Today was an exciting day. The weather was gorgeous so I went out for a very long bike ride to explore Juelich. Well, before biking I walked down to a nearby plant store which I have been eyeing all week (of course it's always closed when I ride by it), and brought home a few little plants to make my apartment more homey. Sorry dad, I am a traitor, but there's no Gardenworks in Germany! :)
First stop on my bike ride was the citadel, or "Zitadelle". This was basically a giant fortress in the middle of town, which would have been QUITE the stronghold back in the day. Huge brick walls were surrounded by what looked to be the remains of a gigantic moat (I could be wrong though), and two bridges connected the surrounding land with the only two entrances which tunneled through the walls. I biked through one of the tunnels and found a large old building surrounded by a grassy yard. It was really a sight.
Adjacent to the Zitadelle, I was surprised to find that Juelich has a bit of a downtown...nothing like ours in Vancouver, but a cute old part of town, with rows of flat brick buildings, lots of little shops and restaurants, and cobble stone streets. So THIS is where everyone spends their Saturdays, up until 2 pm when everything closes! (!!!!!?????? so these people have officially 4 hours of shopping time in a week outside of regular work hours???? Unbelievable!) I was very excited to find a little market which was packed with people. There were stalls selling fresh fruit and veggies, bread, cheese, meats, plants and clothes. I also wandered into a few stores, and bought some fresh bread, comfort items (such as slippers) and clothes. I found a housecoat for 10 Euros just like my one at home, so I just had to buy it (I MISS my housecoat!). I explored this part of town further and found some very interesting buildings, tunnels and churches. Turns out Juelich isn't as small and boring as I had originally thought! It is really cute!
I managed to cram all my purchases into the basket on the back of my bike, and decided to continue exploring. Someone at work told me that you can bike along the river, and so I found that and biked North along a path beside it for quite a ways. It was really pretty. Eventually I realized that I was surrounded by highways and fields and the town of Juelich was nowhere in sight, so I decided to turn around and make my way back. I finally found some houses and streets and so I veered off the path. I was a little bit worried that I wasn't actually in Juelich but some adjacent town, but I biked a little further and soon recognized the area that Jon lived in (the man I borrowed the bike from). Phew!
About 4 hours later I finally made my way home. I went to the giant superstore-like grocery store near me to try to get a SIM card for my phone. It wasn't easy to find one! I had to do a lot of hand gestures and say a few words I knew in German to get someone to help direct me. Just a few more notes on the grocery stores here...some items which I am quite annoyed about not being able to find...crackers, for one!!! In a land full of cheese, you would think it would be easy to find crackers!! All I have found so far are chips, pretzels, and little small snack-sized crackers with flavoring. Also, salsa - although I guess they are a pretty long ways from Mexico. And I've been looking for ingredients to bake cookies in the oven I have discovered in the kitchen at work...and it has been tough!!! Sugar and flour were easy enough to find (I should hope so, in a town that produces sugar), but so far no luck with baking powder or soda (although I had no idea what the translation of those were, so it may have just come in packaging I wasn't used to). And chocolate chips just do not seem to be popular here; I have only found them in tiny 125ml boxes. Boo.
Anyways, after a long day of exploring, I am quite exhausted. I am finding Juelich to be a very charming little town, and I don't think I will be bored here for a while :).
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