Return to Germany

Well, I am finally back from the wedding in Alabama. It was a very fun time and also very beautiful (aww)... the only downside was the 14 hour round trip by car to New Orleans only to spend one day there. Anyways, the flight back here was awesome. It was on Delta out of Atlanta and they had these personal entertainment screens for every seat where you could watch all kinds of movies, tv shows and HBO specials. They also had tons of music and games to play too, but I never made it past the movies. There were a bunch of new releases on there that I hadn't seen yet since I've been in Germany and I got to watch them all (Tropic Thunder is hilarious). The best part was that it is all free for intercontinental flights. I didn't get this luxury flying to the US since my plane must've been older or something, but it's probably for the best because I would've watched everything I wanted to on the first flight and then had nothing to do on the return. For both flights though I got the entire row to myself since it wasn't very busy, which was very nice, except that some french lady tried to steal my seat while I wasn't paying attention by putting her pillow and book there... they ended up on the floor.

Anyways, it seems that in my week away from Germany the entire place fell apart without me. The internet at the hotel costs money again... I guess they finally found out that no one was paying for it and got suspicious... nothing like paying 120 euro (~$160) a month for crappy sub-dsl speed internet that breaks all the time... The laundry woes still continue... aparently the lady I called about 2 weeks ago about the washing machine being broken didn't take me seriously, so now they have a washing machine filled with almost 2 week old soapy water that smells like a sewer... not my problem, I am done struggling with them. I watched a 7 minute video made by a 22 year old british woman on how to properly hand wash clothes, so now I consider myself somewhat of an expert... did you know that a little white vinegar adds sheen to silks? I bet not. The water machine at work also broke and has been replaced with something that has a cold water button that puts out hot water and warm water button that puts out cold water... They also switched everyone's email over to Microsoft Outlook while I was gone... prepare for disaster.

Luckily I am only here for another 3 weeks so I think I can manage by laughing at everyone else's misfortune in the apartment and at work as they run around in panic not know what to do with no laundry, broken email and cold tea (God forbid their precious caffinated beverages be tainted).

PS - Thanks for pointing out all my spelling mistakes in my last post... I'm not perfect y'all :-(

Darmstadt tour... City Center

Well this is about it for Darmstadt. The first of the two pictures shows you the main drag through the city, called Rheinstrasse. Nothing really special about it other than this is how you get everywhere, especially if you're like me and have to walk/take public transport everywhere. In the ditance you can see the city center, or the Luisenplatz. This is the main shopping center of the city and this is where I get most of my stuff. There are tons of walkways you can take that have all kinds of stores lining them where you can buy just about anything. This is also the main connection place for all trams and busses running through the city.

Well I hope the tours were somewhat educational and gave you a little bit of a glimpse at the scenery that surrounds me. Right now I probably enjoying myself in Alabama and hopefully not even thinking about Germany at the moment... actually I should be at a wedding in New Orleans right now, so even better. I will be back and reported when I reutn next Tuesday. Until then...

Darmstadt tour... Die Waldspirale

This interesting piece of architecture was built by one of those hippy artists I mentioned that wanted to explore new ways of living. The entire building and everything in it, including the floors and walls, have no straight lines. The architect, named Friedensreich Hundertwasser, wanted the place to feel completely 'natural', and since there are no straight lines in nature, there would be no straight lines in the building. The building has 105 apartments in it for someone looking to live somewhere a little alternative, with little living space and lots of money. It is kind of weird walking around there when the floor is constantly changing beneath you. I can only imagine what it must be like for someone coming home from a night out partying with the floors being all curvy on you.

At the top of the building there is a nice little restuarant/bar that services mexican food and has a walk around balcony that you can get a fantastic view of the city off of. Unfortunately they close the balcony in November so I was not able to get up there and take pictures, but 'm sure I will try again sometime next spring.

Darmstadt tour continued... Mathildenhoehe

The Mathildenhoehe is a giant hippy colony of aspiring artists. Originally it was built in 1899 by the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig. The artists that originally resided here presented their ideas of a new living and working world, and thus the colony was founded. The tower was built as a wedding present for the Duke. The church was built later as a request by the Duke's wife, a Romanov, who wanted a Russian Chapel that she could worship in privately... talk about being whipped.













The whole place is very nice and relaxing with its own Plane Tree Grove where people will come on the weekend to play lawn bowling, or whatever they call it here. It is situated in a very nice quiet part of town that I wouldn't mind living in, but unfortunately I can't afford it, nor am I even allowed to live there since I am not a German resident, bummer.

The only dependable way to do laundry in Germany...

Well I know I was going to continue the Darmstadt tour, but I had to share this experience with you all. I promise I will go ahead and finish writing up the next tour stops tonight or tomorrow and they will go up every other day through next week while I am in Alabama and, thus, will not be having these wonderful German experiences...

So the answer to the statement in the title of this post is: by hand

I had it all planned out today... I was going to take off work early, go do my full workout routine to make me feel better and then head home and get a head start on the 4 hour adventure that is doing 2 loads of laundry. The amount of time it takes to do one load in Germany totally confuses me. This is a culture that is so focused on eco-friendly everything that they have taken the fun out of driving and will even fine you if you mix up your garbage (everything must be separated and tied up in individual bags provided by the garbage company). But none of this matters when it comes to laundry because why not let our washers and dryers run for an hour and 20 minutes? Sounds completely 'eco-friendly'!

Anyways, enough on that rant... I filled up the washer as I have done dozens of times in the past and let it go. I came back after the hour and 20 minutes was up only to find that it was stuck halfway through its routine with my clothes soaking in soapy water behind a tightly locked door. So what'd I do first... hit it of course... that didn't work. I started trying to manually cycle through its routine, but it kept doing the same 5 minute pattern and then shutting off... still locked. After about 15 minutes I got frustrated, hit it once more for good measure and then went upstairs for the wondeful journey of calling the recpton staff to explain the problem...

I knew what to expect, but I had to try. Just like all the other times I have called for the internet, hot water, cleaning service, or any of the number of things that have gone wrong throughout my two and a half month stay here, I was going to get the whole "I don't know, it should work, I'm sorry, thank you bye" bit. No difference this time. She said I would have to wait until Monday afternoon when someone could come and try and figure out how to get my clothes out of the washer and suggested that I should go out tomorrow and buy some new ones... in my pajamas, because that's all I have left, but she didn't know that... I hung up.

Well I went back downstairs and hit it some more and let the time expire, turned it off and on and unplugged it and then sat there staring at the machine... willing it to release its demon-ish grasp it had on my poor clothes. After about 10 minutes I heard a click, and the door could be opened... only to spill all the soapy water all over ther floor... at this point I didn't care, that is now their problem. Hopefully the dryer still works properly...

Anyways, now I'm doing the rest of my laundry in the shower with my feet with the toothbrush cup covering the drain... glorious, I know, but after all, it is the only dependable way to get your laundry done.

Darmstadt Tour... Wasserturm

Next to the hauptbahnhof is the old Darmstadt wasserturm, or 'water tower'. It was originally built in 1910 and then was meant to be demolished in the 1980's, but the public outcry was too great and the city preserved it. It is now used as an art and music studio. Looks pretty cool, kind of hidden back behind the hauptbahnhof where most people can't see it. I don't know what else to say about it other than who other than Germans to make a water tower look so elegant... it gives our American water towers an insecure feeling I think.

Darmstadt Tour, Part One... Hauptbahnhof

Well, as promised, I am posting some of the pictures I took of the wonderful city that I live in called Darmstadt. Where else better to start than at the hauptbahnhof or 'central station'... usually the first thing people see when entering a city for the first time. From here you can basically go anywhere in Europe by train... very convenient. This is also the place where I got my first German fine as I was apparently sitting in the first class section of a crappy little subway train running from Darmstadt to Frankfurt. I couldn't tell the difference, it all looked the same to me... and the only reason I sat the was because the pressure valve on the door was broken and making an obnoxious noise, and therefore I figured that no one would bother me. The only way one knows if they are in the first class 'section' is by a little 3 inch by 3 inch sticker with a number on it. Normally they let you go with a warning, but since I was American they gave me the maximum fine, which all my co-workers found crazy. Luckily the transit authority guy was stupid and didn't give me my ticket back, so when I went in to pay my fine I didn't have my ticket to prove that I actually did not have a first class ticket and the fine was thrown out... so ha, take that authority!

Anyways, most Germans commute to work by either train or bus, but if they live too far away from a bus stop they will ride their bike. A lot of them ride to the hauptbahnhof and then take a train to Frankfurt everyday, so there is a huge sea of bikes in front of the building. It is quite a sight since there is not a hole lot of bike riding in the US and I don't think I have ever seen so many bikes. What you can't see in the picture is that all the trees lining the walkway also have 3 or 4 bikes around each of them, so this is maybe only half of the total bikes in the area. I've thought about getting a bike, but then I remembered how bad I was at riding one and I would probably get run over by traffic or run over a nice old lady walking home from the grocery store, so I figured I'll just stick to walking.

Well, check back for the next tour stop...