Bonn - Salz and Brot

My work as a consultant brings me to the beautiful city of Bonn in Germany this autumn Bonn is my home for the next few months. We are doing a large SAP implementation for a leading company in Gemany. Moving into Bonn has been quite pleasant thanks to the coterie of friends,colleagues and the professional help from home finders and other agencies help me relocate in Germany
 
After the initial stay at a hotel for the first couple of weeks in a distant suburb of Sankt Augustine, the time it actually took me to finalize an apartment, meet the landlord and get the agreement in place. I was ready to move into my new home in the Bonn-Beuel district, my blissful abode that will shelter me and keep me warm until the next year. Bonn Beuel is not a very happening district in Bonn and is often called the wrong side of the Rhine ;-), but am more than happy with this place...I finally was ready to move in and on a Wednesday morning in October, my colleague from work Norbert Fuchs helped me drop my bags to my apartment before heading to work. My home is a nice little apartment, something of a cross between a studio and a 1 bedroom apartment. But I must say that its very well furnished and has good heating, something without which you would never be comftable despite the Rhine valley being the warmer region in Germany. My apartment complex itself has mostly Europeans living in i t and I love my pad especially since its street facing and for the tranquil residential quarter not to mention a 3 min walk to the nearest S Bahn station. Of all the things that accompanied me moving to an apartment, one that will be in my memory would be the house warming gift that i recieved from my colleague from IBM Deutschland, Norbert..A big loaf of bread and a pack of Salt.

My House warming gift from my German Colleague

Norbert did explain the rationale and the intent behind these gifts-Bread(Brot) to imply that one would never go hungry and Salt (salz) to replace tears,spice up the life and to bring good luck-All so well intended
A lovely tradition that reminds me of my home in India where everyday life is so full of activities driven by customs and traditions and seeing something like this in the middle of Europe brings no less Joy. More on my life in Germany in these pages soon..