Beautiful Day

We have had the most amazingly beautiful weather for almost a week. This past Saturday we walked up to Kreuzberg where we had this gorgeous view of the city. The tall spire in the center of the photo is the Munster in the center of the pedestrian zone city center. We walked for about 3 and a half hours (there, around and back).

On our way up, we walked through a graveyard (beautiful old trees). Arlo added to his mathematical site collection with the gravestone of Felix Hausdorf.

Here is the church and proof of our gorgeously clear sky.

And this is the view of the penitent stairs. This portion of the church is only open on Easter Sunday when pilgrims go up the stairs on their knees, in prayer. You can see the ornately painted ceiling in this photo. This ceiling is throughout the entire church.

Well ... It's February Already!

I guess you can all tell that posting to my blog everyday was not on my list of New Year's Resolutions. Hopefully, I still have a reader or two left out there. This post is not about anything but rather everything. I have gathered a smattering of photos that represent the last two months of my life. Here we go ...

Things I've knitted:

Poor Arlo had no scarf to call his own. He had been using an old wool scarf in a blackwatch plaid that I have had since my travels to Scotland back in the early 90s. I knit him this doubleknit scarf that is 8 feet long. He can wrap and wrap and then wrap some more.


I knitted these fingerless gloves for my sister, Karen, and her husband, Joe. The pattern was based off of Kristen's fingerless mittens pattern but I added a partial thumb. I could not hand make all of my Christmas presents this year but I'm glad I chose Karen and Joe as recipients since they gave Arlo and me hand made gifts this year. That was a fun, bonding, coincidence.


This is the baby jacket that I knit for Isobel -- Sheri and Ron's GORGEOUS baby.


I knit this bauble for Carolein -- the secretary at MPI. She has been an amazing resource and friend to Arlo and me this year.

And finally, for myself I knit my first successful sweater. This is my third sweater. The first was made from free yarn that just did not match my skin tone. Nor was the variegation in the yarn suitable for anything other than a crazy animal print. It was great practice and a good lesson in how a sweater is put together. The second sweater looks fantastic ... spread out on the bed, but definitely not on me. I've been wearing this new sweater all the time. It is quite snuggly and warm. Plus I love the color.

Cooking:

I have felt that I've needed to learn to cook all over again. Recipes that I love in the U.S. seem to not work very well here. Many ingredients that are commonplace and inexpensive in the U.S. are not available or extremely expensive. Okay, maybe not extremely but more expensive than I want to spend on food. We would much rather spend Arlo's salary on travel. The two categories of food that I miss the most are Chinese food and Mexican food. In theory, one can get Chinese food here in Germany ... but I haven't had any that tasted good. There are no Mexican restaurants. I have found a pan-latino grocery store ... but I'm not really sure what to do with most of the items ... and again, it is expensive.

My friend Daniel and his wife Gabrielle invited me over to learn how to make Tamales. They had brought mole and some chilies from Mexico.




My kitchen does not have enough light to really photograph the cooking experience well. But here is the best photograph of my version of Orange Chicken. The frozen version from Trader Joe's had been a go-to meal in our busy life in Tucson. I found myself craving it. So with much experimentation, I figured out the batter for the chicken (egg whites and cornstarch) and I made a sauce with orange juice and hoisin sauce (available in the asian food store).


Carolein (at MPI) invited me over to her house during her Christmas holiday in order to make a Goose. We cooked most of the day on St. Nikolaus Tag (6 December). Arlo and Carolein's husband arrived after work. Carolein's parents also joined us. We really enjoyed being a part of a German family celebration.


Travels:

Since I've last posted, Arlo and I have been to Münster (Conference for Arlo), Ireland (Christmas and New Years with Sheri and her family), Darmstadt (Arlo's first invited talk), Mainz (on our way back from Darmstadt), Nijmegen (to visit Eric and Mette on our way to Utrecht), and Utrecht (Conference for Arlo).

Münster:
This was our first overnight trip within Germany. It turned out to be a nice trip. But it sure did not start out that way. I picture myself a strong, confident traveler ... but this trip tested me in such a way that I had difficulty regaining my confidence on further trips.

The second day of the trip went much better than the first (I'm still not quite ready to talk about the first day). I wandered through the city and saw lots of old things. We also went through the Münster Christmas market. It was slightly different from the market in Bonn. It was a lot more crowded. We had a fantastic drink ... an 'After Eight.' This was a shot of a mint liquor in a hot chocolate. That drink alone should be enough to wipe the difficult experiences on the first day from my mind.

Old Tower ... part of the medieval wall.

Evening view of the main pedestrian street. (There are so few people because everyone is in the market that is off this street.)

Ireland:
We had been planning on spending Christmas and New Years with Sheri and her family since we first decided to move to Germany this year. I loved getting to see my friend and meet her beautiful daughter. I got some quality kitty time as well (the Gress-Wingrove clan have 4 cats in the house).

Here's Isobel. We're standing in front of Sheri and Ron's house.

I had one tourist goal for our trip. I wanted to see New Grange. I've tried to get to New Grange twice before. This first time, we didn't even get out of the bus station in Dublin. The last time we got to the site a few minutes after the last tour had left. And this time ... this time ... well, this time we arrived in plenty of time ... but all of the remaining tours were sold out.

A kind docent told us of a road we could drive on that would get us close enough to take the picture above. Along this road is another passage tomb that has not been excavated in modern times. We could not go inside (gate blocking the entrance). But we could wander around the site. This is where the following picture was taken.



Arlo and I took a few day trips into Dublin. We went to the Guinness Storehouse (which was a much different tour that I had taken back in 1993) and to the Kilmainham Gaol where the political prisoners during Ireland's path to independence were held. This tour was just as fascinating as I remembered.

We also took an overnight trip to Waterford. This is a port city ... but not a coastal city. So we took a city bus down to a coastal town so that I could see the ocean.


Darmstadt:
Arlo gave his first invited talk at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. The editor of the journal that accepted his first paper is a professor here. When he found out that Arlo was in Germany he invited him to give a talk.


While Arlo was giving his talk, I wandered through the city. Darmstadt was Germany's epicenter of Art Nouveau. It was a residence town during the prince-elector system in Germany. Like Bonn, the residence has been converted into a main University building. And the town was nearly leveled during WWII. So there is quite a mix of architecture around. Here are some of the photos from around town.

View of church through Herren Park that borders the University.

Art Nouveau wedding tower for the emperor Ludwig.

View from the Residence gate towards to old city hall.

Tower that was once part of the medieval wall. The copper top was added in the 1700s.

Mainz:
The next day (after Arlo's talk in Darmstadt) we needed to travel through Mainz to return to Bonn. We decided to take a long layover there.
A view of the Mainz Dom.

The facade of the Gutenberg Museum.

We spend most of the day in the Gutenberg museum. It was a fascinating exhibit not just about the man and his printing press but about the history of printing both in Europe and Asia.

Nijmegen:
Arlo registered for another conference in Utrecht. This is in the Netherlands so this was our first trip outside of Germany within continental Europe. We have friends in Nijmegen so we journeyed there first. It was fantastic to see them and we were able to save a night's hotel cost.

Eric walked us around the university (where Mette works as an Art Historian).

So this was a bit of an awkward photo to take. But I never really understood what was meant by "red light district" and I suppose it is possible that some of you don't either. Those red lights are in big picture windows that have a girl in them. Along the lines of a department store display window. This is in Nijmegen and is much smaller than the red light district in Amsterdam (so I've been told). I'm sure that Utrecht also has such a place, but I did not see it.

Utrecht:
Arlo did not get to see much of Utrecht as he was busy in a conference the entire time. He had two dinners in the city center (with me the first night and as part of the conference the second) so he only saw the city at night. Our hotel and the university were off to the east of the old city center.

Right in the center of the old part of town lies the Dom. This is a protestant church now. Interestingly enough, the church is only the choir of the original cathedral. The nave was destroyed by a tornado several hundred years ago. So the tower below is separate from the rest of the church.

I was unable to stand in such a way to get the entire tower. I did however climb it.


This is the view from about 95 meters up the tower. This is not quite the tippy top ... but as high as one can go and actually stand on a balcony. You can see the two canals that run through the city center.
A pretty cherry tree in the cloister garden.


Canal view


We have gotten used to dogs being allowed EVERYWHERE in Germany. They are in restaurants and in department stores as well as anywhere else that people go. Well ... Utrecht was a cat town.

This fellow was in the restaurant that we ate dinner in out first night. He seemed to be recommending the salmon to everyone.

Although, he might have preferred herring since he is a dutch cat. Eric joined us on the second day of Arlo's conference. He convince Arlo to try the (raw, pickled) herring that is a dutch specialty. I had a small taste of Arlo's but chose the Chicken Satay for myself. Eric says that when you buy this as street food (imagine living somewhere where it is safe to eat fish as street food) you hold it by the tail and eat it -- bones and all. In the University Refer one is normally more civilized.


Local Ventures:

We spent quite a bit of time at the Bonn Christmas Market. It was the place to meet up with friends, listen to music, eat fun food, and make a wish list. Most towns in Germany have a Christmas Market during December. Occasionally they have a special theme.

Siegburg is the town at the end of the streetcar line that passes in front of our house. I had heard that they had a medieval christmas market. So we went to see.

Here is a woodworker using a foot pump to turn his lathe.



Here I am eating Räubersfackeln (robber's stick) we are still unsure as to what type of meat this was. As I ate it I thought it was chicken. But we've heard all sorts of things from pork to horse meat. I have no idea. It was really good though.

Speaking of good ... the bread that we bought was made in these stone ovens. It was fantastic.

This fair was a challenge to my German skills because they were using archaic words. (Just like we would at our Renaissance Faires). For instance instead of things costing 1 Euro they would be 1 Teil (one piece). We ate a lot of amazing food (including some apple fritters that were the best apple thing I have ever eaten) and saw some entertaining stage shows. Arlo even bought me a Christmas present while we were there (a pretty hair clip). We were there on a Sunday afternoon. I understand it was really pretty at night since they did not use any electricity ... so there were candles everywhere.

January was a busy month for us. In addition to our trips to Darmstadt/Mainz and Nijmegen/Utrecht we had to use the coupons that had been given to us when we registered with the city upon arrival in Bonn. They expired at the end of 6 months.


We used the free Bonn Theater tickets to see La Boheme at the Opera house.

We used our Bonn Orchestra tickets to see the National Youth Orchestra at Beethoven Halle.

Both of these performances were amazing. We also used our free tickets to several of the museums in town.

A Trip to DHL

I finished my Christmas cards for my Christmas card swap on swap-bot. These green stars are from the same packet as the white ones that I used in my Christmas decorations. I also finally mailed the scarf that I finished eons ago (see here). The deadline for mailing the scarf got moved from December 1st to December 15th. I hope I get mine before I leave for Ireland. My main reason for heading to DHL today was that Arlo needed some application materials mailed. This job search is really taking a toll on him and I'm trying to help wherever I can. There isn't much that I can do ... but I'm really good at walking to DHL.

Now here is the weird thing. Arlo's officemate took his envelopes of application materials to the Post Office and was charged 8 Euro per envelope to mail them to the US. I took a batch (a week or so ago) to DHL which is owned by Deutsche Post (the post office) and was charged 4 Euros per envelope. But today when I took in the packets of materials, I was only charged 2 Euros per envelope. Maybe Deutsche Post is owned by Xeno.

It was quite an international shipment today. Arlo's materials were being mailed to the US and Canada. The scarf was mailed to Sweden and the three cards were mailed to Belgium, Australia, and the US. I should have mailed something to Chris and Renee in Japan just to round it off. Maybe next time.

November Wrap-Up

Well here it is the last week of November ... not a good blogging month for me. I had this huge Elephant in the room whenever I sat down to blog ... Catan. I thought if I just posted his picture with dates that would appease the elephant and I could get back to blogging but it seems to have taken some time to work. As fate would have it, I had signed up to participate in the NAtional BLOg POsting MOnth this year. All I was supposed to do was post every day (no matter how short) during the month of November. Oh well ... maybe next year.










To answer those of you that wrote comments and sent me kind emails, I'm not exactly sure what happened to Catan. The wonderful family that was keeping him for me while Arlo and I played here in Germany think that he ate something ... possibly antifreeze. I am suspicious of the timing. I have always had black cats and I've never allowed them to go outside during the weeks around Halloween. I have no evidence of foul play, however and his host family (we joked that he was an exchange student this year ... living with a family that spoke both cat and dog) had no choice in letting him out. He managed to escape a few months ago. He stayed close to the house, but wouldn't let anyone come near enough to scoop him.

Moving on to more timely topics ...
Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. We opened our house to all of our newfound friends. However, since it was a Thursday and clearly not a holiday here in Deutschland, not all of our friends could come. While we missed people it was probably a good thing since the 19 people that were here had a tight fit. I could have bought a turkey here, with a special order, but the smallest turkey (about 9 lbs) would not fit in my oven. So instead I cooked 3 chickens. The chicken was good, but I missed the turkey gravy ... chicken gravy is just not the same. I bought fresh cranberries for my cranberry sauce. I was quite excited to find some in the grocery store that specializes in gourmet and foreign foods. I made mashed potatoes (of course) and my cornbread stuffing. Many guests brought additional dishes. Everything was tasty.

My greatest culinary achievement for the season was in making a pumpkin pie. Would you believe you can't buy pumpkin in a can here? Nor can you buy ready-made pie crust. So I bought a pumpkin and I made my own crust (so easy ... I should have learned this years ago). The pie turned out really well. I had to make up my own spice mixture since I did not find allspice. I have since been told that it is available (its is called pimento). I was unable to make my favorite ... pecan pie, but Arlo was thankful that he was able to eat his "vegetables" for breakfast in the days following Thanksgiving.


I'm usually a little afraid of Black Friday and so tend NOT to shop on the day after Thanksgiving. However, here in Bonn, last Friday was the opening day of the Christmas Market. There are hundreds of booths selling handcrafted and traditional Christmas items. The food is fantastic as well. I wandered through part of it with my friend Carla after our language class. Then Arlo and I went out again Saturday evening to see everything lit up. There are three Christmas trees near the center of town that have not been decorated yet. I am not sure when they will be. It seems that the tradition here is to decorate your Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. I don't know if this goes for public trees as well. This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of Avent so perhaps they will be decorated then.

I decided that I needed a little Christmas spirit in our apartment. Of course I did not bring any of my Christmas decorations and I am not willing to spend money decorations for just a few weeks. We won't even be here for Christmas itself. But walking by the equivalent of a dollar store, I stopped in to see what they had. I bought this tiny set of lights and the white stars for less then 4 Euro. The Tannenbaum branches were 3 Euro at a flower stand. A guest at our Thanksgiving dinner gave me the Angel as a present. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.



I just read a fantastic book ... "The Queen of the Big Time" by Adraina Trigiani. I had heard of this book about a year ago but never had a chance to read it. It was in the library here, in the English language section. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it. It spans a woman's life in an Italian community in Pennsylvania from her teen years in the 1920s through her death in the 1970s. Trigiani is a fantastic storyteller and I hope to find more of her books at the library.

My sister sent me "Anne of Green Gables" a few months ago. I had never read these books as a kid and I clearly missed out. I loved it. I keep checking at the library but while they have the 3rd through 6th books on the shelf, they have not had the 2nd book. I think I can probably go online and request the book, but that requires working in German. I'll check a few more times before I resort to that. One of the blogs that I read had this post, recently. She (the blogger) is writing a cookbook based on the food found in the beloved childhood classics. I think that is a book I will want when she finishes it.

Well, while I won't win a prize for NaBloPoMo this year, I hope this long blog entry makes up for some of my lack of posting lately. I am happy to say that I did win a prize in a drawing recently. I often listen to CraftSanity while home during the day. Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood has fantastic interviews with all sorts of crafty folks. Her last interview was with Kristin Roach who puts together Craft Leftovers, a zine and packet of crafty odds and ends that she sells each month. She does all of this as a college student. I'm really impressed. I won the December Craft Leftovers packet and it is being sent to me. Here is the post that shows what is in the packet and here is the post that names me as the winner.