The Next Level in Parking Garages

If you have driven in a German city of any size looking for a parking spot, you might have noticed signs like the one pictured here. The signs not only give directions to nearby parking garages, but also tell you how many places are available at each garage. The idea is to help save time, gas, traffic congestion and pollution by leading drivers directly to a garage with empty parking spaces.

Signs like these are possible because all the parking garages uses a similar system to control entry and exit from the garage. The driver pulls a ticket from an automat, thus initiating the lifting of the gate allowing the driver to enter the garage and then lowers the gate At the same time the automat is able to reduce the number of available parking spaces and transmit that to a computer to update the signs all over town. On returning to the garage to pick-up your car, the ticket is paid by inserting the ticket in an automat typically near the garage entrance. The automat figures the cost and displays it to the driver. Once the driver has paid, the automat marks the ticket as paid and returns the ticket to the driver. The driver then has about 15 minutes to find his/her car and leave the garage. At the garage exit, the ticket is inserted into a third automat. This automat lifts the gate allowing the driver to exit, increases the number of available parking spots, transmitting the change to a computer to update the signs and lowers the gate after the car has exited.

A new parking garage has opened in Koblenz that takes this idea to a new level. At the end of each row, there are two signs. One tell the number of parking spaces available in the row. The second tell the number of avail parking spaces if you continue further in the garage. Now in a nearly full parking garage, this is a pretty neat thing. No more driving down row after row looking for one of the last open spaces, hoping that someone else does find them first. But how is this done? I mean there are no gates on the individual parking spaces.

Well no, but there are sensors over each parking space. Here you can see that the sensor glowing red has detected our car in the parking space it monitors. Meanwhile, the sensor over the empty parking space next to us glows green.

Too Early for Me

While doing my shopping rounds last Saturday, I stopped in the local Aldi for a few staples. As a rounded to corner to head towards the paper goods, I was confronted by a display 1.3 meter wide, 3 meters long and 1.5 meter high of Christmas cookies and other backed goods.

Taken from Norma's Ad starting Sept. 12

The Sunday, I packed up the week-end ad for another grocery store in the area, Norma, and they were advertising Christmas cookies. You can see part of the ad here. Yes, those are Christmas tree ornaments behind those Nürnberger Lebkuchen.

Maybe it just me and others have a driving need for lebkuchen in early September. Or maybe I'm becoming a bit more like Ebenezer Scrooge as I age. But I for one can wait until at least November before feeling it necessary to satisfy my annual cravings for Nürnberger Lebkuchen.

Be Careful when Digging

Being careful when digging has a whole new meaning for construction projects here. Sure there are the underground wire and gas lines that require marking before you start digging (although a TV ad campaign reminding people on an almost daily basis to make the call doesn't seem to be needed. here). But there are other unexpected things that can be found that could really screw up the plans for a construction project.

250 lb bomb in Koblenz

One of those things is a bomb. Four times in about a 5 week period from late July to end of August, unexploded bombs dropped during WWII airstrikes have been found at sites in and around Koblenz.

The first of these was found on July 20, a Wednesday, while building an apartment house just south of the town center. This was a 250 pound British bomb. The location of this bomb was a bit inconvenient for a city that was trying to get to its 2,000,000th visitor to BUGA (the German National Garden Show). As it was  along the route of the BUGA shuttle, doing something about the bomb meant affecting visitors access to the show. Initially the city wanted to cover the bomb with steel palate and sand bags, then wait until a move convent time. But after a couple of days, plans for an evacuation of 3500 residents and 500 hotel guests were announced for Monday, July 25  was called for the area around the bomb and the bomb was removed.

The second was on August 10 occurred in Vallendar, the village just across the Rhine river from us when an American bomb was found. Then on August 23, at a construction site near the IKEA that is about 2 km from our appartment, a 500 lb British bomb was found. This one seem a bit more dangerous for a couple of reasons:

• one because it was in the middle of one of Koblenz' biggest shopping areas and next to the the major road entering the town from the north,
• and two because the fuse was a chemical fuse, which from the reports seemed harder to deal with. 

A one kilometer evacuation was started immediately and the bomb removed that evening. Since we live 2 km away and outside of the evacuation zone, we had no hint of what was happening and only learned about the bomb the next day.

1 Ton bomb in Osterspai

The forth bomb was found August 29th in Osterspai, just south of Koblenz. This was a one ton American bomb that was found in a field of fruit trees. There had been rumors of an unexploded  bomb in this field for years, but tests had never found anything before. That was until the 29th. The next day a 1 km evacuation that halted train and Rhine ship transports was called for and the bomb removed.

Discoveries on the Way to Meck-Pomm: Bremen

A little over a week after returning from Switzerland, we took a second trip during Magda's school summer break. Friends of ours have a vacation apartment in a "castle" in Meck-Pomm. Meck-Pomm is short for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, one of the former East German Bundeslands (sort of the German equivalent to a State in the USA) that were incorporated into German Republic after the collapse of East Germany.

It was about an 8 or 9 hour drive to the castle. For a couple of reasons, I have grown to prefer making such longer drives on a Sunday. The biggest reason is that there are very few trucks on the autobahn on Sunday. On the other days of the week, there are so many trucks on the autobahn that the right lane is often unusable by regular autos. As Sunday is a national day of rest in Germany, most workers (including truck drivers) are not allowed to work. The second and related reason is that because the businesses in a city are also closed, it becomes easy to slip into a city to walk around for a few hours and see the sights (restaurants, museums, and other tourist related businesses are allowed to remain open).

So looking for a way to break up our drive, we noticed that Breman and Lübeck, two cities that I had never visited  were on our route. Lübeck is one of the 3 star cities according to Michelin Green Guide (Michelin's highest rating for a town or attraction). It and Bremen (two stars) are two of German's Hanseatic League cities. The Hanseatic League was a alliance of cities along the North Sea and Baltic Sea that controlled north-south trade routes from the 13th to 17th centuries. The drive to Bremen would take about 5 hours and Lúbeck would take an additional hour, a pretty good chunk of the anticipated 8-9 hour drive to the castle. The idea was to visit Breman on the way to Lübeck, staying two nights in Lübeck before heading on to Meck-Promm.

After a pleasant 5 hour drive one Sunday morning in late July, we arrived in the Bremen Markplatz. Bremen is a relatively large city, the 10th largest city in German with approximately 550,000 inhabitants, on the banks of the Weser river. It is Germany's oldest maritime city with market rights from 965. Trade with the USA started in 1783. If you have German ancestors that immigrated to the USA in the 18th or early 19th century, they most likely came on a boat from Bremen.  In 1358 it joined the Hanseatic League. You can see the early importance of the city in the large Markplatz surrounded by historical buildings. The Rathaus (i.e. City Hall, "Rat" is the German word for "advice", not a reference to the animal), that was originally a Gothic brick building built between 1405 and 1410, dominates the north side of the square. However,the facade with many decorative gables in the Weser Renaissance style was added in the 17th century.  In front of the Rathaus is the 10 meter high statue of Roland holding the sword of justice. On the west side of the Rathaus is statue of the Bremen Town Musicians made famous in Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Next to the City Hall in one corner of the square is the Cathedral St. Petri. Construction on the Cathedral started in the 11th century in the Romanesque style. In the 13th century, additions to the Cathedral in early and late Gothic were built.

On the south side of the Markplatz is the Schütting, an elegant 16 century building with a Flemish inspired facade that use to house Bremen's Guild of Merchants. East and west are pubs (serving Becks beer, of course), cafes and restaurants.

Off the south side of the Markplatz is the Böttcherstraße was transformed in 1923–1931 by the coffee magnate Ludwig Roselius. He commissioned local artists form the near by artist community of Worpswede  to convert the narrow street into a mixture of Gothic and Jungendstil (i.e. the German equivalent to the French Art Nouveau). It was considered degenerate art by the Nazis. Today, the street is one of Bremen's most popular attractions.

Not far from the Marktplatz is the the Schnoor. This is a small, well-preserved area of crooked lanes that in the 17th and 18th centuries was occupied by fishermen and shippers. It is now occupied by cafés, artisan shops and art galleries. Reminded a lot of German Village in my hometown of Columbus.

After spending a couple of hours in Bremen, we headed to the village of Worpswede, 20 km north. In the late 18th century, this village began attracting artists, many of which made important contributions to the Jungendstil movement in the early 19th century. Still a center for artists, we happened to arrive on the week-end of the annual open house where artists open there workshops to visitors. The most interesting artist for me was an man in his 70s who worked in wood inlay in the way that "his father and grandfather taught him". Using different types of woods and stains, this gentleman recreated photos and drawings in unbelievable detail. One that I could not take my eyes off of was the recreation of black and white photo of a tree. My eyes kept moving back and forth between the photo of the tree and the wood inlay next to it. It was hard to believe the detail of the photo that he was able to capture  in the inlay.

We would have liked to stay longer among the thatch-roofed houses of Worpswede, but we needed to get to Lübeck, the subject of the next blog.

Signs of Weihnachten: Getting in the Mood

Last Sunday we lit the third candle on our Advent wreath. One more candle to go. I suppose that should be a pretty good hint that Christmas is comming.

We also brought out the Christmas pyramid this week and got some candles. That are a couple of videos of the pyramid in action that I've attached to the end of the blog entry.

Magda's tradition is to put up the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. That is not a problem this year since her school doesn't let out until the 23rd this year. I can't imagine that we would try to put one up much before then anyway.

But I have to say that the thing that has done the most to make me become aware of the upcoming holidays was the purchase of some tea last week. Of course, we are not talking just any tea here. We talking about Weihnachts tea. This is a black tea (Ceylon) with cinnamon, orange peel and almonds added to give the taste and smell of the season. Weihnachts tea is a long-standing tradition here in Germany and also in Great Britain this time of year. It is funny how the taste or smell of something can make you more aware of an event than all the things you see around you.

 

 

German Breakfast

Magda has been home from her school's exchange for about a week. Although the German students are getting together later this week to discuss there experiences, I've heard a few of the things that the German students thought about their stay in the Chillicothe, Illinois. One oft-commented impression was that their American families rarely took time to lay out a breakfast. Everyone seemed to be on their own to grab something quick, or to skip breakfast entirely. It is not that the German students expected the family to sit down together every morning to eat. What was generally surprising was that no one took the time to lay out the meal, if for no other reason than to make sure the kids are eating something and eating healthy.

The picture here gives an idea of a typical breakfast for these German students. There is usually some sort of meat or cheese. In this case, there are cheese slices, two types of salami and some schinken (smoked ham). Just about any kind of sliced meat is possible, but the meat is thinly sliced. Germans will talk about a "window pane" slice especially with highly flavored meats like schinken. This refers slicing of meat that is thin enough that you can see through it. This way, you really don't eat much meat or cheese.

The meat, cheese or jam is placed on a slice of bread or a half of bread roll, often buttered, to make an open faced sandwich. There are so many bread choices in Germany that it is hard to fathom. In this picture are a couple of rye rolls and a pumpkin seed roll. Darker breads based on rye are more traditional, but white rolls, which use to be reserved for special occasions, have become more common.

This picture also shows yogurt and quark. Quark is a bit like cottage cheese, but it is in the form of a single cake, rather than small curds. For breakfast, it is used like yogurt, mixed with jam. But quark is also used to make cheese cake, dips, fillings for pasta or sweet rolls. It is really an inexpensive staple of the German pantry.

Finally there is some sort of fresh fruit available.

There are some variations possible. For instance, a lot of people like to mix muesli with yogurt or milk for breakfast. Milk and corn flakes (or some other breakfast cereal) is an American contribution to a "typical" German breakfast. And yes, sometimes a sweet roll can be found, although donuts are very rare.

But that leads to another surprise for the German students. Things like sweet rolls, cakes, cookies and other pastries were too sweet in the USA for them to enjoy. Certainly we have found that in adapting a American recipe for use here, we often cut out at least half the sugar (and often two thirds) to get something that our German friends and family can enjoy.

Sunday Shopping around Koblenz

So it is Sunday in Koblenz, Germany and you need a few organic veggies for dinner. Or maybe you need to pick up a birthday present for a friend. Maybe a nice orchid, a book about orchids, or a nice pie of art glass. An of course you need a birthday card.

But it's Sunday....in Germany. The stores are all closed.

OK there are the stores at the gas stations. But you aren't going to get organic there. And be honest, would you eat anything from a local BP station after the last 6 weeks? And a nice birthday present, no way.

Frankfurt Airport has shops open. But that is an hour each way, assuming no "Stau" (traffic jam). A little far. Plus parking is a pain.

You could take a trip to Luxembourg, but that is also a bit more than an hour each way.

There actually is an answer to this riddle, a 15-20 minute drive from Koblenz to Maria Laach Abbey. Maria Laach Abbey is an active Benedictine abbey on the south shore of the volcanic lake known as Laacher See. The monks there operate a greenhouse, a fruit and vegetable stand, and a store selling books and craft items. And they are open 7 days of the week.

In addition to the shops, the church there is considered one of the finest examples German Romanesque architecture. The church and a number of the structures date back to the 11th through 13th. If you wanted to make a day of it, a system of hiking trails is maintained around the abbey and lake. And of course there is the restaurant and biergarten on the grounds where you can relax after the hike or shopping.

I suppose some might question the sincerity of the monks operating a store on Sunday on the grounds of the  church while the rest of the country is required to honor this day of worship. But you need to remember that monks are always been a practical lot. Take the story of the invention of the German version of ravioli called Maultaschen. Maultaschen was invented by the monks at Maulbronn Abbey because the only time of the year that the parishioners would donate meat to the monks was during Lent, when the people themselves were not permitted to eat meat. The monks reasoned that by covering the meat with a layer of dough, God would not be aware that they were eating meat and it was therefore OK.

This practical side lead Maria Laach Abbey into some controvery during the period of National Socialism. The Wikipedia site goes into a bit more detail. But suffice it to say that the monks at Maria Laach were very aware of what they were against and grabbed a hold of something that was much worst. Is there a lesson here for us?

Arm Chair Hiking

Been hoping  for a break in the weather, but it doesn't look like it will come soon. In the meantime, started to think about some hiking trials that I heard about and, in the process, discovered how easy it is to be an arm chair hiker around in Germany.

For example, I've heard some nice comments about two long trails, Reinsteig and Eifelsteig. So I thought I could check them out by picking up a couple of guidebooks about these trails. The bookstores here are filled with such guides for trails all over Germany. And they are nice books designed to fit in your rucksack and filled with color graphics, all the important logistical information (directions to the trail, location of parking, where to get a beer after the hike, or along the way), and readable descriptions of the trail. One great feature is the graph showing that elevation changes on the trail (see picture). Some guides also include GPS-coordinates for the important landmarks on the trail.

A second avenue to satisfy the winter hiking-lust has been TV. The other day, Magda and I watched a 4 hour program produced for German TV about through-hiking the Appalachian Trail. They focused on this one's couple's attempt to through hike. But in doing so you met a lot of other folks attempting the same thing. As someone that had had this desire since boy scouts (and haven't yet let go of it), it really made me want to get out there and go.

Another avenue for arm chair hiking has been the internet. There has been a couple of parties where folks have expressed their pleasure hiking one of the Traumpfade (Dream Trails). Traumpfade are a set of 19 trails that were opened last year (7 more are opening in June). Each trail meets a set of criteria that includes the following:

• The hike is a day hike, meaning that the average hiker should be able to complete the trail in 3-5.5 hours. That makes each trail 10-18 km in length
• The hike is a circuit hike, so a hiker can park their car, walk the trail and be back at their car
• this is a parking area at the start of the hike
• The hike is in the Rhine, Moselle, Eifel area (i.e. within 45 minute drive of Coblenz)
• The hike has interesting landmarks and viewing points. Also is mostly off of paved roads.

So I checked the Traumpfade website (www.traumppfade.info) and discovered the ideal feature for arm chair hiking. For each trail, the site offers a 3D animation of the hike. You can try it yourself. Click here to go to hike 3. Then click on the "3D Flug" button followed by "abspielen". After you tried one, the "Übersicht" button at the top right can give you access to the other 18 trails. Someone had fun with this site.

Store Hours in Germany

One of the interesting things about living in Germany is getting use to the times that stores are open. We don't have store that open 24 hours a day. They don't even stay open until 11pm. Store hours are regulated by law in Germany. Generally the larger stores are open from 9 or 10 am to 8 pm, Monday through Saturday. Stores are closed on Sunday.

Imagine if you will; Macys, Krogers, Target, Meyers, Andersons, Half-Price-Books, every store in every mall, all closed after 8pm and all day on Sunday.

The neighborhood stores keep even more restrictive hours than this. Most will open 8 or 8:30am to 12:30pm, then close for 2 hours before opening from 2:30pm to 6 or 6:30. This is done so that a single person can handle the store through the day while still maintaining some store hours before people head to work and after the come home.

Bakeries tend to be open earlier (as early as 7am) so that people can go out and get fresh bread for their breakfast. Neighborhood bakeries are likely closed before people leave to go home from work. Bakeries attached to grocery stores will stay open later

So what do you do if you need something a 9pm or on Sunday? Gasoline stations operate convenience stores that allow people to get some necessities outside of normal store hours. Train stations in larger cities also have stores that have longer hours. For towns near a border, some people cross over to stores in a neighboring country that doesn't have such restrictions.

While for an American, these hours might seem restrictive, for Germans they are historically quite long. When I lived here in 1991, stores were only allowed to be open 9-6 Monday through Friday. On Saturday, stores were open 9-2. Thursdays were called "Long Thursday" because stores were permitted to stay open until 8pm this one day per week. And one Saturday per month was designated "Long Saturday" because stores stayed open until 6pm.

Actually, I have come to find these hours quite satisfactory. For me, it is a part of the country's rhythm of living here and it feels right. Yes, it does require a little thinking ahead, but that really is not a bad thing. And it does take a bite out of impulse buying that is a part of "shopping as recreation". This I actually consider a major advantage.

Why would a capitalist country like Germany place such restrictions on stores? There was a recent court case in Berlin that provided some insights. Stores in Berlin the last couple of years have agreed to stay open the four Sundays before Christmas. This case found this practice to be illegal and will not be permitted in the future. In the aftermath of this decision, I was listening to politicians and representatives of the church praise the court's decision on the grounds that the current laws are there to allow people to have time with their family, supporting the importance of the families as a strength of the country.

Can you imagine a politician or church representative making such an argument in the USA? Even (especially) ones that go on and on about "family values"?

Interesting Quotes: Earth

Now here is a nice little saying that I read here in German that will halp make us all environmentalists.

"Help save the Earth, it's the only planet with beer."

German Integration Course

To extend my residency visa beyond the end of this year, there were a couple of requirements. One was to improve my German. This is a fairly new thing in Germany, From what I've read, Germany started offering German Integration Courses in 2005 for people seeking a residence visa. These courses consist of 645 hours of classes (945 for people who are illiterate). 600 hours are German language classes designed to bring the person to the B1 level. The meaning of B1 is as follows:

"Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans."

These 600 hour are divided in to 6 modules of 100 hours. According to a test that I took, I needed to start at module 3.

The last 45 hours creates final module about German culture.

The cost of these classes are minimal for the student, as the program is state supported, 1 euro per class hour. At the end of the course, the student takes a test to see if he/she has attained proficiency. If the student is able to pass this test within 2 years, the state actually refund 50% of the tuition.

So I now find myself spending some of my Saturday mornings (as in "every day is a Saturday" when you retire) in a German Integration course improving my German. The course meets every weekday morning for 4 hours.  There are about 16 people in the class. Over a third come from Iraq. Others come from Hungary, Spain, India, Georgia, Uruguay, Brazil, Kosovo  and the Philippines. I'm the only American.

So far, the class has been enjoyable. Although I, personally, would like to see the class move a little faster. I have noticed a improvement in what I understand and can express in German after only 7 classes. I'm pretty happy with the idea of spending a good part of this year studying German.

What happens after this year? I understand the the city will support additional classes to help people reach the C1 level (i.e. relatively fluent). That's the point I should be able to achieve a dream I've had since 1991 when I first went to Germany. That is to read Hesse's Siddhartha in its original language.

Returning Home from Home

Things get a little surreal on a trans-Atlantic flight and sometimes your mind wanders. I mean if you really thought about the fact that you are sitting in a aluminum can that is 7 miles above the ground and traveling nearly 600 miles per hour, it could drive you a little crazy. So there I was traveling "home" to Germany, where Magda (and Frannie) where. But just a few weeks earlier, I was in a similar plane going the other direction, traveling 'home" to the USA.

That started me thinking where I consider to be "home". Yes, I know, "Home is where the heart is". But just what puts your heart in one place or another.

I'm willing to accept that "home" is a relative term. When I'm in Hilton Head, I might say "I'm ready to go home" after an evening out, meaning I'm ready to go back to our condo. But I don't consider a trip to Hilton Head to be a trip "home".

There needs to be some strong connection to a place that makes you call it “home”. I still have a strong connection to Columbus, but maybe a bit weaker than it was 6 months ago. With my house, the financial connections are still there. More importantly, there are friends and family there that I enjoy seeing and talking to. Finally there is a comfort level associated with a place that I lived for 49 of my 57 years. But work is no longer a part of this connection. Plus Magda and Frannie are now in Germany, forming the primary connection that I have to Koblenz.

Time will tell if the connections to one place supersedes the connections to the other. For the time being, I guess I have two homes.