Last week Mike and I went on our housing visit to Germany.
We left Sunday night from Newark and arrived in Düsseldorf Monday morning at 6AM. We managed to figure out the trains and buy our tickets. We could have skipped this step of buying tickets, as no one EVER the entire week checked if we had train tickets or not. I love Germany, they are all rule followers like me! If you are supposed to buy a train ticket, you do it, it doesn't matter if someone is going to check it or not. (That and the fine is like €200, which is approximately $260)
Monday we spent in Cologne. We took a nap, which helped greatly, but we couldn't make it up until sunset which that week was about 9:50 at night. Germany is pretty far north! One of the highlights of Cologne is The Dom, which is just ridiculously huge! Everyday, we would walk out of the Hofbahnhof (train station), and would still be shocked at how big The Dom is. We never got used to it.
The Dom, officially the High Cathedral of St. Peter, has been under construction for more or less 900 years, since it was begun in 1248. The Dom was never targeted in WWII, possibly because it was used as a landmark to for the planes to navigate by. The relics of The Three Wisemen are located here, behind the Altar. Mind-blowing! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_Cathedral)
I think after we toured The Dom, we took a nap but I really don't remember. Running on adrenaline.
Lunch was delicious. I'm not going to fill this blog with pictures of food (well maybe I am), but here is what I had. Schnitzel with Pommes Frites, in some kind of mushroom sauce.
After lunch we walked across the Hohenzollern Bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenzollern_Bridge), which is for trains crossing the river Rhine. There is a walking path along which people attach "Love Locks" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_padlocks). No, we didn't, but there is still time.
Tuesday morning we took the train back to Düsseldorf to meet with relocation expert. She showed us around to about 9 different houses. We had our minds set on a small 3 bedroom 1 bathroom "typical German" townhouse with a back yard just big enough for a table and chairs. So when the realtor brought us to this house first, we knew it was going to be a hard one to beat!
It is located in the village of Kaiserswerth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiserswerth). It is about a 10 minute bike ride to Erin & Ryan's school, The International School of Düsseldorf (http://www.isdedu.de/ and http://www.isdlions.de/).
Three (and a half) bedrooms, 3 and a half bathrooms. It was built in the 1930. The tile in the kitchen is form a church in France. The living room opens out to a huge back yard. Which includes a pond and a 'party house'. Just what we needed, a built in excuse to throw a party! There is also a 3rd floor porch off our bedroom.
Thursday, we had lunch in Düsseldorf at a beautiful market with a woman I have been emailing with. Her husband works at Bayer, they are from Pittsburgh and her kids are at the International School with Ryan and Erin. Who better to make us feel at home and get the lay of the land?
Like, I said it was going to be hard to beat, and it wasn't.
After visiting a few houses, we had an appointment at the school. It certainly isn't what our kids are used to, but I think it will be a wonderful change of pace experience for them. Erin's 4th grade has 4 homerooms this year, and Ryan will spend 50% of his day outside, no matter the weather.
When we got back to Cologne, we stopped at a Convenience Store and grabbed a €3 bottle of wine (yes I can find 3 buck Chuck all over the world), and drank it down by the Rhine. That sounds really degenerate, but trust me, we were in the norm.
Wednesday brought more house-shopping and lunch with Mike's new boss at Bayer in Leverkusen. The nice part of Bayer was beautiful, I didn't see the actual 'plant' part.
Afterward Mike and I took in some of the sights of Düsseldorf.
After dinner with one of Mike's work colleagues who recently made the move from Pittsburgh to Leverkusen, we finally were awake enough to see Colonge after the sun goes down!
It was a great week in our new, temporary home. These 2 years will FLY by I'm sure. This won't be the last time I say this, but EVERYONE is welcome to come visit anytime that they want! Book your flights now!
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