June 1999
Nuremberg, Germany

Well, it was not easy getting up and running on the Internet. Then again nothing is easy when you do not speak the language. Not being easy is not necessarily a bad thing. It makes even the most mundane task exciting. For the most part this has been a lot of fun. I would be lying if I told you there had been no trying moments but then again if there were no trying moments then it may not be as much fun.

We have been furniture shopping in German. Now normally I would contemplate suicide before I would go out furniture shopping but here it seemed really cool although difficult. Did you know that beds in Germany are different from in the states? Why? who would know but they make all their beds from a single sized mattress and if you want a double bed you buy two single mattress and a frame that holds them. You therefor need different sized sheets. It is no wonder people in this world have such a hard time getting along if you don't even sleep on the same sort of beds!!!!!!

Die Berg in Neuhaus a.d. Pegnitz

One thing that is universal is that when we are out in the tourist areas seeing great little medieval towns with castles the kids just like in the states chase the pigeons. Why I noticed this and why it amused me I am not sure.

Back to shopping. This is a really exciting place to shop because all of Germany closes at 5pm on weekdays and at 2pm on Saturday and all day Sunday. So you really have to plan ahead. When I say all stores close this is no exaggeration. So if you run out of milk or bread or butter on a Saturday afternoon you are out of luck until Monday mooring. I think the restaurant business is behind this. We have been forced in to going out to eat on more than one occasion because we did not plan well enough. Now the people behind this plot are smarter than you think because you might say well just buy a bunch of food and store it in your refrigerator and or freezer. Well, they thought of that and got together with the manufactures and all appliances are almost to small to use. I know that I have seen doll houses in Texas with bigger appliances. the good news is that fresh food is everywhere. We eat very well. the town is full of farmers markets with the freshest and best produce. The city also has a great international flair so we have all sorts of ethnic type foods to choose from Thai to Indian to south African and then of course the traditional German as well as other European foods.

So you are wondering why I have not beer up yet. Well, this is the best place in the world to be if you are into beer. There are beer Gardens everywhere. Now you have to understand that the term beer garden is varied. All you really need to call yourself a beer garden is a couple of lawn chairs and a keg of beer and this is the way many operate. Then there are lots of beer gardens with great settings by the rivers or near castles. These type of places generally make their own sausage and ham as well. All beer gardens serve their towns local beer. It is not like in the states when you ask what

Prost!

type of beer they have and the waitperson goes on for about two hours rattling off every beer known to man and you end up asking for a Budweiser. Here they usually only sell their local towns beer or maybe a couple more like Beck's. You can buy a wheat beer or a dark beer or a Pilsner. They also have a beer they mix with lemon juice if you want something lighter. We have not even thought about trying that yet. Even stranger some people mix coke with their beer!!!!! I kid you not.

Well, country bumpkins as we were this city life is pretty cool we leave the car parked and mainly walk or take our bikes places. Sue does drive to work but that is only because we have not found the bike paths that will get her out to lucent Now let me tell you about our garage. this might be the most gut wrenching and exciting moment we have had in Germany. We live in an apartment so we have a parking space number for our enclosed garage. So we drive in and start looking for it. to our dismay we cannot find 407. The numbers go 404,406,408....Well then we discover that our space is below 406. That is you throw a switch and the car in number 406 rises into the air and your parking space appears. that in itself is exciting. Now you have to drive your car onto this metal ramp. What if there is some locking device you are unaware of and as soon as the weight of your car hits this platform your car plunges into the basement, with the other car on top of it? Well, not being of sound mind I pulled onto the ramp (Sue bailed out in case she needed to call the doctor, insurance company, and a wrecker) Well it held and now I feel pretty cool every time I pull on to this contraption and act as though it is normal.

Language remains difficult and progress is slow. I got really excited yesterday when I actually understood a mother talking to her baby. See I told you even the little of things are now exciting. We start back up with our German lessons next week hopefully that will speed our progress. I will write more later but just wanted to give you an update since I have been off line for over a month.