Back in Duisburg

Yes, we thought our last trip to Duisburg would be the final one, but we are back again, for a month.  We have a few mini-vacations planned, so there will be some things to blog about.

We arrived yesterday.  Managed to stay awake till 9pm, so I think we will get on the timezone quickly.  We did that by walking all over everywhere -- I got over 20,000 steps on my fitbit.  To the grocery store, downtown to buy Jay an umbrella (he lost his in Italy, but he only wanted a "good German umbrella" -- the US ones weren't sturdy enough for him.  Given the cost of German umbrellas, they better be sturdy, and he better not lose this one), and to stock up on wine at our favorite wine store (the owner recognized us, and knew exactly what wines to show us -- of the five wines we tried, we bought three of them).  

We are in yet another "vacation apartment".  This one is in a duplex; it's the upper floor of one half of the duplex with our landlady living below us.  It is the largest yet, with a completely separate living room.  It's also much brighter, both from good lighting and two skylights.  I think I will be able to see to knit and read here in the evenings.  It also has a dishwasher (which Jay likes). The downsides are that there is no microwave oven, no freezer in the refrigerator, no washing machine and the nearest laundromat is a long walk, and the wifi is very slow.  We weren't supposed to have wifi at all, but that was a deal killer for me, so we are (with permission) camping on the landlady's very slow wifi.  We are seriously considering buying her a new router.  Especially in the evening, when she is using it, it feels like we must be using an old modem or something.  We can't stream netflix or amazon, which was our primary TV experience, since there isn't any english-language TV here.  Here are some pictures of our cosy abode.

[Well, I tried to upload the pictures, but google won't cooperate.  I think it may have something to do with the poor wifi -- it's trying to save my phone data, since I am on roaming, but I have unlimited (albeit slow) data here, so it's not the right thing to do.  Maybe tomorrow I will add some pictures of the apartment.]

Apparently it is this part of Duisburg's turn to be torn up.  Not only have we found at least 4 streets that are so torn up you have to detour around them, the supermarket that I have finally learned the layout for (the Edeka) is being renovated and is closed for most of the duration of our stay (and probably will have a completely different store layout, so I'll still not be able to find anything).  

I'll be continuing my German studies while I am here.  I will have the same teacher, but this time she will come to my apartment for lessons.  Maybe we will even go out in the "real world" and learn some practical skills.  

So for me this trip will consist of german lessons, shopping, doing laundry and vacations -- perhaps I will get some hiking in.  Hopefully there will be interesting things to blog about.