Flashback:Germany

I realized that I never posted anything about my friend's time in Germany. We only had one full day there before I wisked her off to Paris, but I tried to give her a real German experience.

The day she arrived, we walked along the Rhine in the windy cold to try to keep her awake and went through the old town of Kaiserswerth where we live.

The next day, we dropped Maddie off at school and took the train into the Altstadt of Duesseldorf. We got off the at the Heinrich Heine station where we went and got my favorite bakery item in Duesseldorf--it's a pretzel covered with pumpkin seeds and just a little gouda cheese to hold them on.

We explored the German department stores where Andrea coveted more modern looking houseware designs, strolled down the Konigsallee where all the out-of-our-leaugue shops are. Then we went to the city market where there are stalls selling meats, cheeses, veggies, spices, craft gooods, etc. We bought a beautiful bouquet of flowers from a little old lady at a flower stand. Andrea even understood that woman was explaining that these are the perfect colors for fall. She'll be speaking German in no time. If she had waited a few more weeks, she could have hit the Christmas markets.

She had her first Alt beer--which is the Duesseldorf beer and we split a pizza sitting at a common table with a group of German electricians on a lunch break. She was amazed, but not disappointed, by how much of life in Germany revolves around food.

Before we headed back to our house, she even to to see a little old German woman push a pregnant woman out of her way. Thus learning one of the cardinal rules of living in Germany--don't mess with the Omas. They've seen and lived through too much.

That night--in keeping with our food theme--we took her to our favorite local German restaurant.

So, after we both get our hair dry, we're off to conquer Paris!