EuroYankee

While Germans have not gained fame for their tasty ice cream (in Europe, that goes to the Italians and Ben & Jerry’s), they do know how to make it not only taste good but also look cool. There’s Spaghetti Eis where ice cream is put through some contraption to make it look like noodles. A red “sauce” is also added. During a warm moment yesterday, my in-house eis consultant accompanied me to an eis cafe near the university. We chose two of the less outrageous options. They were delicious. The waffle was warm and not too sweet. We ate so much it spoiled our dinner appetite. Yes.

There was nothing silent about the movie we saw last night. About 30 minutes after the start of “Geheimnisse des Orients” (which showed the strange view Germans had of the “Orient” circa 1928) the thunder started. Pretty soon, the courtyard was filled with white flashes of lightening and loud bangs. Everyone got really wet. The good thing about the bizarro weather (lately the rainy cold has been replaced by hot mornings followed by thunderstorms) is that it makes for some nice views from our balcony. I see a double rainbow nearly every day. Here are some photos R took recently: 

Canadian peanut butter? Hmmm. It tastes good with Nutella. Haven’t yet done the big PBHSS&B test.

 

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This burial company is just a few blocks from my apartment. My funny Aunt Sally gave it the name “underwater undertakers.” Who makes up the target market for a teal-colored casket surrounded by fish and a net? Underwater Undertakers does get added to the list of kickass potential band names along with The Cuddle Monsters and Spork Attack.

Those of you in hot weather places will be amused to know that I wore my winter hat Thursday night. We were at an outdoor showing of The General, a great Buster Keaton film from 1927. It was the first movie of the annual Internationale Stummfilmtage in a courtyard of the University of Bonn. It was cold.

On Saturday, the termperature at noon was 25 celsius (61 farenheit). I dug my fuzzy pants out of the attic. Today, it will supposedly reach the mid 70’s, but I’m doubtful.

We were not the only tourists in Paris. Somehow, whenever I travel, the number of other people doing the same thing at the same time always surprises me. Where do all the tourists come from? Sunday morning we sat in the shade of a garden on the back side of Notre Dame and watched an amusing assortment of tourists posing for photos. Besides the tourist-watching, while in Paris we also managed to find: good crepes, a mean waitress, a 10 euro beer, and a free bathroom.

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This one is for the Spokane crew. Thought you’d all be happy to know that “The Pop In” exists in Paris as well as the Inland Northwest. We found this bar on a side street near our hotel. Hard to do a pop-in as the bar was closed when we passed by.

A small shelf in Bonn’s Kaufhof department store is dedicated to food from the U.S.A. (one knows this because it is crowned with the American flag). Europe’s view of American food is strange. Of course, there’s the much-deserved reputation for junk food. Yet where are the gigantic burritos and delicious sandwiches? Europe is missing out.

Here’s a sample selection from Kaufhof: beef jerky, Hershey’s syrup, off-brand (Canadian!) peanutbutter, maple syrup (fake and real) and cranberries. Anybody wanna guess which item ended up in my cart?