So, we've been in Germany for just over three weeks and I've finished three books Sorry Taylor, the kindle has been a blessing. Everyone said we'd be able to buy books in English at the main train station in each town, but Jena's train station is only lg. enough to have a coffe/juice place. Nate does not share his Kindle, but the company is nice enough to offer to let you put the books you've bought for a kindle onto your computer. So I read on my wee-one. I've now named my little computer! Yeah!
Well we've been busy as I hope you can tell from our pictures in picasa. Two weekends ago we visited Weimar. It seems to be the place where Germans go for vacation. One woman we met at the train station said that everyone goes there b/c of Goethe and Lotte, his love. There is a concentration camp just out of town, one of the only in Germany proper. It is called Buchenwald, wald means forest. And it was just that, a beautiful forested area. We were surprised that the area did not seem to have a heaviness to it, somber sure, but it seems that nature has reclaimed the area and hopefully now it can be a place of peace. Tara was good enough to sleep through the whole visit, not that she would have understood, but she is a loud child. There were about 20 headstones in a room in the crematorium, that was the only thing I did not understand. Did just a few family members get to place headstones there?
Back to Weimar for dinner in the shakespere district, where Tara ate spagetti and we ate more pig. Germans rely on pork as their mainstay. It is hard to get used to. I feel like if I did not have to eat another salty thing in my life I'd be just fine, but the Pils washes it down nicely. We came back to Jena and enjoyed another week. I got the nerve up to walk to the library, where there were four doors and not very many people around, so I could not figure out how to get in, so went to the park instead :) (Nate took us to the library today, so now we know where to go and also have our application for a library card to fill out :) )
Oh, if there are typo's sorry, everything is highlighted red b/c the computer thinks I should be typing in German, which I cannot come close to doing yet, hehehe
The day after the library, I got the nerve up to try the swimming pool. I managed to find the bus route, with a little help from Nate, get off the bus, find the door, hand a woman some money, who then let us in and gave us a token and told us to do something with the kindercart (stroller). She mimed a locker and somehow I figured out that the token was for the locker, but I still don't know what she said about the stroller, so it got carried up and down stairs with us :( We stayed for over two hrs and had a great time. Now I have two things to do with Tara while Nate is off in Colorado, the pool and the library! Yeah
So last weekend Nate left work a bit early and we headed for Nuremburg, 2hrs by highspeed train, the ICE.
Nuremburg is also a lovely town. Aparently it was basically leveled in WWII, but they built everything back up with their (mostly) original stones. So there are many cathedrals, castles and museums from the 14, 15...20 centuries. We stayed mostly in the old town, and one of our dinners was in a brewary built god knows how long ago.
Sunday morning we took Tara to the Tiergarten, the Zoo, she seemed to have a great time. All birds were called ducks and she told us that they all say quack, quack. The tiger was, kitty-meow, and she even got her nerve up to touch a goat. They had an extensive petting zoo for the little ones! As we were walking through the center of the zoo, we passed a biergarten, who would have thought, beer and the zoo!
My only complaint this week has been the smoking. EVERYONE smokes, especially if you are pushing a kindercart, it seems to be mandatory :( Have they not heard how bad it is for you? Well now that I don't have a book to read and Nate is out of town I'll probablly keep up with this a bit better and not feel like I have to write a book each time :)
We send lots of love from Europe! Who wants to come visit? When Nate returns we'll be moving into our 'real' house. It is a three bedroom apt!! Who know there were such large apt. in Germany! Yeah, a guest bedroom awaits!
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