Schwetzinger Zum Ritter

The Knight's Brewhouse! 

Don and I had a going away dinner last night for one of his co-workers who is being redeployed back to the States.

We went to the Schwetzingen Zum Ritter, they brew all their own beer.  Don tried Schwarzer Ritter, which is Black Knight; for those of you who enjoy a good beer or are interested this is described as a dark, malty smooth beer.  I am pretty boring - I had a grossen wasser - no gas.  Water comes in 2 forms, with or without bubbles here- of course in the States too, but if you ask for water you get "flat or no gas".  Wasser w/ gas is very much favored here.  Anyhow...

 Schwetzingen is the Spargel Capital of the World.  Spargel is white asparagus.  It is a very popular dish here in Germany and is sold at market from April through mid-June.  I have never liked green asparagus, but thought I would venture outside my comfort zone and try this most raved about dish.

  I had Spargel cream soup, which had good flavor.  It was very rich and I enjoy a rich creamy soup.  I can say - will probably try it again at a different restaurant to see if they can cook it differently...but as a general rule, I do not share the local's enthusaism for this dish.

I then had a Spargel Tarte - which is a flat thin pizza.  It had large slices of spargel, ham slices and a fabulous cheese spread.  It looked very pretty - but the spargel was tougher and much larger than I had envisioned in my brain.  I did eat about half of it - though the waiter thought I was a bit crazy for not eating more! :)   

 This was the view from where we were sitting.  It really was a nice little restaurant/brewhouse.  The fellowship was very nice as well!

We had forgot to take out some Euro before we left post and did not know of a bank in the area (of course we found one on the way back to the car) but b/c we didn't know this we had to drive back to post to take euro out...this made us late and so I could not take the pix I wanted to. 

This is a fabulous little town w/ many bakeries and restaurants and sights to see...we will be back w/ children in tow! :)

Glückliches Ostern

Glückliches Ostern

Happy Easter Everyone! 

We had a great weekend!  From coloring Easter eggs to having an Easter egg hunt...

Easter Bunny Brought Authentic German Candy for the children!

We didn't have Easter baskets - as they have not arrived yet, so we covered boxes for each of the children...

The highlight candy was certainly the Kinder Überraschung, then the chocolate phones and of course the chocolate Easter bunny!

 

  

  

We had a nice breakfast after the kids loaded up on sugar, got dressed in our "Sunday Best".  We found a nice little local church to visit.  There are 3 or 4 that we will visit in the coming weeks before we decide on a "home" church.  On a side note, I had the pleasure of watching the Maundy Thursday service at our Church back home in Cumming.  They did a fabulous job at their reenactment of The Last Supper.   

Anyhow, we attended Lighthouse Baptist Church in Heidelberg.  The kids got to attend childrens' church, they had 2 age groups, 2-4 for Sarah and Grace and 5-12 for Emma and Evan.  The kids truly enjoyed their time at this church.  We also enjoyed the sermon!  He has Risen!  The sermon was very much biblical base with lots of scripture; he preached from the King James Version - this was new to me, but I enjoyed it none-the-less!

After service we were invited to their pot-luck dinner!  We tried to decline since we had nothing to contribute, but they would have none of that!  We enjoyed their fellowship and their food!  It was very nice!  A special thanks to Lighthouse Baptist for making us feel welcomed!

After service we came home and just enjoyed a quiet afternoon, Sarah and Grace had a good long nap- Emma and Evan went out to romp on the playground, Don went to the store for me while I prepared Easter Dinner...Ham, Au grauten potatoes, baked beans, broccoli, deviled egg and rolls... for dessert, well, I didn't really get to that!  I promised Don a coconut pie -so he will get that tonight!  LOL

After dinner clean up we went to the park to play w/ kids and then Easter Egg hunt then off to bed after we filled them up on sugar again!  hehehehe...

There are more picture of our wonderful weekend at home...as a complete family... on the page of the right titled - Glückliches Ostern

Blumen - Selbst Schneiden

Flowers - Self Cutting   

In the states, we get "fresh-cut" flowers and think if they last for a few days maybe a week we are happy.

Well, we got to experience truly fresh cut flowers today.  We were driving to the German grocery store Rewe, (r ah v eh) which by the way was closed for the Easter weekend (through Monday mind you) and decided to stop at this little corner that had these beautiful rows of Tulips for sale.

In Germany, maybe it is specific to Heidelberg, I don't know, there are many many farmers that will have fields of blumen/flowers (bloomen) for self cutting, or Selbst Schneiden (zebst shn I den).  You walk up to their box, or barrel or post and they have a small tin that has little scalpels or small knives, you walk through their fields and cut fresh flowers, and then when you leave, you place the knife back in the box, and place your Euros in the container.  It is all on the honor system.

They do many many things on the honor system here, and it seems to work.

So, we enjoyed a little sun...

Some playing in the dirt for Evan...

 





Some wandering for Sarah and Grace....

And some flower picking for Emma.

  In the end... It was a Very Sweet little outing... our Ausflug



There are a few more pix on the Blumen Page off to the right :)

TierPark Ausflug

We had a nice little Ausflug today to Tierpark in Walldorf.  Walldorf is a town just south of us.  It was a very easy drive, took maybe 10 minutes total.  This was a neat little animal park, there was an area for us to lay our blanket out, enjoy the sounds of wildlife, and draw a few sketches.  The point of our field trip was 2 fold; 1- meet others in the home school arena here and 2 - Art in the Park...we accomplished both.

Having the animals around was good inspiration for the kids.  They took their home-made sketch books around the park and drew sketches of some unique looking ducks, monkey's, trees and other birds!  They were able to get some what up close and personal to a swan, I was w/ them and made them stay back b/c they can be mean!  We were able to get w/in 15 feet of a beautiful male peacock who decided to strut his stuff!  He puffed his plume up and shook his rear to ruffle his feathers!  It was quite the display.  Pix would be nice, but left the camera on the kitchen table!  oops!  Will remember next time!

It was a nice little trip, educational in that they were able to get so close to these animals and really see some great detail and hear the noises they made.  They got to put pencil to paper and express what they saw, we got some exercise hopping around the place, well they hopped, I walked! :)... they got to socialize a bit -but since we are new, this will come w/ time.  Oh, and I may have found another babysitter!- a major plus!

Anyhow, it was a neat little ausflug (trip/outing) (pronounced owe s flewg)... Bis Bald!

Downtown Again...

Well, it seems that Don and I ARE..."smarter than the average bear"...

We took the family down to the Alstadt again.  If you have not read any other blog, this is the Old Town part of Heidelberg.  It truly is a fabulous place.  I plan on us visiting this area of town often.  There are many many different restaurants and Kneipes (pubs) that we look forward to researching, w/out children in tow.

There are so many streets and little stores to visit, that it is impossible to hit on one visit, especially w/ the kids.  Don't get me wrong, they are great, but they have their limits too!

As I said earlier, we were much smarter about our travels this time.  Seems like we may be getting a hang of it and b/w the two of us and some help from my German Culture class teacher - Havi - we will save some Euros!  I learned how to use the transportation system in Heidelberg last week and that saves us on bus fair!  Lots really!  Kids were disappointed they didn't get to each punch a ticket...but it certainly didn't hurt my feelings!

OK, for those of you with children, you will understand this... we cannot stop at a place without visiting their restroom!  They call them Toilette here... so if I slip into that and just call it a toilet, you know why.  You do not ask a German where the restroom is... they will wonder what you need rest from.  If you ask one to see their bathroom, and it is in their home, they will take you to the place they take a bath in, and think you are quite strange for asking it.  So, when you need to use the toilet, you ask for the toilette!  Well, let me tell you, they are NOT free in Europe, unless you are buying something in their establishment.  They also call them water closets or WC for short.  There are not many free WC, but we try to locate them before we leave.  I promise you, it seems we spend 1/3 of our outings in the WC.  So... for comic relief, and so my children know how silly they can be...I will often embarrass them in this fashion! :) LOL    

We took a trip down to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) (how p t ban hof) to tour it.  Don had a quick tour, I had a more intimate w/ Havi - she was a wonderful instructor- so I shared my knowledge and hopefully we will be able to use the train system to travel Europe, with and without kids! :)  Well, the children had just used the toilette before we left, about 15 minutes before our arrival...but wouldn't you know it... Evan pipes up.  Well, when you have one that has to go... ALL will go...b/c it will not be but 10 minutes after we leave the area and someone else will NEED to go!  So 1,50 euro later we are free to continue our tour.

After the tour of the hauptbahnhof we took a Straßenbahn to Bizmarkplatz.  Here...again... we decided to go a cheaper route w/ our eating.  Feeding 6 mouths in the States can be pricey, but it is much more so here!  If you all didn't know, the US $$$ is quite week right now!  So, we stopped at a fresh fruit stand... got some fresh fruit for the children and walked down the mail route through the Alstadt.  We again, wanted to feed the children a bit cheaper, so we stopped at a Bäckerei (bakery - pronounced about the same).  So... we were able to feed our 6...very hungry...mouths for under 13euro!  That is about $19...not bad really, considering last week we spent closer to $60 US dollars just for lunch!

We started to walk down to the Old Bridge -Die Brücke - down by the schloss, and the Neckar River.  What a fabulous walk... of course we had to bypass the bridge at first to hunt for another WC - even though we just used one at the Bäckerei...but, when one says they have to go- you go!  So, this one cost only 30 euro cents each...a bit cheaper!   Now we back track a few blocks back to Die Brücke.  It was a sight really!  We get to walk through an old gated entrance to city and the view of the castle was a sight too!  Die Brücke is for both pedestrians and autos... though not heavily used by the autos... too many people to compete with!  We walked over the bridge - kids enjoyed the views from the bridge; Emma and Evan both took notes and drew some sketches in their little books.  There was a street performer playing wonderful music on some piano looking instrument.  Evan loved to see the people rowing in their boats!  Gracie was saved by a stranger and Don - she ran over to be with me on the opposite side of the bridge just as a car sped onto the bridge!  Talk about a scare!  But... between Don, the stranger and my yelling... all ended well!  Man, she is quick!

As we walked back towards the Straßenbahn we smelled a wonderful sweet smell!  A man was making crepes that had Nutella, sugar and cinnamon in them...hot and fresh!  Oh, my...they were good.  I thought Nutella was good in the States....but it is better here! - think it must have more fat in it! :)... Don enjoyed his w/ butter instead of Nutella - he does not know what he missed!  Sarah and Emma enjoyed this with me...but poor Gracie had had enough!  She fell sound asleep in the stroller and bumping down the old cobblestone streets did not seem to bother that sleep one bit!  

We came across some more restaurants that we will have to visit later and some very neat little market stores.  Probably what would constitute as a convenience store back in the States, but on a much smaller, much more condensed scale, w/ all German products.  Very neat!  As we walked back we got to enjoy some of the street performers - these truly fascinate that children.  

We ended our Aldstadt tour with a stop at a local Chocolattie.  Here the children enjoyed some handmade ice cream, Don a cappuccino, and I...well I got to try some chocolate ice cream with Chili pepper in it!  Yes... you read correctly!  It was quite interesting.  Not something you can over enduldge in, but good none-the-less.  I also enjoyed a hand-made Caramel Chocolate Truffle... and let me say, it was fabulous!  I wish I could have recorded the music in the background.  There was a man behind the fountain that was playing an accordion and it was so beautiful.  What atmosphere!  I truly enjoyed it...a great way to end our trip downtown!

Check out the pictures titled Aldstadt - Die Brücke
 

FLAG - Families Learning About Germany

Thank goodness for this class and my instructor Havi!

Wow... what a great week last week was!  Don got off early each day so I could take this class and learn a bit about the way things are in Germany.  And I feel great!

I really did learn a good bit about public transportation, about shopping, about their language, and about the people themselves!

Havi showed me how to buy a bus/strassenbahn ticket, we took a bus to the hauptbahnhof (train station), and she showed us where and how to buy our various train tickets for in and outside of Germany, we toured the station, then we hopped onto a strassenbahn down to the Bizmarkplatz for a quick tour of Aldstadt.  We got a rare invite to her daughter's flat - which had a fabulous view! 

Havi showed me how to order at a place of business... not like it is in the States really.  In the states, we walk up and look in the display case and then normally go to the register to order.  Well, you don't walk up UNTIL you are ready to order... also, I learned that when Germans are in line they do not leave a space.  If you leave a space, then you are not in line... you are just hanging out.  Someone will cut in front of you. 

I had actually experienced that at the Schloss the week before, but just let it roll off.  But now I know why!

We also had a field trip to a local grocery store - Rawe (pronounced Rav eh)... it was a neat store.  One I will frequent I think!  They have a fabulous selection of fruits, veggies, cheeses, meats - both packaged and fresh (daily), wine and beer... of course you have to pay w/ the Euro, but there is also a wonderful Bäckerei- the breads here have less gluten and taste wonderful!  I will be spoiled!  Don was pleased there was a Thai Restaurant in there too... This particular store was very similar in style to what you would see in the States...you just cannot read any of the products! LOL!

They also have Aldi here - and I am sure I will frequent that store as well! We have a commissary on post - and that works well...but there are many more items that we can get "on the economy" that I cannot get here.

I also learned that the water here is very hard on hair, skin and fabrics!  My reds have faded in just 2 washes!  So... I will be buying my detergents/soaps at the German stores... they are apparently specially made for the minerals found in the water here.

I also got a leg up on the language this week.  I have been practicing my German alphabet - which I new before - but really didn't put it to use.  I have also learned some of the strange letter combinations as well.

Well, the week was a good one!  We will get the pleasure of doing a Saturday tour with her in May, as a family.  I look forward to that!

Also during this week I was heavy at studying for my German Drivers Certificate License... thankfully passed w/ a 96%!  Not an easy feat really!  I had well over a few hundred signs to memorize and their "right of way" is much different than what we have in the States... so w/ Don's help and the Instructor on Monday and my hard work too!... I can now drive in Germany...as of yesterday! 

Heidelberg Schloss

Saturday the family took an outing to see The Heidelberg Castle (Schloss).  It was fabulous and the children behaved wonderfully!

We started the day off packing light- which when you have 4 children it is a challenge!

We decided to take public transportation - try it out!  Well, it was good and bad - our first time out...we learned lots!

Lesson 1: Take LOTS of euro coins!  Euro bills are good - but anything under 5 Euros is a coin - and they are needed for the StreetCars or Straßenbahn.  We started off taking a taxi to Kirchheim (sounds like keersh-hime).  This is a small town, I guess you would say, w/in Heidelberg.  It's kind of like when you say you are from "Atlanta", but you really live in Cumming or Five Points, but it is easier to say Atlanta.

Anyhow, From Kirchheim we took a Straßenbahn (sounds like strawzenbahn), this was good - but it was a huge challenge to figure out the machine to buy our tickets.  It was only in German and Don studied it a bit before we left - and thought he had it down.  BUT...when you have a line behind you and there is a 12 year old German boy looking at you like you are a doofus - well, the pressure is on! :) LOL  So he got the tickets!  6 of them!

Lesson 2: all children under 14 ride free - if they are with their parents... not to expensive of a mistake - but made none-the-less :)

Thankfully, I have riden public transportation before and it IS similar here as it is in the States - just in German.  We new what our stop was so the Kids helped and counted our stops.

We stopped and got off at the Bismarckplatz in the Altstandt (Old Town)... you can see a few pix on the Page Titled Trip to Heidelberg Schloss.  It was a good little walk for us (thankfully we decided to bring the sit/stand stroller for the wee ones)!  There were a lot of shops and even a little Markplatz (this is a little market place).  I wish we would have stayed a bit and lingered in the MarKplatz, but we had a mission, and that was not part of it.  Next time...

We decided to not take the 300 stairs leading to the Schloss, but to take the tram up the mountain.  So glad we did... my foot is still tired by end of the day and the babies had not napped.  We took a tour and learned a few interesting facts about the history of the castle and of Heidelberg, the kids were bored, but they did great!   Evan had the camera for much of the excursion and Emma for a bit too- so most of the pix are from their point of view - but I think they did great!

There is a lot of beautiful architecture to the castle and part of it was destroyed by war and I think Don said lightening.  There was a tower that was the dungeon and the green grass is where the mote was located.  Inside it still had much of the ornate wood carvings which was fabulous!  The date above one of the doors was MCM - which is 1900, so much was added over the years.  On the outside of the castle, inside the courtyard, the walls are decorated w/ statues that have been replaced w/ replicas, most of the originals were destroyed in war, but are now displayed inside the halls and in the chapel, some had arms blown off or holes right through them!

We were all very tired on the way back, but the kids enjoyed seeing and listening to the various corner "street performers" for lack of a better term.  Some were very good and played beautifully!

After arriving at the Straßenbahn for our return trip we called the taxi service and found out we had missed the 4:30 pick up and the next one would not arrive until 7:30pm!  Yikes!  That was over 2 1/2 hours away and we only had about 15 minutes of riding on the Straßenbahn!  So over the trip back we pondered how in the world we would get from Kirchheim back to PHV (Patrick Henry Village - where we live).  We didn't REALLY even know where Kirchheim was in relation to our home - and we didn't have a detailed enough map to tell us.  SO...we decided to get off at a location we were familiar with and WALK...

Emma and Evan HATED the idea!  WALK!?!?!  What do you mean walk!?!?!  We have been walking ALL day!  Well, once they realized that we were not joking and they really did not have any choice but to pick up their little feet and move - they did and Evan even ended up making a little adventure out of it.  Mind you - it was about a 3KM walk (about 1.9miles).  Took us about an hour w/ all four... We were home well before the original 730 pick up and even had baths done before that time! 
Lesson 3: know where you are better and have a map that has more detail!  We found out later that had we stayed on the Street car and taken it to the end of the line we would have been about 1/2 mile from home!  Yikes!  Also realized we could have picked up a bus, for no extra cost and gotten even closer! :) Won't share that one w/ the kids - for a while anyway!  HA!

Needless to say, the kids slept well and it took them about 2 days to get over the sleepiness! :)

It was a great little trip and we learned a lot from our mistakes... more to happen I am sure!

Lost Bag...

OK,
So I was told by my Aunt Mary that it is very important to keep a journal, write things down b/c even the not so great things can make for a good story...

Well, late Sunday Saturday night we, I, discover that I cannot find a bag - only this was not any ordinary bathroom bag.  This was THE bag!  THE BAG with all of our vital documents that yes, you are suppose to guard w/ your life!  I could not believe it!  We look ALL over our home, quizzed our children, searched some more and well... finally concluded we did not remember carrying it off the plane!

So we do a bit of research and finally got the email to the lost and found for the airlines.  Cannot call them mind you - they only do business via email.  Well, thankfully, the story is a happy ending!  They found the bag!  We took our GPS out of the box, plugged it in and off we went, BACK to the Frankfurt Airport! - with all 4 in tow...

We had a funny experience w/ the airport parking - seems they truly mean one way in!  Don ran in, got the bag and yes - ALL our documents were still there!  Thank the Lord!
  Off to home we went and saw a lot of pretty landscape!

oh, at the airport I saw the Largest Hilton Hotel Ever!  Looked very space - like!  Check out the photos page titled "trip back to Frankfurt"

The Plane Ride Over

Wow...
17 checked bags, 8 carry on bags... 6 economy rate tickets and 9 hours 40 minutes later we arrive in Frankfurt, Germany!


We, thankfully, had help at the airport from a kind skycap, who helped load and unload our luggage!

It took us 1 and 1/2 hours just to get our boarding passes!  We were almost thinking we would run out of time!  But... all of a sudden, the check-in line started to move and we made it through w/ about an hour to get to our gate.

Kids did fabulous going through security, in record time - thanks to the stroller!

We had very little wait-time at the gate.  I had enough time to run and get us some sandwiches and gum before we loaded.

We all had the same row - 2 by the window and the rest in the center aisle.  Once we were all settled we tried to get our TVs to work... there was a TV on the back of each seat...well, they did not work!  They were finally able to get 4 of the 6 to work, so Gracie and I traded seats w/ Emma and Evan later in the flight.

So who slept!?  Well...it was not me!  I had a small catnap, Don napped off and on, but much more than I!  Sarah slept on Don's lap, Gracie curled up on the seat and slept most the "night, Emma and Evan slept a few hours...

We finally arrived in Germany about 9AM local time, 3AM EST... The plane had a map that showed our location all night, not only that but it also gave our arrival time, altitude, and distance from our location.  I loved it!

It took us about an hour to get home, Sarah and Grace could not handle the drive and took another nap...but once they got home, they were wired!

We all pooped out for about a 6 hour nap and then we were all up until about 2AM!  Complete jet-lag!  The next night was bad too!  But it took about 3 days for us to acclimate to the new time.