Hello from Minneapolis!

I told you all that BonnGiorno would be history when we arrived home to Minneapolis... alas, we're home, and I've still got a few more posts in me... 

We took the train from Bonn to Utrecht in Holland on Saturday morning, and arrived in the Dutch city around lunch time. Getting from the train station to our hotel was quite a challenge. Even though it was only a three block walk, Big Red and the rest of our suitcases totaled 5 pieces of luggage, including one suitcase who's left wheel had broken off in transit, making it basically an 18 pound hand bag. 

We managed to make it to the hotel all in one piece, no torn off limbs from the heavy weight, and settled into our room on the fifth floor. On our way out to explore the city, we noticed that the other rooms on our floor had signs on the doors, with the names of the guests, and a "Welcome to the Little Sins Christmas Party". Curious, we stopped at the front desk and asked for some more information, only to find out that half the hotel rooms were reserved for participants in a famous Dutch swingers convention. 

We left for the day a bit worried that we would not have a peaceful night's rest.  Utrecht was positively charming, with it's old canal,  Oudegracht, weaving through the city center.  On either side of the canal were beautiful shops, interesting bookshops and old cafes.  

Our night, and our room on the fifth floor were, in fact, very quiet.  However, when we left we learned that it was not so quiet on the other floors. The concierge told us he had been called up to the third floor several times to quiet down a room full of naked couples. Apparently these people were also running around naked through the halls of the hotel throughout the night. I guess the Dutch really are that liberated! 

After a long, but comfortable flight, we arrived home on Sunday evening, and were picked up at the airport by my mom, younger brother, and our two doggies. It was an emotional reunion. Gus seemed a bit confused at first, but he has since readjusted and looks pretty happy to see us again. Charly seemed to recognize us at once, and it feels like we never even left him. 

It feels great to be back home, although we're already missing several things and people from Deutschland. It's nice to know we'll be able to go back there some day, and say, we lived here. We spent four months here, in this German city, learning German, meeting new people, experiencing new things, and having an adventure all of our own. 

   

Goodbye Bonn

Tonight is our last night in Bonn. We've done the laundry, cleaned up the apartment,  and packed our bags. We're both still a bit under the weather, but I think we're going to be o.k. for the trip home. 

We're not doing anything too exciting here on our last evening... everything is still closed for the Christmas holiday, and we're pretty exhausted from all the travel preparations. We're excited to see everybody when we get home. Please feel free to give us a call or write us an email come Monday morning. 

It's been a wonderful three months, and we're so happy we had the chance to do this. We'll miss our new friends, the trains, German bread, dogs at restaurants, beer in small glasses, the daily farmers market outside our window, strong coffee, and our cozy apartment. 

Tschuss! 

A Day Early

Well, are Christmas just got a lot better... we're going home a day early! Daniel called United Airlines to check on our flight information, and they told him our flight from Amsterdam to Chicago had been changed to a flight stopping first in Washington D.C., then in Chicago, and then finally arriving in Minneapolis on Monday evening at 10 pm... 

Needless to say, we were both pretty peeved, and more than dreading our travel back home. The nice woman on the other end of the phone must have heard our sighs because five minutes later she had us on a direct flight from Amsterdam to Chicago leaving on Sunday morning instead of Monday! 

This means in only three days, we'll be home, in our own house, with our dogs, in our own bed, speaking English, trudging through the snow, hanging out with family and friends before the New Year! I can smell Gussie's coat, I can taste the cold winter air, I can hear Charly barking at the snowplow outside in the alley. Home, we just can't wait to be home, though it will be hard to leave the friends we've made here, and the warm, quiet, and cozy town we've grown so fond of. 

See you soon! 

A Christmas Story

Still sick. Still in Bonn. No Berlin. No Bruges. No Aachen. Just Bonn. 

Dan woke up today with some sort of ear ache, possibly a sore throat or cold festering before breaking loose. I'm still feeling quite crappy, and sleeping almost 15 hours a day. So we're taking it easy, trying to stay indoors, and drinking lots of tea. 

We went out only twice today. Once for a quick lunch at a Turkish restaurant down the block, and the second time in search of a good chinese restaurant (hey, it's christmas!)... unfortunately we were out of luck because every restaurant in the entire town was closed, except for the Doner (Turkish Gyros) shop near our house. So we went there, grabbed some doners to go, and headed back into our den. We then had our simple dinner, watched A Fish Called Wanda, and played a game of literati that I of course lost. 

And that's it. That's our Christmas story. 

Sick In Germany

Well, we haven't managed to get out of Bonn. Unfortunately I caught a bug, and I've been sick ever since Saturday morning. It started off with a pretty bad sore throat at 4 a.m., but after a lot of tea, lemons, and honey, it's become more of the common cold... 

So we're still here in Bonn. We've probably spent 8 out of the past 72 hours out of the house... that means we're basically going stir crazy. I've watched 5 bad movies from i-tunes, finished knitting Dan's hat, and started making my own. Dan's gotten some work done, cooked a fantastic Hanukkah dinner, and played hours and hours of beattle bomp online. We've listened to our entire collection of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, and danced a bit too. We've also taken a lot of naps... at least three a day... 

How's that for our last week in Deutschland...

 

Saying Goodbyes

Everybody is slowly starting to leave Bonn... one by one people are heading out of the city, most of them to visit their families in near by, or far off, lands. So we've started our goodbyes already, and come Monday we'll be the only ones left here in Bonn. 

On Wednesday we went out with Natalia and Stefania one last time. After several half price pitchers of margaritas, and some pretty good Mexican food, we parted ways. Natalia flew to Argentina the morning after, and Stefania will be returning to Italy after the weekend. I will miss them both very much.

On Thursday evening we traveled back to Reinbach for a fabulous dinner with Whoopi, the Tismers, and their friends John, a talented book artist from Canada, and his wife Claudia.

We had such a fun evening, complete with a delicious Swiss baked potato bar, tasty wine from the Ahr Valley, and lots of Christmas cheer.  Ingrid is a wonderful cook, and I can't wait for her to send me all of her delicious recipes. She even sent us home with a plate full of her delightful Christmas cookies, which I must admit are all gone by now. 

We felt very much at home with the Tismers, as if we'd known them a long long time. The two evenings spent with them were some of our favorites in Germany, and Whoopi managed to give us the puppy love we so desperately miss. 

Yesterday we had our final dinner with Jeremy, Matthias, and Hilke. We've probably spent the most time with these three here in Germany, and we will definitely miss our weekly Friday dinners. We walked over to Jeremy's neck of the woods for a change, about a 40 minute walk from the city center, where we settled into a nice typical Irish pub and ate and drank until midnight. Jeremy is leaving today for Sicily, the bastard! I hope he enjoys the sun and ocean while we're soaking up the cold rain here in Bonn... 

I kid, I kid. It's possible we'll head over to Berlin on Monday, if we can get our acts together and buy reasonably priced tickets. I have recently acquired a bit of a sore throat, which I'd like to get rid of before we board the plane for home, so we'll see if I feel up for a bit of traveling this week, or if this cold is bad enough that we're forced to stay home. 

Happy holidays and safe travels to all of our dear friends and family!

How Many Americans Does It Take To Empty A Restaurant?

Last night we went out for dinner with Jeremy, and Doug who is visiting the guys from the Drexel University in Philadelphia. Doug used to be at the University of Minnesota, where he and Dan started working on several projects. They're now doing the whole long distance thing, which in this case, means Doug is visiting us in Bonn, on his way to a conference in another German city. 

The four of us had a really fun time at Macholds Brewery, complete with several beers, Schnitzel, and a lot of Christmas cheer. I can't say the same for our German counterparts, who we seemed to be driving away in droves. In Jeremy's own words, "I've never cleared out a room so fast." The place was packed when we arrived, but as the night went on it seemed we four were the only ones left in our section of the restaurant. 

Did we confirm the stereotype of the typical loud and obnoxious Americans last night? It's possible, but honestly, it was so nice to be in the company of our fellow Yankees, who understand our jokes, and even laugh at them once in a while. And I'd like to think we were loud, but not obnoxious, maybe just peculiar... 

Treffen!

I've been spending a lot of time with the girls from the Goethe Institute the past few weeks, and it's been so much fun. Natalia and I have been going swimming three times a week since we found a pool where we can actually lap around without crushing little grandmas and grandpas on our way. We basically hijack the center lane (real lane markers don't exist in these German pools) and so far we've been able to keep other people from crossing into our stretch of water. 

Yesterday Natalia invited us girls over for lunch at her house in Beul, a suburb of Bonn, but only a 20 minute walk from the City Center. We made a huge salad and two small pizzas, and had a wonderful afternoon eating and chatting. A true girly afternoon.

On Monday earlier this week Stefania had all of us and our partners over for an Italian dinner at her home in Bad Godesberg. We had a delicious appetizer of Sushi that Yoko hand-made and brought for our tasting, and then we went right into the main course... a vegetarian lasagna that Christian, Stefania's boyfriend, had made that morning. The lasagna was accompanied by authentic Italian meatballs, courtesy of Stefania, and a delicious Argentine Malbec that Natalia and Andreas had picked up on their way over. We finished up the meal with a cheese cake Daniel and I bought at the outdoor market near our house. 

  

We've only got a week left with all four of us in Bonn. Natalia will be going to Argentina for a month long visit with her family, Stefania will be returning to Florence, and I will be heading home to Minneapolis, back to real life, a job, the dogs, and snow. Yoko stays here in Bonn, though who knows, she and her husband may end up back in Japan sooner than expected. So we're all trying to make the most of our last week here together.

Verdi in Bonn

Dan and I had a great Saturday together this weekend. After checking emails and skyping, we walked over to the Japanese noodle house to warm up with a bowl of Udon soup and some tempura. After that we wandered (like a typical German couple) around the city center and ended up at the Visitor's Bureau, where we bought 14 Euro tickets (seats at the very back of the theater) for Verdi's Un Ballo In Maschera. 

We made a quick dinner of Gnoccis with cheese, and at 7:30 walked a block over to the Opera House on the banks of the Rhein. The theater was half empty when we took our seats, so right before the curtain call, most of us in the back scurried out way towards better seats in the front. 

Daniel and I moved up to what where probably 50 Euro seats and had a wonderful view of the entire stage, including the projected German subtitles, which we would not have been able to see from the back. I was surprised to find that my German was good enough to understand about half of what was going on. Thankfully we both read the opera's synopsis on wikipedia, which helped me understand the other half! We both really enjoyed the production and finished off the evening with another short walk around our neighborhood.