Not sure if we have told you about our home and the city that we live in - Erlangen. Erlangen is a Franconian city of 100,000 inhabitants in the state of Bavaria.
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| Flags from left to right: Germany, Bavaria, Franconia |
It is located about 23 km north of Nürnberg and about 190 km north of Munich. Within a 4 - 4 1/2 hr drive you can reach, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, The Czech Republic and Poland. Excellent location.
Our Home
We love where we live. The complex we live in has 6 units. The whole building was renovated just prior to us moving in, so we are the first to live here. We live in the building at the back of the property which was once a pottery studio. It is just the right size and it is very quiet (one of the things that we were worried about when we first moved here). It is perfect for us! We actually told our landlord that we would like to buy it!!!! But, of course, it is not for sale and if it was, we would have to buy the whole development.
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| Our building from the outside. |
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| Our apartment is at the back of the development. It is called the Hinterhaus (separate building at the back) in German . |
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| This is our view from our living room windows. |
Erlangen is dominated by the Friedrich - Alexander University and the numerous offices of Siemens AG.
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| Window boxes are everywhere! |
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| Translation: Golden Hill Room A lovely Cafe Bistro around the corner from our place. |
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| Old? New? Bike - 'They' say that Erlangen is the most bike friendly city in Germany. |
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| Bikes have the right of way - everywhere. As you can see in this photo, this is a one way street, except for bicycles (frei). |
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| Behind our home is a river (Schwabach) and the Erlangen Meil-Wald (forest). |
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| Deutsche Post! This is how the mail is delivered - year round!! One of the local post offices is located in a Getranke Markt (drinks market), which sells everything from beer, to wine, to liquor, to water. |
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| Nice architecture! |
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| Erlangen Schloss (castle/palace) and daily market |
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| Schloss Garden |
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| Cafes in the Square |
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| In September the Metzgerei (butcher) on our street had a party for their 90th anniversary. The street was closed off, they had schnitzel, roast pork, cakes and had entertainment. The local brewery sold beer. It was a great afternoon. |
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| We shared a Schweinsbraten (roast pork) mit Kartoffelknödel (potato dumpling) and kraut. But we each had a beer! |
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| A house being built. |
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| ... yes a house, not an apartment building! With a crane!!! |
Tim's Day
A typical work day for Tim is to ride his bike to work, works, runs or rows at lunch and then rides home. Here are some pictures of his commute and work environs:
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| Team adidas! |
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| Past a beautiful church. |
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| and its meticulously kept Friedhof (cemetery)... |
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| ... over the Regnitz ... |
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| ... onto the lit paved bike path, just west of Erlangen ... The sheep herder and his dogs keep the sheep 'in line'. |
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| Yes, this is what you think it is..... |
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| It is a street sweeper sweeping the paved bike path!!!!! |
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| ... a mini putt... And a cigarette machine! |
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| Yes, you can buys cigarettes from a machine all over Germany. To buy tobacco products in Germany you have to be 18. To purchase cigarettes in one of these machines, you have to swipe your ID card, which will have your date of birth. No 18, no ciggy! |
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| ... over the Main-Danube Canal ... |
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| Farmhouse in Buchenbach. |
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| ... past fields of horses ... |
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| ...past a number of biergartens... |
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| This is in front of some one's house! |
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| Tim calls this his little piece of Mexico in rural Germany!!! |
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| Beautiful neat fields with no fences. |
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| Across the street from his office is this honesty stand. Well, an honesty garden. You pick your own flowers and deposit the money in the can! |
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| ...then he gets to his office..... |
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| ....well.....campus (for more photos see our Blog titled adidas Group, Herzogenaurach Germany World Headquarters) |
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| View from the front of Tim's office! |
My day is a little different. I typically grocery shop every day, as I ride my bike and can only carry so much.
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| Kaufland - my local grocery store! |
Like most other Europeans, I ride my bike everywhere (also because there isn't any place to park your car). We have a car, but we don't use it that much in the summer (except on weekends, perhaps, for a day trip). We don't have an allocated parking spot, so we have to always look for a spot to park upon our return home.
I took a German course in March for 5 weeks and it gave me a good basis for the language. So when I do go out I always start a conversation in German. I first start by apologizing and that I only speak and understand a little German. And I typically get back, 'well you can speak in English' or they just reply in English. But I always try.
I have joined the International Women's Group and attend a number of events. I have taken a painting class, I am starting to knit again (after many many years), but using the continental style of knitting, which is much faster and easier, I have joined a book club (we meet in a bar), weekly I join a group called Walk & Talk in which we go for a hours' walk and only can speak German. And we have coffee mornings once a month where we can go and chat.
I spend alot of time translating things like mail, bills, recipes etc. This is very time consuming and very frustrating. I also spend time on the internet figuring out where out next holiday will be. Also, I have read many many books!
We don't have a TV, which is good as you don't hear all the political crap that is going on, but bad, as it is a time filler in the evenings.
A Typical German Breakfast
As we all know every country has its own culture and thus has its own type of breakfast. The German's like to start their day with meat and cheese and of course bread.
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| So here it is: Coffee Bread or Rolls Butter and Jam Cheese Meat (always some type of sliced pork) sometimes a soft or hard boiled egg and yoghurt. |
Miscellaneous
It is law here in Germany that you have to have winter tires. If you are in an accident and don't have winter tires.....look out. So the other week I took our car in to the dealer to have our winter tires put on. When I picked up the car I saw that they had put a sticker on the dash..... MAXIMUM SPEED 210 km/hr. I guess they want us to not go as fast on the autobahn with our winter tires on!!!
Also a couple of weeks ago Tim and I joined some friends and went to the movies, in Nürnberg. We went to see Skyfall, in English. The complex has 23 theatres and they have bars and restaurants on site where you can buy beer, wine and mixed drinks in a glass, and you can take them into the movie with you!! Then at the end of the movie you take your empty glass and put them on a tray at the door as you leave. Amazing. You wouldn't ever see that happen in Canada.
Last weekend was also a busy one - dinner party at our house on Saturday and on Sunday we joined some friends and went to a professional hockey game. The Nürnberg Icetigers vs. ERC Ingolstadt. We lost 4-3 in OT but it was a great game and a it was great to see how involved the fans get here - alot of chanting and drum playing. The league is the German hockey league. I thought there was a European Hockey league, but there isn't. There are six players on the Nürnberg Icetigers that are from Canada.
Christmas Markets
Well, biergarten season is over and in a weeks time the Christmas Markets open up and then it is gluhwein season (for the recipe refer to our blog called Christmas Market Marathon). Another drink some of the markets serve is Feuerzangenbowle. This is the one favoured by Jayne and Tim.
Feuerzangenbowle is a traditional German alcoholic drink, which shares the same recipe as Gluhwein but for this drink a rum-soaked sugarloaf is set on fire and drips into mulled wine. It is often part of a Christmas or New Year's Eve tradition. The name translates literally to fire-tongs punch. Feuerzangenbowle is prepared in a bowl, similar to a fondue set, which usually is suspended over a small burner. The bowl is filled with heated dry red wine spiced with cinnamon sticks, cloves and orange peel, similar to mulled wine. The Feuerzange was originally a pair of tongs, but nowadays it is common for a purpose-designed metal grate mounted on top of the bowl to hold the sugarloaf, a sugar cone around seven inches long. The sugar is soaked with rum and set alight, melting and caramelizing. The rum should have at least 54% alcohol per volume in order to burn properly. More rum is poured with a ladle until all the sugar has melted and mixed with the wine. The resulting punch is served in mugs while the burner keeps the bowl warm. Give it a try - it is very nice!
Can't think of anything else to tell at the moment. I hope you enjoyed this blog!!
** we might have to start another/new blog as it seems we have run out of storage (or something like that)...says the non techie!! Stay tuned we will let you know if we change or add another blog.
