We Bought A Refrigerator And Microwave In Germany

Little white microwave and refrigerator.

We live at the International Guest House for Darmstadt Hochschule University. It is a place they put up visiting professors. The house is an old estate - divided up into 12 small apartments with a common kitchen and living room. Each apartment has a bedroom - bathroom - and small living room.

There are only 4 professors staying here. So we seldom run into anyone in the kitchen or living room. But in order to use the common kitchen - we have to be dressed. In the morning - we like to sit down at breakfast - still in bed clothes. We decided to get a small refrigerator and microwave. That way we have our own food and drinks ready for action.

We went shopping at a local department store and found a very nice - German made - microwave for 50 euros. Then we went to Ikea and bought a refrigerator made in Sweden for 90 euros. Both are white - simple - and made completely of steel.

The controls of the microwave are simple dials - just turn to the time you want and your are cooking.

The refrigerator has one simple dial - pick a temp - and you are set. The frig makes ice - something we did not have before. Also in the common kitchen - the refrigerator had locking stainless steel boxes for our food. Maybe that is why Germans are skinny - it take so long to get to the food :-)  Maybe we should try it. The refrigerator is very quiet - the compressor seldom clicks on.

I would like to bring the appliances home - except they run on 220 volts power - not the typical 110 volts in America. They also have a funny plug. I remind Lulu that we travel with one carry-on bag each. :-)

Buying these appliances - it made me feel like I was in my camper. Our apartment here is sort of our camper - except we can't move it. We will be camped here until the end of the month.

On June 29 - when we leave Germany - we will sell the appliances - or give them away and keep the memories.

Cyclopentane gas - nice clean compressor installation

Simple control - dial for time

Note - the labels are in English -
Made in Germany

Refrigerator made in Sweden - Ikea

Walking From Our House To The Train Station Downtown - Still In Darmstadt Germany

Check out this Mercedes 4-wheel drive camper

The Orangerie - where they kept citrus trees
in the winter

We live about 2.5 miles from the main train station in Darmstadt - Germany. Next week we are taking the train to Berlin for a conference - so we thought we would walk to the station and check it out. We could take the trolley to the station but it is 2 euros. We will do that when we have our travel bags. 

It is mostly downhill from our house to downtown. The first stop was the Orangerie. The Orangerie was built in 1719. It was designed to house orange trees from the islands of Sardinia and Sicily in the winter. It does get very cold here in the winter. The orange trees were kept in big planters - in the summer  the they were wheeled outside  - in the winter the trees were wheeled in. You could dramatically lengthen the growing season - even just keeping the trees inside at night. Today the orangerie is used for wedding and civic events. There is a restaurant there also. The gardens are beautiful. 

I enjoy looking at the campers - trucks - scooters - bikes and cars. Even thought gasoline is $7 a gallon here - the Germans loves their cars. Mercedes - Porsches - VWs - Audis - I even saw a Corvette today. 

Half Timber houses are popular here. Some people call them Tudor - but the real name is half timber. They build a frames with beards and wooden pegs. Then they mix and pour concrete between the beams. It makes for a very strong and long lasting home. 

It took us over an two hours to get to the station - especially stopping for lunch - and Lulu's shopping.  She found a big 4 story mall on the way. The trolley back only took 15 minutes. 

I loved this car port -
my camper would fit there nicely.

Check out the citrus trees in the planters -
someone picked the low hanging fruit.
This is a public park. 

Half Timber homes on the way
downtown

The canopy road to
the Orangerie

I love these 3 wheels trucks -
you can use a scooter plate on it

Piaggio makes these trucks in Italy

We prefer having our own frig and
microwave in our apartment.
That way we do not have to dress
for breakfast.

The microwave is so simple -
just turn the knob and cook.
Microwave - 50 euros
Refrigerator - 90 euros
We will sell them June 29. 

Very nice camper

Meanwhile - Back Home in Tallahassee

We have been busy in Greece and Germany - and do not think of back home often. It is 96 degrees and probably even higher humidity there. But George and Joel Dawson have an attraction for the great grandkids - a swimming pool with solar heating panels. George and Joel are like godparents to us - but a lot of people can say that. 

Lulu loves their pool and the fact that it is less than 100 yards from where she sleeps - and always available. 

The Dawson also keep an eye on our house - and nothing gets past them. 

Hessisches Landesmuseum - Hessian State Museum - Day 17 of 70

Hessian State Museum - Darmstadt
not very busy - this area
was covered during music festival Sunday

5 barrel shot gun - 1500s

Darmstadt - where we live - is the main center of the Hessian State. Monday night we stayed up late to enjoy the FSU softball game online. So we got up late on Tuesday. We headed downtown in the car to find a museum we could enjoy. Downtown looked so different because all the festival stuff was gone. Then we focused on the Hessisches Landesmuseum. 

We walked inside - it was very empty. The admission price was 6 euros with no senior discounts. It was already 3 PM an only open to 6 PM. After Lulu asked them if we could use the tickets the next day - we could not - we decided to go for it. I guess that was a case of "Mom's World."

The museum was sparkling clean. We had the place to ourselves except for the abundant guards protecting the displays. It was spooky quiet. Lulu agreed it was quiet - but I had forgot my hearing aids - and she had to pantomime to me. I cannot believe what a difference my hearing aids are for me. 

We walked from room to room for 2.5 hours. The signage was excellent - but unfortunately English was not used often. I needed up being happy just reading the dates. Most of the historic stuff was from the 1500s - when Darmstadt was the capital of this state in the Holy Roman Empire. The artifacts were in such perfectly clean shape. 

There were 4 full floors - and we only got to cover 2 of them. We will go back and spend another 6 euros to do it again. 

This was the finest display of preserved animals I have ever seen. 

After the museum - we met up with Kathy and Dan - they are in the apartment below us in the International Guest House. We went to a very nice Italian Restaurant - then drove to a church where Ukraine Missionaries were doing a musical show - translated to German and English. 

We went to bed early because we had the alarm set to wake us up at 2 AM. We wanted to watch the Florida State Girls Softball Team play Washington for the national championship. We were up from 2 to 4 - the Seminoles did not disappoint. FSU 8 - Washington 3. I think they will turn down any invitations to the White House :-)

Darwin's famous book

1500s - armor 

Early NRA weapons

Armor for horse battles

Carved out of one piece
of wood - 1500s

Orrery - mechanical model of
planet movements

Beautiful woodwork

Cork model of the Coluseum

The Pantheon Rome - 200 AD

Outside of Pantheon cork model

Several skeletons -
very clean and detailed

Museum is famous for the
animal dioramas

This diorama was Africa

Find Lulu in the empty museum -
we explored the two tops floors -
tow more floors below we
did not touch

These bronze puppets were in front of
the library. All the joints moved -
kids could pose them. 

Electric Smart Car by Mercedes/Daimler

The Smart car has plenty of room for two

You just plug it in like a vacuum cleaner
to charge it. 

In the next few years - Germany is going to flood the car market with electric cars. They are running away from the image they created by cheating on the diesel emissions test. 

One of my favorites is the electric Smart Car. They have bee making this tiny - 8 foot long Smart Car over here for 25 years. It is a tiny two seater - normally powered by a small gasoline engine. they now offer it with batteries and an electric motor. 

While at the music festival this weekend - they had some kind of driver challenge. Since I do not understand the language - I am guessing you were allowed to take it for a test drive for an hour. They had a row of them - on chargers - and people taking them for a drive. When it was my turn - I was turned down because I did not have something on it with my name and a local address. Lulu said I should have whipped out my Coal Cracker Web Card. I didn't. I got to sit inside one of these cars and it was pretty neat. 

First off - the best part - it is just 8 feet long. With that size - there is plenty of room for two big Americans - just not much else. The cabin was finished very nicely. It supposedly has an 80 mile range - I am guessing it is close. They are available all over Europe - and also for sale in California and Oregon. The sticker price is $25,000 - with a US Federal Tax Rebate - it is down to $17,500. 

My problem is - I already have a very nice 2012 Nissan Leaf with only 40,000 miles on it. The book says it is only worth $6000. It does have a full back seat and hatchback. It is our around Tallahassee car. It gets maybe 50 miles on a charge - we seldom go anywhere near that far with it. 

The Smart Car comes in hardtop - convertible - or sunroof. 

The electric has plenty of torque and a top speed of 90 MPH. The gasoline version costs less - but there is no federal income tax credit. 

At the music fair they had free test drives

Nice big seats - tiny shift lever

8 feet long - you can park it sideways.

EuroFest 15 of 70 Days - We Drove to Frankfurt Monday Morning

Harry having frankfurters in Frankfurt -
also potato soup

Frankfort on the Main River

A replica of the 500 year old City Hall
that was destroyed WWII. 

Frankfurt Am Main is about 20 miles north of our home in Darmstadt. The "Am Main" part means it is on the Main River. The Main River flows into the Rhine - and is also connected by locks to the Danube River. One can get on a boat from the Atlantic and travel all the way through Europe to the Black Sea and Asia. Because of this transportation - Frankfurt has become the most important city in Germany - and one of the busiest in Europe and the World. 

Frankfurt has 700,000 people and 6 million in the metro area. The airport is the busiest in Europe - it has the busiest stock exchange - 33% of its people are not nationals. It has more trees than any other city. The city is covered with many heavy and tech industries. 

During World War II - the city was leveled by the Allies. The only thing left standing was the cathedral. For 500 years - Frankfort was its own city-state in the Holy Roman Empire. It was a virtual  country for a long time. After World War II - they recreated replicas of the old half-timbered buildings downtown. 

We parked our car downtown underground - I never saw a nicer parking garage - very detailed - painted - ventilated. The only problem was that it was very tight - corners were hard for me. We walked upstairs and were in the town square. We had lunch there - at Henningers. I had a wonderful potato soup and frankfurters. 

Next - we bought tickets for a 2 hour river cruise on the Main River. The weather was perfect - we had a drink on deck - and took lots of pictures. At 5 PM - we headed home. 

Most of the museums were closed on a Monday. We will visit another time before we come home. 

Lulu bought train tickets to Berlin a week from today. Berlin is 350 miles away - and the train is 4 hours - with stops. Lulu has a media convention to attend there. We will stay 3 nights. You may recall that two years ago - we lived in Berlin 3 months. We will enjoy some of our old haunts - like Hofbrau House. 

The train on Anne Frank Street

More replica buildings of the 1500s

An OCD Paradise in Mannheim Germany

This is called a VW Colorado - All Inclusive

Mannheim Waterwerks from 1880

Heidelberg University Library

I think Trump went to school here. 

Mannheim is an industrial city in southwest Germany. Yesterday we drove to Heidelberg and side tracked to Mannheim on the way home. Mannheim is a booming city and the delight of someone with OCD. The city was carpet bombed during WWII - and was rebuilt with the help of the allies. It is laid out on a perfect grid and is called "the City of Squares." Its motto is "Life. Squared." On the outskirts it is surrounded by industry. Many of the biggest names are here. Karl Benz drove the very first car in Mannheim.

Heidelberg in Neckar Valley.

In the center of the city is a 200 foot tall stone water tower. It is the symbol of the city and is surrounded with beautiful gardens. We were there on Corpus Christi Day - the stores and restaurants were closed but lots of people were in the gardens - playing and enjoying the 80 degree temperatures.  Mannheim is the warmest city in Germany.

We are enjoying our Diesel Car. Although we now know that diesel cars are not as clean as the Germans tricked us into thinking - they still deliver great fuel mileage. The dash gauge - not me - says we are getting 55.8 MPG! Add to that - diesel fuel cost 1.40 euros a liter - versus 1.80 euros a liter for gasoline. With tax and insurance - our diesel cost $700 a month from Avis. It is very peppy with a 6 speed manual transmission and yesterday I easily pushed it over 160 KPH - which is 100 MPH - on the Autobahn. Hitler designed the idea of a limited access highway to move his armies all over Germany. When General Eisenhower saw how effective they were - he became USA president and started the Interstate Highway System. As a result we got to Heidelberg very quickly.

We have been enjoying sunny weather in the 80s - with our windows all open. Friday morning we woke up after rain at night - and it is only 62 degrees at 9 AM. It is cloudy. Lulu got up and closed the windows in the middle of the night.

Heidelberg is on the Neckar River just south of us. It has German's oldest university - Heidelberg University - founded in 1362. My son Keith and I visited there many years ago. We also went up to the Heidelberg Castle on the mountain.

These markers show home where
Jews were taken from.

Mannheim Center Square

Panorama Mannheim

80 degrees - sunny - Mannheim
Corpus Christi Day - 2018