May 26, 2018 – Day Eleven – Krueztal

May 26, 2018 – Day Eleven – Krueztal

We are “home” and can sleep in as long as we like!  We begin exploring and experiment with all the little idiosyncracies of any home.  For example, they have a really fancy coffee maker that grinds its own beans and also makes cappuccino!  (Thank you, Google!)  The windows have outside protection which pull up from the inside.  We get them up pretty easily; but can’t get them down again without risking a disaster from aggressive pulling!  (Thanks, FB and gmail for instant communications!)

There are some European features that we are familiar with.  The most outstanding is the window that can either tilt in from the top, or open from the side.  Our place in Poland had these, and they are brilliant!

Once we get the hang of the Privileg Esperianza magic coffee maker, we have coffee and our bakery treats for breakfast – we’re becoming so European!  There is lots of time to unwind, learn how to work the washer and dryer, put the “shutters” back down without breaking them, water the plants, and generally relax.  We had thought there was a spa or hot tub;  but the only thing we can see is a large, stone circular structure which has lots of algae growing in it.  If that’s what they meant, we think we’ll skip soaking in it.  Other than that, the house is very modern and obviously has been redone recently.

Kirstien is an artist and her paintings decorate many of the walls; she seems fond of sheep!  There are storage units everywhere, all sleek Danish modern looking pieces and the banisters carry out the same theme.

It is so nice not to be worrying about how to get to somewhere today!  We talk about what we might like to cook and make up a shopping list for later.  Marilyn also looks for a Catholic church, while I see if there might be a UU congregation.  There is one Catholic church and no UU one.  It appears that there are only three in the entire country, all in major cities.

After three loads of clothes (the washer is not too large) we dry some things in the machine and hang the rest on the drying rack.  The utility room is accessible from the master bedroom and is quite large.  In between is a narrow room containing the drying racks, roofed with skylights that provide lots of heat for the laundry!

We’ve been snacking on potato chips flavored with paprika!!

It’s time to shop for some real food.  This time we decide to try Aldi’s across the street from the Lidl and also only about five or ten minutes from home.  Did you know that Aldi’s and Trader Joe’s are owned by brothers?  That explains while there is a section of Trader Joe’s food in the Aldi’s!!  There isn’t much in the way of fresh vegetables – kind of like home!  But they do have peanut butter!  A man at the Lidl had told Marilyn that they didn’t have peanut butter because it wasn’t in season!  I wonder what he thought she really wanted?!

We have remembered to bring bags, since the stores here don’t have any, unless you want to buy a canvas tote.  And we have a coin to insert into the grocery cart.  When we return it to the queue, we get the coin back.

A special section for Trader Joe's!

So clever to have it so close to the story, so little kids aren't running in the lot.

They love their dogs!  I'm not sure I'd tie mine up here;  but maybe it's okay in Kreuztal.

We come home and put away the food stuff and go back out on a dry run to the only Catholic church Marilyn could find, so we don’t get lost again in the morning.  We make it in about fifteen minutes and wonder why they don’t post the time for mass.  Only one wrong turn on the way back and it actually turns out to be a faster way home!

Marilyn and Henning have been corresponding back and forth today and he says that his friend can buy a new screen for my phone and bring it over Monday afternoon to install it.  He says that will be cheaper than going to a store.  They are inside for a while, waiting for the subtropical storm to blow over.

For dinner we have our left-over schnitzel from last night and some German potato salad.  Marilyn has some of the Mosel Riesling and I have some of Henning’s beer, because he said I could!  It comes in bottles that have the kind of lid you see on some sugar canisters, for resealing!   And it’s as good as you’d expect!

There are only two English speaking channels on the TV, Bloomburg and CNBC.  That gets old pretty quickly, especially the third time we see the special about the Old Vic!  I can’t get Amazon Prime because we’re overseas and I’m too cheap to pay for a movie;  but Marilyn can get her Netflix account and we binge watch “Lie to Me” which might be my new favorite show!  It’s midnight and time for up.  Up the stairs to my quiet little lair, and off to sleep!