After putting away the dinner dishes, folding some clothes and putting them away and generally straightening up the apartment (which took all of 20 minutes to accomplish), I was out the door to go shopping! It was about 10:30 when I left and I needed to book it to get to the various stores I needed to go to.
But before I left, I knew I needed to find out how to say 250 grams, and grated (for grated cheese) in German. I knew I wanted to order some Parmesan cheese and I couldn't depend on the store clerk speaking English. And this time I remembered to bring my net bag with me to tote the groceries! It was such a beautiful day with the sun shining, I was almost mad at myself for sleeping in! It will NOT happen tomorrow.
Here are some photos of buildings that I pass on the way to the market.
I thought there was a market near the cafe but I was mistaken. It was actually a bakery and I didn't need bread. I was bummed. Now what was I going to do? Well, I thought I could go to the butcher shop and at least get some lunch meat and possibly some Weinerschnitzel (meat to make cutlets). I usually use chicken but it appears, if I don't buy the chicken at the base, I can't get it at the market. They do more turkey, veal and pork. Anyways, getting the lady to understand what I wanted...250 grams of Parmesan cheese was an effort! And 250 grams (about a 1/2 pound) in German is Zweihundretfunfzig...now THAT'S a mouthful! At any rate, I was able to make myself understood, albeit, haltingly.
Now that I had my purchases safely in my green net bag, I was on my way to the health food store because I don't know where the nearest market is. That's ok, though because I wanted to pick up some more of that yummy yogurt (Ted ate the last of it.) And although I'm not a huge fan of Mango, their mango was actually really good!
Since I wanted to make some veggies for dinner, I wanted to know how to pronounce each vegetable. I mistakenly asked the store clerk what "Im Angelbot" was. And if I looked closely enough that same phrase was on several of the vegetable trays. She struggled to explain but I got the gist of it when she said "price low". Oh, I said, "You mean, on sale!" I told her I spoke Italian and English. She said, "and a little German" LOL! VERY little German...for now!
With my goodies in my sack, off to the apartment I went. I like this way of shopping because I don't really mind putting the groceries away because it's only one bag.
Now I had the veggies and the meat AND a pan that I could roast it all in! But now I had work to do. I needed to complete some tasks my boss had requested that I do last night and I needed to work on my blog and answer emails.
I didn't get to work on my German today but that will come tomorrow, for sure. Ted came home and we had dinner.
We had already decided to go back to that place that appeared to be like a Sam's club that we were too late to visit yesterday. So off we went. It appears that this place, called "SelGross" is a membership place. We were disappointed and decided to check it out online to see what the criteria was. The nice clerk suggested we go next door to a place called "Real", so we did.
It's a combination Grocery store and department store. The grocery store is on the first floor and the department store is on the second floor. What I found interesting is that in order to use a cart, you have to pay for it. I guess they have to pay someone to go gather the shopping carts so the users are going to pay for it. I don't know. Also, what else is neat about this place is that they have an underground parking lot with escalators that have no steps, in other words, it's a ramp that moves. The ramps in the lobby go down to the parking garage in the basement but there are no ramps in the lobby going to the second floor. Ted's co-workers said there was a department store on the second floor but I was stumped as to how to get there. I didn't need to go to the grocery store, but when we peeked inside, there they were again, those funny escalators!
I needed to buy a European blow dryer because my American one wouldn't work here. I found one for 12 Euros (about $15) which I was more than happy to pay for "good" hair. The two hairs on my head have been looking raggedy of late not having a blow dryer.
We also needed milk for Ted's cereal and bought their 1 1/2% milk in bottles. It's funny how different countries do things differently. Oh and by the way, Real had the usual meat, bakery departments and ATM machines like you would find in the states but they ALSO sold computers, phones, GPS navigators and had a beauty shop right in the store!! How convenient.
I looked up the website for SelGross and found that unlike Sam's it is only for retail businesses to buy in bulk. Oh well. At least I know. It's fun exploring and finding new things to do!
Now I'm off to bed!
P.S. For those of you who have visited my blog before today, the background has changed slightly because I goofed and removed the background and couldn't find it again...so I had to make a new one. I hope you enjoy it!
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