Risk Level 2!!

Gefährdungsstufe 2 – that’s the security level the Berlin police have defined for Barack Obama’s visit to their city.

I’ll be there, and the speech will be televised on 4 stations, but don’t count on seeing me there. They have already made arrangements to limit access close to the stage.

Check out this great article in the Berliner Morgenpost on the preparations. They estimate it will cost 250,000 Euro to host this event, paid for by the city.

Mamma Mia! English language movies in Vaihingen

There are some films that are just best seen in the original language. Mamma Mia is one of them. With so many famous actors, there is a certain quality that can only be perceived when you hear their voices.

Corso Theater in Vaihingen is the place to see these films. They have English language films every day. Currently playing are films like Mamma Mia and Get Smart. The Dark Knight will be opening in August, I believe.

Corso has a family feel to the business. They are responsive to customers and work hard to serve them well. I like the personal touch I get when I go there. The theater is easily accessible either by parking in the Vaihinger Markt garage, or the Schwaben Galerie garage (Vaihinger Markt is cheaper), or by train from the Vaihingen train station.

Mamma Mia is a fabulous movie, and well worth the ticket price. If you like any of the actors, or the music of Abba at all, it’s a must. Fine, one of the big stars clearly doesn’t sing as well as the others, and one of the big stars will surprise you their singing talent, but that’s for you to decide. The location is beyond belief, and makes the movie worthwhile for those of you who’ve seen the play.

When you go, please help me figure out why I couldn’t stop crying during the Dancing Queen segment. I was dumbfounded – it’s a happy song and a happy movie situation, and there were tears streaming down my cheeks for the whole song. Tears of joy, I assume.

The closing credits were kicked off with a surprise. The final surprise for me was, at the end, the entire audience (maybe 3 people excepted) stayed in their seats for the WHOLE credits. We all sat there and read every detail. Unusual, and a unique theatrical experience.

Electric Bull riding, basketball and The Wild West in Tübingen

Sunday, July 6, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Botanical Garden in Tübingen, is the Summer party from the German-American Institute of Tübingen.

More details:

http://www.accentsonline.de/dai-t%C3%BCbingen-summer-party

or

http://www.dai-tuebingen.de/en/index.php?sec=news

Maybe a little TOO orderly?

See this picture? There are several cars in the lower right-hand corner. Those are cars of some acquaintances of mine. Today, as we were talking, one of the guys explained in great detail where he parks. How went on to talk about other colleagues of his who park next to him. Right next to him. Every single day. If one person is not there, no one parks in “his” spot.

As a matter of fact, there are a half dozen people involved in this unspoken agreement. There are no reserved spaces, no rights to a particular place, in fact this is a semi-public lot with hundreds of spaces. Every German around me was nodding like this is a good thing.

Another person spoke up. His office (a small German company), has a hot-desking structure, in which everyone chooses a desk when they come in in the morning. Except they don’t. Someone went out and had little towels made with each employee’s name on them. When the employee is not in the office, the towel hangs on the coat rack. When they are coming into the office, however, they reserve their office spaces with their towels.

I can be spontaneous. Just give me a couple of days.

Onkel Baracks Hütte: are Germans funny?

The Berliner Tageszeitung said something that could never be said in America. Over a picture of the White House they put a headline titled, “Onkel Baracks Hütte,” or Uncle Barack’s Cabin.

That really crossed a line that cannot be used in America. Last night, Stephen Colbert used the headline as part of his story on foreign press coverage of the US election.

To call someone an “Uncle Tom,” especially a black man, is an insult of the highest degree. This comment is not even made in jest in the US.

 Watch the Stephen Colbert clip from June 11 titled “Un-American News – U.S. Election Edition“  here. The taz article is mentioned about 3 minutes into the clip.

The taz article is discussed further here.

Colbert’s comment: “As a rule, Germans shouldn’t do humor.”

 

Everything a good cafe has, and naked too!

We went to the Boeblingen Mineraltherme Bad today. Originally intending to stay until about 11ish, we ended up leaving after 1 p.m. It was wonderful and relaxing, with perfect weather this morning giving us plenty of sunshine.

Their website’s worth checking out at http://www.mineraltherme-boeblingen.de/

As you look at the picture on the front page of the website, the entrance is down front and the pool area is above it. Down to the lower right is the sauna area.

Normal entry fee is Eur 9.50, with an optional 3.50 for the extended sauna area. For the 9.50, you get 3.5 hours access to all of the pools and the classes in the pool area. Today they offered a few classes and a sound-therapy session while we were there.

Everything is fabulously clean and orderly. Upon entry, you get a wrist bad with a chip on it. It records your entry fee, and allows you to add supplemental activities that cost extra. Even the lockers use the chips for locking the doors.

Pool temperature varies by pool, often ranging near body temperature. There are cool water pools and a Kneipp installation if you’re into that sort of thing. After an hour of bathing in the various warm pools, I took the plunge into one of the cold baths. My skin was tingly all over afterwards, and my little screeches entertained the people nearby who were smart enough to be in the warm pool instead.

After a while, we decided to try out the sauna. That’s a much nicer area when it comes to seating and garden facilities, since the first area is about the water more than the sauna. There’s a central restaurant/cafe that serves both spaces. They serve fresh juices and coffee, beer, and food, just like any cafe. I drank a fresh juice blend that had strawberries, peach and orange juice in it. We put our drinks onto our chip and paid for them as we left.

The sauna has a thorough selection of sauna rooms dotted across the landscape. We enjoyed one that had a pine scent as well as the Panorama sauna, where all seats face the pool area, and that wall of the sauna is glass, so there’s always someone walking by. In all their naked glory.

That’s one of the best things about the sauna – clothing is not allowed. It’s quite allowed to use robes and towels placed strategically, and towels are required for any time you want to sit. Take a large beach or sauna towel, because you are also supposed to put your feet on your towel while in the sauna.

Nudity is not a big deal here. First of all, essentially everyone is older, and today there were relatively few kids (price helps keep kids away, I imagine). But far and away, most people were walking around with their towels thrown over their shoulders. Occasionally I saw someone with a robe on, but mostly people didn’t bother. Bring your own robe if you want to use one.

We ended up staying our full time, and will consider purchasing a day ticket next time. Then we’ll bring a book and some sunglasses, and really enjoy the atmosphere.

Wanna live longer in Germany? Stop smiling

Poker faces can have some benefits. If you’re playing poker, a good poker face will prevent the other players from detecting your satisfaction with your cards. If you like to play practical jokes, a stoic countenance can keep the secret as long as you want. If you have to discipline your toddler when she has just drawn smiley faces all over your living room walls, it helps to keep a straight face.

Of course, if your toddler has been drawing smiley faces all over the place, she’s apparently unlikely to be German, or if she is, then she found her smiles somewhere else. Germans don’t feel the need to smile at everything, the way Americans do. Turns out they are just being protective of their health.

A German psychologist has found that people who smile a lot often suffer from stress, depression or even heart disease. See deutsche welle for the full story.

I guess laughter therapy wouldn’t be so successful over here. http://www.teehee.com/ 

Arts and Crafts Fair (Handwerkermarkt)

Here are some images from our visit yesterday. Open today (Sunday) til 6 p.m.

Strawberry season opens

You can pick strawberries in the area, and the season has just started.

We found a nice place to pick between Holzgerlingen and Schönaich. You drive down to Holzgerlingen, then as you’re almost out of the town, there’s a sign to Schönaich. Follow that, and the Weippert signs start showing up once you’re well out of town. The small strawberry field is to the right as you drive towards Schönaich.

Bring your own bucket/bowls. There are some there, but it’s not a big operation. Price is Eur 2.20 per kilo.

There were plenty of berries to be had, and on this Sunday morning, it wasn’t busy at all. We never had more than one other family with us. They have a small section marked for picking and will tell you once you’re there.

These berries are fresh and delicious, although I believe they will taste better in a week. Enjoy!

Tara Restaurant in Sindelfingen: Dedicated to customer service, and tasty, too!

A great new restaurant in Sindelfingen is the Tara Restaurant on the Wettbachplatz. That’s in the pedestrian zone near the intersection of the Poststrasse and the Untere Torgasse. Parking is best in the Stern Center garage, but there’s street parking in many places.

If you like to talk American football, one of the owner/waiters played for 20 years in various AF leagues in Germany.

The restaurant is wonderfully clean and the seating area is fresh and light. The staff is constantly looking over the dining are, looking for customers who might need something. They provide a handy tool to make it easy for you to signal a waiter, but I’ll let you be surprised when you go there.

The menu is only a suggestion, according to the owners. If you want something a bit different, just speak up. They require employees to have English knowledge, so that shouldn’t be a concern.

We ordered a cheeseburger, a side salad and a baked potato. Burgers and steaks are definite specialities. They grind the meat for the burgers themselves, adding some egg and a bit of paneermehl to hold it together on the grill. My husband, normally a conqueror when it comes to the food on his plate, could not finish this burger.

The waiter (I think he was also the owner) brought out a fresh T-bone steak to the next table so he could explain the concept to those who’d never seen one before. There was also a nice little appetizer brought to our table that we wolfed down.

I ordered a homemade lemonade, titled “American Lemonade.” Wrong. Not American – way too tart. But it was fabulous, and they did serve a couple of ice cubes with it.  My baked potato WAS American-sized, and had a cheese sauce with a slice of crispy bacon. There was pretty good cole slaw in the salad, and the ingredients were fresh without too heavy a dressing.

They also offer Caesar salad, hot dogs, and Schwabian food. There’s also a terrace out front for sunny days, although tonight it was raining.

Great place, great food, great service. Who could ask for more?