This and that....

I have a fabulous four day weekend this weekend. It's so great to know that tomorrow's Sunday (well, actually, today is Sunday, because it's already 1 a.m. here), but I don't have to go to work on Monday.....or on Tuesday!

The weekend started yesterday at 3:30. I decided a while ago that I really wanted to buy a bike. There are so many great places to bike here. But I hadn't gotten around to really shopping for one. So yesterday, Marc and I went to 3 different bike stores to look at bikes. But we didn't find "the one." Either the color was too ugly or it had more features than I needed or.....It was a good start, though, and gave me an idea of what I would be spending on a bike with enough features to maybe be able to do a weekend biking trip, but not one that would let me trek through the Alps.

Then, last night we went to the Opera. We also went to the Opera several weeks ago, to see a modern Opera piece. It was horrible. Absolutely awful. So, because it was so awful, it was absolutely necessary that we go to the opera again to wipe away the bad taste of the horrible piece. So we went to see La Traviata by Verdi. It's a tragic story, but absolutely beautiful. And the music was amazing. The set design was a little funky, but the music was amazing....It was wonderful. (If you've seen the movie Pretty Woman, it's the Opera that Richard Gere takes Julia Roberts to.)

Today was the Day O' Shopping. First, we went to Ikea and had breakfast (1.50 Euro for two rolls, jelly, cold cuts and cheese and unlimited coffee....!!!). Then, we bought stuff....I bought a new bench for my apartment, which I'm really excited about. We left Ikea and realized we had forgotten something. So we tested how long it takes to buy a shower curtain at Ikea from the time you switch off the motor in the car to when you switch it back on.....our result: 15 minutes. (I think it should be an event on the next Amazing Race - it's really not as easy as it sounds!) And then we went to another bike shop....this is cool - Marc looked in the internet to see which bike shops were around the Ikea. He picked one randomly and we went there. The guy was totally helpful (which, in the customer service desert that Germany is, is not always to be expected) and they had a bike, which was perfect for what I needed, a good price and a good brand. And it's a lower bar than the trapezoid frame, so it's way better for short persons like me! So I bought a bike. Another cool thing happened....we were driving along and Marc's mom called to say that she wanted Asparagus and if we passed a stand, could we please buy some. As he was still on the phone with her, we passed a stand. So we stopped and bought fresh asparagus and strawberries. We promptly ate tons of the strawberries....they were delicious! Then we wanted to go to another city, but took, for some reason, the surface streets and not the Autobahn. The view was fabulous and then another great thing happened....we drove past the Ritter Sport Factory......Do you know Ritter Sport? Well, it's chocolate. Do you know me? Well, I love chocolate. So Marc had to turn around and go to the Ritter Sport Factory. We bought a bunch of chocolate (some of it will be gifts). It was great! Then we went to a furniture store and Marc bought a new dining room table. It's absolutely gorgeous, real solid wood, made in India. And I bought cushions for my bench. It was a very Shop-O-Rama day.

Tonight we watched Stuttgart play for another title (they won the German championships last weekend). Unfortunately, they lost tonight. But it's not really so tragic and watching the game was really fun!

And now I'm going to bed....shopping is exhausting!!