard English. The craft brewery was started by a brewer originally from New Zealand. He married a Swiss teacher and has been living in Zurich for more than 25 years. His business partner is an American who now lives in Zurich after marrying a Swiss teacher as well. They have investors and distribute their beer bottled and by kegs to local restaurants. In Switzerland you do not need a distributor. The brewer gave us samples of his beer on tap which included an IPA, we each had a glass, and I bought a few bottles.

We ended up hanging out in the brewery until almost 8 so we walked across the parking lot to a delivery chicken and pizza place for a family size (60 cm) pizza with ham, spinach, and pineapple. It is intended for six people, but four Americans had no problem finishing it. Then unfortunately it was too dark to walk around downtown Rapperswil by the lake, to the castle, and onto the longest wooden walking bridge in Europe. But we had a great time!

We had a relatively inexpensive day at the most expensive city I have ever been too. I wish the brewery well in their attempt to bring craft beer to Switzerland!

Die Damen nach Heidelberg zu gehen!

So I am not working every day this week and so far the week has been fun and adventurous!

On Monday I spent the morning being a housewife doing the cleaning and the laundry. I did not plan ahead this past week and the clothes started to pile up so that meant the whole apartment had sheets, towels, and clothes hanging from just about everywhere to dry. I definitely miss having a clothes dryer. In the afternoon I headed to a friend's for a haircut. It has been a few months and I was due for a cut but not super excited to go to a German salon so the Bosch wife who is a hair stylist in the US gave me a trim. She has been cutting the hair for all the guy trainees here the past few months and was really happy to have women's longer hair to cut. She did a great job and I am happy with my trim.

So I have to take a 50 minute train ride to their apartment and had my first very awkward train experience. Usually I take the train at 6:15 am and most people are sleeping or reading. It is usually very quiet and no one talks. On Monday I took the train at 1:00 pm or 13:00 here and the train was packed with people of all ages. The schools were getting out so there were kids and teenagers, young adults, families, and senior citizens. I was not reading my book Snow, a somewhat controversial book about religious and political revolution in Turkey, for five minutes when this 40ish year old Polish man missing most of his teeth asked me in German what I was reading. Unfortunately he also spoke English so I showed him the back and he continued to make conversation in very slow broken English. We talked about the book, banned German books, and the USA. He went on to tell me that I have a face for modeling and should be a model for pictures only in black and white. WHAT?? By this time my train car was packed with male students probably in their late teens and early twenties. When the man asked me if I wanted to listen to his headphones with him and I said "Nein Danke", the young men around me started laughing. I'm sure I turned bright red as I was counting the seconds until my stop.

After my haircut and some delicious gelato I went downtown Stuttgart to do a bit of shopping and then met Rebecca, the only female trainee here, for dinner. We shared a delicious bottle of local sweet white wine and  enjoyed conversation.

On Tuesday, the sun came out for a little while and I soaked up as much Vitamin D as possible during my walk from downtown Stuttgart to Dobelstrasse where I babysit. When the weather cooperates sometimes it is really nice to walk 25 minutes instead of taking a 5 minute train, even though the entire walk is uphill. I found new stores and restaurants on my way.

So today (Wednesday) was definitely the most exciting day. I planned a Ladies Day Trip to Heidelberg with Courtney, Lauren, Molly, and myself (all the spouses or girlfriends of Bosch trainees here right now). Here are the highlights:

• I drove 102 mph on the Autobahn in an area with no speed limit in our luxury Volvo hatchback. This was my first time ever driving faster than 85 mph so it is a big deal for me.

• We ate Schnee balls or (Snow Balls) that were delicious but I have no idea what is in them. They are kind of like waffle cone cake in ball form rolled in chocolate and other toppings with a creme or fudge in the middle. Awesome but very messy and a challenge to eat!

• We accidentally walked into the Studentenkarzer for free and enjoyed looking at the "art" on the walls and seeing where university students went to prison between 1778 and 1914 for excessive drinking and misbehaving.

• We walked around Altstadt (old city) and marveled at the old buildings, city square, bridge, and churches.

• We touched the Heidelberg Bridge Monkey but not in the right places. You are supposed to touch the fingers to ensure your return to Heidelberg, the mirror for wealth, and the accompanying mice for fertility.

• I had potato pancakes served with feta cheese, tomatoes, peppers, and onions for lunch with a Heidelberger beer. Delicious!

• We went up 400 or so stairs (they were numbered in white paint) to the Heidelberg Castle for pictures and a great view of the city.

• We explored a homemade liqueur and spirit shop downtown that sold interesting sweet bottled liqueur usually sipped gently. They had bottles of both red and green absinthe and we all took free sample shots of a green melon liqueur that is very popular among the university students in town. 

• We tried to go wine shopping for cheap wine in Speyer, the town West known for the vineyards and local wine. Despite my two efforts to ask locals of Speyer in German where a great wine store was, we were unsuccessful in finding cheap local wine. I did find a bottle of Schwarzriesling (dark reisling) that is red and trocken (dry) from the region. I am excited to give it a try later this week.

• We were stuck in stopped traffic on the Autobahn for more than 40 minutes on our way back to Stuttgart. Congested traffic is a pain no matter what country you are in.

Angenehm!

Last week I learned the word Angehemn which literally translates to "pleasant" but is usually said after you are introduced to someone new and it means "It's nice to meet you." I have not really said it to anyone yet but I did have the opportunity to do so twice this weekend.

So Stuttgarter Hofbrau is the main brewery in Stuttgart. Personally I like Schonbuch's (the local brewery here in Boeblingen) beer better, specifically their hefeweizen. At the Real Getranktmart or drink store I got a free bottle of their promotional Fruhlingsfest beer. The beer rep who spoke perfect English told me that it tastes like summer. I have to agree! It is definitely a more refreshing and crisp beer. I was happy to drink it in preparation for Stuttgarter Fruhlingsfest which is the largest Sping Festival in Germany and the closest festival  in size, attendance, and length to Oktoberfest in Munich. The keg is first tapped to begin the festivities on April 20th but we will be in Amsterdam. I plan on attending a few times since the festival lasts three full weeks. Hopefully it will be socially appropriate for me to wear my drindl/trocken!

I have also been keeping up with my German cooking and have slaved away in the kitchen to make the following dishes:

- Beef Goulash with a tomato based sauce and Savoy Cabbage in a creme fraiche cream sauce. I served the goulash with rice and the cabbage was actually quite delicious. Germans definitely eat a lot of cabbage.

- Cabbage Roulade wrapped in Savoy Cabbage with Potatoes "en papillotte" and Red Cabbage. The Roulade was definitely a challenge to make but it turned out quite well. The cabbage is essentially stuffed with a delicious meatball and cooked in a pan. If I was to make it again I would brown the cabbage a bit more, roll it tighter, and serve it with a richer brown gravy. The potatoes were supposed to be baked potatoes in foil but since I bought the wrong kind of potato I just did sliced foil packets in the oven. The sauce is a creme fraiche mixture that reminded me of sour cream (which you cannot find here).

- Chicken Breasts with Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil (I forget what else I served with the chicken so it must not have been that exciting.)

- Herb Soup, Beef Pot Roast, Red and Orange Peppers, and Oven Roasted Potatoes. This meal was messy. I borrowed a submersion blender from our landlords for the soup and sauce for the pot roast. I officially splattered food everywhere. Here is a picture of the kitchen when the cooking and eating was finished. Sadly I do enjoy cleaning large messes. 

I have this week off except for Tuesday so I might be having fun in the kitchen. Our landlord has also lent me an American Baking Book (in German) so I might try a few recipes from there to see what the German impression of American Baking is like.

And now onto our activities from this past weekend...

On Saturday, Ryan and I went to a bike flea market at a bike store in Gerlingen with two other trainees who were bike shopping. They were able to find the bikes they were looking for for around 50 Euros a piece and they can sell them back at the flea market before they leave Germany. Then we went to the mall there to walk around. The guys had fun in the electronic store and then enjoyed coffee and cheesecake at Starbucks while I shopped in the mall. I found a purse to replace the one I brought here that broke and a shirt on the clearance rack. Woohoo!

We had lunch at a cafe in town that served Cola and Banana Weizen. That would be hefeweizen beer with Coca-Cola or Banana nectar. I did not care for the Cola at all but the Banana wasn't half bad.

In the evening I watched Ladell for a few hours while his parents had a date-night and then took the train home. On my way home I stopped downtown for S-City or a Stuttgart shopping event on Konigstrasse. All of the stores were open until midnight and there was quite a festival on the street. I saw a few stages with bands playing live music, numerous food tents and trailers, bars and beer tents, street performers and tons of people out and about at 10:00 pm shopping. It was too crazy and busy for me to shop there and the stores were absolutely destroyed. It was similar to Black Friday except that there were not additional sales. The prices seemed to be the same as any regular day.

Sunday was a relaxing day of Skyping, phone calls, cooking, cleaning and a walk outside. The sun came out for a little while.

I encountered two very friendly Germans this weekend...One of the saleswomen at the electronic store at the mall was excited to speak with us when she realized we were Americans and not really interested in purchasing washing machines. She shared her travels around the US with us and told us that she missed Denny's Restaurant. She said it was the best place for breakfast!

And when Ryan and I were walking on Sunday we were approached by a German who heard us speaking English. He said that he lives near the US Military Barracks here in town and wanted to know how long Americans come here to work there (1 year, 10 years, or more). Unfortunately we could not specifically answer his question but we enjoyed the conversation as we finished our walk around the park with him. This is very unlike the traditional German culture to begin conversations with strangers but I sure enjoy it and it makes my days not seem as quiet.

Ich hatte eine tolle Ostern!

Finally let me share the adventures of Sunday and Monday from a great Easter weekend...

Sunday began with the DDR Museum. I am definitely more interested in the social aspects of history and was thrilled with this museum. It is on the smaller side with videos, props, and interactive displays that keep you busy and interested. I really enjoyed this museum and learned quite a bit about the DDR. I find it very interesting that there is an entire museum with artifacts and first hand experiences of this lifestyle. The people that lived in East Germany over the past 50 years are still alive today to share their experiences. This history is not way in the past, it is very much in the present as well. I actually bought a DDR Cookbook for 5 Euros filled with history and recipes. The entire book is in German so it will be an experience cooking from it. Even by flipping through the recipes, you can see the German influence, Soviet influence, and how the cooking adapted to the environment by including items that were readily available at the time.




For lunch, I needed some Currywurst! So we went to an American style diner, clearly the obvious option for the best German currywurst. It was delicious! And we sat and ate under the giant aquarium at the Radison Blu. The view of the fish was neat but sitting near the line of children to take the elevator up into the aquarium was not so neat.  

Then we left on a 30 minute train ride to the SchlossCharlottenburg (pictured right) outside the city on the West side of the Tier Garten. This "castle" is more of a palace and was not the best experience. We enjoyed the walk around the outside in the gardens, even though they were brown and filled with snow. The palace itself was expensive and very crowded. The audio tour was free but personally I hate walking around wearing headphones and listening to someone read monotone scripted history. I opted out and was disappointed in the poor German signage in each room. Definitely not worth it but interesting to compare the castles and palaces we have seen so far. This one was destroyed during WWII after it had already become a museum and had to be rebuilt so very little of the structure and furniture is original.

Since we had a late evening planned, we took a tea and coffee break at our hotel for a few hours before heading back out for dinner. I am usually such a go-go-go person but this tea break was very welcomed on Easter Sunday and there were about five other couples or families at our hotel that must have had the same thought. Dinner was at an Italian restaurant and I thoroughly enjoyed my weird but delicious soup and light salad at a very Italian restaurant served by very German people. For some reason, I find it very amusing...

For something fun to do I found us tickets to SHOW ME at the Friedrichstadt-Palast. It was an interesting mix between Cirque Desole and Moulin Rouge and we had great seats in the first row of the upper balcony. The "family" show was a little more risque than I thought and included a legitimate pole dance, like floor to ceiling fireman's pole with a woman in a bikini. During a different full cast dance, all of the dancers were also wearing thong bikinis. Overall, my favorite act included techno music and white outfits with color changing rope lights attached. There was a variety of music in the show including English and German and some other interesting acts.

On Monday we we went for a walk through the Tier Garten to the large statue in the middle of the round-a-bout at the other end. We also headed to the RitterSport store downtown for a few bars of deliciousness to take with us on the train ride home. The cafe there did not have any lunch choices that sounded interesting so we grabbed sandwiches from a cafe. I am always finding interesting sandwiches here and ours were breaded chicken with a cabbage slaw and lettuce. Simple and cheap!

The train ride home was very long and of course the train was over 30 minutes late. We ended up running through the station in Stuttgart to catch our local train home and....we missed it by seconds. There is nothing more frustrating than watching your train pull away. By the time we got on the next one 30 minutes later it was 10 pm and bedtime for me.