Moving Date

What with waiting for the end of the semester and a few business trips, looks like the Move Date will be the beginning of March.

The Moving People came to do a "survey" of the house to see what is being stored and what is being moved. They commented we had a lot of stuff....but hey, we have been in the house for 18 years!

Now to start sorting....

Glockenspiel of Munich

The Rathaus-Glockenspiel of Munich is located in Marienplatz and was part of the second construction phase of the New Town Hall, dating from 1908. Marienplatz (Mary's Square) is a central square in the city center of Munich, Germany since 1158.
(click on pictures to get a close up)

Close up of the Clock.

The Rathaus (Town Hall)

Every day at 11 a.m. (as well as 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. in summer) it chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century to the amusement of mass crowds of tourists and locals. It consists of 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures,

The top half of the Glockenspiel tells the story of the marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lothringen. In honor of the happy couple there is a joust with life-sized knights on horseback representing Bavaria (in white and blue) and Lothringen (in red and white). The Bavarian knight wins every time of course.

The bottom half tells the story of the Schäfflerstanz (the coopers' dance). In the 16th century a particularly bad period of the plague hit town and everyone went into hiding. The first people to dare go back onto the streets were barrel makers who performed a big dance to show that it was okay to come out again.

This small model of the center of Munich was found nearby.

Signs of Confusion

I guess going up and down is okay, but side to side is Verboten.


Women and children can walk here...but what about the men?



Evidently the men are allowed to get run over by cars.

Watch out for birds attacking you on bicycle?

Downtown Erlangen

We got to explore Erlangen a bit...

The kids discovered the "mall"...

There was also a pedestrian shopping area...

There is much international food. We ate at Thai, Italian/Greek, Bavarian, and Japanese Sushi! We had traditional Bavarian food at Alter-Simpl .

For the 1000 year anniversary Jubilee in 2002 the city asked the artist Isolde Kunath to create a project of monument objects. In the metropolitan area, 16 "Pinnadeln" (Pin Needles) were placed that mark and information about the historical aspects of Erlangen.

FIS

On our visit to Erlangen, we visited the Franconian International School to meet the Admissions person, Carrie, and get a tour. The school has been in existence for 10 years. They have been adding a new class each year and this year they will be having their first graduating (12th grade) class. They also moved into a new school building this August. The girls were very excited to see potential new classmates.

A close up of the building yields a mosaic of different country's flags and the "FIS" logo.



Much to the older one's delight, there is a coffee shop right next door! Not Starbuck's, but she will have to manage with Mr. Bleck.

A couple other places that did not make the cut

This house was in a very nice part of Erlangen...but you had to access the 3rd bedroom by walking through the second bedroom. Also the inside house was painted in a beautiful, detailed way....the only problem was that it needed repainting! It would be a shame to paint it white, but too difficult to repaint what they had done before.

This next duplex was very nice, but twice as far away as all the others.

The winner is....

#4, the New house!

This house is near the town pool, a large green area, minigolf, an OBI (think Home Depot) and soon a shopping center. You can bike to downtown Erlangen across the green space on a bike path.

Obviously this house (duplex) will be brand new. The owner live in the other half where she has a design business. If our landscaping looks like hers, it will be very nice. This house has 4 bedrooms. One is on the ground floor and will be used as a guest bedroom/office. It is supposed to be done by January. Let's cross our fingers!

Here is what the street looks like:

Here is the minigolf:

Here is the bike path heading toward Erlangen:

The town we will be in is called Alterlangen (Old Erlangen)

Which house/apt. did we pick?

Shown below are some of the places to live that we saw while in Erlangen. Which did we choose?

Choice 1: Right across from school

Very convenient for the kids, but only 3 bedrooms. No room for an office.

Choice 2: Bubenreuth

5 Bedrooms, decorated circa 1970's, relatively cheap, kinda dark inside

Choice 3: Bavaria style

Only 3 bedrooms, more than one apt in this building, overlooks the parking lot and building supply center.

Choice 4: Under construction

A bit pricey, not done, 4 bedrooms, brand new

Choice 5: The Green House

The kids bedrooms must be accessed via a hall between apartments or through a steep stairs.

Choice 6: The Penthouse

Only 3 bedrooms, Lots of light, nice balcony, in the middle of apartment land.

Choice 7:The Free standing house

Only 1.5 baths

Choice 8: The Former Rectory

7 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 2 half baths,oh my

Off to Germany!

We are leaving now for the airport...I guess we will be in Germany when we find out who is the next U.S. President! Maybe we will get updates on the airplane?

School Applications have been sent

We are hoping the girls will attend "The Franconian Internation School" located in Erlangen. It seems as though they have just built a new school building that opened this year. There was only one spot left in 10th grade, but I think since we have all our information sent in that it will be no problem for the girls to attend.
The school is an "IB" (International Baccalaureate) school. Here is a link to more information about the IB program in general.

The field trips look like fun:

"The Grade Six class travelled to Belgium’s Euro Space Camp in order to learn more about their Science curriculum while being introduced to the space shuttle and experiencing how astronauts live."

Our Middle School Principal won't even let the students leave the state, much less the country!

Housing Visit

The girls and I will be flying to Munich on 11/4 to meet the hubby for a visit to look at housing. We will drive up to the Erlangen area and stay there. We will look at houses (Haus) and apartments (Wohnung), returning on 11/9.

Try the Eyeballing Game

Try the Eyeballing Game.
My average score was 4.96.
How about you?

Frost Valley

We took our annual trip to a YMCA camp called Frost Valley, located in the Catskill Mountains in NY. This was our lodge:

The foliage was at its peak, as usual

We did Archery....

Boating

Horseback Riding

Hiking

Learning German

I thought we were going to have to wait until we got to Germany to start learning German...Hubby had said we might get enrolled in a course when we got there. However, he got the go ahead to order Rosetta Stone - German which just arrived today!

Move Time-line Update

The hubby just returned from Germany and reports that the official piece of paper that tells the relocation people that we get to move has been lost, so the process is just starting now. Looks we will be there more like in January.

Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator

If I was born to Sarah Palin, my name would be: Spoon Archer Palin
What about you?

How in tune are you with your senses?

Try this quiz to see.
I scored 15/21.

FM100 Hue Test

A color hue sorting game....I got a 31. How about you?
http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

First view of Erlangen

The Hubby took a trip with the HR guy to Erlangen yesterday. It was raining, but he captured this picture with his cell phone (or "Handy" as they call them in Germany). It seems to be a small town with a nice downtown that has lots of outdoor cafes and such.

Review: Premium m&ms

I saw that there was a new type of M&Ms...Premium M&Ms.

They have the following flavors:

• Chocolate Almond
• Mocha
• Triple Chocolate
• Raspberry Almond
• Mint Chocolate.

I tried the Mocha as I quite like chocolate and coffee flavors together.

The M&M site said: "Chocolate decadence meets coffeehouse chic! Each golden-brown nugget contains pure milk chocolate with a jolt of mocha flavor. A scintillating addition to java-time conversations, gallery walks or simply curling up with a good book."

These "m&ms" do not look like the typical m&ms...they have a sort of shimmery gold finish and they are larger too. The shell is not as hard as regular m&ms, so when you pop one in your mouth, the outside melts right away, so you tend not to chew them. As such, you also tend to only eat one at time, which is a good thing, as the package costs $3.99. The chocolate is definitely better than regular m&ms, but is not super premium. The coffee and chocolate flavors are nicely balanced. If you can nibble on chocolate and not eat the entire box, then I would recommend trying these!

Telling People

The littlest daughter has been telling people we are moving to Germany. I am getting a few "My daughter says your daughter says you are moving to Germany??? Is that true?"
I say indeed we are, but I have no more information than that. I have not told everybody at work that we are moving (but have told my boss) because I have no information or timelines to share. I am sure once the process starts it will be so fast I can't stand it, but right now it is hurry up and wait.

It's JUDGMENT, people, JUDGMENT

As a person who once failed a paper in English because I spelled it "judgement", I particularly notice this misspelling.


CNN.com, you should know better!

"I CAN HAS DICTIONARY?"

Fun Game: Hexiom Connect

I am currently at level 26 of Hexium Connect.

"I am like the Robert Downey, Jr. of Cookies"

Cookie Monster defends his honor vs. Steven Colbert

Those Helpful People at Pathmark...Oddly Enough

I like blogs like:

• Cakewrecks
• The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks
• Passive Agressive Notes
• Fail Blog

This is a sign that doesn't quite fit into any of those categories, but should.

Possibly Why These People Don't Run Our Cafeteria Anymore

Get it? It's "ECO FRIENDLY" because it's GREEN soup?

No, I did not try it!

(from our Cafeteria at work)

Welcome!

Welcome, readers of this blog.
Part of the reason of this blog is to journal our journey from New Jersey to Germany.
So far all we know is we are headed to Erlangen in Bavaria, Germany.
I hope to write about our adventures as we go along....and about other stuff.