Week Ending Sunday 12/7/08

Monday was mostly summarized in last week's installment. Lew and I strolled down to Christmas Mart for dinner where he picked up fish sandwich and I got a bowl of lentil and wurst soup. Instead of getting mugs of gluhwein, we went to Aldi's and bought a bottle of gluhwein for 1 euro and nuked it back in our room.

Tuesday was my dad's birthday! Late start. Grabbed goulash soup and roll for lunch. Back to hotel to call dad. Had a great chat with the folks. Did laundry and got room serviced. Walked to the train station to pick up a salad to bring back. Really great salad vendor in train station! We met Ron and his son in the lobby to try out a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. It was one of the best meals we've had! Ron's son Chris is on a temporary work assignment here and two of his friends and their 11 month old daughter joined us. Then another friend of theirs "happened" to walk in and joined us as well.

Wednesday was the first day of Crash Course German Level I with the USO. Snowing like crazy. Not a very nice walk to class. Should have taken the shuttle. Our teacher's name is Frau (Isolde) Payne. We have five students in our class. Nice mixture of Civilian and Military and a 15 year old home-schooler who is quite a bit farther along in German than the rest of us.

We meet for three hours in the morning on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays through Dec. 19th. Frau Payne has a nice relaxed, conversational teaching style which I have not had before. Really lends itself well to learning a language when you have some more individualized attention and can really try to think in another language.

Only snag is that she did not have our books for the first class. Uh-oh! So I ended up volunteering to go into town to buy them (don't ask how) since I or Lew always walk into town at some point everyday. Next problem is that the largest book store in town only had two copies! They asked me if I wanted to order the others and I said no. It was pain enough schlepping these books through town while we hunted for dinner.

Had a hankering for pizza on "Italian Row" which we had not visited yet. Found a really cool little pizzaria called "Il Mediteraneo." Looked like an old hotel from the French Quarter or something, except it's just a restaurant now with maybe apartments above. Pizza was exactly what I was looking for - small and thin-crusted. Mine was topped with mozzarella and prosciuto and Lew got kind of a "meat-lover's" topping. He drank his usual Pils and I had my usual Chianti.

Riesling and whites are the most commonly available wines here as we are in the heart of Riesling country. But Chianti has become my favorite too, among the reds. It makes me think of Italy, which I hope to soon be visiting!

Thursday I wisely took the shuttle to class. Had a nice chat with the USO Secretary who lives downtown and takes public transportation a lot. She gave me a lot of good tips on how to find a healthy lunch at the Foot Court in the PX shopping center. This is really a challenge cause it's all fast food.

So I delivered my two books to the only two girls in class - myself and Marilyn (who gave me a ride back to the hotel after class on her way to the Gummi Bear store). She has two school-aged children.

Thursday night the three of us (Lew, Ron and myself) met at the PX so Ron could get his gas card to fill the tank in his rental car before turning it in the next morning. Oh btw, we've been sharing the same rental car with Ron for about three weeks now and it's getting expensive.

Ron and Lew had a funny way of telling me they really wanted Popeye's for dinner: they first asked me what I wanted to do for dinner. Polite as usual, I said it didn't matter but I was interested in trying out the Pasta Place in the back of the Commissary but it really didn't matter so Popeye's it was but I got a Taco Bell chicken salad. So Ron tells me later that he can only eat at Popeyes before his wife gets there. Not really sure why. Not crazy about Lew or anyone eating there, myself. It's all lard, flour, sugar and processed junk but it's not like he's eating there everyday.

We did the Commissary after to pick up some items. I really didn't think we'd go to the Commissary at all when they asked me to decide on dinner. I would have just gotten something there. Commissary, by the way, is a grocery store for the military.

Friday was German class #3. Took shuttle over. Planned to meet with USO people about doing Music Together in their building, but they are nonprofit and it wouldn't earn me enough to be worth the trouble. There are a LOT of babies in strollers around here!! I still plan to pursue starting the program here, but not with USO.

So Friday lunch I finally hit the Pasta Place at the Commissary. Spaghetti with red clam sauce. YUM!

For dinner, we were supposed to meet Ron and his son for dinner at City Bowling, but they seemed to be closed for a private party. Lew and I wandered into town. Stopped at a really great German restaurant I can't remember the name of. The receipt was handwritten on a plain piece of paper. I had pork strips in a mushroom sauce with spaetzle and Lew had wild boar with red cabbage and potatoes. Of course, we each got a salad which meant I had two because they always drench them in dressing, which Lew doesn't eat.

On Saturday, Lew and I took the bus to Dotzheim to check out our new neighborhood. Did a little shopping and got lunch at a kebab place. We got back in time to shower and change for his office Christmas party. Carol came at 6pm to pick us and Ron up for the Christmas Party. The party took place at a Schloss (castle) in Biebrich (another area of Wiesbaden). It was quick the formal and classy affair with everyone in blacktie and evening gowns! We still don't have most of our clothes yet which meant WE dressed casually. This wasn't really our fault as we had been advised otherwise to not bother buying anything dressy. Should have known better.

On Sunday, Lew went to the hash and I took a little train trip to see another Christmas Mart. Bought a ticket to Rudesheim (where everyone has recommended I go) only to find out the trains don't run there on Sunday. Tried to get a refund but was told the buses go there but that wasn't really my point. I wanted a train ride. So I compromised and rode to Mainz instead. It's only about 3 stops from Wiesbaden. Spent a lot of time walking in the wrong direction before I found the Christmas Mart. Once there, I enjoyed a warm cup of gluhwein in my "free mug" (that I pay a deposit for but end up keeping for Lew's collection). This Mart is just as everyone says - crowded. I'd like to go back on Tuesday with the tour to Mainz that Irmgard is leading.

Spent the rest of Sunday back at the hotel, pretty tired from too much walking. I'm starting to feel like "the lady in the blue coat" with all this walking to the same places repeatedly. Oh, speaking of walking.. our car delivery has been delayed past the expected date of Monday, 12/8. Apparently there were some issues with having to change boats, etc. etc. If we don't have it this coming week, we will have to rent again.

Dinner at the hotel consisted of canneloni with ricotta and spinach. Took a while for it to cool enough to eat. Chianti wine as usual. Hotel bar was packed with two large screens tuned into major league football games.

Lew got back from the hash at about 9pm.

Stay tuned for next week's episode on how to move to a new house without a car (I hope not!). Incidentally, it may be more like two or three weeks before my next installment. I've been hearing that once we move in to the new place, it will likely be some time before our phone and internet are hooked up. Hopefully I'll be back around this month to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Auf wiedersehen!