Happy Birthday Mum!

Sorry there are no photos for those of you who like to only look at the pictures!  We have now moved into the apartment and with all of the German efficiency at work, Cable Deutschland was able to have a salesman greet us at the front door as we moved in, but once the contract was signed he scurried off with the cash, and apparently the “cable guy” will arrive in the next week or two or three.  Now that sounds rather Canadian doesn’t it?

Today is Jayne’s Mum’s Birthday, and we wish her all the best.  All of just hope and wish that we will be so healthy, active, and still make’n things happen when we get to that age!  All the best Ena, and we send our love, and are looking forward to your first visit.  Your room is almost ready J

We have been enjoying an amazing Indian summer as the weather has been clear sunny skies and 25 to 27 for the last two weeks.  We are expecting it to stay for the next few days.  I have a business trip to Cologne tomorrow, and Jayne will be joining me, so we will stop on the way back somewhere to celebrate her birthday which is on Oct 4^th.  Monday October 3^rd is a holiday here, (German Reunification Day) and so we are looking forward to the weekend, as it will be the first one that leaves us with some time to start to explore.  Hopefully if the “cable guy” shows up we will share some pictures with you on our next posting.

We are starting to settle into a routine of sorts, and have now found the best doner kebab place at the end of our street, and a couple of Biergarten’s just outside the front door, and yes I have had a full strength beer!  Must admit that one is all it takes to make me a little woozy these days J

We will update in a week or two once we have cable and we can include pictures once again!

“Happy Birthday Ena”, we miss you, but we think of often as we ready the place for your visit.  Lots of Love from the two of us!

Jayne and Tim

adidas Group, Herzogenaurach Germany World Headquarters

This past week has been busy with furnishing the apartment and work!  We will update the apartment photo's once we are out from under the mess!  For all of you who have asked what the adidas campus is like, (ok only one asked) here it is in pictures!

The main entrance is the restored section of the old Herzo American Military Base.  There are 6 buildings in a row all interconnected that create the area called "Spikes" I am located in one of these buildings.  They are the converted barracks from the original base.

The main Reception Area heads out into a courtyard

 

 

The courtyard covers several acres and is a park like setting with pathways connecting all of the facilities and various office buildings.

Beach Volleyball for Jayne!  I like to watch :)

Adi Dassler still sits in the stands of the coliseum to ensure fair play and cheer on the crowds.  This facility is used by professional sports teams when visiting the campus!  It is also used by the employees for sports and events

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Basketball, Tennis, and Soccer are on site for staff to use.

There is a fully equipped gym that is for staff and spouses at a nominal fee.  It even has a couple of rowers for me, which means I will not have to purchase one here, and I can go and work out at lunch or sometimes in the morning as this is where I ride my bike to as the showers and change rooms are located here.

Ok we really do work here, but it certainly is in comfort!  The long black building is dug below grade and houses the "Brand Centre" and this is where we build comlete fit out mock up stores.  The black and white building is called "Laces" and is where most of the on site staff are located.  It is a new facility housing 1700, and just opened in June of this year.

We also have several Cafe's and a fully fit out resturant!

The Bus is for "field trips"  I believe it has taken some young adidas people to Octoberfest this weekend! 

 

So that is the place I now call work!  It is such a great place as everyone is so positive and feels lucky to have such a place to work where the common theme is a to have a healthy lifestyle.

I think the Gold Fish are taking steroids, but I can't be sure as they might just be as fit as the rest of the crowd here!

Stay tuned for more Adventure Germany next week!

Trains Planes and Automobiles

What a busy week!  We shopped for cars, a 16hr business trip to Cologne, several trips to IKEA, and final inspection and sign off on the apartment!

Car shopping in Germany is a bit unusual.  The Germans love their cars, and therefore it is an honor for you to apparently own one.  We had decided on the type of car, and after searching on the internet we found what we were looking for.  A 2008 Volkswagen Tiquan with about 100k on it, diesel, sunroof, navigation for traveling, and the rest of the bells and whistles.  Now the fun part!  You do not go to the car lot and become surrounded by eager slick sales types explaining why you need to buy from them.  Here you must make an appointment to see and test drive the car.  This we did!  The next step was to negotiate the price.  We clearly did not understand that meant -  we can negotiate a 200 to 250 Euro reduction, not quite what we would expect in Canada ($2000 to $3000 negotiated reduction).  After yet another appointment and squeezing out yet another 50 Euro, and having the dealer install the snow tires (must have snow tires in Germany or all season tires - it is the law) we are now the proud owners of a used car! 270 Euro off the list price :)
It must be registered, the license plates manufactured, and whatever else the 30 pages of documents we signed means (we may have bought the dealership), we get the car in a week or so!

My Car!

                                                                               Jayne's Car

                                                                         The one we can afford!



I had my first business trip to Cologne Germany this week.  It was a long 16hr day, as I am still trying to adjust to the 9hr time change.  Hopefully the time change is behind us this week.  The trip was great and the high speed train is such a civilized way to travel!  The train sped along at over 200kms per hour and it was quite comfortable and all with no airport security.  The food is rather exceptional at the stations and it is common to travel with sandwiches, treats, and coffee!
I was able to walk a store that is under construction and set to open in October and also visit an existing store location.

adidas brand is very fashionable in Europe and is one of the main clothing categories!

                                                                        How many Kawartha Dairy Cones will it take to pay for this signage?

              

Shit!  My bike was the only one there when I left at 6:30am, where the hell is it?  A little cranky after 16 hours of travel :(

It appears that the only fast way to furnish an apartment is using IKEA as the furniture stores require at least 6 weeks to order as nothing comes off the floor.  So Jayne has had at least six 5 hour trips there.  We have never shopped at IKEA, and apparently everything you buy can be broken down into a shoe box.  How many shoe boxes does it take to make an apartment?  We will let you know.  We have decided that we are going to pay for them to pick, pack, and assemble.  When we send the pictures of the apartment do not mistake it for page 27 from the catalogue, as it will be real!
We did the sign off on the apartment and now have confirmed the measurements, so Jayne has a 10 page spreadsheet and an appointment with the Relocation Agent (she is a godsend ) and she will be going to IKEA, armed with both, to make the order.  Might need a little translation help to ensure that we end up with furniture and not a truck load of Swedish frigin' meat balls!  See ya!

First Friday Night Out

We signed the lease on the carriage house today!  Now that is quite the process.  You would think we are buying it.  We had to provide a copy of my adidas contract, passports, and bank account information, agree to repaint the entire place when we vacate, pay 3 months in advance, and sign our life away onto a 20 page contract in German.  Our relocation agent assures us that it is all quite normal!

The landlord's realtor gave us a bottle of bubbly to celebrate!  Hopefully it is for us to celebrate and not them as they head off with our cash!
With the house out of the way, we decided to head out to Nuremberg on the train and go for dinner in the old city.   We tackled the train ticket machine which eats cash like a slot machine in Vegas.  When we arrived 25 minutes later we found that there was a huge flea market on and crowds of people.

Germans seem to like the flea market deals as much as Canadians hunting for that elusive piece that is surely a priceless treasure that the seller has no idea of!

We walked several kilometers trying to decide where to eat.  We can't read the menu so we just have to go by the look of the place.  The problem is they are all so picture perfect!  We had dinner on the patio along side the river and then strolled back to the train station and headed back to Erlangen. 

                                                     Early evening on the Regnitz River

          The food is really quite spectacular!  The architecture is stunning!  The evening was a success!

House Hunters International

So we looked at 3 places, and had to narrow it down and pick one.  Ian will be glad to know that there is lots of room for Jayne's clothes, but we do not know where Tim will put his.  We canned the one that is still a construction site, and although they say it will be ready to move in October 1st, we believe that the year must have been lost in translation. 
The second place was a standard run of the mill apartment, but was too far from downtown Erlangen, and it was on a busy road.
Soooooo, the one we choose, was the historic carriage house built into the original city wall. 

OK, so this is not it, but we have to walk thru the double doors on the bottom left as the main entrance to our new home.

                                          Yes that is our place way at the back of the property

This is the loft above the master bedroom and master bathroom.  It is where you will get to sleep when you visit!  You will have to come down the stairs to the guest bath to pee, but hey, much better than the original night trek when the place was built in 1837

Living room has beamed ceilings with skylights and 3 sets or patio doors out onto the courtyard garden.

Even came with a kitchen!  Small, but Big deal in Germany as apartments do not come with kitchens here, except this one for Jayne and Tim.

They just finished the Reno, so the landscaping will be completed in the spring.  The landlord is going to leave a spot on the right side of the terrace for Jayne to grow our food!  We will need it after paying the rent on this place.



Today was my first day at addidas Group World of Sports Headquarters in Herzogenaurach.  It was a picture perfect day here, so after some touring of the complex and some introductions to the team, we settled into lunch on the patio.  Headed out at 1pm to pick up the company supplied car for the month and called it a day.  We are still adjusting to the time change so a couple of short days this week, and then full on next.  It is so nice to have the house hunt happen so quickly, and now Jayne can shop for furniture for the place.  I think her idea is to accumulate enough air miles to fly around the world, so good thing we are already half way around the world!
Our next step is to find a car, and we are to start that on Saturday with the relocation agent.  They seem to be rather quick to empty my bank account!