Hmmm...Let's see what has been happening.

My last post was on Monday, March 1. A day of laundry- an act of love. We live on the second floor and the washers and dryers are in the basement. It takes two people to carry 5 loads of laundry down the stairs and back up again. Anywho...

Tuesday-Got my fitness on. 30 minutes of cardio and then I fel the need to run a mile. I don't know why or how since it has been so long since I have done that. I managed to run and not die. Small victory.

Wednesday-Mall. We decided to get out of the house and the mall sounded like a good place. A little walking, people watching, and window shopping. It was a cold, drizzly day so being outside wasn't a high priority. Victory of the day: I was able to walk after running a mile. Yay!

Thursday- Lenea and I signed up for another trip with the USO. This time we were headed to Speyer, a town named after the spires on many of their buildings. Spires are the pointy things that are normally the highest peek of the building; however, this steeple has several spires on the roof to reiterate the symbolism of how Speyer received its name.

This is pretty much the city center of Speyer. It was a pretty neat city, but there was nothing extraordinary about it. There were beautiful churches, but most European cities do. The landscape surrounding this city is pretty flat- no rolling hills or mountains in the background. I don't know. I just felt kind of blah about the city. Part of it could have been our tour guide, Carl. The fellow showed up 30 minutes late, which is rare because most Germans are very punctual. The greatest part was that we waited outside for 25 of those 30 minutes. Once he finally arrived we walked towards the train, which is actually a street car, for Carl to purchase our tickets. Of course the ticket machine was not working properly, so Carl had to continue fidgeting with it while our train came to our stop and rolled away. As the train is pulling away from our stop, Carl tells us that we are just going to have to wait for the next train. No Carl-you should have stopped fidgeting with the machine after we told you it wasn't working, so that we could get on the train. After that we had to wait another 20 minutes for the next one. Once we got on the train, we told the train director that the machine wasn't working, because if you are caught riding without a ticket you can be fined 40 euro on the spot. Yikes! If you alert the train director, then they must stop at the next ticket booth for you to get off and purchase a ticket and get back on again. Most people just gamble and ride without a ticket if the booth is not working. It is an odd feeling to have an entire train waiting for you to buy a ticket to ride.

This view is on the other side of the previously shown steeple.

Speyer's walking district. They had some stellar shopping, but Carl restricted us from the shopping. He told us we had no time for such frivolous things. Whatever.

This is a side street from the main walking district. The shops looked so cute and quaint. I just wanted to look Carl. He made me want to stick my tongue out and say "Nanner nanner!" while making moose ears with my hands (spreading your fingers out with your thumbs touching your head, waving your hands backwards and forwards-does that make sense?) After taking this picture I had to spead walk to catch up with him. He was not going to wait.

Traditional woodwork on German housing. Of course the downstairs of the old housing has now been turned into businesses on the walking district, but the upstairs of these buildings now act as apartments. Apparently the old woodwork is a fire hazard, which is why it is only seen in towns where the original structures remain. If one of these old buildings catches on fire, the fire will spread rapidly to the next building because the paint and wood is highly flamable.

Pretty building. I am sure it is a government building of some sort. It looks very official.

This statue is Jacob the Pilgrim. His staff was to protect him from enemies, while his cloak and hat were to protect him from the elements. My explanation took about 1 minute, while Carl drew his explanation out for about 10. He was a long winded fellow.

Another steeple :)

Several of the churches in Speyer are under renovation, so we frequently ran into structures similar to this. I did not take any pictures of the insides of the churches because the lighting is never quite right. Also, I end up focusing on my camera and how I can capture the beauty of these glorious structures instead of just sitting and letting my mind soak it all in.

Fun artwork along our adventure.

Germans are crazy, hence the random bird sculpture.

This tunnel simply led to a courtyard behind the buildings, but I liked the look of it.

The two small pillars were located inside the tunnel. At one time they were used as mile markers.

Slowly, we stared walking toward the Jewish quarters of Speyer. We were supposed to see a Jewish Museum and Roman bath. Naturally both were not open for our tour, so we continued to walk through the Jewish quarter until we arrived at the next church. Thanks Carl for looking into that.



At one time this building was home to one of the bishops of Speyer, but times have changed and it is now a museum.

Sorry for the crazyness of the lighting-the sun was not cooperating. :) This is a large open area in front of one of the main Roman Catholic churces in Speyer.

Another view of the open courtyard area in front of the church, which is standing on the right of the picture. Here is the crazy part of this... the small concrete pillars act as gardrails to the road. There are no lines on the road, just the small concrete pillars. This wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't a two lane road. There are cars going in both directions. I don't think I could drive on this road with having a near heart attack. There are so many things to look out for-people walking aimlessly into the "road," cars coming from the opposite direction...No thanks.

More of the courtyard in front of the church. Can you find the road? It is kind of like a where's Waldo.

The doors to enter the church. The left side has a dolphin on it and the right side has a lizard. I have no idea what the meaning is behind those animals and Carl would not stop to answer us either. He was on a strict time schedule. We entered the church hoping to find a refuge from the cold, but this was not the case. All of the stone on the outside of the church made it mighty chilly inside. Heating? No way. I couldn't imagine going to church and sitting through an entire service all bundled. Wow. I know. Spoiled American.

Finally it was time for lunch! We stopped to eat at an Italian restaurant. There is Italian food everywhere!

It was cold, so the little Italian chef/owner pulled Lenea over to warm up behind the counter. He kept flirting with her all through lunch. It was cute. He would come over and dance with his apron in front of our table, and make sure that we had everything we needed.

Our group starting from the top left: Lenea, the Italian chef/owner, Diane (I am so jealous-Diane lives in Ladenburg, possibly my favorite city so far), and Carl the tour guide. Bottom row: Me and Jacky (She is a sweet girl that I met on the tour to Weinheim. I think we are going to be friends.)

Hey look! A church :)



Across the street from the previous church is this beauty. This church was truly breathtaking! As we were leaving this church, the organist began to practice. The sounds of the organ were amplified in the high ceilings and bellowed through the cathedral. It was lovely.

Looking up at the spire of the church from the sidewalk.

The entrance of the church is located just behind this statue.

After this church we walked back to catch the bus to the S train to arrive back at Mannheim Hbf and then home. Lots of public transportation on this trip which is cool to be able to see how everything connects. What was even better about the trip home is that Carl told us where to sit. Hah. No seriously. He pointed at a seat and individually directed us to sit down like little kindergarteners. He was a little controlling.

Friday- At night we were supposed to have a Hail and Farewell with Paul's unit. This is when a new soldier is introduced to a unit and another soldier leaves the unit. It was cancelled Friday morning and rescheduled for a later date. I was kind of excited because this would give us a chance to put a face with some of the names that we hear Paul talk about. Instead, we ate Greek. Not too shabby! After dinner we were thinking about going to see Alice in Wonderland. It was supposed to be playing in English at one of the big German movie theaters. After dinner we headed to the train to ride it into Mannheim, but we just barely missed it by 2 minutes. We don't know how to drive to the theater in Mannheim, so the train is our only option. The next one wasn't for another 25 minutes, so we decided to jump in the car and see if it was playing in English at another movie theater that was closer to the house. It was not playing in English, so we missed our night of movies. Instead we came home and watched The Unit on DVD. I really like it. It does a pretty good job of showing what it is really like in the army, and I like war-type action. Sitting on the edge of your seat and waiting to see what is going to happen next. There is nothing more surprising than the human element. People are crazy.

Saturday- Woke up to newly fallen snow. In the matter of an hour it was an all out snow storm. It was coming down so thick you could barely see! We decided that if we were going to enjoy any part of the day outside of our apartment we better get out while there was still sunshine. We found a pizzeria to eat at. It was yummy! Then we raced home, because I had a skype date with Kristi. I love skype! It is a phenomenal way to keeep up. It is just hard with the crazy time difference. It seems that Saturdays are the easiest for most people, but Saturdays are the times when we try to get out as a family and enjoy this beautiful country.

Sunday- We went to Ladenburg! Oh my goodness! I got the same feelig touring this town that I had when I was walking through Weinheim. I loved it! Cathy made reservations for us to eat at this restaurant. When translated, Die Kartoffel stands for The Potato. Now you can understand the need for the ginormous potato on the sign :)

Inside of this stellar restaurant. This was a private dining room downstairs on the way to the restroom. Very authentic.

Us after eating our wonderful meal! The woman sitting next to me is Cathy, the dentist from the Mannheim clinic who tried to set me up with one of her colleagues. She is fantastic! We kind of giggled about the mix up with the dentist. She understood why I was not interested in him, and said that she had a patient she thinks I would like. I am a little skeptical, so I shallowly told her that I would like to see a picture first. I know it is what is on the inside that counts, but I think you need that initial spark. That holy tolito moment where you get butterflies in the pit of your stomach. All of the fun, silly stuff. Anywho...I am not sure how it will go, but you can be sure I will post something about it :) More about the restaurant... you cook the meat on hot stones. You are served a large chunk of meat on the stone with three dipping sauces. One is a garlic sauce, one is a mustard/dill sauce, and I don't know what the other one was. It was red and kind of sweet. Prior to the meat, you are served a mixed salad followed by a baked potato overflowing with sour cream. Yummy!

After our meal we toured the city some more. I am not really sure what happens in this building, but I love the boldness in the yellow. The woman laying on the wall is reading. Ladenburg was filled with random statues and sculptures. It was very unique.

Look! A water well! Of course it is no longer in use today, but it looks pretty cool. That counts, right?

More of wallness, but this wall is covered with beautiful green ivy. The tower in the background is a watchtower. I love that all of these cities are so stinkin' old!

This wall surrounds the city; parts of the wall have crumbled, but a large majority of the wall still remains. Sorry for the glare. It was actually a really sunny day. Don't let the sunshine fool you. It was bone chilling cold. The wind would pick up and take your breath away.

Another thing I liked about this town was the random sculptures. This fellow is bending over holding a rope into the well. What you can't see from this picture is that the rope he is holding is only about 6 inches long.

Once you get off of the main roads leading to Ladenburg, the concrete becomes cobblestone. I love walking on it, but driving on it is a different story. It is like driving over tiny potholes. It makes your brain shake.

I just loved the awesome rose color of this wall. After seeing all of the wonderful colored buildings in Germany that seemed peculiar at first, it is going to be weird to see such blah colors in the states. Also, all of the windows have shutters in Germany. They are either wooden shutters like these below, or yucky metal ones that slide down over the windows. These are definitely the better of the two.

After this point in our adventure my camera died. Boo! If you would like to see more pictures from this gem of a city, there is a link on my facebook page. Cathy very kindly shared her pictures with us from her kodak gallery :)

Monday- Well originally we set off to go to the big PX in Ramstein to look for a Chi. Ours is on the fritz, and slowly dying. We looked at the PX on post and they were sold out. They only ship 3 at a time, so they don't stay on the shelf for very long. We thought Ramstein would be a good place to go because they pretty much trump any selection we hav at our PX. Lenea and I drove Paul to work and hopped on the autobahn. Of course it took us 45 minutes to realize we were headed in the wrong direction. I know. Ridiculous. The great thing about Germany highways is that exits are few and far between. We had to continue driving in the wrong direction for another 15 minutes before we found an exit. Once we exited, we traveled down another freeway comparable to 290 once you get out in the boonies. We drove down it a little ways until there was a privet drive for us to turn around in. Finally, we managed to head in the right direction. The ironic part is that the right direction was also back towards Mannheim. After 2 hours in the car going nowhere, we decided to nix the trip to Ramstein which is an hour past our house. We then headed to the mall thinking that we could go to a department store and buy a Chi off of the shelf. Nope. No Chi to be found in the entire German Mall. Not a single one. Then we came home and ordered one off of Amazon.

Tuesday (today)- It has taken me about 2 hours to upload all of these pictures and comment on them. This, my friends, is an act of love. I enjoy doing it once I hear about how much you guys are enjoying it, but sometimes it is a bit of a task. I can only imagine what it will be like once I get back from my trip next week. I will have so many pictures for you guys! I am not quite sure how I am going to do it yet, but I will get them to ya'll somehow. Tomorrow Lenea and I will be leaving for Amsterdam on the ICE, which is one of the fastest trains in Europe. Giggedy giggedy! I am pumped! I will then meet my girls on Saturday at the Amsterdam airport. We will stay a couple of days in Amsterdam, then head to Berlin on an overnight train. I think I have booked us our own compartment, but we will have to wait and see. The wording is kind of funny on some of the booking sights. Worst case scenario we will just have the reclining seats on the general train compartments. From Berlin we will fly RyanAir to Frankfurt. We arrive the night of March 17 and will stay the night in Frankfurt. The next morning Lenea is going to pick us up from Frankfurt and drive us back to Mannheim. I will show the girls my stomping grounds and possibly Weinheim or Ladenburg. In the afternoon of March 19 we head out on a train to Paris! I am excited because this is the only city on our grand tour that I have never seen. I am pumped to be revisiting all of the cities thus far, but Paris seems so grand. I go back and forth with my idea of the city for a couple of reasons:

1) You always hear about the dislike of Americans in Paris, and France in general.

2) I have heard it is a dirty city.

3) I have also heard that they try to scam Americans.

On the other hand, Paris has so much to see! I mean come on...it's Paris! Once the girls leave I will be headed back on the ICE to Mannheim, just me and my backpack. :) So excited!

Since it will be a while until my next post, I hope to be writing soon with good health and a happy spirit. Please continue to pray for my family...that God would show us how to love one another through the worst, and remind us to find joy in the little treasures in life. Ich liebe dich!!

The Windy Season

Friday- Earlier in the day I got to skype with some family. I was able to talk to Jordan before she went to school. It was western day at school on Friday, so she was all dolled out in a bandana, jeans, and cowboy boots. Her elementary school was having a western dance thing...remember that? You were partnered with someone from the opposite sex, and nearly had a heart attack because you had to dance with them. All week in P.E. you practiced the different westerdn dances. Then on Friday your family would come and watch you perform. Jordan was describing her dance partner to me and said, "I don't want to dance with that fool." Well okay then. Aparently she had to teach her partner a few tricks, because he was not rythmically inclined. Who knew our Jordan was such a dancer? Don't get me wrong. She loves the spotlight, but I didn't know she had dance moves. Her P.E. teacher pulled her and a small group of students out of her class to show some of the other students what the dance looks like. She was pretty pumped about that. John's parents came to watch Jordan, so I was able to say hello. Later on that evening Paul, Lenea and I, went to Muddy's Club. They advertised a New Orleans jazz band. Turns out it was a German jazz band that performed New Orleans style music. The singer is very well known in Germany and he has a stellar voice. We decided that he was a mix between Baloo and King Louie from the Jungle Book. He had the voice of King Louie and the body of Baloo. He would just stand there and snap and skat. I just wanted to give him a hug. He had that grandfatherly feel to him. It was fun and the music was stellar! The great part is that they would sing in English, but then between songs they would speak in German. The man who would introduce the songs would get up and speak, and then do a magic trick. It was so bizaar. We were dying in laughter because he would just stand up and speak in such a monotone voice, and then open a billfold that would burst into flames. It was great. Then on the way back in the train some stupid teenagers almost got into a fight. One of the knuckleheads was American. Go figure. It is people like him who give the rest of us Americans a bad name overseas. Yeesh.

Saturday- Ramstein! Ramstein is an air force base and it is so nice. There entire base was so much nicer than what we are living on. Aparently the air force always has nicer things. Grrr. Our downstairs neighbor was going and offered to take us with her. It is about an hour drive from Mannheim to Ramstein, and it is a beautiful drive. I would have taken pictures, but my tummy was too rumbly. It is a beautiful drive, but it is very hilly. I wanted to kiss the ground when we got out of the car. One of the reasons that Lenea and I rode with her is because Lenea has quit smoking! As part of her reward system for giving up the nasty habbit, she gets a treat for every 10 days without a smoke. She decided to get Polish pottery which is sold at the PX/mall on Ramstein. Our PX is Walmart, while Ramstein has a mall. She was a very happy camper!

Sunday- We had guests over for dinner to eat Chicken and Dumplings. Homemade chicken and dumplings. Yummy! We invited Frau Karen, the German culture teacher, and Cathy, the dentist who took the German culture class with Paul and Lenea. Frau Karen is a hoot. She does not hold her tongue, and will tell you how she feels. I love it. Cathy is so soft spoken, but so adventurous. She is going to be my inside guide to travel, because she has gone everywhere! I can't wait to pick her brain and make a list of the top places I want to see while I am here. :) It was crazy windy Sunday too. We had our windows open because it felt fantastic outside. Then all of a sudden the wind picked up and our windows were banging like crazy. It was so windy that B-B-Q pits were being blown over and trees were bending. It was intense! We were told that after winter the windy season starts. Oh joy. I just was spring! Some sun and flowers. Is that too much to ask for? I guess all of the not-so-fun weather will help us appreciate the good stuff.

Monday- Lenea and I are enjoying the beauty of today. The sun is out and shining, so we decided to go for a walk in the sunshine. Then we came in and started laundry. Another 10 loads down.

I wish there was a spell check option on this. Sometimes I start typing so fast that I end up leaving out letters in words, or mix up the order of the letters so the word is not spelled correctly. I miss the red squiggly lines that appear under words in a Microsoft Word document. I need those to say, "Hey! Look at me. You don't know how to spell." Then you right click on the word and it shows you a list of words that you might be trying to spell because you butchered the spelling so badly. All of this to say, please forgive my typos :)

Weinheim Part Zwei

Since Lenea was not able to make it to Weinheim with me on the USO tour on Tuesday, I decided to be her personal tour guide. I tried not to duplicate the pictures I already posted, so here are some new ones from today.

Another view of MarktPlatz with the castle in teh background on the hilly mountain. I am not sure whether it is a hill or a mountain, so I am just going to call it a hilly mountain for now.



Random housing. Just playing with my camera settings a bit.



Moss on the side of a wall...



...and cool vines up the wall.

This little waterway sneaks its way through the "old town" part of Weinheim, which is where the lower income housing is located. See the wall to the left? I took a picture of that yesterday with all of the crazy bricks jutting out and textured people on the side of it.

These two little creepers were just hanging out behind someones house/apartment. Kind of bizaar and cute at the same time.

These doors are at the bottom of most buildings. At one point in time they were used to slide coal down to warm up the homes.

Enjoying goodies from a cafe in the MarktPlatz (market area) of Weinheim. It was a beautiful day! I forgot that my camera was still on the crazy setting where it picks up one color, so this is what I got...a splash of red on my coffee mug :)

Apple Streussel with pure whipped cream. It was very yummy! What I love most about the Germany pastries and desserts is that they aren't as sweet as American treats.

At first I wasn't a fan of German coffe because it is much stronger than what I am used to; then I learned how to doctor it up just right to truly enjoy it. Two creams and a sugar substitute and I am a happy camper. The little cookie that is wrapped in the black plastic is to die for when it is submerged in coffee-ness. Mmmm!

As we were walking towards the strassenbahn (the train), this sign caught our eye. Paul, Lenea, and I are going to check it out tomorrow. We are going to ask Major Sterling, the female dentist who so kindly tried to set me up with one of her coworkers, if she wants to go with us. She is the neatest lady who is filled with spunk. She is fantastic!

After Lenea and I got home we ate dinner (spaghetti) and went to the free spinning class that is offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at the gym. Elizabeth tagged along, but Paul opted to stay home. Smart man. It was an hour of death. You sit on a stationary bike as the instructor tells you to pedal faster, add resistance, sprint (which is standing up and pedaling at the same time), ...yadda, yadda, yadda. Tomorrow should be fun. The first spot I noticed pain was on my hiney bone. Those seats need more padding! We joked about strapping a pillow to us for our next class, but honestly we might just do it. Haha. Then slowly I noticed that my legs were burning. All of this happened in the first five minutes of our warmup. I am so out of shape. We are going to take Paul with us next time, and start taking the class regularly. It was an intense cardio workout as I felt my pulse in every part of my body. I am sure that after a couple of weeks I will thank the instructor as I begin to notice a difference on my body, but not so much right now. He would continuously yell at us to "push harder." I would just look up at him and grin. What do you think I am trying to do? Anywho-it kicked my butt!

Ich liebe dich!

Weinheim, Germany

Monday, Monday...lah, lah, lah, dah, dah. You know that song? Monday, Monday.. anywho. Monday was a pretty good day. I went to the clinic to get the second round of the skin test that I needed as part of the pre-employment packet. That packet is intense. The assistant in human resources said that my 7 year background check should come back sometime in the next two weeks. Great. I feel like I am living in this haze, where everything is gray. Nothing can be black and white. What happened to the land of certainty? Apparently I left that in America. Anyways, it could be another two weeks until my paperwork back, but he is not for sure. I can't start actually working at the CDC until all of the paperwork is returned, so I won't start working until mid March. It is a good thing that I applied for the job the second week I got here. Yeesh! After the clinic Lenea and I went to the USO to sign up for a day tour to Weinheim for Tuesday. It was only 10 euro. Yippee! After the USO we went by the gym to pick up a schedule of the classes they offer. There is a spinning class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Did I mention it is free? Oh yes. It is free. Can you believe that? The government is offering free classes. I know. Shocking. You can pick your jaw off of the floor now. We are going to start the spinning classes, especially since they are free!! We lucked out, because we had the car today to run these piddly errands. The weather here has been pretty gross, so having the car allows us to get out more frequently and en. A lot of drizzly rain, which is the worst kind of rain. It is not quite enough rain for you to pull out your umbrella, but then you get soaking wet and you have no idea how. If you pull out your umbrella for the drizzly rain, then you look like a pansy because it isn't really raining. Luckily I have succumbed to being a pansy and I now use my umbrella whenever I feel the slightest hint of rain. It is no fun walking around wet. No fun at all.

Tuesday- Weinheim! I ended up going alone because a Vodafone technician was going to come to our apartment and fix our internet and phone. I was kind of excited because this was one of the first opportunities I had to meet people on my own. I knew that most of the woman were going to be army wives and probably older than me, but I was okay with that. We were a small group of 6 women, but I liked it. It allowed for a more personal tour where I was able to talk to every person in the group. They were sweet women, and all married with children. It was a fun day, but I can't see myself calling any of the women to hang out. With that being said, this is what we saw:

Once we departed from the train we had to trek up the hill to get into the heart of the city.



We turned from the above road onto this cute little street.




That little street turned into the walking district, which you see below. It is a lot more charming than the walking districts in Mannheim and Heidelberg. Weinheim is a much smaller city, so it offers the ideal feel of a quaint German town.

This is a plaque for Jewish families who were torn from their homes in the Holocaust. The plaques are all over the walking district in front of stores. They have the name of the families who were pulled from the homes above the stores. The plaques represent the every day family. They weren't extremely wealthy or poor. These were just average families who were trying to survive in trying times.

There are ugly parts of Germany too, but just beyond the construction are the two old castles in Weinheim. If you look closely at the top of the mountain in between the two red construction poles, then you will see them.

Once you walk farther into the heart of Weinheim (pronounced vine-hime), you reach the MarktPlatz (market area). This area is where local farmers will bring their produce certain days of the week to sell to the community. Farmers will setup their stands in the large open area where the truck is parked. Along the storefronts you will find cafes, restaurants, and shops.

Another view of the MarktPlatz. We were told that cars are not supposed to park in those areas, but apparently they didn't feel like following the rules that day.

If you walk past MarktPlatz, then you will find this tower. This was a knight's tower. Almost everywhere you stood in Weinheim, you could look up and see the castles. This tower was in a pretty central location to allow knights to keep an eye on both the castle and the common folk. Notice the rectangular box next to the window towards the top of the tower. Do you see it? It kind of sticks out a bit. That is the toilet. There is no bottom of the box, so the excrement would simply fall down to the ground. Now use your eye to travel down the column. What do you see? The door. Why would you put the opening from the toilet right above the door? What a wonderful way to welcome your guests.

This is the entrance to the "new" castle. When referring to the castles of Weinheim this would not be one of them, because this castle was built much later than the original two castles of the city. This castle was built to house a princess who was not allowed to mingle in the city because she was unwilling to sleep with her husband. She was given an ultimatum by her husband: this castle or sex. Well...we know what she chose.

The tower of the "new" castle.

Not too shabby eh?

Ginormous tree in the "front yard" of the castle. Look how small the person is standing next to the tree.

Memorial tombstones to the family who loaned the Weinheim people the money to build their castles. Did I mention this is in the front yard of the new castle? Creepy.

Just beyond the new castle is this tower.

What is missing? The door. What else is missing? The box that sticks out of the side for the toilet. Who would stay in this tower? Prisoners. Wouldn't that be the pits...no door and no toilet.

This is the park that extends from the new castle. The pond is completely frozen over!

View from the park looking up at the old castles.

This shrine is in the public park. The Weinheim government took care of this at one point, but now they ran out of money and it just sits in the public park.

This golden beauty is hidden under dome of the shrine. If this is on the outside, then can you imagine what the inside looks like? We couldn't go inside because it is now closed to the public.

Me :) I wanted to get a picture to show myself in these places, but I couldn't hold the camera far enough away to get a decent shot. This is what I got.

Another tower, but this one was for witches. If a young woman was supspected of being a witch, then she was held up here until her trial. The trial was brutal. Germans believed that waters was one of the most pure substances of our world, so they used it in witch trials to test the character of a young woman suspected of being a witch. They would take the woman and throw her in a lake or large body of water. If she sank, then the water accepted her and she was pure. The only downside is that meant she had to drown to prove her purity. If she floated, then water rejected her and she was a witch. Then they would take the "witch" and hang or burn her.

These rocks with red stripes are scratching posts. They lined the corners of buildings in the low income part of the city. Carriages were apparently very reckless and would often times run into the sides of buildings. If buildings had scratching posts, then the carriage would run into the posts and ruin the carriage wheels instead of scratching or ruining the sides of peoples' homes.

Pathway into the lower class of the Weinheim society. Weinheim is one of the only cities that still holds close to a leveled society. The higher up the mountain you live, the more money you have; the lower down the mountain you live, the less money you have. Most people who lived in this part of Weinheim were tanners.

Does this not scream Germany?



To the left of the doorway is a coat of arms. The family who lived in this house worked with swords, hence the crossed swords on the coat of arms. :)

I really like the way this blue door pops in the black and white. One of my favorites of the day!

The smallest house in the city. Yes...someone lives there.

Someone's awesome gate. Look at that face. Love it! Germans are crazy.

More crazy German architecture...

Monument from WWII...

Crazy ticket booth. This is where you buy your ticket to get on the train. Public transportation is outstanding here!

I really liked Weinheim, but then again I have liked everything so far!

Wednesday: Laundry. This may seem silly-to blog about doing laundry, but we don't have a washer/dryer in our apartment. There are 5 washing machines and 5 dryers in the basement. It is cold and smelly down there. It is not my favorite thing to do. Once the laundry got going, I had to walk to the clinic to get a physical as part of the pre-employment package. I passed, but I am still waiting to get my 7 year background check back. Yeesh!

Tomorrow I am going to walk Lenea through the city to show her all of the goodness of the city. Hopefully I can remember it all!