Remember last week when I shared a picture of the flowers in Lily’s room? Apparently double-sided tape isn’t going to work.

I saw a couple vehicles that I made me scratch my head this week and say “what the heck is that?”.

So this little car technically has 4 wheels, but is able to pass the 3-wheel car exception that allows 16-year olds in Germany to drive it. It has also been detuned to only 20 HP. This vehicle will not pass the Shearer Garage Horsepower requirement so it is not on the list of potential souvenirs, but was a fun find.

Speaking of 16-year-olds driving… Ty turns 14 in May, but Germans cannot get a learner’s permit at 14. At 16 they can drive a restricted motorcycle, 17 they can drive a car with a guardian, 18 is unrestricted driving. We are thinking we will get Ty’s permit when we go home this summer, but he won’t be able to use it in Germany. He also won’t be able to take drivers’ education until we return to the US.

Now let’s talk about drinking ages. At 14, Germans can consume alcoholic beverages with adult supervision. Germans can buy “soft” alcohol and wine at 16. They can buy all the booze at 18. They can drink before they can drive. Maybe it isn’t such a terrible approach – they learn their limits long before they get behind the wheel.

This little motorcycle?4-wheeler? appears to be a homemade machine.

One of the school moms, Shane, had a birthday last week and somehow convinced me to go with a bunch of people to an actual club on Friday night. I figured I would pick something to wear that was in my closet, but Jay ran across the street to the men’s clothing store and came home with a sweet jacket and shirt, so I decided I better at least make an effort with my outfit. Friday after work I ran to all of the shops in Königstein and was able to piece together a cute little outfit. I found these sweet Jimmy Choo’s at a secondhand store – the only pair and they fit perfectly. It was a sign. I had to buy them. My Cinderella Sneakers…

We met for dinner at 8:00 PM (my bedtime) at Brauhaus Castel in Wiesbaden. Schnitzel and beer was consumed. Lots of beer. Lots of laughs. It was a great way to start the evening.

We arrived at the club – Euro Palace – a little after 10:00. I figured I would be the oldest person there, but surprisingly there were a lot of older people dancing when we arrived. This place was HUGE. There were 4-5 different rooms with dancefloors, and several other little bar spaces.

There was a legit pirate ship in one of the rooms. Dancefloor was up on the deck. The place looks empty, and it was definitely not very crowded from 9-12. Jay and I left at midnight and apparently it got busy after we left. The club stays open until 6:00 AM. WHAT?!?! I am LONG past the age of being able to stay up that late. Wait a second. I have never been able to stay up that late.
Shots!!! Fire!!!
We might be old, but we’ve still got moves.

On Saturday, Jay, Ty, and Lily spent some time at the ballfield. Ty had practice then his team helped with fieldwork. We had made a facial appointment for Ty several weeks ago, but he is getting treatments by a dermatologist now so I went to the facial appointment instead. The shop is 1/2 a block away and the lady that owns the shop is super sweet. It’s been a long time since I got a proper facial, so I took advantage of the reserved time. I don’t think I mentioned that when I went to the super expensive hair salon, they didn’t do brow/lip waxing, so I was in desperate need of some hair removal. It just so happens that the facial lady does permanent hair removal treatments. Yes, please!!! I did my first session on Saturday. Every 6 weeks I go back for another treatment, for approximately 5-7 sessions. And then I never have to wax again. I am quite excited about this. Lily, who has recently developed a passion for plucking hairs, is not so excited that I am eliminating her job. 🙂

I learned some new things this weekend. I knew that Sundays were quiet days in Germany, but I didn’t know the extent to which that is protected. It is strictly forbidden to use any lawn equipment that makes noise on Sundays in Germany. If you need to mow the lawn, better get it done before Sunday. Glass recycling is strictly forbidden on Sundays. Apparently dropping the glass bottles into the recycling containers makes too much noise.

Jay and I walked down to our favorite pizza restaurant Sunday night. While waiting for the pizzas to cook, we drank a beer. I finished it on the walk home and chucked the empty bottle in a public trash can. And then I panicked and looked around, expecting someone to come yell at me for a) not recycling the bottle and b) making noise on a Sunday.

I make fun of the rules, but I actually like the quiet Sunday culture. We went for an easy 2 mile hike Sunday morning, then Ty’s friend, Gary, and his family had us over for lunch. Gary’s mom is Chinese and his stepdad is German. His aunt was visiting and they cooked us an amazing meal. There were probably 6 courses, all delicious. Ty tried shrimp and liked it! We were there for 5 hours on Sunday afternoon and had a great time with them.

We were able to book a couple trips. We are going to Disneyland Paris at the end of May during a 4-day weekend just after Ty’s birthday. We were thinking we would cram in a day doing the touristy things in Paris (Eiffel Tower, Louvre, etc) but decided that we would go back another time to do all of that stuff – likely when we have guests that really want to see Paris. So we’ll just hang out at Disney. It might be too long at the smaller-than-Disney World parks, but we won’t be rushed.

We also bought Lily’s birthday present – Taylor Swift tickets in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Just the two of us will go to the concert, but we will all go to Gelsenkirchen for the night.

I have other placeholders for other trips – Austria, Switzerland, Lake Como Italy, Munich, Neuschwanstein Castle, and Nuremburg, plus our trip to the US and hopefully an African Safari. So much to see and do, so little time!!!