Daily Life

I love it here in Germany. Life is certainly very different than in the US. For one, Germans know the value of downtime and relaxation. Every day between 1-3pm is quiet time. That means no loud noises such as lawn mowers! And on Sunday, no shops are open, only restaurants. Quiet time is all day. That means you relax...play a game, sit on your deck, read, go to a fest, enjoy some wine and beer, etc. No washing your car, mowing your lawn or trimming the bushes. In fact, if you do it anyway, you will probably get reprimanded by a local. One Sunday I was hand-trimming bushes and weeding, and my neighbor came over with a beer and said I needed to sit down and drink instead. I'm not kidding!

Speaking of beers, the beer is fantastic! I've tried many kinds...pils are my favorite but I'm really liking the dark (dunkel) beers too. I'm not a big fan of the weiss beer. It's looks cloudy and has a very distinctive taste. Edgar likes Radlers, which are a mix of beer and lemon soda. The most popular soda is called a Spetzi, which is a blend of coke and orange soda, or coke and lemon-lime soda. It's actually really good!

Since we are smack dab in the middle of the Rhein Valley, the wine here is abundant and wonderful. I've acquired a taste for Reislings, which is a huge step for this Chardonnay girl. I also really like secco (or prosecco in Italian), which are white wines that are lightly carbonated. Not as bubbly as champagne and not ultra dry, they are perfect for a hot summer evening! Edgar is a sweet wine drinker and he's fallen in love with Auslese (too sweet for me) and ice wines (made after the first frost hits the grapes). From the guy who rarely drank in the US, he now makes it a habit to pick up wines during our travels. Who knew??

Shopping is done daily or every other day. Here is a picture of the small grocery store in Erbach. Next door is one of three bakeries. It's kind of ironic that a town as small as Erbach would have three bakeries, but then again, we probably have 10-15 vintners! Bread and wine...who can complain?


Walking is a daily activity. Whether it's to the Rewe for groceries, the bakery for fresh bread and rolls, or taking Schotzie for her constitutionals. My favorite route takes me past many gardens, the local soccer field, various vineyards and winestubes (vintners).

Recycling is big here. We have four separate trashcans in our kitchen. One for paper and cardboard, one for plastic, one for glass and one for all the other trash. And under the sink, a small container for food waste. Regular trash is only collected once every two weeks, which would definitely be a problem back home. But since so much trash is recycled, we actually don't have a problem with trash piling up. Glass is recycled based on color and every few streets have containers for collection. I guess this picture tells all. The Germans' love their wine!!

The streets are narrow in most towns. There are a lot of directional signs that regulate the flow of traffic when only one lane can pass at a time. On the street leading to our house, it's a fairly long hill. Custom is to let those driving up the hill go first. So when you are driving down, you are constantly pulling over between parked cars to let cars going uphill pass.

Speaking of driving....yep, we drive fast over here. On the slowest Autoban, the speed limit is 100 km, which is 60 mph. A typical two lane autoban will usually post a 120 km speed limit (72 mph). But when you see the sign with three diagonal slashes? Go as fast as you want. No kidding! Edgar has had the Porsche up to 125mph. Everyone else is going fast too, so you don't even realize you fast you are going!!

Tschuss!!

(Informal Goodbye in German)