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I had a laundry list of things I
needed to do during my three days in Germany, on of which
included laundry. My mother was kind enough to oblige, picking
up where she left off in France. Not surprisingly, much
of the remainder of my to-do list revolved around food.
French food is not really my thing (but that’s a story for
another time), so I was jonesing for some German vittles.
I had to pare down my list to the essentials - käsespätzle,
Nürnbergerwürstchen, rahmschnitzel,
kroketten, frikadelle, and the staples
fleischwurst and leberwurst. Even with
a shortened list, it took some coordination to work everything
into three days. Luckily, my parents were up to the task
and very accommodating. My father even fixed me a fine sausage,
bacon, and egg breakfast as a refreshing departure from
the tired croissant et confiture repas with which
I had been starting the day in France.
My father had his own to-do list for me. Just before he
retired, he bought his first computer, and it’s been a constant
source of aggravation for him ever since. Viruses, printer
problems, hard drive crashing – you name it. To his credit,
he has stuck with it over the last three years and has really
learned a considerable amount, regardless of what my mother
says. Even so, there were some things he wanted me to go
over, which I did. I fixed up his screen resolution to something
more suitable to a senior citizen, and he learned how to
burn a CD to backup his files. A major improvement was an
optical mouse to replace the original mouse which now seemed
to have a mind of its own.
Germany is truly the best place to
be during Christmas if for no other reason than the Weihnachtsmarkts.
There’s nothing like strolling through the market on a cold
wintry night sipping glühwein. Because of
my time constraints, I had to settle for an early morning
visit to the Kaiserslautern market, but there were still
plenty of beverages available. |
Kaiserslautern's
Weihnachtsmarkt in the wee hours.
An experienced glühwein
drinker.
Another view of
Steinstraße.
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