Vienna Day 2: Like Moths to a Flame
On the second day, the three of us started our day with yogurt, gouda, and some coffee we made at the apartment we rented.
As an aside on the apartment … We used Vacation Rentals by Owner to find it, and I think this is a great way to go if you’re staying somewhere for a few days — it just feels more homey, and it provides the option for making your own breakfast, especially if you enjoy real food and not just air-filled croissants and pastries. It was a nice place, with a kitchen and big bathroom, master bedroom, and big living area that included two twin beds. Aside from our flu-infested neighbors (who owned the place), and my mysterious case of the sniffles that appeared two days later, we were mostly satisfied. However, the owner was a little stingy with the toilet paper — TWO ROLLS ONLY! Very German for a French dude. Also, we needed 4 keys to get into the place. It was like Fort Knox, and I’m almost positive that in the event of a fire, we would all roast — because you also need the keys to GET OUT. I don’t understand this European way. In Cologne, we have no smoke detectors installed in our apartment, and I could literally lock someone into our pad.
Back to our day: first stop was the Hundertwasserhaus, a modern-art residence that sort of reminded me a bit of Gaudi architecture in Barcelona. Here we “made” a bunch of photos (we were too early for the tour), and took a scenic walk — featuring much graffiti — along the river to our next stop.
Next stop — Karlskirche, where we actually climbed the stairway to heaven. This was a beautiful church and an icon often used to represent the city. While there was some construction and renovation within the church, we were able to take advantage of the scaffolding to get really close to the artwork on the inner part of the dome. Beauteous!
Next up, some penguins and the gilded Strauss statue, where it was difficult to get a decent photo of this famous violinist due to the recently unfettered tour group. You would have thought Strauss was handing out gold bullion. I take offense when large groups swarm monuments. I know you paid a lot for your seat on that bus, but please get out of the way.
Then, we finally made it inside the Opera House. Here we learned the theater puts on about 70 (if memory serves me correctly) different shows per season, without ever performing the same show on consecutive nights (they’re performed in threes, I think). So, if you’re visiting for several days, you can go for a few nights in a row and see something new each time. On the tour, we also had a chance to see the debutantes practicing for the upcoming Wiener ball, where admission is 250 Euros, dress code is formal/coattails, and box seats cost around 18,500 Euros. I will watch it on TV, thanks.
After some delicious goulash and the local pancake specialty, we attempted to get inside Stephansdom for the second time. But, mass was taking place AGAIN. So we climbed 300+ stairs to the top of one of the towers. It was actually a pretty disappointing climb for all the effort since the stairs simply deposit you into a gift shop with dirty windows, offering a sub-par view.
Anyway – here are some photos from the day.
Outside Hundertwasserhaus.
Hundertwasserhaus.
Lindsay and random dog. I told her to bend over to get her in the shot, although it was actually unnecessary. I still think it’s cute!
Dog patiently waiting for owner.
I love how Lindsay’s outfit matches the graffiti in this picture!
Cool.
A penguin fountain that apparently only serves as a fountain when it’s above freezing.
Like moths to a flame.
The beautiful Karlskirche.
Stairway to heaven.
Actually, it was more like an elevator to heaven for the majority of the climb. Lindsay only appears to be relaxed in this picture.
Nice close-ups of the frescoes.
Rejected. Back to Earth he goes.
An inside shot of the cathedral.
Huge church doors.
Inside Vienna Opera House — lobby/main stairway.
The auditorium.
Opera house.
Inside opera house.
Attempting to get a shot of the debutantes practicing for the ball.
It took us a while to find a decent lunch stop since smoking is still allowed in most restaurants. In search of a non-smoking section, I found these ancient hieroglyphics of male/female anatomy.
Traditional goulash and dumplings!
My protein-rich lunch.
Feeling pleasantly plump.
Stephansdom – take 2. A view from the gift shop at the top of 300 stairs.
Stephansplatz. I love how the Dom reflects in the windows of this modern building.
Famous public restrooms. Jeff and I actually used them on day 3.
Of course, we ended the night with … cake! Rick told us to go here.
Treats.
The main canals, bike paths, and coffee shops of Amsterdam
Jeff and I took the train to Amsterdam in mid-November. It was just about a 3-hour journey, which makes it a shame it took us so long to get there.
Amsterdam is a colorful city in many ways: the flower markets and tulips, the streets and street signs, the doorways and bikes, and the people themselves. It is also a fast-paced city, with danger seeming to lurk at every corner, especially for those with a limited attention span and deficient ability to focus. Fortunately, I am still alive to tell the tale.
In stark comparison to the orderly ways of German drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists, the Amsterdam motto just seems to be “Accelerate when you can and go where you fit.” So, yes, you may be on a sidewalk, but beware — cars will go there. Also, like here in Cologne, the trains/”trams” ride alongside traffic in the streets but in places you don’t always expect. So, watch out!
Similar to Venice and Bruges (two of my favorite places), Amsterdam is a city with an elaborate canal system, built up with beautiful, narrow homes that are essentially soldered together one after the other. The city is also known more for its museums, art, and history than its huge buildings and monuments of architectural grandeur. But we all know what it’s most notorious for…and, while we obviously did not indulge in that, its presence was known to anyone with their olfactory senses in tact.
And a tour of the Red Light district was definitely in the top half of my list, along with Van Gogh museum (forgot the exact name) and the Anne Frank house (how cultural we are!). What wasn’t on my list, but that we greatly enjoyed included: a comedy show (in English), Indian food (the #2 restaurant in Amsterdam), and the Sex Museum. Yes, I’ll admit it, we went to the Sex Museum. But, it is an actual museum with educational significance, not a novelty shop. There were plenty of the latter elsewhere.
Here are some photos from the trip, more or less summarizing the experience.
Bikes, Bikes, Bikes
Here is a parking garage … for bikes!
Oh, so very Dutch.
Standing on the back of dad’s bike while talking on a cell phone. How very safe, indeed.
Canal Houses and House Boats
Canal homes and a houseboat.
Canal shot
Canal homes. These really beg for captions, don’t they?
And another…how cool.
And another one…
Houseboat and potted plants. Are you beginning to feel like you’re reading a children’s book?
Canal homes and a houseboat.
Coffee Shops
Seeds on every corner.
Oooh, dying for a reservation!
In case you had any questions.
Love the signage.
Self-explanatory.
Self-explanatory.
Street of temptation.
I love the guy who has caught a glimpse of me from inside the window.
Pancakes and cheese wheels! Oh, and Dutch apple pie.
That is a pancake with bacon!
Buying in bulk?
Cheese wheels bigger than your head.
Opened the trip with some Dutch apple pie!
Last day of pancakes. We had one a day.
So, this is not a pancake, but it is really amazing local food. Peas, bacon and an assortment of pickled items. Strange how amazingly delicious this was.
Cool Doorways and entrances
I want this door on my next home.
I almost fell into about a dozen of these.
Interesting church entrance.
The Anne Frank House
Waiting in the 1+ hour line. I love the expressions on people’s faces.
An amazing and somber place. In walking the floors of the home, you realize how absolutely impossible it must have been to keep quiet.
A view across the canal, opposite the Anne Frank House.
A view of Anne Frank’s house at night. Notice the blackened windows. This was required to help avoid/prevent air strikes at night.
And on a more positive note: flower shops!
Colorful flower markets right outside of our rented apartment. We purchased some bulbs. I’ll update you on the progress of actually turning them into flowers.
In short, Amsterdam was fantastic. Go there — explore, visit museums, eat pancakes.
Frohes Weinachten und Gutes neues Jahr!
New Year’s resolution number one: start blogging again. It’s amazing how awful we’ve been at this. Truly.
So many things have happened since we last blogged. We visited Munich, Nuremberg, and Amsterdam, experienced our first Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s in Germany, and had quite a bit of fun in the process. I will post pictures from our trips this week. Promise.
In the meantime, some commentary on the holidays.
Thanksgiving
Obviously, this is not a German holiday. I’m surprised they haven’t adopted it here, however, in the spirit of working less, closing grocery stores, and as an additional excuse for slacking in customer service. Fortunately, this is not the case because planning is not my forte. I was able to successfully purchase last-minute items on Thanksgiving DAY for my garlic mashed potatoes and bacon-grease infused green beans I took with me to our neighborhood Thanksgiving (with friends and a family of Jeff’s colleagues, of course). Despite missing my family greatly, this was one of the tastier Turkey Days I’ve experienced in recent history — likely because everyone brought their culinary A-game to one or two dishes! And who knew that pilots and their spouses were such a culinary bunch.
Following Thanksgiving, we had a smaller, more intimate German-style Thanksgiving, at which our half-German couple friends (Emily and Nick) cooked goose, with a side of purple cabbage and apples and dumplings. Quite Deutsch! Oh, I must not forget the chestnuts they added to the gravy (I love them; Jeff doesn’t). Mmm. mmm. We hosted. They did most of the work. I’m generally OK with that arrangement.
Thanksgiving with goose!
Goose, cabbage, dumplings — oh my!
Christmas
The Christmas traditions of the U.S. are pretty much German traditions, so being here is pretty awesome. To summarize things quite simply — Germans love and wholeheartedly embrace this holiday, so it’s quite festive! The best part, Christmas markets and Glühwein. Christmas markets (or, Weinachtsmarktes) are essentially these mini craft fairs, where local craftsman set up shop and sell ornaments, art, food, knick-knacks, etc., all while people walk around sloshed on warm, mulled vino. It’s pretty amazing.
On Christmas Day, Jeff and I enjoyed being together — with the dogs — for the first time, ever, I think. We indulged in a feast with friends on both Christmas day and New Year’s.
The New Year’s tradition in Köln, and all of Germany (I think), is to light off as many fireworks and other explosives as possible (unfortunately for us, this terrifies our dog Kaya and leads to explosive something else). In fact, commercial-grade fireworks are even sold in grocery stores the week leading up to Jan. 1.
We witnessed children blowing off smaller fireworks in the street in front of moving cars, and we saw one local almost blow off a hand (and maybe a face) by closely inspecting what he thought was a dud (it wasn’t). I think this article sums up the Germany holiday nicely: “New Year in Germany is full of suicidal charm.”
(For whatever reason, WordPress is not letting me upload photos and then text, so here are a random selection of shots from what I just described.) Happy new year! Hopefully I will blog again before next year…
Market at the Kölner Dom.
The markets are exceptionally crowded. Especially on weekends. I might have some permanently Glühwein-stained clothing.
Enjoying the markets with friends
Enjoying their new Christmas dog toy.
Attempting to get dogs in the photo! FAIL.
Jeff modeling his new sweater and PJ pants on our little Christmas “picnic” blanket.
Kaya and tree.
Christmas table “scape” — minus the food. I was really impressed with the layout.
Holiday party at the Pullman.
New Year’s — the aftermath.
Happy 2013!
“Erdbeer-Rhabarber” Pastry
Strawberries (Erdbeeren) are in season and they are soooo delicious. There’s a pick-your-own-Erdbeer place down the street, but we haven’t bothered to actually do the picking since there are also fresh-picked strawberries delivered right to the local Rewe.
Another food here that’s quite popular with the Germans — rhubarb — which has the coolest German translation: “Rhabarber.”
Anyway — what to do with this combination but make strawberry-rhubarb pie?! Well, sort of. Because I began this endeavor at around 8 p.m., I opted to buy pre-made pie crust. Unfortunately, this was not to be found in the local grocery store! With only puff pastry and pizza crust to choose from in the refrigerated section, I figured we’d give strawberry rhubarb puff pastries a try. And they were quite delicious!
Here’s the basic recipe, adapted from AllRecipes.com:
Ingredients:
- 3 cups cut up strawberries (about a pint)
- 3 cups diced rhubarb (about a pound). Make these pretty small.
- 1 cup, plus a couple tbs, white sugar
- 1/2 cup flower
- One egg yolk
- Butter (about 2 tbs, I guess)
- 2 rolls of pastry (or two sheets) — a.k.a. Blätterteig
Directions:
- Combine 1 cup sugar with 1/2 cup flower.
- Add dry mixture to chopped fruit.
- Stir and let mixture sit for about 30-45 minutes. This part is important. Don’t let impatience get to you.
- Cut pre-made puff pastry into about eight 5″ by 7″ rectangles (4 per sheet).
- Add strawberry rhubarb mixture to center of each puff pastry rectangle. Divide evenly.
- Add a couple dollops of butter to the top of the fruit mixture before sealing the pastry.
- Fold over the edges (so your pastry now resembles a small burrito) and seal with water (should have 1-1.5 inches of pastry overlap)
- Press the top and bottom edges with a fork to seal.
- Brush egg yolk over top, sprinkle with sugar, and cut some slits in the top to let steam escape.
Cooking:
- Arrange pastries on parchment paper or tin foil on baking sheet.
- Cook for about 25 minutes in a 190-200 C oven (about 400 F), until tops are golden brown.
- Let cool for at least 15 minutes.
- Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy!
Strawberry rhubarb pastry. Please forgive the awful camera shot. And the fact that I’d already taken a bite.
catching up
sorry for the absence. i know everyone missed my writing with bad grammar, poor punctuation and lack of capital letters. but i’m back now. i’ll attempt to pick up where i left off.
my last post concerned me getting stuck in oslo, norway with a busted airplane. that was fine, we got to tour oslo a little and sample some of the 14 dollar (US) beers. it was delicious but yikes. we sampled some of the local fare which was quite delicious also. i couldn’t resist what i ordered, it was called “norwegian meat” plate or platter. the next question was, “one piece of ‘meat’ or two”? as a general rule with mystery meat in foreign lands, go big… so… two please. my colleague ordered the “whale meat” plate. we were both very curious about what was going to show up when you order whale meat but alas, they were fresh out of the whale. must be a popular item. durn. my food:
norwegian meat plate
the brown item in the foreground with the onions on it is the meat. i’m pretty sure it was hamburger with brown gravy. kind of like a salisbury steak i guess. it was good though. after the food we did a little more walking. there are a couple of actual ski-jumps in oslo, a lot of government buildings, a few palaces, a big train station and a really cool opera house. the opera house is designed so that you can walk all over it. and i mean literally over it, the sides are ramps which lead you to the top. we didn’t actually go in the opera house but we did wander on it. pretty neat.
unfortunately, our hotel was out by the airport which was a 45 minute bus ride away. so, after food and touring it was back on the bus. our plane got fixed the following day and we were tasked with taking it to barcelona to put it back in service. we did so and then were released to go home. it was a good trip.
Very weekendy weekends
Travel is nice, but so is staying in Cologne and just doing ‘normal’ stuff.
By normal, I mean, happy hours, friends over for dinner, cooking lots of yummy food, long and lazy breakfasts (notice the food theme?), walks with the dogs, bike rides. Enjoying LIFE at a slightly less frenetic pace. Of course, it’s still slightly more interesting when you can’t read road signs, still don’t have the Fahrenheit-to-Celsius conversion nailed down, and nothing’s open past 2 p.m. on Saturday to solve your flat-bike-tire issues.
Regardless, these past two weekends have been quite nice.
Germans and Lasagna: Last weekend we did not much. Had our authentic German couple friends (well, half German) over for dinner on Friday. We cooked lasagna and sat on our floor eating around the coffee table because we still don’t have a dinner table and chairs (table this week; chairs in JUNE!). We’ve heard getting settled can take about 6 months. I believe it, especially for those of us without cars.
Inspired by my recent Italian adventure, I have to say the Gshwankelkamp lasagna was pretty good. I couldn’t seem to get the sauce right and then realized it was because the wine I added was slightly nasty when sober. The evening before — when it was bottle number 2 — it tasted fine, so I kept carelessly adding it to the sauce. BAD idea. Anyway, the recipe I made was a derivative of this, if you feel like experiencing it personally. But, I never really follow anything to the T. World’s “best” lasagna, according to AllRecipes.com: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/worlds-best-lasagna/. I would disagree, but here are my slight modifications that make it better:
- On the sauce, well, there’s no sweet Italian sausage that I can find in Germany (and when I asked the butcher, he thought I was asking if he speaks Italian, so who knows), but since Germans like their pig, I just added ground pork, and to make it “sweet,” I added some extra fennel, paprika, salt, pepper, a little honey (sugar will do) and some red pepper flakes (I prefer spicy sausage to sweet anyway). I probably doubled the onion, garlic and spices in the sauce, as well, and I also added a fair amount of red wine and some balsamic vinegar, which I think makes everything taste better.
- On the ricotta filling, I added some minced garlic, probably 3/4-1 cup of Parmesan cheese (because you can never have enough cheese), two eggs and a couple tablespoons of basil. This recipe calls for straight ricotta, and you probably don’t have to add anything to it (especially the ricotta here, which is more like butter than cheese), but my mom is Italian, and she always adds parm, herbs, and at least an egg to her filling.
So, essentially, I didn’t use the recipe for much except cooking time and how to assemble the layers. Whatever.
Feeling French on Saturday: On Saturday, I was feeling French (not really) so made crepes out of the Joy of Cooking cookbook, which is the only one of about 100 cookbooks I brought with me. I figured it had most of the basics. And thank goodness for FoodNetwork.com. My main inspiration for Saturday’s breakfast: I really wanted to use the leftover ricotta as filling (with berries). So, we did kind of a crepe sampler — one with just butter, cinnamon and sugar, one with ricotta and berries, one with brie and honey, and one with just some weird cheese I was trying to get rid of. The winner: brie and honey. Here’s a pic of the crepe. Patience is the key ingredient on these bad boys. This is not a 30-min breakfast.
Crepe making. A lesson in patience.
Flat Tire and a Bad Day for Bikes: Later in the day, Jeff and I biked to meet a friend for lunch (more Italian) and then stopped to get some fenders and additional bike accessories. On the way home, I thought it would be fun to see how fast I was peddling by attempting to set off the radar on our street. About three standing and aggressive leg “strokes” (?) in, my pedal came off, and I had a near-death “stumble” (exaggerating a little bit since I didn’t really even fall to the ground). I still have a huge purple/yellow bruise and welt on my calf, and for a while, it appeared that I actually had two calf muscles. Braving the bike again, we took another ride around our hood later in the day, found the soccer stadium, and then about 10 minutes from home, I got a flat tire. Nothing’s open on Saturday after 2, so no more biking for me that weekend. Probably a good thing.
Biergarten Sunday: Sunday we took the dogs for a walk, strolling to a nearby biergarten (well, probably 2 km each way). Kaya pulled the entire way, and patient Jeff pretended to have a good time.
Here’s Beeze at the biergarten.
This past weekend was also loads of fun and included “Derby de Mayo” and our first German concert, but more on that later. This post is already way over the readable limit!
Ciao!
Firenze day 2, part 1: A whole pig
The markets in Florence are amazing. Don’t expect a full-size grocery store in an Italian city. Instead, you have specialty shops and stands and markets. Local cheese, fresh pasta, ripe fruits and veggies, and Italian honey.
Saturday morning, the four of us ventured first to the big open-air market (if that’s what you call it), which also had an indoor portion that I think you can shop in most of the week. Here are some shots from Mercato di Sant’Ambrogi.
I’m a huge fan of the colors.
Fresh produce. And squash blossoms (I think), which they cook on the Food Network all the time but don't sell in the U.S., at least anywhere I can find.
Love this woman's expression.
Here's an entire pig, which gets roasted and then sold off by the body part you happen to crave. This stand also sold the most delicious Gouda cheese, which was more like butter than anything else. So good.
That’s all for the market. I broke my promise about the leather jackets and Boboli Gardens. Stay tuned til tomorrow for Firenze day 2, part 2.
Arrivederci!
A Coke Bier?
I’m not sure if this is a “German” thing or not, but Jeff and I had a random experience the other night at a local Thai joint.
Drink ordering time: I resort to my typical order — “Kolsch.” It’s the local beer (or bier), and everyone has it so it’s safe, and I (typically) don’t have to worry about my pronunciation. It might be Scion or Reissdorf, but every restaurant carries a Kolsch.
So you can understand my dismay when the waiter brings me a COKE (not Kolsch) and then scurries off. Jeff and I decide it’s probably an English-to-German-to-Thai mistake.
Waiter comes back — “Kolsch, not COKE, bitte,” I say. “Ah, entschuldigung,” he replies. He takes the Coke.
He then returns with a very dark looking bier in a Kolsch glass. Kolsch is always light.
First swig. “It’s sweet,” I tell Jeff. He tastes. “Oh yea.”
“Did they put coke in my Kolsch?”
“Mayyybe.”
I decide not to attempt another order, so I drink it.
When the waiter comes back, he asks, “Another coke bier?”
Mystery solved.
Raw Pork and Other German Food Finds
Yep, we ate raw pork. It’s called “mettwurst” in German. Smoked, and often cured, this delicacy was spread on a slab of bread with some salt and onion and chased with a half liter of beer to kill whatever bacteria was not annihilated in the curing process.
I know, you’re probably gagging, but it was actually tasty. We never would have tried this pig-sushi without our new friends, Emily and Nick. Nick is a native, and Emily is his American wife who has lived here for the past six years. (Thanks, Bethany Rock, for the introduction!). Though it was tasty, I convinced myself later in the evening I had a stomach ache. Probably because I’ve been told since childhood that raw meat is a no-no, especially pork!
Here’s a pic of Jeff and I ‘toasting’ to spreadable Wilbur. Prost.
Next, our foursome journeyed to a walk-up, take-out food-stand, where we sampled some other authentic German cuisine — Currywurst. This is essentially a sausage, cut into small pieces, drowning in what I non-eloquently described as “curry ketchup.” We ate it with miniature, two-tined wooden forks. Mmmm…
We followed our pork injection with a short walk down the Rhine to burn some calories. Here are a couple shots. These four homes are very famous, but I don’t recall why.
Slightly off the Rhine path, we found a full moon. In his silent protest for paying high taxes year over year, a local installed this gem facing city hall.
After our 15, maybe 20 minute, walk, we journeyed to our next pub, where we experienced some more local traditions: pig knuckles and Kolsch, a local beer that is served in .21 liter glasses and replaced automatically by the waiter/waitress after one is finished. The wait staff then tallies your consumption on a coaster. We finished 22.
As for dinner, Jeff sampled the pig knuckle. Don’t be fooled by the word knuckle. This thing is HUGE. You can order it either baked or deep fried. In effort to cut back on calories, Jeff opted for the baked version. Here are the before and after shots.
I had mussels. Just a few.
That’s it for the local cuisine. More to come on the other international treats we’ve ingested since our arrival. This is a foodie town, and I couldn’t be happier.
Here’s to vegetables.
Until next time…
The Ladies who Brunch
Yesterday I had my first meeting with the FedEx wives club. Well, not really a club, but just a group of wives — about 15 — who got together for brunch. It was new for me — first of all, being a wife is still really fresh, and second, hanging out on a “work day” eating pastries and drinking coffee made me feel just a wee bit guilty. Of course, brunch started at 4:30 a.m. ET, so I had plenty of working day left (if I could stay up after the montecristo, cheese, sliced meat, and pastry injection).
In the process, got lots of advice and met a ton of super ladies. Here’s what I walked away with, in no particular order:
- Germans are really good drivers — far superior to Americans or the French.
- The locals prefer structure, and much of what Germans do is in effort to preserve some type of higher order. This is not necessarily government control (well, maybe a little), but they’re wired for organization (I should fit in well … not!).
- Petty crime is an issue. Several of the families have been broken into, apparently because minor theft is not really punished or disciplined here. The polizei are much more concerned with violent crime. So as long as you don’t punch someone out while stealing their TV, you should land nowhere but comfortably on your couch in front of a new plasma after your work is done.
- That said, you can go to jail if you cause an accident by passing a car on the right whilst traveling the autobahn (they take driving seriously).
- When you ride someone’s tail on the highway, it’s called “jostling.”
- It takes up to 10 days to get a bank account set up. Can’t really do anything without one.
- Everything takes a long time here — this all goes back to process and order. Might be two months before I know whether I can even get — or need, for that matter — a work permit.
- If you claim a religion when you register with the officials, the German government could withold a 10% religious tithing. Apparently, no separation of church and state. (Actually, tourists should be pleased; this is how they maintain all their old cathedrals.)
- You can’t watch streaming American TV over the internet because of licensing in Germany. Thanks to Michelle, I now know that I can purchase a VPN token to fool my computer into thinking it’s in NYC. Sweet! A loophole for everything. Excited to get my New Girl back fo’ free.
- Private schools are super expensive — one woman paying upwards of 60 grande (not sure Euros or dollars) for her two kids in international private high school (public schools are somewhat out of the question unless you want to stick your 15-year old in full-immersion German. Probably better for the little tikes). Yikes!
- Home schooling is illegal in Germany, and once you register your kids, the German government is all over you to ensure your children are enrolled in a public or private institution.
Another thing I’ve observed is that while Germans seem to prefer order and discipline, they all wear jeans to work and appear very casual. I’ve hardly seen any business suits in an office setting.
I’m sure I’ll bore you with even more learnings as the days go on.
Thanks to my brunch buddies for all the German deets!
Now to get ready for our first day of apartment hunting.
A European Adventure 