Fridays and Map Forays

Ahhh Fridays. We love Fridays, but not just for the usual reason, but also for our weekly night out. When we were first living here in the hotel, we tried some of the local restaurants and stumbled upon a local Italian spot. From day one, we got to know the whole family. Papa introduced us to his wife, who came up with all the recipes for the food we were eating. But Papa only speaks Italian and German. But his son, Gioseppi (I hope I spelled that right) had lived in New York for a year and was now here at the restaurant too. So Gioseppi would sit with us and talk in English, and we would try to talk to him in German. Papa is still introducing us to the family - last week we met a grandson. It is a very relaxed and enjoyable time. The restaurant is located in the pedestrian zone within walking distance to our apartment, so the kids can go outside and play chase or run around the beautiful fountain once we finish eating, while my husband and I can watch the older gentlemen play backgammon or just enjoy talking in a nice atmosphere. Ahhh Fridays ...

Do you do anything as a family on a regular basis? If not, perhaps you should plan a game night or one day a week that you and your family all sit down for a meal together. These times to relax and talk with each other are very important. Enjoy your time with your family and be creative on the things you can do together.

The question for the day yesterday was "How many regions make up Germany?" Well, in total, there are 16 federal states. These states are called Bundesländer (boon des lehnd er). Many of these states did not exist in their current boundaries until 1945. Only Bavaria (Bayern is the German name for it), Saxony (Sachsen), Bremen and Hamburg kept their borders the same after World War II. The largest of these by landmass is Bavaria, where we are. It is also the oldest intact political government dating back to the 6th century and home to BMW. The smallest is the city state of Bremen. This is one of three states that is only the city itself: Bremen, Hamburg (the largest port of Germany), and Berlin - the largest city in Germany. The remaining states are Baden-Württemberg - home of the Black Forest and the car makers of Daimler-Chrysler; Brandenburg - the state surrounding Berlin; Hesse (Hessen) - known for its banking scene and air travel with the large airport in the city of Frankfurt; Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern); Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) - home to Volkswagen; North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordhrein-Westfalen); Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz); Saarland - of the non-city states, this is the smallest and newest; Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt); Schleswig-Holstein; and Thuringia (Thüringen). Below is a map - can you place find each state on the map and find it's capital city? The city states are the easy ones!

The question for today is: Who developed the coffee filter?

The word for today is: Map - die Landkarte (lahnd kahr teh).

Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer