Second Weekend

Haven't updated in a few days, but it's mainly just been work for the last couple of days. Since I can't take pictures on the campus, I don't feel it gives me much material to write about on a daily basis. Work has been going good though, this week I got some more training with the microscopes and other machines we use for analysis. I found out about the one building that has a ping pong table in its communal area, so that's where us interns go every day after lunch. I have to admit I'm pretty bad, but I've been getting the hang of it. 

This marks my second weekend in Germany and the first where everything isn't closed. Today's big event was a flea market that was happening in near old Böblingen. The day started off cloudy with a bit of light rain, which I thought would have canceled the market, but when I got there the market was up and running. Most of it was under a covered pavilion, with only a few tables outside. 

Cloudy day in Böblingen

Coming up on the flea market

The pavillion

It was actually a lot bigger than I was expecting, which was nice, and there was a lot of variety. Now there were a few booths that were more akin to a standard garage sale, but there were a some standouts. One would be a booth dedicated to model railway trains/trucks. Another was a guy who had a couple of boxes of LP's and entire boxes of Mickey Mouse comic books. I tend to not actually buy anything at flea markets, usually because I find stuff that's too expensive or I just don't find anything that catches my eye. This time I was also wary of anything that wouldn't work when I get back to America, or would cost too much to ship back. I actually found something though! It's a sort of rotating calendar with all of the German states on it. It's supposed to be fastened down and then you flip the disc in order to change the date. 

Deutschland Calendar

After I was done at the flea market, I went to Sindelfingen to visit another game store that I had read about called Joypad. 

Statues they had out front of Joypad

It was actually a pretty nice shop, and they actually had a decent sized selection of vintage games. I ended up not getting anything but it was good to see. After that I still had some time before the train back got to the station, so I decided to get a pretzel at the Ditsch stand. It's a chain that's exclusive to Germany and the UK. It was pretty good, a lot better than any pretzel I've had in America.

Ditsch Brezel

I also got decided to try Fanta today, but not any just any Fanta, I got a bottle of Fanta Klassik. It was released this year for the 75th anniversary of Fanta's creation in 1940 after Coca-Cola Deutschland was cut off from the ingredients to make Coca-Cola. I actually liked the taste, it's got a bit of an orange flavor but it's definitely a lot more tart than sweet. 

Bottle of Fanta Klassik