I'm still trying to bring you up to speed and I thought a quick overview of our first few days in Germany would be somewhat interesting. We are at the point we are starting to feel settled in.
I am still trying to get a little more of a routine going. My days activities seem somewhat random at times. The first 2 or 3 weeks were busy just trying to get a home set up and get used to our new surroundings.
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Jim, Cody and I have landed in Frankfurt and
are waiting for the hotel shuttel to pick us up.
We spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how
to get 6 very large suitcases into this 4 door
Volvo. My suggestion was the one that did
the trick.
Cody was crammed in the backseat with 3 of
the suitcases precariously balanced next to
him. He was very attentive when turning
corners on the long 2 hour drive-he also
never went to sleep-to risky!
We have arrived at our new home!
A view looking up our city neighborhood street.
A view looking the other direction down our street.
Looking down onto our street from an upper level.
Another upstairs view of our street.
Here is our backyard. The couple we are
renting from have 3 young boys and so
there are children's toys back here.
An upper level view of the backyard.
This is the back of the house.
Cody seeing his new school for the first time!
We worked hard at staying awake all day,
Cody finally gave in for a 5 minute nap.
Dinner at a German restaurant near our home.
It was a challenge to stay awake for the meal,
but we did it-barely.
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
Jim had to go to work our first full day here,
so Cody and I decided to see if we could find
our way to his school from our hotel.
We saw some beautiful buildings.
It was about a 15 minute walk.
The building behind me was another beautiful find.
Cody's school backs up to the Rheine River.
We walked along the river looking for ice
cream vendors. Cody finally had to give up
and rest on a bench for a short time.
My motto for this day, and a few ahead of us
was "Keep moving-don't sit down or lie
down on anything comfortable before dinner!"
Everywhere we drove, or walked, it seemed
there were nice cars in all directions.
Here's one we saw on our first walk.
Pretty snazzy "Smart Car" we saw one night
while going to a favorite restaurant, Vapiano's.
Here is the hotel we stayed in for 3 nights.
It was charming and even had a little
kitchenette in it if we needed it. The only
downside was the ice cream bars that melted
in the freezer.
Cody and I in front of the hotel.
This is the pleasant park across the street
from the hotel. Cody and I spent a good
amount of time here. Being in the hotel
room was unsafe-too many comfortable
beds!
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Our shipment has arrived!
Our things were transferred from the container
that was packed in the U.S. into these two
German trailers.
We felt like a spectacle! They had to block
off much of the parking on the street for
the whole day.
The first of the two trailers are now open
and the work begins!
