Settled.

So few weeks back we got news out that we were able to move into our apartment. Let us tell you what has happened since!

• We found tofu in the supermarket! (very important)
• We found a farmers market with actually amazing produce.
• Jerome got a credit card made from metal.
• Seraina got cargo bags for her bike.
• We silenced a noisy fan.
• Jerome got a show off rental car.

Jerome: Travel to St. Louis and Illinois

So my first customer visit brought me to St. Louis, including a trip to Champagne and back. The first night staying there, me and my colleague got free beers at the hotel bar, the bartender seemed to really like us. After having dinner across the street in an Italian restaurant that was suggested to us by the bartender (she is a lot better in pouring drinks than giving restaurant advice, we learned that the hard way), sadly we did not get any more free beers. 🙁

Wednesday, we both drove to the next customer site located in the middle of nowhere in Champagne, Illinois. Based on the landscape, if you knew a flat-earther, you must bring him there – at some locations, from the interstate, you only see corn fields up until the horizon. That was actually an amazing sight, must be an eye opener for flat-earth believers. After the visit, we had some nice barbecue for dinner at a local restaurant.

Thursday morning, after another customer meeting, we were supposed to head to Chicago, however, our meeting with the customer was postponed – so I drove back to St. Louis and stayed there overnight, having Friday as my last day in St. Louis as an off-day. I arrived shortly after lunch and drove into town to take a look at the gateway arch. There is a small tram that drives up the arch, and I was lucky enough to get one of the last tickets of the day. While waiting for my tram, inside the arch gateway complex, I visited the museum telling the story of the St. Louis area and the arch itself – for free! I nearly froze to death though due to the AC (I mean, seriously guys, its like 90° outside (thats about 32° in non-freedom units) and you cool down the inside of the museum to near freezing point. WHY?). The tramride itself is nothing for people with claustrophobia, the cabins were tiny, but the view is amazing and I can only suggest, should you be in the area, go up that arch!

Finally, on Friday, it was again amusement park time, this time I went to Six Flags St. Louis. While the park is being known for being rather mediocre, I actually really liked my day there, and the selection of coasters was decent. Re-ridable rides were Mr. Freeze, a backward-launched ride from Premier Rides, as well as American Thunder, a GCI woodie from 2008 (Wodan is better though). As attendance was low, I was able to go on all rides in about 4h. Shoutout to Greg whom I met at the park, a seemingly lost soul as I am one, doing also this weird thing of going to amusement parks alone… We spent the rest of the afternoon together in the park.

I decided to have a ranked list of all parks I visited, and giving them a score between 1 and 11. This way, I can keep track of what I’ve already seen :).

1. Carowinds, Charlotte, 7.5/11
2. Six Flags St. Louis, St. Louis, 6/11
3. Nickelodeon Universe, Minneapolis, 3/11

Seraina:

With all our stuff, also my bike arrived but somehow the basket did not make it. It is way too warm to carry the stuff on my back on the 40min bike ride to work (google says it’s only 30min. Either google lies or I am slow. I think its the first). Sooo, I had to buy bags for my bike. For all the people who did not believe it: the bike lanes here are amazing! (but ask again in winter…) There are many bike lanes across the city that are far away from any cars and even biking on the streets is mostly fine, because there is plenty of space.

Along my way to work there are serviceberry (Amelanchier) bushes and mulberry (Morus) trees, that now just start to be ripe. I usually have to stop a few times for snacks on my way home and at work, I already found a friend with whom I will go for serious berry picking this weekend.

By now, we know where to find the food that we like (yay tofu 😉 ), but one thing that is hard to find is good bread. Most breads here are too soft for our taste and what’s even worse: they contain a lot of sugar. Luckily, I found someone who shared their sourdough starter with me (in a Darth Vader cup). I proudly present: Darth Vader, our newest family member! It is very cooperative, eats all the different flours I feed it and makes tasty bread without being fussy.

Another highlight was our visit to the interstate state park last weekend. It is a nice park at the border to Wisconsin along the St. Croix River. It is known for the impressive glacial potholes in the rocks that were drilled by water swirls flowing under the glacier. The hike along the river was beautiful, but the car noise from the street that goes through the park was a disappointment. For next time, we would probably pick the Wisconsin side of the park for a hike. Let’s hope we get to discover more parks soon. These days the outsides are not that fun, since we get some of the wild fire smoke from Canada.

See you again in a few weeks!

Thank you for reading this far. We love the engagement by you guys a lot, this really means a ton to us :).

And sorry for the cliffhanger, but if you want to know more on what has happened with that silenced fan, and why we even had to silence it, you will have to come back in a few weeks and continue reading :D.