Saarbrucken down

Staying in the same place for an extended period of time, like we are in Saarbrucken while Alivia gets settled, gets you in a rhythm.  You start to see the same people on their own daily routines of going to work or school, walking their dogs, and shopping. We  see the same cashier at the local Reve grocery store who recognizes us because we’re there almost daily to refill your tiny college dorm style refrigerator.

At least she doesn’t ask us for ID anymore with our credit card.

 

You start to notice other things in the neighborhood as well like litter and recycling.  Litter-very little, in Los Angeles and Eugene the second most common litter we would see (the first being those small plastic marijuana canisters) were individual dental floss picks which made us wonder how someone so plaque conscientious could be so environmentally unconscientious.  We finally saw one here on the street.


Recycling is pretty good here with multiple communal drop off sites for paper, clothes and glass separated by color.

The remaining home trash goes in to trash box with a lock, because you are charged by the trash's weight.  So where do you put your dog's poop bag if your neighbor's can is locked? 

  

There’s a fair amount of graffiti here, but it’s more sophisticated because it’s in other languages.   Tut German for "does"", Smor Swedish for "butter".

From what we can tell, Saarbrucken has a large Catholic population (due to its proximity to France?).  We’ve noticed almost every house on the front door has this- which represents the year 2018 and CMB stands for  Christus Mansionem Benedicat, the Latin words meaning, May Christ bless this home.

The parish we are staying in is St.Thomas Morus (More in English). We went to the big church flea market last weekend.  St. Thomas More is the patron saint of difficult marriages, large families, stepparents, adopted children, widowers, politicians and lawyers.  With that lineup it was appropriate that when we went on a gray dreary drizzling Saturday morning, there were only a few pathetic booths and an anemic turnout.  We were looking for something for Alivia’s new apartment but all we got was a little Morus depressed. 

Speaking of politicians,  there’s also a refreshing calmness here away from the constant tension and bombardment of Trump/US political news.   Everyday in the US, it felt omnipresent and palpable. We try to keep up but it feels less stressful because it’s not a shared experience with our neighbors.  The nine-hour time difference and lack of MSNBC contributes to the weaning.  Combined with our last minute frantic packing and locking up of our valuables it felt like we have escaped Nazi America for Germany. We’ve only spoken politics with two people here, both very anti-Trump, so it wasn’t surprising to see this piñata at our local Woolworths’s (yes, we still shop at Woolworth’s)

This week’s photo of topless old man looking out window contemplating his life -waiting for his yellow bath towel to dry while he endures a room temperature beer in his darkened room.

Saarbruken, week 1

Traveling in the US, any US city with its strip malls, name brand fast food restaurants, traffic, main drag and advertising can make every American town look the same.  It’s similar in Europe, but in a better way.  Saarbrucken is lovely, like most European cities,  

, 

with it's clean, quaint downtown plaza - pedestrian mall

beautiful churches,

eye-pleasing architecture

good ice cream

a river through town

weird food names

Saarbrucken could look and feel just like any other small European city but

what makes Saarbrucken more distinct is:

Extensive wooded areas with amazing forest hiking trails, 

dramatic sunsets,

and that one of it’s major industries is legalized prostitution/brothels with over 1000 sex workers in town which explains the multiple prominent billboards like this.

Global warming update-yes it’s real, hour after wearing backpack

This week’s photo of topless old man looking out window contemplating his life 

We Left, 8.14.2018

Our escape from the US followed last minute frantic packing and frenetic preparations to leave for Europe for the next 5-10 months. We agreed to fly to Frankfurt, Germany with our oldest daughter, A, our first grand-daughter, I, and their dog Finn as our son-in-law W went ahead two weeks prior to start a new academic job.
We left PDX with Burgerville milkshakes for a 10 hour flight. Our 14 month old granddaughter was pretty excited but fell asleep even before take-off, waking just in time for a brief introduction to airplane movies animation. It was good that there was still food left so she could feed every animal in Lion King. Finn pretty much slept, we pretty much did not.



We arrived a bit blurry with 3 suitcases, a stroller, a crib, a regular backpack, a carry-on suitcase, a dog carrier, 2 day packs and a purse, basically full of half of everything A and W own.


Will met us and loaded the large rental car with all of the suitcases plus A, I and Finn and we took the train to Saarbrucken- our home for a month and their home for the next 2 years.

Entering the Frankfurt train station, it looked promising from the start.




Train vs Autobahn?
We arrived about the same time, and after some ineffective walking efforts with misspelled streets on google maps, they picked us up.

We came to our air B&B-England at Chez Josephine, (somewhat thematic? next door is Caribes).
Despite our preparedness, we then showered with dish soap.