Germany week 12 Part 2--Toilets, bidets, who does it best?

Germany week 12 Part 2--Toilets, bidets, who does it best?

Dear all,

I'm in a writing mood, here in Rome, wore Gregg out sightseeing.  He is sleeping and since I have to wait till I get home to unload my pictures, I thought I'd add a post.  The Television is all Italian. I watched some poker players tonight—that translates in any language. My choice of topic may not fit everyone’s taste.  It’s about toilets.  I’ll try to be politically correct and not offend or gross anyone out.  I just noticed the differences.

Here is my blog on toilets.  I guess I’m used to the American toilet.  Sure you have a toilet brush but you don’t have to use it every time you go.  At least in my experience, you can scrub them once a week and you are good to go. Here in Europe it is part of the toilet regiment.  Go-- brush --flush.  I don’t know what the difference in the design of the bowl is but it is not the same.  Another difference is the flusher is on the wall.  In other words, you don’t use a lever you push a button. In Italy there is no toilet seat.  It is just the top and the bowl.  Guess that’s good for the guys, no way for them to leave the toilet seat up. Lol Today I had to foot pedal water to wash my hands in a restaurant.  Also, there are the bidets, cold water—well you know where.

I remember when I was in Taiwan teaching the first time I went to the bathroom.  My group got a big kick when I came out and informed them that the bathroom was in disrepair as there was no toilet just a hole in the floor.  Now that took some getting used to --squatting to pee.

Each country is a little different.  Amsterdam, Germany, Taiwan and now Italy.  Guess I’ll be figuring it out as I go.   I don’t know if I’m just used to the American toilets, but I like them best.

I will write about the Rome trip in the next couple of days.  Awesome!!!! As a matter of fact I ran my battery down taking pcitures.  It's the first time I've done that.  Will have to recharge at home. --at my German home :)

For now, Hugs from Germany—actually Rome right at the moment.

Susan

Germany Week 12 (part 1) Austria, the Hills are alive and a hundred dollar cab ride

Germany Week 12  (part 1)  Austria, the Hills are alive and a hundred dollar cab ride

Dear all:

I have to do this in two parts this week because I will not be in town Sunday when I usually write these.  But this is part one.

Last week I finally had to physically go to the transportation office and get them to call the movers to set a date for our furniture.  It is coming the day before our daughter, Amanda, and her friend get here.  Then we had to set the day before for the movers to move the furniture that is on loan to us.  The problem was ---hmmm---let me see---they had our email listed –yes you guessed it --needaneamail@yahoo.com    I wonder if anyone actually has that email—lol

Gregg sent one set of golf clubs back this week via postal service and as he is walking in the post office trying to lug the large box—the postmaster yelled,  “Hey we don’t ship bodies.”  To which Gregg stone faced replied, “It’s okay this one is dead.”  They all fell out laughing.

We left yesterday afternoon for Salzburg.  We rode the train and got there around 8pm.  Salzburg is a neat little town full of culture and tradition.  We toured the Mozart area and bought a few souvenirs, but the highlight of our trip was “the Sound of Music” tour which I made Gregg go on after I made him watch the Sound of music again.  Anyway it was loads of fun.  You can see me and Gregg by  the Gazebo and there is also a picture of the church they got married in.  I really enjoyed it.  I have to admit Salzburg was a great trip—I will probably return sometime.

Now for the ride back we had to wait an hour in Salzburg train station and the train was late to Munich and we missed our connection so they set us up with the next train but that connection was only 4 minutes so we missed it.  We had to take a taxi back to the house—70 Euros-about 100 dollars.  As I sit here after taking a bath and relaxing I can honestly say it was the best hundred I ever spent.  Lol  Hey guys everything can’t always go like it supposed to—I mean, where is the story in that.  And with all of that I will leave you for a few days expect part 2 Monday or Tuesday.

But for now --Hugs from Germany

Susan

Week 11- Berlin, unaccompanied baggage, good bye to Explorer

Week 11-Berlin, unaccompanied baggage, goodbye to Explorer

Hello from Germany:

I am sitting here on Sunday afternoon looking out of the window at the most beautiful day, the sun is shining and all seems right with the world.  I just got off of Skype with my son who showed me my 19 year old dog; Maggie, who it seems has had quite an adventure for herself.  She fell at the beginning of the week and has since recovered from the mishap, but it scared my son.  She also got lost at the edge of our yard since she is deaf and blind. So she was picked up by an elderly neighbor and turned into the dog pound.  My son, ever diligent, put a notice out and found out that Maggie,  was at the pound so suffice to say I was glad to see her on the Skype today all safe and sound.  We saw the party held at our house last Friday night from a facebook posted picture and I commented on the picture--nice house. Hey- it's still standing or was last Friday.  lol  But really my son is doing a great job holding down the fort.  Anyway enough about the home front.

Our unaccompanied luggage did make it Monday.  As we are opening up box after box of stuff we finally look at each other and say “Why did we bring this?” We had to laugh.  I don’t know if we thought we were coming to a third world country where they would have nothing that we like but we have enough Bisquick to feed an army and deodorant and soap for a year and enough Tylenol and Nyquil to stock a small pharmacy.  Lol  But anyway we did get all of the baggage put away just in time for us to start all over again with the furniture and notices of its imminent delivery sent to the elusive      needanemail@yahoo.com.  Lol- But I am confident that we will get it before ---hmmm-- next summer…lol

We sent the Explorer back to the USA and we are depending on baby car to make it.  Family is coming soon to visit which makes me happy.  I’d be happier if I had my furniture but we have enough like beds and such on loan from the government.  I am so looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and family time.  I took off the two Mondays after Veteran's Day to spend time with the family.  I am allowed to take three days a year no questions asked.  That is pretty nice.

Saturday we went to Berlin.  It was loads of fun.  We boarded the post bus and spent 6 hours getting there.  We had a 2 hour city tour as soon as we arrived and the guide told us of all of the sites.  Below are pictures of one of the many museums(picture 6), a cathedral(picture 5), remnants of the wall ( picture 2), Checkpoint Charlie (picture 3)and my passport stamped with Checkpoint Charlie stamps(picture 4), the memorial for the European Jewish people killed in the war ( picture 1)and a gorgeous shot of Berlin at night( picture 7).  We bought remnants of the wall to bring home and went to a street market.  We also visited a museum that had a 360 degree view of Greek life.  Awesome!! There were statues of Greek gods and Gregg and I both commented as we toured the museum with its many containers of remnants of historical statues that it looked like Raiders of the Lost Ark and we fully expected to see Harrison Ford whip his whip at any moment. At one point,  I heard a commotion and turned to find Gregg walking away with his hands in his pockets trying to look innocent.  I said what happened and he said that he had accidentally tripped some guy and the guy fell into one of the 2500+ year old statues.  Fortunately, the statues are so enormous nothing happened.  Whew!!  I would have hated reading about us in the paper. The cathedral was fabulous and we walked the 191 steps up and 191 down (Gregg counted them ha-ha) to walk the dome.  We stopped at Checkpoint Charlie and took our picture and I got my passport stamped with about 12 stamps.  It was cool. There were only remnants of the wall left.  We spent most of our time in East Berlin.  The city has been rebuilt after the war and is modernized.  The guide was very poignant when talking of the holocaust and just as appalled when talking of Hitler.  It was a hard time for Germany.  Visiting this town was a great highlight on my time abroad.

Looking forward to family.  Maybe it is the holidays but I am really missing home.  With that, I will close for this week.  Till next time, have a great week.

Hugs from Germany.

Susan

Germany Week 10 ( wow double digits)- Danube, Halloween cruise, sheep

Week 10 ( wow double digits) Germany- Danube, Halloween cruise, sheep

Hello All,

First of all coming home last Friday, I had to stop for a sheep herder to pass with his sheep.  There were about 200 sheep and they passed by me and baby car and I was rocking as they knocked and pushed their way around.  Only in Germany. 

We have already fallen back our hour here so for one week I will be only 5 hours ahead of Tallahassee. This week we finally made up our mind what to do with the Explorer.  We had shipped it over but unfortunately the Germans did not pass it for the road.  There is an obscure part that has nothing to do with safety –but it makes our ride a little rough- we had never gotten it fixed because the only reason to would be to make the ride smoother which we figured we could do without.  Anyway to make a long story short, the Germans saw it and asked Gregg what it was and he told them, they seemed confused and said we had to fix it or they would not pass the truck.  We of course can’t find anyone over here who knows what it is or how to fix it.  Over here you can’t sell for parts or sell a car that hasn’t passed inspection.  On top of that there is a fine for abandoning the vehicle.   That left us two choices—pay 70 dollars and give a perfectly good car to the junk yard or ship it home.  We chose the latter-  It was a drag.  Baby car gonna to have to take up the slack!!

On a lighter side, we are SUPPOSED to get our unaccompanied baggage this week.  I got up with them and they wrote a really seething letter that they had already written me about the delivery and copied the letter to me and –you guessed it –it was sent to needanemail@yahoo.com.  I wrote back and said I would have gladly answered but needanemail@yahoo.com means that “YOU NEED AN EMAIL”.  Lol

This weekend we went to Riedenberg to cruise down the Danube.  We visited the city before hand and went to the crystal museum and a castle in ruins. See pictures.  Then we went on the 4 1/2 hour long cruise with elementary school teachers from the other school.  They were fantastic.  Loads of fun.  We danced and partied with the teachers and a bunch of locals.  It was great the way that the music selections went from the American songs to German songs.  I loved it.  So much fun.  See pictures below. 

This weekend might have been a little much as I am trying to catch a cold.  Spent most of today in bed.  That’s all for this week.  Will blog next week.  Until then take care and have a good week.

Hugs from Germany

Susan

Week 9 Germany–Golden ticket, cold, birthday and castles

Week 9  Germany–Golden ticket, cold, birthday and castles

Hello all

Week 9 and I'm still kicking it in Bavaria, Germany.  The week started out with the elusive “golden ticket.”  Mail and birthday presents from home. It was full of lots of surprises including warm sweaters and leg coverings. Thanks family.  And since my kids are not real planners I am promised another “golden ticket” this week, but they wouldn’t tell me what they got so I’ll just be surprised.

People-- it got cold this week.  My back yard is full of frosty grass.  Brrr!!!!  Gregg is up scraping ice every morning.  Maybe time for those snow tires.  That ought to be a real experience for us Floridians. Lol

Saturday was my birthday.  I always love it when my birthday is on a weekend and being on a Saturday made it even sweeter.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone.  J I felt the wishes all the way over here on the other side of the world.  Gregg gave me new scarves for the cold, too.  I think everyone is worried I’ll freeze to death. Lol

Gregg took me to Ludwig’s castle complete with a horse drawn carriage.  It is located on the romantic road.  I had a very good day.  We toured Linderhof Castle first.  See the picture below.  It was one of Ludwig’s castles.  It was extremely ornate.  Inside he had made a pseudo Versailles room of mirrors by placing mirrors across from each other so it looked like the hall of mirrors.  Very cool! We then went to a few cities including the Brothers Grimm’s hometown and Oberarnagau which is home of the Passion play performed every ten years.  Our last stop was the Cinderella Castle.  It is called the Royal Castle Neuschwanstein.  See below.  It was great and Ludwig was pretty technologically advanced since he had a phone- granted he could only call his other castle and the post office but in his defense there were probably not many people interested in talking trash to Ludwig back then. Lol He also made a battery that ran his bell system and had a fireplace that centrally heated his castle.  Pretty progressive for the 1800s.

Loved the Austrian Alps. See picture.  It is beautiful here.  Sheep and cattle sprinkled the hillside.  I will remember the countryside here with it green pastures forever. With that, I will close.  Have a great week.

Hugs from Germany,

Susan

week 8

Week 8

Unaccompanied baggage, K-Town and Explorer

Hello All:

Week 8 in Germany was like all the rest, full of mishaps and fun.  WE started out great getting our AFN receiver.  It seems in Germany Military that you only need to pay one price for a receiver and then you get the TV.  I like that no monthly big costs.  So we got to watch some new NCIS although I had really enjoyed watching the DVD’s. 

We also got word that our car was here.  We went to Granfenwohr to pick it up.  There is a whole process to go through.  We have to get it inspected next week.  But seeing it sitting by the baby car it looks like the baby car’s daddy or maybe granddaddy.  It really dwarfs poor ole baby car.  Gregg climbed in the Explorer and said –“yes a full size car.”  At Granfenworh we hit the thrift store there since we happened to be there when they were open and got a few more things like a 220 vacuum cleaner, some crystal wine glasses, and some kitchen pots and pans.  Slowly we will fill up our kitchen.  We need this until our unaccompanied baggage comes.  Now that is another story.

I got word that our furniture- the long shipment- would be here this week and go through customs for 8-10 days.  So I’m thinking-- where is my unaccompanied baggage that was supposed to be here quick.  I called and finally got up with someone who said yes it was on the way and they would e mail us.  So I said maybe I should check the email address they had on file.  She proceeded to spell out –n***e***e***d***a***n***at email.com. She asked is that your email and I said- doesn’t that spell ”need an email.” LOL   She got all flustered.  She called and started tracing our baggage saying the records showed it arriving in Germany on 9/23.  Then I got a request to give them my zip code.  So no telling where that baggage is, but I did get word that they would let me know when the delivery date would be.  So hopefully it will get here quickly.  I’m getting tired of wearing the same few outfits and it’s getting cold here. 

We went to Ramstein Air Base this weekend for an in-service.  It is the biggest base and it was great.  We went to Kaiserslautern which is nicknamed K-town and they had their version of Oktoberfest.  It was a hoot. See pictures below. Also a picture of the 'Rhine River.  Gregg and I had commented that we were going to miss the North Florida Fair but we got this fest instead so all is good.

Ramstein has a huge mall and we finally found the hummels.  So I got some of them. 

We traveled from our part of German--Bavaria—to another part of Germany –the Rhineland.  We rode over the Rhine River and the bridge over it was painted in blue and orange—‘what’s that about?” Gators colors?  Really?? Where is the love for my garnet and gold? Lol

We had a little dinner party here for the people who picked us up at the airports.  Because we are living like college kids—our theme was “remember when”—we served on paper plates and had to bring in the plastic outdoor chairs to have enough seats.  But it was nice.  Then we went to a dinner party at one of their houses.  So this is just a dinner party happening place.  Guess I might need to infuse a bit of elegance into my repertoire and unlearn some of my country ways.  Nah—you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country outta the girl.

With that, I will leave you til next time.

Hugs from Germany.

Susan

Blog addition to week 7- Dachau and my Dad's connection

Blog addition to week 7 Dachau and my Dad's connection

Meant to add in that my Dad was stationed in Dachau during World War II and was there when they liberated the concentration camp prisoners. So us going meant a lot to him as well. I am hoping to get him over here at some point so he can see how it looks now and compare it to how it looked then.
See the prisoner uniform from the camp .