Yarn and Coffee and Deutsche, Oh My!

I am a wanderer. I honestly think I am happiest when roaming a forgein country armed with nothing more than a phrasebook, passport and cash. Seriously, I love to just wander around and soak up the local flavors. Is it terrible that I'd rather do this without a local guide? I just feel bad when I'm dragging a friend or coworker around because I feel it must be terribly boring for them.

Tuesday was a bit of a loss for me, as the jet lag finally caught up with me. I all but fell asleep in my afternoon meetings and I think I did doze off for a bit in the car on the way home from dinner. My poor host that night must have thought I'm a terrible conversationalist. Though we did have a nice Thai dinner (grumble, grumble, no Pad Thai) which included a very good red curry chicken. The snow piled up all day and night and he actually had to scrape his car free both when we left the office and then again when we left dinner. I've got to say, I love snow in those first few hours, before anyone has driven on it and turned it into cold, ugly, grey mush. It's so soft and the world gets so quiet. Very peaceful, if short lived.

Yesterday, however, the jet lag had passed and I was up for adventuring. After another productive day at the office (setting up systems is fun stuff actually) we went out for another traditional German meal. Luckily, there was a nice Italian section of the menu, so I had a tasty ravioli to go with my dark German beer. I swear, I'm going home 6 kg heavier from all the beer, ok, maybe the beer and the Nutella, as Nutella makes every breakfast just a little yummier, it's especially nice smeared on pastry (can you tell I just finished my breakfast?). After dinner our host escorted us back to the hotel. Arriving in my room at 9 pm I realized that part of my sleeping problem (I keep waking up at 2 and 4 am) might be that I'm either not tired enough or I'm going to sleep too early. So I dropped off the laptop, grabbed my knitting and hit the town.

I have a pretty good sense of direction and a very good memory, which means (if I have been paying attention mind you), that I can find just about any place I've been to again, even if it's been a long time. So I hit the streets to check up on all my favorite Regensburg sites. The cafe with the good soup around the corner from the hotel was still there so it was on to the yarn store. Needless to say, it was right where I had left it, and I found it on the first try. Sadly, it was closed (it was well after 9 pm), but I was able to press my little nose against the window and scope out some of the goods. It would appear that they only carry one brand (or derivatives of that brand). Anyone know anything about Wolle Rodel (there are umlauts in there, but I don't have those keys handy)? The lovely cafebar (Germany really understands what I want, cafebars where I can choose a cocktail or a coffee over nice conversation and yarn, it's quite simple really) where Grant and I had lunch on my birthday was still there too. A quick walk around the square showed that the clothing store where I got the orange sweater I wear constantly is still there too. So, having scoped out my shopping path for the weekend I decided to duck into the cafebar closer to my hotel (the one with the good soup) and have a coffee before bed (yes, I can sleep quite well after some good espresso).

I sat down at a cute little table and was bombarded with smoke. I've got to vent here - QUIT SMOKING INDOORS! I'm sorry, I don't care how cold it is outside, your smoke makes my food taste bad. Ok, rant over. Managing to get over the smoke issue (as it exists EVERYWHERE here), I successfully ordered a cappucino in German and settled in to knit. About an hour into my knitting (which is a scarf I'll be ripping back because it's too wide for the limited amount of yarn I have left, total stash clean up project) I decided it was time to head back. I then successfully asked for my bill and paid all in German. At this point I'm feeling pretty dang good about my language skills. I pack up and head out. Half a block away, as I'm ducking into my hotel, some man calls out and I turn around. He smiled and said something and made knitting motions at me (I recall he was just in the cafe with me), I try to explain I don't understand, but he just repeats himself. He smiles and gestures and I smile and say 'Ja' and then he walks off. So, who knows what I agreed with him on, but I clearly realized that my German is not as good as I thought. Ah well. One step at a time.

My jaunt was partially successful, I managed not to wake up at 2 am last night, just 4 am. Clearly tonight I need more walking and more knitting. Or maybe just more espresso.