Corpus Christi / Schnitzel

Today, we are going to do two days. Look out!

May 22nd, A German Holiday

Needless to say, a random German holiday falling on the first week we arrived kind of set us back a bit. Absolutely nothing was open on the holiday (and every Sunday) except for the Turkish vendor selling meat that grows on a stick (donair anyone?) and kebobs. We took the time to go to downtown Freiburg and explore for a bit. The old city has these little canals with supposedly fresh water running in them. I wonder how many intoxicated locals have relieved themselves after a long night of boozin'. Being ignorant as we are (ahh, bliss) the kiddies sure had fun (it's actually a common thing to do):

There is supposed to be this big, grand church - the Münster - in the middle of Freiburg (built in the 1300s) that Mom G. and I couldn't find on our last visit for some reason. So as we wandered around, we figured we should try to track it down. Turns out it wasn't that hard. It's rather large. It's funny though, even with a building that big, you have to have a break in all the other buildings to be able to see it because everything is so packed together. With the events of the past few days, it was really cool to see this building and walk through it. It's going to sound corny, but pictures just don't work to convey its structure and beauty and grandness. Seeing something like this kind of erases all the garbage we went through this week. Well not really. Sort of. It was neat. Here is a picture of us just after we spotted it through a narrow alley. We are definately showing the effects of the last few days. Jodi looks like she just wet her pants, and I am staring off into space/constipated. You can see the top of the Münster (barely) behind us.

And that's the extent of the pictures we got of the Münster. Better luck next time (I suppose you have to come see it for yourself). We did get a couple of the inside, but they do not do this amazing building justice.

This lady was nice enough to pose for us:

Erika lighting a candle for Corpus Christi:

And that was about it for this day.

May 23, Deutsche Bank/Arcor/Martin

Another day of smiling like the good Canadians we are and signing things we don't understand and leaving the kids with Grandma. In the morning, we opened up a bank account and set up our phone line. We couldn't believe how long it was going to take to have a phone - 3 weeks at least! But the guy was really nice. We also got a 24 euro broom. Don't ask. But it does have a nice ladybug molded on the bottom. "The envy of all brooms", apparently. The broom was soon accompanied by a matching toaster, for a modest 54 euro. You heard right, $80 CDN for a 2-slice toaster. We did do a lot of penny-pinching at Ikea... all for the toaster I guess (not shown). So, we picked up Grandma and the kids and went to Martin's for lunch, which was a good time, thanks to Grandma taking Erika for a 2 hour walk. Elizabeth (Martin's lady friend) sent us on our way with a large piece of coffee cake. We also got some directions to a large department store downtown, where we found a wash machine, electric teapot, hairdryer, and Grandma got Reese a little push car - "The Big Bobby Car" a.k.a. "Big Booby Car" courtesy of Erika. We ended the night with some delicious buns and meat and cheese, and I think we will sign off today and leave you with a movie starring the Big Booby Car. Voila: