Week 5: Our Stuff Arrives!

As I alluded to in my last post, we received news late last week from the shipping company that our stuff had arrived. Yay! Our movers were swift and unpacked the crates in under 3 hours on Friday morning. We spent Friday and part of the day on both Saturday and Sunday sorting through boxes. We are pretty much done unpacking and setting up, though we need a few more small pieces of furniture and to do a couple little projects.

A few things I learned from this move:

1. Movers pack everything. The amount of RI dust that has taken up residence in Germany is high.
2. Unpacking without furniture to put the stuff on is frustrating. We took a trip to IKEA on Saturday, but there are still a few extra items that need a home.
3. To better triage what I bring with me. What am I going to do with a set of candle pin bowling balls? (Yes, Mom, I'll think about putting them in a bowl on the coffee table.)
4. Putting together furniture should never be done on an empty stomach. Trust me on this one.

(Jason notes that despite #2 and #4 above, today is our 7th anniversary and we are still together.)

All-in-all, it was a successful move, as this stack of boxes and paper can attest to. Nothing broke and everything we thought was missing so far we've found in some out of the way box previously unnoticed.

Each box that is not broken down is full of paper

On Sunday we went out on our newly arrived bikes for a ride around the countryside. We checked out a number of the small villages nearby: Beilingen, Binsfield, and Herforst, having our pack lunch in downtown Binsfield. We also scoped out the series of paths that Jason will take to the base once he starts riding his bike to work.

Our bikes in their new home: the laundry room

There are numerous biking paths (Radwege) throughout this region of Germany. Unfortunately (or...not), there are so many that I can't give you a link to a map that has an overview of this area. Here, though, is one along the River Kyll, that is very close to where we are living. There is one along every river in the area and each village has one or more paths connecting one to the other. The paths are much welcomed, as the roads between villages generally have a speed limit of 60 mph (100 kph) and 2.5 inches of Styrofoam is no match for a BMW at that speed. The only bicyclists you'll see on those roads are the guys in the full kit and on the track-style bikes. I have a feeling they get up close to 60 on a nice, downhill straight-away.

From our cursory inspection of the area Radwege, and other biking options, we are convinced. We are particularly looking forward to Happy Mosel, where they close down the road between Koblenz and Trier, as well as other future biking adventures.