As you might imagine, I was very interested to learn what kind of activity had caused such delays last night. Turns out it was a protest or rally of some sort related to education. Education?? Are you serious? Not protestors for the Iraq war? Not protestors on the conflict in Gaza? Not protestors cranked over the German government's new economic stimulus package? Not protestors angry over the loss of their jobs? Education???? Shouldn't teachers and children be home long before 10 PM on a schoolnight? But to a certain extent I find it somewhat charming that enough people actually care about education that they could cause me to feel their pain in the form of a three hour commute.
My favorite grocery store over here is Rewe, which I suppose is good because the grocery store that will be connected to the building of my new apartment is a Rewe. While I could continue to stumble over my favorite Rewe when I'm ignoring Bonnie's navigation orders, I decided to go to the Rewe that I had seen on Saturday next to the Mann Mobilia store very close to the office. I was a bit surprised when I went in. There was a little bakery at the very front of the store and somewhat disconnected from the rest of the store. The rest of the store being only a beverage store. No, I don't mean a liquor store; I mean a beverage store. Carbonated beverages, juice, water and a surprisingly small beer and wine section. Uhhh.... Bizarre.
Located in that same strip mallish area was an Aldi. Hmmm.... Sign looks like the same sign from those quality bargain grocery stores at home.... So I walked in. Oh, yeah, same place. I was truly amazed at the prices of some of the stuff, though. I tend to have a lot of soup for dinner here since I don't exactly have deluxe cooking facilities here and, well, I'm more or less limited to boiling water for a certain number of minutes when it comes to reading German cooking directions. Anyway, their soup mixes were a small fraction of what I've been paying at Rewe. A pretty good selection of pre-packaged cheese and dairy products and I'm quite certain this is where I will be outfitting my kitchen with staples like flour, sugar, spices, etc. Admittedly, I don't think I'm their target demographic, but it's convenient, the food is fine, and it is value priced. Case in point, I picked up a large bag of chips, a 30-count Toffifee candy thing (LOVE that stuff), some "frischkäse" (which appears to be kind of like a light cream cheese or goat cheese with herbs), three packages of soup, and a package of sliced turkey breast. For EUR 6,31. That's some good value! I mean, it's not quite as cool as the EUR 2,50 glass bowls at Mann Mobilia, but I'll take it. Alas, they do not sell espresso machines (though they did have a EUR 799 laptop).
Brief updates on my car situation. There is a rather long delay in obtaining a handsome new Audi A5, despite the downturn in the economy. There was a chance that I could get a car in two weeks that someone had canceled on, but it was gray with a beige interior, which just sounded like it would clash. And if I'm going to shell out for this handsome vehicle and have her (him?) for four years, I want it to four years of Priser Blue bliss. The Frankfurt Audi dealer has arranged a meeting with me next week for two hours (!!) to go through configuration options and then we'll order it from Ingolstadt! For a good time, go to www.com and check out the configuration options for an A5. Then go to www.audi.de for configuration. It'll blow your mind how much we're missing out on in the US.
There was a lot of traffic again this evening, though not quite so bad as last night. It seemed to be the same issue as last night with trafic slowing the closer I got to the area where I was first diverted last night. By now, though, Bonnie and I know this dealio, navigated to a shopping area just far enough south of the activity to skirt around it and made it home with no other diversions in about 50 minutes door-to-door. Is that all you have to challenge me, Frankfurt?! Is that it?!! I expect more of a challenge from educators, I have to say. Bring it! Bonnie and I are ready!
I believe Aldi ranks #3 in the world after Walmart and Carrefour.
ReplyDeleteYou might actually fit into their target demographic. "According to a survey conducted in 2002 by the German market research institute Forsa, 95% of blue-collar workers, 88% of white-collar workers, 84% of public servants and 80% of self-employed Germans shop at Aldi." (I got this from Wikipedia)
I always find better price in German supermarkets than elsewhere in Europe. Of course you can also find the gourmet market either at the top floor or basement of a major department store.