GERMANY WON THE SOCCER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!

Last night the German team won the Soccer World Championship Game against Argentina. It was a “nail biter” game. No goals throughout the entire game and the first set of 15 min overtime. Then, when all the players were exhausted, in the second 15 min of overtime, Mario Götze secured the winning goal and with that the title of World Champions. This is the fourth time in Soccer history that Germany won the Championship!

It was a sad day for Argentina. They played well, had great chances and showed a lot of effort but this is a game where only one team can win. Second and third place it really not that bad. If your team qualified to play in this competition in the first place – you got to be good.

Now Germany can go on with normal life. I was informed that all the German flags are not out because Germans are so patriotic but only in support of the German Soccer team. They will now be packed away again until the next World Championship in 2018 in Russia. Until then the flags will be replaced with flags of their favorite teams, their regional district or simply decorative flags. I guess that means that our American flag will be the only patriotic country flag proudly waving in the wind on this German Campground.

What is the latest from our new life? We truly enjoy retirement and the simplified lifestyle as long term campers. Our new home is so small that I keep wearing my reading glasses all the time – lol. But no, seriously, it is really cute. We still have a rather unpredictable weather pattern. A mixed bag of beautiful sunshine, storm, heavy rain, thunder storms and currently temperatures lower than desirable for mid of July. The 2000 predicted hours of sunshine on this island must be squeezed into the later part of summer. We do enjoy the fact that we have daylight often with the sun still shining until 9:30/10:00 pm to sit outside. It gets cold as soon as the sun disappears behind the trees.

Our new bikes arrived and are all assembled waiting for a stretch of nice weather to be taken for a ride. The internet is still a big problem. We are in constant contact with the provider but find customer service is terrible. No communication with the customer, no call back, no refund. It is so frustrating to sit and try to connect to the internet again and again. To get disconnected every few minutes or not to be able to connect in the first place. I guess we are rather spoiled with high speed internet connection and 4G service everywhere.

We have very nice neighbors in our little cul-de-sac. One had discovered a rather large wasp nest between his vent cover and the screen. That took some careful action to get it safely removed.  This couple only comes every two weeks for a few days. Others across the way stay all summer or for 3 weeks at a time. Behind our camper, past a wide ditch, we had a large area for tent campers. That usually was a bit rowdy on the weekends. Campground rules though are followed and everybody calms down around 11:00 pm. Now, much of that tent area has been turned into the boat storage area and the weekends are much quieter now.

We went to Burg auf Fehmarn a few times. We biked, walked and also tried the Bürgerbus. This bus runs 3 times a day and is operated by volunteer seniors. It’s just a simple tour bus and costs only €0.50 for people with Ostseekarte (a certain tourist discount card). In town we can shop for pretty much anything we need and, since we don’t need much, we can transport it back home in the baskets of our bikes or carry it to the bus stop.

Last week Wednesday we picked up our new grill. It’s a small 2 burner Broil Master. Noting fancy, nothing big for the two of us. It does have a side burner if needed. We already had a few small gatherings with new friends and everything cooked very well. Since I don’t have a cook stove in my kitchen yet I find it interesting to prepare dinner for a few people on a 2 burner electric stove. For just the two of us it is perfectly fine but for a group of friends one has to become a bit creative. It is possible though in combination of the electric cook top and the large toaster oven we have. End of the month we will be able to install our ceramic cook top and our oven. Another step toward permanent camping in style.

A car is still not one of our desires since we don’t have to be anywhere at a certain time and also, with a little bit of prior planning, public transportation is readily available.

We have spoken to several other camping enthusiasts that stayed at the campground through the winter and it doesn't sound too bad. It’s good to gather some information and pick the brains of people that have been here in winter. All of the people we talked to have/had canvas/heavy tent material camper extensions while ours is a hard shell with plexi glass windows and insulation material in the walls, floor and ceiling. We hear that it could be damp and clammy at night and in the morning. I assume that can be remedied by a steady supply of propane for the heaters. We shall see. I decided to look for a large carpet to keep floor temperatures comfortable and to prevent heat to escape through the floor. Heated mattress pad will also be a must have.

The individual beds in our camper will not work for us long term. They are too narrow. Strangely, they are wider on one side than on the other. It will be an early fall project to replace the bed design with a large sleeping platform, almost the size of a king size bed. Our “living room” space was originally the dinette part of the camper. Not comfortable to sit and watch TV for a few hours. It’s a square U-shaped set-up and it has to go. We are looking at an IKEA Manstad sleeper sofa. It has two seats on one side and a lounger on the other. It should fit in the space and we will still have some bed box storage space. Besides, it will look much nicer.

THE FIRST MONTH BACK IN GERMANY

We live a very quiet lifestyle here and truly enjoy the fact that we honestly don’t NEED to do anything. The first 2 weeks were filled with hunting and gathering for household and food items I hate to be without. All in all I can say that by now we are almost all set. This weekend we are picking up our new stove and a new grill is also on the way. The grill that we found in our shed was too small for 2 steaks and unfortunately was very rusty. Certain things are very important to me in my household, for example Teflon coated frying pans. I’m not completely opposed to coated pots and pans but once I detect any peeling, the pans have to go. We also organized a different dining table. The one we have is round/oval and takes up too much space with the extensions in and without the extensions it is too small. So we switched to a square table. Both ends extend to easily accommodate a moderate crowd if needed.

o find the foods that are important to me took a bit longer. It was not a problem to find Coconut oil and shredded Coconut, raw Honey, Peanut Butter (for Tom) and other little kitchen supplies. Black seed oil and Black seeds, Flax seeds, Hemp oil and seeds on the other hand were not available on the island.

The next two weeks we spent in Kassel, Germany at my daughters house. Meanwhile the 2014 Soccer World Cup countdown has begun and every evening is filled with soccer. From my daughters roof-top patio we can see the Aue Stadion (soccer stadium) where the games are displayed on the big screen for public viewing. After Germany won the first game, pretty much every car in Kassel was on the road; people sitting on top of cars and hanging out of side windows with flags waving, honking all available horns, singing, drinking and congratulating each other like they already won the final game. This convoy of happiness snaked all over the city with no cops anywhere in sight! It was a lot of fun riding around with our grandson (a big soccer fan).

A few very positive things struck me with surprise. For one, pet dogs are allowed almost everywhere the owners are allowed. They go into grocery stores, restaurants, offices and on public transportation. I have to say, German dogs are extremely well behaved and their owners are very concerned to pick up their messes. I have not encountered any dogs pulling the owners all over creation nor have I seen a dog barking in places where they should not. In fact, I have seen more misbehaving children than dogs. I compare that with some dogs we owned and they could not be taken out in public. I really like the fact that they can go where the owner goes because it prevents dogs from getting overheated in parked cars and also don’t have to stay home alone for long hours.

Shopping carts in all stores are chained together and are released by inserting a Euro or a special reusable disc. After shopping, the chain plug from the cart in front is inserted into the slot of your cart and returns your money or disc. You don’t see shopping carts in a 2 mile radius around the store or scattered in the parking lot. People are trained to bring their carts back, and they want to, because they want their money or disc back.

Plastic/glass bottles and soda cans are recycled for cash back. Every store or beverage market has a section where customers insert their bottles or cans into a machine which counts and calculates their refund. 0.25 Euro per bottle adds up and reduces your final shopping bill or provides cash. Therefore, you don’t find many empty drink containers on the ground.

Trash is separated by bio, hazardous, paper and card board, and compost for recycling as well. Nobody complains about taking out 3 or 4 trash bags, and collectors pick up several times a week. The residential garbage cans are locked and occupants of apartment buildings all have a key. This prevents dumpster diving or animals rummaging through the trash and creating a mess.

People drink beer at any time of the day or night – in public! What a concept. Don’t think they are always drunk, but beer is one of the staple beverages. Most households buy it by the case and rarely will you find the case empty. Of course there are always people that drink too much – just like in the US.

Public transportation! This is the best way to travel! You can go from anywhere to anywhere by city train, bus, regional train to long distance train or airplane. You never have to wait long, the vehicles are very clean (even though they transport a lot of dogs), and your bicycle can also be taken onto the trains in case you have to travel from the station to your home or work by bike. Besides the convenience, it is very affordable to use the public transportation system; we paid 7 Euro for a 24 hour ticket for two travelers. That ticket is good for any lines. You can get on the train in the morning and ride from end station to end station, switch to another one and again go from end station to end station. Take an ice cream break and do some shopping or sightseeing and continue your trip all day long. Parking downtown is a nightmare since spaces in parking garages are super narrow and you have to be a skinny belly dancer to get in or out of your car. The parking fees are also rather expensive and free curbside parking is very hard to come by.

Man-powered transportation is extremely popular. So much more walking or biking results in a population, in general, that is not as overweight as people in the US; most people are slim and trim. For many people a bike is the main means of transportation. They have a relatively new systemin Kassel called Konrad http://www.konrad-kassel.de/. They distribute bikes in many different locations all over town and people can rent them. You register on line and then you can pick up a bike in one location and drop it off at another. It costs next to nothing and provides a great alternative to the other transportation systems available. 99.9% of roadways are split up into train tracks in the middle, road ways, pedestrian walk ways and bike trails. Of course, the bikes too have to follow traffic regulations. This is the case in most inner city environments.

Now let’s talk about food. German food has an old, very positive worldwide reputation. There are bakeries and butchers everywhere. Everything is super fresh and delicious. Food is one of the things that irritated me a lot in the US since it is all laden with chemicals, preservatives, food coloring and taste enhancers. Many of the poisonous additives are prohibited in Germany and Europe. As a result, everything comes in smaller packages. The first shopping trip, I made the mistake of buying bulk (just for Tom and myself), to find out that we were not able to eat it all before it spoiled. In the US I bought milk with an expiration date a month and a half out and it was still good on that date! Not here; milk comes in 1L cartons (no plastic jugs that sit in the landfills for the next 250 years) and you better drink it or it will spoil. Raw honey is not something you need to search for or pay extra for the chemicals you DON’T get, it’s readily available in any grocery store. Tomatoes also go bad very fast too, what tells me that they are not sprayed and irradiated like US produce. I could go on forever about the food, but let me just finish by saying that many items that we have to buy organic in the US are not specially labeled as “bio” since they are, without question. There certainly are exceptions to the rule. Fast food places are somewhat rare and not on every street corner like in the US. In Kassel we saw only 2 McDonalds, one BK and one Pizza Hut. In commercials on TV they are also not as overpowering. Fast food is not glorified as the great food it pretends to be in the US.

We are now back on the island and will be here for several months before we return to Kassel or travel elsewhere. Local trips are possible but nothing it scheduled yet.

RAINY DAY ACTIVITY

Today is the first day of rain and it’s a great opportunity to give you an update and tell you about our first week and a half on the island.

Let’s start with the end of our Transatlantic Crossing. We used the two port days in South Hampton, England and Seebrügge, Belgium to further explore the ship and to get ready for disembarkation in Hamburg, Germany. Before dinner, on May 25, we placed all of our luggage outside our state room door and it magically disappeared by the time we returned. We woke up early Monday morning because the engine of the ship sounded differently and we knew that we were already in docking mode. We wanted to be up to see the ship approaching Hamburg, but that happened in the dark of night and we didn’t wake up in time. There were already people at the pier waiting for arriving travelers. We told our pick up crew, our oldest daughter, grandson with girlfriend, best friend with husband and her 2 adult children not to be there until about 9:00 am. Our instructions for disembarking let us know that we were not able to leave the ship until 8:30 am. I figured that disembarking would be just as smooth as checking in on the May 16.

Just as planned, we had breakfast, at the Kings Court, as usual. With plenty of time to spare we went out on deck 7 with our coffee/tea and watched the activities in port for a while and then strolled to the Princess Room, our assigned gathering place and waited for further instructions. At 8:30 am sharp we were able to make our way off the ship. Our family and friends were already waiting for us and helped us gather and load our luggage. We sat down for some more coffee/tea for a few minutes before we headed to our final destination, the island of Fehmarn, Germany. It about an hour and a half by car at the end of A7 Autobahn. The roadways feel scarily narrow compared to American Highways, especially going 100+ miles/hour.

Arriving at the campground we found American decorations in and outside our camper and the American flag was blowing in the wind. Everything was set up ready for us to use. My daughter did a fantastic job getting everything ready for us to start living comfortably from day one. Everything we needed was ready to go and, of course, we had some coffee/tea and enjoyed each other’s company for several hours until our friends left and went back to Hamburg and our daughter went to her camper to make dinner. While she was cooking I used the opportunity to empty our suitcases and store all of our belongings in the cubby spaces of the camper and was surprised that, after all suitcases were empty and packed away, we had plenty of space left to accommodate the full 66 pound box that is in transit and will arrive mid of July. After dinner we played a few rounds of rummy and headed “home” to go to bed. We slept very well on our cozy little bedroom. It’s beautiful to wake up to birds chirping and the wind blowing.

The first full day we went to the town of Burg to do some shopping. I needed some coat hangers, food, certain ingredients to prepare meals, new pillows and a few necessities. It took about 3 days to set up everything just right. The good thing was that it was very windy and we didn't want to spend much time outside. The first week flew by and Saturday afternoon we went with another set of friends to the Rapsblütenfest in Burg. Many vendors offered locally made good, traditional German “fair” food like crusty rolls with pickled herring Lebkuchen hearts, roasted almonds, cotton candy, Bratwurst,

pastries and beer. For the kids they offered face painting, rides and other fun activities. One in particular caught my attention. It took place on the little town pond. Large, clear vinyl bubbles to climb in and walk/crawl on water. That looked like a lot of fun – not only for kids.

http://www.wowbubbles.com

Sunday we had our first birthday party invitation. My best friend, the one from Hamburg that came to pick us up at the pier, celebrated her birthday. We enjoyed our first German BBQ followed up by wonderful pastry deserts.

The wind stayed for almost the entire first week before it turned nice sunny and warm. We were somewhat sunshine deprived and soaked up the warm rays, resulting in our first sunburns. Not to the point of pain, but red and a bit sensitive.

Yesterday we worked on our bikes (as in bicycle) all day. That will be our main means of transportation for a while and since they stay outside all the time they needed some TLC. New tires, new brakes a transformer, new handle bars and BASKETS. The baskets are most important for transporting food home from the store. I have one in the front and one in the back and Tom has only one in the back. Tom takes a trip to the store every morning to get fresh crusty rolls for breakfast and the local paper. German breakfast without rolls is not German….at least for me J

We didn't really go and explore the area much. The change in the climate, the food and the calm lifestyle makes us really tired. Multiple naps are not uncommon and very welcome.
  

I had mentioned earlier in the Blog that Metro PCS told us that our cell phones should work in Germany just fine. Well, they sold us a bunch of lies! Nothing works at all. Not being able to communicate is not fun. I ended up establishing a Skype phone number to call Metro PCS just to find out that they don’t offer service outside the US and that the sales crew in the Manchester, NH is either completely clueless or they flat out lied! Now we have a situation where our service with them has to be in place for 90 days before they can unlock the phones to try if they work with a German sim-card. The service was established April 17. Ninety days will bring us to July 17 until we can unlock the phones to test it. But until then they expect us to pay for service we don’t have on phones that don’t work. Makes sense??? Another company on the list of American corporations to watch out for. It’s all for corporate profits and never in the interest of the end consumer. It is very upsetting.

Internet with Outland http://hotspot.outland-net.de, a local provider, was rather frustrating in the beginning as well, but after a few complaints it seems to be more reliable. A better solution still has to be found. We are considering purchasing our own hotspot. That worked well while in the remote location in Maine and hopefully will work here too. More research has to be done. All that will be easier while in my home town Kassel, Germany for the following two weeks.

For now let me close with a general feeling of calm and happiness. It seems it was a good decision and so far we have no regrets. 

DAY EIGHT

Today we have a big rotation on board. Many of the people we used to have dinner with have left and the QM2 is in process of boarding about 1500 new passengers. Mostly Germans who are now going back to Germany, do a northern loop to include Norway and a few islands and then back to South Hampton to sail across the Atlantic west bound to New York.

We docked early this morning in South Hampton, England. It has been raining all day. For a little while it actually looked like snowflakes or at least slightly frozen rain drops. Combined with the strong wind it is just really raw outside.  I feel bad for the passengers that booked port excursions, sightseeing or shopping trips. Visibility is very low.  The Queen Victoria, another Cunard ship, is docked behind us and two other cruise ships are in an opposite docking area. Typical harbor activities are loading and unloading cargo (mostly vehicles), and on our ship outside maintenance started immediately. The poor ship took a beating this crossing.

It is 2:00p now and we have another 3 ½ hours until we sail across to Belgium. We will dock in Seebrügge early tomorrow morning. Another day when most passengers leave the ship to explore the port area. We will stay “home”. Then we have to start packing and prepare for our arrival in Hamburg, Germany.

NEW CELL PHONES

Today we got new cell phones. We are told that they will work pretty much anywhere we find a Wi-Fi connection. They say that we don’t even have to change the SIM card once we get to Germany since Metro PCS uses T-Mobil/Telecom towers and that is a German provider. I can’t wait to see if they are right. We chose Metro PCS because there are no contracts and you can stop the service any time you like. To all the techies out there – do you have any experience with international connections without adding an international plan or new SIM card? The phones we got are LG optimus F6, 4G.

It will be interesting to find out. I told the staff I would call them and let them know if it really works.

For the rest of the day I went shopping with my daughter while Tom made Banana Bread at home. It is so nice and soft, and juicy.

LONGING FOR SUNSHINE

Currently, we are experiencing record low temperatures in New England. North/western wind is creating an arctic wind chill.

In the picture below you see the Queen Mary II as she was docked in New York, 01/03/2014. That was the day we had originally planned to leave. We are really glad not to be on that cruise and hope by May 2014 the ground hog has declared "ice out" for our crossing.

Germany measures high 30th to mid-40 degrees and that sounds like a heat wave to us. 

We are following the weather pattern in northern Germany since some time it seems most of the time considerably warmer than in New England. Hopefully this trend will continue. 

01/08/2014
Burg auf Fehmarn, Germany 45 degree

Kassel, Germany 46 degree

Hooksett, NH USA 16 degree

Guess where we would rather be?

APPROACHING A NEW PHASE IN LIFE

With great excitement and anticipation, the date of our retirement is inching closer. Yes, there is a bit of worry and uncertainty mixed in, but generally we are looking forward to go wherever the nose points. 

To start the journey we are planning to take a 10 day Trans Atlantic cruise from New York City, NY to Hamburg, Germany.

We believe that a cruise is the perfect way to ring in retirement.  

We know nothing about cruises at all. Everything is hear-say from friends that took cruises in the past. The other reason we decided in favor of the cruise is the fact that we will establish our headquarter residence in Germany. It will be somewhat of a little international move and we will need more luggage than for two weeks of vacation. The airlines would heavily charge us for extra luggage while there is no limitation on board the ship as long as each piece doesn’t exceed 50 lbs. and fits comfortably in your stateroom for no extra charge. 

From Germany, many destinations all over Europe are in driving distance. We plan on utilizing the wonderful network of public transportation via bullet trains,

planes,

busses,

City trains,

ships

 

as well as bicycles (this one is perfect! Tom will do all the work and I snap pictures)

and our feet.

For now, it is crunch time! We still need to sell our home here in the US and tie up all lose ends before we leave. For any remaining responsibilities we will put our adult children in charge.

One very helpful and money saving change is already in place. We started using the “Service Credit Union”

https://www.servicecu.org/index.asp . This Credit Union is available for anybody that has some sort of connection to service members in all branches. The benefit for us is that they maintain branches in many countries where the United States has military installations. With this US account we can perform transactions in Euro and other currencies without incurring additional charges from foreign banks involved in the transaction. That can become rather expensive in addition to the possible currency exchange loss.

We plan on frugal living and traveling without sacrificing the quality of life. To start with, we've already set up camp on a 4 season campground on the island of Fehmarn, Germany, in the Baltic Sea.

At this point, the plan is to explore the north-eastern areas of Germany and further north located countries in short trips of one day to a week. We are not sure yet what the upcoming cold months will have in store for us. Camping might not be the most desirable option.

We would like to invite you to follow us on our blog and see where we are and how we are doing. We also appreciate your input and experience you've gained in your travels.