A Relaxing Saturday in Reutlingen

Ahh, the weekend. What another beautiful day here in Reutlingen! It was sunny and hot (about 80°F) and I took advantage of the beautiful weather.

I started my day by returning four of my empty 1.5 Liter water bottles that I buy from the Penny Markt. You know how you can collect cans back home in the U.S. and get a few cents per item? It's pretty much the same thing here, except they make it a lot easier. You just have to walk into a store and find the return machines. You just put your bottles in, the machine scans the barcode to see what type of "Pfand," or deposit, you paid on the bottle, and you get a receipt of that total that you can get back when you go up to the register. I've been going through about one bottle of water per day, so it's nice that I have something to look forward to getting back when I return the bottles.

After getting those off my hands, I decided to grab a Doner Kebab (a gyro-like Turkish food that is HUGE is Reutlingen and the rest of Germany) and begin my walk to the downtown area. Along my beautiful walk, I walked over a manhole cover and it caught my eye. The city around me is such a cool mixture of the old German style and the new. The Reutlingen coat of arms reminds me of the old.
 

I ended up, after finishing my Doner Kebab, taking the bus the rest of the way downtown. The bus, as it is not air conditioned, was rather warm. Once I got downtown, I walked around a bit, looking for a good cafe to sit down in and read a book. I walked to a cafe I had been to the last time I was in Reutlingen, but it was really packed and it looked like most of their baked goods were gone, as it was mid-afternoon at that point. I found this had happened in most of the places that I had looked at. Either the good stuff was gone, or the bakery/cafe was not even open, as they close in the early afternoon on Saturdays (that would have been good to know BEFORE I went in the mid-afternoon).

I ended up at an Eiscafé where they served some coffee and settled down with my book. I am re-reading the The Mortal Insruments series. The City of Bones movie is coming out in a few days and I am hoping that I'll somehow be able to see it! I'm a huge fan and absolutely recommend the series. 

In the cafe, I pretty much just followed what everyone else did in line and I was just fine. After I was done, I looked around the city more. I ended up in an H&M and TJ Maxx. Just a little bit of home for me :). I found some dirndls already out and being sold at TJ Maxx. I have to remember to purchase mine ASAP for Oktoberfest!

Afterwards, I took my bus back to the Hochschule, stopped to get more water bottles with my Pfand receipt, and headed home. Walking up the large hill to the university with 9 Liters of fluid in the heat of a hot summer sun is not a fun time, let me tell you.

And since then, I have been relaxing. I got to Skype with my wonderful and supportive boyfriend for a bit before he started his day, and I made some plans for tomorrow so I would not just wander by myself again. The plans? Heading to Aalen to catch up with some old friends. With the Baden-Württemberg day pass, I'll make the trip for only 21€!

Bis Morgen.