Public Restrooms

Public Restrooms may seem an odd topic to blog, but there are some interesting differences between the US and Europe.

In general, German restrooms tend to be cleaner. In most of the big department stores there will be attendants stationed near the restrooms. Also the Germans do not think anything of a woman entering the men’s room to clean while it is occupied and being used. Many restrooms also have self cleaning seats (you find this most at Rästhofs along the autobahn). When the toilet flushes, a squeegee is extended from behind the seat, and a small bit of water is sprayed as the seat is turned and cleaned with the squeegee….I find this very civilized.

In the US, at some time research was done to indicate the minimal size for partitions in restrooms. So, partitions tend to be about 18 inches off of the ground and end just over 6 feet off of the ground. For most Americans, 6 feet or so means that you cannot see over the top. It also means the amount of material used in the construction of the partitions is minimized and therefore is less costly. I am also fairly certain that installing these partitions is a fairly simple job. The larger the construction job in the US, the more cost containment is an issue. If for example you are building a large office building or a stadium where there are lots of stalls, the cost difference can be significant.

In Europe, this is not the case. Even a modern toilet stall tends to come almost to the floor or all the way to the floor. So, being from the US, I have been socialized to be comfortable with stalls that have a gap between the floor and the partition. At times, the stalls in Europe can be so small as to be a little claustrophobic.

Restrooms at Autobahn rest stops are also different. The rest stop itself is usually outsourced by the Gov’t to a company that runs the fuel, food and store and in that regard is very similar to the US. The restrooms though are outsourced to another company. I have identified two companies that do this. One company tends to do the autobahn and some just off of the autobahn and other company that you tend to see off the autobahn and in some of the busier shopping districts. On the autobahn, most of the restrooms are handled by one company. You pay to use the restroom, 50 cent euro, get a coupon good for 50 cents Euro at any of their rest stops. Just as a quick note, these restrooms tend to have very low partitions and not walls.

One of the most interesting things I have seen in a restroom is at a restaurant called Hemingways (in Heidelberg) where they have advertisements that are projected in the mirror. So as you are looking at the mirror, you see an advertisement in the corner and the advertisement changes. I have also recently seen advertisements on the top of urinals and a the ad lights up as you pee.

Construction in Germany

The Germans love construction and will start construction projects at the drop of a hat. Whether it is the autobahn, streets or buildings, there is always construction. Sometimes the construction is minor and at other times it is major and goes on for a long time. When the Berlin Wall came down the City tree became the construction Crane and to this day there is still a good deal of construction. Pam and I were in Berlin in 2006 and right in the center of town on Unter den Linden Str. there is a long term project that is still underway. An old communist era government building has been torn down and is in the process of being replaced. In this case the building was apparently filled with asbestos which needed to be carefully removed.

While the Autobahn has long stretches of unrestricted speeds, those areas are often interrupted by long stretches of construction. Sometimes it is a major planned project where they are adding lanes but there are times that it seems like they are just doing a simple repair. Of course for the Autobahn there is no such thing as a simple repair. In the U.S. a crew will go out and drop a patch in the road and a few hours later it is done. In Germany, a minor repair requires shutting lanes down and redirecting traffic.

Work was done on the A5 where it intersects the A6. One Friday there was no construction and then on Monday the 2 of three south bound lanes were closed and traffic was redirected around the closed lanes. As the construction progressed, they closed the northbound side and again redirected traffic. When the construction was done, they had replaced the road surface but had not changed the layout of the road or the interchange at all. Apparently, all the construction was for repairing cracks in the road….which if it was I-95 in Philly, we would have considered to be in good shape.

Twice I have had runs detoured (umleitung) because they have decided to start a construction project. Once was on a gravel road up in the hills near the Philosphensweg and another on the lanes between Schriesheim and Leutershausen.
Then there is the bridge in the middle of nowhere, between Heidelberg and Schwetzengen (1 town over). As you are driving along, there is a bridge that goes over…well….nothing and it connects…nothing. It is in the middle of a farm field and there is a village not far from the one end and then there is the road you are on that it appears headed towards and underneath there is nothing. They had to build a berm to raise the bridge, and then they had to build the bridge. They just forgot to connect it to other roads and to put a roadway or other natural feature underneath the bridge.

German housing construction is very different than in the U.S. also. Generally, in the U.S. a builder lays down a cement slab to start the foundation and then uses wood to frame out the rest of the house. I have lived in a house where you could have broken in using only a razor blade, there was nothing more substantial than vinyl siding and wall board. This is not the case in Germany where they use a lot of cement block and poured concrete. Generally, the German’s have tougher building codes and tend to build homes to last. The Germans also love to build with cranes.
In the US a builder will hire a mobile crane when they want to lift particularly high or heavy loads, but they will usually use some kind of construction forklift truck to raise things on the job. Not in Germany, they use stationary cranes for even small sites. Many times the first sign of construction is when a crane is delivered to the site. These cranes are probably 50 to 100 feet in height and have some kind of counterweight at the base.

Sidewalks in Germany and most of western Europe are also different than in the US. I have not seen any sidewalk made from concrete. Almost all of the sidewalks are made with pavers. The initial construction of the walks must be considerably more expensive than with concrete, but when they need to get underneath the sidewalk, they lift the pavers dig a hole and fix what needs fixing. Then they replace the pavers. When completed, you have a hard time telling where the pavers were removed and there is no need to patch anything.

Handschuhsheim Weihnacts Markt

The Handschuhsheim Weihnacts Markt was held from Friday Dec. 5 to Sunday Dec. 7 and was inside the Tiefberg. Many of the vendors are local vendors such as Sven and the Tiefburg Bookstore. There was only one stand serving Wursts and 3 places serving Gluwein, plus lots of toys and crafts and such, including the guy who sells honey at the farmers market on Saturdays.

The Markt is much smaller than the Heidelberg Markt and the venue is also different. The Tiefburg is a small fort made from stone and is several centuries old. There is an outer wall made from local stone and on the interior there is a ‘castle’ in the center with a yard all around it. The inside of the wall has a raised walkway and a roof. The ground floor is taken up mostly with food vendors and tables.

Sven had a table set up where he was serving Gluwein and selling wines. He had told me earlier in the week that his Gluwein was going to be better than what you would usually get because he was going to use a nicer wine and his own mixture of spices. I believe that he did an excellent job. The wine was very good and the spices he used were much more subtle and tasty than that which you usually get. Sven has told me that most wine used for Gluwein you would not want to drink on its own, but it needs to be heated and to have sugar added before being palatable. While the wine that Sven uses is not a fine wine, it is good enough that you can drink it on its own. During the 3 day Weihnacts Markt, Sven made over 160 liters of Gluwein.

Pfitzenmeier

This year Pam and I both joined the Pfitzenmeier Fitness Club. In the U.S. I have belonged to a variety of gyms. The year before we left I belonged to the Weston Fitness Center which was on the same block in Philly as my office which made it convenient. From a facilities standpoint though, it was pretty minimalist, but nice. The Pfitzenmeier on the other hand is very well fitted out with some very nice facilities and equipment, but there are some interesting differences.

The Pfitzenmeier is on two floors. When you enter the front door you immediately walk up the stairs to the second floor. On the second floor is weight training equipment and rooms for fitness courses. Downstairs is mostly aerobic equipment, and they have a lot of everything and also a back fitness area that I have not ventured into.

Upstairs the machines are all made in America and are from the manufacturer, Cybex. The interesting thing is while the equipment is made in America, the instructions are in German, the warning labels are in English and the markings are in Pounds and Kilos (on a few pieces just pounds). The equipment is in good repair. There is also a lot of equipment and for some pieces there are up to three units.

There are three course rooms. In the back is the yoga and Pilates room, there is a Spin room and general purpose course room and they have a full schedule of courses. Pam has started taking a Butt, Thighs and Tummy class on Sunday mornings and I have started taking the 90 minute spin class on Tuesday mornings. Pam’s class involves lots of apparatus and moving in the correct direction at the right time. Pam’s class involves a lot of moving in the right direction and use of equipment, I am sure I would turn in the wrong direction and hit someone with something and that would not be good. Spin class is simple…you sit down, you peddle, you sweat and then when you’re done, you clean up the sweat. I am really good at sweating.

One thing I really hated about the Weston was that I needed to have a lock to close the locker. In a year, I lost at least three locks by leaving them on the locker when I left. With Pfitzenmeier, I do not have this problem. The membership card has an RFID tag inside. The card unlocks the gate to let you in and out of the gym and it locks and unlocks the lockers. The locker rooms are brightly lit and clean. The lockers are pretty nice but could be a little larger. In winter the locker gets filled quickly with your coat. In the men’s locker room there are two tanning machines.

Just past the showers (which are….shall I say it, showers), there is an opaque glass door. Through the door is the sauna area. I had not been there until this past Tuesday (12-2). These rooms are indeed coed and Pam and I are unfamiliar with the Rules there. I also had a bad experience when skiing in Switzerland back in 1989, a bunch of us from the ski club and a couple Canadians were wearing swimsuits and we got yelled at….we were not following the rules.

This time I had a sauna mentor….or so I thought. Tom Otter came for the spin class and was going to show me the ropes in the sauna room. In fact it is not that difficult. First you take a shower to rinse off. First was the really hot sauna, I did not see the thermometer, but it was hot and I sweated a lot! After a stay of about 10 or 15 minutes and I showered in cold water – this is supposed to be good for your circulation. Then we went into the steam room…not as hot as the hot sauna and there were already a couple people in there and it is not a big room. I sat across from Tom and looked at the person to my right and realized, yes this is Coed. We stayed in there a little while and then did the shower thing again before going into the not as hot sauna, about 60 Celsius (about 110F). I did not see a whirlpool there. I need to look around the area further because while the heat and steam is nice, I really enjoy the whirlpool.

Our First Thanksgiving in Germany

Thanksgiving preparations started several weeks in advance. We were having anywhere from 20 to 30 people over for an open house on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The Holiday is not a German holiday and nobody was going to have Thursday or Friday off and that just seemed to be appropriate.

We ordered a fresh whole turkey, 3.5 kilos and had purchased some of the ingredients a couple of weeks in advance so that things like cranberry sauce could be prepared. There is no such thing as canned pumpkin here and Pam made the decision to forgo making pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin. We still had a full menu; Turkey, sweet potato pie, stuffing – 2 types, roasted veggies, a roasted pumpkin mix, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.

For many of our guests, this would be their first experience with Thanksgiving, while others had spent some time in the US and had celebrated the holiday at least once. All of our guests speak English well except for our Landlords & neighbors, the Bayers.

Pam started cooking in earnest on Monday after we returned from Budapest, making a chocolate cake and sweet potato pie. Thursday morning we woke up and after a little work around the apartment we headed to the farmer’s market in the Weststadt. There we picked up the Turkey and Pam was able to buy fresh veggies and other materiel for cooking. We also picked up two nice turkey breasts to supplement the turkey. Thankfully, it has been cold, this meant that we are able to us the balcony as a refrigerator. Thursday afternoon saw Pam multi-tasking cooking while on conference calls. We also set up the tables with plates and flatware and serving dishes.
Friday morning, Pam continued her multi-tasking and I went out around noon to get last minute stuff including some bier (Dachsenfranz Weihnachts Bier). We were running a tight schedule with cooking and the Turkey was not cooking on the grill like I would have liked it too and I was a little worried, ok, more than a little worried about the turkey…..but we had two nice turkey breasts that I had yet to start.

I cooked the turkey breasts, one at a time and Pam had food on the floor of the oven at the same time. Pam had also made a last minute decision to make a second Sweet Potato pie, and as per the family tradition, it is served topped with marshmallows (baked and gooey!) as part of the main meal.

Our guests started to arrive around 6pm, the first being Kathrin Sobe who lives just a little ways down the road. Most of our guests were somehow connected with SAP except for the Bayers and our Neighbors, Ben and Katharina. Ben and Katherina had spent two years in NC working at Duke Medical Center on an exchange program and returned to Heidelberg just a couple weeks after we arrived. Ben is an anesthesiologist and Katharine is an Oncologist.

The Otter family were the largest group and included three generations, Tom and Charlotte, Charlotte’s Mother (Toni) and their children, Lily, Daisy and Ollie. It was actually a long day for the kids because it was a Friday and their day started with school. Lily also had a party after school and was pretty wiped out by the time she arrived. She took her book and went to lay down on our bed and 30 minutes later she was a slowly breathing lump under the covers. Ollie (he is 3 I think) played shy and also wound up as a sleeping lump in our bed. Daisy on the other hand is a true party girl. She was very well behaved and changed from her boots to her party shoes. She was never far from her Mother or Grandmother, but was not going to miss any of the action!

My biggest fear was that the Bayers would be left on their own, but they frequently engaged in conversation. They have also been to Budapest and spoke at length with Bettina and Kathe.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and they truly enjoyed the holiday. The Holiday fits in well with German Holiday season just as it does in the US as the Weihnacts Markts (Christmas Markets) opened that Saturday and several people will be keeping this tradition in the future. By far the most popular food was the Sweet Potato pies that Pam made, someone even made a point of cleaning out the pan when it was gone!

Budapest - Nov 22-24

German Wings recently started something called Blind Booking. You pick the airport from which you are leaving and the type of city you want to visit, Cultural, Party, or Major metroplis. We, Kathe, Bettina, Pam and I, booked the flight from Stuttgart and away we went to…..Budapest. We left Saturday morning (Nov 25), Pam and I drove to Schwetzingen to Bettina’s and she drove to Stuttgart. There was a little snow on the ground we left and a little more near Bettina’s. This is the first real snow that we have seen in Heidelberg since we arrived in January.

The flight to Budapest was not full and was completely uneventful. The Airport in Budapest is interesting and looks like a remnant from the communist era and in fact the only airlines flying out of this terminal were discount airlines, German Wings, Wizz and Jetair. Across the runways we could see much more activity at the main terminal with mainline carriers. The airport is not far from town and we took a taxi to our hotel.

The hotel was very nice and located right in town. The rooms were modern, clean and fairly large. We had gotten street maps at the front desk and were looking for someplace to have lunch. From the tour book we picked Leroy’s which a small chain of restaurants in Budapest. We left the hotel and started walking. It was getting colder and windier as we walked and after about 15 minutes we realized we were walking in the wrong direction. We walked down to the Danube (the river) and walked back along the river and then headed the few blocks back up to the street that Leroy’s is on.

Along the way we saw the main cathedral in Pest, the cathedral across the river at the top of the hill in Buda, the castle in Buda, the chain bridge connecting Buda and Pest and we walked through the food market in the old train station. We also stopped periodically for shopping purposes as Budapest has excellent shopping. Also, the weather was not getting any better as the nasty wind and cold was punctuated by periods of snow, which the wind would inevitably drive into your face.
Budapest also has a very nice coffee culture. So along the way to Leroy’s we stopped for coffee togo. When we finally made it to Radacy where the restaurant was, we realized that it was no longer here. Later when we saw an ad for Leroy’s in a periodical, we realized that the location there was indeed closed. We picked another local place and had a very nice meal.

We headed back into the center of town again and towards the Christmas Market. Christmas Markets in Germany are a big thing (more later) and almost every small town has some kind of market. We only knew of the one market here in Budapest and we were looking for it.

One thing to know about the people of Budapest, they are exceptionally nice and many if not most speak English fairly well. While looking for the market and studying the map, we were approached by at least two people asking us if we needed help….Yes, we did. We arrived at the Christmas Market to high winds and snow. The first thing we got were glasses of Gluwein, mulled and spiked wine and very seasonal, to warm us.
Most of the stands were fairly typical, but there were two stands serving Hungarian specialty and I am sure seasonal sweet treat. Out front there was a grill with charcoal burning and off to the side was a woman behind a window (protected from the wind and snow) who was rolling out dough. She would roll it into a circle and then cut a loose spiral. Then besides her was a rack where there were spools that were slightly wider at the base than at the tip. She would unwrap the spiral of dough and wind it around the spool so that it was spread over it evenly. Next she would roll the spool back and forth until the dough was spread evenly.

She would then place the spool on a different row of the rack and a guy outside would pick up the spool and pour some combination of sugary stuff on it, vanilla sugar, cinnamon sugar and lemon or some other combination. Then the guy by the fire would place it on the fire where the tip would plug into a rotating fitting that would then turn the spool with dough and sugary substance over the fire. He would move the spools to his left as they would cook and then when a spool was completely cooked and nicely brown, he would hand it to another person who would cool it and then wrap it in clear plastic. In the cold, the finished product looked like a steaming chimney and smelled divine. Pam, Kathe and Bettina shared one Sunday afternoon. I refrained, not being sure whether it was butter or lard they used to make the dough. Either way, this was not included in Weight Watchers, Core or regular program.

After the walking through the market and then listening to some singers singing American songs with Hungarian accents, we walked over to Gebaud, an old café right alongside the Market, to warm up and have some coffee. While sitting there with coffee and looking out the window at all of the cold people, we decided on where we would eat dinner and planned our route. It was going to be a fairly long walk and a cold one. We found the restaurant with little difficulty. It was 8pm on a Saturday and we were the only customers. The cold must have been keeping the regulars inside.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel and exhausted from the travel, the walking and the cold, we all slept well.

Sunday morning dawned, Cold, windy and snowy. Bettina, Kathe and I were going for a run and Pam went to a flea market in another part of town. We ran up along the Danube to an island in the river and then ran around the island. The island is fairly large and we were partially protected from the wind on the way out and were blasted on the way back. The plan was then to run back on the Buda side of the river. I kept watching the horizontally blowing snow thinking, “Do I really want to run across the bridge to the other side with that wind blowing that snow into my face?” We decided to not run on the Buda side of the river and instead ran through the streets of Pest.

We had all enjoyed the run and after showering, I called Pam, who was sitting about a kilometer away enjoying a cup of hot Cocoa. Kathe, Bettina and I walked to the coffee shop to meet Pam. We easily found The Ultimate Coffee and Wine Bar. It was a very nice place and we stayed there to have breakfast which we all enjoyed.

When we finally left the coffee shop we wanted to find the largest Jewish Synagogue in Budapest, The Great Synagogue in Dohány Street. The inside of the Synagogue was amazing and was well worth the visit (see pics). It was already getting late by this time and we wanted to make it across the river to see the castle and walk around the top of the hill in Buda. We found ourselves distracted by both weather and shopping and warming up in a café enjoying hot cocoa or coffee. The weather kept alternating between miserable and not so miserable. None of us was really looking forward to walking across the bridge as we expected it to be a pretty windy nasty walk.

Thankfully, the weather had begun to moderate by this time. We walked across the bridge and then took the funicular (the third funicular I have ridden) to the top of the hill. We walked around the castle grounds (the castle was closed by this time) and then around town. We had been commenting how Pest was so like Paris. Buda on the other hand reminded Kathe of London. Again, we were cold, I was hungry and we found a coffee shop. It was a very nice coffee shop. I ordered a coffee…..and Pomme Frites (French Fries). We learned that while the lights were on, they were having some electrical problems in the shop and the kitchen was closed and the heat was not working, which explained why it was comfortable but not toasty warm inside. Kathe got Hot Cocoa which she described as being like chocolate pudding it was so thick.
I was getting really hungry at this point and started agitating about dinner.

Bettina had a place she wanted to try and we started back to Pest. We took the funicular back down and walked back across the bridge. We did not actually make it to the place Bettina had in mind, instead we found another place called Dio. It is a very upscale restaurant, well decorated and again, empty. We had gotten there fairly early and it did fill up while we were there. We really enjoyed this restaurant.

Monday morning was sunny, cold and much less windy. We checked out, left our luggage with the hotel and found a place for breakfast before heading to the airport for the flight home. Despite the weather we had a very successful weekend and we all enjoyed ourselves!

Buying contact lenses

So buying contact lenses would seem to be fairly straight forward. I started wearing contacts in 1989 and every time I needed to replenish my contacts I would need to go to the Optometrist, get my eyes checked and get a contact lens fitting. Then I would get a prescription and get it filled. When Pam and I were home in October, I did not make it to the Dr.'s office to get new contacts. This meant that I needed to get my contacts in Germany.

When I got a new pair of glasses here in Germany I ran into a small roadblock because I had worn my contacts in and they needed me to have my contacts out for 12 hours before getting them checked. So, when I headed to the eye glass store (Optiker) I went without putting my lenses in.

When I got there I explained that I needed new contacts and they took my glasses, determined my diopter (-3.25) in both eyes as expected. He went into the back and brought out a box of contacts. Just like that I had new contacts. Instead of spending $170 for a years worth of contacts and an eye exam, $36 euro and I had 6 months worth of contacts.

The Seasons

As I have said previously, Pam and I are about to complete our first year in Germany. I have learned an important thing about Germany, it is a country of seasons. Sure, there are Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, but there is also, Strawberry Season, Spargel Season, Feld Salat Season, Wildkirschbraton season and many others.

Let me first start off talking about the 4 seasons. We are currently in autumn. This is autumn and not Fall. Use the term Fall to a Euro and they may not understand what you are saying. It is autumn. By far Summer is the season that is the most different than the others. Autumn, Winter and Spring are characterized by changeable weather. If it is clear in the morning, then it will be cloudy and rainy in the afternoon. If it is Rainy in the morning then it will clear by the afternoon and be sunny for a while. The rain here tends to be very different here than in Philly. In Philly, rain tends to be accompanied by wind, sometimes a little wind and sometimes a lot of wind. In Heidelberg, the rain mostly falls straight down with no wind. So, in Germany, taking an umbrella with you when it rains is quite helpful. Not only are you not fighting the wind with an umbrella, but because the rain comes straight down, you can stay mostly dry and not just your head.
As I mentioned, Summer is considerably different. It does not rain quite as much and can go for a week or more without rain. Also, Summer is considerably warmer than the other seasons. Actually, Spring this year was considerably cooler than Winter and it was the only time we saw frost or snow since we were here.

Then there are the other seasons and are mostly dictated by what food is in season. Strawberry season is something that is even special in the US. Freshly picked strawberries are so much better than berries picked in South America and shipped. At the same time is Sprargel season. Spargel is Asparagus, white Asparagus and the Germans though are very passionate about their Spargel. It is grown on immense fields and is grown so that the stalks never see the light of day until they are picked, preventing them from turning green. Driving down the road you will see fields with long mounds running down them in rows. These are Spargel fields. The picking season lasts from Mid-April until mid-June and during this time you will see workers manually going down the rows harvesting. Fresh picked white Asparagus is quite different than green asparagus. It tends to be sweeter and needs to be peeled before eating or otherwise it will be chewy. Spargel will appear in the Market and also Restaurants will have special Spargel Menus and then one day all that is left is Spargel soup, the season has ended and as you drive by the same fields, you will see the bushy tops of the plants growing wildly letting the plants re-energize for next year.

During the summer months as anywhere different types of produce come in and out of season. The next big season, is Oktober Fest which actually takes place at the end of September. At this point you will have special Bock beers and such.
Currently, we are in one of my favorite seasons, Feld Salat or Field Salad. It is a type of lettuce. This is a late fall winter crop and it used to run only from November to January, but now lasts until March. When we first arrived, I noticed people crawling in a field but I could not tell what they were doing. I described what I saw, people kneeling down and doing something with their hands and I described the plant that I saw, a low growing plant. I was told that this is feld salat. I had never seen it in the US before. It is a salat green and is quite tasty and only grows an inch or so from the ground. It is harvested by hand and the pickers have to get down to the level of the plant slice it off at the ground level and put it away, very laborious. Being here in November, I do notice that the leaves of the greens are larger than they were last January/February. I have to think that this is partly because Jan/Feb are part of the extended season and are probably a second or third round of planting.

We are also currently in Wildkirschebraton season. This is a season that I had not heard about until just last week when it started to show up. Kirschbraton is venison (deer meat) and wild (pronounced Veeld) is wild. We have had it served to us at a dinner, we have seen it as Maultaschen and as steaks. A word on Maultaschen. Taschen is the German word for bag. A Maultaschen is like a ravioli only it does not have cheese. Our favorite is Steinpilz Maultaschen (mushroom), there is also Puten (turkey) and Gemuse (vegetable) which are the most common. They also tend to be prepared differently, kind of pan fried and spiced. We tend to eat them like raviolis, in a red sauce….the Steinpilz are really good.

We are also entering Weihnacht season (Christmas). This is a big deal here in Germany and there are Weihnachtamarkts all over the country. These are temporary markets that open on the 3rd or 4th weekend of November and run until the day after Christmas and take place in a town’s major square. Heidelberg’s market is spread over the Kornmarkt, Marktplatz, Universitätsplatz, Anatomiegarten and Bismarckplatz. At a market you will find lots of crafts and seasonal specialty booths. Gluwein is the season specialty, which is a redwine that has been heated,mulled and spiked. It is served in mugs that are about half the normal size and have a yearly design for that Market. Pam and I have started planning a weekend around see several of the Markets in our area (besides Heidelberg). More on this later.

The Grapes of Wine - no Wein...

I have had a full season of watching grapes grow in the vineyards north of Heidelberg. One of my primary running routes takes me north through Dossenheim to Schriesheim or further to Leutershausen or Großsachsen. Along the way I pass through vineyards. It is a very nice place to run, but it is not like running trails amongst nature. It is a paved path that takes me by many other gardens also.

Before I start a little background. According to Sven, the wine guy down the street, in the 18th century, someone decided it would be great to import grape vines from the new world. They did not produce good wine there, but you never know, perhaps the soil of Europe would be beneficial for the new world vines. The result was some really bad wine and a stowaway…a grub. The grub loved Europe and proceeded to eat its way through the roots the grapevines of Europe, destroying almost all of the vineyards. They attempted to cross the Euro vines with the New World vines, which did not help. Eventually, Euro stems were grafted on the trunks of New World vines. As you walk through vineyards here, you can see that the bases of the vines are distinctly different than the upper parts. I am sure if you walked through American vineyards you would see the same. The only place the grubs did not take root were in places of sandy soil.

Winter in Heidelberg was fairly mild until March. In January and February there mornings where I wore shorts and a t-shirt to run, but in March the temperature actually dropped and it started to rain more regularly. At the same time, the days were getting significantly longer and the trees and bushes had started shooting out leaves, but the grape vines remained dormant through most of March. Within a week at the beginning of April, the vines started to sprout leaves and stems, changing from skeletal trimmed stumps sticking out of the ground to live growing plants. Several weeks after the vines sprouted, I noticed that previously empty rows and beds had been planted with new vines.

During the first few weeks after the vines sprouted, I looked for flowering but the flowering of grape vines is not exciting. On the stem from which the grapes will eventually hang, there are little green buds, that is all. These buds are somehow pollinated (I did not see an abundance of bees) and turn into grapes. The distinction between Red and White grapes happens quickly. Within a week of being pollinated the grapes turn from bright green to either a dark red/purple or greenish white color.

During the summer while the vines work their magic on the grapes, delivering sugars and other goodies to them and there is ongoing human maintenance to the vines. The vines themselves are sprayed to protect from pests. I am not sure what kind of spray, but I was not picking off any grapes to taste them (which I saw people do). Also, the ground was sprayed to prevent the ground cover from growing. I am sure this is done so that the vines are not overgrown and valuable sunlight is cut-off. They also have a machine that trims the vines. The rows are comfortably wide enough to allow a tractor to travel up and down. The machine is drawn along behind a tractor (John Deere) up and down the rows and trims top both sides of the vines. Left unattended the vines would just continue to grow and I am sure this would divert precious resources from the grapes themselves. Later in the summer as the grape bunches got larger, I noticed that some varieties of grapes had a poly mesh strung along to help support the weight of the grapes (I assume).

Having spent the whole year watching the vineyards, we went on vacation and then home to Philadelphia in late September through the end of October. During this time period, most of the grapes were harvested. When we returned in November, the leaves had started to turn yellow and the bunches of grapes were gone, except for one bed of about 10 rows. These vines do not have mesh strung along the grape bunches now, but have a plastic sheet stretched along the length of the rows covering the bunches. These grapes are north of Schriesheim and I did not see them until I went on a longer run.

Grapes are planted in like beds of varieties. You can tell beds of grapes by the age of the vines or the shape and/or color of the leaves. The leaves of red grapes turn purple in the fall and not yellow. This fall, maintenance takes two forms, some beds are removed and the rest are trimmed so that all that is left is a trunk about 2.5’ (1.5 meters?) tall. Why are some beds removed? I have no idea. It could be that that variety only produces productively for a limited number of years? Or, the Weingut (winery) is not going to produce that variety of wine any longer? Based on the very informal survey I have taken, while running, about 5% or less of the beds are removed this year and a similar amount of new beds were planted in the spring.
Telling the age of a bed of vines is fairly easy, but what is a bed, how am I defining a bed. Remember, this is terminology that I have defined. A bed of vines is a grouped of a variety and is usually a minimum of 4 rows and each row is about 200-300 meters long. I have to assume, that planting beds smaller than that becomes unproductive, as there is a need for each variety to be harvested together. The stumps of new vines are the width of a pencil when planted and now at the end of the season are still not much larger. Vines in the second year are definitely thicker, but still very small. Older vines are much thicker, the bark is more course and they have may have moss and lichen growing on them.

This evening (Nov. 14) we will get to taste the outcome of all this work as Sven, our wine guy, is hosting a wine tasting at a local Art Gallery here in Handschuhsheim. Should be pretty nice!

10 Year Jubilee

Pam has been with SAP for 10 years. As a US employee she would have been sent a nice email with a link to a website where she could choose a gift. Germany though has a different plan and Pam is a German employee. Each November, a tent is erected in the city center of Mannheim and the Radio Regenbogen (Rainbow) Palazzo starts. The shows are daily except Monday and it runs until February. SAP buys tickets to 5 Saturday shows for its Jubilee (10 Year) celebrations and you pick one of the Saturday shows. This past Saturday (11/8) was our week. Pam’s colleague, Kathrin and her husband (from the Dresden office) were also in town for the event.

http://www.palazzovariete.de/

The tent is a one ring circus type tent with a lobby tent attached. The floor is a raised from the ground and there is a hardwood floor and the ceilings and walls are lined with drapes to hide the tent and seat around 300/350 people. The tent is heated and was in fact quite warm when we got there. There is a fixed menu and drinks are included in the price. Essentially, the Palazzo is a dinner theater with a round stage in the center (which elevates) and a second stage along the back wall.
We arrived and presented our ticket and Pam had indicated my dairy allergies. I was given a little ticket like thing that showed I had food allergies. A serving person came by also to identify people with specials needs and became my very own serving person.

The show was MC’d by a comedian, Kay Scheffel, who can sing, do ventrilliquy and do a little standup. He introduced the acts and also preformed. He started the night off dressed like John Belushi in the Blues Brothers and did a nice job, although he was missing a Dan Akroyd. There was also a female singer, Marissa Burgess and 4 dancers, den jungen Schönheiten, all tending to be dressed minimally. Also, there is a second comedian, John Fealy. Fealy is a British Standup Comedian who poses as the Chef for the Palazzo.

The Palazzo process is as follows; Kay, then an act, then Marissa and den jungen Schönheiten, then another act, then Kay, then John Fealy, then a course would be served. Then the process would start again. Kay would usually have a musical number and a comedy routine before each course. Pam and I had a difficult time following the comedy act as it was mostly in German. John Fealy on the other hand presented his act in English, which seemed to leave out very few people.

Kay did a ventrilliquy act twice. Once with a dummy he called, Donut and once with two dummies pulled from the audience. This was probably his funniest bit of the night. He had a man and a woman on the stage and he held each of their wrists and whenever he would squeeze there wrist they would open their mouth and he would speak for them. As the act progressed, the guy held up well and was very funny, the woman on the other hand had difficulty not laughing. It worked amazingly well and the guy was great and very expressive facially as well. At one point Kay was let go of their wrists and they would respond to his words and even mouth the correct words. Even though Pam and I only understood about 25% of what was said, we still found this to be hysterical.

The circus type acts were very impressive, one couple performed twice and all of the others performed only once.

The first act was Denise Randol and her husband. In this act Denise worked with Hula-hoops. At first working with just a few, but at the end she had about five going around her torso and one each on her arms. Her husband’s job for this act was to throw her hoops. The Huescas were the second act before the first course was served. The Huescas are brothers. One brother (always the same brother) would lay on his back on a padded piece of equipment that elevated his hips above his head, so that the other brother could jump up and land on his feet(in a seated position). From this position, they would perform various feats. The Laying down brother spinning the other brother or throwing him into the air. This was all very impressive and required amazing leg strength.

The Jaster’s act included knife throwing and a crossbow. From about 20 feet Giacomo would shoot the crossbow at balloons that Elena was holding and also shot an apple on her head. The act included spinning Elena while he threw knives at the board she was spinning on, very cliche. This was my least favorite act, but still an impressive demonstration of skill. In the same section Aurelia Cats performed. She was on a single trapeze and essentially performed a dance routine on the trapeze. Some of the strength moves and flexibility she exhibited were astounding.
The Randols came back for another act. This act involved roller skating on the elevated stage, which was about 6’ in diameter. Massimo’s job was essentially to skate in a circle very quickly and to throw Denise around while remaining in the small circle. I am sure if you asked Massimo, he would demur and tell you that what they do is not that difficult, I would tell you that it was the only act I really felt that disaster was just a fraction of a second away. One tiny misstep and the momentum of both of them could have gone flying into the audience. This act was followed by the Pellegini Brothers, four brothers who performed acts of acrobatic strength. One brother would lay on the stage and another brother who grasp his hands, and then be benched press to full extension by the brother on the ground and then the brother in the air would let go with one hand. A third brother would then grasp the brother on the grounds free hand and push himself into a hand stand on that hand. These guys were amazing!

Additionally, there was Rosa. During the meals she acted as something of a clown, going from table to table performing quick routines.

The show started at 8pm and ended at 11:30ish. We left after 1am after spending time chatting with Kathrin and Rene. When we left the performers were at the Bar talking. I am sure the idea is that you can socialize with them after the show. I was actually amazed at the number of performers who were smoking.

I am sure that on a yearly basis the show changes slightly as acts change and I very much enjoyed our evening there, but I do not desire to head right back and do it again. It would be great fun to do it again with another couple or persons who have not seen the show again.

German Blue Laws

It was not long ago that stores across Germany all closed between 4 and 6 PM daily and were closed on Sundays. Today things are much more liberal. Many stores are open until 10pm and closed on Sunday. This of course has a large impact on how you organize your weeks and specifically your weekend.

Most of your food shopping for the week needs to be done on Saturdays. For Pam and I a typical Saturday starts with a trip to the Farmer's Market in the Square in front of the Tiefburg in Handschusheim. There we will buy our produce, some chicken, eggs, as well as flowers and some other things. We will later go to the Rewe, the local grocery store and get other canned goods and such that we need.

On Sunday there are no stores open, only restaurants, coffee shops, souvenir stores and tanning salons. Traditionally, Germans will use Sunday to go walking. I am sure that this traditions varies with where you live. Here in Heidelberg, there are miles of trails and the idea is to walk to a specific location and to then stop and have a some cake and coffee. You do this with family or with friends or both. It is a very nice tradition and stores not being open is OK, most of the time....except on holidays when they are closed Saturday also!

Nov. 1st is a holiday in Germany. It is the day to remember your descendants and to visit the cemetary. This seems like a fine holiday, but why did it have to be this particular Saturday. Pam and I had just returned from the US the previous Monday and had absolutely nothing in the house to eat. All week we had looked forward to shopping on Saturday....only to walk out the door and around the corner....to see cars parked in the lot where the farmer's market is supposed to be!

The Longing of a Phila Fan

Pam and I were home for most of October and I sat on the Sofa in Seps (Pam's dad) den with a varying array of characters (Sep, Sam, Evan, Pam, Phoebe) and watched the games. Being a true Phila sports fan there is always the feeling that something bad is going to happen; Howard, Rollins, Utley and Burrell all go into hitting slumps, Hammels, Myers and Moyer losing their touch, Lidge and Madsen giving up leads and the game.

Well, some of it did happen. Moyer was not terrific, Rollins and Howard did have huge hitting slumps, Madsen gave up a late game lead. As the playoffs rolled along other incredible things happened, Victorino played superbly, Myers pictched well and hit even better having more hits and RBIs in the playoffs than during the 162 game season.

Game 5 was agony. Watching as the weather worsened and you could see its effect on the players and the 2-0 lead slipped away into a 2-2 tie before the game is called. Then when the game resumed, the Phillies quickly regained the lead only to have Madsen come out weakly and give up the lead. But this was to be the Phillies year, they were not to be denied.

During the first game in Phila. Tim McGraw, Tug McGraw's son, sang the Anthem and secretly spread his dad's ashes on the mound. Moyer pitched his best game of the playoffs.....and Lidge, shut down the Rays and ended the game on a strikeout just like Tugger in 1980...he just did not have to watch 3rd base for Schmidt charging the mound!

Game 4 found Pam and I on the plane headed back to Germany. We landed and the pilot announced the 10-2 score. WOW....Rollins and Howard had gotten their bats back.

Monday, I dozed on the sofa watching Game 4 on NASN (National Sports Network - part of ESPN I think). Game 5 started and I watched until the game was suspended and did not thing they would restart so I went to bed and waited and worried....this is how it goes in Phila.

Wednesday Pam and I went to bed before 11pm and I woke up at 1:30 and went downstairs to watch the finish of the game. With two outs in the 9th and an 0-1 count, I called Mom. I was feeling the 5000 miles distance I was and yearning to be in Philly for the finish. With the 3rd strike I let out a hoot and a holler. There were no cheers coming from outside....no blaring horns such as we heard during the Euro 2008 Fusboll Championship, just silence.

This morning there was nobody wearing championship caps, shirts or sweatshirts...just me in my NLCS Cap. I hard no news about riots in the city....I was not part of any mass of people cheering and slapping each other on the back for a job well done. yes, I am feeling a little forlorn. I remember the energy of 1980. Sitting on the sofa with my grandfather a lifelong Phillies sufferer as they finally won one for my Grandfather. I remember walking outside and seeing Fairdale Rd. filled with happy, cheering people...a seen repeated all over the city that night.

Oh, well....it is a fairly young team and one they can hopefully retain in large measure...perhaps next year or the year after I will be there for another Series win...then again this is Philadelphia and we have watched team after team win one and then disperse.

Home to Germany

The alarm went off at 4:45 Greece time and that would be 3:45 Germany time. We dressed and finished the last minute packing we needed to do. Then I carried the luggage up 42 steps to the top of the caldera and then we walked to the parking lot to meet the taxi and he was already waiting. He took the luggage and started loading the taxi and it turns out we were sharing the taxi again. I had thought that at 5:30 in the morning we would not be sharing a taxi on the way to the airport. The couple was from Winnipeg and were headed to Rome for a couple of days, before headed back home.

The airport was crowded as there were two planes going to Athens. We were able to check our luggage through to Frankfurt (YAY!) as both our flights were being operated by Aegean Airlines even though the flight to FRA was a Lufthansa flight. Thankfully, the flights were completely unremarkable and we were at home in Heidelberg by 3pm. At 3:05 I started the laundry process so that we could start to pack for our flight to Philly.

Santorini - Sept 26

Our plan today was for a boat ride around the Santorini. We got up pretty early and then headed down to the bus station where we were met by the tour company van. The van took us to port in Amoudi at the end of the island. The boat docked at the port just after we arrived and then a second van arrived and a couple that is staying at the Alte Marre which is next to Armeni Village, showed up. We had seen them having breakfast on the terrace before we left. It turns out he is from Madrid and she is going to school there and is from Lausanne, France.

The boat headed to the Old port of Oia which is just below our hotel (we could have easily walked down on the switchback walkway there) to pick up more passengers. We sailed for the larger and newer of the volcanic islands in the center. Staying with our group from the boat, we walked up the island to the very top. There are 6 different volcanic craters on the island and two of them have active vents spewing steam and noxious gases. The geology is amazing but entirely different than the volcanoes of Hawaii or Oregon. Much more rocky and with no lava flows.

We walked back down to the boat (we actually switched boats) and then headed to the second volcanic island. The attraction here are vents that heat the water in a little bay. We dropped anchor about 150 meters off shore and then those who wanted swam into the bay. I enjoyed the swim in, but the warm water was a little bit over blown. It was not so warm, it was warmer….but.

After that we headed to the island of Thirisia which is the other 2nd largest island there to be inhabited, about 300 residents. At the port there were about 8 restaurants and you could walk up the caldera there to the town. Pam and I decided to stay in the port and have lunch (gyros). The only reason any of the restaurants exist is to service the people on the boat.

We headed back to the boat and back to the port where we started. We decided to walk up to town instead of taking the shuttle. After the walk up we headed to our hotel where we showered and hung out at the hotel a little and then went to our last dinner in Greece. I had also called the taxi drive that we had taken from the port to meet us the next morning.

When we returned to the hotel, it turns out that the power in our room was out. It took about an hour to get the power fixed. The light fixture in the bathroom was shorting out the electrical system, so while we had power elsewhere, we did not have light in the bathroom. We were about done with this hotel, I would never recommend this hotel.

Santorini - Sept 25

Our plan for today was to take the bus down to the ancient ruins and then to head back into town and to go to the old port below Fira. After breakfast we made our way to the bus station and took the bus to the bus station in Fira where we changed to the bus for Akrotiri, location of the Minoan period ruins. Apparently, the Minoans had enough time to evacuate the town before the volcano erupted in 1640 BC. When we arrived in Akrotiri we asked the bus driver where to find the ruins and he told us that the ruins were closed for the season. This was disappointing and we stayed on the bus to head back to Fira.

After returning to Fira, we walked to the edge of the caldera and then started the walk down to the port. There are three ways to reach the port; 1) walk down the switchbacked walkway, 2) ride a donkey down the same walkway or 3) take the tram down. At the top of the walkway, the donkeys where wait for trips down and the walkway was littered with their waste. It was a little dangerous as groups of people were being assembled and started heading down, while at the same time the walkway was congested with waiting donkeys. Once we got past the top, it became easier as there was less congestion. At the bottom, we encountered similar congestion as at the top.

The old port was very active with Tavernas as well as people coming and going from the many cruise ships docked just off-shore.

We decided that we would walk back up also. It was pretty warm out and it is a pretty long walk (582 steps) and we were both pretty sweaty when we go to the top and we each got a Gyro and walked to the bus station and took the bus back to Oia (ee-ah) where our hotel was.

That evening the sunset was not that nice as it was pretty cloudy and we went to a restaurant where the food was not so good, probably the worst we had during our stay in Greece.

Santorini - Sept 24

Today was to be a beach day. We dressed in our bathing suits and went outside where Deny, the house boy here at Armeni Village, brought our breakfast to the deck. After breakfast we climbed back to the top of the caldera and to the bus station. We took the bus into Fira (Thira) where we switched buses and headed to the beach at Perivolos.

The bus ride was interesting as we saw a lot of the Island. The beach at Perivolos is a volcanic black sand beach. The black sand beach is interesting. The water is very clear, but the dark sand makes it look dark also. It was pretty windy, so getting in the water was not a problem, but getting out was a bit brisk!

At around 4:30 we packed up and headed to the bus stop. There was another couple there who had been near us on the beach (there were not many people on the beach). We waiting about 45 minutes for the bus to come and we learned that this couple is from Philly and live in Northern Liberties.

The bus quickly filled up to the point where it seemed as if they were going to use a ram to get the people in. The roads in Santorini are crowded and narrow. I was glad that we were not renting a car here as it would have been a frustrating place to drive.

That evening we chose a restaurant with a roof top restaurant and watched the sunset.

The Last day on Ios and the Ferry to Santorini

Tuesday morning dawned bright and clear and then I put my contacts in and saw how truly beautiful it was. We enjoyed a light breakfast at the port (Norwegian Sailors were there, but not drunk) and then got the bus to Mylopotas Beach. The ride took us up and through the village and then down the other side. This is a long sandy beach framed by the mountains on three sides. The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful beach day.

We got back to the hotel to change and finish packing and then were driven back to the port for our ferry to Santorini. This ferry was the smallest and fastest ferry we were going to take (Flying Cat 4). Santorini is off the south end of Ios and it was about a 30 minute trip to Santorini.

Santorini used to be a fairly large island until about 1640 BC when the volcano exploded and the center got spread over Mediterranean leaving only a scattered out ring. The outer ring is broken up into one large island, one smaller island and a few other islets. In the center are two basalt islands formed by lava flows since the main eruption in 1640 BC. The caldera rim is lined with hotels and homes all the way around and is an impressive sight. On the backside of the main island (opposite of the caldera) you would hardly know there was a volcano, except for the thick layers of ash. In fact, along the caldera rim, you can see the level of ash, 10 or 20 meters thick with basalt rocks mixed in. You can see successive layers of eruptions on the layers exposed by the volcano, some are ash and some are basalt.
The port is near the center of the island and our hotel is at the north end. Again, we shared the taxi, this time with a Mother and Daughter from NYC. The road up from the port to the top of the caldera has many switch backs, once at the top, the view is impressive, both into the caldera on one side and the planes down below on the other.

We were dropped off first and our hotel is in the caldera rim. The taxi driver had contacted our hotel so that someone would be there to help us with our luggage. We had to walk from a parking lot up to the top of the rim, over to the hotel and then down the steps to our room. The woman who runs the desk of Armeni Village is a small, darkly tanned, older woman who speaks very little English. She took great pride in showing us our room, which is a nice suite with a real shower, not just a small square with a curtain around it. I think the shower here is about the size of the bathroom at the hotel in Ios.

The whole thing is just amazing and we are looking forward to exploring the island.

Last Day on Ios annd the Ferry to Santorini

Tuesday morning dawned bright and clear and then I put my contacts in and saw how truly beautiful it was. We enjoyed a light breakfast at the port (Norwegian Sailors were there, but not drunk) and then got the bus to Mylopotas Beach. The ride took us up and through the village and then down the other side. This is a long sandy beach framed by the mountains on three sides. The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful beach day.

We got back to the hotel to change and finish packing and then were driven back to the port for our ferry to Santorini. This ferry was the smallest and fastest ferry we were going to take (Flying Cat 4). Santorini is off the south end of Ios and it was about a 30 minute trip to Santorini.

Santorini used to be a fairly large island until about 640 BC when the volcano exploded and the center got spread over Mediterranean leaving only a scattered out ring. The outer ring is broken up into one large island, one smaller island and a few other islets. In the center are two basalt islands formed by lava flows since the main eruption in 640 BC. The caldera rim is lined with hotels and homes all the way around and is an impressive sight. On the backside of the main island (opposite of the caldera) you would hardly know there was a volcano, except for the thick layers of ash. In fact, along the caldera rim, you can see the level of ash, 10 or 20 meters thick with basalt rocks mixed in. You can see successive layers of eruptions on the layers exposed by the volcano, some are ash and some are basalt.

The port is near the center of the island and our hotel is at the north end. Again, we shared the taxi, this time with a Mother and Daughter from NYC. The road up from the port to the top of the caldera has many switch backs, once at the top, the view is impressive, both into the caldera on one side and the planes down below on the other.

We were dropped off first and our hotel is in the caldera rim. The taxi driver had contacted our hotel so that someone would be there to help us with our luggage. We had to walk from a parking lot up to the top of the rim, over to the hotel and then down the steps to our room. The woman who runs the desk of Armeni Village is a small, darkly tanned, older woman who speaks very little English. She took great pride in showing us our room, which is a nice suite with a real shower, not just a small square with a curtain around it. I think the shower here is about the size of the bathroom at the hotel in Ios.

Santorini amazing and we are looking forward to exploring the island.

Ios - 9/22

Monday morning started overcast and nasty and turned rainy and cold. Another beach day shot to hell. So we got a late start and then headed to the port area for a light breakfast and coffee. There was a sailing team from Norway in port and they were also not going out because of the weather. They were behaving like drunken stupid people. We sat there for a while had some coffee/tea and then we left, we could hear them all the way back to the hotel, which is probably a mile away.

In the afternoon Pam had a nail appointment (which she was very happy about). The woman who did her nails is from Australia and came to Ios about 10 years ago on vacation, met a Greek guy and never went home. They now have several kids and love their life on Ios.

The rest of the day remained kind of rainy and cold. We kicked around town and relaxed, but Ios is pretty small with not a lot to offer.

Going to Ios

Today said good-bye to Naxos and took the ferry to Ios. We both really like Naxos. It is a beautiful island and we stayed in a really nice part of the island.

We started the day going to the coffee shop on the beach and getting breakfast. We really liked this place. The family who runs it is nice and it was a great location.
After breakfast we checked out and got a taxi to the port. While waiting for the ferry to show up, two couples behind us started chatting with each other and it turned out they were both from Boston and lived in Brookline just a few blocks apart.

The ferry to Ios is about 35 minutes (high speed ferry). Ios has a completely different feel than Naxos. The port area is very small and is built on a sheltered bay. The main town is up above the port in the hills.

A drive from our hotel, Homers Inn, met us in the port. We checked into our hotel, which is very nice, and then changed and walked back down to the port for lunch and the beach (on the bay). The beach was very nice and the water was a little bit warmer than in Naxos.

After the beach we changed and walked up the hill to Chora, the main town on Ios. The town is built on the hills. If has the quaint little streets (no cars, just feet) and there are lots of shops. We found a nice restaurant at the top of one of the hills, called the Mills. It is called that because there are 4 windmills. We asked about the mills and learned that they used them until the late 80’s.

The food was excellent. Pam ordered an Aubergine appetizer that was amazing. We got pita and an olive tapenade that was really good. The service was good and the food was good….we were very happy with our selection!

Naxos Sept 20 - It is raining

It never rains in Naxos in August or September. Today it has rained off and on since early this morning. This put a severe crimp in our plans to spend the day at the beach. Essentially, we spent the day relaxing. We walked around Naxos Town a little, we sat and had a drink and played many games of Backgammon, we enjoyed coffee and read our books, but nothing tremendously special.

Since today was nothing special, let me tell you a little bit about smoking in Greece. In Philadelphia, there is no smoking in public buildings, including restaurants (I know this has recently changed to a state law, but I am not sure what the impact is statewide). In Germany there is no Smoking in public places country wide. In Greece there is smoking everywhere. 20 years ago, I was fairly tolerant of smoking. I went out to bars and restaurants, people lit up, so what, I was out and that was that. Today, I am indignant to have to walk behind someone who is smoking because they have chosen to leak their noxious fumes and I have no right to choose not to breathe them and being asthmatic, this can be a problem.

In Greece many people smoke and they smoke everywhere, in stores, in restaurants, on streets, just about anywhere (but not on public transit). You will walk into a store and the proprietor is smoking. You sit in a restaurant and the owner is seating people and has a cigarette lit at the table where they are sitting. I woke up this morning and the cleaning person was outside smoking and her smoke came in the open window to our room.

One of the interesting things is the number of Greek people who roll their own cigarettes. When sitting at a café or restaurant you will notice someone place a little white thing between their lips, take out their paper, pour their tobacco, place the little white thing at the end of the paper (the filter), roll their cigarette and then light up.

I have to say, being suddenly thrust back into 1990’s era type smoking laws and I have come to appreciate smoke free air.

Naxos Sept 19

Friday morning we rented a car to drive around the island of Naxos. Naxos is one of the largest of the Greek islands. The island is well known for its high quality marble and in fact the whole island is marble. It even looks like they use marble dust and stones to make cement here.

For 25 euro we rented a little Fiat (far preferable to the small crappy chevy we had on Paros). We headed out and up into the mountains. The roads are small but mostly two lanes and wide enough for two cars to pass by easily, but they are mountain roads with lots of turns and hills. Compared to Germany, there are not a lot of towns and the towns are small.

We stopped at a place where an ancient civilization (400BC) quarried marble and carved statues. There is one unfinished statue that is left there (it cracked while being carved) as well as a sanctuary near the quarry. It was pretty interesting and you could still see where they carved the stones out of the hill.

Driving around this part of the island it is hard to miss the huge modern marble quarries that are carved out of the tops of the hills. The walls are sheared flat and waste marble has been dropped down the sides of the mountain like pebbles. As you drive by you understand that some of those ‘pebbles’ are the size of small houses.

Eventually we stopped in a small town for lunch. There are two restaurants there, one was closed. The other was empty except for the older woman who was running it. She spoke very little English, maybe two or three words. We pointed at the menu so she would understand what we wanted. It is not the middle of high season so not everything was available. She took me into the kitchen, opened the oven where a tray of stuff tomatoes and aubergine were cooking. I said, ‘Yes.’ We told her some other things we wanted and we just said yes and she started bring food. This included a
Greek Salad, two stuffed tomatoes, a stuff aubergine and fries. Everything was excellent! I would tell you to go there….but I would not be able to give you directions. On our way out I wished her, ‘kalispera’ or good afternoon. She replied with a large smile and said, ‘bye.’

The drive around Naxos was amazing. You can only take so many pictures of mountains and rocks and such before they all start to look alike. If you make it to the Greek Islands, a stop on Naxos is a must.

From Paros to Naxos

Thursday morning Pam and I drove from Drios into Paroika. We had about an hour to wait until our ferry arrived and we could board. We sat across the street and had a cup of coffee and a little breakfast while waiting for the ferry. The ferry to Paros was a traditional ferry, one hull with cars and trucks loaded on the bottom and people upstairs. The ferry from Paros to Naxos is a high speed ferry and is a split hull design, like a catamaran. As it came into port you could see the ballast tanks being filled in the rear so that it was level with the dock. The huge rear door opened and people and cars could disembark and then we could board.

The trip to Naxos was about 30 minutes and completely uneventful. We got a cab at the port and shared it with two women who we going the same direction, just not as far as us. We are staying in Agia Prokopios which is about 6 kilometers south of Naxos Town. We arrived at the hotel, Hotel Dimtra, which is a block from the water. The owner, Dimitri, went into detail about the three blocks surrounding the hotel and what restaraunts to go to and then where to go if we rented a car.

After getting to our room we immediately changed to our bathing suits. Then we walked down to the beach, we got lunch at Nikos, which was yummy. The aubergine salad is the best we have had in Greece. We finished lunch and hit the beach. We were able to rent chairs for the day, which is nice, as our beach chairs are in Ardmore and bringing them on a plane would have been a pain anyway. The beach here is lovely long sand beach and the water is clear and blue.

In Europe it is not uncommon for women to take their tops off on the beach. In Greece it is not as common as it was in Barcelona or Mallorca. As we were walking down the beach though, I noticed a woman not only topless but bottomless, this section of beach is nude. This is not necessarily a good thing. All in all the entire walk along the beach was about a mile or so.

That evening we took the bus to town and walked along the water front. We stopped at an outdoor café’ to watch the sunset and played backgammon.

Afterwards we walked around town and found a little plaza where we found a nice restaurant, Sciorocco and had a very nice dinner. It is family owned, the sons and daughter were taking orders while Mom and Dad supervised. After dinner, I was waiting for Pam on the plaza, sitting on the low wall there next to the Dad. He speaks very little English, but we tried very hard to communicate and succeeded, he taught me ‘Good night,’ Kalinischte’ and I taught him good morning.

Tomorrow we have plans to rent a car and tour some of the island.

Paros - Sept 17

We spent Wednesday morning just hanging out; I went for a run, we had breakfast, chatting with some of the other guests. We did not move from the hotel until close to noon. At 3pm we were supposed to be having a cooking course with Eddy along the south side of the island in Alyki.

We got in our cheap little rental car and headed south just to see what we could see. Alyki is a small town on a little bay. The water is clear and blue and there are many boats in the harbor, mainly fishing boats. There are restaurants and stores along the bay. We decided to have a light bite to eat before the cooking lesson. We chose a restaurant with seating right on the water. As Pam pointed out, in the US you would have needed a railing, but instead the table was directly on the water’s edge and we sat inches from the edge where falling off and into the water would not have been difficult. Looking into the water we could see Sea Urchins and another couple threw some hunks of bread into the water which got the fish (good sized fish) all churning, it was a little like looking into an aquarium. There was also someone snorkeling who it turns out was spear fishing he actually got a nice sized octopus.

At around 2:30 I called Eddy to tell him where we were and that we were not going to be where he expected us. He had mentioned that he was in Alyki, so I thought it would be easier from him to meet us there. He drove down and met us and we followed him to a place where we parked our car and then he drove us to his house. His house is near the top of the mountain behind Alyki. The road there is narrow and dirt and at points drops precipitously. Eddy and Louise (Louisa), are from Amsterdam. They live about half the year on Paros and half in Amsterdam. Eddy used to be a developer but his company downsized and from what I can gather he took early retirement. Not that Eddy appears that old. I would be surprised if he was 60. They rent the house from a Greek family that actually lives on an island further north and east of Paros. They pay a little rent and take care of the property and make some improvements.

Eddy enjoys the creative process of cooking and has learned most of what he knows by doing. I will not go into the details of everything that we cooked, but there are definitely things that we made that Pam and I will cook with later. There was one meat dish and one dish that had a little bacon and there was a lot of potatoes (3 dishes of potatoes) and an extraordinary amount of garlic and olive oil. We very much enjoyed the cooking part of the evening and you can see that Eddy loves cooking for people also. Many times Eddy will have groups of up to 17 people for dinner (he prepares the food for large groups) or will have a group of people for the cooking class, but on this evening it was Pam and I. For dinner though, their friends Bruce and Brian joined us. Bruce and Brian are Brits and have lived in Paros for 4 years. They never intended on living here full time, but they wound up renting their place in Devon to a couple and then selling it when the market was good and the only place they had to live was the house they had purchased on Paros.

We wound up staying there until about 11:30 (we think….can’t be sure) chatting and eating. We had a really nice time and are glad that we had the experience. There is also the chanc,e that come this winter we will spend a weekend in Amsterdam and visit with Eddy and Louisa.

Paros - Tuesday Sept. 16

How many ways can you define water that is so clear that when the waves break you can hardly see it until it foams? I can stand in water up to my neck and see my feet and the only reason I have difficulty is because of the diffraction of light caused by the moving water. You can see the sand puff up as you move around. The Med is saltier than the Atlantic Ocean. We I swim underwater, my natural buoyancy bounces me up to the surface.

We hung out on the beach for about 5 hours yesterday. It was warm and breezy and nice. I expected the water to be warm, kind of like the end of summer at the Jersey shore bath water warm. This is not the case. The water is comfortable and you do not feel the need to get out of the water, but you do not just plunge head long into the water also.

We ate lunch at a tavern that is right along the beach. The food was excellent and the setting spectacular! Generally, Pam and I are finding the food here on Paros better than in Athens.

For dinner we headed out to Paroikia which is the main town for Paros and where the Ferries come in. All along the waterfront are restaurants and shops. Paroikia is nice, but we both thought that Naoussa is a prettier town. We had a very nice dinner in town. I had a dish of Meatballs seasoned with Cumin and Garlic (Yummy) and a tomato sauce and rice. I love white rice, I know I should eat brown rice, it is higher in fiber and has fewer simple carbs, but I love white rice!

So this morning, I went for a run (which I have to do beacause I eat white rice), the first run since just before we left. I followed the main road to a smaller road with less traffic. This wound through small farms and such and ended at a small Greek Orthodox Church. The church stood in a rock that lead out to the bay where you could climb out onto the rocks. It was a gorgeous view from out there. After running back to the hotel, I took off my sneakers and shirt and rinsed off in the outdoor shower and jumped into the pool to cool off. This is my new favorite thing. I really like this!

A word on Greek Churches. There are small Greek Orthodox churches everywhere. When I say small, I mean tiny. They are usually one room and can hold 10 or fifteen people comfortably. Even in Athens there were a lot of tiny churches. You do see larger churches also, but these small chapels are very interesting.

Greece Day 3

Monday started early. We were out of the hotel and in a taxi by 7:15. The ride down to the port was quick until we got to the port and then there was plenty of traffic. Our drive dropped us off right near the ferry. The Ferry is huge which surprised Pam as she was expecting a small ferry, think the ferry we took in Vermont. This is far larger. We boarded from the back of the ship (next to the vehicle loading ramp). We dropped our luggage off alongside the vehicle area and then took two escalators up and headed to the aft of the ship. We finally wound up on the top aft deck of the ship. As the sky got lighter, you could see many ferries of all sizes docked in the port and further along was the industrial port.

As we headed out in to the Med you could see the sun rising over the mountain behind Athens, at first just a small sliver. It was going to be an overcast day. The ferry ride was uneventful. The tables next to the one Pam and I sat were loaded with an extended family of Aussies. 2 brothers and 2 sisters, and one of the sister’s Brother’s family. They were all taking holiday and made arrangements to meet on the ferry on the way to Paros. Some were staying for a longer period of time and others were headed home in a couple days.

We disembarked and shared a taxi to Drios which is on the other side of the island. The woman in the taxi with us is staying at a town just to the north of us.
We are staying at the Sea View. By name it should be on the Jersey Shore, but that is where the similarities end. It is run/owned(?) by a husband and wife. The wife, Pat, moved from Greece to NYC when she was 8 and moved back to Greece 15 years ago. The rooms are not large, but are nice and have a porch (where I am typing now), there is a lovely pool and it is all very lovely.

We were hungry, so we walked the 30 yards into town and ate at the local restaurant. The food was excellent and she was very proud of what she served, which was nice.
After lunch we went to the local beach. The beach is a stone beach and not so nice on the feet. On the other hand, the water is a clear crystalline blue!

A word about climate and landscape. Greece does not get a lot of rain. The islands are virtually deserts. Unlike the Sahara, the islands are humid. The dry hot air originates over the Sahara and as is moves across the Mediterranean, it picks up a lot of moisture. From what I can gather, most of the moisture gets caught in the mountains on each island and as dew in the mornings. The landscape here is very dramatic!

Greece Day 2

It is hot in Athens. The temperature is in the high 80’s low 90’s. For Pam and I that is hot. In Heidelberg it has been in the mid 70’s, maybe 80 for the past couple weeks and we have enjoyed that. We expected Athens to be hot and we expect that it will be warmer here than on the islands.

We had no plan today. We slept in and headed out later than yesterday. We walked around the old town, perusing the shops. The shopping area here is large and very tourist oriented, much more so than any other city I have been too. Lots of jewelry stores and junk stores (I mean attic type junk) as well as bad souvenir stores. If the Greeks made it, the souvenir stores sell bad imitations. The shopping area is a cross between the souks of Jerusalem and the shopping area we found in Hanoi.

We stopped for lunch at a place that had a nice looking combination fish tray…it was a lot of food and we did not even try to finish it. The Calamari was excellent and the Octopus was also excellent, the shrimp was ok and the fried anchovy was good (not something that Pam would ever eat, but I had a bunch of them).

While sitting at lunch we saw this guy going back and forth...it was the most god-awful noise!

We headed back to the hotel around 3ish and took a short nap during the heat of the day (I love that part, siestas are GOOD). Then at around 5 we headed out exploring in parts of the city we had not been before. We wound up walking around a very residential area and eventually the cars changed from old VWs to new BMWs. We found a nice place along the street and sat and had a nice drink and people watched. This seemed more of a local area than a tourist area, but it was probably a mix. It turns out we were about a 15 minute walk from the main tourist area. For dinner, we found a nice little restaurant, I had a Kepab and Pam had a Souvlaki which we both enjoyed.

Tomorrow is an early day, the Ferry leave at 7:25 and we need to be out of the hotel and in the taxi at 6:45. We need to be packed and ready to go.

Athens is a very nice city. Two days is good for a tourist visit, the third day and you are wondering what to do. Although, I could imagine living here, it seems like a very livable city (except for the heat in summer). The people are nice and the food is good and not so expensive.

I am looking forward to the ferry trip tomorrow and finding myself on the Island of Paros tomorrow afternoon. I am imagining a quieter place with a view of the Mediterranean.

Greece Day 1

Our flight into Athens was completely uneventful. We have three bags and one of our bags was directly in front of a sign saying that this is the end of baggage. after collecting our bags,we went to the taxi stand which had a ludicrously long line, worse than Penn Station in NYC, but the line moved quickly and we were in the taxi into Athens pertty quickly.

Our hotel was supposed to be very close to the Acropolis, but the driver does not know the hotel. The phone number that is on the email I printed out is incorrect (missing a digit). We are pulled over along the side of the highway while he fiddles around and eventually he pulls out his GPS (why he did not start there, I wish I knew). The ride is much longer than the tour book led us to believe. The book said it should be about 11euro, turned out to be 45euro. On the way in, we pass the old Airport...is this the mythical start of the 11 euro cab ride?

We settled into our room and then we headed out for dinner. The front desk suggested a place not far called Vitro. This is a tourist trap and must have some deal with the hotel. We are sitting outside and there are signs taped to the windows. The signs are made by customers who enjoyed their meal there. I read one that says, "In Athens 2 Days, Ate at Vitro 3 times, Loved the food, loved the music. Jill and Don, Go Eagles! (In Green)." How sad is that. They are from Philly and went to Athens for two days and hardly ventured out. The food was good but not great. So many great little restaurants….got to try them all.

Walking back from dinner we look up and there it is, The Acropolis. It is all lit up and glowing. The hotel is about two blocks away.

Saturday morning we wake up and get to breakfast just after 9am. Breakfast in Euro hotels is usually included. The breakfast is ok, not great. Then we head out. We go to The Acropolis and pay 12euro and start walking. The walk up is not nearly as strenuous as we expect (not as hard as the Schloss in Heidelberg). There is a lot of work being done on The Acropolis, which is good. It is pretty amazing. We spend the rest of the morning exploring Athens and see lots of columns, some of them with Pediments on top and some free standing. There are subtle difference in periods, some are fluted, some are smooth, some have fancy tops (don’t know the name of that part) some are simple. There are two Agoras (forum ), one ancient Agora and one Roman. Many of the ruins have ruins of other things over top of them. Then again, some of the ancient ruins are built over top of still even more ancient ruins.

We then had Lunch, which for Pam was a Greek Salad (which she enjoyed) and for me was Chicken Souvlaki, which was also very nice. Following lunch, we walked around a market area and looked at a lot of shiny sparkly stuff and textiles.

So, the Greeks have their own Alphabet. I expected Greece to be more like Vietnam where you cannot read anything. I expected to recognize three words, Police, Taxi and Coffee. Strangely, here in Athens, and I expect in the islands we are to visit next, English is a second language. Speaking with the taxi driver, American movies are shown in English with subtitles and most people have ok English or better. So while coming from the USA, we only speak English and that is a bad thing, it is a good thing to come from the USA and be able to speak English, because much of the world uses English.

The Bayers

The Bayers
Our Landlords are our neighbors. When we were looking for a place to live in Germany, this was the only place we looked were the landlord also lived in the building. We gave some thought to having our landlords be our neighbors and there were some good points and some bad points.
Fortunately, the positives are far greater than the negatives. If you lock yourself out, you can ring their doorbell and they can let you in. Yo9u do not have to drive yourself to an office in another town to pick up the spare key and then have to return the key later. It is like leaving a spare key with the neighbors. If you have a maintenance issue they are right there to take a look and make arrangements to fix it.
The Bayers are exceptional neighbors. Yes, there are rules but for the most part they are relaxed and Pam and I try to be good neighbors and they respect their rules. Yes, they have let me into the house twice when I locked myself out. Then again, Frau Bayer buzzed our door bell so I could let her into the building (she keeps the key in the door to their apartment during the day) when the door was closed behind her. Also, when we had a maintenance issue, it was fixed in hours. I told Frau Bayer, Frau Bayer called the repair guy, the repair guy came, looked, left for a part and returned and two hours later…..everything was fixed.
Then there was the time that Pam left the house for work and it was supposed to rain later that day. Frau Bayer called Jutta (our Relocation person in Germany) who had my cell number and called me to ask if it was alright if Frau Bayer could enter our apartment and close the windows, of course it was ok, but it is nice to be asked. Of course, it was 9am in Germany and 3am in Philadelphia where I was asleep at Mom’s having come home for Ryan’s graduation.
The Bayers though are genuinely kind people and there are far more benefits we gain with them as neighbors, like produce! It started in spring with strawberries (erbereen), mirabellen (not something found in the states), apples, squash and zucchini.

Driving in Germany

When many people think about Germany, they picture driving on the Autobahn and no speed limits. The highways in Germany are essentially the same as in the State, except there are places where there are no speed limits. There are two primary reasons for speed limits on the autobahn, construction zones and urban areas.
The A5 runs past Heidelberg, north to south. The speed limit on the A5 changes from unrestricted to 120 KPH to 100 KPH and then back to unlimited 4 exits later south of town. This is fairly common in urban areas.

The Autobahn is also frequently under construction which creates speed restrictions. The German Gov’t believes in good roads and when you are driving at 200KPH you will appreciate good roads also. This means that road construction can literally start up over night. One day you drive down the Autobahn with no construction then the next day, there is road construction.

Drivers in Germany tend to abide by the rules more. The left lane is for passing only. You will frequently see someone traveling at a high rate of speed go past and then move right across 4 lanes only to move to the left a short time later to pass someone. If there is someone traveling slowly in the left lane and the right lane is open, the faster car will not pass on the right, but will ride the bumper of the slower car until they move to the right.

Where there is no speed restriction you can drive as fast as your car will go. Although, legally and for insurance purposes, if you are involved in an accident and you are driving over 120 KPH (75MPH) you are partially responsible. Other issues affecting your safety at high speeds are other drivers and trucks. Slower drivers in the right lane can be dangerous. If they come upon an even slower vehicle, they may move over to the left lane in front of you and this can be quite harrowing as I believe that many times they do not look in the mirror before doing this.

Trucks. In Germany, trucks can travel at a maximum speed of 100KPH (62MPH) and in many places that speed may be less. Momentum is important for a truck. Any tap on the brake can slow a truck down for a long time. So when a slightly faster truck approaches a slightly slower truck they will move left and pass. There are times when a truck can take many kilometers to pass another truck and if there are hills, even longer. If the Autobahn is two lanes, the trucks will block the whole road, backing up traffic. The Germans have a phrase for this, Elephants Running.

Signage in Germany is different. If you enter I-95 in Philadelphia, you have a choice between North or South and New York or Chester. In Germany when you enter the Autobahn you have a choice between Frankfurt and Basal. There is never a direction indicator on any of the Highways even though the A5 and all the even numbered Autobahns travel North-South and the odd numbered travel East-West. If you don’t know what town/city you are traveling towards you can easily get lost. In Heidelberg it is easy for us, but on the road are we headed towards Kassal or Düsseldorf?

In counter point to the autobahn is driving on the little streets of Germany. We live on a little street and our street is in a neighborhood of little streets. On these little streets traffic moves in both directions, but there is usually not enough room for two cars and many times there are cars parked on one or both sides (legally or illegally). This means that one car has to stop and pull to the side to let the other car pass by. The other interesting aspect of driving on the little streets is that the intersections do not have stop signs. Essentially, each intersection is an all way stop and the car to your right has the right of way.

Euro 2008

The Euro2008 Fußbol championship took place from 6/7-31. Leading up to the event we were asked numerous times if we planned on watching. Before being asked we had no idea this was even taking place, so of course we watched. We watched all of the Germany games and several other games.
We have 250 cable channels and we watch less than 10 of those channels. The first challenge was to find the channel that was carrying the games. We selected a Swiss provider, which was fine as Switzerland and Austria were the co-sponsor countries of the tournament.
Sixteen teams qualified for the tourney and they were broken down into 4 groups. You play each team in your group and the best two teams move to the Quarter final round. Germany won 2 and tied 1 and moved to the Quarters as the second team in their group. Sitting in our living room with the windows open, we could hear the people at the outside at the Hendesee Bier Garden reacting to the came.
In the Quarter final Germany played Portugal. Portugal had the better record coming out of the first round and it was a close game until the very end and Germany won 3-2. Also in the QFs, Turkey beat Croatia with Penalty kicks after two overtime periods, Russia beat the Netherlands and Spain beat Italy on penalty kicks. Samantha had arrived and watched the Spain-Italy game with us and she is now a Fußbol fan. I am not sure whether she actually likes the game or just thinks the players are cute, either way we enjoyed her watching with us.
We were hoping both Germany and Spain would make it to the finals as we would be in Barcelona for the finals and wouldn’t that be fun!
Throughout the tourney, Turkey had won most of its games either on penalty kicks or on very late goals and in fact had only had the lead for all of their games for about 10 minutes. In the semi final game against Germany, Turkey took an early lead and but with 5 minutes to go, the score was 2-2 and looked likely to go into overtime. Then the seconds ticking away, Lahm (Germany) took the ball to the net for a Goal and Germany’s win.
We watched Spain’s semi the first evening in Barcelona Sitting in a Tapas bar on the Ramblas. Spain easily handled Russia for a 3-0 win. Spain looked very impressive in their win. They made nice crisp passes and there was some terrific ball handling and the goalie kept Russia of the scoreboard with some impressive saves.
Sunday night we went back to the same Tapas bar to watched the Spain-Russia game on Thursday. Germany came out fast and for the first 10 minutes most of the play was in Germany’s offensive zone. Unfortunately, there was never a player in front of the net at the same time as the ball or a Spanish player would intercept the pass. Spain scored mid-way through the first half and that proved to be the only score of the game. The German team played hard, but not well enough and the Spanish team proved to be the better team that evening and took home the championship.
The Spanish fans were in the street and cheering, but the German fans in Heidelberg celebrated more when Germany won their quarter final game. We were on the Ramblas, which is Main Street Barcelona. I really expected to see wall-to-wall people cheering. On CNN we saw a woman in her 20’s interviewed about how wonderful this all was and how she was going to party, but she had to go to work the next day. If the Phillies win the World Series this year (or even the NL Championship) that is not a comment I would expect to hear.

Judy's visit and Berlin - August 2008

Pam’s Aunt Judy came to Europe for two weeks. She came to stay with us for a week and was then traveling to France for the wedding of a friend’s daughter. She flew in Tuesday to Frankfurt via Paris and arrived with no problems. Sparing the details, we showed Judy around Heidelberg and she was very impressed and loved Heidelberg.
On Thursday we took the train to Berlin which she was interested in visiting. The weather did not look promising for the weekend, calling for rain on Friday and Saturday. We took the train from Mannheim to Berlin and arrived in Berlin after about a five hour trip. We stayed at the NH Hotel – Friedrichstraße which is very nicely located and is close to the Friedrichstraße train station.
The three of us enjoy spending time walking around getting to know a city and we did a lot of walking. Berlin is a city of about 3.5 million people and is physically the same size as the 5 burroughs of NYC without all the water to break it up. The city sits along the river Spree and also has a few canals. Before 1871, Berlin was a minor Prussian city, but after the Franco-Prussian War, Wilhem I decided to make Berlin his capital (Hauptstadt). This changed everything. After defeating the French, Germany, as part of the treaty, was awarded the provinces/states of Alsace and Lorraine as well as a boatload of money. In a very short while, Berlin morphed from a sleepy small city to the largest city in the newly united Germany.
We were in no hurry getting started Friday morning. After breakfast, Pam and Judy headed out for some tourist locations, the Brandenburg Gate, The Holocaust Memorial and Museum and then some shopping on Friedrichstraße. I was going to use Friday to do some family research at the Zentrum und Landesbibliothek Berlin (ZLB). Upon arriving there, I quickly determined that the best they could do for me was to show me the on-line address database which I had already found and used. They did though lead me to the Berlin Landes Archiv. Berlin Zentrum is in the middle of town (Mitte) while the Landes Archive is near the Tegel airport. At this point I was under a little bit of a time constraint as the archive closes at 3pm on Fridays so I took a taxi.
The taxi driver was an East German and we chatted along the way. I asked him if and what he misses about the old GDR. He responded that he misses the subsidized rents, inexpensive mass transit and other social programs. I think for many old communist countries, those are the things which people have the hardest time letting go.
The Landes Archive is huge. I was directed to a desk where I could be helped. My inquiry is not unique and I filled out a form listing the people I wanted to research and returned the completed form and was told it would be several months before I would hear something.
After returning to town I met Pam and Judy in a shopping gallery on Friedrichstraße. It was rainy and nasty so we decided to head back to the hotel before dinner. Friday night’s dinner wound up being an inexpensive dinner at a Doner Kepab place. Pam had a nice salad while Judy and I had Doners . A Doner is similar to Greek Gyro and these were particularly good Doners.
Saturday morning dawned with bright sunshine and high clouds. We were up and out early so that we could go to the Reichstag early and beat the crowds. The Reichstag was built in the 1890 by Wilhelm I to house the Budestag (Paliment). The Reichstag was burnt down in February 1933 by a young Dane who did not have enough money to make to travel to the USSR. Hitler seized upon this as a Jewish conspiracy and forced force the Enabling Act and assumed dictatorial power in Germany. After German unification in 1991, the Reichstag was completely renovated and a dome returned to the top of the building.
After leaving the Reichstag, we took the S-Bahn to a flea market in another part of town. Here we met up with Mike Cullen. Mike was a friend of Pam’s Mother from High School. Pam’s Dad has recently been in touch with him and suggested we meet him. Mike has been in Berlin since 1962 and he is the world’s leading authority on the Reichstag and on the Brandenburg gate. He worked on the renovation of both buildings and was a major advocate of returning a dome to the Reichstag (but is not a big fan of the Glass and Metal Dome).
We all piled in to his car and we headed west out of town towards Wannsee. The Wannsee is a large lake west of Berlin near Potsdam and was identified as a place where many of the Prussian Aristocracy and Military leadership resided. At the Wannsee Conference in 1942, the Nazi’s laid out the plan for the extinction of Jews from Europe, starting in the west and moving to the East. The location of the conference has been preserved as a museum.
We had lunch at a Villa that looks on the Wannsee, it was a little windy and a little chilly, but the setting was gorgeous and we all enjoyed lunch. After lunch we continued around the lake to the location of the Potsdam Conference, the Schoß Ceciliahof. This location was chosen as it was one of the largest facilities available that was undamaged after the war. At the Potsdam conference, the US, UK and USSR divided post war Europe.
At this point the weather was getting worse and we headed back into town. On the way back we stopped at the Grunewald Bahnhof (train station). This is where the Jews of Berlin were put on trains and taken east to Camps in Poland (before 1941 they were taken to local camps in Spandau and Sachsenhausen). From the first train on April 14th 1942 with 67 people (destination Warsaw) to the last train on March 27, 1945 with 18 people (destination Theresienstadt) three weeks before the Russians entered Berlin. The siding on Track 17 is preserved and each train is represented by a steel plate on the siding indicating numbers. It is a quiet memorial that not many people know about, making it an all the more powerful. Grunewald is also home to a mountain of debris. Instead of going through the debris of the destroyed buildings and use the usable materials there, the Allies, dumped all of the material into a pile 120 meters high.
A former MRP colleague was also in Berlin this weekend (he spent two weeks in Croatia a week in Austria and then a week in Berlin). We had made tentative plans to meet Nathan for dinner. He took the U-Bahn (subway – Unter or Under) to Friedrichstraße and we met him in the lobby of the hotel. We walked over to Orienburgerstr and had a very nice dinner at an Indian restaurant. Nathan and I made tentative plans to get together Monday morning.
Sunday morning also dawned nicely and we were slow in getting started at there were no plans and no need to hit the streets quickly. During breakfast we decided on a plan, we would walk around. Judy has a friend whose family owned a building in Prenzlauerburg, not far from where my family also owned a building. After stopping by that building, we continued to walk around the neighborhood. We all agreed that we liked the area and that it has a little of the same feel as Greenwich Village – cute boutique shops, art galleries, nice little restaurants with people eating al fresco. The big difference being that the streets and sidewalks are much wider.
Sunday night we went to the Hotel Adlon for a drink. The Adlon was built in the 1880’s as a top of the line hotel for Berlin, because a major world capital needs lots of nice hotels. After opening, the hotel burnt down a month later, but was quickly rebuilt. The Adlon is on the Pariser Platz near the Brandenburg Gate and the British Embassy. The US Embassy had been around the corner but since 2001 has been moved for security reasons. The cost for three drinks was 45€. Judy also wanted to see Check Point Charlie. Check Point Charlie had been the checkpoint in the American Zone between East and West Berlin. We could not find anywhere satisfactory to eat on the way over so Judy spent time there and then we went to an Italian place around the corner.
Monday morning after breakfast, I called Nathan and we made a plan. I walked Judy to the bus stop where she would catch the bus to the Tegel Airport (the best way to get to the airport) and then I started walking around Berlin and made my way over to the Dunkin Donuts near the Sony Complex at the Potsdamer Platz. I found Nathan upstairs at the DD doing email. I wanted to go by Holsteiner Str. 6 which is shown in the address book at a piece of property my family owned. It sits near the North West corner of the Tiergarten right along the river. We took a Taxi there. What we found was a residential building that looks onto the Spree in a lovely residential neighborhood and new office building across the street.
Nathan wanted to see the Tiergarten, so we walked back through the Tiergarten and walked by the Reichstag and then up Wilhelmstr. It was getting on towards lunchtime and I was meeting Pam in the lobby of the hotel at 2pm. We found a nice Vietnamese Restaurant where to have our lunch and then we walked back to the hotel where Pam had just arrived (earlier than expected). We said our goodbyes to Nathan and made our way to the Hauptbahnhof.