My week: April 2 ed.

During the beginning of the week, I was in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a beautiful town at the foot of the Zugspitze Mountain, among others. I was actually there for work. It was so "difficult" to work in such an enviornment. Or maybe not ;) Plus I was able to work with some colleagues for whom I regularly provide support but very rarely see. I really enjoy that aspect because sometimes it feels a bit stiff and cold to conduct everything by email or phone call, especially when it's a support issue that's so much faster when addressed in person.

On the train ride home, I finished watching Heimat. It's a tv series that follows the lives of a family in the Hunsrück region of the Rheinland, which is somewhat northwest of Kaiserslautern. The first series covers the years 1919 until 1982. For those curious about how life in Germany was during this time, this series covers it reasonably well, at least from what I can tell from my studies in history. For example, one can see why National Socialism would have been attractive to some Germans at the time because of the promises it made during shaky economic times. The series is slightly twee and nostalgic but it gives a decent rundown of German history for this time period.

When I got back to Kaiserslautern, I met my tandem partner and we practiced more for the German telc test that I would take in April. Can I just say that test preparation sucks the joy out of learning German for me? Okay, maybe it's not so dramatic as that, but reading a controversial editorial or findings of a research study and expressing my opinion about it gets old. In the next German class, C1, it's going to be even more intense because that is the level that is required to get into German-speaking unversity programs.

During the weekend, I met some friends at the palace in Schwetzingen. I've been wanting to visit for years but the palace itself had been closed for renovations. It was finally open again and even better yet, the cherry blossoms were still around.

Spring showers bring...cherry blossom flowers, and cherry blossom flowers bring...cosplayers! I bet that you didn't see that one coming, huh? (hehe) Our group, including my friend and her partner (who's also my friend), their child, and my other friend A. gathered under the trees for a picnic and some great people watching. Ladies wearing steampunk-inspired gowns primped and posed under the trees. The majority of people showed the peace hand symbol (can that just stop please? Seriously?).

We shared quite a laugh because J thought that a security guard was cosplaying. Heck, I laughed really hard because initially I thought that she wasn't really a security guard, either, just someone in a costume. However, her body language was very police-like and I later saw her in the security office.

A. and I bought tickets for a tour of the castle. It lasted about an hour and traveled through one set of apartments. The guide asked everyone not to touch the fabric or furnishings in the rooms and even showed us a sampling of the fabrics and those we were allowed to touch. Of course people still touched the fabric in the rooms. Gah.

Later we toured the grounds and ran into literal forests of Bärlauch, or in English, ramsons. They are a cousin of chives and have a mild oniony and garlicky taste. I had been looking for them in other places and so badly wanted to find some. It was definitely a tease to find so many of them at the castle; I didn't dare pick any of them, whether or not there was a cosplaying (or not) guard around. Below is a picture of the Bärlauch at a farmers market and some of it on the castle grounds. They are a major symbol of spring around here and people go nuts for them. You can even find them for sale at times at the grocery stores; my friends saw them at Lidl. Local restaurants cook soups and other dishes with them.

Passing wistfully by the Bärlauch, we visited the back part of the palace grounds and came upon the mosque. It was built in the Turkish style during the late eighteenth century. A examined it and pronounced, "I hope you do not think that this is how mosques really look. This is not accurate."

That cracked me up as I saw this building, while beautiful, as a European vision of a mosque with its mysterious, lovely, undulating designs and Arabic. It was probably not meant to be accurate as it was constructed for a Christian ruler who wanted an exotic building on the grounds. A. squinted at the Arabic on the ceiling. She is an Urdu native speaker and can sometimes read Arabic. This script was too difficult because of its stylized nature.

After leaving the non-authentic mosque, we continued to visit the lake and ran across what I call a "turducken thingie" and of course had to explain my excitement and the backstory.

I found the castle worth a visit, especially during cherry blossom time. It's beautiful and definitely has some interesting flora and fauna.

My week: August 9 ed.

Whew! That was one heck of a week. I was responsible for a training event at work for our staff members from all over. I coordinated more than 12 different speakers for the event, found us a free place to have it, made the arrangements for everyone's travel documents and lodging, and basically took care of everything. The hardest thing about this wasn't any of that, though: it was the bureaucracy of just getting the event approved. I have been working on this for six months; no joke! It was astounding how many layers of requirements that must be met to pull this off. We even had the person in charge of our entire program worldwide come in for the training. Everyone was really happy with it; I am both relieved, pleased, and exhausted.

-I took our visiting colleague to Heidelberg this weekend and saw the castle ruins for the fifth time. It was too dang hot and I was still tired from the training so I tried not to droop too much. It's easy for me to take people to Heidelberg because I know the city well and it's atmospheric. I have to giggle, though; people who visit from the US talk about it reverently and get so excited about visiting it. For me, it's just where C lived and I like visiting it in an everyday type of way.

After our jaunt in Heidelberg, we met up with my friends C+K (a different C from the Heidelberg one) in Neustadt on the way home for dinner together. My colleague really enjoyed meeting them and commented on just how lovely they are. It's true; they're so sweet!

-On Sunday, I met up with C+K in Dahn for a hike along southern Germany, about 20 miles from the French border. It's a beautiful part of the Wasgau area with trails through the forest with random large sandstone formations jutting up. Along the way, we stopped at Burgruine Altdahn, the castle ruins. We climbed up the crumbling former castle as lizards scampered ahead of us.

The day was rather humid and as we completed the last third of the hike, things started to heat up. I usually don't have a problem keeping up but I was lagging that day with the heat and lots of ascents. Seeing the parking lot at the end was a relief!

We followed up the hike with Flammkuchen at Brauhaus Ehrstein in Hinterweidenthal and had a view of the Teufelstisch, which is a rock formation named for a "devil's table." I look forward to that hike in the future.

This Heidelberg academy got a little saucy

As many times as I've visited Heidelberg before, I never noticed this building until I visited the city with my family and they giggled about it. Located near Bismarckplatz, it is a bit striking!

My week: June 28 ed.

I had German lessons and a lot of stress in the beginning of the week. I had so many things to get done at home and realized the enormity of some of our upcoming projects at work. My brother and sister-in-law were visiting at the end of the week. I wasn't sure how I would get everything done until I had the liberating thought: instead of trying to work a couple hours before I picked them up in the afternoon, I would just take the whole day off. Duh. I stress myself out so much by trying to do all the things. As it was, I was up until midnight the night before working on things and then spent two hours the next day preparing. I was so glad that I didn't try to go into work!

-I picked up my family at Frankfurt Hahn, which is not really anywhere near the actual Frankfurt. However, the drive is pleasant; I take the 63 to the 61 to the 50. My GPS was bound and determined that I should take the 6 to the 62 and I told it absolutely not. The construction that way is just awful right now!

We headed to Bingen, where we sat under a tree near the ferry and enjoyed the delicious, vegan picnic I had packed for us (based on this meal that I made for friends) since SIL is vegan. Following lunch, we took the ferry across the Rhein River to Rüdesheim am Rhein and basically repeated the trip I took there in December, minus the Christmas market part. This gave my family the chance to see a twee German town with fachwerk buildings.

-We continued to Cologne, where we walked around, had dinner at Cafe Especial (which is some of the better Mexican food I've had in Germany), and viewed the Cathedral.

The next day, we wandered around Cologne some more, stopping to eat lunch at a vegan restaurant (which had delicious quiche and a "milk" shake with cookie dough that we shared). We also browsed a record store and Saturn, then had to get on our way back home.

Originally, I had planned to meet with my friend R in Kaiserslautern, but we got stuck in a nasty Stau on the 61 and would've been too late. Instead, we met in Mainz and ate at Im Herzen Afrikas, which is a delicious Ethiopian restaurant. I've been meaning to try the Frankfurt version for quite some time. Even though we didn't have a reservation, they were able to tuck us into a corner.

-On Saturday, we got a late start and headed to Heidelberg. Just after arriving, we were stuck in a fierce thunderstorm so we hung out at Red, a vegetarian restaurant where we had purchased lunch.

When the storm had abated, we continued to the Heidelberg castle, taking the Bergbahn (mountain rail) to get to the top. It's possible to hike up there, too, but it's steep, we didn't have time, and we had no interest in coating ourselves in any additional sweat. Unfortunately, we were too late for the English tour, but my family was content with wandering the castle grounds.

Afterward, we walked around Heidelberg and stopped by the Kulturbrauerei, a beer brewery and restaurant.  My brother had wanted to visit a beer hall but this region (and points west) is known for wine and beer halls aren't so common. C, who used to live in Heidelberg, came to the rescue with the name of the brewery. There wasn't any dancing on tables or any lederhosen, but they enjoyed the beer, nonetheless.

We grabbed a train home and ended up back in Kaiserslautern around 11 p.m. My family was hungry but it can be difficult to find a restaurant whose kitchen is still open that late, even on the weekends. We lucked out and convinced the staff at Spinnrädl to cook us something, even though most of the staff had gone.

Everyone was happy with the place; they were able to put together a beautiful vegan salad to my SIL's specifications; I ate some Kaesespaetzle, and my brother ordered some incredibly regional food, liver dumpling soup and Saumagen (a Pfalz specialty that former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl loved to foist upon visiting dignitaries). 

I'm not a huge fan of German food normally (it's too heavy and not always so vegetarian/vegan friendly) but I do like visiting Spinnrädl with guests upon occasion because of its ambiance (it's the oldest surviving fachwerk building in town); it serves traditional, regional dishes that are tasty (well, to the meat eaters); and while it's tourist-friendly, it's somewhere that the locals eat too and prices are in line with other restaurants.

-The next morning, we got up early so I could drop off my family at the airport again. I'm so glad that they visited and I was able to share my life here with them. I hadn't seen them for 2.5 years and won't see them again until next year when I visit the US.

-Following that, I had some work to do, went strawberry and cherry picking, ran to the store to pickup some household things, and even made strawberry jam using hot water bath canning. Phew! 

An interruption: happy new year!

I'm still in the depths of writing about the epic travel adventure in December but now that it's January 1, 2014, I must say this: happy new year! Frohes neues Jahr!

My friend in Heidelberg invited me to a party at her friend's place. I've been there once before for another party so it was one of those nice situations where I knew most of the people there already. Even though I'm an introvert, I have learned to enjoy the challenge of attending a party where I only know one person and by the end of the night hopefully I've met/chatted with everyone else there too. Initially, as an introvert, it feels weird to do that, but it has the nice result of many friendly new acquaintances.

It was a fun party because it was such a mix of everyone. I love hanging out with international groups. It was funny, too, because the spoken languages kept changing all night. I heard lots of German, some Russian, Dutch, and of course, English. My German has progressed enough that I could listen to some conversations in German and understand them enough that I could ask related questions in English.

Just before midnight we headed outside and stood on the cold, windy bridge which had a nice view of the castle and the downtown. This was my first new year's eve spent in Germany. I know that people go crazy for fireworks, as I believe it is the one night of the year that every Tom, Dick, and Harry is allowed to buy mass quantities and set them off. However, it was very striking at just how many were going off! It sounded like a battle outside. I took a short video (horrible quality, unfortunately) and it doesn't even give the whole effect. Despite the slight feeling of danger because it was the amateur hour with some people incorrectly setting off the fireworks sideways, it was still an amazing experience. In the video, the castle is in about the middle of the screen. It's somewhat lit up.

Noticing that some people were accidentally setting off fireworks sideways, we decided it would be a good time to go back inside for the party. One of the guys was asking in German for what I thought I heard as a "stück," which means "a piece." I was asking what on earth he wanted a piece of. Apparently he wanted a stick (I misheard him) and we soon found out why: he was organizing a limbo dance! It was really fun to watch the tall German and Dutch guys try to dance under it.

Soon it was 4 a.m. and it was a good time to say good night and walk back to my friend's house. The aftermath that night's festivities was staggering; there was trash all over the place from the fireworks and empty liquor bottles.

Just a small sampling of the trash left behind, seen the next day.

I woke up today with a bit of a headache from enjoying some drinks, but nothing too bad. My friend made us queso and chips for breakfast and it helped to fortify our faintly aching heads. After "brunch" I bid her goodbye and met up with another friend who was in town.

That friend and I agreed that it would be nice to take a stroll through Heidelberg.

View of the castle on the hill.

We stopped at the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge).

This is a cheeky monkey near the bridge. It was sculpted by Gernot Rumpf, who also made the fountain in Kaiserslautern as well as other towns in the Pfalz. Tons of tourists were sticking their faces into the bottom part of the monkey's face for goofy pictures.

To the left of the monkey are some mice, which are a common theme in Rumpf's works.

We continued our plans for a hike on the Philosophenweg, which is a steep path up the Heilingenberg that gives a lovely view of the town. To get to the path, we crossed the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge) to the north side of the river, turned left immediately off the bridge, crossed the road, and started the trail on Schlangenweg.

The (steep!) trail is in the middle of the picture, just to the right of the white building.

What a workout it was! The path up the hill is walled and very steep with uneven cobblestones. It's not remotely accessible for those with disabilities and I had to watch my ankles on the uneven ground because I'm prone to spraining them. My friend C and I huffed and puffed up the hill and enjoyed the views at the top.

We then gingerly walked down the super steep path to the west and passed some beautiful homes as well as some Heidelberg University buildings. My friend recommended that we visit the park under the Theodor-Heuss bridge. Apparently it's a really popular place for picnics during warmer weather. We laughed at the honking geese and hissing swans (who weren't impressed by the dog that came up to sniff at them).

It is said that what one does on New Year's Day sets the tone for the whole year. I am happy with how I spent the first day of the new year: being with friends, enjoying some residual happiness from a party, seeing historical sights while getting a great workout, and even eating some non-traditional breakfast foods. It was a very pleasant day, made even better by fair weather (51 degrees F and even a bit of sun!).

December's Adventure: Day 2, Heidelberg

Sunday found us having a leisurely morning as I cooked breakfast for my cousins. We talked about the next stop on our travel adventure: Heidelberg!

Heidelberg is about an hour from Kaiserslautern and is host to the oldest university in Germany (founded in 1386!). On the Neckar River, it is a picturesque city left intact even after the wars of the 20th century.

However, not all of Heidelberg has been left intact. In fact, the city's most famous sight, its castle, is actually partially in ruins! It has been struck by lighting and burned as well as subject to destruction during 17th century wars. Portions of the castle remain and are available for tours.

For our trip to Heidelberg, we decided that a visit to the castle was definitely in order. I've visited it thirteen years ago during my first trip to Germany, but haven't been since even though I visit a friend in Heidelberg somewhat regularly. We were in for a special treat this particular weekend at the castle: it was the one and only weekend of the castle's Christmas market, too.

My cousins and I took the train from Kaiserslautern to Heidelberg and walked to the foot of the Königstuhl mountain where the castle is located. We decided to take the funicular railway (more information about it here) up to the castle as the stairs are killer (the gradient is 45 degrees at one point on the funicular railway!). We waited with crowds of people then smooshed into the railcars with them and took a quick ride to the castle grounds.


Since the day before, I had been marveling with my cousins at how incredibly friendly the locals had been at the Christmas market. I felt like it was unreal. When we reached the grounds of the castle, I had my faith restored that I was still in Germany and all was as it should be: when I asked at a gift store about a tour of the castle, the lady was super blunt with me and told me (basically) that she would not have any information about tours because she didn't work at the castle's office. Ahh...there it was: German bluntness. I felt so much better after that, because I was wondering if the chatty friendly people in the woods were even real. I've had plenty of people who have been so kind and helpful to me when I've asked for help, but I'm also used to more blunt answers and no small talk. The super friendly, chatty people in the woods the night before must have just been happy from that beautiful Christmas market and glühwein.

Heidelberg Castle gate

We found the correct spot to buy tickets and decided to take a tour of the Heidelberg Castle. I would recommend it because visitors are allowed to visit inside the castle as part of the tour. Without the tour, visitors are only allowed to see the outside of the castle. Our guide was knowledgeable and personable. Since I've been studying German history and art, I chatted with him during some of the free time on the tour. I even amazed him when I asked him if the altar and the surrounding area in the chapel was wood (I had bet my cousins that it was, even though it looked like marble at a distance). He knocked on it, showing that it was indeed wood and asked if I had taken the tour before. Nope, I had a class this summer where our instructor taught us that in many churches and chapels, what looks like marble might actually be wood. The next time you're in an older European church that has been around since the Renaissance, look closely at the marble walls and altars. It might not be marble at all!

Perkeo!

After the tour we visited the Heidelberg Tun, or the giant wine barrel, in the basement of the castle. It's huge, said to be one of the world's largest wine barrels. At one point, the castle employed a dwarf court jester, Giovanni Clementi, revered for his drinking ability, to watch over the wine barrel. Castle inhabitants called Clementi "Perkeo" because they'd ask him various questions, such as if he'd like another glass of wine and his answer was "perché no?" ("why not?" in his native Italian). It is said that he was able to drink vast quantities of wine but the day he drank a glass of water he died. A statue of him still oversees the barrel and Perkeo's legend lives on.

Even better yet? I have a picture of some guy in a costume from when I visited Heidelberg this fall during Herbst Fest. I now realize that this guy is meant to be Perkeo! Mystery solved.

We continued the tour of the castle grounds on our own and stopped by the Apothekenmuseum (Pharmacy Museum). There wasn't much time to see it but it's worth a short visit. Continuing outside, we tried to enjoy the Christmas market outside of the castle. It was so crammed full of people that we didn't stay long.

My friend who lives in Heidelberg met us after our castle visit and took us to her favorite German restaurant in Heidelberg: the Schnitzelhaus Alte Münz (Neckarmünzgasse 10, Heidelberg). It's a short walk outside of the tourist center and is a small, atmospheric restaurant (though not without some questionable art -- check out the poster hanging near the bathrooms!). The main attraction is the restaurant's offering 100+ different types of schnitzels. Beyond schnitzels, offerings are slim besides fries, salads, and käsespätzle, which is understandable given the descriptive name of the restaurant. I don't eat schnitzel, so my choice was the käsespätzle. It was typical käsespätzle and tasted good.

Everyone else ordered different types of schnitzels and were happy with their choices. The serving sides are HUGE so my cousin was happy with her decision to order the small portion (which also saved a few euros). We were all pleased with our meals, the good service, and the cute interior of the small restaurant. We were lucky enough to get seated even without reservations; however, since the restaurant gets busy, for a smoother visit reservations are recommended.

Full and happy, we continued down the Hauptstrasse (main street) in Heidelberg, window shopping and enjoying the festive environment with some additional Christmas markets along the way. We then said goodbye to my friend and walked back to the train station to travel home.

Even dogs love the biomarkt!

Biomarkt = store with organic foods; often a health food store

In the past, I've written about "parking" dogs outside of stores. It's not uncommon for Germans to bring their dogs with them all over the place, and it's also common that many places allow dogs. However, supermarkets often don't, probably for hygienic reasons.

When we were visiting Heidelberg, we walked by a biomarkt and saw these patient guys waiting for their owners to return.

Heidelberg: traffic lights even for the bike lanes!

Heidelberg is a city with many, many bikers. The sheer number of university students is a contributing factor. During a recent visit, I noticed that the bike lane even had its own small traffic light at an intersection. Cool, huh? Not all intersections are like that.

Heidelberger Herbst: what a mix of experiences!

My friend invited to me to Heidelberg for the Heidelberger Herbst Altstadtfest this past weekend. It's funny, because I had in mind what the day would be like and it was totally different -- in a weird, fun way!

Heidelberger Herbst was a wonderful conglomeration of everything! It includes a flea market in the narrow streets of downtown; live music; stores with special opening hours; food and drink booths; and lots of random events. I went into it thinking it would be more of a traditional German fall festival.

I saw these guys hanging out early on so it confirmed my initial suspicions, but I ended up being wrong in the long run. I think this was a stag party. We walked down this road and I knew things weren't going to be traditional.

And they weren't! In the square, we listened to some great techno music...and watched a group of men deep in the throes of a stag party. How do I know this was a stag party where I wasn't sure if the lederhosen clad young men were part of a similar party? Well, I think it was the fact that the guy below was dressed up like a(n ugly) women, wearing some crazy stuff, and getting danced on by his friends. There was a hula hooper and a bubble blower, too!

See? Bubbles.

Our evening didn't get any less random. We saw a guy dressed like this:

I thought that if I got some frozen yogurt things would return to normal. This place had some delicious, somewhat tart froyo:

 All was going well until I read the sign across the street:

It's one of those places where people can sell their gold. I get it: bring in your old gold, jewelry, coins, and...toothgold. TOOTHGOLD???? GOLD TEETH? What the HECK!? Even worse, the sign says "also with teeth." Egads! Who would have gold teeth laying around? My friend suggested that maybe if one were to get in a fight and his gold tooth got knocked out, he could bring it in. Wouldn't he want to keep it?

Even crazier: we saw a dude in a kilt, and it appeared that he had shaved his legs. I shave my legs when I wear a skirt, so I guess it's not that weird. Maybe everyone does?

I needed to move on; I needed to get over this alarm. We decided to visit the medieval fest; that couldn't get too weird, right?

We drank pomegranate and orange infused grappa and generally felt great about everything after that, including the medieval heavy metal music being played. That was an interesting mix.

The grappa made us decide that we really should have a cocktail, so we went to the vinegar and liqueur store (yes, they have those here; it's a bit random) and listened to watered down acoustic pop songs and drank cocktails (which were quite lovely, btw). 

That led my friend to the wonderful conclusion that we needed gummi candies in naughty shapes but without nasty dyes so we bought some gummimänner and of course giggled like crazy about them. We were ready to call it a night but the ice cream shop had a DJ in the window so we danced with the group in front of it for a while (seriously, what ice cream shop in the US has a techno-playing dj? Yinz are missing out).

All good things must come to an end. We finished our dancing and trotted home.

So, is Heidelberger Herbst your traditional German fall festival? Not on your life, but wear your lederhosen and dirndls if you'd like because believe me, you won't be the weirdest ones there. I think the festival is whatever you want to make of it and YMMV: your mileage might vary. I know that I loved the mileage I put on, cavorting through town.

Heidelberger Herbst this weekend!

My friend invited me to experience the Heidelberger Herbst (fall) Altstadfest (old town festival) this weekend; the website with information is here. It's a big fall festival in Heidelberg with live music, a flea market, a craft market, art and culture points, and more. She says it's a wonderful way to experience autumn in Heidelberg with great food, music, and art. I can't wait!

Seen in Heidelberg: the Ampelmann!

When I was visiting Heidelberg, I was excited to see that some of the pedestrian signs featured the Ampelmann! I was thrilled because the Ampelmann is super cute. I was also a bit surprised because this style of crossing light tends to be more common in the former East Germany (especially in Berlin).

I was very pleased to see Herr Ampelmann in Heidelberg. Here he is, blurry picture from my phone and all:

On this trip, we also found Mr. Concerned Goat at the Italian grocery store:

I'm not sure why he was so concerned. The food we bought there was delicious!

Restaurant Review: Red, vegetarian buffet in Heidelberg

Restaurant reviewed:
Red, die grüne Küche
Poststrasse 42, Heidelberg
http://www.red-diegruenekueche.com/
 
In February, I visited a friend in Heidelberg. At that point, I had been living in a hotel for six weeks and had been eating bacon and eggs every day. While that kind of breakfast is nice once in a while as a treat, it is not really a meal to eat all the time. I was really jonesing for something that was not made of animals by that time. I felt like a sailor, who, fearing of scurvy, craves fruits and vegetables.

Imagine my utter delight when friends and I had lunch at Red, a vegetarian buffet in Heidelberg. And what a buffet it was; everything was vegetarian, super fresh, and super delicious. Red's offerings include organic, fresh, and seasonal foods. There were warm dishes, a salad bar, and desserts. There were German dishes but also many foreign and fusion dishes. I had a hard time deciding what to get but did restrain myself by not taking a tiny sample of everything, since there were so many options. I did sample some hummus, a beet salad, some eggplant dish that was cooked, and other items. Unfortunately, I wrote this review too long after I ate there to recall each item I ate, but I promise, everything was quite delicious.

There is also the option of ordering from a menu, which changes daily to reflect fresh and seasonal offerings.

The main attraction at Red is the vegetarian buffet. Diners grab a plate, make their rounds, and then take the plate of their choices to the cash register where it is weighed and rung up. Drinks are available for purchase there, too. Dining in or take away options are both available.

The restaurant itself is quite cute, too. I'm a bit of a sucker for gnomes and their images were all over the place -- in a cute way! The buffet is set on what almost looks like a repurposed dresser.


We all very much enjoyed our meals. My meal "weighed in" at 11 euros for a large plate, piled with many different types of food. I felt the threat of scurvy lessening as I left, my stomach happy and full.

Graffiti in Heidelberg

I was visiting Heidelberg in April and saw this graffiti painted on the sidewalk on Speyerer Strasse bridge.