Stagnation!

unbelievable, but true: since three weeks we check on available apartments here in Bremen. Petra and I saw more than 15, but always there is something wrong or missing. Or the layout is totally bad, the atmosphere of the house is depressing, the price too high, location too bad (as i.e. on a very busy main street or too far away from the city center or the river Weser), and so on.

On top of all the weather is a real challenge: the first week was quite pleasant, but since then temperature went down: 42 degrees in the night, over the day maximum of 60 degrees! And only very sparse sunshine... therefore a lot of rain showers every day. A real challenge - especially when everybody from tells us about the weather there!

Last weekend we looked at some apartments, but that experience was primarily demoralizing: with infallible certainty the real-estate-brokers always showed the ugliest building in the whole street: characterless flats from the 80ies with low ceilings...
Definitely not what we are dreaming about... Ahh, if there would be only a Betsy Little around here!

In the evening we drove to Lauenau to see our friends Jonna, Uta, Andy and Christoph who were screening "Good Bye Lenin" in the backyard of their old building. It was very nice, a lot of neighbours and friends showed up and people loved the story.
We saw the movie the second time and liked more than initially on the plane. For folks who haven't been around in that time in Germany / Berlin, it is a must to grasp the craziness of that time… (sorry, Jean-Baptiste that we couldn’t speak about it at the party on 5/21)

Our first weekend trip: surprise visit to Andy, Jonna, Uta & Christoph... 

...who were screening "Good Bye Lenin" in the backyard of their medieval watercastle 

Informationboard at streetcar stop with real time indicator of arrival times of the trains 

Technology in old Europe: We were really impressed about the way a lot of places in public life are tech driven. One example is the street car system: there is a very dense net of street car lines here and they drive - not as frequent as the NY subway - all 5 - 10 minutes.

When you are waiting at the stop, you are always up to date about the arrival time of your train through the information board which indicates the remaining waiting time for each train in real time.
In case the train is blocked by a delivery car or another obstacle, it is shown as well. So you always know if there is still enough time to get a Bratwurst at one of the many snack booth or to light a cigarette! Impressive!

Petra's investment in transportation 

Bicycles everywhere 

People love riding bicycles here! In a way it feels like Holland. But that's only logical: Bremen is very flat, doesn't have any natural obstacles for bicycle riders, so everybody, but really everybody rides a bike here. Kids, moms, the young and old. Everywhere you can see lots of bicycles parked outside, people riding through the pedestrian zone, and nobody is complaining about it. People seem to be very tolerant and relaxed here.

So, one thing is clear: we both need to get a bike as well ASAP! Petra got hers yesterday at the "Radstation" directly next to the Main Railway Station. It is a shop and a bicycle parking garage for the commuters making their daily trip to Hamburg or Hannover (1 hour and 1 1/2 hour train ride).

a nice lunch place 

The bronze statue of The Bremen Town Musicians 

The ball room as seen from Horst's office 

window with view 

...in the new office 

My room in the second floor (with the open window) 

The hallway of the Senate 

Horst in front of his new work place 

My first day at work! I get a friendly reception by my new colleage Mrs Frohmader, who shows me around the gothic town hall and introduces me to all the colleagues I will have to deal with (yes, guys at Edison, that's the way I think it should be with every new colleague!).

And here comes my new office - I can't believe it! A round room in the tower annex of the town hall. A chandelier at the ceiling, looking through the one window I look onto the old "Lovely Lady Church", the other windows grants me a look into the big ball room which is located one floor below. The only disadvantage is that I am not so close to my co-workers who are all on the first floor.

Since most of the colleagues have taken a day of because of Pentecost, Petra and I can go to the "DMV" to register with the municipality (which is compulsory in Germany) and to get an "identity card".

On Monday we pack our stuff in the VW Golf and are on our way to Bremen. 4 hours drive at 100 mph. On the way the weather turns really ugly with heavy down pours and thunderstorms. Oh my god, how will it be in Bremen.

But to our big surprise the weather clears up the closer we get to Bremen and once we come into the town it is splendidly nice! The street our temporary apartment is located in, is lovely: two storey building with little front yards. But what is wrong here? It is so extremely QUIET! We can't handle so much green and nature, calm and easiness at once. We expected something difficult, sad, looking like a bad compromise, but it's not. Just cool. We are very glad about this mellow arrival.

In the evening we call Petra's old friend Silke from Poughkeepsie who lives in Bremen since the early 90ies. She lives around the corner and we meet at the Cafe Amadeus, one of the nice neighborhood cafes with outdoor seating facing the little green square, a block away from our apartment.

In the evening we take the train to Cologne to meet with our friends Karen and Martin. There is a special competition between Düsseldorf and Cologne, like between New York and New Jersey, so we were lucky that we did not need any visa for the 30 minutes train ride.

Martin moved half a year ago from Manhattan to Cologne and we are very glad to see both back. Finally some of our New York friends we can talk English with, sharing our first impressions, feelings, hopes, doubts. The top is the chicken grilled on a real American Weber! Nothing can beat that.

With the white Golf with an honorable patina we drive back to Düsseldof. Thanks so much you both!

American-German Gothics 

Ahhh! Fresh rolls in the sunshine! 

Breakfast in the garden 

O.k., so here we go! After a couple of weeks preparations, packing, sending off all our stuff, a very nice good-bye-party we are on our way to JFK on Friday afternoon, 5/28.
Thunderstorms break lose, traffic as hell, but we make it in time with the limo to get the plane at the British Airways Terminal.
We are having a last beer in NY at the gate, where we meet Sam, a very nice guy who also works in IT. What system he is working with? Lawson! Oh, god, the same system we have been struggling with for years, and they are still on version 7.2.3 as well...

The flight itself passes uneventful, squeezed in the seats in the wooden class - unluckily not business as some other people can travel (right, Rainer?).
Stopover in the morning at Manchester: gray sky, drizzle, cold and we see people eating blood pudding and sausage for breakfast. What a start... Another connection flight to Düsseldorf and Petra's brother Ralph picks us up. But suddenly it is not Ralph alone, but a big welcoming committee of 10 people! half the family came from Bavaria and Berlin came to surprise us. Unbelievable, we are so tired that we can't even react appropriately.

We drive to the house of Petra's father, beautiful weather, blue sky and sun, so we gonna have breakfast in the garden! How nice life can be - curing the jetlag in the shadow of old, beautiful trees! In the evening excursion to the old center of Düsseldorf, famous for it's local beer bars and good restaurants, where we are up to asparagus (it's the season!) and delicious fish dishes.

Such a warm welcome helps so much with such a move!