Settling In

The past few days have been incredibly busy trying to do as many things that require a car as possible before returning our rental car yesterday afternoon - a second visit to Ikea, a trip to OBI (the German version of Home Depot), several more trips to the grocery store, two more trips to Vodafone (still no phone), the purchase of a bike for Matthew (this didn't really require a car, but it helped to get it home since he found it at a discount store south of town).

We also moved into our apartment...and moving in involved our 12 suitcases, an air mattress, and the purchased IKEA furniture!

We have a functional kitchen and all of our basic needs, but are ready for our furniture to arrive!!

We stumbled upon a French market vendor selling macarons that are gluten free! This little boy was so excited to find a treat he could eat!

Hot cherry Glühbier was found as well, but he did not partake:

I have successfully driven TWICE! :)  It's really not bad...but I haven't yet attempted to park on our street.  I felt proficient in parallel parking in Atlanta, but now I'll have a manual transmission and parking spots half the size. Also, since everyone (really, everyone) follows pedestrian & traffic rules, it is assumed that you will too.  Which is cool until a pedestrian walks out in front of you assuming you will stop since it is their turn to cross, and you're in 3rd gear and haven't driven a manual in 2 years. Don't worry, I haven't hit anyone. (yet?)

So, now we wait for our furniture and continue to settle in. There are still so many little things that we need to take care of.  The washing machine and microwave should be delivered today. Two more IKEA projects left to build. Waiting for the establishment of our German bank accounts which will allow us to (hopefully) finally set up our cell phones. Scheduling a school appointment for Jackson's registration and an appointment for his school physical.  Most likely a few more visits to OBI and borrowing a concrete drill. Plus, we think we've found a car to buy! Here's hoping that it works out!

By the way, did you know the walls in most homes here are concrete, not dry wall? Thus the drill...

Have a Happy Monday! Tschüss!

First Hike

Tuesday was a national holiday in Germany and as such, all shops, grocery stores, government offices, etc. were closed.  We spent our free day hiking Drachenfels, a hill/mountain across the river from Bonn.  Drachenfels is the name of the hill and the ruins at the top are called Burg Drachenfels.  Burg Drachenfels was built in 1138-1167 to protect the Cologne region.  They were later destroyed.  A little over halfway up is the castle Schloss Drachenburg, which was built 1882-1884 as a private home. Today you can tour the castle and ruins.

There is the option to ride up the hill in a historic train, but we opted to hike the 2.2 km to the top and were so glad we did.  It was a great, easy hike and the scenery was beautiful!

A trickling stream that ran alongside the trail.

We found a cave!

Schloss Drachenburg 

Checking out the ruins of Burg Drachenfels. Brandtley was convinced this was the dungeon.

I'm so glad we had the opportunity to take a break since the next few days were busy with appointments.  On Wednesday, we took possession of our apartment.  

Our names are on the buzzer!

We then met with our agent to discuss next steps. Then lunch in Altstadt and a trip to Ikea.  We left the kids in the play room, which meant we were supposed to return in 1 hour, but thankfully the play room attendant said that since it was not busy, we could stay a little longer.  Speed-shopping Ikea is hard! We filled our rental SUV to the brim, then took it all back to drop off at the apartment, and went to the grocery store on our way home.  

Do Aldi's in the US have these??  You can return your empty plastic & glass bottles for $0.25 each.

I'm pretty sure Aldi in the US doesn't have Sauerbraten 

Today was our immigration appointment, then bank appointment where we opened our German account, then grocery "browsing" at a new store, lunch, cell phone set up (still not complete...we go back on Saturday and are keeping our fingers crossed that we can walk out with new phone numbers!!), pick up of the laboriously selected coffee maker, purchase of a washing machine, back to the apartment to drop off luggage, then another grocery trip.   

Somewhere in there we also stopped by some lovely outdoor markets near our new home.

Johannisbeeren!! (Currants)

My Cafe Latte at lunch on Wednesday. mmm. I love how they are served in tall glasses in Europe.

Gluten Free Meals: My scanner app is working well at the supermarkts and grocery shopping is not too hard (other than taking the time to scan every item).  Our lunch Wednesday was at Dean & David, and lunch Thursday was at Vapiano.  Both are well known for having gluten free options.  In fact, I found them through Celiac Roads app, and we stuck with safe places this week due to the stress & busy-ness of the transition. I was impressed with both.  I spoke with the cook at Dean & David and he assured me that the curry we ordered for Brandtley was gluten free.  I think he also made sure there were no other allergens as well and B got a vegan, gluten free, nut free meal!  Oh well, the safer the better.  (It tasted wonderful!)

I was also pleased to find that Vapiano has cooking stations that are dedicated only to gluten free food, which avoids cross contamination, and the staff & cooks were very knowledgeable as well.  B had Risotto al Funghi, which I also ordered and it was delicious. I felt the precautions taken to avoid cross contamination were enough that I'd feel comfortable with him having a glutenfrei pizza or pasta there too.

Gluten Free at Drachenfels Restaurant

As many of you know, our younger son (age 4) was diagnosed with Celiac Disease about 2 weeks prior to our move.  After a week or so of remorse for everything he would not be able to eat, I buckled down to try to find options for him in a foreign country & a foreign language, options both for immediate arrival as well as our future travels throughout Europe.  I was highly encouraged by the supermarket selections and labels, but the information I found for dining at restaurants was spotty at best.  Though some countries in Europe are highly aware of Celiac needs, I expect that eating out in Germany is going to be a challenge.

Thus, a second purpose for this blog is to document any successful or disappointing glutenfrei dining experiences.

The first restaurant we tried was Cassius Garten, which I wrote about in the first blog post and which I was very pleased with the selection and knowledge/information provided by the staff & menu.

Today we hiked Drachenfels and discovered that both the Drachenfels restaurant (at the top of the hill) as well as the Drachenberg cafe (at the castle), have menus that are notated for allergens & gluten.  We ate at the restaurant at the top and found the food to be very good.  I was not as confident in the staff's knowledge or care regarding cross contamination.  We ate outside on the patio and did not have a dedicated server there.  It may be better to make a reservation to sit inside the restaurant, where the wait staff could assist with specific needs & communication. We saw at least one other restaurant/outdoor cafe on the hill, but its menu was not notated for allergens.

Outdoor Drachenfels restaurant with a view.  

(The printed menus with allergen info are only inside, but the food outside is the same as inside)

Riesling Suppe.  Would be gluten free without the croutons. 

Thankfully this was my meal and not B's so I ate it anyway.

Herring with cream sauce and pan sautéed potatoes and small salad.  Gluten Free.

We're Here!

We made it to Germany on Sunday afternoon after an eventful, yet thankfully uneventful day of travel.  Eventful parts: one of our 12 suitcases ripping as we loaded it to go to the airport (thankfully the packing tape held!), forgetting to return the rental car keys with the rental car, near loss of a laptop, and then manhandling 12 suitcases out of the airport.  Surprisingly uneventful: timely flights and happy children who traveled well, including one who even pulled his own bags!  The kids did better than expected and have adjusted to the time well so far.  It has helped that they each slept about 4 hours on the international flight and have been excited enough to stay awake most of the two days since arriving. Brandtley falls asleep any time he sits still for long, though, which makes any car ride quiet. :)

Speaking of quiet - the quiet laws here are legit. And awesome.  While I thought our home in Atlanta was pleasantly quiet for being in midtown, that was nothing compared to this. The Ruhezeit or Quiet Laws require that you be quiet and respectful of others from sundown until the morning, and also on Sundays & holidays.  I've heard this includes everything from mowing your lawn to running the dishwasher, though the level of enforcement depends on your neighbors.  Airplanes are also required to follow noise restrictions.  With the lack of central heating/air and ceiling fan, there is also no mechanical/electrical white noise either.  We slept with the window cracked last night and heard nothing.  (I was almost grateful for Matthew's snoring just for some ambient sound! I'm sure that won't last long...)

The windows themselves are really cool.  They seal completely. And unlike the typical windows in the States, don't raise/lower, but instead can either open or tilt, which provides safe ventilation without letting in rain.

The church that is visible through the windows is a Catholic church with bells.  It's lovely to hear them on the quarter hour throughout the day and reminds me of our college days. Since today is All Saint's Day, the bells performed a prolonged melody at 7am, though, which was not as appreciated, but prompted me out of bed to blog.  Somehow the kids slept through the bells and are still asleep at 8:48am now!

Here is a picture of our German bed at the vrbo we're temporarily staying at until we take possession of our apartment.  Notice there are 2 mattresses & 2 duvets on top. Each partner gets to choose their own comfort in mattress firmness & duvet warmth.  (This is what it looks like when the bed is made - each duvet is folded in half & you unfold to sleep).

I'll leave you with just a few more photos from our day yesterday, which we spent in Altstadt Bonn (the "old town" which is still the functional downtown) looking for glutenfrei food, purchasing a hairdryer, a temporary pre-paid cell phone (which I'm currently locked out of & need to translate the instructions to figure out how to unlock), skillets/pans, and muesli, followed by trick-or-treating.

We stumbled upon a band playing in front of the statue of Beethoven in Münsterplatz (one of the central squares in Bonn Altstadt).

We ate lunch outside at Cassius Garten, which is very gluten free friendly.  Allergens & dietary restrictions are clearly marked, and staff is knowledgeable about gluten-containing ingredients.  It's buffet style, but very fresh, tasty and healthy food.  Matthew compared it to a larger Whole Foods buffet.

Advent calendars in a department store.  

We've been told Germany is a magical Christmasland and the advent calendars we saw yesterday were beautiful.  This is only a small view of a large selection for sale.

The cool coffee maker at the place we're staying.

The exterior of the house we're staying in.  It's both floors on the left side of a two-family house. 

Tchüss!