Around Town

Last night we went walking to look at a few places in town for rent while we were on our way to dinner. Its always fun to get out and go walking down all the differently little streets, but at the same time it can get confusing..... We could see one of the house we were looking for. A row back from the street we were already on. Something we have quickly learned is American street layout and German street layout, not same same. You might be able to see the place you want to get too but find a cut through to get to that street, well good luck. We accidentally went down this older ladies drive way as she was walking to her shop in front of her house. We thought it was a cut over street nope, not so much. She stopped to ask us if we needed help. Okay, I go as far in German as to know how to say I would like and then whatever I want, and small nothing phrases. Austin knows greetings and little things. Not near enough to hold a conversation with this lady. So she talks to us in German, we talk to her in English and we are all at a loss for whats going on. So we just thanked her and kept going. We finally got to the place though so it worked out. Found out it was next to a daycare center, and above a church, so we'll see about that.
 
 Austin had heard people talking yesterday at work about this wings place in town that we knew where it was so we decided it was a good enough place to have dinner. Well, now we know where to go if there are ever those feelings of homesickness. It was a little America stuffed into a tiny restaurant. Flags everywhere, board games, super heroes, and the walls were signed by people who have come from all over and eat here. We saw a Texas flag and I told Austin he needs to bring a marker back and put his name under it.

So normally Austin won't play me in connect four, ever. But last night he wanted to try and finally beat me... He can just keep trying. 

So around here there are a lot of mixed drinks. Coke and Fanta, beer and lemonade, and then this thing, beer and Sprite. Okay all those things sound disgusting together. But there's a reason they drink it. It was actually pretty good. What I had was called a rattler. Some kind of beer and sprite mixed together and to me it comes out tasting like Blue Moon, so I was good with it. The picture came out really well because you can perfectly see the sprite in it. Sounds gross but for anyone who's planning on visiting its definitely worth trying. Especially Shelley, since you're a fan of Blue Moon, and I'm pretty sure Taylor is too. 

So this is a Doner. We had these Wednesday night but Austin had waited so long to have one I thought I'd fit it into a post. Its a street food. Usually people go out for the night and get drunk then pick up one of these after. We went to the shop and picked up two. They originated out of Turkey and around in that area but have become super popular here. People here and who have lived here can't talk about anything but these things. I thought it was okay, not something I'd like to eat very often but it was good. We enjoyed our German dinners a lot more, but for being something fast and easy to pick up it was good.

While we were eating we saw this little thing. I saw it was a smart car when we were walking up so  once we got back to the hotel we looked it up. It's a smart car roadster. We thought it was pretty cool. They don't make them anymore. It was just a car they made for a few years and it never made its way to America. 

When we walk around in the evenings its hard to not stop and take pictures of every little old church we come across. There are so many here and they are all beautiful. I tried to get a video of the bells ringing but I wasn't fast enough getting me phone out. I'll try again though! I leave the windows in the hotel open all day, and through out the day I can hear different church bells ring in different hours of the day, its really cute. Everyone says how loud and crowed it is around here. I don't know if it's just because we are from Houston and nothing can quite stand up to Houston traffic or congestion. But so far its been pretty amazing here. The only thing I would say is loud is the airplanes that fly over because they are so low to the ground and there are lots of hills around here so it kind of bounces that noise a round a bit. 

That's Houston traffic.... I think we'll be fine here! This weekend we are heading into the city. We are excited to see all around there, and try to get German cell phones so we can actually be in touch with each other during the day but that may have to wait till next week. The big topic for us right now is live in town or in the country? We can't decide but hopefully being here this weekend and getting out, will help us get a better feel for both and next week we can pick a house and get out of the hotel!

It's really crazy how fast some things move here and then on the other hand how slow things are. I already looked at one house and unfortunately Austin couldn't get off work to be able to go see it too. It was a very nice house, with a lot of room for us. It was like double the size of our apartment in Georgia, so we for sure could of lived there. In the states you're so used to shopping around for the best deal and having choices. Here it's different... You look at something to get it and done. You can't really take the time to go check out four or five places because if you pass it up once by the time you come back its likely to already be spoken for. That's been kind of hard for us. Being so new here and just getting the lay of the land, its hard to be sure you're actually picking an area you are going to like down the road. That's been an overwhelming thing for both of us. We're making it work and figuring it out more and more everyday. We decided that we are going to pick our top four places. Two in the country and two in the city, then pick from those. So it's looking like we should be posting from our house soon! 

This little ice cream shop is where we stop in to get a little sweet something after dinner sometimes. Turns out it's the same shop my mom and dad used to go to while they lived here. I thought that was pretty cool because when we started going there we had no idea. But I posted a picture of what we had on Instagram and they recognized the place.

Each morning we wake up, go have a nice breakfast and then I come back to our room. I open the rolladens, which are basically black out shutters. Then open these nice big windows. We are on the side of the hotel that the sun raises on. So it's always so pretty in the morning. You get the nice fresh air from the hills and the morning sun. Honestly so far we haven't come up with anything to complain about for Germany. Its hard to be stressed while listening to church bells and birds singing in the morning.... It's really a great place and we can't wait to share it with everyone who comes to visit.

I can't wait for our first weekend in Germany! We'll probably see lots of cool stuff that I'll have to stop and take pictures of so y'all should be flooded with those soon!

Talk to y'all soon,

Pumpkin and Pookie