"...I'd like to think you killed a man. It's the romantic in me." -- Capt. Renault

 ...so we're two weeks into this adventure and this wonderful city and we're getting a bit more adapted by the day. We can get on the Metro and know where to go several places without looking at the map (though overconfidence has a time or two sent us A Stop Beyond). I am learning the neighborhood and the stores and their operators (the tiny hardware store is a gem with at least one of everything) and adjusting to the fact this ain't Home but it's also home. For at least awhile. It separates us from the tourists, who don't go to this part of town.

As mentioned, our neighborhood is the most diverse in the city -- a city with a long history of immigrants both welcome and unwelcome. Muslim holidays are as marked as the Catholic and various Asian groceries dot the streets around here. Hijabs are common, as are Arabic script, Chinese and Korean. It all changes one Metro stop over in any direction, where I can practice my German without too much of a laughter response. They seem to appreciate the effort. English is common in the hotel/bar/restaurant trade, but drops off sharply at the dry cleaner, the hardware store and the guys delivering our new washing machine today.

Took a minute or so to figure this one out, but thanks to Google Translate and some reading of the owner's manual (entirely in German), we were able to wash three loads tonight INCLUDING a delicates and the quick wash. You can figure it out. The touch-screen controller to the right is its own challenge but we good. And oh -- clothes dryers aren't A Thang here. But everyone has a drying rack and ours is currently a display of various undergarments. We'll be fine come morning.

At the two-week point, we are gloriously under budget enough to plan a train trip to nearby Bratislava on Monday. It's only about 40 minutes but is the capital of Slovakia so we'll be in a different country with a different language and cuisine. The Czech Republic and Slovakia had an amiable divorce in 1993 and it'll be interesting just to have lunch across a line and wander for a bit. We also want to take the short trip up to Prague but Budapest, well, nah. It's not far and we understand it's gorgeous but we're not going to kick anything into right-wing authoritarianism if we can help it. Denise has been adamant about not visiting countries that denigrate women and I respect that. I am the same about Hungary. Tucker Carlson and those CPAC bastids can have it.

One of the reasons we're under budget is our food. We always eat breakfast in the apartment, despite the lures of tremendous coffee and pastry elsewhere. But we can get them at the grocery stores and bring them home and I gotta say the coffee I make myself each morning is World Freaking Class. 'Nuff said. Denise is equally as insistent on her tea, with the same results. We plan to have lunch out when we're wandering, then we stay home for supper -- which doesn't suck.

We're near four decent grocery stores and they provide the basics but, as mentioned, we're now spoiled by The Good Stuff that is a bit farther afield. We tell ourselves this means more walking and it's therefore Good For Us and for a few minutes we actually believe it.

Speaking of groceries, the chef in me is adjusting to the realities of having, on the one hand, world-class inventory just a Metro ride away but also not having things I've taken for granted. This isn't a bad thing and it's all part of the adventure, but we've been used to bacon for breakfast and what we know as bacon really doesn't exist here despite all the schwein products available everywhere. It might LOOK like bacon....

...but it's not. We've tried several products and the first one we bought is the closest. But it's not always available. We'll adjust.

Anyone who grows chickens will tell you that eggs don't need to be refrigerated unless they've been washed. The eggs here are indeed room temperature and the shelf life is quite a bit longer. The yolks are also more orange, just like any good yard egg. The recent equality between the Euro and the dollar has helped us a little, but overall most consumer prices (except gasoline) are pretty much the same as in the 817. Or in some ways a bit cheaper.

Besides the washing machine, we got a new TV today. We've run across dubbed versions of Gilmore Girls, MASH and Home Improvement (with a German sounding remarkably like Tim Allen). The washer and the TV are from the owner (this is an Airbnb) and we feel we're finally receiving what we were promised when we rented the place a few months back. There are other stories, but they're for another time. At least the effort is there and it's important.

The place needs some other things and, frankly, they are mostly for our personal comfort and nothing we could or should expect the owner to provide. We bought a toaster today -- $13 for your basic cheap toaster because we like having one. I could use a pastry brush and I've already bought a cheese plane and a spatula. Some of it will stay here (the toaster) and some is very packable for the next stop. Hell -- I brought my zester and I'm glad every old-fashioned that I did.

What we're doing is pretty simple. We've taken our cost of living in suburban DFW and moved it to a place and places where our resources go farther because we no longer pay utilities, car-related expenses or for other things too many others don't want to or sometimes can't leave. That's not to be critical, since we each have our own priorities based on our own circumstances. This just works for us for now and the future looks pretty good too.

We can control only so many things in our lives. One of them is Letting Go.