We've been flashed!! And it wasn't a good thing.

Since we arrived in Germany (5 months ago for me and 8 months for Greg), Greg and I have both been flashed several times.  No, it's not what you're thinking.  Over here, the Germans have both permanent and mobile camouflaged speeding cameras that are intended to drive the Americans crazy!  No one is better at hiding speeding cameras than the Germans!  And when you speed past one of these cameras, they "flash" and when you see the flash, it's too late.  You can expect a speeding ticket in the mail in a month or two.  This is known over here by the Americans as getting "flashed" and the Germans call it getting "blitzed".  In my lifetime of driving, I have received two speeding tickets.  Both were unjustified (one of which being in the middle of Texas on my drive out to San Diego with nothing but me, tumbleweeds, and one police officer for hundreds of miles!), but I digress.  In the months since I have been here, I have been flashed at least four times and Greg has been flashed at least twice (and he doesn't even have a car and rarely drives!).  There is nothing like being late for an appointment only to be "flashed" as you are trying to get there, adding insult to injury!  So far, we have each received one speeding ticket in the mail and are expecting several more to follow.  This amazes me as the Germans are the fastest drivers that I know and I am the "old lady" driver on the roads over here.  So why am I getting flashed all the time??  With all these hidden speeding cameras over here, you would think that the Germans would drive the speed limit.  Nope.  I asked Silke how many tickets she receives monthly (as this is how often I seem to get flashed) and she said that she has only received about 6 in her lifetime!!!  What?  How can this be??  The Germans must have an innate ability to scope out these cameras and I must quickly learn how to do this or else Greg is going to make me start riding my bike everywhere!  Granted, the fines can be relatively small.  My ticket was for 30 Euros ($43) and Greg's was for 10 Euros ($13) and these smaller fines do not go against points on your driver's license.  Thank goodness!!  Mostly, they are a huge inconvenience, but the fines can add up quickly!  As if receiving the ticket isn't bad enough, you can't just write a check or pay on-line (Germans do not accept checks or credit cards the vast majority of the time).  You have to go to your bank and set up a wire transfer.  So, when I went to the bank on the base to set up my wire transfer, I asked the teller "do you see many of these?" and she replied "I see many EVERY DAY".  I felt better, but it only lasted until the next time I was flashed!

I found these pictures of speeding cameras on-line.  You can see how they are impossible to see until it's too late!  I would love to know how much the German government makes on speeding tickets every year.  I'm convinced that the country would go bankrupt if all the Americans left!  My only wish is that they put these cameras on the autobahn, but I have a feeling that will never happen!

This is what a permanent speeding camera looks like.

This is also a permanent camera.

A mobile camera.  Practically impossible to see before it's too late!

 

Silvester (New Year's Eve) 2011

In Germany, New Year's Eve is called Silvester.  Of course, I learned of this as I have learned of almost anything German... through Silke!  She came over the other day and asked what we were doing for Silvester to which Greg and I answered "huh?".  So, December 31st is referred to as Silvester because this day is the feast day of St. Sylvester.  Silke also said that for good luck Germans usually eat pork and/or have a chimney sweeper rub some ash onto your forehead (to name a few).  So, on Silvester Silke brought over some "pork" for us to eat from the local Bäckerei (bakery).

Greg's mom is still visiting with us and we decided to get one last road trip in before she heads back to Philadelphia at the end of the week.  So, we packed the car and headed down to a small town in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) called Triberg.  This is supposed to be a two-hour drive, but Greg suggested that we take the more scenic route which should only add about 30 minutes to the drive.  When we left Heidelberg, the temperature is a mild 43 degrees.  I don't know what I was thinking (quite possibly I wasn't), but when I heard "Black Forest" and taking the scenic route, I thought we would be driving through a forest.  Sounds nice.  To my surprise, it turns out there are some pretty big mountains in the Schwarzwald.  So, as we drive up and up some very windy roads (portions of which have a sharp drop-off right next to the road without a guardrail), in the rain and in and out of fog banks, I am wondering what this Florida girl has gotten herself into!  Not long into the assent on our scenic route, we start driving on some freshly snowplowed roads with a couple of feet of snow on either side.  We also pass about a half dozen ski resorts!  At this time, I found myself in an unfamiliar situation... wishing I was back on the autobahn!!  So, our 30 minute scenic route ended up taking over an hour because I was driving no faster than 20 mph over the snow covered mountains!  Amazingly, we survive the drive and arrive in Triberg where it is raining and covered in snow.  It is about this time that we  realized that today is not the best day to be out sight-seeing as almost everything is closed on Silvester.  So, we found a good, dry restaurant and had some lunch and then walked over to see Triberg's most famous site... Germany's largest waterfall.

All the girls in front of the Triberger Wasserfälle

This region is also very famous for their cuckoo-clocks.  We found a great shop where I found a cuckoo-clock that I actually like.  The smallest one costs 389 Euro ($500).  What are the odds of me getting this clock back to the States?  Anywhoo, the only museum in town was closed and we couldn't find any other dry activities, so we decided to head down to another town in the Schwarzwald called Freiburg.  We had to drive over another snow-covered mountain to get there, but we made it.  We found a hotel and a parking space on the street near the hotel.  When I asked the hotel clerk if it was okay to leave my car parked on the street overnight as opposed to paying to park in the public garage nearby, she answers "no, you shouldn't leave it on the street tonight because of the fireworks".  Not sure what she meant by this, I asked her "do you mean that someone might intentionally damage my care with a firework?".  She said "no".  Still confused as to why I should move my car, I asked "so, do you think it may get damaged in some way?" to which she answered "it could happen".  Okay, so I took her word for it and moved my car into the parking garage.  By now, it's after 7:00pm, so we set out to find a restaurant for dinner.  Since it's New Year's Eve, half the restaurants are closed and one-by-one we found out that all the remaining restaurants are booked with reservations.  Four restaurants later, all of our stomachs are growling and Taryn suggests that we eat in the hotel restaurant because she has always wanted to eat in the hotel restaurant.  This seems like it is our only option at this point, so we all agree and start heading back to the hotel.  Along the way, Ann noticed a sign on the sidewalk for an Irish Pub that is located underground, just off of the sidewalk.  We decided to check it out, why not??  Despite the sign on the door that says "no one under 18 admitted tonight" (or something like this as the sign was auf Deutsche), they let us in and sit us at a table that is reserved.  We were not sure if the reservation party was a no-show or what had happened, but we were just happy to have found a place to eat.  I was very happy to see a cheeseburger on the menu as I have not had one since we have been over here, so I ordered it!  Yummy!  A short time later, the band starts up.  It still seems funny to me to hear a German band (speaking German to the crowd obviously) singing American music (in English).  To top it off, a couple of guys in this band were wearing Hawaiian shirts.  Nevertheless, they were very good and started off the night with an Elvis song.  After which, I looked over to see Taryn getting down to the music.  A little later, she declared "this music is screaming loud!!".  She loved it!!

Despite claiming to be tired, Taryn danced the entire time the band played!

Nana gets one of Taryn's famous fabulous hugs!!

We left the Irish Pub with full bellies and headed back to the hotel.  I can't remember the last time that I stayed awake to ring in the New Year as my kids are usually up by 6:30am regardless of the time that I went to bed the night before.  However, I am certain that it was before Leena was born and this night was no different.  So, we were all in bed by 10:30ish.  At exactly midnight, I am awoken by the sounds of fireworks while the rest of my family slept away.  After several minutes, my curiosity got the best of me and I got up out of the bed and looked out of the window to see what was going on.  I expected to see one big firework show. To my surprise, there were literally hundreds of fireworks going off everywhere around.  They were being set off by the locals from the streets, apartment buildings, rooftops, etc.  And these were not small fireworks either.  I was looking out of a fourth floor hotel window and they were easily clearing buildings ten stories tall.  It was totally amazing and I was glad that my car was in the underground parking garage!  Now I could see what the hotel clerk was referring to!  I tried to get a picture and video with my camera, but it was just too dark and they did not turn out.  However, my sister-in-law and her family were witnessing the same thing up in Köln and my brother-in-law (with a better camera!) captured this video.  It is similar to what I was witnessing in Freiburg.

The next morning, Greg could have killed me for not waking him up!  I can't wait to get a better view for next year.  After a leisurely morning in the hotel, we enjoyed the sights of Freiburg.  Since it was New Year's Day, practically everything was closed, so we just stuck to the outdoor sights.  One of which was all the debris left over by the fireworks.  The entire town was littered with empty firework casings and broken wine bottles.  Here are a few others:

Taryn walks down a Freiburg Bächle.  These are famous trademarks of the city.  These tiny "streams" run down nearly every street in the core of the city and have been there since the 13th century.  Originally, they were designed to keep fires from spreading but now they are fun to walk down!  We found ourselves stumbling into these Bächles several times as our heads were up while taking in the sights of the city!

 The girls and I in front of the New Town Hall.  We are standing on mosaic coats which represent each of Freiburg's sister cities.  One of which is Madison, Wisconsin.

Look closely and you can see Greg, Ann, and the girls in front of the Freiburger Münster (cathedral)

 Amazing details on the side of the cathedral.  Notice the gargoyles that seem to be jumping out of the building.

 Greg and Taryn in front of the Swabian Gate.

All the girls in front of the other side of the Swabian Gate.



One of the many canals that flow through the city. 

Taryn in front of St. Martin's Tower (this is the second city that we have seen with a St. Martin's Tower).  Some people call it McDonalds Tower because there is a not-subtle-enough McDonalds on the lower right side of the tower.  You can barely make it out in this picture.

We look forward to visiting these two cities again in warmer weather and when everything is open!!