Pearl Street Mall Boulder

So, we have been back in the USA, and back in my hometown of Boulder for four days now.  It feels almost like an alternate universe.  So much has changed, that it doesn't quite feel like the "right" place, but then just when you think you recognize nothing, something pops out that is the same all over again.  I think Marika has heard "that is where such and such used to be" so much that she is tuning me out now.

Tonight we went down to the downtown area, to visit Pearl Street Mall.  This is my old stomping grounds, and thankfully hasn't changed too much since my first visits as a wide eyed seven year old from rural East Texas  for whom Boulder might as well have been the new planet that Mork from Ork experienced it to be.

I am not really sure, but I believe Pearl Street Mall is one of the oldest "pedestrian zones" in the US.  It was going strong already by 1980, when we moved to Boulder--an outdoor shopping venue, modeled on similar areas in France, Germany and other parts of Europe.  And it DOES feel much like walking the Pedestrian Zone in Heidelberg.  Shorter, and clearly more planned--but much of the magic is captured.

If you are ever visiting Boulder, or even Denver, make sure to plan an afternoon and evening to get down on the mall and experience some of the best atmosphere that Colorado  has to offer.  You will find four shady blocks of brick lined walkways through a large variety of shops, with lots of lovely landscaping in the spring and summer.

Most weekends and summer evenings you will find lots of live entertainment, like this old English dance troop (Morris dancing) that we saw this evening:

Or this excellent guitar player, who we listened to for a while, just enjoying the mellow music nad people watching:

Two of my favourite play areas as a child were the little stone animals on the east end block and the rocks to climb on the the west end.  Both are still there, though the top off "the big rock" has been cut off (presumably for liability reasons) and only about half of the animals remain.

The old courthouse lawn is an excellent place to have a picnic or just relax for a while on the grass with views of some interesting art deco architecture:

There are plenty of great places to get a bite to eat, and of course lots of shopping.  There are some chain stores, but also quite a few local places--with a big focus on handmade items and imports.  Into the Wind, probably the nation's premier kite shop is also located right on the mall.  They have a huge selection of all kinds of kites--as well as a fabulous assortment of some of the most fun and interesting games, wind up toys, and other unique entertainments that one could ever hope to find.  This store is just plain FUN for all ages---prepare to get lost, and lose your kids, for half an hour at least.

I'll end my post with a shot of the iconic "Hearts on a Swing" sculpture which went up on the mall sometime around the time I was in 4th or 5th grade.

Happy Wednesday!

--Hadley

Frankfurt to Denver via Toronto

So, the last couple of days were all about ravel for Rio and I, as we made our way back to my childhood home of Boulder, Colorado for a visit with family (Marika beat us here by a couple of days after working at a summer camp in Kansas City, and David will join us in a few weeks).

Dave's sister, Karen, VERY kindly bought tickets for the two of us with her United Miles, and with the  summer rush in full swing by the time Rio was out of school, the best options for flying out on mileage award tickets were on an airline I had never flown before, Air Canada.

We had a bit of an unusual itinerary, which began by flying out of Frankfurt bound towards Toronto at 5:00 pm on Friday.  Our little A330 was the smallest aircraft than I have been on crossing the Atlantic since the 90s.

It was comfortable though, and every seat had a blanket and pillow and a very good in flight entertainment system with a huge selection of  movies to choose from.  We had a particularly good, by flight standards, chicken dinner (though ab it small) and another hot (but very small) wrap style snack before heading in for our landing at Toronto airport about 7:30 pm their time.  That's eight and a half hours in flight for us, by the way.

The pilots did an awesome job bringing us in rather smoothly in a severe thunder storm that had the airport on "red alert" and kept other planes from taking off until things cleared up.  Since take offs were delayed, there was no available gate to go into after landing, so we spent about 45 minutes siting out on the runway waiting for things to get moving again.  It gave me time to finish my movie!

I'm not sure if it was the weather, a customs issue, or what, but we ended up waiting over an hour for all of the luggage to be brought off the plane.  You cannot leave customs without your bags, and I was sure wishing they had vending machines in there for hungry travelers!  Even more though, I was relieved we did not have to rush to a connection--lots of people were sure they were missing flights.

Which brings us to what made this itinerary a bit unusual.  Our connection was not until the following morning at about 8:30.  I have never actually spent the night in route before, but it worked pretty well and I think it helped us with the jet lag.  

After we finally got our bags, we were so tired that we ended up just grabbing some ice cream in the hotel gift shop to stop our tummies from rumbling just long enough to fall asleep, and then we headed up to our rooms.  

I had booked us a room at the on sight Sheraton--and it was NICE to not have to catch a shuttle, etc to get to our hotel.  The hotel was pretty, with a friendly staff and a big room with a comfortable bed.

I would absolutely stay there again in the same situation--being right on site was so worthwhile for our 11 hour layover (which, by the time we cleared customs and then needing to get checked in the next morning at least 2 hours ahead to pre clear US customs and immigration, left us 7 hours of time in between).  That said, if I happened to be flying out of YYZ early and just wanted to overnight near the hotel, but dd not have a full connection, I'd probably look at a nearby off sight option.  There were a number of minor glitches:  I had booked a room with two full beds.  We got (as you can see) one king.  The front desk told me that at check in.  They brought it up and told me that only booking directly through Sheraton are really the style of room booked, we booked through Expedia.  The room smelled somewhat of stale smoke.  There had been an attempt to clean it, but it still smelled.  The ice machines were behind locked doors.  Only crew staying in the hotel had keys.  This is really confusing since signs direct you to the room, but then you cannot get in.  Luckily a housekeeper came by and let me in to get some ice. Check in took 20 minutes because they only had one person checking people in, even though there were only four people in line in front of me.   The prices in the gift shop were outrageous; we spent $15 on an ice cream sandwich, small package of M&Ms and a soda (but we needed to eat a little something and get sleep more than I needed to save money looking elsewhere).  None of those things were a big deal, but they add up enough that unless I were in a connection situation again, I would not return.

Saturday morning, we were up at 5:30 and out of the hotel by 6:00.  We managed about 5-6 hours of sleep, which really was quite good.

We checked in, and had a minor issue in which Air Canada's system wanted to force us to pay for our checked bags--somehow having crossed midnight with our layover made it look like a separate reservation from our German flight--and Canada to US flights do not get any free checked luggage.  The agent completely agreed with us that we were within the policy for free bags, and did work it out, but it took 15 or so minute to come up with a work around.  

We knew we were likely to run into issues (we had also learned on Thursday night that we were listed as "standby" in spite of having booked this in February!)--so we made sure we arrived with plenty of time to work everything out.

Toronto is one of the Canadian airports that has US customs and immigration clearance on the Canadian side, so that you go through all the rigmarole first and then just walk of the plane as if it were a domestic flight after landing.  That went really smoothly.  The were processing people really quickly, and moving a huge mount through.  I was impressed.

Once on the other side of security, we headed right for Tim Horton's; I used to really like their donuts when we lived in Detroit.

They were a popular place!  It is a good thing we still had an hour before boarding started:

We got lucky, and DID make it on the flight, and even got to sit in bulkhead for the 3 and half hour flight to Denver.  

So, by lunch time we had made it and were happily enjoying the lovely view of the Boulder Flatirons from my in law's home:

Look out for US adventures coming soon!

--Hadley

Open later and later

So I drove by our local Lidl today.  For those of you unfamiliar, Lidl is similar to Aldi (which I think many of you will be familiar with), a discount grocery chain that offers low prices but limited and often changing selection.  Anyway, what interested me today was the big sign they had up advertising that they now stay open until 9:00. Our local grocery store has been staying open until 10:00 for a couple of years now.  Most everything else still closes between 5:00 and 8:00 in the evening depending on what they sell (bakeries 5-6, drug store 8, pharmacy 6:30).  A fair number of the less retail oriented places (doctor's offices, pharmacy, post office, bank, etc) also close for 2-3 hours mid day.

There is a growing trend towards opening earlier, staying open through the day, and closing later.  I am a bit ambivalent about this.  On the one hand, I am often grateful to be able to make a grocery run later in the evening--once the Dave (and thus, the car) is home, or when I realize I have forgotten something, or because we have just come back from a trip and need groceries for the next day.  On the other hand, the more that is open, the easier it is let your evenings become consumed by running errands and move into that fast paced and frantic lifestyle that I really like being out of.  In reality, other than emergency medications (the pharmacies take turns being open 24 hours for those), is there anything that we HAVE to have immediately and couldn't wait until the next day for?  Probably not!

None the less, as I get ready to fly to the US today, I am kind of excited to know I can shop whenever I want--get groceries at 2:00 a.m. if I feel like it.

I will be posting from the US while I am there (assuming Marika lets me use her computer!)--plenty of fun adventures are to be had there too--and there are likely comparisons to German culture that I have not noticed having been gone so long, that will hit me when I am living them.

--Hadley

An evening in Limburg

So, driving UP to Dusseldorf the day before, I had noticed (from the highway) the church in Limburg looking down on the town from up on a hill.

So, on the way back, even though it was already fairly late, I thought it would be nice to make a quick stop to just drive through town and look at the church for 10 minutes or so.  That really was the plan!

One of the great things about Navi systems is the ability to put in a location on the fly and have directions right there.  We programmed in Dom Parking--and took the southern most exit (of two) for the town and followed the roads curing down into the town in the valley.  Being a Sunday, it was realtivly easy to find free parking right down town--and before long we were climbing more steps up through the narrow winding streets and sidewalks to the church (it turns out there was free parking right there--but our Navi tried to guide us there by having my drive on the pedestrian zone--a big NO NO, so we just parked and walked up).

They were in the midst of Sunday evening mass when we arrived (at about 6:30) so we did not see the interior , but I liked the exterior, with its brighter colors and sweet small town feel.

There was a classic little rectory off to the side:

And through the scrollwork iron gate was a park like old cemetery.  Many of the stones were so overgrown that it almost felt like a line for the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney rather than the real thing--or as David said, it provided you with the overwhelming feeling that you should break into the Thriller Dance!

We had already overstayed our planned 10-15 minutes, but we knew at that point we would be a while.  The walk up had shown us just how cute the little town was:

(the picture does not do all the funky, gargoyle like statues justice)

and HELLO!, we were just in time to catch the tail end of the town's annual wine festival!  How could we possibly leave without tasting some of the local wares???

The food vendors had already packed up as the fest was technically over--but plenty of wine vendors and locals were still milling about.  Rio and I managed to hunt down sodas (someone had to drive home!) while Dave sampled a couple of wines.  We learned that showing up at the end of the weekend has its advantages.  The vitners did not want to carry more wine back home than they had to--they filled the glasses all the way to the brim (not stopping at the 1 ounce line) and offered the bottles for half [rice if we wanted to take some home (which we did at those prices!).  

So, yeah, we ended up spending 2 hours in Limburg instead of 15 minutes.  It was great!  I'm already planning on hauling Marika up there for the day this fall so we can explore more and she can see it--and I imagine I will be taking visitors there as well.  

On the way home, we were hungry for a little dinner (it was 9:00 after all, and you'll recall the food vendors were no longer set up at the fest).  We stopped at a roadside Burger King (cheap fast and open) and ate outside, where we were greeted with the perfect end to a pretty perfect day:

Here's hoping everyone finds delightful surprises sometime soon!

--Hadley

This One Time in Dusseldorf . . .

So, the title might be a bit misleading--though our adventure of the weekend began in Dusseldorf (well, I guess technically it began in Heidelberg, didn't it?), it included Koln and Limburg as well.  However, since there is a lot of interesting architecture in this post, it only seems fitting to use the title suggested by an architect friend, so there it is.

I'll start off with a bit of whining.  The last week and a half were pretty hot here in Heidelberg.  Temperatures were mostly in 90s (F) and it has been pretty humid.  Additionally, the home behind us has been in the process of being demolished to make way for constructing student housing next summer (don't be surprised if you hear about us moving after that!).  So, we have heat and humidity, lots of noise and concrete dust.  Oh, and mosquitoes that come in when it cools down a little and the windows come open at night (as is typical in Germany, there is no a/c--we have one small unit on loan--which is lovely on the hottest of days, but really could not be used with all the concrete dust flying).

So Saturday was predicted to be (and was!) the hottest day of the year with temps reaching 107.  And we were awakened by power tools trying to get going before the worst of the heat, at the ungodly weekend hour of 6:30.

 So, there were were Saturday morning, lying there trying not to melt and whining and asking each other what to do for the day.  We could go to a movie (A/C!)--but there is nothing showing we are even remotely interested in.  We could go to a public pool, along with pretty much every other German.  Or, we could find a hotel with air conditioning and a pool and go off an an adventure.  Guess what won?  If you said, "adventure" give yourself a gold star!

So, after a bit of internet sleuthing, we found a good rate at the Marriot Renaissance hotel in Dusseldorf (about 2 1/2 hours North-where it was also supposed to be about 10 degrees cooler).  It was exciting to find a room available at a hotel with a/c (that cuts the number by about 90%) and with a pool on the first weekend of what I understand to be the only two weeks of the summer that ALL public school children in the country are off from school.  Many factories are in shut down this week and next as well.  It is HIGH season here, so a bargain was a thrill.

So, we packed up a bag, threw together a cooler of snacks and drinks, and headed north.

It was too hot for sight seeing, but we knew that Rio's favourite brand was having a 50% off sale and were hoping to find a store that had his coveted jacket, so we stopped at a mall outside of Koln.  Most of the malls have air conditioning--it should be noted that it is "comfortable to tolerable" in temperature--not the ice cold, bring a jacket, type of a/c that is common place in the US.  Near Koln we did not find the jacket (actually we never did) but we DID find a good deal on a shirt each for Rio and I.  We tried again near Dusseldorf (it was like mall alley out there!  We do notice more and more huge shopping malls going in--I am a bit ambivalent about them).  In Dusseldorf we hit the jackpot!  While they did not have the jacket, they WERE just marking things down to 75% off (a rarity in Germany) and Rio made out like a bandit.  Here is heading into the hotel with all of his bags:

After all that shopping, and taking our time, we were checking into the hotel at about 7:45, planning to take a swim and then head out for a late dinner (in hopes that it would cool down before we were eating).  We were disappointed to find out that the pool closes at 8:00.  That seemed awfully early for a hotel pool!  Upon asking (politely) we were given late check out for the next day so that we could at least use the pool in the morning.  We sat in our blessedly cool room for a bit and finally headed out to eat around 9:00ish.  It was still pretty hot out, but we were tired of being so sedentary so we decided to walk to an Italian restaurant that was about 2 km away and had good reviews.  It got pretty warm walking, but the place WAS good and reasonably priced, so that made up for it somewhat.

It was after 11:00 by the time we made it back to the hotel, and it was still over 90 degrees!  There was a cool front forecast to roll in and we kept hoping it would arrive.  Not yet.  Oh well, we DID have a/c for the night.

With no mosquitoes, cool air and no concrete dust we all slept better than we had in over a week--and we didn't even wake until 10:00 on Sunday morning.  We headed right up to the rooftop indoor pool, and when we went out on the terrace, we found that the clouds we could see really did bring cooler weather and it was only about 80!!!

The cooler weather meant we could spend the day sigh seeing as we headed back south.  

After picking up a McDonald's Menu for Rio (14 year old boys need more than a croissant to make it to a late lunch), we went downtown Dusseldorf to check out the cool, modern architecture that it is known for.  

Dusseldorf was hit very heavy during World War II.  At one point 700 bombers attacked the city in just one night.  As a result, this is not a place to see classic, old German architecture.  Instead, it is a place to see, new, modern and sleek buildings.  The place to see is the MedianHafen (media harbor) where the river is lined with buildings that are works of modern art.  

(the 3 "twisted" buildings above were designed by Frank Gehry--for those Disney fans among you, this is the same architect who designed The Walt Disney Concert hall, home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra).

(It's amazing how much adding some plastic people add interest to the one "ho-hum" building in the area!).

It was a very cool area.  It was also packed pretty densely into one small spot--and nothing much else in Dusseldorf held interest for us.  So, after about an hour we headed to the car to drive down for a very different architectural experience: the cathedral in Koln (Cologne).  

Somehow we have managed to live here nearly  5 years without visiting the most visited tourist attraction in the entire country, even though it is only 2 hours up the road.  We rectified that over-site with our stop at the Koln Cathedral yesterday  (funny how "Cologne" sounds "wrong" to my ears after hearing the German name for so long) .  

The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe, and has the second highest spires in the world (Ulm's being the tallest).  The building was one of the sole survivors of an otherwise flattened city during WWII, which means the mammoth structure feels a bit out of place surrounded by plenty of newness.  It was hit over 70 times during the war (though never knocked down, possibly because its usefulness as a landmark for allied airmen) and you could see areas where repairs had been made, and some small spires that are completely missing, etc.  

(I so wish it were possible to keep it all clean at once--do you see how that recently cleaned lower left corner gleams?)

The main level is free to enter, and was pretty crowded (only St Peter's Basicalla has been more so in my experience--but then again, it WAS a Sunday in late July).  I was not able to get very good photos without the flash.  There are very lovely arches and stained glass windows.  The mosaic floors in the rear of the sanctuary were the highlights for me, though.

It took us a bit to find the ticket office and entrance to be able to climb the spire.  You have to go back outside the church and around to the right, and then DOWN the stairs (so that you can pay to climb up and up--why add more stairs?).  The cost to climb up is 3 Euro per person, with a family price of 6 Euro.  

There are 533 steps to the top viewing platform.  Of those, over 350 are original, uneven stone steps going up  in a spiral, in an enclosed (and very stuffy) tower.  You need to be in a good shape, and steady on your feet to make it all the way up, and back down (there is not a separate stairwell, passing each other can be tricky, the inside of the steps is very narrow and has no banister).  I am enough out of shape that I had to stop to rest, squeezing against the wall in every doorway we passed.  

About 1/2 of the way up there is a one way walk through, with a wider area with some benches (woo-hoo) that allows you to get an up close view of the bells.  None of my photos from the area came out, but it was fascinating (though loud when they rang one for the quarter hour; we made sure to continue before 3:00 o 'clock came!).  

At about 2/3 of the way, the spiral staircase lets out into a large square room above the bells.  There is a stone bench all the way around to rest on, and finally some good, fresh air.  After catching your breath, the last 146 steps are modern, metal stairs (this set IS one way, with more tightly enclosed stone steps to spiral down on) that go up in this enclosed space, and let out very high up!  The entire walkway around the top is enclosed in fencing, and all areas that people can touch are, disappointingly covered in graffiti.  I have no comprehension of how someone can want to deface a work of beauty by writing there names--that level of arrogance is beyond me. 

 My favourite part of the vantage point, were the views of the cathedral itself.  

But the views of the city were pretty cool too!

Here is the view from the ground, looking straight up the spire that we climbed to get those photos:

It took everything I had to deal with that height for so long!  

It was about 3:30 and we had not had lunch yet, so we headed off to an Italian place (yes, more Italian!) that had good reviews and was nearby, but not right on the pedestrian zone--which meant it felt about a million miles away from the throngs of tourists.  

After a lovely lunch out in a gorgeous courtyard full of flowers, we stopped to pick up some dessert, simply because we have never seen a Dunkin Donuts in Germany and the novelty factor having something we have not had in so long was high!

Our adventure was not finished yet!  We still had one more stop on our way home-but I think I will write about Limburg tomorrow; it is getting late and this post is getting long.

--Hadley