Crochet, part 2

And here is the scarf again. I got some of my friends to help me hold it down so that I could take a picture. Now the body of the scarf is 2/3 done. After I finish the skein of multi colored yarn I'll figure out how to put the fringe on.

Travel

I have now been to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Hessigheim, Bessigheim, and Bietigheim (I think). On Sunday we drove to Rothenburg, checked into our hotel, and then went for a walk. Rothenburg is one of just 3 cities in Germany that have a castle wall all the way around them. We walked along/on/near most of the wall. In some places it was made of wooden planks, and some places were made of stone or brick. There were a few too many places that had planks or ceilings above our heads that were a little too short for Rob. He thunked his head a few times. Ouch! Even though most "stores" are not allowed to open on Sundays, a few were open because they sold beverages/food. So Rob finally found the perfect Bavarian hat. We had dinner in a "classic" German restaurant, with great steak for me and goose or duck for Rob. On Monday morning we drove to Hessigheim to meet Laura and Jorg and their girls. Jorg grew up in Hessigheim and we enjoyed seeing his hometown. From there we followed them to Bessigheim where we walked thru a really old part of town (some buildings from the 1300's), and then we drove to Bietigheim, where we had lunch, walked, played on the playground(s) and walked some more. I think that all day the temperature hovered in the mid to upper 20's. Brrr! Finally, we drove home. It was a very fun day, and so good to see old friends again.

Christmas and after

On Christmas day we got up late, had breakfast, opened gifts, went for a walk, watched a movie, ate coffee cake (a tradition) and had a roast beef dinner (also our tradition!). The roast beef was roasted on a rotisserie spit in our toaster oven. I had to get creative when it came time to tie the roast so that it wouldn't droop on the spit. I ended up using embroidery floss. There was no option of finding an open store, because here EVERY store is closed on Christmas day. In fact, they all close by 2 pm on Christmas Eve. And, to our surprise, they were all still closed the day AFTER Christmas. I'm glad we had leftover roast beef! We went for a short walk that day too (ok, so every day we go for a walk of some sort) but it was sooo cold that we didn't stay out for long. I won't complain, I've heard it's been even colder and much wetter in Oregon. I wish I could have been there to see all the snow, but cabin fever may have gotten me! On another topic, in the last week two sets of friends have become grandparents, so congratulations to Brad and Darsy, and Gail and Joe!

Bunny!

I told Rob a few weeks ago that I needed a snuggly creature for when I get homesick and lonely. And tonight, I met my new friend. He's perfect!

Crochet

A couple weeks ago when I was at Hertie looking for bias tape or thread or something like that, I saw some yarn and fell in love. When Lauri was here for a visit two weeks ago, she wanted some yarn too, so that she could knit on her plane ride back to Oregon. I took it as a sign that the yarn and I were fated to be together. I decided that I should learn to crochet. But I don't know how, and seeing pictures of the process isn't very helpful. So I am learning by trial and error (lots of error). Here's a picture of what I've got so far. By the way, it's a scarf and I figure it's about 1/4 done.

Holiday Plans

What are we doing for the holidays, anyhow? Rob is working thru Wednesday. On Thursday we'll open some gifts and hopefully skype a bunch of friends and family. Friday, maybe go for a long walk. Hopefully we'll have a little bit of snow again. Saturday we might try to see the Kandinsky exhibit at a museum near us. Sunday we're driving to HockenSchmokenBerg (I made that up, we really are driving somewhere, but I forget where), and then on Monday we'll see our friends Laura, Jorg, Laina, and Min. Tuesday relax. Wednesday go to John and Janine's to celebrate New Years--they call it something different here. There is a show that lots of Germans watch traditionally on that evening, it's called "Dinner for One" and it's a British show so it's in English. And some time that week we'll also go to the Pinotek Museum which Rob says is really cool. We may meet friends to play games on the 5th, and on the 7th: Homeward Bound!!! Rob is coming with me, and he'll be in Oregon thru the 15th. So, that's what we're doing. What are you doing?

Shopping

In an effort to be prepared for Christmas I went shopping today. I think a lot of the shops will be closed tomorrow, and of course they all will be closed on Christmas day. In Germany, all the shops are closed on Sundays, too, so we get used to buying enough to last. My first stop was Vitalia, which is the place that sells GF crackers. They didn't have any, so I bought pretzels instead.
Then I headed back towards home, and stopped at Hertie. There, I bought kartoffelen (potatoes, so we can have mashed potatoes), Merz Ora-Nekt (Apple/Orange/Nectarine juice), Tortillas (actually, chips), Eier (eggs, 6, brown, non-refrigerated), Hackfleisch (ground beef/pork mix), Pikante Kraeuter (cheese spread for the crackers I didn't find), and Orangensaft (OJ). It cost 12.13 Euros for these. Then I took it all home, dropped it off on the counter, and headed out again, this time to Tengelmann. There I got Bio Piccolin (mini Tomato Mozzarella pizza bagel things), H-Milch (almost nonfat milk, also not refrigerated), Broccoli, Zucchini, and, the most important part of the Christmas meal: Schmorbra! Hopefully that translates to a roast beef. (16.21 Euros)

every morning

When I wake up and take a shower I see a back brush. In German, it says "bath," but I can't help but feel like I've done something wrong because of it's English meaning. Really, I didn't do it! Fortunately when I dry off I see my towel holder on the mirror, and the bright red flower cheers me up. Some day I might just go out and buy a can of paint and paint a wall some happy color. Just for fun.

what you see, what i see

The doors in our apartment are made of a wood veneer that I don't think is all that pretty. But anyhow. When I'm in the bathroom and the door is shut, you might think I see this---^

But what I really see is this:

Cemetary Visit

Nope, we don't know anyone buried here. But we needed to get out, go for a walk, and this cemetary is not far from our apartment. It had snowed a few days earlier. This is what we saw.

I fought the can...

...and I won. I was making chicken with onions and tomatoes. Delicious, actually. But the tomato part was difficult. We had a can of tomatoes. We had a can opener. But the can opener was made for US cans, and the tomatoes were canned here in Germany. Bad idea. Since then, I have been to the store and bought a German made can opener.

Dust bunnies

So, I've been feeling really dusty. I sweep the floors probably twice a week, and yet there's always so much dust. I finally figured out why. You know how when you dry a load of clothing in the dryer, you have to clean the lint filter? Well, since we don't have a dryer, we don't have a lint filter, so I think the clothes just delint as they choose, wherever they choose. Thus, this is what the dustpan looks like on a weekly basis.

Stop, or go?

I'm not sure what this means. The stop sign says stop. The green light says go. So what are you supposed to do here?

Fun Facts

Or so I think.
1. The majority of the sidewalks I walk on are made of cobblestones.
2. You can't buy bleach just anywhere. In fact, I can't even find any.
3. In the winter, babies and sleeping bags are synonymous.
4. I hear a police siren at least once a day. And no, it's not all in my head.
5. My oven is more of a dehydrater than a baker.
6. I spent 6.99 Euros today on a pack of just 4 AAA batteries. That's almost $9!
7. Here, when you want to buy ginger, you look for Ingwer.

Vienna and more

We took the train to Vienna this past weekend. It took about 4 hours, the same as driving, and there was no worry about finding a parking space. Trains in Europe are a great way to travel. When we got there, we had reservations in a little family run hotel. My nephew Scott and his girlfriend Kelly met us there. It was great because they had already been there for a few days, so they knew all the Ubahn stations and things to do.

We went to the Haus der Musik, which is a four story house, all about music. There were all sorts of interactive programs to play with, displays of all the prominent Austrian composers, and video stuff and audio stuff and wow! It was really cool. We also went to the Hundertwasser Haus, which is a crazy big apartment building with windows of all different shapes and sizes and columns in random places and wow! Here's a picture:

We also went to the Christkindlmarkt (yes, the sign in the picture says "Wiener" because that means Vienna). It was pretty. We must have walked miles and miles that day. At the end of the day we went to a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner held at a restaurant. Kelly's sister, Amy, is in Vienna for study abroad, and the 8 or 9 students and their host families and some of their teachers were there. Afterward dinner but before pumpkin pie Amy played the cello and a couple students sang.

Back in Munich, I've been to the shopping centers a few times to get some Christmas decorations. So far I've found two strings of lights, two candle holders, and a wooden woodcutter figure. And we went to the Christkindlmarkt here, which just opened on Sunday. I got a delicious donut-like thing that had been sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. I've gotta go back and get another one when my gluten intolerance allows.

I spent a couple hours making some decorations out of paper too. I've got snowflakes hanging in the windows and paper balls hanging from the light fixtures.

Well, Rob heads off to Ireland tomorrow for just one night, and then Meg and Lauri are coming on Sunday. I can't wait to see them and take them all over the place. We're going to go to Nurnberg and Salzburg and who knows where else.