Germany 2013 - Sept 13 - A Walk in the Park

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September 13th 2013

Published: September 14th 2013

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Brian and Amy

Brian in Carbonite

For you Star Wars nerds

Today, Brian and Amy went to the “Luisenpark” in Mannheim. This is a big, beautiful park with flowers, gardens and animals. Very much like Central Park in New York City. It was too hard to bike there because it’s big city driving and you had to find a bridge to cross the Rhine. We took a taxi which cost a little more Euro compared to the bus/train but the convenience and speed couldn’t be beat (next time, we’ll learn the public transit system and buy day passes!). We lucked out with the weather. It warmed up just enough and the sun came out often. We walked through sculptures, roamed all kinds of gardens, saw the Chinese pagoda, visited all the animals (penguins for Amy and snakes for Brian!), played in the playgrounds, and even spent some time in the butterfly house. We stumbled into an interesting tradition - a pacifier tree - where toddlers go to give up their "nukkies" or "nookies" or whatever you call them where you live. Brian used his German to ask what it was. You should have seen the back and forth trying to explain it. Who knew there was such a thing as a pacifier

Pretty Lady

With pretty flowers

graveyard? The best part of the day was the gondoletta boat ride all around the lake. The huge fish and ducks follow the boats around begging for food. We had a picnic lunch, lounged in the sun, and had ice cream for dessert. We saw lots of nature all through the park. In the end, we also observed the “circle-of-life” at work. Amy went to sit on a chair under a tree and something was on it. At first, she thought it was a dead bird (yikes, bird flu!) but it turned out to be a rabbit’s head. No body; just the head. Even though he probably started out with four rabbit’s feet, this little guy was not so lucky. That’s when it was time to leave. We were going to try and walk to the Wasserturm (Watertower) and the Mannheim Schloss (castle) and, other landmarks nearby, but just ran out of time – something to save for our next trip. The taxi showed up promptly and we zoomed home in the late afternoon. Brian’s cousin, Gabi, came with her son, Phillip, and their new 4 month old puppy, Bina (a puppy! Brian was in heaven). Another tasty dinner cooked

Weird Fish

These were some seriously hungry fish

by Eva with a recipe we want to steal – ground beef, peppers, fresh tomatoes, ginger over rice. Very good along with sautéed hot chili peppers. We caught up with Gabi and she was nice enough to give Amy a consultation on her neck and knee. Gabi has a physical therapy/massage practice in her town. Great tips and she taped Amy’s knee and Peggie’s foot. Tomorrow is Lotte’s birthday brunch and more time to visit with all the family together. And, of course, more food and wine.

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