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Buses and Toasters

 Guten Tag!

The heat wave may be about to end as I sit and compose this. The sky has gone from a brilliant azure to a duller, milky white. Thunderstorms and rain have been in the forecast for Wednesday, which is one of the main reasons we went on our mission across the Altstadt (or Innenstadt) to find umbrellas at a sizeable mall across the Danube. We also needed pre-paid SIM cards for our phones, so if you want to get ahold of us, you'll need to use the Signal app (with our US numbers still), or email, or Facebook Messenger. 

We had to transfer buses at the plaza where I get off for church, and the Haltestelle (the bus stop) for the second bus gave me an angle on the Innenstadt that I hadn't had before. In the distance I could see the twin spires of St. Peter's Cathedral, known locally as the Dom. The street in the picture is wider than most, yet these big buses navigate them smoothly. 

Speaking of buses, most people I've talked to think of them as 'ghetto': dirty and filled with mostly unreputable people, and certainly not a desirable mode of transportation. In Alaska, public transportation is virtually nonexistent. We've found the buses to be clean and prompt, and very useful for getting around. Pictured below is the bus I ride from home to get to the church. It has 2 double-wide doors, and one single wide door on the right side. 
I finally got to see the Danube River and the Old Stone Bridge, the one that was built in the 11th century. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough with my phone camera to get a shot of it, but I will in one of my future blogs, because within the next few days, I intend to walk across that stone bridge. 

Yesterday I went in search of ibuprofin. I had looked in all the grocery stores, and there was none there (or any other pain reliever). I looked at a Drogerie, a store where you can buy non-edible groceries at a good price, and there were none there. So, all that was left was an Apotheke, a 'drug store'. It's funny--in a country where you can buy alcohol and put it in the cart with the milk and bread, and they don't ID you at the register, you can't buy ibuprofin off the shelf. At the Apotheke I had to ask for it, which I did in German, and the employee had to go into a back room area to get it. At least she didn't ask for my ID. 

Before I close, I want to show you a German toaster. It has these wires that you raise to warm a Brötchen, or a pastry that would be too big to put down inside. If I hadn't seen it on one of my videos I watched to prepare for this experience, I wouldn't have known what those were for. I used them today to warm up a delectable I picked up at the mall, where there were more bakeries than any other kind of shop. Butcher shops selling wurst and other meats were a close second. My goodie is called a Mohrenschnecke. There is the other half still to eat...


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