A Castle and Update

We're getting closer and closer to feeling "normal."  Our household goods from Maryland will arrive this Friday, I got my smartphone (I-phone), we have our other car, we acquired a vacuum and microwave, and Gizmo is acting normal again!  A challenge that we realize we'll face often: where in Europe should we go next.  There's three main categories to consider: local, regional or "foreign."  The problem (albeit, a good one) is that there are so many fantastic festivals and local events, one could easily stay busy in the Stuttgart area alone for quite some time.  The other "problem" is revisiting a place we love.  A good example in the States may be, "Do we go to Disney World again or someplace new?"  Or maybe a favorite Florida beach, etc. 

Anyway, we decided on "regional" last week and visited Hohenzollern Castle.  This fortress/palace served as the home for many Prussian/German rulers over the ages.  It's magnificent in location, scale and in its views.  Amazingly, the castle is still owned by the Swabian and Prussian family lines today.  There are even family photos alongside hundreds-year old paintings inside the castle.  I didn't get any distant shots of the castle, so I'll let Wikipedia provide those.  The rest are ours:

Outside View of Hohenzollern Castle (Wikipedia)

Distant View of Hohenzollern Castle (Wikipedia)

Culture Shock

                                                              

Yep, we're experiencing textbook culture shock.  Different sources provide anywhere from 4 to 6 "Steps."  We'll go with the four steps/phases:

• Honeymoon Phase
• Negotiation Phase
• Adjustment Phase
• Mastery Phase

I believe that we're currently in the "Negotiation Phase."  After our recent weekend trip to Strasbourg and Colmar, France, we came "home" to a place we don't consider home yet.  No AC, no screens (thus many flies and bugs), none of our stuff (still on a ship somewhere), scarcely stocked kitchen, one car (the Yaris is still on its way), dirty and dusty house, and a laundry process that takes 5+ hours (no kidding).  The language barrier has been tough too.

HOWEVER, this was to be expected and we're fully aware that most people experience this frustration when moving.  Our stuff will come, our car will come, our house will get clean, I'm putting up screens on the windows, we are buying an AC unit, and we're figuring out the laundry process.  

Our Memorial Day weekend trip to France was fantastic and those posts will be forthcoming.  In all reality, there's too much to see, too much to do and too little time to waste on the "Negotiation Phase," thus we're planning to go straight to the Mastery Phase ASAP.  :-)

House Hunters International

Lori's first Post!

Yesterday was a productive day.  We went to a class that gave us a lot of information about being here in Germany, and all of the benefits that we can take advantage of on post.  I'm extra excited about the Zumba, Yoga, and cooking classes.  We also got more information about housing, which hopefully we'll have figured out by tomorrow.

After our meetings, we went out with a realtor to look at a couple of houses.  He was a great guy.  He's Italian-German and had a great sense of humor.  He gave us a lot of good tips on restaurants in the area and showed us an Italian market where we can get great produce, cheese, pasta, and olive oil straight from Italy.  

So here are our options:

House #1:   Now we already had this house lined up before we got here.  A colleague of Kyle's is moving out of this house.  She and her family loved it and wanted to hand it off to other Americans.  It was built in the 1920s, so it has traditional German character.  It's in a small village, about 20 minutes away from Kyle's work.  It has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, built in storage and overhead lighting (both a luxury in Europe!).  It has a cherry tree in the yard that actually produces a lot of cherries!  There's a 1 car garage with some storage.  It comes with a lawn mower and a grill. It is right across the street from a park with hiking and biking trails, which can be taken to the town center where there's a farmer's market every Saturday. The down side to this house is that it needs some updating that we've already started negotiating.  Also, like most European homes, the kitchen is pretty small.

Side yard with cherry tree.  More space is around the back.

 

 View of front.  Hard to see because there are
 a lot of trees.

 House #2:  This house is also in a small village, in a good location about 15 minutes from Kyle's work.  It is a bungalow style house in a very quiet, peaceful area. It's newer, so it doesn't have quite as much character and it's a bit smaller than #1. You have to walk through a little courtyard to reach it.  It has been recently updated, so it is clean and fresh.  There are a lot of windows that flood the house with light. It also has 4 bedrooms and two baths.  The kitchen is a good size and has a decent amount of counter space.  (Good for all of the cooking I'll be doing!)  The yard is much smaller, and is not fenced in, although the landlords are willing to fence it in.  (The landlord reminds me of Captain Von Trapp.)  The best thing about this house is the gorgeous view looking over the green, rollings hills. 

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View from living room window.  Doesn't do it justice!

Kitchen.  Believe it or not, this is a large kitchen!

 House #3:  This house was also built in the 1920s, and it definitely has the most character with a lot of wooden beams and accents throughout.  It is a bit further away from work than the other 2 houses, but it's in a nice village and is very close to the main street.  It is 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  It has a very large fenced in backyard, where you can see the neighbor's chickens and the other neighbor's homing pigeons.  The bedrooms are an ok size, but have weird blue carpet.  The bathroom is nice and updated.  The kitchen has the least amount of counter space, but it's the most open.  This house has a really cool basement/cold room that feels like an old vault under a church.

Nice backyard

Front of house

So which house do you think it will be?

After our house hunting excursion, we took a trail through the woods to a little German restaurant called Weldheim.  We had a great meal and great local beer.

Our walk through the woods to dinner.

A good Hefeweizen and Radler.  The hops for this beer are grown near house #1.

Chicken and Spatzle.  Guess who ate this?

Maultaschen.  Like German ravioli.  Delish!

Chocolate and strawberry mousse

 Today is the big driving test.  Did you know that it's illegal to run out of gas in Germany?  Yes, you can get fined for being stupid here!  Wish us luck!