Sunday, February 24, 2008

Relaxation on the go...

Last week at work was a straight up kick aft-wards, meaning this weekend I needed turbo-relaxation. The agenda was packed but I still managed to decompress as much as can be expected in two days. On Friday night, we supped at Sardenga. Culinarily speaking, they haven't moved an inch despite the relocation. The food was spot on although the same can't be said for the kids' manners. We survived however, as did they.

Saturday started with João's (Thomas's son) birthday at Jump Inn. I can't remember the last month that passed without at least one birthday party there. I had fun while I stayed but had to bounce early as I wanted to take a visiting coworker to the Altstadt. We went up the the castle, halfway across the bridge, visited a couple of cathedrals and Venkat was ready to head back to his temporary digs in Walldorf. I think he liked it. The weather was near perfect -- sunny and in the high 50's (I think). I went without a jacket. We entered the pink cathedral (sorry, not good with names), which I had seen only at night. It is really remarkable. I'll go back with the tripod next time I'm free to get some better shots.
As soon as I got back to the compound, I marched the kids to a little pizzeria down the street for some grub and then got ready for bed. B went out with her friend Luciana to Havana, a decent Latin-like bar in the Altstadt. By 21:30, I was out cold (as were the kids).

Today I woke up, poked around the house a bit and decided to take the kids to the zoo here in Heidelberg. The original plan was to go to Stuttgart, an hour and half from here. I took the kids there last year while B was travelling. Their response when I asked them if they remembered, negatory, of course, led me to the conclusion that it would be all the same to them if I take the to Petco. No complaints -- it saved me plenty of gas and 3 hours on the autobahn.
We got to the zoo early, which turned out to be a great idea as the forecast called for sunshine and temperatures in the low 60's. With weather like this in February, Al Gore's "truth" seems less inconvenient all the time.Getting there early has other benefits as well. I've noticed they feed many of the animals soon after opening. Today we saw the chimpanzees noisily noshing the fruit and salad tossed indifferently on top of their cages. The gorillas were given something that looked like monster stalks of broccoli. Must be nice to get that kind of thrill from raw vegetables. One of the oddest things we saw was a busy bee habitat that sat just a foot or so off the beaten path -- no barrier whatsoever from the hordes of kids and other clumsy folk that crowd the zoo each day. I understand next year they're going to have a pool where you can swim with jellyfish and a hornet's nest you can rent as a piñata for birthday parties.
By the time we left at around 13:30 or so, there were huge lines just to get in. By the way, the kids spent a lot of time at the playground, which broke up the monotony of seeing and smelling one animal after another.After leaving the zoo, we proceeded to buy stuff for a simple picnic, which we ate at a park near our house. The kids seemed to enjoy the day and I must admit that it was a great weekend. By the way, Emily lost her other front tooth. A freak accident with her seat belt ripped it right out of her head. She was thrilled, although judging by the reduced compensation, the Tooth Fairy seems to be feeling the pressure of the weakened dollar. No doubt: it's tough all over.

3 comments:

C N Heidelberg said...

The pink church is the Jesuitenkirche (Jesuit Church). :)

grp said...

Thanks. Is it just me or does "pink church" sound better?

Kato said...

Lol, i've been living in Heidelberg for over 20 years, and i still can't name any of the churches really, short of Heiliggeistkirche.