The main street in town
Flower shop
City Hall
Cemetery
Grocery store
Home decor store
On a side street
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Town Tour
So now that we have wheels, we decided to test out the nav and drive to our future home. Our landlord happened to be at the house as we drove by, so he invited us in to see what they are working on before we move in- We will have freshly painted white walls! After our visit, we walked around town and took some pictures of the scenery...
The main street in town
Flower shop
City Hall
Cemetery
Grocery store
Home decor store
On a side street
The main street in town
Flower shop
City Hall
Cemetery
Grocery store
Home decor store
On a side street
Our New Car
We picked up our new car today! We love it...apparently this is a pretty unique color for BMWs in Germany. Here are some pictures:
On the autobahn I got it up to 160 kmh (101 mph) and she wasn't even breathing hard. Can't wait to see how fast it can really go (160 mph on the spedometer). At 95 mph I definitely got passed hardcore by an Audi A6. So apparantly people drive fast and don't think twice about it. And the nav speaks in a British woman's voice. Everyone at work name's their nav (I guess that's normal). They use names like Karen or Helga, but I'm thinking Mrs. Pendergrass.
And some more detailed shots:
On the autobahn I got it up to 160 kmh (101 mph) and she wasn't even breathing hard. Can't wait to see how fast it can really go (160 mph on the spedometer). At 95 mph I definitely got passed hardcore by an Audi A6. So apparantly people drive fast and don't think twice about it. And the nav speaks in a British woman's voice. Everyone at work name's their nav (I guess that's normal). They use names like Karen or Helga, but I'm thinking Mrs. Pendergrass.
And some more detailed shots:
Monday, August 20, 2007
Daily Sights
Gas Prices per Liter (a little over $5/gallon)
Euro bills
Euro coins
Park gate
German looking pine trees
Euro bills
Euro coins
Park gate
German looking pine trees
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Wiesbaden Weinfest
We realized that we hadn't really posted any pictures of our faces!
...On the Strassenbahn
On Friday night, we went to the Wiesbaden Weinfest. To get to Wiesbaden, we took the Strassenbahn to the Darmstadt "Hauptbahnhof" or main train station (below) and took our first train ride.
Wiesbaden is a really beautiful town...here is a church that looked like a movie backdrop even in person!
The Weinfestival is comprised of a bunch of local vineyards that set up tents and serve their wine by the glass or bottle. To get a glass of wine, you pay a small deposit of 2-3 Euro which is then returned to you when you return the glass. So it you really like the glass, you can just keep it! We tried several different types of wine- almost all of the wines are made from Riesling grapes, either mild, sweet, half dry, "troken" (dry), or Sekt (similar to champagne).
There are also all kinds of food tents- we tried garlic bread, "Flammkuchen mit Kase und Schinken" (thin crusted pizza with cheese and ham), and Wurst sandwiches. After eating and drinking for a few hours, we had to run about half a mile with another couple to catch the last train back to Darmstadt- one way to burn up all of those extra calories!
...On the Strassenbahn
On Friday night, we went to the Wiesbaden Weinfest. To get to Wiesbaden, we took the Strassenbahn to the Darmstadt "Hauptbahnhof" or main train station (below) and took our first train ride.
Wiesbaden is a really beautiful town...here is a church that looked like a movie backdrop even in person!
The Weinfestival is comprised of a bunch of local vineyards that set up tents and serve their wine by the glass or bottle. To get a glass of wine, you pay a small deposit of 2-3 Euro which is then returned to you when you return the glass. So it you really like the glass, you can just keep it! We tried several different types of wine- almost all of the wines are made from Riesling grapes, either mild, sweet, half dry, "troken" (dry), or Sekt (similar to champagne).
There are also all kinds of food tents- we tried garlic bread, "Flammkuchen mit Kase und Schinken" (thin crusted pizza with cheese and ham), and Wurst sandwiches. After eating and drinking for a few hours, we had to run about half a mile with another couple to catch the last train back to Darmstadt- one way to burn up all of those extra calories!
Home Sweet Home
Week 2 has been really busy for both of us; our time here has been flying by! We continued our house hunt this week and after looking at 3 more houses, found a great house. We signed the lease on Friday and we are set to move in on September 5! Our landlord speaks very good English and lives about a block away. The town is very quaint with several restaurants, a "Backerei" (bakery), a "Metzgerei" (meatshop), and a grocery store. There are two houses side-by-side that share a common path to the backyard- our house is set further back than the other house in the picture below. Here is a tour of our soon to be home!
Front Door (this picture also shows one of our two parking spaces)
Front Entryway (our landlord did all of this stone work by hand)
Dining Room
Living Room
Fireplace
Washroom (1/2 bath)
Kitchen
Upstairs (wooden spiral staircase)
Bedroom 1 (built in closets are really hard to come by!)
Bedroom 2
Bedroom 3
Balcony and Views (off of Bedroom 3)
(church steeple in the middle)
Upstairs Bathroom (also has a shower, toilet and bidet- this last part sold us on the house)
Back patio- great for grilling!
We also have hot and cold water for laundry, which means we will be able to have an American washer and dryer (it is much more common for houses to only have cold water, which only allows German washers to be used). As you can see, we will have plenty of space and a beautiful view of some hills and forest!
Horse Show
Last Sunday we went to a horse show with a friend whose wife was competing. We enjoyed some good German food, company, and countryside. The horses were so much larger than horses in the states...Here are some pictures of the course and of an actual jump- it was a beautiful day!
On a side note, dogs are literally welcome everywhere over here- all kinds of stores, restaurants, etc. The dogs are extremely well behaved and at the show on Sunday, horses and dogs were not even phased by each other. While we were touring the stables, it was pretty comical to see our friend's dog "Nicky" (below) rub noses with their giant Belgian horse.
On a side note, dogs are literally welcome everywhere over here- all kinds of stores, restaurants, etc. The dogs are extremely well behaved and at the show on Sunday, horses and dogs were not even phased by each other. While we were touring the stables, it was pretty comical to see our friend's dog "Nicky" (below) rub noses with their giant Belgian horse.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
First Weekend Exploring
Good news- we both passed our driving tests! Hopefully we'll be able to pick up our car this coming week.
We took our first trip on the "Strassenbahn" or streetcar to Darmstadt this weekend! Below, you can see both the street car stop and Matt standing at the ticket dispenser. Basically, you just select what kind of ticket you would like (one-way, round trip, day pass) and where you would like to go. We have been purchasing a group day pass which allows 5 people to get on and off the street car as many times as they want in a day, but costs less than buying two round trip tickets, only 5.50 Euro (or a little over $7). Apparenly no one regularly checks to see that you have a ticket, but if someone were to check you would receive a fine.
On Friday night, we went to a great little cafe/restaurant called Lokal. Our waiter was able to speak both English and German and we talked quite a bit with him. He said his English wasn't that great, but he was practically fluent. It's true what everyone has been saying...he wanted to practice his English with us! He actually ended up giving us a free after dinner drink, probably since we were willing to talk to him for a while. It was a good first experience in town on our own! A few differences we have noticed about dining out in Germany: 1) you seat yourself, unless it is a high end/luxury restaurant; 2) the bill includes a small tip, but you just round up to the next whole Euro and then add a Euro or so if you had good service; 3) it is pretty common for cafes/restaurants not to accept credit cards, so when the waiter/waitress gives you the total you just tell them the amount of change you want back, thereby letting them know how much extra you are giving them; and 4) when you sit down for dinner, you have the table for the night, which means that you have to ask for the bill when you're ready. We still feel pretty clueless, but we've learned a lot even after a few meals.
On Saturday night, we went to Darmstadt again for dinner. We went into the city a little bit earlier than yesterday to walk around and explore before dinner. First, we walked into an "Apotheke" or pharmacy where any and all medicines or pharaceutical items are sold. You can't even buy Advil in a grocery store...you have to go to the Apotheke, but they are everywhere over here. Next, we decided to walk around a grocery store to start learning more about the German names for foods. I think we will have a really great selection of foods, which is comforting. One difference here in Germany is that you have to bring your own bag to carry your groceries, they don't even have them at the check-out counter. We had dinner at a cafe called the Markt, and again, our waitress spoke pretty good English. We still tried to use as much German as possible, but it helps to be able to ask about an item on the menu. After dinner, we grabbed some "Eis" or ice cream and waited for the Strassenbahn to pick us up and take us back to our hotel!
We took our first trip on the "Strassenbahn" or streetcar to Darmstadt this weekend! Below, you can see both the street car stop and Matt standing at the ticket dispenser. Basically, you just select what kind of ticket you would like (one-way, round trip, day pass) and where you would like to go. We have been purchasing a group day pass which allows 5 people to get on and off the street car as many times as they want in a day, but costs less than buying two round trip tickets, only 5.50 Euro (or a little over $7). Apparenly no one regularly checks to see that you have a ticket, but if someone were to check you would receive a fine.
On Friday night, we went to a great little cafe/restaurant called Lokal. Our waiter was able to speak both English and German and we talked quite a bit with him. He said his English wasn't that great, but he was practically fluent. It's true what everyone has been saying...he wanted to practice his English with us! He actually ended up giving us a free after dinner drink, probably since we were willing to talk to him for a while. It was a good first experience in town on our own! A few differences we have noticed about dining out in Germany: 1) you seat yourself, unless it is a high end/luxury restaurant; 2) the bill includes a small tip, but you just round up to the next whole Euro and then add a Euro or so if you had good service; 3) it is pretty common for cafes/restaurants not to accept credit cards, so when the waiter/waitress gives you the total you just tell them the amount of change you want back, thereby letting them know how much extra you are giving them; and 4) when you sit down for dinner, you have the table for the night, which means that you have to ask for the bill when you're ready. We still feel pretty clueless, but we've learned a lot even after a few meals.
On Saturday night, we went to Darmstadt again for dinner. We went into the city a little bit earlier than yesterday to walk around and explore before dinner. First, we walked into an "Apotheke" or pharmacy where any and all medicines or pharaceutical items are sold. You can't even buy Advil in a grocery store...you have to go to the Apotheke, but they are everywhere over here. Next, we decided to walk around a grocery store to start learning more about the German names for foods. I think we will have a really great selection of foods, which is comforting. One difference here in Germany is that you have to bring your own bag to carry your groceries, they don't even have them at the check-out counter. We had dinner at a cafe called the Markt, and again, our waitress spoke pretty good English. We still tried to use as much German as possible, but it helps to be able to ask about an item on the menu. After dinner, we grabbed some "Eis" or ice cream and waited for the Strassenbahn to pick us up and take us back to our hotel!
Thursday, August 9, 2007
House Hunting
Today we had our first day of house hunting! We saw a total of 5 houses, all of which had their pros and cons based on size, location, and access to public transportation. Hopefully we will be able to see another handful of houses later this week or next week. We'll let you know when we find "home sweet home." Until then, here are some pictures and highlites from our 3 favorites:
House 1: This house was very clean, new and modern. There were a total of 5 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, a large kitchen with both a American and a German refrigerator (the German ones are much smaller than we are used to), as well as a small patio and fenced in backyard. There is also plenty of storage in the basement. The landlord was also very nice and spoke nearly perfect English! The surrounding town has access to several bus stops within walking distance, as well as a few bakeries, restaurants, and grocery stores.
Front Door
Living Room
Kitchen
A bedroom
House 2: This house and surrounding town are extremely charming. It is located near the Rhine River and is surrounded by what appears to be acres of grape fields. Just to give you an idea of its charm, there is access to a balcony on the 2nd and 3rd floors, and a grape vine winds up to the 2nd floor balcony! The kitchen is brand new, there is a woodburning stove in the living room, and well developed landscapping in the front and back of the house. The one main problem is the long commute to work.
Front door
Living room (serving window to kitchen)
Grapevine on Balcony
House 3: This "penthouse" is made up of what was once 2 apartments on the ground floor, so it is a very unique space to the point that we're not sure if it meets our needs. That being said, it is still very impressive! The entire backside of the house is made up of windows that open to the backyard and our main concern is that about 1/3 of the space is kind of like an indoor/outdoor area. It is still under construction, so the kitchen and laundry have not yet been installed. The home is located in an upscale neighborhood and is located within a few miles of downtown Darmstadt. We would have 1 master bedroom, 1 guest room, and 1 room for laundry/closet space (there are no closets in German homes, so we will most likely be using a small bedroom for closet space in whatever home we choose).
Front Door
Living room/Dining room
View from the backyard
As you can see, we were able to look at a wide variety of homes. It was a very enjoyable day! We also were able to walk around the outskirts of Darmstadt and through a park surrounding the Orangerie Restaurant where we learned that German squirrels have orange fur and are much less common than in the US. It has been raining for the past 2 days, so the grass looks especially green!
Tomorrow we take our German driving test so that we can pick up our new car from the dealership! Here is a sneak preview of our car:
House 1: This house was very clean, new and modern. There were a total of 5 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, a large kitchen with both a American and a German refrigerator (the German ones are much smaller than we are used to), as well as a small patio and fenced in backyard. There is also plenty of storage in the basement. The landlord was also very nice and spoke nearly perfect English! The surrounding town has access to several bus stops within walking distance, as well as a few bakeries, restaurants, and grocery stores.
Front Door
Living Room
Kitchen
A bedroom
House 2: This house and surrounding town are extremely charming. It is located near the Rhine River and is surrounded by what appears to be acres of grape fields. Just to give you an idea of its charm, there is access to a balcony on the 2nd and 3rd floors, and a grape vine winds up to the 2nd floor balcony! The kitchen is brand new, there is a woodburning stove in the living room, and well developed landscapping in the front and back of the house. The one main problem is the long commute to work.
Front door
Living room (serving window to kitchen)
Grapevine on Balcony
House 3: This "penthouse" is made up of what was once 2 apartments on the ground floor, so it is a very unique space to the point that we're not sure if it meets our needs. That being said, it is still very impressive! The entire backside of the house is made up of windows that open to the backyard and our main concern is that about 1/3 of the space is kind of like an indoor/outdoor area. It is still under construction, so the kitchen and laundry have not yet been installed. The home is located in an upscale neighborhood and is located within a few miles of downtown Darmstadt. We would have 1 master bedroom, 1 guest room, and 1 room for laundry/closet space (there are no closets in German homes, so we will most likely be using a small bedroom for closet space in whatever home we choose).
Front Door
Living room/Dining room
View from the backyard
As you can see, we were able to look at a wide variety of homes. It was a very enjoyable day! We also were able to walk around the outskirts of Darmstadt and through a park surrounding the Orangerie Restaurant where we learned that German squirrels have orange fur and are much less common than in the US. It has been raining for the past 2 days, so the grass looks especially green!
Tomorrow we take our German driving test so that we can pick up our new car from the dealership! Here is a sneak preview of our car:
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