I was asked to write about the differences and similarities between Germany and America; the culture shocks I've experienced, the people and places I've encountered. Like my Cat Tales' segues I think I'll write a series of posts detailing my adventures here in Europe to break up the monotony of my fitness and health posts. Sound interesting? I hope so, my "audience" seems to be growing bigger lately.
My husband and I recently visited Skyline Mall in Frankfurt. This place has three stories of shops; mostly clothing stores, restaurants, a huge Food Court, and the Sky Garden, a rooftop garden with a cafe, a few playskapes for the kiddies, a big (very big) chessboard, and a few Foosball tables. It was incredible. My favorite store was this shop that sold all natural and organic bath products. I purchased a few bath-bombs and look forward to trying them out. The salesgirl said they change the color of the bathwater and fizz...should provide an entertaining evening or two. Bran was happy to find a Chipotle and a GameStop. For some reason we found the fact that there was a KFC hilarious and spent a few minutes laughing about it.
I had a rather....interesting adventure when I visited the WC, aka Water Closet (bathroom). First, I paid 50 euro cents to enter the ladies room, went through door one to see sinks, then went through door two for the bathroom stalls (for some reason most public bathrooms here are separated into two rooms like this) I chose one, went in, did my business, then proceeded to figure out how to flush.....there was a button on the side, so I pushed it. A white block in the center of the toilet suddenly moved forward, and with a metallic whiring sound the seat began to rotate as the box squirted out some sort of solution. I just stood there and stared in absolute shock as the automatic toilet seat cleaner did its thing, I'm sure anyone who saw me would have giggled at my expression. I finally saw the toilet flushing button on the wall above the toilet (it was the same color as the freaking wall and I was tired at that point okay?) so I pushed it and the went out to wash my hands.
This mall is not only huge, but the design is beautiful. I took a few pictures, but the lighting caused them to not come out half as well as the real thing. The colors, the decorative designs, the clear attention to detail was wonderful, and surprising to see in a mall. Now, I have not personally visited every single mall in the good ole USA, but I honestly don't think they make them like this over there. Don't get me wrong, America has some nice malls, but this one looked more like the inside of a museum (minus all the exhibits and paintings of course) than a place for shopping.
Before leaving to explore more of the city, we paid a visit to a self-serve frozen yogurt shop. The design was simple: pick a size cup, select a yogurt, fill your cup as much as you want, then pick your toppings. I chose what I thought was vanilla based on the color (everything is in German remember?) but it turned out to be a melon flavor. Strange coupled with the chocolate toppings I picked, but tasty. I goofed a little when filling my cup though, I put it under where I thought the frozen treat would come out, but I was slightly off and ended up with a mess on my hands (literally) the women working there just laughed, said something that I think was meant to be either mocking or reassuring, and helped me clean up.
We did not spend as much time in Frankfurt as we wanted, but we are certainly going back next chance we get. The city is HUGE and filled with historical buildings and places. I'll be writing a few more posts about our future visits.
My husband and I recently visited Skyline Mall in Frankfurt. This place has three stories of shops; mostly clothing stores, restaurants, a huge Food Court, and the Sky Garden, a rooftop garden with a cafe, a few playskapes for the kiddies, a big (very big) chessboard, and a few Foosball tables. It was incredible. My favorite store was this shop that sold all natural and organic bath products. I purchased a few bath-bombs and look forward to trying them out. The salesgirl said they change the color of the bathwater and fizz...should provide an entertaining evening or two. Bran was happy to find a Chipotle and a GameStop. For some reason we found the fact that there was a KFC hilarious and spent a few minutes laughing about it.
I had a rather....interesting adventure when I visited the WC, aka Water Closet (bathroom). First, I paid 50 euro cents to enter the ladies room, went through door one to see sinks, then went through door two for the bathroom stalls (for some reason most public bathrooms here are separated into two rooms like this) I chose one, went in, did my business, then proceeded to figure out how to flush.....there was a button on the side, so I pushed it. A white block in the center of the toilet suddenly moved forward, and with a metallic whiring sound the seat began to rotate as the box squirted out some sort of solution. I just stood there and stared in absolute shock as the automatic toilet seat cleaner did its thing, I'm sure anyone who saw me would have giggled at my expression. I finally saw the toilet flushing button on the wall above the toilet (it was the same color as the freaking wall and I was tired at that point okay?) so I pushed it and the went out to wash my hands.
This mall is not only huge, but the design is beautiful. I took a few pictures, but the lighting caused them to not come out half as well as the real thing. The colors, the decorative designs, the clear attention to detail was wonderful, and surprising to see in a mall. Now, I have not personally visited every single mall in the good ole USA, but I honestly don't think they make them like this over there. Don't get me wrong, America has some nice malls, but this one looked more like the inside of a museum (minus all the exhibits and paintings of course) than a place for shopping.
Before leaving to explore more of the city, we paid a visit to a self-serve frozen yogurt shop. The design was simple: pick a size cup, select a yogurt, fill your cup as much as you want, then pick your toppings. I chose what I thought was vanilla based on the color (everything is in German remember?) but it turned out to be a melon flavor. Strange coupled with the chocolate toppings I picked, but tasty. I goofed a little when filling my cup though, I put it under where I thought the frozen treat would come out, but I was slightly off and ended up with a mess on my hands (literally) the women working there just laughed, said something that I think was meant to be either mocking or reassuring, and helped me clean up.
We did not spend as much time in Frankfurt as we wanted, but we are certainly going back next chance we get. The city is HUGE and filled with historical buildings and places. I'll be writing a few more posts about our future visits.