Home Sweet Home, Bonn Edition

Here it is: my temporary home in Bonn. It feels extremely strange to be in someone else's house...

   



I had to get rid of lots of antique dolls that were staring at me from different corners. Now, they are safely hidden in the closet.



The kitchen and bathroom are very very nice.

The bathroom has a full tub under a window, a separate shower, and even a bidet!

The bedroom looks nice (although a bit too romantic for my tastes) too. Hopefully the bed is comfortable.

Anyhoo, so far so good. The only issue I have (and I never thought I would say this, and certainly not in northern Germany) is that the light is really much too bright in here. I am counting on Germany to going back to dark and dreary again soon, because otherwise, this is going to drive me crazy!

München Is Weißwürste mit Brezeln

Yum-o!

Returning from the Alps

We have returned one day early, because of rain. This means spending an additional full day in München. Great pizza and awesome dessert (pear crumble with a wonderful lemon-ish ice cream) made us two happy campers!

Germany Redux

Believe it or not, we are in Germany again! For a conference this time.

Here we are celebrating the final day (EVAH!!!!!11!!!1!1!eleven!11!) in Germany!

Adolf Wagner

Meet the waiter of Adolf Wagner. Our day in visit, we got happily acquainted with a Germany that we did not know: we drank apple wine (not beer) and the Germans around us were humorous! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Frankfurt!



Adolf Wagner is a Frankfurt institution: there is no beer, and the waiter does whatever he wants and insults you in the process. It is a big tourist attraction for Japanese visitors.
The food is good: meat based, with a side of a Frankfurt specialty --- Grüne Soße.



We took our spot between two German couples, and drank with them, conversed with them, etc. Good times.

The customer waiter interaction reminded me a little of the following vid.



We recommend Adolf Wagner highly when visiting Frankfurt!

One Day in Frankfurt

We are back from Tyrol --- plenty of photos will follow soon. We made a stop in Frankfurt on our way back, to apply for a US visa, and to have some big city food, which we sometimes crave. We went to two Chinese restaurants, and one very special Frankfurt one (we will post about that one later).

Shui Zhu Yu (boiled fish served in chili oil) is one of those Chinese dishes that you don't expect to get a good version of, anywhere but in China. But lo and behold, in this small restaurant in Frankfurt, we found it! Real authentic flavors, and good, very fresh boiled fish --- an absolute delight!



We also had some fried tofu, and some cabbage, which were quite good too.



Highly recommended: Restaurant Jade on Moselstraße, close to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof.

Apologies for Lightposting

We still eat some of the time --- pictured above is A's "kinderfeestje" birthday meal spaghetti bolognese --- but we are mostly focused on moving.

It's going well, though. Yesterday the movers came and took the stuff that we are shipping. Everything was carried down by only one person, who turned out to be 68 years old!

Today most large items that we sold will be picked up. Tomorrow we will be cleaning the apartment.

Visiting Berlin

A's advisor was visiting Berlin, and we decided to pay them a visit to try and do some research with him, and hang with his family.

Research did not seem to be very fruitful this time. We did have fun in the Deutsches Technikmuseum, where we spent an afternoon eating ice cream...

... listening to headphones...

... trying to break the artifacts that were exhibited...



... and admiring an exhibition of model ships...

... made from Lego...

... cloves...

... and wood.





No tears this time!

Bored?

After two Saarland-posts, I am sure all of yous are more than ready for us to move to our next destination. But wait! We have just discovered this wonderful Délices de Tête at our French supermarket. It is just a calf's not a bull's head, but oh so delicious.

For those of you wondering about when we are leaving the Saarland and where we will go, we can tell you that we are wondering the same. Still no word from USCIS about our visa application, and negotiations about our lease of a 3000 sq ft house with Steinway grand piano are also still ongoing.

So who knows, maybe we'll get to enjoy the délices de tête for much longer than we think...

Better Late Than Never...

A's aunt and uncle were visiting a few weeks ago.

We showed them Saarland's beautiful cows.

Quintessential Saarland

Great for biking...

Biking on the Border of Lëtzebuerg

Yesterday, it was sunny and chilly: perfect weather for another bike ride!

The fields of rapeseed are in full bloom, a quite spectacular sight!



And I couldn't help taking more pictures of these wind turbines.

Profi Chinese Food

Long time no see at our favorite Chinese restaurant in Saarbrücken, with the unfortunate name Sake. The food was even better than I remembered!



We had the usual Hong Kong duck and Ginger Meets Chicken.



Yum-o!

Cow in the Living Room

We bought a cow. It's lying in the living room.

China Restaurant

We tried another Chinese restaurant. The food was mostly what we would have expected in a good restaurant outside the city of Beijing.



But the fish (below) was not so good: it tasted like ground spices, and was too spicy. That, and the "The Nines"-effect afterwards, made us decide not to go back to this restaurant.