Day 5 and 6

The boys and I decided to hang out at the apartment and chill all morning.  We needed a morning like this.  We didn't head out to town until around 1:30 upon which we walked to the bakery for an afternoon snack of pastries and kafe (for me) and then boarded the tram to meet Bruce at the AIB building for a historical city of Bonn Tour.  

AIB is an international educational institution.  They are the ones who have organized this entire trip, field trips and all, and are hosting a welcome party for the students and their host families tonight.  There are 4 groups here now:  2 Texas A & M groups (Bruce's Sustainable Communities group and a Roman Studies group) a group from North Carolina,  and a group from California.  The welcome party was preceeded by an historical City of Bonn tour  given by Rainer (head of AIB and liifelong Bonn citizen).  I really wanted to join this tour b/c he tells the best stories and I knew it would be a great tour.  However, the boys were not in a mood for a tour so we went to the post office, mailed some postcards, bought some bananas, and hung out in the Munsterplatz.  The boys chased the pigeons.

This is one of the oldest churches in Germany with the original chapel dating back to the third century and later church buildings dating to the 11th and 13th centuries.  It's the  Basillica of St. Cassius and Florentine.  Their remains are located here.  They were Roman soldiers and are considered martyrs because they were beheaded for not denying Christianity.  Here's Andrew and Mark playing on their heads.

We had a great time at the party.  The boys made some new German friends with whom they played "football", although the oldest didn't find it very amusing that Andrew kept calling him a girl.  He is beautiful for a boy.  It was a very late night.  We didn't make it back to the apartment until after 10:00.  Of course, it was only twilight.

Photos from Bruce's Historical City tour

A gift to the city of Bonn from the British Government.  Since telephone booths are obsolete these days, they added shelves and now you can leave a book, take a book.  It's just on the street corner.

 Bonn University

More photos of beautiful downtown Bonn.  I want to move here. 

Tough early rise, but we were taking a boat along the Rheine to Konigswinter where Bruce and the students were going ahead to hike the Seven Hills and the boys and I were going to the Aquarium and tour the small town of Konigswinter.

The Aquarium was a disappointment, but we met a family from Canada who just got to Bonn a few days before us and they will be here for 6 months on sabbatical.  We were very excited to meet English speaking people and so were they.  They have a 3 year old son, Thomas, and a 3 month old daughter, Clara.   We ate lunch with them in town and rode the train together back to Bonn.  We'll be seeing more of them.

Andrew, Mark, and Thomas waiting for the train.

When Bruce returned from hiking, I was finally able to go to the grocery by myself and have time to look at little closer at the items and lables.  Who would have thought that the biggest culture shock I would experience in Germany was going to the grocery store.  Aside from not being able to read labels and not recognizing any familiar brands except Knorr, Barilla, and Nutella, one additional source of stress for me is that not only are there no baggers, but there are no bags.  So I must bring my own bag, pay with foreign currency, and reload my groceries into the cart so that I can pull to the side and bag my groceries into my own bag.  All the while ussing two little boys who are touching every thing they possibly can and swinging from the racks while the German children just stand very quietly and stare at them.  I don't think German children speak until they are 7 b/c although we've seen many, we have not heard a one.  I'm sure I'll have it all worked out by the time we leave.