"Royale with Cheese"

Remember the following John Travolta line from the movie Pulp Fiction: "...but you know the funniest thing about Europe is...It's the little differences. I mean they got the same sh*t over there that they got here but just there it's a little different..."

While I feel strange referencing a quote from that particular movie, it's actually quite accurate. Take the ordinary act of washing clothes for instance. Please take a look at our new washing machine. On the surface it looks pretty typical. One would think a "washing machine" is a "Waschmachine" oder? Well, the answer to this question is "Jaein".

Pros:
- Whites turn out unbelievably white
- Environmentally friendly
- Does wash clothes

Cons:
- Whites turn out unbelievably dark - do NOT put anything dark in with whites
- Holds half as much clothing as typical American washing machine
- Typical Cycle lasts 3-4 hours (sic)
- Once cycle has started, absolutely no chance for opening and inserting the piece of clothing you forgot
- Sounds as though you are sitting on a plane right next to the wing with a Pratt Whitney jet engine running at full throttle during take-off
- Once finished, keeps on beeping periodically just to let you know that the cycle has ended after its 4 hour run. Won't stop this periodic beeping until you physically turn off the machine.

Oh, and by the way, there is no "Quarter Pounder" at the local McDonalds. It is called a "Royale with Cheese". :-)

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Karnival - Part Zwei

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.





















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Liege

Cosette wanted to visit a new country after our Saturday grocery shopping. Therefore, I used this as an excuse to take a quick trip to the home of the oldest Spring Classic. While the city itself is quite flat, it is surrounded by a very hilly landscape. I now see why this race favors the climbers and is used by the grand tour contenders as an early season race to test their climbing legs. Besides cycling, this city has a lot of other historical significance. It is in the French speaking area of Belgium, and has a very old look and feel that is quite different from my immediate surroundings in Germany.




















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Karnival

Karnival in Köln - Germany's Mardi Gras. Words can't begin to describe it. Simply stated, in a land of lots of rules and obedience, the normal rules do not exist during this period. Last Thursday after 11:00 a.m. the ladies took over, as this was their day to rule and take over control. Tradition is that on this day, they cut the ties of all the men. If you try avoid this by not wearing a tie, your shoelaces will get cut. As you can see in the following photos, here I am before going the office in the morning and the after returning home in the evening.





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My New Morning Pre-Ride

I thought I would bring along my camera with me during this morning's pre-ride. It was cold and snowing, so I rode to the Rhein on my cross bike and headed north into the heart of Köln.

Here's the temp at around 5:30am



One of the many Bäckerei in Rodenkirchen. Unfortunately, the camera couldn't capture the aroma.



On the Rhein. Snow flakes, the river, and some trains in the distance.



Today's News



The riding/running/walking path inbetween the river and the city



Not a bad place to turn around and head home. This is the "Dom", one of Europe's most famous gothic cathedrals. It's approximately 8km from my apt.





The Rhein



Back in Rodenkirchen and on the Hauptstraße a couple of KMs from my apt. This is my new Washington Ave. on my weekday morning rides.









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Bonn

Not much commentary with this post. After today's ride, I took the family to Bonn. It's about a 20 minute drive. We toured the Zentrum (city center) and took a tour of Beethoven's birthplace. Very nice small city from what I could tell. Here are a few pictures.

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Initial Riding Overview

Sorry to hear about the weather in Pgh this weekend! Frankly speaking, I'm glad to be here and not there at the moment.

I finally was able to get 2 consecutive weekend days riding on the road. Prior to this weekend, I had only ridden outside 3 times, 2 of which were in the snow and on my cross bike.

So let's backtrack a moment. I now live 3.3km from an access point to a riding path adjacent to the left bank of the Rhein. It's a nice path with walkers, runners, and cyclists and a nice way to see the city. A lot of cobbles and uneven surfaces, so I would not want to ride a road bike on it. I toured the west bank 2 Sunday's ago in the snow and rain. Last Sunday, I rode the east bank in snow (3-6 inches). Underneath was both pavement and grass -although I really couldn't tell due to the snow. It was akin to riding on a deadflat Canton Ave, as my rear wheel was sliding most of the time. Aerobic benefit was minimal, but bike handling skills were enhanced. It was during this ride last weekend that I came up with the blog name "Riding on the Rhein". Luckily, I didn't have to change it to "Riding IN the Rhein", as there were few close calls given the slick, icy, snowy conditions. So that was highlight of my riding the last 2 weeks.

This weekend, no cross bike required. Slightly above freezing, but very damp and wet. Although not raining, the streets were damp and the bike and kit were both quickly filthy. Very typical weather for this area, from what I can tell, so I had better get used to it. Made for a very cold ride actually, despite the decent nominal temperatures.

Today was a reconnoitering mission, so to speak, with one or two goals in mind. Firstly, it's deadpan flat around my immediate area and I wanted to find some routes west of the Rhein, as there are some nice national parks/forests that supposedly have hills and climbing. It's an area that the annual Rund um Köln race goes through. Secondly, Andreas provided me with a location of a legendary area group ride/meeting place (Schmitzbud) and I wanted to see if I could locate it and ride to it in a reasonable amount of time. Although I am wildly out-of-shape and by no means ready to join a group ride of this caliber, I just wanted to get a sense of what the riding scene in this particular area would be like. Well, due to getting lost a number of times and time constratints, I did not actually find the Schmitzbud meeting place. I did get close, however. As for the terrain, I actually found a climb lasting a few KMs. Wet and above freezing at the bottom and snow covered, colder, and foggy at the top. Very cool! "Real Cyclists" abound, so I assume I hit upon a decent riding area. Based on what I saw today, there is a very big cycling scene in this area. Frankly, much bigger than anything we would see in our area. Lots of individual riders, small groups of 3-4, and one very large group ride (probably 50+).

The photo above was taken in my backyard after today's ride. What you can't see is all of the grit and roadspray that covered my teeth and mouth. The German version of "Belgium Toothpaste".

A few observations:

* While most "roadies" do wear helmets, there are a lot around here who do not. A lot of riders are "old school" and just go with stocking caps.

* When approaching a "roadie" from the opposite direction, the "lookover" without actual aknowledgement of the other rider is quite prominent. Some behaviors are universal. :-) Although, I did receive a friendly two-finger wave from one rider at the back of one of the packs I encountered. I assumed him to be the outcast of that group ride. ;-)

*A lot of local club and team kits. No LiveStrong, Discovery, Postal, or Shack jerseys.

* Lot's of serious riders of all ages. Most memorable scene today was actually near my apt. On a small very narrow city street I came across 2 oncoming juniors (probably16-18) riding shoulder-to-shoulder with perfectly smooth cadences and form. They were in identical team/club kits riding gloveless and helmetless (and it was a cold, wet, damp 34 degrees F). As we did the subtle headnod acknowledgement of each other as we passed, I just thought to myself "Dorothy, you're not in Kansas anymore."

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Cycling Asylum

This is my new sanctuary or asylum - depending on your viewpoint of indoor riding. Given the weather conditions over here, this is where I have spent most of my riding time over the past 2 weeks.

Even though I had to take a whole 2 weeks off the bike after arriving here, I have found that I now routinely ride approximately 60% farther and weigh approximately 50+% less than I did in the U.S. Unfortunately, my average cadence hasn't really changed - I guess converting to the metric system can't improve everything :-) Yes, in an effort to fully immerse myself into the local culture, I reset all of my cyclometers to function in KMs.

For the time-being, it gets very hot in this room. Similar to Andreas's recent predicament, I can't find a fan anywhere because it is still winter. I could open the window behind me to let in some fresh cold air, but doing so would likely risk violating the quiet hour rules that are in effect during the non-traditional riding hours that I like to keep. Now, these aren't my apartment's own quiet hour rules, but it's the law. At least for most of Germany, as far as I can tell. Quiet hours are generally from 10:00pm-07:00am and 01:00pm-03:00pm daily. Sunday is 24 hours of quiet time. This means no lawn mowing, children playing loudly outdoors, no loud TV's/Radios, etc. during these hours. Thank goodness I have a fluid trainer and rollers, and not a true "windtrainer".

So until I can either find a fan or alter my riding schedule to accomodate the few non-quiet hours, I will continue to suffer miserably in the stifling heat of my laundry room.

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Einstand feiern

"Einstand feiern" - roughly translates into "celebrating one's new job". The Germans are very giving people; however, they just do it a little differently from what is customary in the U.S. For instance, on one's birthday, you are supposed to give a small celebration on your own behalf for your office colleagues. Well, this tradition of throwing your own party to celebrate yourself also pertains to when you accept a new position within the company. That said, a couple of my colleagues, who also serve as my trusty German cultural consultants, highly recommended that I throw myself an "Einstand feiern" within the first few weeks of my new assignment, as this is unspoken protocol and would pay dividends in building goodwill with my colleagues. So today was my big day!

As such, the official planning started last week. The determination of the invitee list provided much debate, discussion, and difficult decision-making. In essence, protocol is to invite your direct superiors, direct reports and any other colleagues with whom you either have worked closely in the past or will work closely in the future. Well, I have worked with, had dinner with, and have gotten to know a number of people from this office over the past few years. In the end, I decided to invite a little over 50 people.

Next I had to reserve a conference room and then determine the food and drinks to be served. Lots of planning and logistics involved. I had Ellen put in an order for 100 Brötchen (see photo above) and 4 cakes at the local bakery a couple of blocks from our apt. As well, I had procured a variety of vegetables and orange juice at the local grocery.

Here is how the morning unfolded. Ellen, who put in the Brötchen/cake order 2 days ago, was told very directly from the manager at the bakery that I should not come any earlier than 7:00am this morning, as the order would not be ready before then. As instructed, I arrived at 7:05 and luckily all of the food had been prepared. As the food was being brought out in crates from the kitchen, I kept hearing "Müssen Sie....."(you must...) in a stern voice from the manager and I quickly realized that she was commanding me to return the crates before I drove off. I responded with "Kein problem" and that seemed to alleviate her angst....until I returned from loading my car. Uh oh, the manager is at the cash register and yelling "Scheiße, Scheiße, Scheiße!" Evidently, my large Brötchen order was more than her point-of-sale cash register could handle. She commands me to sit and wait and starts yelling at her assistant to call somebody. After 10 minutes of waiting to pay, I start to panic as my party will soon be starting and possibly without the food, host and guest-of-honor. This would not be good protocol and would not build goodwill. I call Ellen and ask that she get the kids out the door ASAP and walk by the bakery on their way to school. I told her that if I was still sitting there when she arrived, that I would drive the kids to school and that she could sit there and wait (however long it would take) to pay our friendly neighborhood baker. Well, after 20 minutes, I was summoned to the counter to pay. I think the cash register was partially working, but could not tell since the manager just handed me a calculator displaying the final amount due. She then handed me over 3 separate paper receipts - each over a foot long. I then began to realize why things must have gone awry - she had manually entered 104 line item entries for each of the 100 Brötchen and the 4 cakes! I think this overloaded the system and cash register!

All ended well and I arrived at work just in time to throw myself a party. However, the next time I throw a party to welcome myself to my new position, I will cut down on the number of Brötchen, as my estimate of 2 per each who accepted the invitation was way off the mark.

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Hallo.

Hi everyone. We did arrive safely to Germany on January 3 (in a snowstorm) and we are just now getting close to feeling as though we are settling in. We were in temporary housing until 1/22, when our sea shipment finally arrived and we were able move into our permanent apartment. We got our phone and personal internet service hooked-up within the last week, so I am just now trying to reconnect with the rest of the world.

Given the weather (worst temps and snow in over 30 years for here) and circumstances, I have spent many more hours at the local IKEA, Saturn (electronics), and Obi (Germany's version of Home Depot) than I have on a bike. Since German apartments/houses come with absolutely no lights (just dangling wires from the ceiling), no closets, no cabinets, no kitchens, no curtain rods, etc., most of my free time has been spent shopping and making our place livable. As well, pretty much every electronic item we use (except for our laptop) needed to be purchased given Satellite Converter box, Washer, Dryer, Coffee Maker, Microwave, Iron, and an assortment of lights that I will have no use for when we move back. (Andreas - are you listening? Maybe we can arrange a futures swap contract whereby I'll give you all these appliances for your TT bike :-)

In short we are adjusting quickly and overall enjoying ourselves. However, living here is quite different than just coming here for short business trips. There are a number of little things that pose the biggest day-to-day challenges. The girls have been in school since 1/5 and enjoy it most of the time. They have their moments when they get homesick, but overall they are liking their new surroundings and making new friends. Ellen is keeping busy, as well, and is starting to meet and hang out with a group of other ex-patriot wives who are mostly from England, Belgium, and the U.S. In addition, a couple of work colleagues/friends from Germany and the U.S. have really helped us out with day-to-day matters and have included us in their social activities. So we are keeping busy to say the least.

In future postings, I hope to focus more on riding related updates, but the picture I included pretty much summarizes the weather around here and why I don't yet have many riding adventures to speak of. This was taken last Saturday while driving on the Authobahn. That said, I did take the cross-bike out for spin on the Rhein just a day after this storm. I will give you these details in a later posting.

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