Take my credit card!
Credit cards aren't used in many places around here. They use bank cards, basically what we call ATM card. In theory, mine should work, at least if I knew the PIN to it.
What it means is that I can't do much without cash here. I went to the book fair in town. Can't do much there other than look.
I guess looking was enough, what would I REALLY need a German version of the history of the muppets for?
Then I ran in to a travel agency to book the tickets to Paris, since I can't get a price online. Luckily the prices are reasonable given the distance, and compared to travel in the US (I should stop comparing like that though). I spent 190€ for the tickets and got a detailed itinerary.
I'll be on the Regional Express for about 90 minutes over 12 stations. I'll leave Haltern am See for Mönchengladbach Hbf, where I'll change trains for another RE to Aachen over another 12 stations.
Well in Aachen, I'll have 15 minutes to figure out what platform to get to for the Thalys train to Brussel. I think that's a total of four stations over the course of three hours, and it goes about 150 miles/hour.
For a bit of perspective: I will leave one country, cross another and get well into a third country - in six hours. That's about the trip I drive from Denver to Telluride. That's a bit more than Los Angeles to Vegas. It's a bit less than Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Half of my ride is taking regional/commuter trains - had I been driving my own car, I'd shave off almost two hours!
Anyway, the travel agent actually accepted credit cards! Wonder of wonders. So "spatzieren" around a little more in town, and then it was time to scoot over to Recklinghausen.
I've never been there, but I'm a big fan of parking close to the action and NOT have to pay to park, so luckily N. has friends right in town. They own a very nice tattoo & piercing shop in 'downtown', so park the car there. Go in and shake hands, chit-chat for a bit and then ask if it's okay to leave the car there for a bit.
Recklinghausen is similar to Haltern, but a bit more people. Grabbing a seat in the sunshine, ordering and Pepsi (with real sugar in it!) and people-watching is the first order of affairs.
The location is the town square.
Inside one of the buildings is a large electronics store, similar to our Best Buy, so I look at all the interesting things they have. No toaster-ovens and no top-loading washers seem to exist here. There are a couple of upright vacuums, but 99% of them are the canister type.
They also only had one or two types of CRT tv's, everything else is LCD or plasma screens.
A few more stores under my belt and it was time to try a time-honored German tradition of a curry bratwurst.
This is not like your regular hotdog in a bun. It was served in a bowl, cut into pieces and smothered in a "spicy" tomato sauce, similar to our BBQ ketchup, and on top of that they sprinkle curry over and hand over a fresh bun.
It's far more common in Berlin, but it has spread across the country and I am not that impressed. I think I'll stick with the regular brats in buns, but it's nice to try something different on occasion.
Back to the tattoo shop and admire some more work, and then back towards Haltern. Something that I've always enjoyed has been to go to the grocery stores in various areas. They are usually fairly small to cater to a local market (sometimes only a neighborhood) and you get a good idea of what people like in that area.
Kaufmarkt (I think that was the name) had a fair amount of wines, lots of meats, some dairy stuff and a lot of ice-cream.
The dinner ended up being tater-tots (they taste the same as ours) and chicken, cut in pieces and fried in oil with a bit of paprika, salt and pepper. I added some breakfast links (or so I thought) but they were far better than what I expected.
As I stood in line, a lady behind me said something in German, and rusty as I am I had no idea what she said. What she DID say was "excuse me, can I squeeze by". Sorry lady, I am not that good at German so if you catch me off guard, I am not retarded, I just need a second.
Dinner to the setting sun, Space Radio playing in the background and the evening was about done in the most pleasant way.
Go Home
What it means is that I can't do much without cash here. I went to the book fair in town. Can't do much there other than look.
I guess looking was enough, what would I REALLY need a German version of the history of the muppets for?
Then I ran in to a travel agency to book the tickets to Paris, since I can't get a price online. Luckily the prices are reasonable given the distance, and compared to travel in the US (I should stop comparing like that though). I spent 190€ for the tickets and got a detailed itinerary.
I'll be on the Regional Express for about 90 minutes over 12 stations. I'll leave Haltern am See for Mönchengladbach Hbf, where I'll change trains for another RE to Aachen over another 12 stations.
Well in Aachen, I'll have 15 minutes to figure out what platform to get to for the Thalys train to Brussel. I think that's a total of four stations over the course of three hours, and it goes about 150 miles/hour.
For a bit of perspective: I will leave one country, cross another and get well into a third country - in six hours. That's about the trip I drive from Denver to Telluride. That's a bit more than Los Angeles to Vegas. It's a bit less than Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Half of my ride is taking regional/commuter trains - had I been driving my own car, I'd shave off almost two hours!
Anyway, the travel agent actually accepted credit cards! Wonder of wonders. So "spatzieren" around a little more in town, and then it was time to scoot over to Recklinghausen.
I've never been there, but I'm a big fan of parking close to the action and NOT have to pay to park, so luckily N. has friends right in town. They own a very nice tattoo & piercing shop in 'downtown', so park the car there. Go in and shake hands, chit-chat for a bit and then ask if it's okay to leave the car there for a bit.
Recklinghausen is similar to Haltern, but a bit more people. Grabbing a seat in the sunshine, ordering and Pepsi (with real sugar in it!) and people-watching is the first order of affairs.
The location is the town square.
Inside one of the buildings is a large electronics store, similar to our Best Buy, so I look at all the interesting things they have. No toaster-ovens and no top-loading washers seem to exist here. There are a couple of upright vacuums, but 99% of them are the canister type.
They also only had one or two types of CRT tv's, everything else is LCD or plasma screens.
A few more stores under my belt and it was time to try a time-honored German tradition of a curry bratwurst.
This is not like your regular hotdog in a bun. It was served in a bowl, cut into pieces and smothered in a "spicy" tomato sauce, similar to our BBQ ketchup, and on top of that they sprinkle curry over and hand over a fresh bun.
It's far more common in Berlin, but it has spread across the country and I am not that impressed. I think I'll stick with the regular brats in buns, but it's nice to try something different on occasion.
Back to the tattoo shop and admire some more work, and then back towards Haltern. Something that I've always enjoyed has been to go to the grocery stores in various areas. They are usually fairly small to cater to a local market (sometimes only a neighborhood) and you get a good idea of what people like in that area.
Kaufmarkt (I think that was the name) had a fair amount of wines, lots of meats, some dairy stuff and a lot of ice-cream.
The dinner ended up being tater-tots (they taste the same as ours) and chicken, cut in pieces and fried in oil with a bit of paprika, salt and pepper. I added some breakfast links (or so I thought) but they were far better than what I expected.
As I stood in line, a lady behind me said something in German, and rusty as I am I had no idea what she said. What she DID say was "excuse me, can I squeeze by". Sorry lady, I am not that good at German so if you catch me off guard, I am not retarded, I just need a second.
Dinner to the setting sun, Space Radio playing in the background and the evening was about done in the most pleasant way.
Go Home
posted by The Reverend at 2:48:00 PM
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