Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg, a set on Flickr.

The town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber (Red Fortress above the Tauber [the river]) is about an hour and a half drive from Stuttgart. We visited there on a whim one Saturday after we exchanged the rental car (the car can only be rented for 28 days maximum). There was a navigation system so out of curiousity we looked to see where the previous renter had visited. Rothenburg ob der Tauber was on the list so we decided to go.

The town is a well-preserved medieval town and as such it's a draw for tourists. The day we visited it started out sunny and warm and then a heavy shower moved through. We sought shelter by visiting the enclosed walkway atop the city wall.

Preservation of the town began in the late 1880's when Romanticism artists rediscovered the city bringing tourists, and laws were enacted to prevent major changes. The city was bombed during WWII; however, the U.S. Army was ordered not to use heavy artiliery to preserve the historic importance and beauty of the city. Donations came from around the world to quickly repair damage to houses and the town wall. (source: Wikipedia).

There appears to be a lot to explore in this town and I hope we will return another day to do just that.

Color out of a box

One dilemma you face when you move is finding a new hair stylist, which is even more of a problem when you move to a new country where you don’t speak the language very well. If it was only a haircut I needed, then I would have put it off because I wear my hair long and straight, but the inch-wide stripe of gray along my part was bothering me.My first gray hairs sprouted in my early twenties and not even ten years later I was a regular in the salon chair. Now without the hair dye, I’d be almost completely gray. While I have toyed with the idea of “rockin’ a head of natural gray” like Jamie Lee Curtis, my stylist convinced me that I’m too youthful looking to go that route just yet. I may be “cursed” with the gray-hair gene, but I was blessed with the “no-wrinkles” gene. I’d definitely choose gray hair over wrinkles.

Since I’m 6000 miles away and not wealthy enough to fly my stylist out for a cut ‘n color (wouldn’t she love that and wouldn’t I love being wealthy enough to do that?), I decided to color it myself. Yes, there are salons here, and I probably could find someone who speaks English, but I just don’t feel confident yet to go ask. I’m shy, ok? I’ve done my own color a few times when my schedule didn't mesh with my stylist’s and it couldn’t wait, but the difference this time is that I didn’t have the exact same dye she uses. I used L’Oreal Excellence to Go 10 Minute Cream, which I was able to get on base (we have access to the nearby army base for shopping, which is a nice perk). And yes, there is a salon on base but I still chose coloring my hair myself over taking trains and buses to get there.

So the results? I miss my hair stylist. I do – she is a good friend now. But I also miss just sitting back and having her make my hair pretty again while we chat. The gray is mostly covered but so are most of my highlights. I tried to only cover the roots but I didn’t want a stripe of a different hair color either so I “mooshed” it in a bit like my stylist does every so often to merge in the older, dyed hair and avoid a stripy “tree ring” effect. All in all, it’s not bad…a little darker than I wanted (left it on too long I think, fearing that it wouldn’t cover the gray), but not bad. When I was in the store, a young, blonde woman was also looking at the hair color on the shelf, but when her mother came by and briskly warned her repeatedly that “it’ll turn your hair orange”, she gave up. My hair did not turn orange. Maybe it’s because I’m not blonde but maybe it’s also because I had some guidance from my stylist before I left about which color to choose.

In theory you should be able to achieve the same results from a box of dye bought from the drugstore as you do from a salon, just what L’Oreal and Garnier and Clairol want you to believe too. After all, it’s pretty much the same stuff they use in the salon. However, you don’t have the ability to see your own head from above and behind to make sure you get the dye everywhere it needs to go. Also, the reason I pay my stylist is for her to choose the right color and apply it correctly so that I don’t look like I just dyed my hair.

I will probably dye my hair myself again – I have one more box of the L’Oreal dye, but I will also work on my confidence to go to the salon here. Pretty soon I’ll be wanting a haircut too and I won’t do that myself. Well, maybe my bangs.

Wir fahren fahren fahren auf der Autobahn

We drive drive drive on the Autobahn*

The German Autobahn: drive as fast as you want but beware of even faster cars coming up behind you. Well, except when there actually is a speed limit and when there is stau. One of the first words we learned here is "stau", which means "traffic jam."

And it's often because of this:

But the roads that aren't under construction are in really good shape, much better than the average U.S. highway. In the U.S. we'd need to have these two signs posted just about everywhere - they mean "road damage":

This sign is what many drivers want to see on the autobahn. It means there is no speed limit:

There is an advisory speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour (81 mph) on the autobahn but I can tell you that many people drive much, much faster when they are able. You'd think at those speeds there'd be accidents all over the place. There aren't because the Germans adhere to the policy that slower vehicles drive in the far right lane, and you only move to the left lane to pass. That's supposed to be the law in the U.S., right?  Well here in Germany, you really do only move to the left lane to pass and then you better get back over to the right or you'll have an Audi or a Mercedes or even a little VW in your rearview mirror when you thought for sure no one was back there when you checked before passing. You are also prohibited from passing on the right except when there is congestion. This makes the flow of traffic much more predictable - really important because when you drive at higher speeds reaction time is critical, and the last thing you want is to have someone do something unpredictable when you're driving over 100 mph.

One thing I'm pleasantly surprised at is that the truck drivers here are not aggressive drivers - or at least we have not witnessed this. If you've driven I-95 along the eastern U.S., you know the feeling of being nearly (or actually) squashed by the trucks. What I've experienced here in Germany as well as in France is that the trucks stay in the far right lane and drive almost convoy-style. They have a strict speed limit of 80 km/hr (50 mph). They do occasionally pass slower moving trucks and this sometimes causes congestion, especially on 2-lane autobahns, but it's temporary. Trucks from all over Europe drive through Germany and at first it was entertaining to discover where they come from: Poland, Turkey, Slovakia...but now I'm used to the international mix of trucks. Just one warning though - be prepared for the rest stops to be jammed with trucks on holidays and Sundays as they are not permitted on the roads before 10:00 pm. I did not know this until I did some research (i.e., Wikipedia) about the autobahn.

And what else did I learn about the autobahn from Wikipedia? The idea for the autobahn was conceived following WWI but didn't progress until Hitler embraced the project just after the 1933 Nazi takeover. I was surprised to learn that the autobahn was not intended as a major infrastructure for the military since military transport of goods was done via rail to save on cost. However, as the first limited-access, high speed road network in the world, the autobahn was a propaganda tool and was used to attract international attention. The first section opened in 1935 and was from Frankfut to Darmstadt - we've driven that route! Another bit of trivia is that one of the highest speeds ever achieved on a public motorway was set on this section of autobahn: 432 km/h (268 mph) set by Rudolf Caracciola.

*Lyrics from the 1975 song Autobahn by Kraftwerk. I remember this band and this song because my sister had an album by Kraftwerk with this song on it. Now wir fahren fahren fahren auf der Autobahn.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to my American friends and family!

Instead of eating hotdogs and hamburgers and watching a fireworks show, we ate a giant pretzel, drank German beer, and saw lightning. We spent the holiday in Munich, Germany. I have not downloaded the pictures yet, but will hopefully do so soon.

Bad Homburg

I accompanied my husband on a work-trip to Bad Homburg last week. Bad Homburg, full name Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, is located just northwest of Frankfurt. It's reportedly one of the wealthiest towns in Germany, probably because it's home to executives who work in Frankfurt and also because of its mineral water, spas, casino, and the lovely setting at the foot of the Taunus, a low mountain range. There's a fairly decent-sized shopping street and being that it's a tourist-type destination there are plenty of Eis Cafes (ice cream shops) as well as quite a few stores selling bathing suits, jewelry, or decorative house accessories. I did a bit of window shopping and bought a few minor things (no bathing suits, jewelry or decorative stuff) but mostly I spent time walking around and visiting the parks. There are two beautiful, well-maintained parks in Bad Homburg: Schlosspark and Kurpark. The Schlosspark is the grounds of the Landgräfliches Schloss (Count’s Castle) and has a pond, walking paths and benches in addition to the castle, which I didn't visit. We may go back there for more work-trips so maybe I'll make a point of taking a tour then, when my German is better. I just enjoyed walking the grounds and sitting near the pond. Kurpark is quite large and had many walking paths, benches, a large pond and also contains the mineral spa, casino and a variety of buildings and monuments dating from the early 1900s. Most of these buildings contain taps for accessing the mineral water. The Royal-Kur spa looks like a luxurious place to visit. Maybe next time. I visited this park a few times to escape the muggy heat.

Market Day in Bad Homburg

One of the old, decorative buildings in town

In the early 1900's when the narrow, crooked streets of the old, medieval part of town became a problem for the growing city, they built a bridge over it rather than destroy the old houses.

The "new" (built in 1905) towers at the end of the bridge over the old section of town.

The Landgrave's Castle, built in 1680 on the grounds of a 14th century castle. The white tower is all that remains of the previous castle.

There were lots of baby water fowl in the parks

Some of the structures and statues in the Kurpark. The center, glass cylinder in the two bottom photos display the bubbling mineral water. The lower left photo shows one of the water stations where you could sample the water or fill a container. I tried it and found it quite bubby and mineral-tasting, as expected!

More photos on Flickr

The Produce Man

My husband and I have temporarily relocated to Germany, at least through September but maybe for longer. We've settled into a furnished apartment in a lovely area in the hills of Stuttgart. It's a vacation-like setting where one hears the constant chirp of birds over the low whoosh of a nearby, but not too near and not too busy, roadway.

Today it is raining. The many trees around us are green and dripping with moisture. It's early, and people are leaving for work so the bird chirps are combined with the occasional sound of doors closing and car engines starting.

As I was getting ready for my day, the morning sounds were overcome by the sharp tone of a bell - not a churchbell, but a hand bell. At first I thought it was the landlady calling for her cats, but then I heard a male voice calling out something I couldn't understand. It was clear that he was announcing something. I looked out my window to see a man in green coveralls walking up the street towards a produce truck. A market on wheels! The back of the truck was set up just like a produce stand. It was open on three sides with colorful, layered tiers of vegetables and fruit. A canvas canopy was rolled up at each of the openings. Since we live in a residential area in the hills, going to the market means walking down the steep hill - and of course trudging back up laden with heavy bags. But apparently at least this one produce truck comes to us. I would have run down the stairs and out the door to buy some fruits and vegetables but I'd just gotten out of the shower. I also don't know German very well (yet) and am very shy at trying to communicate - I know, I know, I won't learn if I don't try but it was early, and I was low on euros anyway. So instead I watched out the window as a woman approached the truck. I watched as she spoke to the man and he retrieved a carton of eggs and a few small plastic bags of produce. She placed them in her bag (always have bags with you when you shop in Europe) and exchanged money and after a few "Guten Tags", that was that. Having no more customers, the produce man got back in his truck and left. I was amazed that nothing spilled out as he turned the corner and drove away. I heard the ringing of his bell a few streets over as he repeated his morning ritual.

Hopefully this is a weekly occurence so next week when I hear the bell ringing, I'll be fully dressed and able to grab my euros and my shopping bag and buy some produce.

In Germany

I am spending some time in Germany this summer! Here are some pictures of a town called Sindelfingen. The weather has been very nice and the tulips are all in bloom. There are a lot of nice, old timberframe buildings.

This one is the Stadt Museum and dates from 1592

There are tulips everywhere, including the center of a traffic circle.

I have seen a few fabric stores and yarn shops but I have only bought some circular needles I needed for a knitting project I brought. Here is a fabric (stoffe) store in Sindelfingen.

I posted more pictures on my Flickr page.