New car!

Wow, what a day-- bought a car (this one), finished the car-buying just in time to pick up my grandfather from the train station, nice lunch, then an act of Wagner's Valkyrie at the Hannover opera, and finally a short play in a small theatre (both part of the city's long night of theater). The opera experience does not leave me particularly inclined to go again.

The car-buying was a bit of a fiasco, in part because of the difficulty of getting €3000 in cash on a Saturday. All the banks are closed, of course, and it turned out that Kate's bank (Deutsche Bank!) had an absurdly low ATM withdrawal limit (€400 per week!). Calling my U.S. bank's 24hr support line to get a daily withdrawal limit increase saved the day.

The car is a 2002 VW Golf with 1.4 l gasoline engine, 93500 km (< 60k miles), 75 horsepower. Contrary to popular belief, most of the cars here are severely underpowered by American standards. 75 horsepower feels a bit wimpy at times, but the upside is better than 40 MPG in fuel efficiency. And gas costs more than $8/gallon here.