It's hard to imagine that we only have three months left of our grand adventure! It's the same amount of time we've spent in the most recent lockdown… hopefully, our next three months are a little more exciting!
Last weekend we took advantage of our first warm day and “escaped” to Duisburg, a town about an hour tram ride away. We spent the day outside wandering around the harbor and Landschaftspark. Landschaftspark is an old coal and steel production plant that was converted into a recreational area, complete with rock climbing in the old storage bunkers, a ropes course in the former casting hall, and a giant tube slide running from the top to bottom.
Prior to our beautiful 65-degree weather, we experienced a record cold week here in Düsseldorf. It was so cold that one, it snowed three times! And two, the snow actually stayed on the ground for several days. Before this year's snow, it only snowed twice during our first winter here, both times melting the following day or as it landed on the ground.
The snow was an exciting change of scenery. We took several walks through the park, dazzled by the white-capped bushes and trees. We enjoyed watching countless children sledding down the hills or being pulled around in the snow by their parents (each one had an old-style wooden sled. No plastic sleds over here!). And just like the kids, we stopped to throw a few snowballs as well as build a little snowman.
We also experienced an over-flowing Rhine River! It was shocking to see the height and flooding that developed due to rain and snowmelt. The outdoor bars along the Rhine experienced the unusual weather in the worst way, with water flooding into their businesses. Thankfully, now that the water has receded, it looks like there is no lingering damage.
Another “exciting” change of scenery in our 81-square-foot apartment is that we found mold and water damage above our kitchen cabinet… that was fun… Thankfully the handymen are taking care of it (as I type). It’s taking longer to fix than we'd prefer, given that our kitchen is now spread out in the office, but hopefully, it will be better than new by the end of next week! *fingers crossed.
Other than that, life over here is the same as it was in the last blog post. We enjoy our daily walks, rain, snow, or sun, our delicious ramen and boba tea weekend dates (take out only), zoom game days with friends from all over, and cozying up on the couch watching our shows.
We continue to reminisce about our past 27 months in Europe and are so thankful we took advantage of our time here and traveled while we could. We’re still glad we extended an additional six months, even though the outcome was not what we were expecting. We talk about how sad it will be to leave and say goodbye to this grand adventure and how it would be fun to do it again someday. We’re trying to embrace our last bit of time here while also preparing for our next escapade and move back to the U.S. Life sure is one big adventure!
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