Geisenheim and Wiesbaden!

But first, what is this supposed to be:


Notice how two of these guys can fit in one parking spot. Apparently it's called a "Smart" car. My guess is if you incubate it in your garage it'll grow into a family van in a month or two. I just love it. I laugh every single time I see one; they're just hilarious. I laughed my hardest when I saw one of these little things in Wiesbaden going toe to toe with a pickup truck on the streets as the light turned green. Some guy was driving a "sporty" version of this (extra hilarity), revved his engine, and took off down the street. It was like watching a gerbil with attitude trying to outrun a lion. Just hilarious.

So this was in Geisenheim. I finally figured out enough about the bus system here to get there (only 14 minutes from where I am) and enjoyed this small town, even though apparently everything closes early on Saturday. It seems to be another typical German town, meaning that everything is covered in colorful flowers and all the little shops are unintrusive and cute:


Since everything was closed, I pretty much just had lunch there and coffee. I had my first Döner (essentially a gyro). Very tasty, though I was unhappy about being charged 1,30 euro for water. Only 60 cents cheaper than beer. I loved the layout of the city. The city center is a large circular area with brick walkways and places to sit in the middle. The stores surround it and also in the center is an impressive church:



On Monday I headed off for Wiesbaden. This is a very large city which reminded me of Chicago, though its population isn't nearly as big. Here I finally saw regular city things: fast food places, book stores, discount stores, malls, busy streets, parks. Despite being a busy city, it still maintains the quaint, tasteful look of other German cities:












The left picture is of apartments in Wiesbaden, the middle is a popular grocery store around here, and the other is a park. Their cities have a lot more greenery (trees, flowers) than in the US. I was dropped off in front of the main train station here (left) and then spent the day shopping in the mall (right):





















And here's a shot inside the mall:


The mall is circular and there are shops in the core and along the outer edges. There was a fantastic store on the second level called "Dolce" that had some of the most tempting ice cream I've ever seen. It was in slim vats and included "Nutella" as a flavor (if you don't know what this is, go out and buy some now and you will thank me for it). The ice cream looked so thick that it reminded me of dough. I'd spent enough that day, though, and unfortunately resisted. I definitely could make several trips back to Wiesbaden and spend the day there. Next up: Mainz and other miscellaneous pictures!