This past weekend I decided it was time to take a road trip back to the Netherlands to visit some friends.  Since I am car-free, I have to either rent a car or take the train.  The trains are nice, but can be expensive depending on your destination.  After a bit of price comparing, it turned out that renting a car was significantly cheaper than taking the train... and faster too.  Driving the route takes just over 4 hours.. taking the train is over 6 hours.

Anyway, I booked a VW Golf and showed up at the rental agent to pick it up.  They didn't have one.  But... they kindly upgraded me to a Mercedes for the same rental price as the Golf.  Nice.  Haven't driven a Mercedes much.

This is where the little things come in... all the little things about a Mercedes that makes them such a nice car to drive.  Some things are common to most new cars... other things aren't.  The headlights come on automatically when needed... the rear view mirror darkens when you're driving at night, and there is a car with bright lights behind you... the windscreen wipers come on automatically if it starts to rain, and speed up or slow down based on how much rain there is... and my favorite... when you're stopped on a hill, the brakes stay on for a couple seconds after you release the pedal... just long enough for you to switch over to the gas, and engage the clutch.  No more rolling backwards in that second or so before you get the car moving.  This kind of freaked me out a bit the first time since I wasn't expecting it.  Once I realized what was up, I was looking for another hill to start off on

Now that I've driven a Mercedes on a 1000km road trip, I can really see why some people like these cars so much.

Aha!  Now I see it.  The work on the apartment building down the street from where I live is progressing at a steady pace.  It's just now starting to come together and look like something.  The workers have wrapped the building in styrofoam blocks (I assume for insulation), sealed up all the joints, and just yesterday started plastering over it all.  The result is a totally transformed building.  It was looking rather old and tired, weather beaten over the years it has stood there on the corner... now, it's looking almost like a new building.  It should be interesting to see the transformation once it is complete.  I wish I had snapped a photo before it all started so you could see the before and after.

The neighborhood I live in here in Hamburg is... a bit dodgy, but it's OK.... and it's changing.  Local businesses are closing up all over.  A couple of months ago, it started with the convenience store across the street shutting down followed shortly after by another nearby convenience store.  A month ago it was a large grocery store a few streets over.  Last week it was the bakery just 2 doors down from my apartment (I'm going to miss that bakery... they made some excellent stuff).  There are abandoned businesses up and down the street.

The vacancy rate in the local apartments also seems to be rising... now there are 3 empty apartments in the building I live in, and it's looking like there will soon be a 4th.  Plus the landlord has stopped pretty much all maintenance and upkeep on the building - I haven't seen the guy who used to clean the common areas for several months now.  He used to be by at least once per week to wash the entry floors, tidy up things, take out the trash bins etc etc.  I have a feeling he doesn't work there anymore... no one has cleaned the entry in a long time, and the trash bins are now just left on the street under my living room windows instead of being returned back to the spot in the back garden of the apartment building.  One of the tennants put the bins back a couple months back, and they were soon overflowing as no one took them out to be picked up on trash collection day.

There is one oddity of sorts though... signs that in at least one case, there is a lot of work being done to rebuild an apartment building, although, I am not exactly sure what it is they are doing. Just down the street is another of many unassuming bland generic brick apartment buildings.  It's the type that is found in pretty much every country in the world... simple, square, and generic.  The builders moved in a while back, taking over the whole street in front of the building plus a small park around the corner.  They spent a week setting up scaffolding, and then proceeded to paint the red brick exterior with a whilte paint.  Over that they are now building up a styrofoam brick wall, attached to the real red brick behind... they are basically wrapping the entire apartment building in styrofoam blocks.  Strange.. not sure exactly what they are doing... but it's a sign that not every building in the area is being allowed to crumble in neglect.

No, my thumb hasn't gone moldy despite the rumors... I've started growing Stevia at home.

Errr... growing what you may ask?  Stevia.  It's a leafy green plant native to Central and South America that is incredibly sweet (about 300x sweeter than sugar). 

I stumbled onto Stevia a couple of years ago, and tracked down a supplier here in Germany.  I've been ordering the processed stevia (white powder) and using it in my tea and other food for quite some time now.  It has a slightly different taste than regular sugar.  Sometimes you get a faint hint of licorice taste in it if you taste is raw off the tip of your finger.  Mixed into food it just tastes sweet... very sweet.  It is not as "heavy" tasting as sugar... best to say it's an acquired taste, and given the choice I definitely prefer it over sugar.

Anyway... growing it.  I managed to find a supply of seeds and ordered a package.  The seeds are tiny.. really tiny and also almost impossible to convince to germinate.  I researched and tried a dozen different methods, sorted out the husks and grey seeds from the black ones (the black ones are supposed ot be the good ones that will germinate).  I tried planting direct in some potting soil, I tried soaking and planting etc etc.  The only successful method was to sprinkle the seeds on some wet paper towel, and put the paper towel into a plastic bag.  I set the bag on the window sill for a couple of weeks, keeping it wet, and checking for sprouts. 

It took about 6 weeks, for the first hint of green to show.  From there I carefully transplanted the little plant to a pot, and hoped it would keep growing.  The first few failed to grow... but eventually I managed to convince one to stay alive, and now... now I have a fast growing plant.  it's looking good.  Another couple months, and I'll be able to sample it

From what I read, I should be able to simply use the leaves of the plant - mixing them into my tea or food wherever I want something to be sweet.  I can either use them fresh, or I can dry the leaves. 

It's an interesting experiment, but certainly takes patience to see results.