Today's Lunch at Hagenbraeu

Well, we went back to the place on the Rhine. Not entirely my choice but today was Father's Day in Germany. It's a real holiday. Most stores and restaurants were closed. We had a walk about downtown but it was a deserted compared to Tuesday. The dishes in order were schnitzel with onion sauce, tender hamhock meat with a brown sauce and a schnitzel with mushroom sauce. The hamhock came with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. It's good food but a bit pricey. It is right on the river. You can sit and watch all the traffic go by.

Still with the jet lag

It's 1:30 pm in Germany and we just finished breakfast. Mrs D isn't the only one having problems adjusting. It's funny though that we all have our distinct sleeping patterns and aren't really awake at night at the same time. I got to sleep at 3 about the time Mr D woke up. I found out later that Mrs D was awake from midnight to 2:30. We all went to sleep eventually and woke up about noon. We are off to downtown Worms to explore.

The View From Our Window

This is the street side view. Across the park is the Prinz Carl Anlage. This is where Mr. D lived for 2 years.

I thought the area was a bit grubby as first but after walking around, I noticed lots of families with young kids. I've learned that you can't judge German building by the exteriors. There may be really nice apartments inside a run down looking building.

Mrs D appreciates the comfort of the vehicle but she seems embarrassed by the size. It's quite a bit bigger than the average car in the neighborhood. The back is big enough that the wheelchair fits nicely.


We drove to Alzey today but I forgot not only my camera bag but also my jacket and the maps. It's nice to see Mrs D so impressed. It's almost like it hasn't quite sunk in yet. We'll have to go back to Alzey to get pics as its a very nice town. We got a chuckle out of my being scolded by an older German woman for not having a jacket on.

German for today "Ohne Jacke!" = Without a jacket!!!

Late night TV

We have "Girls Gone Wild" commercials at night but Germany has things that would make GGW pale in comparison. All I can say is female bodies together with oil or soap. It does show a difference between our cultures.

A late start

I didn't manage to get the internet started in the apartment until this evening. I'll just say that I had the landlord's daughter and her boyfriend come over to point out that I wasn't using upper case letters when I should have. German word of the day "peinlich" = embarassing I'm going to blame the whole incident on jet lag.



Just a fun point, as soon I buy my first German beer to enjoy this evening, Mrs D comes down with severe heartburn. It was brought on by store bought bratwursts that Mr D and I enjoyed. This is about 20:40 (8:40 pm). I drive back to the grocery store and they have nothing that will be of use. Before the search is over, I will learn that:



Grocery stores don't have general meds like antiacids and things like that.


The train station with a great convenience store closes before 9:00.


Gas stations with mini markets don't stock any common remedies either but if you ask they point you around the corner to the largest grocery store in Worms.

In fact, this place was the biggest grocery store I've ever seen in Germany. I had to ask a series of employees to find the right part of the store. In the end they had one thing for heartburn. I bought it and returned home after taking a couple of scenic detours (getting lost).

In the end, I looked the item up on the internet and found that it was basic baking soda in tablet form. Mrs D took one with a glass of water and she's is now better.

I'm now on my 4th beer and all is well.

There's a new rule here. Nobody gets sick after the drug stores close.

Sorry there are no pics yet but I'll try to fix that tomorrow.

Movies in Germany

The first time I saw a movie in Germany it was Grease 2 in 1982. It was dubbed except for the music. I'm not fond of dubbing as I want to hear the original actors' voices even if it's in a language I can't understand.

Since then, I've only watched films in Germany at the Berlinale. It's one of the three premier film festivals in Europe along with Cannes and Venice. The Berlinale is designed to be an international event. Most presentations are in English and films are presented in their original language with English subtitles except for specific theaters where the subtitles are in German.

I thought about taking Mr. Dullum to a movie but then it dawned on me that perhaps things hadn't changed in 30 years. I asked Thomas Carlsen, one of my German friends and he explained:

Hi Tom,
Filme in englischer Sprache gibt es nur in Kinos in Großstädten - manchmal.
Normalerweise werden alle Kinofilme synchronisiert - so nennt man das 'Dubbing' hier.
Viele Grüße & gute Reise!
ThomasCarlsen Fachübersetzungen
22453 Hamburg

Roughly translated:

Films in English are sometimes available in theaters in large cities. Normally films in multiplexes are dubbed or "synchonisiert" as it is called in German.

It looks like if I want to take him to a movie, we will have to make the trek up to Frankfurt or Wiesbaden.

My parents will have to pack less

I pulled together all the books and printed material I need to take. I think it weighs about one person's luggage limit. We'll have to spread it over the checked and carry-on luggage. I won't insist my parents leave behind any meds. If I can get by on 4 changes of clothes they should too. :)

I want to thank my cousin Tina and her husband Gary for offering their luggage to my parents. It saved me a couple hundred dollars. My dad always refers to Gary as his nephew. I always remind him "nephew-in-law" but Dad isn't having any of it. Gary is his nephew.

Because of the Christmas bomber, the rules have changed for carry-on luggage. Outbound we can have the usual carry-on and a personal item. I'm bringing my laptop in a backpack that was provided by my company and my camera bag. Inbound we are only allowed one item. This means we will have to consolidate things. We'll see how that works. Lufthansa charges the schlubs in economy $50 to check a second bag. Not outrageous but I'm too cheap for that.