Monday in Germany---Not a Day of Rest!

After too many "brötchen" (great German bread rolls), cheese spreads,

cheeses and several cups of coffee.... Reiner took us downtown to start shopping!

Where he dropped us in the "new" downtown... was a giant teeter-totter!  

No one could resist jumping onto it! 

 We watched a lot of kids using it--having fun! 

First stop was the Apple store....
to see if they would replace by dead iPad!
One day it just stopped working... but fortunately it
is under warranty.  They couldn't do it in Africa because this
ipad hasn't been released so they didn't have any.
Well, that's what they told me.  If your iPad dies in less than a year
instead of fixing it they just give you a new one!  I hope!

Downtown Dortmund is so very different from a few years ago.  Notice the U!

All the transportation is underground now.. No more trolleys or trams 

and it has made the area extremely quiet!  I didn't even see any buses or smell in diesel fumes---which is sort of a signature of European cities.

 Of course, the bakeries are still very alive and well.

 I think the options may be greater than they used to be, too.

Apparently, beggars are alive and well, too--much
to every one's chagrin.  

 But for Monday afternoon... it seemed that all of the
'Dortmunders' were still out shopping... or at least walking!
Shortly after this picture it started raining so we stopped for
a bratwurst for lunch.

One of our favorite areas --along the way where the Christmas market is held!

 After the rain and much shopping after lunch,
the sun came out and we stopped for a drink

 at a place called "SKY"
The waiters were hilarious.

Remember this store?

 The big open area in downtown is now covered with
lots of places to eat and drink.

When we arrived this morning at 10... we found this... and as we were leaving at 7pm...and waiting for Reiner to return to pick us up...
these guys jumped on the teeter-totter.

The picture below tells it all... as the guy on the right pushed down and got the other guys up in the air and then he quickly jumped off. 

            This picture i caught on the rebound!  Everyone heard them yell and as they
              were leaving the guy in the back yelled to us German- ( since they saw me
                taking pictures)  "See you on Facebook"!  Uschi couldn't stop laughing!

 Hope they're ok.

We were exhausted after shopping the entire day!

Quite the opposite from Sunday....

I can't remember the last time I was out shopping that long

but it was totally fun!  And being with Uschi made it even better!

love,

margie