Our last day in Karlsruhe

During the past couple weeks we spent some time preparing for our departure. We de-registered our residency with German authorities, scheduled the closing of our bank account, and terminated our membership with the car-sharing service. We finished packing this morning, and we had the whole afternoon free.

The parent of Jocelyn's friend came to pick up her up for a play date around noon. The rest of us went to the town center and had a fatty German lunch: Gabe had a Currywurst mit Pommes (sausage with lots of ketchup then topped with curry powder, with fries), while Glenda and I each had a Wiener Schnitzel. Then we went on a binge; Glenda and I shared a Lasagneeis (ice cream presented in the form of lasagne), and Gabe had a Mickey Mouse.

Today is the unofficial day of "unification" for Universität Karlsruhe and Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (to form Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, one of the first three elite universities in Germany). To commemorate this event, KIT gave all employees the afternoon off, and turned one of the open fields into a giant beer garden. Gabe and I met up with some of my colleagues there (while Glenda went for some last-minute shopping). To make sure that kids were not left out in this event, there were a number of activity tents. Gabe spent quite a while at the tower-building tent.


Before we left for home, I showed Gabriel a couple of interesting sites on campus, including the monument for Heinrich Hertz (who demonstrated the existence of electromagnetic waves, and the frequency of alternating current, as in 60 Hertz from the electrical outlets in the US, is named after him).

That's it, we are leaving Germany tomorrow.