Today it finally warmed up again. After a week of cool and rainy weather everyone was very happy to see the sun. At 3pm Guido says "ice cream after work?" Enough said, I told him about the nice ice cream parlor by the guesthouse in Holtausen plaza. Juliana & I stumbled upon it the day before on our way to the market the day before. Emrah joined us at 5 since he had a 6:30 train to Salzburg for the wknd. It was 80 degrees and sunny. I was starting to sweat with the walk. The ice cream parlor was a sit down place with dozens of types of sundaes. I ordered a sundae with walnuts and cherries which also came with a little cup of cherries on the side. Emrah got a belgian waffle with a scoop of icecream. And Guido ordered spagheti frozen yogurt which threw me off! It turned out that they use a special dispenser so that his ice cream looked like spagheti strands. Ofcourse all these were served in fancy glass cups and dishes cute little spoons. I swear I don't remember the last time I've seen a paper plate or cup! Anyway, I taught the guys some more american slang while they shared stories of how they met their girlfriends. I thought it was funny when Guido said his girlfriend couldn't stand him when they first met. We had a fun time and declared that from now on Friday will be ice cream day! I can't wait to take Gary who is an ice cream monster. He is going to love this place.
I had just enough time to buy some fruit at the farmers market out front and run home to get cleaned up before meeting Juliana for shopping and dinner in Alsteadt. J is another colleague from my department. She is a young lady from Nairobi Africa doing an expat assignment in germany. She has been here 7 months and has admitted that it has not been an easy adjustment. She even commented on how quickly I seem to blend into the work environment as well as in Germany overall. I think it's just my many years of traveling that makes it easier for me to acclimate. She was amazed at my german and how good I was after only one week. Ha, my trick is that I might only know a handful of words but I can say it pretty well.
We window shopped along Konigsalle which is a famous street lined with high end shops. Konigsalle means kings' alley which was named as compensation to king Frederik (the II?) when he got horse poop thrown at him when he visited dd. The street reminded me of Champs Elysees in Paris or 5th Ave NYC. My sisters would like this shopping street I think. All along one side of the wide sidewalk there were endless outside cafes with tables full of patrons who were there for the purpose of people watching. I knew this because all their chairs were placed facing one way so that they can watch people walking by! I felt out of place because I wasn't dressed up like everyone else.
J was in the mood for seafood so we walked into the Alteadt (Old Town) in search for the right restaurant. There were so many to choose from. Finally we stumbed upon one with outdoor seating. I noticed a bowl of mussels on someone's table and said this must be a seafood place. We sat down and quickly realized that this place was literally a mussels place. They serve mussels in a dozen different ways. I ordered mussels steamed in cream, garlic, butter and white wine. J did the same and declared that she has never had mussels before. Back home I was used to ordering clams or mussels as an appetizer. I was a little worried that this would not be enough to be a meal even thought the waiter assured me it would be. Just to be safe i ordered the large portion. Well, J and I could have shared a small portion! It was so much food we barely ate half of our meal. I was relieved that J really enjoyed her first experience with mussels. She was very excited to have tried something new.
I was so interested to learn about Africa and the way of life there. J does not care for some of the food here because it's processed. SHe says at home the food is fresh and simple. Chicken tastes like chicken, beef tastes like beef. The meat on your table comes from the farm nearby and has not been treated with chemical. J has a sister that lives in Michigan but she has never been to the states. She knew enough to say that the winter in Michigan is very cold and the sun rarely shines there! She asked me about president Obama and my opinion of him. It seemed to her that he has not been too active and Michelle has been more quiet than expected.
We went for a very long walk along the Rhine. It was a very warm day (about 80 degree) so it seemed like the whole city was out enjoying the weather. I love the Altsteadt. It's a place for tourists and locals. There's live music, lots of restaurants with outdoor seating and over 300 bars in a very condense area. Next to the river there are wide walkways that invites a leisurely stroll.
I had to call it an early night since I was meeting Angela in Brugge (Belgium) the next morning and still needed to pack. Glad to have a chance to get to know J a little better. We will be doing an assignment together in France in october. I thought it was important to get to know her before we started working closely together for 3 weeks. I think we will do ok together.
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