Day 32: Driving!

I spent the better part of today pouring over those great travel books that I bought from Amazon. I'm going to be planning all of our trips so I want to be informed and prepared before we trek somewhere. I don't want a repeat of the Heidelberg trip!

I can't wait for the weather to get a little better and we have our housing and car stuff worked out, then we can relax until our household goods get here and we move into our new place...that is if Wells Fargo will ever cough up OUR money to pay the shipper. It's been a hassle and a half with them and I'm beside myself trying to coordinate the issue from here. My cell phone doesn't appear to be working and with the time difference it's a bit difficult to place a call to Wells Fargo and get it all worked out. I can't wait to get a place of our own so I'll 1) have phone service to the U.S. and 2) be able to call my husband. As it is right now, I can only receive calls here but I cannot make them. It's a pain! Until then, we're doing day trips on the weekends in the local and surrounding areas. There's so much to see that it doesn't matter that we cannot travel outside of Germany with the car. Who cares? There is SO much to see and do, it might take months just to see it all...and even then, we'll be going back to some places two and three times!

Ted finally came home to find me reading the travel books. He wasn't very hungry but wanted to go explore "Toom". We had a quick meal and headed first to Lidl to get some pound cake (or at least, I THINK it's pound cake) for some strawberry shortcake. We also wanted to pick up some whipped cream but shame on us for not translating it before we left for the store. Oh well! Once again, a learning experience! So we're at the store and we're looking around for whipped cream. It's really difficult to figure it out so like children, we depend on pictures to help us. There's something called Creme Freishe which I think is Whipped Creme but we found something else that looked like whipping cream. We purchased both because the both of them were less than 2 Euro. It certainly is going to be interesting making strawberry shortcake!

Since it's been 30 days since we have had the car, Ted's company had to renew the contract so we could continue to use the car. My husband requested that I be added to the new contract so I could drive. So guess what? I got to drive tonight! It was fun and reminded me of driving in Italy when I was there so many years ago. The streets are narrow here so Ted was a bit concerned that I would freak out or something. I reminded him that I drove in Italy and I have been driving for over 35 years, I THINK I can handle it. What WAS fun was driving on the "round abouts".

So after Lidl, we trekked over to Toom. We thought it was a department store but it is actually more like a Lowe's but on a MUCH smaller scale. They were redoing some of their displays for summer. They had the barbecue grills and outdoor dining tables out front along with beautiful potted flowers! The first floor was all of the seasonal stuff along with paint, lighting (their lighting is very, very contemporary and mostly track lighting). I guess they want the biggest bang for the buck or Euro as it were. They had those crazy escalators, the ones that are ramps. I think they are so curious! So up the ramp we go! Upstairs are all of the tools from construction tools to hand tools, washing machines, bikes, and even tires! There are doors and windows, cement, free-standing air conditioning units (which we may have to get - although I'll be scouring the military paper for used ones). Ted said there's one thing they can't improve upon...W-D 40! LOL!

When we left it was REALLY cold and the wind was kicking up and it was lightly raining. I really wanted to get back to our small apartment. Ted opened the window in the kitchen and Living room before we left and it was cold in there. They had to be closed for the evening! I sure hope it's warm tomorrow! I could use some sunshine! It seems like it's very sunny in the morning and then becomes overcast as the day wears on. Very different from our California weather!

I finally got Ted to call the shipper and they have started to receive their monies although they have to do it in installments because there is a limit on the account. UGH! So it will all be paid for by Monday and I should have a ship date and potential arrival date by next week. Hooray!

We also canceled our insurance for our cars. We left it in place because when we came to Germany, the rental was in our name until Ted's driving records arrived from California. The records finally arrived and the rental agreement was then transferred to the company. Now we can cancel the insurance and get a refund not only from the insurance company but also from Ted's company for the original rental. That money will be earmarked for housing!

Tomorrow we're planning to go back to Kelly to meet up with Mr. Hernandez to look at more apartment photos and get the appointment made to see one of the apartment's from yesterday.

Tomorrow is also laundry and cleaning day so it's going to be a big day all the way around. I will sleep well tomorrow!

Until then, Auf Wiedersehen!