Thursday June 3rd, 2004

Gary had to go to work today so Tom and I are on our own. Tom went out to find breads and pasteries for breakfast. Bread needs to be bought fresh daily ... luckily there are several bakeries in Gary's area. I started a load of laundry ... Gary's washer and dryer are in the basement here. Thank goodness his building has an elevator!

We basically hung out at Gary's today. One washer load takes 48 minutes ... and the dryer takes forever. I got online and emailed Robbie and Caroline ... just checking in on house and home and child! Gary's computer sits at a window that overlooks the rooftops and at one point I looked up and literally saw 2 chimney-sweeps up on the roofs cleaning chimneys!! I told Tom that if they started dancing and singing I was going to freak out! I hadn't even had a beer yet! They just went about their job ... but they were great fun to see. I think Tom got some video of them, but not sure.

We did go grocery shopping ... also an experience. You have to bring your own bags and carry everything blocks and blocks back to the apartment. I'm not overly fond of city living to be honest ... but we sure are getting our exercise these days!! There is a big undeground Mall in Koblenz and that is where the grocery store is, believe it or not.

I finally got to take a nap for a couple of hours ... very nice.

Gary came home and poured us each a Scotch on the rocks. We drank and talked and then went out for dinner to a Schnitzel Haus. Great food! More pommes fritz ... yum! We walked back to Gary's and hung out on the balcony drinking beers and talking. Very nice. I tried to stay up to see the full moon over Europe, but it hadn't shown by 11:00 so I went to bed. I woke up at 3:00am and there it was ... bigger than life ... saw the face of the man in the moon clearly. Very cool!!