We met at a little café called Café Scholtz. My new favorite breakfast spot! They have beautiful pastries and lovely little yogurt parfaits – as well as a full menu of hot breakfasts and dinners. We had lattes that came in little white ceramic bowls with a little pitcher of coffee next to them. Jane explained that this was so you could flavor your latte with just the right amount of espresso for your taste. We sat outside at a little café table and wrapped blankets across our laps for added warmth. It was crisp and sunny and promised to be a beautiful day.
The veggie market was really beautiful, and around the corner, about a block away, was the flower market where you could buy both potted and cut flowers. We wound around the stalls and marveled at the beauty and variety of produce. Onions were small and round and looked like they had just come from a garden. There were 5 different kinds of pumpkins – all of which were thick with flesh – not the “all shell” version all over the grocery stores at home grown for jack-o-lanterns. Jane bought a big wedge of pumpkin to take home and cook for dinner. The baby “helped” by holding on to it in the stoller as we made our way to get the gelbesachs.
Here are some market pictures:
We navigated the city hall and found the offices (interestingly enough, the very same office where I went to obtain our Parkpasse). Since Jane and I had different last names, we had to go into different offices. I had enough German to be able to tell the lady behind the counter that I needed a gelbesach and that I lived in central Stuttgart. She told me that she’d hand over the sacks this time, but next time, I needed to go to one of the vendors who hand them out in my area. She then photocopied the list of vendors and handed it over to me for next time. (Don’t let me lead you to believe that I understood all of this…the conversation went something like this: Counter Lady: “german german german gelbesach german german zentrum german german” hands me the list and a small roll of yellow bags. Me: "Ja. Danke". - Using my brilliant deductive skills and ability to read people (i.e, she was annoyed) and a list titled “Gelbesach - Stuttgart Zentrum” with a bunch of addresses in my neighborhood, I was able to ascertain that the gist of the one sided conversation).
Once I got home, I spent a little time on Google Translate (how DID people do this without the internet??!) and taped the instructions in our kitchen so we’d be able to navigate the garbage correctly in the future. Good trash, it seems, makes good neighbors in Germany!
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