More of Germany

So I have been a little bit of a traveling wuss the last two days. I haven't ventured very far, because I am still so tired. I didn't think the time change would affect me this much, but I can't seem to get adjusted yet.

On Wednesday I went back into downtown Mannheim for the day. I really wanted to do some shopping, but I know that Ben doesn't have that on his agenda, so better to do it without him. A funny story about my adventure...

I asked the hotel receptionist which tram line to take downtown, and how much it would cost. She told me, and I headed to the platform to wait for the tram. When it arrived, I walked on board, and looked for somewhere to put my coins. I looked around for a minute, and couldn't find a sign or anything. I tried to ask a passenger where to pay, but noone near me spoke English. Just then the doors closed and the tram started to move, so I hurried to take a seat. At the next stop, some passengers boarded and inserted tickets into a slot by the door. Apparently you are supposed to pay at a machine at the tram station before you board. OOOPS! I bet the other passengers on board were thinking "Stupid American touris." Oh, well. I got a free ride.

When I got downtown I shopped for quite a while. I found a cute boutique with lots of jewelry and got some cute necklaces. I also went into a large deparment store to look at clothes. I found a couple of things I wanted to try on, but I didn't know where to go. I wandered around and watched the women for a while until I found the dressing room. The clothes were nice, but I decided they were too much like the stuff I could buy back home. After some more wandering, I found an area of the shopping district that had some more discount stores. I went into a shoe store and saw rows and rows of shoes....in european sizes. I didn't know my size, and couldn't find anyone to help me, so I moved on to the next store. I finally found what I really wanted. At the last store I purchased a beautiful Italian wool peacoat. It is black, knee length, and double breasted. It is a gorgeous coat, and it was only 32 euros!

To cap off the night, Ben met me downtown and we went to a traditional Bavarian restaurant. I ordered "roasted pig knuckle with potato dumplings and gravy." Don't worry, it wasn't really a pig knuckle. It was actually a huge hunk of roasted pork. The potato dumplings were kinda weird though. They were potato balls with the texture of gelatin. Not my favorite!

Tonight we went out with Ben's work group. First we headed over to the Mannheim Museam of Technology. We got a guided tour of displays that ranged from medical tools of the 1800's, to a working replica of a textile mill. It was interesting to see how people lived when this city was first established.

We then took a walk for a few blocks to the Fermeldsturn. This is a large communications tower at one end of the Luisenpark. There is a big rotating restaurant at the top. We took an elevator up and were seated at our table. Even though the restaurant moves very slowly, it was really weird to sit and see the walls moving past us! It took about one hour for the restaurant to make one full rotation, so it wasn't fast by any means, but still it's an unusual sensation. The food was really good. I had a soup that consisted of beef broth with onions and sliced german pancakes (crepes) It was really good. For my meal I ate Spatzel, which are thick german noodles with a creamy sauce. My dessert was a chocolate cake with a crunch crust, berry filling, and a hard chocolate top. It was all so yummy, so it was good to have a long walk back to the hotel. Here are some pictures of the Fermeldsturn and the view from the restaurant.