Grace and Isaac enjoying dueling breakfasts.
Isaac is not yet a fan of his cereal. He'd much rather watch his sister do her thing.
After Dave came home, we went for a hike to further explore the Nordic walking trails in the woods behind our house. Nordic walking (which looks like walking with skiing poles) seems to be pretty popular with the older crowd here. We see lots of couples out getting their exercise in the forest.
It was a bit brisk out. We all had our jackets on, except Katie, who appears to be immune to all German weather.
Dave took this great picture of the landscape and the billowing clouds. The field is grass that is cut and fed to the animals at the tierpark. (At least, that's what I think the sign next to the field said - I'm getting bolder with my attempts at translating.)
Grace didn't have to walk on the hike, but she was sure beat when we got back. She fussed quite a bit until she found a good place for a nap.
For dinner, we went to a little Italian place in the market plaza. We were a little hesitant to try it at first, because we had never seen anyone eat there. My suspicion was that it was a front for the Mafia. Turns out, the action happens later at night. We arrived around 7:30, and the cool crowd started trickling in after us. It's kind of refreshing to be able to drink a beer anywhere. It is a non-issue. Recently, a law was passed here that says restaurants need to offer at least one drink option that is cheaper than beer - formerly, beer was the cheapest thing you could order.
Dave has discovered (unwittingly, twice) that Germans enjoy tuna pizza. He mistakenly ordered one once in Paderborn. (To his credit, it was called the New Yorker pizza - who would think it would have tuna on it.) Then the next time he bought a pizza, he was extra careful to avoid any ingredients that looked suspicious, but he didn't do a very good job because he ended up with tuna pizza again. Friday night, we kept it basic and ordered a cheese pizza.
Sam and Katie at their favorite spinner in the market plaza. For those of us Americans who are used to driving our cars to our warehouse-sized grocery stores, this market is a big change. It faces a pedestrian plaza and all their business arrives by foot or bike. Shoppers there don't buy in bulk - just what they need for a day or two, and what they can carry. We have seen people do some impressive balancing acts when they've loaded their groceries on their bikes.
Today, Saturday, Dave needed to go downtown to pick up a collaborator (Lars) at the train station. They planned to spend the day proving some stunning theorems for a project they are working on. (They did.) The kids and I dropped off Dave at the station, then continued on to the next stop on the Stadtbahn. I planned to do some shopping, so I packed our lunch from home and found a playground on the map of downtown to start out our day of errands. It was in a slightly dodgy part of town - a beautiful grassy park filled with shabbily dressed folks lying on the park benches. But the playground was a hit. Lots of spinning things for Sam and Katie, and lots of sand for our digger extraordinaire.
It rained after we left the park but only a persistent drizzle. I was successful at my primary goal - acquiring a German travel guide written in the English language. I can't believe we didn't bring one with us from home. I though it would be easy to just use the internet as our travel resource, but it is too haphazard and disjoint. Sometimes, you can't beat a good ol' book.
The following pictures allow you to see how determined Grace is to get where she wants to go. Take note of the trail. The pictures make me think of those scenes of sea turtles lumbering on the beach. (Grace is much more graceful than them.)
Sam and Katie at their favorite spinner in the market plaza. For those of us Americans who are used to driving our cars to our warehouse-sized grocery stores, this market is a big change. It faces a pedestrian plaza and all their business arrives by foot or bike. Shoppers there don't buy in bulk - just what they need for a day or two, and what they can carry. We have seen people do some impressive balancing acts when they've loaded their groceries on their bikes.
Today, Saturday, Dave needed to go downtown to pick up a collaborator (Lars) at the train station. They planned to spend the day proving some stunning theorems for a project they are working on. (They did.) The kids and I dropped off Dave at the station, then continued on to the next stop on the Stadtbahn. I planned to do some shopping, so I packed our lunch from home and found a playground on the map of downtown to start out our day of errands. It was in a slightly dodgy part of town - a beautiful grassy park filled with shabbily dressed folks lying on the park benches. But the playground was a hit. Lots of spinning things for Sam and Katie, and lots of sand for our digger extraordinaire.
It rained after we left the park but only a persistent drizzle. I was successful at my primary goal - acquiring a German travel guide written in the English language. I can't believe we didn't bring one with us from home. I though it would be easy to just use the internet as our travel resource, but it is too haphazard and disjoint. Sometimes, you can't beat a good ol' book.
The following pictures allow you to see how determined Grace is to get where she wants to go. Take note of the trail. The pictures make me think of those scenes of sea turtles lumbering on the beach. (Grace is much more graceful than them.)
Grace is AWESOME!!!
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