driving off alone

Tomorrow I drop Kathy off at work and drive off to Oberhausen by myself!
It's only 15Km away so I should make it with out too much trouble. The real test will be finding my way back to -pick up- Kathy...she may be hopping on a bus to get home-HA!
stay tuned for tomorrows thrilling overseas adventure! There will be the Centro...
The Gassometer...the aquarium....and the exciting drive back to Kettweg...

OK, no excitement on the trip there or back, but Oberhausen is a HUGE shopping area.
I also had a great time at the space exhibit at the GASSOMETER. It was amazing. The aqua zoo was unique- lots of tunnels and bulging windows to watch the fish under water. And then there is the CENTRO. TEN 3 story parking structures...I thought it was NINE which is alot but its TEN!!! The shopping area is 2 stories and had over 250 stores and restaurants.
I definitely needed my walking shoes today!

history lesson

Can you imagine walking around the ruins of a roman city??? Standing in a temple 1000 years old??? ok, maybe the temple doesn't have any walls anymore but its still 1000 years old so give it a break will ya! There was even a creepy sacrifice stand still outside the temple. The wall that surrounded the city still had a few parts standing and they re-built the towers and gates so you could go up and walk the wall, too cool.
The museum was built arround the bathhouse site. Only the floor, foundation, and some supports have survived. The towns people often used re-used the stones to build up other stuctures during the last 1000 years so most of the structures have been disassembled.
There were many artifacts found in dig sites all around Xanten on display in the museum. Road markers, grave stones, statues, and many many tools. The amazing thing about the tools were most of the tools we use today are just like the ones the romans used way back then. Hammers, planes, calipers, plumb bobs...it was amazing. The plumbing, sewer systems, and road work were all similar to todays roads too. In fact, some of the existing roads here in Germany are built on the old roman roads!
Thn there's the colosseum. 3/4 of the structure is still standing. The size of the stones used to build this thing must each weigh tons...how did they move all these huge things around?
All in all it was a great day. We were supposed to stop here, look at the ruins and then head off for Amsterdam but we spent so much time exploring the ruins that it was too late to continue our trip. This was one of the most amazing sites I've seen so far.

Dinner out

And we thought our skimpy hot dogs didn't fit in the bun!
Dinner was in Dusseldorf at one of the many little eateries among the shopping route.
Friday nights are all about eating, drinking, and shopping! The pedestrian area was packed!
Kathy and I had a riot walking from shop to shop. We left with our shopping bags loaded.
I'm still taking orders if anyone needs something...I'll see if I can fit it!

end of week one

Wow,
what a week! I've been to Dusseldorf, Essen, Kettwig, Koln, Aachen, Duisburg, and of course Kaiserwerth.
I try to get out and go to a new place each day but some are so big that it takes more than one trip. I've been to Dusseldorf 4 times and still haven't made a dent. The night life is something to see here. I have to say that my favorite town so far has been Duisburg. There is something about this town that just makes me smile. I am taking Kathy there today, she hasn't been to visit Duisburg yet so I'll see how she likes it. Its funny that "I" get to show her someplace don't you think- HA!
We drove to Koln and Achen on Thursday to visit the churches. Magnificent is all I can say. To think these structures have been here for centuries just boggles my mind!
Tommorrow starts the countdown to the end, I have many more places to see and things to buy. I'm going to need more luggage if I keep buying stuff!

Dusseldorf

After a rough night of sleep, I started out much later than I had planned. The sky was overcast, everything was wet so I knew that it had rained- and it started back up shortly after I started walking into town. Saturday was like this so I hoped it would clear up and turn nice like it did before- no such luck. I still walked from the main station back to the pedestrian area, and then back to the main train station. The pedestrian area is HUGE. I could have spent an entire day walking around here. I never made it into the mall so that may be some thing I can do.
The bad night sleep apears to be from the start of a sore throat. Walking around in the rain probably wasn't the best thing I could have done for a cure but maybe the fresh air will help.
I changed up the dinner plans and bought fixings for good old american grilled cheese and soup. The Greek dinner will have to wait until another day.
I have to say I love the people here in Germany. They are all so polite and helpful. That was the one thing that I remembered from my Frankfurt trip back in 1998- they haven't changed a bit.
I did run into another tourist that stopped me asking directions- How funny is that?
Oddly enough, he asked directions to the one place I knew how to get to- the main train station!

home cooked meal

I just cooked Dr. Schroeder her first (german)home cooked meal. She's been here 6 months and has never prepared a dinner! I know cooking for 1 is no fun but come on...
Chef Ramon prepared a wonderful dinner- not a German meal (italian) but hey, it was good!
We had some fresh bread and ricotta e spinaci tortelloni with tomaten-basilikum sauce.
I've already spotted tomorows dinner at this little greek place in Dusseldorf. Spinich and feta cheese pie- YUM. I'll bring that home tomorrow after a day of shopping, stop and pick up some more fresh bread and prepare a second home cooked meal (ok technically I'm not "making" it but it still counts). She's gonna miss me when I'm gone!

Germany

Oh boy,
Driving on the autobahn. I had the little Golf up to 195Kpm, Weee. Kathy's knuckles were a little white there for a while! We had a riot at the flea market, we both found a lot of stuff to buy...including some "sehr gut" food. I now know what Johnny Mathis was singing about- chestnuts roasting on an open fire- Mmm Mmm good! I bought a roasted chicken too!
The people were so polite. I would walk up looking at something and the vendor would start speaking- very quickly I might add- until I said something in english- then suddenly I was Forrest Gump- "cost...ist...funf..."- while holding up five fingers. We always found a way to make the sale! Kathy found some more Christmas gifts, while I bought 2 rings, a bracelet, and what appears to be about 20lbs of chocolate. We're taking the train into Dusseldorf this aftenoon. This way Kathy can show me the train/bus service so I can travel out on my own on the days she is working, plus we get to walk around and see the sites. Nothing much is open on Sunday's so there shouldn't be any crowds. Tomorrow I will go back to Dusseldorf and Tuesday I will venture further to Koln. I'll take some photo's and post them. Auf Wiedersehen

blogging from England!

Me and Mom are well into our last night at our hotel here - it's 6:45 on a Friday, so we'll be heading to the airport tomorrow morning. Don't know when we'll have internet again, so I figured I'd post today to talk about all of our adventures in England.  Mom had to work Wednesday and Thursday, so I slept through half of Wednesday and spent the other half exploring. Thursday I spent a lot of time exploring. Friday (today) we went to London, and spent about 7 hours (including time on the train) there. It was a lot of fun, but our feet hurt now. I'll post up some pictures as soon as I figure out how. We went to Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London, among other places, but those were the important ones. I've gotten a couple souvenirs here - including one for my dad! - but the rest will have to wait until Germany, because we're leaving before any of the shops open tomorrow. The shops don't open until 10 here, and they close at 5 or 5:30, it's kind of weird. We got back to St. Albans today just before the shops closed, so we got our usual baguettes and cheese (can it be considered a usual if we've only been having it for a day?). Also, convinced Mom to say something, so...

Mom: We had a great time in London! Our first souvenir was an umbrella. Looking forward to showing Jillian Germany tomorrow.

So that's my post for the day =] I'll post again whenever we get internet in Germany.

European vacation

Jill and Kathy touring Europe- currently in London

catch up

WOW,
sorry for the delay in blogging. here's a quick catch up...
Lets see, Kathy came home for a week for Alex's graduation in May and then went back to Germany.
She found an apartment in Dusseldorf and got her car. The apartment is in Keiserwert- upper Dusseldorf and her car is a little VW Golf. She's all moved into her new place and having fun exploring the new area.
The kids and I went up north over the 4th break- slept-ate- and fished. caught an 18" large mouth bass- First cast off the dock! I had spent 4 hours out on the lake with Cheryl and Craig and didn't catch a thing, came back home- ate dinner and decided to try a couple of casts off the dock- BAM! first cast- which was good because that was my only catch. Cheryl and Craig came over for dinner on the 4th- taco's- not your usual 4th meal but we had already BBQ'd the day before so taco's sounded good- and they were! There were lots of fireworks that night- real ones...not from the taco's! I told Craig about my great catch and I'll be darned if he didn't catch the same fish- I released mine and he cast out to the same place so I'm just guessing it was the same fish- I didn't sign it or anything but it looked like the same one!
Kathy is due home again on the 11th and then she and Jill are headed back to Germany. Jill will be over there until late August. Kathy and Jill will be headed back, Kathy was coming home to help move Alex up to CMU but he has decided to stay home and attend OCC- Oakland community college- which is where Jill has been going. It will be nice to have the company at home. He REALLY wants to go the Michigan State so hopefully he will do well at OCC and then transfer in a couple of years. He's going into graphic arts and they offer a very good program at State- fingers crossed!
Kathy and I plan to head to N.C. for a week at the condo in August. We'll spend a little time walking the beach and hanging out together- NO kids on this trip!
I won't get into all the health issues other than to say I'm back on track and doing well- nothing major- just annoying. New doctor-new dentist and all is well!

Alex s b-day

The family got together for a little pizza and KFC to celebrate Alex's 18th B-day. There were scary movies, itunes, cash, shirts, and of course the flying toys. The flying toys have become a tradition for Alex's b-days. I can't remember exaxtly when the first time was but we have been out pulling toys off the roof for many years. And in case you're wondering about the label, every year we go through the "what do you want this year" question. There is always the threat of socks and underware if he can't give some good suggestions for gifts.

18 - no way

I kept fighting the signs of old age but when your little baby turns 18 its done and over... I'm officially old!
Alex will be celebrating his 18th birthday this weekend. The family will be getting together on Sunday to welcome the 6 foot "man" to adulthood.
I think he's still worried I'm going to follow through with my 18 and out rule- I should have a bunch of bags packed with his name on them and see if he panics- but that would just be cruel.

I'll post some photo's of the get together soon.

temporary apartment

I have received word that Kathy has moved into her temporary apartment. She is waiting for the wifi access to be activated so she can start blogging.
She will start her seach for her apartment soon and have to move again. Hopefully she will settle in and relax a little once she finds her new place and gets her stuff out of storage. She has been eating out a lot which is a new thing for Kathy and not entirely sucessful, at least she found "baked potato chips" so she won't go hungry!

Varsity team

Good news...Alex has just made the Varsity team!
He is on the track and field team where he throws the disk and shot put.
His first meet is on 4-15-09.
Way to go Alex!

a new chapter begins

Its down to the last week. Kathy takes off to start her new position in Europe at the end of the week.