Going Hot and Cold on Me

Back to our home away from home in Alsace after a wonderful weekend I spent in Germany's capital with my daughter. Berlin is such an exciting city. I had been there several times before but to get the insider scoop on a tour is no much more entertaining.
Der Reichstag (like the American Capitol)

(socalled Museums-Insel)

We did a boat trip thru the city past the government buildings and other parts of town that belonged to the former East.

(Washingmshine-nick name for Angela Merkel's work place)

There, bid parts of the wall are still standing.I had thought it had been dismantled; not by officials but tourist who liked to take a stone home, preferably with some graffiti as a souvenir.The new hip entertainment scene is also located there.
\

Cool buildings and the hippest of people. The latest is to be dressed all in black with a black backpack and your hair up in a bun- boys too!For the 20-34 somethings, computer nerds, music fans and freaks and everybody who wants to be "in". They call themselves hipsters.
We still had far more than 30 degrees of mugginess and the refreshing thunderstorms only came Sunday night.But lo and behold, when I had to leave on Monday, there it was  again almost 30 and the humidity.

Before I even had left "home", the weather here had broken and it remained kind of wet and cold.
On my return, we had a situation!

There is always a time during each house swap where we desperately try to figure out the heating system.After 95 degrees last week it is down to barely 60 and at night? Who knows? Who looks? But me having to go to the bathroom several times and sit on that frigid commode let me go into the basement and check out what's what with the central heating. Unfortunately technology has so much progressed since I left Germany and this, in addition has its description in French, that we have no choice but wait for better weather.Or buy a heater. Last week we were looking for a fan to cool down the place. But they were all sold out.The shop assistant called the sales an "eruption".
Victory! I persuaded the father of our exchnage partners to switch the central heating on for a few hours late in the evening and the mornings...until it gets warmer at the weekend. He explained he installation they had for heating the house and water: A wood pellet burning oven! Very economical and few emissions.France has the lowest electricity prices due to the fact that they still heavily depend on nuclear power whereas Germany which has sworn off nuclear has the highest.