More things I like about living here

Yes, it is time for a long overdue post.  I have been thinking a lot lately about living here in Germany, and honestly what I like about it.  When we first got back here this summer, I was SOOOO homesick - much worse than when we first moved here last year.  ( I guess there was so much to do then, and with no car, I spent a lot of time on the bus or tram going to and fro - which had its own element of "new" about it.)  But now, as we close in on another return to the US, and recognizing that after this trip, it will probably be a year before we go back, I am realizing all the things I really like like about living here. 

We may be at the half-way point of our time here (which I cannot believe), so I have also been thinking about what I will miss leaving here.

A few MORE things I like about living here:

1 - The bike paths - I can bike to the kids' school, no problem, and barely even touch the road.  And although we live in a big city, we really live in a small town within the city, very similar to Clemson.  But they have bike paths EVERYWHERE here.  It is soooo nice, and makes bike riding so much more enjoyable and actually functional.  I love biking to my book club, or a meeting at K5 (local coffee shop), or a school function, etc.  

Okay - so this is from our bike tour in Paris.  But who takes a picture when they are doing "every day" bike riding?  Plus, how cute is this kangaroo bike??

2 - The travel - Living here has given me the travel bug - not that I didn't have it before.  I just never acted on it before.  But we really feel this urgency to take advantage of our situation here and have seen some amazing things.  Hard to pinpoint my favorites, but I loved our recent excursion to Normandy and Paris.  I think when we move back to the States, I may need to roam around a bit more.

Zee is trying to wink here.

Burg Eltz - well preserved medieval castle in the Mosel valley region

At Arromanches in Normandy - part of the artificial barrier constructed that still stands constructed for WWII.

Mont St Michel in Normandy - amazing place to visit and totally worth the extra time.

Luke and Zee showing their manly calves, just like the Sun King did in his portrait.

3 - Opening my world view and that of my children - Never has the conflict in Israel/Palestine hit so close to home.  I have friends from Israel - who are intending to go back there very soon.  The Dutch are not some weird sect in Pennsylvania (which by the way - those are Pennsylvania Deutsch - GERMANS - not Dutch - just learned that moving here.  Feel free to laugh at my ignorance!), but friends I have made here.  I understand so much more about other cultures and my kids have truly broadened their minds to accept others in a way that no book could have done. (Although if you cannot live overseas, books are a GREAT start.)

4 - Public transportation - As I write this, I am still in my pajamas, but my kids are all safely off to school on the UBahn (like the subway trains, but this one is above ground).  That's right - I am drinking coffee, and typing away, and my boys all caught the tram to school.  LOVE IT!!!  (I have been known - more than once - to hit the carpool line at Clemson Elementary in the morning in pajamas, but I could hide in my big van.  Not so with my little red Opal Zafira here!)

I love this picture of my friend Colleen escorting Zee and her boys to school on the tram.    So grateful for her and her family and that they are such great neighbors!!

A Clarkson family Flat Stanley came to visit us!  Zee was showing him how to get on the tram.

You know you love it.  And it seats 7!  (Although it is a bit cramped then, right,  Papa??)

5 - Visitors coming - Honestly, it is such a joy to have people come and show them around our area, or the neighboring cities.  When Paul came, he surprised me by saying wherever I wanted to go, that sounded good to him.  So we went to Bonn to Beethoven's house!  No amount of bribery could have pulled my kids there (well, Silas would have gone for the math museum, but not for Beethoven's house).  And it was just a little over an hour train ride away - we were back just after school got out!  (As I type this, my cousin sleeps upstairs in Silas's room.  She is here for her fall break and I'm so excited to explore with her.  Wondering if I should wake her up??  :-) )

Brett moves to Germany for the year!

Paul and I visit Beethoven's house in Bonn.

Does this look like a German town or what?  Cute Bacharach along the Rhine - eating  döners with Nana and Papa.

Finally found this picture!!  Loved when Kelly and John came - and Harper!!

6 - History surrounding me - I love history.  I actually lamented when they removed the Calhoun House from the tour I gave at Clemson University.  It was my favorite part.  And now I live within walking/biking distance of 2 castles, one a pink palace with a moat, and one a crumbling ruin along the Rhein.  I am hoping to take my cousin (here visiting while she studies abroad in Athens) to tour our historic little town of Kaiserswerth where Florence Nightingale began her training, where the Holy Roman Emperor Barbarossa slept, where battles were waged and fought over this small little, but vital piece of the region.  And that is just where I LIVE.  That speaks nothing of Rome, Paris, Normandy, Bruges, Amsterdam, and all the history that I have been able to SEE.  I had no concept of what Corrie Ten Boom's "Hiding Place" was.  But now, I completely understand.  I even saw where the rations were hidden that gave them away.  What a blessing for someone who loves history.  What a privilege to see Flanders Field, and be moved by the events of WWI like I never could have before visiting the fields and Tyne Cot cemetery.  Or seeing the vast beaches of Normandy, and truly being amazed by what those boys did.  I have forgotten pages and pages of event details I learned in the past, but these images with smells, sounds, and space are more firmly planted in my mind.

Historic Kaiserswerth and the castle ruins on the Rhine

Normandy - gun batteries set up by the Germans - this one was actually  badly damaged by the Allied Forces.

7 - The beer - never have liked it before Germany.  ;-)

8 - The people - I have gotten to know so many people here, through the International School the boys attend, and through having great neighbors.  And I have so enjoyed the community this school creates - we are all mostly expats, and almost every family has one stay-at-home parent.  I think a lot of people here didn't have that opportunity before moving here because both parents worked or they were from larger cities, etc.  Of course, Clemson is similar in this respect - or at least with that small-town community feel.  And if you have experienced church at DCF, then you also have experienced that community sense.  But it is nice to find something similar here and meet people from all over the world in the process.

This is almost just like an earlier post I did about things I like about living here.  But I wanted to at least update the blog a bit now.  I am going to go back and insert some pictures.  This is so word-heavy, I don't even want to re-read it.  

Peace of Christ to you all this day.

**UPDATE:  Thanks to some help from friends, I was able to add a few more pictures.  I have to figure out this Picasa thing a bit better.  So I can add more pictures to future blogs.