Verkehrsmittel

Living without a car is both crippling and liberating. We do a lot of walking and are delighted to live so close to the bus lines and the S-Bahn (light rail)—which is literally 3 minutes away from our door. Taking public transit does require some advance planning, which is not my strong suit. We were very pleased not only to find bicycles in the cellar of our apartment, but also to find a bike repair shop nearby.

It was interesting to arrange to have them tuned-up, since we know almost none of the necessary vocabulary to discuss what might need to be done. But the folks at the neighborhood bike shop have been very friendly and patient with us. When the work was completed we had the seat-heights adjusted; it was amusing (?) to be assisted by a 10-year-old boy (the owner's son?) who was trying to get me to push my bike pedal all the way to the bottom of the stroke and balance with my heel on the pedal so they could see the angle of the bend of my knee...well, of course, I don't know the word for 'heel' or 'pedal' or 'stroke' and he kept yelling a little louder, thinking maybe that might help my comprehension. Eventually, they let me leave, although I'm sure they think my seat should be higher.

I got my courage up and agreed to bike to church this morning. We visited Zur Heiligsten Dreieinigkeit (Holy Three-Oneness) on the Marktplatz in the center of town. (A wonderful organ and organist—their fine cantor sang the psalm and the Hallelujah verse). Ludwigsburg is criss-crossed with bike paths, clearly marked, and we have a bike-route map, but still made some poor choices as far as hills are concerned. I ended up walking the bike uphill to church for the last 3 blocks or so.

Bicyclists share paths with pedestrians and it's just polite to let walkers (moms and dads with kids and dogs) know you're coming. Thanks, Bill, for installing the Klingel on my Fahrrad!

Anfang

I am on sabbatical with wife Hannah Jo at the Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg, Germany, for the academic year 2010–2011. This is our second sabbatical in Germany as we visited PHL in 2001–2002 as well with our two boys, then 10 and 13, who are now college students and on their own.

The trip and preparations deserve an entry of their own. Suffice it to say that there were a few "bumps" but we made it. Here's a picture of Hannah Jo with a year's worth of luggage in the Frankfurt Airport. HJ's is marked with a "T" and Bill's with an "X".

We're staying in the PHL's Guest Apartment until March, when another guest arrives. It's a lovely 3-bedroom Wohnung in a 3-apartment building in a wooded, secluded area on the northernmost tip of the campus, adjacent to Favorite Park, Ludwigsburg's largest park, the middle of the trio below.

We still have many things to do before we've fully moved in and hope that you'll become a "Follower" of our deutsches Abenteuer by clicking on the "Follow" button at the top right.