McRambles

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

2011-12-23T12:35:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas!

I didn't send letters with this year's Christmas Cards. Instead I directed folks to the blog. "Find our Christmas letter at mcrambles.blogspot.com," I said. I guess I better put up a Christmas letter, huh?

St. Nikolaus on the Christmas Train.

Dear friends,
2011 has been a good year for us. The big news is that it's also been our last year in Europe and we move back to the states in March of 2012. We're going back from whence we came, to Warner Robins, Georgia. We are excited to be back in the South with its mild weather and plentiful sunshine. As you might imagine the details of moving are threatening to overrun the Holiday season, but for the most part I'm successfully keeping them in a box until the New Year.

We've been so fortunate to be able to do oodles of traveling while living here, most of which you can read about by clicking the country categories on this site's navigation bar, so I won't rehash them here. (I am admittedly months behind in the travel blogging department. I usually get caught up in the Winter when the weather is so totally nasty that there's nothing more appealing than to sit inside at your computer, so if you're interested in our ramblings, be sure to check back.)

As far as how life goes when we aren't out seeing the sights....

The boys are 6 and 3. C started first grade this year. And he loves it. It was a bit of a transition at first as this is his first year in a traditional classroom, but he's taken to it well and I'm frequently amazed at both the depth and breadth of what he learns at school. He's at a DOD elementary school in a very small class with a supremely dedicated teacher. I think we've been spoiled, for sure! Here's hoping our tansition into the Georgia school system goes smoothly.

This is B's second year in the German kindergarten and he continues to do well there. He'll frequently announce to me that when he's at kindergarten he's a German kid and when he's at home, he's an American kid. We're undecided if, when, or where he'll be doing any kind of preschool stateside, but I'm envisioning having to explain to him that he is actually an American kid, 24-7.

D stays busy at work. Which is about all I can say about that, here. He was selected for Major this year and in between his stints here and there "saving" the world is one class away from finishing his Master's degree. We're proud of all his hard work.

As for me, I manage to keep busy with all the typical SAHM things: volunteering at the elementary school, coffee with friends, playdates with pals, and when the weather's nice long walks and bike rides over the beautiful (but sometimes smelly) farm fields. I'm basically simply trying to soak up every last ounce of atmosphere before we leave. While I look forward to being back in the USA and having Publix and Target around the corner and to being able to complete a (as in ONE) load of laundry in under 4 hours, I love village life. I love being able to ride my bike to anywhere I need to go and am not at all looking forward to reacclimating to suburban sprawl.

This time of year as the boys flip through toy catalogs and wander through stores and tell us all the things they want for Christmas, we try to talk them about Christmas really being about giving, not getting. (Mercifully, Armed Forces Network doesn't air commercials. Which stinks at Superbowl time, but is super convenient this time of year). Local organizations sponsor Angel Trees and we take them shopping for angel tree toys and try to explain to them how fortunate they are that they want for nothing. It seems that everywhere you turn these days, people are wanting. Times are hard, for many. There are lots of excellent charitable organizations out there doing outstanding work to meet the needs of those in need around the world. If you're considering additional holiday giving, but don't know where to direct your donations, consider some of these worthy organizations.

The Ronald McDonald House or the Fisher House which provide lodging to family members of sick children and wounded warriors, keeping families together under devastating circumstances.

Donate Animals and feed a family. In most of Asia, rural economies dominate and donating chickens or milk-producing goats can provide a family mired in poverty with both food and longer term income generation.

ENTRUST, an organization founded by an old friend that uses professional mentorships and monetary donations to help local people in Haiti and Honduras create, manage, and grow their own businesses, breaking the cycle of poverty. Their people- helping- people, invest- in- the- community model of giving offers long term hope.

Compassion International: Sponsor a child; change a life.

We hope you and yours are well this holiday season. There's not enough time left for us in Europe to invite you to visit us here, but if you find yourself traveling the I-75 corridor in middle Georgia and have time to sit-a-spell, holler at us!

Do you facebook? If so, friend us. It's probably one of the easiest ways for us to not lose any of you as our contact information is constantly in flux.

May your 2012 be filled with love, peace, and great joy!

love, The Mcs :-)

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Operation Scenic Route to Spain

2011-12-07T09:16:00.001+01:00

In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety Two (1492) Columbus sailed the ocean blue. In two-zero-one-one (2011) we did too; it was tons of fun!

In the summer of 2010 we followed a big ol' Mouse all over Northern Europe. We had a great time on board Disney Cruise Line's (DCL) The Disney Magic, so much so that when I blogged that trip I wrote at the end that I might just "space-A home for a visit next spring simply so we can cruise back to Europe with the Mouse."


we spent a lot of time holding shirts

Well, that's exactly what we did. The Disney magic left Port Canaveral May14 bound for Barcelona, Spain. She arrived two weeks later and in between stopped in the Bahamas; Funchal, Portugal; Gibraltar; and Cadiz, Spain. Of the 14 nights on board, 6 of those were at sea crossing the Atlantic between Castaway Cay, Bahamas and Portugal's Atlantic island, Madeira. Almost everything we've done over here falls somehow/someway into a "best ever" category, but it was indeed "the best ever" (or at least very very cool) to wake up on day 3 and look at the map on your stateroom TV and see the boat smack dab in the middle of the ocean, to stand at the rails and see nothing but ocean all around you and know that yep, there really is nothing but ocean all around you. Six days trapped on a cruise boat with no where to go but on another lap around the deck might be a little much on any other cruise line, but I think I could spend 6 weeks on a DCL cruise and not once feel the need to send anyone up the crow's nest looking for land. All the glowing things I wrote about our first DCL experience holds true, especially the dining room staff who made it their mission to get my picky two year old to eat something other than chocolate milk.

tuckered

luxury of time

And because this time there was more time, plus Grandma to pitch in with the kiddos, I got to do ALL the cheesy Disney things -- take the tour that explains the art and decor on board; learn how to draw Donald and Mickey, and test my trivial knowledge. (D and I cleaned up at TV theme song night, btw. No, we weren't latch key kids who spent every afternoon watching reruns on TBS, not at all.). This trip there was time to go to all the broadway style productions and to see a number of movies, King's Speech and a red carpet PremEAR of Pirates 4 among them. And there was more time to try all the yummy recipes on board and to pop into Palo, the on board signature restaurant, for brunch. But with so many days at sea, we also had more time to interact with cast and crew, some of whom have really remarkable stories of how they ended up sailing with DCL. Surprisingly, there weren't very many kids on board, so a number of the staff took a special interest in mine, which made their two weeks even more fun. (And helped me feel less guilty all those days we left them on the boat while we went ashore exploring. Seriously, I didn't feel *that* guilty. I know what it is to navigate Europe with the pint-sized set. Furthermore, they know what it's like. I think all parties involved would agree that the kids spending port days in the Oceaneer Club is a win/win all around.)

Pirate Night

(Full Disclosure: Some of my continued DCL enthusiasm comes from the fact that in the months since our eastbound transatlantic with Disney we have taken an eastern Mediterranean cruise with another major cruise line, and while that was a great trip with some of the most AMAZING sightseeing, the cruise experience on that other boat can't compare to DCL's. If we had never sailed with Disney, we would have loved sailing this other line, but as we had already sailed Disney we were left thinking this other company needed to find itself a stash of pixie dust somewhere)

Castaway Cay

Didn't much care about spending the day on CASTAWAY CAY (Disney's private Bahamian island) but that's mostly because we were coming off two weeks at our own private beach house (AKA Grandma's house).

smak dab in the middle!

"The Rock"

My favorite port was GIBRALTAR. We took a van tour of the Rock, stopping at all the main sights --to see the Monkeys, and the bunkers -- and learning about the Rock's history. I can't really imagine what it must have been like living there before Spain opened it's borders. Our tour guide remembers going with his father on day long trips into Spain to shop. Day long trips because they had to get to and from Spain via a ferry from Morroco instead of simply walking 10 minutes to the border. Speaking of Morocco, I was supposed to spend a few days soaking up the African sun last winter and had to cancel at the last minute when my kid-care fell through. I only got slightly perturbed when we stopped to look out over the Straits of Gibraltar at Morocco and the African continent. Oh well, at least I now have pictures of Africa, even if I didn't get to step foot there. After touring we ate lunch in town and did some shopping. I designed my own champagne flutes at Gibraltar Crystal, where the crafters hand make their items on the island itself.

What a final resting place!

WW2 Tunnels

One of the most difficult landings anywhere. They have to shut down the road for planes.

Stalactites or is it Stalgmites?

AFRICA!

the most famous Gibraltan resident

beautiful Madeiran flowers

I also very much enjoyed MADEIRA, Portugal. We made port at Funchal and took a sightseeing bus up into the mountains. We saw some stunning scenery and ate a wonderful lunch of Espada, the local catch, at a cliffside patio cafe. Then, we rode the bus back downtown to shop for lace and wine. Here's another thing I like about DCL: We landed in Funchal on a Sunday, yet DCL made prior arrangements with some local shops to be open. (In contrast, that other cruise line put us ashore in Malta on a Sunday where not-a-thing but a few tacky souvenir stands and bars were open.) Because it was Sunday, we couldn't go to a tasting at the most famous of the Madeiran wine bars, but the wine shops we stopped into did tastings for us and of course we came home with several bottles of the famous spirit. The Bordal lace "factory" also opened and we saw where generations of Madeiran women have made lace products by hand; they still make their lace by hand at this factory. And although lace isn't really my style, I now have a far better appreciation of just how much work goes into producing one lace tablecloth.

View from our table

drying Espada

CADIZ: We spent one morning in Cadiz, a not-so-picturesque, yet very "Spanish feeling" harbor town. We followed a self-guided walking tour we picked up from the local TI office. We've done self-guided walking tours all over Europe but what was unique and so user friendly about the Cadiz tours is that the city has painted colored lines all throughout town. They provide four walking tours and each is designated a color. So if you're following the purple, Medieval District tour, you simply wind your way through town following the purple painted line on the ground.

Cadiz Cathedral

lush gardens

War Memorial

Las Ramblas

I visited BARCELONA (and London and Paris and Munich and Rome) way back in 1991 as high school Junior and it's been good fun to go back to some of these cities now, as an adult, and compare today's experiences to what my 16 year old self remembers. I was keen to visit Barcelona this trip because back in 1991 Gaudi's Cathedral was 20 years less completed than it is today AND not open to the public. This time not only did I get to walk around La Sagrada Familia, but I also got to go inside. We left the boat early and scooted to the subway and made the Cathedral our first stop. As it was, we had to wait in line about 25 minutes. I'm guessing that by the time we left, the line to get in was at least an hour, if not longer. After learning all about Gaudi, we walked through Barcelona's oldest historic district, following a Rick Steve's walking tour which happened to begin at a square that was being occupied by Barcelona's unemployed youth. This was months before it became the cool thing to "occupy [insert major city here]." (Although Barcelona's unemployment rate among young people is close to40 % percent, so you certainly understand the frustration). The Barcelona police were in the process of trying to clear the square when we got there. Barcelona's futbol team was playing in a championship game that night and the city anticipated needing the square for victorious futbol celebrations. Except, we found all this out later. At the time all we saw were lines of police in full riot gear, oodles of news crews, and helicopters circling overhead. In researching the event, it apparently got pretty ugly, but fortunately we were there ahead of or behind the real violence. We also spent a couple hours strolling Las Ramblas before heading back to the boat for dinner and one last evening on board before disembarking.

Barcelona Market

school children celebrating

people protesting

helicopters circling

Gaudi's Passion

Having spent 26 nights, total, cruising with DCL, I'm still one of their biggest fans. I can't tell you how disappointed I am our move back to the States isn't going to coincide with a westbound transatlantic reposition. BUT, I've heard a rumor that DCL is planning a Mediterranean itinerary out of Venice in 2013 and if the stars align........

Gobble! Gobble!

2011-12-05T02:00:00.000+01:00

I haven't yet made my top-five-coolest-things-we-did-in-Europe list, so I'm not sure which of our ramblings will make the cut. But whenever I do make such a list, our Thanksgiving day adventure in Leiden definitely gets a spot.

Leiden Centrum

Not many Americans in my neck of the woods have heard about the American Thanksgiving service held each year at the St. Pieter's Kerk in Leiden, sponsored by the organization Overseas Americans Remember.

(*I can't find a good web link to the organization, but they sponsor a half-dozen events a year, all in the Amesterdam or Den Haag area. In addition to the Thanksgiving service, they organize a MLK breakfst, a Friendship celebration in April, commemorating the date Holland first recognized the USA as an independent nation, a 4th of July celebration, a "Who's Your President" breakfast, the day after election day.)

Why Leiden??? The group of early-American settlers we usually call the Pilgrims lived in Leiden from 1609-1620. It is from Leiden that they boarded the Speedwell and left for the New World. The Speedwell wasn't sea worthy, however, and they made land back in Southern England and tried again this time on the Mayflower.

Our plan for they day was this: leave early enough to make the 2.5 hour drive to Leiden and be at the church by 11. Grab a snack. Head to the Pilgrim Museum. Eat Thanksgiving dinner. Drive home.
If you go, note that parking in Leiden is more than difficult. There's really no parking at the train station, and very little down town. There are two lots (one at the Groenoordhallen and one on Haagweg) where parking is plentiful and from where free shuttle buses run to the city centre. The shuttle buses run until 2:00 AM and parking is cheap, by Dutch standards. We paid about 10 euros for the whole day.

St Pieter's Kerk interior

The church service was well attended, with about 400 people. Attendees were mostly Americans and the day began with a civic service including the presentation of the colors, patriotic songs, and historical readings. I had forgotten that before he was the nation's second President, John Adams had been the ambassador to the Netherlands and that he and his wife, Abigail, had written about their respective visits to Leiden. The letters of Abigail Adams constitute a chapter of my now-irrelevant-opus, so I should have made the connection between Adams and Leiden before she was quoted in the civic part of the service. If you want to read the letter that Adams wrote her sister about her visit to Leiden, her travels throughout Holland, and her insight into the importance of the relationship between Holland and young America, you can see an online version, here .

While Pilgrim leader John Robinson is buried in St Peter's church, most of today's historians agree it is unlikely that the Pilgrims actually worshiped in the church; they were a fringe religious group in Leiden society, and as such likely held their services in smaller, less official venues. Although, they most certainly were in the church from time to time.


This is Hooglandse Kerk .Can you believe I didn't take a picture of the outside of St. Pieter's Kerk?

After the civic service, there was an interdenominational religious service, consisting mainly of hymns and readings, representing Catholic, Jewish, and various protestant traditions. There was no sermon to speak of, simply various members of the American community in North Holland, sharing personal Thanksgiving reflections. (This part of the service was kind of labored-- didn't need to hear quite so many variations on the theme. One or two would have been plenty.) Kids were definitely most welcome. The church is very large, and a number of families with little ones stayed near the back while their restless ones toddled around the narthex. We sat on one of the less crowded wings, to minimize whatever distractions the kids might throw in. B watched a movie during most of the service (which clocked in at close to 90 minutes). C was interested in the singing and the musical performances, but he played his DS during many of the readings and reflections.

At the conclusion of the service, they served coffee and cookies and we toured the church, which has an impressive pipe organ above the altar. Then we moseyed Leiden, grabbed a quick bite at the local Bagels and Beans, and popped over to the Pilgrim Museum, a very very small museum commemorating the Pilgrims' years in Leiden. The Pilgrim Museum was very crowded (probably their busiest day of the year), so we didn't stay long. As the weather was lovely, we meandered some more, over to the Leiden Castle. Leiden's Castle is really simply a fort, but it offers fabulous panoramic views of the town, is free, and perfectly suited for boisterous little boys to storm and climb. Who needs playgrounds when there's 12th century ruins around? After our little legs finished exploring, we meandered some more, over to the train station, in order to grab a train up to Amsterdam to partake in our traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

My littlest turkey

The Holiday Inn in Leiden was offering a traditional Turkey and all the trimmings buffet, but didn't open until 18:30 and we wanted to eat a little earlier so we could still make it home at a decent hour. The only other establishment google led me to that promised traditioanl Thanksgiving fare was the Hard Rock Cafe in Amsterdam, which turned out to be a fabulous choice as Hard Rock Cafes are usually loud, perfect for masking the loudness we bring with us. Dinner consisted of corn chowder, turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, dressing (stuffing), broccoli, and pumpkin pie. And it was good. Not as good as my home made feast would've been, but better than what I was expecting.

While we caught a tram from Amsterdam Central Station to Leidesplein and the Hard Rock, we walked back. Each little square along the way was decorated with lights and festive with mini markets of Gluhwein and waffles.We found Dam Square jam packed with people waiting for the famous De Bijenkorf department store to turn on its lights.

As you might imagine it was a really really long day and the kiddos, whom I often brag about here for being fabulous goers and doers, weren't in their most cooperative state, but 'twas still an unbelievably wonderful experience, even handicapped with whiny munchkins. (Both of whom fell asleep the instant their heads touched their car seats, so at least it was a peaceful drive home). We were most certainly the only non-North Holland dwellers present in Leiden that day, many were surprised we drove all the way up from Limburg to give thanks, but if you ever find yourself anywhere near Leiden the fourth Thursday in November, make it a point to stop and take in a little trans-atlantic history.

One night in Bangkok (AKA 36 hours in London)

2011-11-19T12:01:00.000+01:00

Here's the secret to a successful European assignment: It's all about the bucket list.

We've done lots and lots of traveling in the three years we've been rambling (more traveling than evidenced by this here blog). Admittedly, my list was over ambitious to begin with, and truthfully grew a bit out of control once we got here and started swapping stories with our jet-setting buddies, but with four short months left on our current European go-round, I still had three major trips left. Normandy and Northern Portugal will likely have to wait for another day, but thanks to an agreeable husband and a good friend with a matching list seeing the London production of Wicked..... CHECK!

It was a whirlwind trip, leaving home Friday AM, back in time for Saturday dinner, but without the kids in tow, we covered a lot of British ground. We flew into Gatwick, grabbed the fast train into the city, jumped off at Victoria Station, giggled with glee when we passed the Apollo Victoria Theatre and its larger than life Wicked marquis, stashed the bags at our hotel, and promptly headed out for an afternoon of sightseeing before that night's performance.

We made it to Harrods and saw Big Ben and Parliament. We happened upon a small Occupy London protest, the bulk of the protesters having gone home and taken the day off in honor of Armistice Day. We toured Westminster Abbey and breathed the royal air, realizing that if you were a regular-ol-guest at William and Kate's nuptials, you really couldn't see very much as the choir stalls blocked the view for most of the congregation. (Family and VIPs were seated right behind the altar, in front of the choir stalls).     Then we ducked into a cafe for a champagne tea, stepped into Westminster Cathedral and walked back to our hotel to change clothes before the show began.

The performance was outstanding. It's a little ironic that seeing this particular musical made it onto my bucket list, as I *hated* the novel, but Wicked, the Musical is far better written than Wicked, the novel. Its story is more streamlined, its characters and their motivations more clearly developed, and its intertextual connections to the original Wizard of Oz more skillfully utilized.   The signature number, Defying Gravity, is indeed a show stopper. (The link is to a you tube video, if you wanna see). Now that I've seen the London version, I do believe seeing the New York production tops my stateside list, even though most reviewers report the production quality in London is better.

After the show, we wandered down the street and into a local watering hole, closing down the pub drinking warm ale with a bunch a middle aged locals. (British Ale is typically served warm and the pub's last call wast midnight, so closing it down wasn't that much of a feat).   The next AM it was back to the airport for our flight home. Lots more of London to see, for sure, but I feel like we saw and did enough to make the short trip worth it. Made some great memories with a great gal-pal and most importantly, showed that blasted list who's boss. :P

Amsterdam: Behind the Scenes

2011-11-18T20:46:00.001+01:00

As if spending a day in Amsterdam, sans kiddos, with a friend wouldn't be fun enough, this summer I managed some time off for good behavior and got to go to one of Amsterdam's Open Garden Days. Each June, 30-40 of Amsterdam's canal side homes open their doors to allow you to walk through their first floors and sneak a peek at their gardens out back. Some of the homes are private residences, some are businesses (law firms and such) and others are smaller, lesser known museums. I had no idea Amsterdam had so many specialty museums. Because the neighboring buildings often cast deep shadows into the gardens, there aren't a lot of flowering plants. The gardens are mostly green, well planned and nicely manicured with fountains and statues for added interest. Because there's a limited number of shade-loving plants out there, after visiting 8-10 homes, the gardens started to feel derivitive, but it was beyond awesome to get a quick glimpse into the inside of some of the canal homes and short peeks into museums that otherwise I'd never visit. So, without further ado, onto the pictures.

a private home; the most colorful of the gardens

a private home; there's a WW2 bunker in the back corner

given the relative narrowness of the homes, often surprised at the amount of space out back

Garden at Museum Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis

The old "Waloon Orphanage for Boys and Girls" The ladder is a sculpture. The garden was once divided: one side for the boys. One side for the girls.

see the open door, had to walk right through the house to get to the garden

leaning canal side homes

My favorite gardens were the boys/girl orphanage and the Bijbels (Bible) Museum. The Bible Museum has stocked its garden with plants mentioned in the Bible and then displayed them with corresponding Bible verses. I still can't figure how the climate in Northern Europe and ancient Mesopotamia is similar enough to make such a garden practical, but now I know what a Acacia and a Judas tree looks like (among others). Oh, and it was also kind of funny to catch the neighbors of one home on the tour walking around in their PJs and robes --at 3pm-- looking out their window, almost surprised at all the gawkers in the garden next door looking back.
(**All photos courtesy of RB, my camera-toting partner in crime for the day)

I'm a big kid now!

2011-07-10T12:36:00.001+02:00

B's three year old birthday passed a couple of weeks ago. He celebrated in style with marble cupcakes at a morning Kindergarten party. Then he whooped it up some more that evening with presents, pizza, ice cream cake, and a trampoline jump fest.

A few months back he and I began discussing how three-year-olds were big boys and didn't need diapers. He could talk a big game how there'd be no more diapers when he turned three, but he didn't seem all that motivated to follow all that talk with action. I tried stickers, and candy, books and toys.... nothing doing. Like everything else this child does, he does it his way.

He woke up on the 4th of July (6 days post birthday) and simply declared he was wearing big boy pants to Kindergarten and that's been that. Looks like we successfully avoided the prolonged pull up phase and we got it taken care of *before* I ran out of my pre-paid diapers.

What are pre-paid diapers you ask?

Before we left the states I bought $800 worth of diapers from Costco. The movers who packed us out, joshed me about filling an entire crate with diapers ( 25 boxes of Kirkland's supreme-- which btw are made by Kimberly Clark and just like Huggies, if you're a Huggies fan). The Dutch movers who moved us in asked, "Are American diapers different than German diapers?" Most of my gal-pals have had a good-natured chuckle at my diaper stash beneath the stairs. And because GK is such a small community, there's been at least one new friend who upon meeting me for the first time, in an effort to put a face with a name exclaimed, "so you're the one who moved over all those diapers!"

Well People: --
32 months and 23 boxes of diapers later, I finally did the math. (Yes, I have two boxes left). Those 25 boxes, approximately 4000 diapers, would have cost me the equivalent of $1500 on the local economy. Plus, it's hard to get Huggies over here (except at the Commissary and even with coupons Commissary Huggies are more expensive than Pampers at the Real or DM). I'm a Huggies gal through and through, so ultimately would have been paying almost double for diapers I liked less.

I'm thinking I now have $700 worth of Mad Money to my credit. Hmmmmm? Girls trip anyone?

Luxembourg

2011-03-31T09:36:00.009+02:00

I'm not sure whether to call Luxembourg the local area or not. It's within such easy striking distance, it's really day-trippable. We, however, opted to stay overnight at a nearby air force base offering cheap, family-friendly accommodations and an opportunity to stock up on some American staples.

We spent Saturday morning in Vianden, exploring the most kid-friendly castle we've yet to encounter. It's not stroller friendly, lots of steps, but my young 2 year old easily walked it. It's small enough to not bore/tire the kiddos. And while there are exhibits (armor, knives, tableware), the exhibits are centered in large rooms which makes it easy to run interference and keep the kids from touching anything. There are occasionally guided tours, more in the summertime, but as we visited in October, we took the self guided route. Bottom line: it is an invitingly trompable castle, with little boy adventures waiting around every bend, especially if you visit off-season (as evidenced by all the pictures of my boys tromping). For any local readers who are now German-castle-skittish, having made the drive to Burg Eltz only to be kicked out because your kid breathed funny, never fear, Vianden is the castle for you. We've yet to make it to Bavaria and the Cinderella-esque Neuschwanstein, but Chateau Vianden perched in the Luxembourg hills, though small, is as scenic as we've seen to date.

As an added bonus, Vianden is a super cute little town, reminiscent of Monschau, but filled with cute antique shops and friendly bistros. Side note: Victor Hugo frequently vacationed in Vianden and just as I couldn't buy a copy of Les Mis in the Paris sewers nor could I buy a copy of it or even Hunchback at the Victor Hugo house in Vianden. REALLY!?! Someone needs a new marketing director, for sure.

Sunday our destination was Luxembourg City. Except..... before we got to sightseeing we had to stop and buy hats and gloves (no easy feat on a Sunday, mind you). We now have hats and gloves as souvenirs from our trips to Cambridge, Heidelberg, Hamburg and Luxembourg. You would think after two years I would have figured out just how cold Northern Europe can be, any time of year. In my defense, that Sunday in Luxembourg City was barely the middle of October, and the first REALLY cold day of the year, so hats and gloves weren't quite on my radar yet.

Once we appropriately bundled ourselves, we set off on the shorter of the two self guided walking tours available from the Visitor Center. Luxembourg is pretty hilly, with some steep climbs and C was walking that day, so between the cold and being paced by 5 year old legs, we figured shorter was better. The city has remarkably preserved casements and walls, some dating back as early as 1644, that today surround a lovely park. Walking the casements provides some really beautiful views of the city. There's a uniformed guard on duty at the city's Grand Ducal Palace and that's always fun for the boys. Luxembourg City, unfortunately, is just the latest victim of my "metropolis fatigue". On a beautiful day it would be a fun place to explore, on a cold and windy one, I could take it or leave it. Rumor has it, though, that there's a Villeroy and Boch outlet near there, so perhaps Luxembourg City and I will meet again one day soon.

tromping

and more tromping

any castle that does this.... priceless!

the search for the perfect Venetian Spritz....

2011-03-30T12:12:00.003+02:00

You may have realized by now that when Grandma and GP come to visit, we think it's important for them to have as much time with the grandkids as they can, especially time without Mom and Dad under foot. The Grands last visit was this past October, and D and I, to better facilitate cross-generational bonding, took one for team and cleared out for a few days. We headed to Venice.

the famous Rialto Bridge

the Academia bridge on the Grand Canal

We tremendously enjoyed Venice and learned a lot about its history and the important role it once played in global politics and trade. (Well, global from the 13th century perspective). The city is as gorgeous, stunning, and picturesque as you've heard, but in a movie-set, don't look too closely or you'll see the man behind the curtain, kind of way. Because the city is actually a small island, it's far more self-contained than other popular European travel destinations. It doesn't have a historic district-- the entire island is historic, and it's hard to shake the feeling that your hotel room reservation is the admission ticket to a living breathing theme park. I don't even feel like I can now say we've been to Italy. We've been to Venice, and as fabulous as it was, it feels a bit like a larger scale exhibit in Epcot's Global Showcase.

The water is steadily closing-in on Venice and the city is all too quickly sinking into the sea. Case in point: When the tides are right, St. Marks's square is under water. Street vendors blocks and blocks away sell colorful plastic bags with shoe clips to keep your footwear dry and the city places catwalks all over the square to elevate tourists above the water. The catwalks are placed end to end and are about 4 feet wide, so you get in line, and shuffle along across the square.

I'm glad we went without the kids. It's not that Venice isn't kid friendly, more that it isn't stroller friendly -- at all. There's no way you could navigate a stroller along the catwalks in the flooded sections of the city, but even worse, EVERY street in Venice is a canal side street, and EVERY street has small bridges crossing those canals. Unlike Amsterdam, where the bridges over the canals are smooth ramps, the bridges in Venice are composed entirely of steps. I can't imagine bumping the stroller up and down all those steps all day every day.

A St.Mark's Orchestra

We did all of the touristy things you're supposed to do and see while in Venice. We toured the St. Mark's Cathedral (which btw is far more Byzantine than anything else we've seen in Europe) and sipped coffee listening to the orchestras in St. Mark's square. I made D twirl me around a time or two just so I could say I've "waltzed" there. We ducked into several other smaller churches, walked the Doge's Palace, crossed the Bridge of Sighs into the Prison, shopped on the Rialto bridge, and snapped pictures at the crazy, smelly fish market. At close to 100 Euro, we did NOT go for the Gondola ride but instead opted for the minute long, 50 cent traghetto ride across the Grand Canal [Really there are only so many bridges over the canal, so in between the bridges are strategically placed traghetto stops. Traghetto's are small gondola's with striped-shirt wearing pilots, just no serenading.] We discovered while in Venice that Rick Steves' website has free downloadable audio guides, so we downloaded those and listened to him guide us through Venice. We bought unlimited three day passes for the Vaporettos (public boat buses) and circled the grand canal several times, listening to Steves point out the interesting sights along the way.

We slept at a Steves' recommended spot, catching our zzzzzzs at the Don Orione Cultural Center . The hotel is a converted Monastery and prides itself on it's peaceful and relaxed atmosphere. The rooms are minimalist, but spacious, and the breakfast is generic but adequate. The daily rate at Don Orione is about 1/3 of the other hotels on the same square and the location (half way between St Mark's Square and The Rialto Bridge) is excellent, and despite the fact that the building has been modernized you can still catch glimpses of the old architecture and facade and imagine what it would have been like 100 years ago.

We spent two days exploring Venice proper and while we bought a map (the buildings in Venice are sooooo close together the GPS could never get a lock), we only used it to get from the bus station to our hotel. The greatest fun in Venice is wandering and watching. As long as you can keep yourself minimally oriented to the location of the Grand Canal, there's really no way to get lost. The greatest challenge in Venice is spotting a local, well that and navigating through the throngs of cruise boat tour groups. In the end, I think we were more successful than most in at least rubbing elbows with the locals. How we did it: We walked from St Mark's square to the St. Elena neighborhood at the southern tip of the main island, (about 25 minutes) leaving the tourists behind with every step. I presume that most of the residents of St Elena support the tourist industry in some way; they live simply, in small apartments, with tiny windowsill gardens and laundry lines strung between windows over the narrow alleyways. We grabbed a slice in a local pizzeria, probably the only pizzeria in all of Venice where the proprietor spoke no English (pointy-talky strikes again) and ended up sitting next to a table of local college girls meeting for an afternoon cuppa, watching the local college boys play a pick-up game of street soccer. After lunch we walked back to the St Mark's madness and stood in line to tour the square's namesake church.

street soccer

Just how narrow were they?

A cat at home in St. Elena

Water spickets like this one are all over the city. The water is perfectly safe to drink; it comes down an aquefor from the Alps. Notice the catwalks stacked on the side ready for the tides to come in.


view of St Mark's clock tower

The church turned out to be my favorite of the historical sights. It's an Eastern Orthodox church full of icons and imagery that would seem fundamentally out of place in the famous Italian Renaissance churches and palaces in Florence and Rome. Every alcove in the church houses a separate exhibit with separate admission prices, some worth it, some not. My advice would be to skip the treasury and the golden altarpiece (on the main floor), but definitely go upstairs to the San Marco Museum and the famous Bronze Horses. After you've wandered the museum, be sure to go outside onto the roof for up close pictures of the massive replica horses and stunning views of the square, the canal, and the clock tower. Grab a piece of ledge and sit a spell, watching the square bustle beneath your feet.

Back to the sport of spotting local Venetians....
Another place to spot locals is at the fish market; they're the ones carrying large baskets and actually buying the fish rather than simply snapping pictures of it.

Our other brush with Venetian residents was at the local bars as we strolled from small square to small square in search of the perfect Aperol Spritz (prosecco, aperol, maybe a little sparkling water, and an orange slice). The price of your spritz doubles if you want to sit on the square at a table and drink it with the other tourists. So again, taking advantage of the fact we left the munchkins home with the Grands, we stood at the outside bars and drank. The barkeeps all gamely tried to seat us at a table and offer us "the best touriste menu in all of Venice", but we finished our drink, looped the square and then picked a side street roughly in the direction of our hotel. Followed the side street until it opened up onto another small square with another small bar and started the process all over again. Don't worry we paced ourselves, kept a close watch on our belongings, and made it back to the hotel early enough to get a good night's sleep for our next day island hopping.

Touring the local islands was my favorite Venetian day. The city is stunning, but in good weather the boat ride out to the islands is lovely water watching and the islands themselves, quaint and picturesque. It's about a 100 minute ride back to St. Mark's square from the furthest island, so it really is an all day trip (and that's if you don't spend oodles of time at each island). Be sure to note the boat schedules and make your connections or you'll be stuck far longer than you want to be on Toricello, leaving you no choice but to cut Murano or Burano short.

We left from the Fondamenta Nuove stop (on the lagoon side of the main island) and stopped first at Cimiterio San Michele. The island is an old cemetary. Ezra Pound and Igor Stravinski are buried here as are lots and lots of American and Brits. I took pictures of some of the 18th and 19th century English tombstones, thinking I could later do some research to determine how and why these "ordinary" people found themselves in Venice at their deaths. Some were obviously soldiers, but I'm curious about the others. Next Stop: Murano.

main street in Murano

Murano is the glass island: glass factory after glass factory, glass shop after glass shop. I wanted a few pieces of Murano glass jewelry for myself and for gifts, and eventually just had to pick a store and figure I'd do all my buying there. Otherwise, you'd drive yourself crazy looking for the perfect piece or two. We watched a short glass blowing demonstration and then toured the glass museum before grabbing another boat to Burano, transfer point for Toricello.

Toricello is as isolated as it gets, sandy scrub covered, very much like any coastal Florida State Park. There's a cafe or two for the tourists, but the only thing to really see there is the Santa Maria church, which claims to be the oldest church in Venice.

colorful Burano

Back to Burano: What glass is to Murano, lace is to Burano. We didn't buy any (I'm just not a lacy gal), but walking Burano is fun. It's smaller than Murano with lots of colorful buildings side by side and when you ignore the lace shops it has a very old Key West, fishing village mystique to it.

Venice, everyone should go. It's completely touristy, but it's Old Europe too. If getting there isn't on your radar, grab a copy of the recent Angelie Jolie/ Johnny Depp blockbuster, The Tourist . Watch it once for the fun movie a; watch it again for the scenery -- you'll get a great view of the grand canal and other famous Venetian sights.

Local History

2011-01-16T19:05:00.002+01:00

this one isn't so much a local treasure as it is a little piece of unsung local history.

With only a few short morning hours to myself each day, hours which are inevitably spent shopping or errand running or at the gym or grabbing a quick cuppa with a friend, it's hard to have any real hobbies to speak of. I do a bit of reading and a bit of blogging (a very little bit of blogging of late) but both of those are difficult with the numerous interruptions a 5 and 2 year old bring to the table, curious and inquisitive little boys who it always seems are bustin' at the seams to, in their words, "tell me something". However, between fixing lunch, refereeing light saber battles, designing lego masterpieces, and pancaking play doh I can putz around online. Yep, pretty pathetic that googling is my hobby, but it is, and I often find myself googling "local German village + World War Two" just to see what pops up. This week a search for "Gangelt and World War Two" yielded this link .

Click through and you'll find the story of Walter Leopold. Leopold, a Jewish survivor of WW2, was born in a Dutch town not too far from here. When he was a baby he and his family went into hiding. They survived the war and moved to the states in 1954. In 2009 Leopold returned to the Holland to try to discover more about his family's past, specifically his German father. His search led him to Gangelt, his father's birthplace. His time exploring Gangelt eventually led him to a forgotten and desecrated Jewish cemetery on the outskirts of town. As things go, he arranged to have the cemetery's gates shipped to him in Massachusetts, to grace a Jewish cemetery in Amherst. (The details of his story are interesting, so do click through and read his account and see a pic of the gates).

Enter: Google

Not too many years ago, had I happened across Leopold's article in the Amherst Bulletin, short of ferreting out if there was some sort of Gangelt historical society or driving around town looking for said cemetery, that'd been that. Now-a-days, however, a quick search and a click of the translate button later and we discovered the Jüdischer Friedhof (Jewish Cemetery) was in use from 1877-1937 and is located on AmWirtsberg, off the B56. Today was an unseasonably warm and sunny Sunday, so another click over to google maps to find the precise location of Am Wirtsberg, and we grabbed the bikes and hit the farm roads to go see for ourselves. (For any locals out there Am Wirtsberg is off the B56 right at the edge of Gangelt as you head towards Stahe. The cemetery itself is across the street from the smokestack, up a narrow gravel path. And yep, you could drive past it everyday and not notice it unless you specifically went looking for it).

When Leopold discovered the cemetery in such horrible condition, a group of locals set about cleaning it up, so today it looks respectable. My kiddos had a hard time understanding why they couldn't climb on the cool looking rocks; they did much better sitting outside with a snack. Many of the headstones are too worn to read and most of the headstones are in Hebrew. We did puzzle for a few minutes over the one woman who was born in 1852 and appeared to die in 1997, until we looked closer and figured out the 9 was a 2. 1927 fit better with what we already read about the cemetery anyway.

to the beach house!

2010-12-09T20:41:00.002+01:00

Getting that Vitamin D the old-fashioned way. (Don't miss that German snow-- not one little bit)

C keeps telling me over and over, "Mom, we're lucky boys" And they are too, not only to have grandparents who want to have us stay for weeks at a time, who are willing to romp and frolic and play, but that we get to call the South Florida sun home. We've seen Gulf Coast beaches, North Atlantic Beaches (on both sides of the Atlantic) North Sea Beaches, Mediterranean Beaches and Iberian Peninsula beaches and although those Portuguese dunes were fabulous, and the St. Tropez sand exotic, there really is no place like home.

fun in the sun

2010-11-25T10:32:00.000+01:00

fun in the sun -- and we haven't even made it to the beach yet!

feels like "home"

2010-10-27T15:10:00.003+02:00

final cruise blog-- Warnemunde/Rostock, Germany and Tallinn, Estonia

Warnemunde and the North Sea

At the half-way point of our cruise we stopped at Warnemunde, Germany. The cruise lines have dubbed Warnemunde the "Gateway to Berlin" and 90% of the passengers dutifully trekked to the train station at 5AM for the 2 hour train ride into Berlin. We watched them all pour out of the trains 14 hours later, exhausted. As D and I have already been to Berlin, we skipped the fun and stayed in port. Our table-mates (who live in Landsthul) also skipped Berlin. They ventured to the beach. D and I grabbed B and bopped over to Rostock, the area's historic county seat.

Rostock Market Square

As we left the port, we had to pass through customs control. They had two lines: one for passengers and one for crew members. The lines, however, were not clearly marked. (Surprise surprise -- Europeans, even the super orderly German variety, can't queue). D and I ended up going through the crew turnstyle. The German bean counter nearly had a meltdown. Welcome "home", I thought.

Shopping and the big red balloon

It happened to be market day in Rostock, so we bought cheese and bread and fruit for lunch and strolled the main shopping district. If we hadn't been living here for the past two years, we would have marvelled at the quaintness of it, but Rostock's market is like any other market in any other town. We did, however, get to get our shop on at the T.J. Maxx buying a winter coat for C and some fill-in clothes for D. See, upon leaving Dover, D and I had a misunderstanding. I had packed for the boys and I had packed for myself. I packed for our weekend in Dover separately. I thought I had explained perfectly well that the dirty clothes from Dover were spending the cruise in the car. D missed the memo, and by our halfway point he was running out of clothes, even though I had already done laundry once. The rest of us could get home without doing more wash, so I couldn't help but laugh when I found him in the men's department with a shopping basket full of underwear, socks, and t shirts. I guess he didn't want to do laundry either.

the shipyard

The best thing about Warnemunde is that it made me feel better about my limited German language skills. Most of the time, here, when I try to speak German, the locals look at me like I have horns growing out of my head. In Rostock, however, every market vendor, barrista, and store clerk understood me. I'm not sure whether the difference is dialect or if in a tourist area the locals are more willing to roll with an outsider's slight mispronounciations and figure things out. Probably a little of both.

It's not a bad thing, to stay on the boat when every one else goes exploring. There were no character meet-and-greets in port, but there were still activities, demonstrations, movies, and other fun to be had. As we left Warnemunde that evening the boat --the Disney Magic-- sailed right past the shipyard where she was built. As a side note, Disney's newest cruise liner, the Disney Dream, is being built in another German shipyard, in Papenburg, about 3hours from us. It's due to leave dry-dock this weekend and then float out to sea in the next couple of weeks.

Tallinn, Estonia

Of the 7 ports of call, Tallinn was the one I was most excited about. The thought of going to St. Petersburg was cool, but going to Estonia sounded downright exotic. I mean Estonia of "Estonia-Latvia-and-Lithuania" fame, one of the big three Baltic rebels that told the USSR to stuff it. We've seen a lot of Europe, but I couldn't shake the feeling that somehow going to Estonia would make us world travelers in a way that going to Italy, Austria, or even Poland just couldn't.

Except...
No one ever told me and I never bothered to learn that Estonia spent much of her life under German rule, was established by Germanic peoples, and looks and feels a lot like any other German city. I kid you not, if you blindfolded me and plopped me in the middle of Tallinn's historic district, I could have been in Heidelberg, Rothenburg, Monschau, or any other historic German city.

Sweater Wall -- stall after stall of knitted items

We took B with us into Tallinn so we wandered the historic district, followed along with a walking tour, climbed some old ruins, drank some good beer, and ducked into a local church or two, one of which was the picturesque Russian church, which apparently the Estonians hate, but keep around as a political and cultural peace offering to the Russian minority that still calls Estonia home. Before heading back to the boat, we detoured to an Estonian grocery store to buy diapers. I had brought plenty, I thought. But B spent a lot more time in the nursery than we anticipated and I think they changed the kids hourly, whether they needed it or not, and I was running low. Diapers on board cost a whopping $1.50 a piece. I'm happy to report that Estonian pampers are just like the German ones. As we re-boarded the ship each day we had to pass through metal detectors and have our bags x-rayed. I caused the crew members manning the machines to chuckle as I sent my mega-pack of 100 Pampers through to be scanned. (It was the smallest bunch they had in B's size) -- Good Times!

View to the port from the ramparts

Tallinn's New Town

The Russians are coming; the Russians are coming!

2010-10-26T21:38:00.003+02:00

still cruise blogging.... next up,
ST PETERSBURG

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

I'm just about convinced that cruising is the best way to see the Baltic/North Sea/ Scandinavia. There are downsides, mainly that it's crowded. You can only cruise in Summer and that's when everyone else, crusiers or no, head north. But the upsides are worth considering.

It's expensive, with a big 'ol "E", to travel in Northern Europe. It's expensive to sleep and it's expensive to eat, let alone expensive to do things. (Dinner for two, no wine, at a moderate eatery --easily 100 Euro). Book the right cruise and cruising can be a good value as you eat and sleep on the boat. Cruising is also the most hassle free way to see a little snippett of Russia. Russia requires US citizens to obtain a visa, an expensive and sometimes a lengthy process. I know people who have done it, but it does require planning and leg work. If you travel last minute, like we so often do, both of those things can be difficult. If you cruise into Russia, you do not need a Visa. The only catch is you *must* disembark with an organized and prearranged excursion/tour.

When we booked our St Petersburg excursions online, we simultaneously tried to book B into the Nursery, to no avail. Our philosophy on Europe with little ones is this: It's not that we don't do things b/c of the kiddos, but we almost always do things a little differently with the wee set than we would on our own. We don't plan more than one event each morning and one event each afternoon. We respect lunchtime, pack oodles of snacks, and make sure there is a stroller available come afternoon nap time. So, that was the plan. We scheduled museums in the AM (when B's at his best), walking tours in the afternoon when we hoped he'd crash in his stroller, and D quickly volunteered to stay on board with the boys while I went to the ballet. But, a sprinkling of pixie dust later, turns out the nursery had space for him on our St Petersburg days after all. SCORE! (Though D still begged off the ballet, so the kids wouldn't be up past their bed times. Took one for the team, he did.)

First up was an afternoon walking tour full of churches, palaces, Russian history, and BRIDES -- lots and lots of brides. Because St. Petersburg is such a beautiful city, it's a popular destination wedding spot for Russian couples. Marriage in Russia is still largely a state thing and sprinkled all over the city are wedding halls that seem to function kind of like wedding chapels in Vegas with ceremonies scheduled every 15 minutes in high season. Apparently summer is high season. During our three hour walking tour we saw 25 brides and grooms posing for pictures in local parks. (One of the teenage girls on our tour was keeping track).

St Petersburg is a beautiful beautiful city, but other than an onion-domed church here and there and the magnificent Church of the Spilled Blood , it doesn't really look "Russian". Peter the Great built St Petersburg, from scratch, out of the marshlands in the 1700s, so it's not a very old city. Peter was a well-educated, well-traveled man, who loved Amsterdam. Lo and behold, St. Petersburg looks a lot like Amsterdam, more ornate, but with the same general character.

Winter Palace

Every excursion we went on began with a guided bus ride narrating the sights we passed. Curiously, not a single guide pointed out any revolution/communist era sights. They gave us current information concerning demographics and daily life in St. Petersburg, but no 20th century history --at all. We drove past Lenin's command post, churches used to store/hide huge repositories of art and other valuables during WW2 when it was clear St. Petersburg would come under siege, and old KGB headquarters, yet the guides said nothing. When asked directly about life in soviet-era Russia, the guides quickly brought discussion back around to Peter and Catherine's eighteenth century heyday. Disney offers lectures before each port of call, providing guests with historical overviews. I didn't attend any of the lectures --too much other stuff to do. But, fortuitously, the guy who gave the lectures happened to be on our tour, and he filled us in as we drove past. I'm sure many Russians simply don't know very much(having never been taught) about Russia's embattled past. Really, what society --anywhere-- wants to highlight again and again the darkest days of their history. It's not so much that the guides denied Russia's bleak years, they simply had no interest in discussing it. I would leave it at that.......

Except.....

St Isaacs Cathedral

All of our guides spoke excellent English and all were university educated. Two of them were teachers who picked up tours in the busiest tourist months for extra income. All were significantly younger than D and I (10 years, give or take).

Hmmm??????

I was 10 when the Cold War started thawing. I was 15 when the Soviet Union collapsed and 20 when the former Soviet republics first competed under their own flags in the Olympic games. That means our guides were babies, preschoolers and tweens and have spent much of their lives in an, presumably, increasingly "free" Russia. Consider too that one of the guides explained to us that just like America, Russia is a large country divided into states because smaller states are easier to control. Yep, control was her word. Maybe she meant govern and the word choice got lost in translation? Maybe she's only had a brief primer on American government and legitimately believes that improving administrative logistics is the main impetus behind statehood? I realize it could take more than a single generation to undo years of entrenched thought and maybe today's Russian tweens (the ones who will be tour guides 15 years from now) have a markedly different perspective, but I thought the statement telling nonetheless.

Back to touring....

Summer Palace

The next morning, we boarded buses and rode about an hour outside of St Petersburg to Catherine the Great's summer palace. Palatial is indeed the right word. Stunning. We saw the outside of the Winter Palace during our walking tour but didn't go inside. We chose to tour the inside of the summer palace because of the Amber Room-- an entire room with floor to ceiling Baltic Amber siding. The current room has been recreated. During the war the palace was occupied, bombed, and burnt and the siding was not removed for safekeeping. Presumably there's some Nazi treasure chest somewhere stuffed to the brim with Catherine's amber.

Ballroom -- look at all the people!

As we drove to the outskirts of the city, we learned that 95% of St Petersburg's residents live in apartments and that real estate is expensive, Southern California kind of expensive. What was not clear is whether there are any subsidized paths to home ownership or whether most Russians in the city rent because that's the affordable way to do it, which of course begs the question: who exactly owns all the property--corporations, businesses, government or the Russian nouveau riche?

It happened to be Naval Day in St Petersburg the morning we went to the palace, so our bus ride back to the boat took close to three hours. We had to wait for parading sailors, cheering crowds, and booming canon as St Petersburg put her naval might on display. As an outsider how do you see such a display and not call to mind news footage of May Day parades and tanks rolling through Red Square? Just another instance how St Petersburg, as an example of both historical and modern Russia, leaves me scratching my head. I can't shake the feeling that it's a city stuck at a crossroads, a city that wants to be progressive but just isn't sure how. Other than our guides we didn't get to interact with any "real" Russians. We didn't get shoot vodka with a local or breathe any local air, so there's much I didn't get to experience. Even the performance of Swan Lake I attended was scripted for cruise passengers. Don't get me wrong, it was an AWESOME performance, by a respected Russian ballet company in the oldest theatre in town, but there wasn't a Russian in sight -- by necessary design, I imagine. After all, what do so many tourists, me included, want to do in Russia? What do they view as the quintessential Russian experience, if not attending the ballet? It makes sense, then, that the ballet company would simply contract with the cruise lines to fill the theatre with ballet-seeking passengers. All in all, St Petersburg was my favorite port city of the cruise, so definitely go if life ever hands you the chance.

Scandinavian Cities

2010-10-25T13:07:00.002+02:00

view of Oslo harbor from our porthole

Our dash through Northern Europe in August was dubbed a "Capitals" cruise with ports of call at all three Scandinavian Capitals. It's now two months later and my take on Oslo, Copenhagen, and Stockholm still holds: I'm glad I visited, but if I'd gone through the hassle and expense to connect the three on my own without the cruise experience thrown in, and if those cities were all I saw of the region, I'd have been disappointed. Some of that stems from what I fear is metropolis fatigue. We've crammed alot in over the last 2 years and sometimes one European city really does blend into the next. Now that I've seen the cities, I'm pretty sure Scandinavia's treasures lie in getting out and enjoying the natural beauty--cruising the Fjords in Norway or the Archipelego's in Sweden (two things I would definitely go back to do).

OSLO
Oslo was my favorite of the three cities. We walked from the cruise terminal to the main railway station (the beginning of Rick Steve's walking tour). We followed Steve's path ducking into churches and pausing in front of monuments to read more about Norwegian history. We eyed the cafe famous Norwegian playwrite Henrik Ibsen frequented and meandered a sculpture garden dedicated to the works of Gustav Vigeland. His most famous work might very well be the screaming baby. Legend has it he gave his model candy, and then quickly took it away to encourage toddler rage. Yep, I'd say he got it about right.

Then we popped into the National Art Gallery to see their Munch collection. Next, we grabbed a ferry across the bay and toured the Viking Ship Museum, with two remarkably well-preserved, Leif Ericsson era Viking ships. The ships were likely grave ships, burial sites set adrift in the sea and were rather neat to see up close. After a quick and expensive lunch (25 USD for a reindeer burger and baked potato), we hit the open-air Norsk folk museum which houses a 12th century Stave Church, the most architecturally unique church I think I've ever seen, but apparently a style common in old Norway. Also, lots and lots of sod houses. The museum has recreated Norwegian village life through the centuries by trucking in restored buildings from elsewhere in Norway and is a great way to get an overview of everyday life in Norway from the middle ages all the way up to present times.

I liked Oslo, and while expensive, the Oslo Pass provides a good value including all public transport and museum entrance fees. The city is relatively compact so with only one day to sightsee we could cram alot in. Not so much with our next stop and least favorite port of the entire cruise (not simply my least favorite of the Scandinavian big three): Copenhagen

Copenhagen = urban sprawl and sprawl and sprawl. We used public transit in most of the ports and the Copenhagen system was by far the least user-friendly. Supposedly you can rent public bikes, picking them up and dropping them off at various points around the city. Um, yeah. There were never any working bikes available. BUT we did see numerous blue Copa-bikes chained with private bikes in bike racks. The public bikes have a unique design and cannot be serviced using regular bike parts, which was supposed to keep people from pedalling off with them. However, that doesn't take into account how to keep people from monopolizing them until they break. So, yeah, getting around was a bit difficult.

the Little Mermaid site

View from our table at lunch

The port is right next to the Little Mermaid's home; however, the famous princess of the deep is currently on loan to Shangahi. In her place, they have erected a screen, playing a live video stream from Shanghai, a system which really had the potential to be cool. BUT, the technology stunk and you saw nothing more than a vague, grainy blob, sigh.

Christiana

In between a walking tour of the historical highlights, the most prominent of which was Rosenborg Castle, we did have a lovely traditionally Danish lunch at a local eatery and fun stop into the Ice Bar, so all was not lost. We also wandered Christiana -- probably the world's most well known commune and Copenhagen's second most popular tourist destination. Originally Christiana grew up on the grounds of an abandoned military facility. Homes are ramshackle, without running water or electricity... and there's a waiting list to move in. New residents are voted on by the populace and they are, for the most part, a self-sufficient community, living "free" (complete with the smell of burnt tea bags permeating the air and an awful lot of brownies for sale). As you leave Christiana there's a sign over your head reminding you that "You are now entering the EU", which pretty much sums up the attitude of Christiana residents to the Danish government.

traditional lunch -- lots of pickled items

I kind of wanted to pop into Tivoli Gardens -- the Danish amusement park that inspired Walt Disney as he created Disney World but we didn't make it to that side of town until late in the afternoon and feared we wouldn't make it back to the boat on time if we lingered too long -- not a good thing, considering both kiddos were on board that day. My gut thinks they would have waited for us. Otherwise they would have had to take charge of the munchkins. But, they did not wait for everyone. We ran into someone in Stockholm (last stop) who had missed the boat in Tallinn (next to last stop) and made his own way to Stockholm in order to catch up.

Speaking of Stockholm.....

Stockholm was fun. Disney Cruise Line provided transportation from the port to a centralized drop off station, but we walked to the local bus stop and made our own way into town.We started the morning at the Vasa Museum: In 1625 King Gustav commissioned a warship to be built. The ship was poorly designed, too top heavy, and sunk within 15 minutes of sailing. In the1960s the ship was found, completely in tact, off the coast of Sweden and forms the entirety of the Vasa Museum. It's a good thing we made it our first stop, because by the time we left 90 minutes later, the tour buses had arrived and the admission lines were huge.

After the VASA, we meandered the old town with our handy Rick Steves walking tour and then back to the boat for an early afternoon boarding time. We only had a short day in Stockholm and although there was more to see, I don't feel the need to go back just to see it. As we cruised out of Stockholm to begin making our way back to Dover, we cruised through the island chain known as the Archipelagos. The scenery was stunning, and I would definitely go back to spend a few days island hopping, especially if we weren't still taking a stroller with us everywhere we go.

Travelling in Scandinavia and the Baltic states, especially moving quickly as we were, is more cumbersome than travelling in other parts of Europe, simply because each country uses its own currency. We had to change Swedish Krone, Norwegian Krone, and Danish Krone, as well as Russian Rubels, Estonian Kroon and British Pounds. We obviously had plenty of Euro in Germany, and we could have easily used Euro in Estonia because as of January 2011 Estonia is changing to the Euro. Disney Cruise Line offers a helpful service in that they will change money on board for you and then let you turn in any unused currency at the same rate you bought it. Their exchange rates weren't the best, but you weren't paying fees or losing money both directions. However, they only offered the service to and from US Dollars, and I think we only had 30 USD on hand between us. So yep, we kept changing that same 30 dollars all week long and then hit an ATM as soon as we found one in each port. It wasn't all bad, however. I ended up with amber earrings from St Petersburg, a limestone mortar and pestle from Estonia, and yummy snacks from the Stockholm market just 'cause we had money left to burn.


In Stockholm our bus had to pull over to let the marching band through. Happens in Germany all the time.

a great market in Stockholm

Dover: Second Chances

2010-10-23T15:36:00.001+02:00

Our summer cruise through the Baltic Sea, departed from Dover, England, so although we didn't board the boat until Sunday we headed to the UK on Friday afternoon in order to spend Saturday in Canterbury, correcting an oversight my teenage self made nearly 20 years ago.

We took the ferry across the Channel from Dunkirk, way way way cheaper than the Channel Tunnel and this way, D didn't have to drive and the boys could frolic on the ferry rather than being cooped up in the car. Including the crossing (but not the time change), the trip took about 6.5 hours. C was convinced for the first half of the ferry ride that he was on "Mickey's Boat" and he was distressed that Mickey himself was nowhere to be found. [just imagine how much more impressive Mickey's actual boat was for him when we pulled up to the port Sunday afternoon.]

We spent Friday and Saturday night in a Holiday Inn in Ashford, about halfway between Dover and Cantebury. During cruise/summer sea season, hotel rooms in Dover itself are as scarce as they are pricey, so either book way ahead or be prepared to sleep in the surrounding towns.

Saturday we headed to the Medieval mecca of Canterbury. I spent several hours in Canterbury in 1991 as a quick side trip between Calais and London with a tour group of high school students. We didn't get to tour the Cathedral because it was closed for an event, and I made the mistake of not buying a copy of Cantebury Tales, even though the thought crossed my mind. Fast forward a few years: I declared myself an English major in an undergraduate English department heavy in Medieval, Rennaisance, and British Literature classes. Canterbury Tales ended up on a class reading list at least three or four times. Each semester I studied it, I wished I had bought a copy while I was in Cantebury--not necessarily a leather-bound, fancy copy. Heck it could have been the same Penguin translated copy in the campus book store, I simply wanted a copy that came from Canterbury.

BUT, unless you're a serious British history student or have enough time in your London itinerary to make Canterbury a day-trip, it's not really a destination of itself. I doubted we'd get back. While the other members of the family might have preferred spending Saturday exploring Dover or climbing castles, I invoked mama's privilege and they never seriously got a vote. We were doing Canterbury on Saturday and they could like it or not.

I quickly ducked into the Cathedral while D and the boys walked the street; then I found a bookstore to buy my copy of the Tales, then we picknicked and walked the old wall that surrounds the city learning more about Medieval Canterbury's history before heading back to the hotel to let B grab a nap.

That evening we journeyed to the seaside resort town of Folkestone. Folkestone's heyday was during Victorian times but in recent decades the town has revitalized its sea front and restored a few of the old hotels. It's easy to stand on the sea wall, close your eyes, and imagine the promenade filled with hoop skirts and parasols as the turn-of-the-century elite took the air and spent the evenings strolling the garden paths to see and be seen.

The next morning we lazily made our way to the port, stopping to pick up a few things we had forgotten and took these pictures of the famous White Cliffs of Dover and the Dover Castle from the boat while we frolicked on deck. The plan was to hit Dover Castle the morning we arrived back in port before heading home to Germany, but both kiddos were worn out from two weeks of playing hard, and turns out B was fighting the sniffles, so rather than kill the close to two hours before the Castle opened, we skipped it and got an earlier ferry back across the Channel. The Castle looked grand. All summer they have special performances and festivals on the grounds. The day we were to go, they were performing Shakespeare's Tempest on the grounds followed by evening fireworks. Would have loved to have hung around for it. Maybe we will............ 20 years from now, on Dover's third go 'round.

Tales from the Baltic...

2010-08-09T20:08:00.001+02:00

So, a mouse walked onto a cruise boat...

Disney branched out into the cruise industry a little over a decade ago. Now, they're just getting ready to bring their 3rd boat online, the 4th is in the shipyard, and they've added Mexican riviera and Alaskan cruises to their Carribean and European offerings. Thanks to a fantastic military discount, the family Mc just spent 12 nights cruising Northen Europe with Mickey and his pals and all I can say is WOW!

Each port of call will get a blog entry, eventually (there were 6 -- Oslo, Copenhagen, Warnemunde, St Petersburg, Tallin, Stockholm, plus Dover where we began and ended) but the boat itself was the truly fabulous part of the vacation.

We had never cruised before and while we far prefer to do our own things while in port (instead of buying excursions and following guides), the experience on board was right up our alley, and yep, it is typically Disneyfied. Whatever kool-aid they drink in Orlando that enables costume-clad cast members to be chipper and cheerful while selling ice cream to sniveling kids in 100+ degrees of Florida heat and humidity, they drink it on the boat too. No one was ever less than helpful or less than happy. At the buffet restaurants I never had to balance a tray while corralling a youngster; a crew member magically appeared at my side to do one or the other. I never had to wiggle the stroller out the door as I propped it open with my hip; the guy sanding the deck, painting the porthole or polishing the elevator doors stopped what he was doing to hold the door for me. I never had to change my schedule to work around housekeeping and my room was cleaned twice a day. I never had to ask for extra towells or clean crib sheets or diaper genie refills (heck I didn't even have to ask for the Diaper Genie). Changing stations were stocked with diapers and wipes, so I didn't have to fret that I left the diaper bag in our cabin. The restrooms were never out of soap, towells, or paper. Special ordering from the menu was never questioned. Coffee was always waiting. Room service orders always correct and the front desk always helpful.

In short, consistent 5 star treatment from every crew member, for every guest on board, even the temper-tantrum-throwing, mess-making guests (especially those guests)

The boat had a lot to offer adult guests: Bingo; beer, whiskey, and wine tastings; art auctions, shopping briefings; historical lectures; piano playing lounge singers; towell folding, animation, and dance lessons; spinning yoga and stretching classes, plus any for-purchase spa service you can imagine. I've already decided once D retires Dr. Mc is gonna get the gig giving the historical lectures for each port of call. The boat also had a lot to offer tweens and teenagers including age-appropriate, out of the way hang-out spaces (although no rock wall).

BUT... for the elementary/preschool/toddler set, I don't think any other cruise line can top it. I know from my own research that Disney is the only major cruise line to offer anything for children under three who aren't potty trained. They call it Flounder's Reef nursery and,yes, you do pay extra for it (6 USD per hour) but the counselors are fabulous, and they're consistent so your child gets to know them over the course of the cruise. The play space is incredibly fun. Characters visit. They even managed to get my child to nap for them. B spent a lot of time at the nursery and the night before we disembarked they delivered him a scrapbook full of pictures they had taken of him and crafts he had made, even a handprint. (Our table mates had a nine month old and they too were way-impressed).

For C, he spent his days (and his nights, or any waking moment we'd let him) in either "the lab" or "the club" --spaces specifically designed for 4-10 year olds. The club is more playground, game, open space centered. The lab has more organized activities or stations that kids can set themselves up at (lego station, art station, computer station, etc). Upon boarding C was given a armband, we were given a pager. When we checked him into the club/lab they scanned his armband. If he was ready to leave or if they needed us, they paged us. The kids can move back and forth between the two spaces simply by asking a counselor to take them. (Parents can grant older kids the right to check themselves in and out and kids younger than 4 can visit too as long as a parent stays with them). If your kid is there during meal time, they feed him. If your kid wants to rest, he stretches out on a bean bag. They keep a counselor stationed outside the bathroom door to make sure each exiting child has washed his/her hands. At the chek-in desk, the put a squirt of soap in each arriving kid's hand and send them immediately to the bathroom to wash up. Characters visit here too and the counselors engage with or leave the kid alone to whatever extent the kid needs. No child plays by himself if he doesn't want too. A shy child wants to play Jenga, there's a counselor. A techno-loving 5 year old (ahem, C) really wants to play the lego Star Wars game on the computer but doesn't know how, there's a counselor. A child only speaks German, there's a counselor. (The crew is remarkably international. Two of the club counselors were from German speaking countries. We ratted C out and told them to get C to play with the German kid 'cause he could understand him). Mornings in port the kid spaces openened early so that shore-going adults could get a jump start. Mornings at sea they didn't open till 9AM and C was always chomping at the bit to get there.

C'll tell you he went to Norway and Sweden and Russia, but truth is, he never left the boat. Every day we'd tell him what we were gonna do and ask him if he wanted to come, but he never did. In his defense, however, he's already seen a gazillion castles, gone on a gazillion boat rides, rode a gamillion trains, but..... the Oceaneer Club and the Oceaneer Lab, Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto, that's not something he gets to see and do everyday. Some of the other moms and dads on board thought we were depriving him of the chance of a lifetime by leaving him on the boat, but as I told them: we've drug this child around Europe for the past 18 months, we will drag him around for the next 18 months, so why force the issue. If he never gets back to Scandinavia, then so be it. (And at least he has green-screened images of him in all the Scandinavian capitals from when if was 5 :)

In addition to the Club and the Lab, they had movies. C saw UP and Oceans. He saw Toy Story 3 twice (once with mom and once with dad). D and I each saw the Sorceror's Apprentice (which has a great homage to Fantasia, btw). They had broadway-like live action performaces every evening and a slew of on deck activities -- sail away parties, beach parties, pirate parties. They had designated character meet and picture times, character breakfasts, and plenty of characters just roaming the ship. Let's see if I can remember them all. We met: Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Goofy, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Mr. Snee, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Suzy (one of the mice in Cinderella), Belle, Beast, Tiara, Snow White, Dopey, Alice in Wonderland, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, Chip, Dale, Lilo, Stitch, Jesse, Woody, Captain Jack Sparrow. And we met various incarnations of some of the characters. For example, we saw formal Minnie, princess Minnie, Bavarian Minnie, pirate Minnie, Nautical Minnie, and the list goes on and on.

The best part.... the lines for the characters are a fraction of the lines at the theme parks. When we took C to WDW this winter he didn't get to meet any characters or get their autographs b/c time was short and lines were long. On the boat he didn't have to choose between riding Big Thunder Mountain and meeting Goofy. And the same crew members evidently donned the same costumes day after day because Minnie (B's favorite) quickly learned he loved to play peek-a-boo. And Goofy remembered B was partial to chatting on the floor . C wore a Peter Pan style hat most of the trip but on the days he left it in the cabin, the characters would pat his head as if to ask, "where's your hat"? The handlers and the photographers quickly learned and remembered names, making it a little easier to not only keep the character queue moving, but get distracted kids to smile at the camera.

Cruises are synonymous with plentiful food, and the food was incredible with lots of variety. Each evening you and your tablemates as well as your servers were assigned to one of the three main dining areas: Lumieres, Parrot Cay, or Animators Palate. Your servers stayed the same throughout the cruise and moved with you has you moved through the three restaurants. Each evening's menu was different with a selection of appetizers, soups, salads, main courses, and desserts that you could combine in whatever way you wished. The kids could order off the kids menu or off the adults menu or I could pick out ingredients of the meals and ask for that (sweet potatoes from the beef plate, bowtie noodles, plain, from the pasta plate, watermelon from the fruit bowl, a banana for good measure). And, on the evenings that you didn't feel like being social, getting dressed, or eating at your assigned time, you could always go to the buffet restaurant on the top deck and help yourself to many of the same items on the evening's menu. At lunch time the same buffet was themed -- tex mex, British favourites, seafood, etc. Breakfast was also buffet with all your standard breakfast offerings (American, British, and European style breakfasts) or a table service brunch. Somehow I managed to not gain any weight --maybe it was the no-sugar-added desserts (which were the best I've ever had, btw)

In addition to the main dining there was a fast-food snack bar with just average pizza, nuggets and burgers. The "healthy" snack bar was somewhat better with salads and deli sandwiches. But there was always self-serve pieces of fruit, cookies, and ice cream to be had as well as a 24hr drink station with milk, coffee, water, tea, and sodas. No juice in the self serve beverage station, but I simply got two extra juices each breakfast and stashed them in our cabin fridge. I did the same thing with milk cartons, so I didn't have to go from deck 5 to deck 9 every time a munchkin declared he wanted milk. Room service was available 24 hours a day and we frequently ordered room service breakfast so that D and I could get everyone fed, watered, and dropped off at their respective kid spaces in a timely manner.

We were cruise newbies and we loved it, and I'm pretty sure it's the little Disney touches that made it so special, things that I'm not sure other cruise lines do: napkin animals or origami toys for the kids each evening, elaborate towell animals and sleepy chocolates each evening and all sorts of TLC for the little ones, all over the boat. We're already planning our next cruise and might space-A home for a visit next spring simply so we can cruise back to Europe with the Mouse.

partied like a rock star

2010-08-08T11:21:00.002+02:00

After a big weekend of sleepovers and birthday parties, he passed out on the way home. It's hard work being 5. Baby brother was tucked up next to him, awake, with the most patient, enduring look on his face. As if to say, "being slept on by big brother who outweighs me by at least 30 pounds is just part of the gig." Sometimes it's hard work being 2, too. (And it's hard work being thirty-something, 'cause one of us had to pull the two of them).

Dusseldorf

2010-07-13T08:05:00.001+02:00

Summer weekends: I try not to waste them sputtering around the house or at Schinnen, simply becuase there are some many cold/dreary days coming I feel some sort of pressure to make the most of the nice ones. Last weekend I was itching for an outing, but none of us had it in us for a long day. Enter: Dusseldorf. About 45 minutes by car, a smidge longer, but easy by train.

We had been down to Dusseldorf one evening the first March we we here and were less than impressed. It was cold. It was Friday evening and on Friday evening old town turns into quite the bar/club scene with throngs of people and their typical European crowd-navigation technique, plus pushy maiter d's accosting you every 5 feet to come eat in their establishment. We just weren't feeling it. Despite an excellent Dim Sum rest. we've heard about in the area, have never been back.

Like so many other European cities, Dusseldorf is simply not stroller friendly, but Sunday, all we wanted to do was be outside in the gorgeous weather, to walk, and to wander. Gorgeous weather meant outside cafes or an impromptu picnic, so we knew we wouldn't have to gear up to handle a super-cramped German eatery with the kiddos, AND there's a Dunkin Donuts in Dusseldorf, so off we went: to window shop while I drank coffee and the boys smeared donut goodness all over the stroller. We even took the JOOVY stroller so we knew C could sit and play his video game and himself have a relaxing afternoon.

We strolled the KO. Because I grew up in the land of the beautiful people, instead of gawking at the excess of it or wondering who in the world buys this stuff, I loved the familiar feel of it (not that I've seen a lot of fur displays in my time). We encountered not one, but three Dunkin Donuts with fabulous iced coffee, half price stale donuts for the boys, and a friendly cashier who figured out right off the bat we weren't his typical English-speaking tourists. "You came to Dusseldorf for the coffee?" I've done stranger things, I assured him. (For example: I've gone to Poland just to buy some coffee cups and next week I'm going to Canterbury for a book, but that's another story)

Speaking of books.... there was also a book fair going on. The riverfront street in the Old Town had been converted into a bibliophile's paradise. AND, b/c we're in Germany I only had to look for the boxes marked English Literatur. Didn't find any treasures to bring home, but had a great time looking. Who wouldn't want an East German cookbook? I love it when I happen upon cultural interpolations of the cold war era, artifacts that demonstrate a reunified Germany's struggle with its historical past, but really, I'm not sure (other than tourists?) who the intended audience might be for a DDR cookbook. I know American culture takes political correctness to an extreme, and although it's not quite the same, could you imagine walking into your local Barnes and Noble, perusing the bargain bin and finding an Apartheid cookbook, or a Jim Crow cookbook or a Triple K cookbook? Like anywhere else, each region of Germany has regionally specific cuisine, but to label said cuisine as DDR cooking seems like an interesting marketing choice.

Old Town itself has some lovely restored seventeenth-century townhomes and a couple of brewpubs serving a local brew and a ceramics museum I might go down and check out one wintry day. All in all it was a pleasant diversion. Don't come to Germany to go to Dusseldorf. If you're short on time don't even schedule an overnight here. If you're having visitors take them to Maastricht or Monschau or Aachen or Satzvey first, but don't discount Dusseldorf alltogether.

World Cup

2010-07-11T14:59:00.023+02:00

Last Night Germany beat Uruguay to claim third place. Tonight, the Netherlands takes on Spain. Despite the fact that even at the tournament's outset many predicted it was Spain's year, despite a local Octopus with a flawless record picking Spain to win (yes, you read that right, an honest-to-goodness Octopus--only in Germany), we will be rooting for the Netherlands.

We love the Netherlands. We love the Dutch people - they're generous and crazy and zany and traditional all rolled up in one. Most of our favorite local hangouts are on the Dutch side, some of our favorite day trips are further into the Netherlands. We want this one for them.

Yet, we also wanted it for Germany. For the quarterfinal game last week, we dressed up in yellow, red, and black, grabbed our German flags and headed to the Heinsberg main square to watch the game on the jumbotron. We stood in the back to keep the kids out of the craziest of the mayhem. By and large the crowd was well-behaved and when they noticed we had little ones did their best not to dance over them or spill beer on them. EXCEPT..... by the time the game ended, Germany was up 4-0. With each goal the crowd got larger. With each goal the crowd got rowdier. Everytime Germany scored a goal, the crowd celebrated by instantly tossing whatever beer/beverage they had in their hands into the air. In the beginning of the game, no problem, but remember how I said with each goal the crowd got larger, the crowd got rowdier ....yeah. We had to put C in the stroller under the canopy to keep him from freaking out from the spontaneous and seemingly random "rain."

After the game we stopped at the closest ice cream shop and watched the celebrating as an impromptu parade of decked-out fans and decorated cars erupted down main street. I just can NOT imagine what viewing parties in Aachen or Koln or larger cities must've been like, and I think, even though we love the Dutch, that we'll make it a point to stay home today.

bloggy back up

2010-07-10T21:50:00.002+02:00

The PICS are up (3 years late, but whatever)
the theme today in my house might very well be procrastination. Actually, it not truly procrastination, just that it's too blasted hot to do anything other than sit in front of the fan. The kiddos won't let me focus enough to sit and read, so this was the next best thing......

If you've ever glanced at the blog archives on the right column, you'll notice it goes all the way back to 2007. But wait, we didn't move over here until the Fall of 2008?

In the summer of 2007 as a graduation present to yours truly, D cashed in 3 weeks of leave, we deposited C with the grands, and armed with nothing more than a backpack each, German rail passes, a guidebook and a cell phone as an emergency contact number, we hopped a flight to the continent.

The blog was born because we didn't have a cost effective way to check in with grandma on a regular basis and because I wanted someway to preserve our immediate memories. Although we hoped we'd get stationed over here,eventually--you never can tell with bees--and who knew when/if we'd ever get back. At the time I was teaching an on-line class, so we had to find a computer cafe every other day for me to check in with my students, so it's not like it took that much extra energy to also blip a note to the blog to keep everyone back home up to date. HOWEVER, I had no easy way to add in pictures. BUT, I do now, so this afternoon I did . . . finally (btw, in the pic leading off this post D and I are in the Prague Royal Gardens and it is the *only* pic of the two of us together)

Hard to believe now, after doing Europe with two kids in tow, that we traipsed around sans reservations (sans any real plans, for that matter). The thought : we'd leave home, fly into Germany and then head to Berlin, Prague and Vienna. The reality: we flew to England, via Spain, spent a week in East Anglia visiting Mildenhall, Ely, and Cambridge, plus a day in London. Then onto Berlin and Prague before we headed back to Germany to fly home.We spent 5 days in transit back and forth over the ocean waiting on flights, but since the price was right and the leave plentiful, we didn't mind waiting. We've seen a lot of Europe since we've been here, but still Prague and Berlin are two of my favs. (Mildenhall too was fortuitous 'cause there's a lot to love about East Anglia, but it's not like anyone ever plans a trip there).

We tell ourselves, now, when we begin to fret that we won't have time enough to do it all while we're here, that before we blink the kids'll be in college, D'll be "retired" and we can space-A at will. Heck maybe we'll even be lucky enough to score a 2nd European assignment before then and this blog'll turn into the travel blog that never dies. Who knows?

birthday boy

2010-06-28T11:24:00.029+02:00

ZERO, ONE, TWO!

as far as stat's go: he's now 28 pounds and 34 inches, puts him about in the middle of all other two year olds for height and weight. If you do the ol', double his height at two thing to predict is adult height, then that means he'll top out at 5'8.

He's got the temperament of a stereotypical two year old: from 0 to royally ticked off in just under 2 seconds. He must do everything himself, except for when he doesn't want to. He knows how to look sheepish when he's supposed to and how to laugh on cue at big brother's antics. Playdoh, paint, and cars are his favorite pastimes. Blues Clues and Diego are his favorite videos.

He never stops talking, does a running commentary of his daily activities. Last week when I went in to get him after his nap, he stopped fussing the instant I walked in the door, put this great big smile on his face and said to me, "I crying mama". Really kid, I didn't know. Something tells me he's already figured out how to work the system.

He's a sweet boy, but definitely mischievous. Fortunately, big brother is a rule follower, so hopefully this time next year, when B finds C and tells him he thinks it would be fun to put all the LEGOS down the toilet, C will have the presence of mind to tell him to think again. Here's hoping!

Brussels

2010-06-20T17:00:00.010+02:00

I call this series: Baby in Brussels.

It was going to be "boys in Brussels", but big brother got a better offer, so B got some simulated only-child time. The buildings in the background are Brussel's Grand Place, which really might be the most impressive square we've seen in Europe, to date. For a better picture and some brief history of the square go here or here. It's a large enough square that B got to get out of the stroller and tromp around while D and I took turns chasing him and reading about the square's history.

this one was back in the car and he's holding a pilfered Mango Ice cream cone -- which was mama's, but he had to hold it so that I could carry him down the stairs into the parking garage and I never got it back. (after I had already bought him and he had already eaten a gooey, sticky belgian waffle, btw)

including this pic of the famous Manneken Pis, b/c I promise in the not too distant future it'll be my baby performing a similar action all over the squares and parks of Europe. Manneken Pis gets a new costume every once in a while. This weekend he was a Maltese Knight. Why? I'm not sure. If you're interested, here's his wardrobe schedule.

ETA: We found out by skimming the news headlines this AM, that we missed the naked bike ride that took place in Brussels yesterday. (If you google world naked bike ride, you'll get a --ahem-- colorful link with pics of actual rides that explains the activism behind such a ride). Another cultural difference, indeed. However, it was mighty chilly and rainy yesterday. Maybe the ride was rescheduled. Will have to check on that.

Resistance is Futile

2010-06-19T09:10:00.015+02:00

While I imagine the world cup is barely a blip on anyone's radar 'cross the sea. Here, it defines everyday life. Since we're so close to the Netherlands, not only do we witness German World Cup celebrations, but Dutch ones as well, especially since the Orangemen are tearing it up: undefeated and currently leading their group. This weekend marks the end of the preliminary rounds with both Netherlands and Germany poised to move on to the elimination round. (FWIW --USA will likely move on too, assuming they hold it together against Algiers after a rigged call earlier this week).

Anyway, on Thursday I picked up C from Kindergarten and found him playing Goalie on the Fussball field. Those German kids know what's up. They know it makes sense to put the kid in the net who is nearly taller than the kid-sized goal. Besides which, having not grown up breathing Fussball, Colin doesn't understand the intricacies of the game as much as his playground compatriots (Soccer is serious business, even at 5) but he does understand not to let the ball past him and that when he's in the goal, he's allowed to use his hands. Then, on Friday I arrived to find all the teachers dressed up in patriotic soccer garb and the kids marching, singing, and chanting in the gym, waving homemade German flags, with faces painted with German colors. Coincidentally, on Friday B was dressed in red and white striped shirt with navy blue pants, and even though the USA really isn't a factor on the world soccer scene, I can only imagine the local population assumes we are as Soccer crazed as they are and I wonder if they think I dressed Brandt as a flag in order to represent. Hmmmmm?

Mom's Morning Out

2010-06-16T16:35:00.000+02:00

D recently spent two weeks in Italy. I figure, if he gets two weeks of sunshine, I at least get a morning out. So, I hired a sitter and a friend and I set off to Tongeren, Belgium. Tongeren is the site of the oldest Roman ruins in Belgium, but its other claim to fame is that each Sunday its streets fill with Antique vendors. (If you're keeping track, Maastricht is the site of the oldest Roman ruins in the Netherlands and Trier the site of the oldest Roman ruins in Germany. IOW, the Roman empire was in full swing in these parts) I had been to Tongeren twice before, once when we were still so new here we didn't know which end was up and the second time with the munchkins in tow. On both occasions the weather was less than desirable and I remember coming home feeling like it just wasn't worth it.

This trip, however, was great fun. Not only did I make a purchase (an old sled I'm envisioning stacking with packages come Christmas time), but we quite unexpectedly happened upon Tongeren's Corpus Christi parade. Corpus Christi is a mostly Catholic holiday that celebrates the Eucharist. In this region of Germany it is a national holiday and most towns have somber parades celebrating the occassion. In the picture with the somewhat papal figure, he's reverently carrying a box, which I can only assume is the Eucharistic Host.

turns out Mickey has a boat

2010-06-15T19:53:00.001+02:00

and later in the summer, courtesy of a phenomenal military discount, we're gonna be on it, cruising the Baltic --Disney Style. Ports of call include Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Talinn and St. Petersburg. We've already booked excursions in St Petersburg, because without a Russian Visa (which we don't have the time to obtain) the only way to get off the boat is to go as part of an organized tour. One evening I am leaving the boys on the boat and going to the ballet to see Swan Lake --in Russia. How cool is that?!?.

When we were booking our Russian excursions, the reservations agent said to us: "Do think about going to Cinderella's Ball. I know it's expensive and a lot of people think it's silly, but when else are you going to get to go to a ball in a castle?"

Um.... really? been there, done that. Maybe they should rewrite their talking points?

beach, pool, little village; beach, pool, historic building; beach, pool ...

2010-05-26T21:39:00.003+02:00

heading home tomorrow and the title just about sums up our 10 days in the Algarve.

First things first, though: I love the tile facades common to the region. Maybe one day my house'll look as cool as this one from the outside.

This has been the most family friendly place we've ever been, so if you're looking for a sunny take-the-crew destination, put Algarve on your list. (but stay away in the peak season. It's busy now and this is the off season so I can't fathom what July and August are like).

Nowhere in Europe have the people been nicer (the locals or the other tourists). If the boys were teenagers I'd have given them bus fare and turned them loose, with only minimal fretting.

There's no language barrier whatsoever**, but we are the only Ameicans we encountered this week. We're clearly not British, so we were often asked where we were from. Then, we watched the less pushy of the small-talkers try to politely figure out why the American family from Florida flew all the way across the pond to go to the beach. (The more pushy didn't wonder -- they just asked what brought us Yanks to Algarve).

Before he asked their names or their ages, C asked every kid he met at the pool if they spoke English, getting odd looks from both the kids and the grownups, what do they speak in America, if not English? I imagine he's far more aware than any of his kiddie-pool counterparts that there are kids -- lots and lots of them, inf act-- that don't speak English. Hopefully they didn't think that he was implying that what they were speaking wasn't English. We won't even get into the chuckles he occassioned when he announced across the pool deck, "mommy, I have to go potty." in what is clearly American lexicon. We have free British satellite TV at the apartment and he's taken to apeing a British accent the last few days, so we'll see how long that lasts once we get home.

** However, even without a language barrier we have had a few "foreigner" moments. I managed to come home from the store with fabric softener rather than detergent and I sent D to the store to get diapers, instructing him to get a name brand. After all, in Germany they actually call diapers, Pampers. He came home with pullups, Huggies pullups, 'cause he didn't recognize any of the other brands. (Fortuitous discovery: the pullups are actually easier when travelling, 'especially for a mama who never quite mastered the art of the standing diaper change

We spent our entire 10 days in the 80 km stretch between Faro and Portimao, checking out the local beaches or wandering the local villages in the AM, heading back to the pool for the aftenoon, and sometimes venturing out for an evening meal and sometimes hitting the Mercador (grocery store) on the corner for self catering cooking.

If you go, our favorite activities....

Historic Faro: With little ones it was too much to tackle Faro the day we landed, and too much to think about doing it the day we left, but we did go back one AM and I'm super glad we did. The historic district is gorgeous --white washed buildings and palm trees a plenty. We climbed the 13th century Faro cathedral (all 68 steps of it, even C did it without complaining). And the boys frolicked on the small observation platform while we took in the gorgeous views of the coast and counted the planes landing at the airport. We also scored our best family portrait in Europe, to date: no one's eyes are closed, no one's screaming or squinting, everyone looks half-way decent. EXCEPT, some old British dude is in the corner, just like he was grandpa, tagging along. We'll either photoshop him out or pretend he actually belongs to us.

Silves: Plan to spend the entire AM, at least through lunch. In addition to excellent countryside views, pretty streets and riverside walks, there's an old Moorish castle there that all 3 of my boys loved to climb and explore. It's *not* a German-style castle, so there's no tour, no organized plan (not even a tour guide in English). But it's cheap, picturesque, with a pretty flower garden and a handy cafe inside, and filled with local lore. Given that I knew the context (we were in an old castle, after all) my undergraduate Spanish was able to get us the gist of the signs, which were all in Portuguese, but if you've ever been in an old fort before, you too would've gotten the gist regardless of your lnaguage skills. It's pretty obvious where the dungeons, kitchen's etc are.

Praha D.Roche (at Portimao) was our favorite beach. Lots of access points, pretty views and was enough beach at this time of year that you had lots of room to stretch out. One book we read said it is the most photographed beach in the region, and deservedly so. The strip along the beach is a fun place to stroll. It also has a boardwalk, down on the sand. Portimao's old town (about 2km from the beach) is nothing special, but it has Dona Barco, where I ate the best meal *ever*. Seafood and Rice it says on the menu. They brought a huge pot (enough for 2, easy) of thick, tomato-sauce-based seafood chowder, full of shrimp, prawns, mussles, clams, and crab legs. No silly fillers, like vegetables. Just plenty of seafood and rice in a delicious sauce.. They also had the best sardines we sampled.

Sardines: Don't wriggle your nose. Try them. Once you do, you'll eat them, you'll eat alot of them, especially grilled. Eat the skin, even (do leave the bones, at least the back bone, the little ones are up to you). Nothing at all like canned sardines or anchovies in your grocer's aisle.

Other notes:

Albufiera has three main sections: city hall, the strip, and old town. All three are visited by the tourist train that makes a 40 minute loop connecting the three until 2AM. (all day passes are 3E, under 6 free). Most apartments are within walking distance of one of the stops. The "strip" is the the Daytona Beach of the area (minus the clam shell ampitheater or a Krispy Creme). It feels a little has-been, a little dingy, and if it was all you saw, you'd leave scratching your head as to the area's appeal. Old Town is pleasant with a pretty beach and is fun to wander. City Hall is a utilitarian area with a shopping mall, McDonalds, and oodles of snack stands, bakeries, and souvenir shops.

The Villamoura Marina is a fun, more upscale place to people watch. Most of the boat tours go out of Villamoura. Of course, we chose to do our boat tour on the one less-than-nice day AND on the day B decided to be as uncooperative as possible. He was so bad that all the other mamas felt like they needed to tell me stories of when their two-year old did something similar on a plane/boat/train etc.

Altes: skip it. Tour buses routinely stop there and let everyone off to wander. It is full of narrow twisty streets and the home to a famous Portugues poet, but there are other villages (Silves, for example) with lots more character.

It's been a great time. I doubt we'll be back, just 'cause there are so many more places we want to see in our short time here, but we're not the only ones who've enjoyed it. We had a lovely conversation with a Dutch couple one morning on the beach who, unbeknownst to us, watched us have icecream the night before in Albufeira. They were quite smitten with my boys and their antics, especially the little one (my boys can be charming at times) so they struck up a conversation us when were building sand animals the next day. They have beach-vacationed in Greece, Turkey, Malta and the Canary Islands, and they think Portugal's the best of the lot. Later in the week we met an older British couple, retired RAF, who curiously enough were stationed in the Geilenkirchen area back in the Post WW2, pre-reunification days. They too like the Algarve best of all their sunny holidays. (Although they did have to regale us with tales of how nowhere is as it "used to be")

Anyway, 8 enthusiastic thumbs up. If you want all-inclusive, go to Turkey, but if you simply want a beach pad, consider Algarve (and if you're doing Ryan Air from GK, try to make the Maastricht airport work, SOOOOOOOOO much easier than Weeze).

postcard

2010-05-22T21:12:00.002+02:00

more stories later, but in the meantime -- wish you were here!

makes you wonder what he doesn't say.......

2010-05-19T15:34:00.021+02:00

So in just less than a three hour plane ride we've gone from rain, mist, clouds, and winter coats with highs of 45 to sandals, sunscreen, bathing suits and highs near 80.

Welcome to Portugal.

It' gorgeous here. Feels a bit cluttered with all the condo's and timeshares and I'd never ever want to vacation here in high season (July/August). But May or September -- sign me up! The beaches are a soft golden sand: grainy like the southeast FL beaches, not powdery like the gulf coast ones. Rocky cliffs form coves around the waters or overlooks from towns above.    This section of Portugal is dubbed the Algarve Coast and is the vacation destination of choice for Brits and other UK residents.We've spent alot of time pool-ing at our apartment, but have hit the beach at nearby Olhos d'Agua explored old town Albufeira (the town we're sleeping in)

C, especially, is in seventh heaven ; with three pools just steps from our patio he can jump and splash to his heart's content. The baby pool comes up to mid calf, the kid pool to hiss knees and the adult pool, a lap pool, comes up to his chest. So as long as there's a grown up within sprinting distance he can frolic as he likes between them. Playing ball in the little pools, jumping on intertubes in he big pool, and even taking a break to go slipping down the slide at the playground.

As always, the boys just seem to roll with it. It's fun to see C make sense of all we see and do. On the trip from Germany, we hadn't been airborne but about 5 minutes when he turns to me to tell me "mom, this plane has windows." Then, just a few minutes later he asked, "When are we gonna get the gas?". His most recent flights had been this winter's space-A adventure to Florida, in windowless cargo planes that did in-flight refuels.   We get to FARO, collect our baggage and are heading out to the rental car and he announces-- "wow, it's just like Jupiter" And he's right, it is. Hot, humid, palm trees everwhere, and the same kind of coastal scrub along the interstate.   Then, on our third morning (our third day of gorgeous sunshine) he observes to me over breakfast. "Mommy, it doesn't rain in portugal, does it?" I can't remember the last time we put together three days in a row in Germany with no rain, and apparently neither can he!

So.... as I said up top -- really makes you wonder wha'ts going on in that little brain that he doesn't say.

Margraten

2010-05-15T13:21:00.003+02:00

We visited the American War Cemetary in Margraten, NL this weekend. Many of the men there died in the Dutch Liberation effort, Operation Market Garden. Near the small chapel and reflecting pool that look out over the rest of the cemetary there's a wall, engraved with the names of major battles -- so many of them within 50 miles of here: Maastricht, Eindhoven, Koln, Geilenkirchen, Krefeld, Julich.

We frequently see the remnants of the Siegfried Line as we explore the area. Time to get busy learning more about WW2 in the region

We took pics of the boys under the "Geilenkirchen," section of the wall, knowing at some point there'll be a history lesson in it for them. (Note the Winter coats, in the middle of MAY)

To read more about the cemetary and its monuments, and the campaigns in the region download the cemetary's visitor booklet at the bottom of this page .

Firsts...

2010-05-14T20:16:00.001+02:00

here's C's first toasted Marshmellow. And B's first stab at making cookies (it's not like big brother was gonna be left out of the cookie venture).

And here's what happens when I left banana muffins cooling on the counter -- he helped himself. I learned my lessons with the cookies and made sure they were out of reach

happy mother's day to me

2010-04-28T13:36:00.001+02:00

I'm busy planning a trip to the Algarve region of Portugal next month. I'll just go ahead and say it to save you the trouble..... It sucks to be me

Heidelberg

2010-04-21T13:20:00.017+02:00

CSpring in GK means long weekend after long weekend, perfect opportunities for exploring the region or checking out destinations a smidge too far to daytrip. On Easter weekend, we headed south to Heidelberg (about 3hrs from us)

We left Friday morning and stopped in Mannheim as I had read there was an Easter market there. (Most Ostermarkt's ended the week before Easter and we missed them.) I had a bit of trouble finding much info about this supposed Easter Market, so fortunately made back-up plans for our afternoon in Mannheim. When we arrived we found no sign of a market and everything in the downtown square was closed, except for the Starbucks and the McDonalds (which in combination made 3/4 of our crew very happy).

Good Friday was a gorgeous, sunny day, though, so we set off on the 20 minute walk from the downtown shopping district to Luisenpark And then proceeded to spend *5* hours walking and playing our way through the park. The park charges admission (5 euro per Adult) but was totally worth it: Playground after playground, boat rides, cafes, oriental gardens, flower gardens, a small aquarium, a small aviary, a butterfly house, and a plethora of barn animals. My critter-loving kiddos were in heaven. They both really liked seeing the owls and talking to the "Nemos" in the aquarium, and B LOVED the butterfly house (He simply calls them flies).

The butterfly house was too crowded for the stroller, so I strapped him into his carrier, which he doesn't mind. I think it makes him feel like he's more in the middle of everything. I showed him if he held out his arm, a butterfly would land on it. He'd get so excited when the fly landed that he'd, of course, squeal and scare it away, and then would demand "more, more". Fortunately the butterflies obliged, and I'm pretty sure thelocal population enjoyed watching him more than they did the butterflies. I have since potted some flowers outside to hopefully attract some butterflies to our backyard this summer.

We trudged back to our car, rather tired, and managed to make it the 30 minutes down to Heidelberg in time to meet friends for dinner. We stayed at an apartment at the Army Base in Heidelberg. I was disappointed, at first, to not be able to find an apartment in town on Easter weekend, but it turned out to be good as the base has a TGI Fridays like restaurant within walking distance of the hotel where you can get decently priced food, with a varied and somewhat healthy menu, and a game area where the kids can run around. They must have known trouble when they saw it coming, party of 7, with 3 under 5, 'cause they sat us at the table for 12 right next to the arcade games, without us even having to ask :)

Every time we go off somewhere, I marvel at the fact that my kids will sleep in any bed we tell them too --B in a loaner pack in play, shoved into the kitchen, C on a pull out sofa in the living room-- and sleep all night without complaints. B's getting a little harder to take places as he needs to be entertained more now than he has in the past, but by and large they are phenomenal goers. Saturday evening, we ended up strolling down-town Heidelberg, in a light drizzle, looking for a place to eat. A local saw us perusing menus and suggested we stop into the Italian place across the street. So we did. It was a very small pizzeria, with only high tops and barstools, not sure how that would work with B, but it was time to eat, time to get out of the rain, and at least I knew an Italian place would likely be able to give me buttered noodles for my less than adventursome eaters. B took it in stride and sat on his barstool like a champ, sharing pasta and pizza with big brother, while mom and dad got to take in a well-deserved beer, as well as the charm and local color.

Backing up a bit:
Saturday morning, we started the day with a visit to Heidelberg's Castle. We only explored the courtyard and a few ancillary buildings, because like so many other castles in Germany, to actually see the inside of the castle you have to go on a guided tour. (We like Scottish castles much better, b/c you can explore them on your own.) Unfortunately, we were in no mood for a guided tour Saturday AM. I hadn't had enough coffee and was grumpy. We were slightly discombobulated because our plan to find our friends at the top of the castle, didn't quite work out. We couldn't park at the parking lot closest to the castle because our car was too tall, so we had to park further away and therefore had the stroller with us instead of the baby carrier. (Just FYI -- castles and strollers, sooooo not a good fit). *And* turns out we left the camera battery charging back at the hotel room. All things considered, we skipped the guided tour, and just saw what we could on our own. One thing we did see was the largest old wine cask in Germany, approximately 58,000 gallons, fwiw.

After the castle it was 20 minute funicular ride up to the top of the mountain. The cafes at the top were open and they had a wildpark I'm sure the boys would have loved, but it was windy and at least 15 degrees colder up there (and D didn't have a jacket), so we made a quick trip up, judiciously snapped a few pics of the view with our barely-hanging-in-there camera and a caught the next train down. We grabbed heavenly falafel in a local square while C and B chased the birds and climbed in the fountains. C climbs in every fountain he can, water or no. I swear it's a testament to how much these rule-abiding Germans either like cute kids or need our tourist dollars, 'cause I'm amazed we haven't gotten kicked out of anywhere yet for his fountain frolicking. After a brief siesta back at our apartment we meandered downtown Heidelberg, stopping at the student prison, where faculty routinely locked up academic miscreants for 3 days to 3 weeks for anything from poor class performance to pranks --there's an idea--and then, onto the aforementioned pizzeria for dinner.

Sunday we braved the gusty winds and went to nearby Schwetzingen castle, dubbed the "Versailles of Germany". It was lovely. Because we had an especially long, cold winter, only the daffodils and the cherry blossoms were in bloom, but I can imagine what it would be like in full bloom. Again , we only toured the gardens as the only way to get into the castle was on a guided tour (and I'm not sure the lady selling the tickets would have sold our crew tickets for the castle anyway), but the gardens were good fun. Plenty to look at and lots of places for the kids to run, play and climb -- I swear my two can turn just about anything into a playground.

Sunday evening we drove to Dilsberg Castle and walked the very steep hill from the parking lot to the castle itself. (Somehow I always end up carrying B when we have steep climbs?!?!) This castle is really just ruins, but Dilsberg is picturesque and the views were great, if somewhat stormy. The town below in the picture is Neckargemuend and it was our next stop.

Originally, I had planned to stay in Neckargemund, but the apartment I thought I had a line on, wasn't available, but I still insisted we stroll through town. As you can see from the pics, it's full of old, lopsided, half-timbered houses. Apparently, houses were built with wider second stories to lessen the land tax. The house in the picture dates from 1569. (For some perspective, 1569 is just about 50 years before Plymouth Rock, 40 years before Jamestown, and 15 years before the first colony at Roanoke). After our sightseeing, we hungrily headed back to our family friendly watering hole for a late Easter supper. (The only place in Neckargemund we could find open was an ice cream store and we decided it wouldn't be the most prudent choice to stuff our already-tired kids full of sugar)

A fun weekend, and one that fits into my "other" life as well, as Mark Twain spent 9 months living in Heidelberg and writing his second travel Journal A Tramp Abroad. (D wondered why we kept seeing Mark Twain books in all the store windows) I'm currently reading his first travel journal, Innocents Abroad and will get to Tramps soon enough

reach out and pet a cow

2010-04-18T17:20:00.004+02:00

We spent the day today on a family bike ride. You know it's the first bike ride of the season when you've forgotten where all the farm roads go and have to use church steeples and windmills to navigate. Actually, D is far more precise than that. We have a bike GPS (you knew we would). Today's path took us mostly through the Netherlands, over gloriously sunny farmroads and through a nature preserve. We did, however, have to bike *through* a herd of long haired cattle.

We've recently acquired a bike seat for B that hooks to the back of my bike. He joined C in the pull behind trailer behind Daddy's bike later in the trip, but when we encountered the cows, he was still in his open air seat hugging my back, and he screamed with absolutely delight. Turns out he makes a pretty good sheep dog, his squeals encouraging the cows to move along. That's D and C in the pic. See how the road is blocked by cows? B is on my bike behind me. We eventually ended up walking through the trees around the cow conference.

We biked all the way to Schinnen, just to see if we could -- 5 hours and 34 clicks. We stopped for tosti in Oirsbeek and eis in Schinveld; the kinder set even scored a nap enroute (once B joined C in the trailer)

Kid-isms

2010-04-14T13:15:00.005+02:00

A post on our recent weekend in Heidelberg 'tis forthcoming (as is a catch up one on the St. Nikolaus train) but it's been a week of kid-isms around here, so thought I'd share a few (you know for the grandparental set that check in here regularly)

We've had some lovely days recently. Some nasty ones too, but there's been enough spring mixed in to inspire us to get out and buy some pots and some flowers. B had the most awesome time helping me plant them. I had my potting mixture in an old tupperware garbage can and scooped dirt from it into all my planters. Naturally, I let him help me scoop. "IN the pot, B. IN" I'd keep repeating as he, in his all-boy he's mastered, far preferred to fling dirt all over the patio and at his brother. "IN the pot" I'd repeat "IN the pot". Finally, he's one big dirt ball, head to toe, and daddy takes him up to the tub and off to bed.

The next day: He's out in the yard, mostly unsupervised, because other than some nettles and a dead Christmas tree, there's not anything too kid unfriendly back there. I wander out after bit to see him sitting by my just-potted plants, scoops of dirt in his hands another all over his face, giggling and proudly repeating "IN" as he transfers dirt out of the strawberry plants and heaps it on the Begonias.

Learning spatial relations: Check!

Those of you who know my youngest, know his appetite goes in fits and spurts. Some days he eats everything, but most days he grazes a bit here and there on fruit and bread. Sometimes I'm not sure he eats at all, but instead pushes his food around his plate (or foists it off on Brother). It's been a particularly non-eating week around here. This pattern has repeated itself enough over the months that although I note his lack of interest in food, I don't worry about it much anymore. One recent afternoon, I came downstairs and found the child leaning on his belly, legs dangling off the credenza, unwrapping hershey's kiss after hershey's kiss and popping them in his mouth as fast as he could unwrap them. Apparently he had climbed on a cooler we foolishly left in the kitchen and leaned as far in as he could to reach the candy. I don't even know how he knew it was back there. For as much as everyone says he looks like his daddy, I guess he's inherited his mama's sweet tooth.

problem-solving skills: check
gross-motor coordination: check
fine motor development: check

Heaven help us when his devious side develops!

Not to be left out, big brother has had a few moments of his own this week. My hands down favorite, however, is his waiting and watching for the strawberries. When I planted the strawberry plants, I pointed them out to C and showed him the little white flowers and explained to him that with water and sunshine the plant would grow
and the little white flowers would turn into strawberries. Every day since then, he'll (at seemingly random times), rush over to the window to look at the strawberry plants, which are still barely more than seedlings, turn to me with great anticipation and ask: "Mama, are the strawberries ready yet? I think it's gonna be a long 6 weeks.

It's Almost Easter

2010-03-31T20:28:00.006+02:00

so in true "Mc Style" that means going back to catch up on fun fall and holiday adventures

Thanksgiving is a non-holiday over here and although there's plenty of Turkeys at the commissary and friends with which to gather for traditioanl feasts, sometimes, what you really want is an honest-to-goodness pumpkin patch.

This year, we found one. Pumpkin Island.

The crazy thing is that Pumpkin Island has pumpkins all year 'round. In the nice weather it's a pumpkin-themed beach club (don't ask, we're in Germany) But in the fall, they stack up the hay bales as pirate ships, carve a maze out of the corn field, and have pumpkins of all shapes and sizes for purchasing in the pumpkin patch.

We met up with some friends and spent a lovely couple of hours worrying about the youngsters as they climbed to the mast of the pirate ship and got lost in the maze on the big tri wheel scooters,i
but in the end we warmed up with hot chocolate and pumpkin soup and, for just a minute could've sworn we were kicking it up, American Thanksgiving style.

Christmas Markets

2010-03-29T10:32:00.016+02:00

Between last year and this year we've made it to most of the local Christmas markets, and sampled lots of the traditional Gluwein. Christmas markets are lovely; they each have their own flavor, but I'm not quite sure I get the hype or why US tourists spend thousands of dollars, battle the usually crappy weather and the crowds solely to make Christmas market pilgrimages. We've yet to get to any of the markets in Bavaria, so perhaps those are different. They certainly are larger, but I don't know if larger equates with more hand made crafts and goodies or more traditional German woodworking OR if larger simply means more sausage, spirits, and "made in china" replicas?

However, as we ARE here, Christmas markets are fabulous wintertime diversions. Most of the small markets near us seem to function as local watering holes. The German version of Cheers, where you stop by and grab a drink and a snack on your way home, noshing with the locals, soaking up the ambiance. Each market has a distinct atmosphere, however, so read on for quick pics and over-brief summaries of the ones we've visited.

Geilenkirchen: A small, one weekend market, with performances by local groups and fundraising booths for local charities. Some food vendors, kid rides, and a flea-market esque section of retail booths

Aachen: the largest market closest to us with cool high energy buzz. Super crowded on the weekends and not stroller friendly (heck it was even dicey at times with B in the backpack carrier).

Gangelt: one weekend only, just one village up the road from us. Has a very small town feel to it, but in a quaint, the-neghborhood-has-gathered-for-the-weekend kind of way. Lots of flower and greenery vendors and fun rides for the kids. There's nothing better than soaking up the festive atmosphere while meandering the old Gangelt streets and you will run into most everyone you know, so it's got a great open-house feel to it too

Trier: the best market we went to. Trier is in itself a great city, about 90 minutes from here. This market looked the most traditional and of course strolling past the old Roman ruins Trier is famous for only added to the charm. The market takes over the main square and a side street or two and between the market's supersized German decor and the storefronts' decorated windows, it's lots of good holiday fun. AND the best market yummies we had, we had in Trier. Dan got a super yummy brick oven pizza and I sampled the kirsch dampfnuden, which was a sweet dumpling with a cherry sauce.

Monschau: We ended up in Monschau on a Friday evening, and I suspect the market would have been better by day. It was rather poorly lit, so it was hard to appreciate the beautiful town as we were weaving in and out of market booths. In the day time, too, the local shops would have been open, adding more browsing options. However, they did have lederhosen clad horn players, an incredibly tasty orange punch, and lots of fried dough to keep the wee one entertained. No carousel in Monschau either, so that's either good or bad depending on what your take is on buying kids tokens for the merry-go-rounds

Satzvey Castle: Kitchy and Romantic and I absolutely love it! The Satzvey Christmas market isn't that much different in character than their Easter market or their summer time viking, medieval, and renaissance fairs, but Satzvey Castle at anytime of year is a keeper. C gets to gorge on the waffles and have his face painted. He gets to watch the sword fighting, see the horses and try his darndest to pull that sword out of the stone. At the Christmas Market this year he even got to tell St Nicholaus about his Christmas wishes and explain how it was this kid with the slightly southern draw was Christmasing in North Rhine Westphalia

Valkenburg, Netherlands: The markets in Valkenburg are nice because they are underground in caves, out of the elements, and temperature controlled. The port-a-potties in said caves aren't so nice, but when you've got a 4 year old along, you do what you've got to do. One of the caves is Dickensian themed and you watch Scrooge's story unfold on the walls as you wander past

Maastricht, Netherlands: Each winter, Maastricht converts its main square to a winter wonderland, with lots of games and rides and even an Ice Skating rink, just a quick stroll from some of the oldest Roman ruins in the Netherlands and against the backdrop of some beautiful church facades, it's a must see. High energy, lots of families and fun buzz.

Liege, Belgium (about 45 minutes from us): One big party with lots of different foods and wines to try. Typical candies, soaps, and knitted hats, but Liege has a number of fun city walks to take in and among marketing, namely the 406 steps of the Montagne de Bueren. Worth the climb for awesome city and river views. Then, instead of climbing back down, take the long way around, past the ruins of the citadel and the modern hospital through a nature reserve back to the city square for another glass of gluwein and Belgian chocolates to see you through the afternoon.

the MC guide to DISNEY (with munchkins)!

2010-02-23T02:24:00.004+01:00

During our recent trip stateside we took C for his first visit to the "House of Mouse". I'm a bit of a Disney freak, went every chance I could as a kid and had season passes for several years in college and as a young adult, but this was my first visit as a parent. I've had a long-held theory, after witnessing years and years of Magic Kingdom meltdowns, that there's simply no reason to take a kid to Disney World until s/he can get through the day without a nap. Now, after experiencing WDW with a kiddo, I think the theory still stands (of course if you live close by, with season passes, or have an xtra adult on hand to head back to the hotel pre-meltdown, that's a different story.) I followed my own advice and left B at home, just so as not to have to deal with his theatrics.

Other tips:
Don't go during summer, don't go during Christmas, don't go on a holiday weekend, don't go on the weekend. **DO** go on weekdays mid January to early March, May, or October

Take in as many snacks sandwiches and drinks as you want. Disney doesn't care, and you'll feel a lot better spending 4 dollars on that Disney shaped popsicle if you didn't just spend 12 dollars on chicken nuggets and fries

Even if your youngster walks everywhere and has for years, take or rent a stroller. You can get from Big Thunder Mountain to Space Mountain far more quickly if you're not paced by little legs. Disney is exciting, overwhelming and tiring for the wee set, and if you're in for the long day, everyone's gonna need the break. Not exaggerating: it's completely normal to see kids as old as 8 or 9 in strollers. BUT, the ultimate reason to take a stroller -- you can leave bags/coolers/gear/whatever with your stroller. Without the stroller you either have to carry everything on every attraction or rent a locker way up at the park's entrance. Sroller = the ultimate packmule

FASTPASS -- use it anytime the standby wait is more than 15 minutes

If you stand in line to "meet" characters there'll be far less tolerance (not to mention time) for ride lines. There'll be lots of characters to see as you walk through the park, but if actually meeting characters is important to you, be sure to see Mickey and Minnie at toontown, but then consider going to a character breakfast or lunch.

Don't miss the afternoon parade. The kiddos love to be so close to the all the characters and it provided my kiddo MUCH needed downtime to be ready to go again into the evening. Watch it from Frontier land, the end of the parade route. It'll be far less crowded than Mainstreet. Be there 15 minutes early for a spot right on the rope line.

You can sit in Dumbo(and take pics in Dumbo) without waiting in line to fly Dumbo.
The Aladdin flying carpet line is always far far shorter. If Dumbo is a must, think about hitting it during the fireworks.

Stay on Disney property and take advantage of early/late park hours

The monorail might look cool, but the ferry boat is far more stroller friendly.

If you park in Minnie or Mickey and have the kid in a stroller follow the footpath and *walk* to the transportation and ticket center, far faster and easier than hassling with the tram.

FWIW -- C's favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear and he liked Big Thunder Mountain (AKA Cowboy Mountain) far better then the Barnstormer coaster in toontown *AND* Big Thunder Mountain is a Fastpass. We waited close to 30 minutes for Barnstormer, not worthit, IMHO.

City of Lights

2009-12-01T10:22:00.015+01:00

yep, you guessed it -- More Catch Up. September, a gorgeous month over here, brought us a second visit from the grandparents and with it a five-day, grown up only adventure to Paris. Admittedly, I felt a bit guilty leaving Grandma and GP to fend for themselves in a foreign country where they couldn't speak the language with two high-energy grandsons, but with the closest hospital programmed into the GPS and the names and contact numbers of every neighbor within shouting distance, well, I went anyway, figuring they'd have plenty of time to regroup once they got back stateside. I'm still not sure I got all the stories of what happened those few days we were away, but everyone was in good spirits with all limbs and digits attached when D and I got home, so the rest we'll chalk up to my boys and the old folks making memories together.

As you might recall, we tried to go to Paris earlier in the year and were foiled by illness. I had been as a highschooler and had already seen the highpoints: the Eiffel tower -- before you had to wait in line for two hours, the Mona Lisa -- before she was behind a thick pane of glass, MonteMarte -- before it was completely tourist trappy, Notre Dame, etc, etc, etc. But Paris was the top of D's gotta go list and as we'd already done so many of the things at the top of mine (and it's only a 5 hour drive) off we went. I didn't expect to love Paris, but love it I did, and we're already planning a quick trip back with the kids so that C can see the Eiffel tower and eat the best street-side crepes known to man.

We tried to take advantage of the fact that we were traveling light (no kids and no kid gear)and ride the train, but as we planned this trip last minute, it cost several hundred euro more for round trip train tickets than it did to pay for gas, tolls, and parking. We parked at the Charles De Gaul Airport and took the Metro into the city. We stayed in the Latin quarter, and I loved the Latin Quarter. Most of the tourist sites we wanted to visit were in other sections of the city, so we got a taste of those quarters as we were sightseeing, but the energy in the Latin Quarter is fun. Markets, bakeries, eateries aplenty, grocery stores, even a Starbucks or two within a short walk of our hotel, so when we were done for the day and wanted to grab a late dinner, we didn't have to puzzle over where, we simply had to grab the Metro back to our hotel and then wander for a block or two until we found something we liked.

Paris was fun for us for an altogether unexpected reason: we felt more at "home" in Paris than we have since we got here last year. D had taken enough French that his language skills were passable, but as September is still a busy tourist month, we heard more English around us than anything else. Parisians have a reputation for being pushy and rude, and not at all friendly, but let me tell you, compared to the austere personality that is de-facto around these parts, those Parisians, at least the ones we encountered, are down right vivacious and congenial.

Each evening one museum stayed open late, so we tended to get going by 10 or 11 AM, grabbing a pastry and coffee as we walked to the train, sightsee until 4 or 5 (snacking from street vendors when we needed to refuel), zipping back to the hotel to rest/shower/change and then go to a late attraction: a museum, a seine river cruise, etc, then back to the Latin quarter to eat a real dinner.

The first evening we climbed the Eiffel tower.

The next day we started at Notre Dame, buying our Museum pass (a MUST for any sightseeing visit) and then after marveling at the cathedral, ducked into the small Archaeological museum next door. Each trip we take, there's a surprise--something we happen upon that isn't in all the books, but turns out to be a really cool experience. In Paris it was the Archaeological Crypt museum. The museum is 1 story underground, and is built over an existing archaeological dig of Roman-era ruins. The larger "story" behind the museum is to trace Paris's growth and development from Roman times through the age of the Cathedral next door (a long time, mind you, as it took close two 2 centuries to build that Cathedral next door). I'm not schooled in artifact discovery/preservation and maybe the whole museum is nothing more than a good show, you know like Disney World or Vegas--a Baudrillard-esque simulation of the "real thing" manipulated to be more real than the thing itslef, but still....what a cool idea. Bring the museum to the artifacts, rather than the artifacts to the museum.

Then, we meandered more of the area around Notre Dame, and stopped into avery famous English-language bookstore. Funny Story: I had been trying to get a copy of the book my book club was reading that month. I didn't know much about the book, hadn't looked it up, had heard it was rather controversial, but whatever. So I asked in Shakespeare and Company if they had the book, lo and behold they did. So I bought it. As the man's ringing me up, he asks if I want him to stamp the book. Sure, I say, thinking to myself -- oh cool, what an awesome souvenir. Fast forward to the next week when we're home and I start reading said book....It is hands down, the most horrid, awful, book I've ever encountered (now think about who I am and my background and all the varied things I've read over my life) and that's no small feat. Puke in my mouth, kind of disgusting. Couldn't even bring myself to finish it, even using my survive grad school technique reading the first and last sentences of each paragraph. It's the type of book I'd be horrified if C plucked it off the bookshelf one day and started thumbing through it. But yep I bought it and had it stamped at the famous Shakespeare and Company so now I feel compelled to keep it. That'll teach me to pay more attention (**Note, I"m purposefully not naming the book, because it's so not worth it, but I also don't want search engine hits on it either. Said book, however, was a European bestseller, which leads to whole'nother, rather interesting line of inquiry, but I won't go there now). Anyhow, after my quick duck into the bookstore, we toured palaceSainte Chapelle.

.That evening we tackled the Louvre -- Rick Steves tells you about a way you can use your museum pass to avoid the crowded security lines at the Louvre, but in doing so, you sacrifice your chance to walk through the famous glass pyramid. However, the lines were close to nonexistent at night, so we went through the grand entrance, rather than through servants quarter. We're not big museum people. We want to see the things we need to see. And although you could spend a whole day in the Louvre, we're the type happy enough with a couple hours. We dutifully made the rounds, seeing the couple of Michaelangelo sculptures, the Delacroix paintings (which we'd funny enough already seen at a traveling exhibit in Philly), Winged Victory, Venus de Milo,and of course, Mona Lisa, the grand dame herself. Then we wandered the bustling evening square outside the Louvre and back towards "home" where we ate the best Sushi I've ever had. Maybe it's just 'cause we haven't had sushi in a while --absence makes the heart grow fonder at all -- but still.

Day Three was our Museum day: We began the day atop the Arc de Triomph, wandered the length of Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde. Then we, almost unknowingly, wandered into my favorite museum and favorite "artsy" moment of the trip. We popped into the Orangerie Museum, only because it was covered by our Museum pass, it was right in front of us, and I needed to use the facilities. Yes, I knew the Waterlilies were there, but I've already spent over an hour of my life in the impressionist wing of the Met in New York with a monet-obsessed buddy, so really, how many Monets does one need to see in one lifetime.

I stand corrected. The waterlilies are breathtaking. Not sure I realized they were mural size (admittedly, art appreciation wasn't my favorite class in college). The entire museum probably had only ten people in it and the Waterlilies are its only major work, but definitely one of Paris's gems, hidden in plain sight. Then we mosied a few blocks to the Orsay, home of the late 18th century artwork. To me, the building was more impressive than the art, converted train station and all, but again, not the artsy type.

That evening, a thoroughly enjoyable dinner at Cafe Du Marche and a lovely stroll through the famous Rue Cler neighborhood back to the Seine for an evening boat ride, one of the highlights of the weekend.

Day Four: We caught the train out to Versailles. I've spent the last twenty years wanting to go to Versailles. Mythologized as the place is I expected..... well, more. The Gardens were impressive and the fountains were running so that was nice, but the palace itself, a tad underwhelming. Again, it was great to see it in a "put a name with a face" kind of way but..... We spent the first three hours, exploring the gardens and the Queen's private residence, and I felt badly we didn't save more time for the palace, but turns out I needn't have worried. We spent thirty minutes in line at security and ,maybe, 45 minutees walking the palace and we had seen enough. If you go: Buy tickets ahead of time. The palace is include in the popular museum pass and you buy garden tickets at the garden gates, and that way you don't have to wait in the ginormous Versaille ticket line.

That evening we braved the craziness and went to Montemart. Some Paris visitors say they don't like the atmosphere in the Latin Quarter because it's just too touristy at every turn. Well, I think Montmarte is the most touristy place in all of Paris. Don't get me wrong, 2o years back it was still touristy, but I remember it as festival/artsy touristy. Now, it's just South of the Border touristy or Panama City Beach at Spring Break touristy with tacky souvenir shop after tacky souvenir shop. Maybe the difference is just me, but I'd be willing to bet it's not all me. But, Montmarte is grand for its stunning views of the city and the church is lovely, so go see them at least.

. Day Five: We spent the last morning in Paris in the Paris sewers. The sidebar picture is me doing my best Jean Valjean carrying Marius impression. D, having worked before in a sewer plant, was rather fascinated by it. Me, not so much. Too stinky. I've always been disappointed that I didn't buy a copy of Canterbury Tales the day I ended up at the Cantebury Cathedral (and I'm not sure we'll make a trip back to Canterbury simply for me to buy said book), but I certainly wouldn't make the same mistake in the Paris Sewers. I hustled through to the gift shop at the end, ready to plunk down my euro for an overpriced copy of Les Miserables but alas, they weren't selling one. Inconceivable. After our sewer tour, strolled the Marais neighborhood (home to the 18th century Parisian intelligentsia, lingered in Place des Vosges, and then walked through the adjoining Jewish quarter to the Holocaust memorial. Then we hopped the train back to the Latin quarter, quick ducked into the Pantheon to see Foucault's Pendulum and then back to the hotel to collect our luggage and out to the airport to collect the car.

In the end, my impression of Paris is that it's a friendly, beautiful city with architectural treasures hidden on every street corner. Beautiful churches and facades that in other cities would become centerpieces, pass without comment, simply because they find themselves in Paris, home to so many more famous monuments. We're already planning a trip back, as close as it is. So stay tuned for Paris, part deux.

You take the high road

2009-11-27T18:49:00.014+01:00

More Catch Up......

In August the family Mc spent an incredible ten days in Scotland -- Edinburgh, The Isle of Skye, Inverness, and back to Edinburgh. Scotland has been on my must see list, ever since I discovered the Gabaldon Outlander series, back in our Tallahassee days. Having been there and done that, I think I must go back--and often. Mc... is Scottish in origin. As it's a name I inherited, I didn't go all gaga for clan roots and stuff, but still, the entire country is steeped in a profound sense of history.

We flew into Edinburgh, spent three nights in a rented flat in the northern suburb of Leith, a quiet residential neighborhood in a well-loved, but safe apartment that the landlord was kind enough to stock with rolls and milk and OJ, knowing we had wee ones and our flight didn't land until 10:30 PM and we'd be at least midnight getting from the airport.

We rented a car and D did a good job driving on the "wrong" side of the road:never once went the wrong way around a roundabout! He had a tendency to hug the left curb a little closely, a natural sense we suspect. As an American driver, you're used to being on the left side of the road, so you tend to put yourself there. Later in the week, when we meandered some of those steep highland passes, I found myself often repeating "close on the left, close on the left", but all in all, the driving was a non-issue (not that I wanted to drive, at all, mind you).

Edinburgh was busy and very crowded the days we were there. It was the Edinburgh Festival and the famous Military Tattoo. Kidless, we would have found last minute tickets to the Tattoo, but with the youngins in tow contented ourselves with photographing the parade grounds as we walked through Edinburgh castle.

Our first day in Edinburgh we walked the length of the Royal Mile, parking at Holyrood Palace meandering our way to the Castle and then back down. C was worn out from the trip, so spent most of the afternoon asleep in the stroller and missed the castle entirely. But never fear,there were many more castles to come. Fortunately, I had purchased a new, more comfortable, travel-friendly baby carrier for this trip, suspecting just such an occurrence. (Baby in fact spent nearly the entire trip tucked in my coat in his new carrier. Either we were places that were not stroller friendly or we were walking long distances and big brother needed to ride.)

Our second full day in Edinburgh we started the morning at the Royal Yacht Britannia, decommissioned in 1996 and now a Edinburgh-area tourist attraction. It was a fun outing. C got his own audio tour guide and kept himself busy looking for the next number in the guide, shouting gleefully when he found it. Supposedly his guide was geared for kids, not sure he listened to much of it though. The picture to the right is a picture of the officer's bar, but note the audio guide sitting on the bar. Yep, that's right, C set his down and walked off to find more numbers, leaving it on the bar. So we toured this section of the boat twice, backward and forward, once I realized we were down one audio guide.

After the boat tour and a quick lunch, we stopped by a local botanical garden, just in time to catch a free festival event--circus acrobats giving a short teaser performance, hoping to entice you into buying tickets for their main event later that evening. We went because we thought C would enjoy the performance and so that we could say we attended a festival event. From what we can tell the festival is simply weeks of performances. The Royal Mile is jam packed with ticket sellers, trying to convince you to attend their shows. With another day in Edinburgh we likely would have found a kid show to take the boys to, but as it was we made do with our abbreviated garden circus. After a quick nap at the apartment, we spent the evening strolling the "new" section of Edinburgh, beneath the Royal Mile. Had to eat at McDonalds that evening because none of the local pubs would allow us inside with children under 18. (Well, that and sometimes fast food is just easier. As I've said before my kiddos are awesome travelers, but at the end of a jam-packed day, there are just some battles not worth fighting)

In the end I enjoyed the Highlands far more than I did Edinburgh, but if I ever go back to Edinburgh, I definitely won't go during festival season. SOooooo crowded. Hard at times to navigate the stroller. We had to wait 45 minutes for a table at a burger joint at lunch. But I'm glad to say I was there and I can now place all the famous Edinburgh landmarks I encounter in books.

The next morning we loaded up our car and headed out on the Highlands portion of our adventure. Our final destination that evening was the Isle of Skye--one of the most remote, but also most beautiful areas of the Highlands. The Isle of Skye is the only place in Scotland that a significant percentage of the population still speaks Gaelic. On Skye, in fact, Scottish kids can go to school in Gaelic all the way through university. We had reservations on a 16:00 ferry and knew we wanted to stop at Stirling Castle along the way. Stirling Castle was an important site in both of the Jacobite risings, but was also important in William Wallace's (Braveheart) story centuries before. We got an early enough start to get to the Castle by about 10 -- good thing too as the crowds when we left were astounding. (Same thing at Britannia, btw. We got there when they opened,but by the time we left --sardine city!)

C and Scottish castles are a good fit. German castles (at least in this region) are small and compact with a designated route to explore, often in cramped quarters. Scottish castles (at least the three we saw)are large and expansive with lots of room for little feet to climb and romp. D and I half-listened to audio guides while we followed C around the ramparts and into tunnels. He thought the prison cells were quite the thing and enjoyed testing out his balancing skills along the castle's walls. We could have easily spent another hour or so at Stirling but had to hit the road in order to make our 4:00 ferry. The road we drove en route to the ferry, lowlands to highlands, was a scenic route full of postcard views (the pictures don't do it justice), but it's also the route that parallel's the Hogwart's Express on it's journey from Kings Cross Station 9 and 3/4 to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

We made it to the ferry on time, had what I thought was a rather rough crossing, but a cuppa tea later, emerged onto the beautiful and breathtaking Isle of Skye. Skye has the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen, and I've spent a good deal of time in both the Rocky and Smokey mountains, not to mention a wee bit of time driving through the Alps. The Scottish Highlands is indeed God's Country. If you're going to the Highlands for the views, go to Skye (The Inverness area was nice, but the panoramas didn't compare at all to the Skye landscape). If you go: be warned that there's not a lot to do in Skye other than to drive and look, hike and marvel. There are one or two inn's on the island, a multitude of B&B's and a few hostels and while many of them are I'm sure, very nice, there's obviously no such thing on Skye as luxury accommodations. We stayed at a rustic "bothy", much like a camping cabin with a kitchen, bath and bunkhouse. We rented the 6 bed bunk-house for just us, so it was private and while I, personally, tried not to look too hard in the corners and crevices for fear of mold and cockroaches, C and his daddy thoroughly enjoyed the rustic adventure. (And B, bless his heart, has pack n play, will travel).

We spent two nights on Skye. The first night, arrived just before dinner and ate in one of the two local pubs (Here you could bring in kids, but only until 9PM). NO high chair, NO milk, NO juice, but the boys survived on boiled potatoes and fanta, while D and I had the most spectacular local catch--some kind of white fish and YUMMY! Skye is rather sparsely populated, but it boasts a town of decent size, Portree, and that's where we started the next morning, with a cooked breakfast in a local cafe (Haven't had scrambled eggs out since we left the States, so this cooked breakfast was in itself, quite a treat.) Then, we left Portree to embark on Rick Steves' recommended driving tour of the Island. We spent about 6 hours looping the Isle, stopping to ogle at waterfalls and walk out onto rock outcroppings. we wasted an hour at a little snack shack, that had the most varied menu I'd ever seen at a snack shack, everything from panini sandwiches to pasta primavera and fish and chips, but what they don't tell you on the menu is that it takes 45 minutes to get a grilled ham and cheese, but it was, no kidding, the ONLY place to grab grub for miles, so we lingered and let C run off some energy on the hills.
After lunch, we made a quick pit stop at the only public restrooms north of Portree (our starting point). Really Steves puts them in his guide book so you don't miss them. Holes in the wall, literally, but clean and with soap, so who's complaining. We encountered Castle Donvegan, cliffside ruins of Clan McLeod, not an official historic site, but only partially fenced off without a "no Trespassing" sign anywhere nearby. The boys had fallen asleep in the back of the car at this point, however, so D went exploring while I supervised naptime along the side of the road (D later reports that the climb was too steep for little legs, so it's just as well). Then, we headed back to our bothy, stopping to admire the cliffs to the sea as well as an example of the close-to-extinct croft system that used to drive the Scottish economy. Crofting is the Scottish version of tenant farming or sharecropping. Legend has it, btw, that the Isle of Skye is where Bonnie Prince Charlie came ashore during the 1745 Jacobite rising and where he escaped from after the clans' defeat at Culloden.

Our bothy was not in the main town on Skye, we were in Portnalong, not more than a village, really, but a village that also houses the only distillery on the island. Our last morning on Skye, D toured the Talisker distillery while the boys and I played for an hour or so at the local playground. Kids under eight weren't allowed inside. Then it was off, over the relatively new and picturesque Skye bridge, past the Eilean Donan castle (as seen in Highlander, the Movie) to Urquhart Castle on the shore of the Loch Ness and into Inverness for the rest of our stay.

We skipped the "official" Loch Ness tourist traps, but C had a marvelous time looking for Nessie as we climbed the castle walls. The picture to the right is C in the Loch Ness.

Inverness: 4 Nights at a lovely townhouse just outside the city itself. Rick Steves warned there's not a lot to do in Inverness itself, and he's right but there is a lot to do nearby.

Day One we rewarded C for being such a trooper with a day at an amusement park. It was actually more like Bouncy House City, ala Monkey Joes, but he went nonstop for 5 hours. D liked it too because they had a grown up ropes course, rappelling, and a flume ride he and C went on together. The front half of the park is the play area and the back half is nature trails. So, B and I wandered the nature trails and then had a long lunch in the cafe that had free wifi while I checked email and goofed around online.

Day Two we made it to Culloden -- a very very kid friendly museum, btw. There's a self-paced indoor part, that takes about 30 minute to go through, showing a timeline of events, both from the British and Jacobite perspectives. A movie that's too violent for the munchkins, so skip it with the under 10 crowd, but dress up trunks with soldiers uniforms and hands on rifles and bullets. Then you pick up a GPS and head out to the moor. The GPS, talks to you automatically based on where you are on the moor. The moor is huge and flat and C, in his yellow raincoat, could go anywhere and we could still spot him. (Likewise he could still spot me in my green raincoat). He took a siesta on a rock for 20 minutes when he got tired, and simply wandered the paths the rest of the time.

Day Three: we shopped in down town Inverness, bought a cashmere scarf for myself, cute litte hats for the boys, a signed copy of Book 3 of the Outlander series in a Scottish Borders. (We meandered forever in that same Borders, the first English language bookstore we'd encountered in forever, spent an hour in the kids section, thumbed all the travel guides, read the backs of the best sellers, drank the coffee). Next it was off to the honest-to-goodness mall. Then, strolling the river walk by the River Ness and sampling the local Chinese food for dinner. After dinner, headed to Clava Cairns, a prehistoric cluster of rock formations, just a block or two from our apartment.

There was one other family at the site(a Spanish family) and C had good fun talking to them, using his minimal Dora/Diego, mommy-prompted Spanish. C and their daughter chased each other around the rocks for a while, playing hide and seek among the ruins and C, of course, had to gather a stone on the ground (not one form the ruins) to bring home with us to add to his collection.

The next morning we loaded up to begin the drive back to Edinburgh to catch our evening flight home. We had enough time en route to stop one place, and decided on Pitlochry, a completely *charming* village full of boutique shops and Scottish souvenirs. I wanted to bring home a kid-sized set of bagpipes on clearance in one store, but D wouldn't hear of it (or rather I think he was afraid he'd hear nothing but them, once we got back). D kept up with the boys while I shopped, then we strolled over to the river and followed the river to the dam and its accompanying fish ladder, bribing C the whole time with the promise of ice cream and playground time. "If you're too tired to walk to the fish ladder, then you're too tired to have ice cream or play on the playground" He quickly found his second wind.

As we made it to the playground, I used my last diaper for B. So I dashed off to the closest grocery store while the boys played. Of course at this small-town grocery the smallest package of diapers I could by was a 64 pack and I really only needed 2, maybe 3, to get us home, which left us in the parking lot stuffing an entire package of diapers into our already over packed luggage.

In the end, we took the high road and the low road. We found the banks of Loch Lomond and they, as well as the rest of Scotland, are very bonny indeed!

One year ago today

2009-11-16T09:00:00.001+01:00

One year ago today we stepped off a plane in Brussels, jet-lagged and exhausted. Last summer, when we found out we were headed to Deutschland, I wrote this, as we were beginning to make lists of all the things we wanted to see and do while we were here. I'm happy to report, we've done all of this, and more.

It's been a good year: Nurnberg, Rothenburg, Trier, the Mosel Valley, Bruges, Keukenhof, Salzburg, Polish pottery, Scotland, and Paris and D's made it to Italy, Greece, and Norway... Not to mention all the many "local" places we've gotten to explore.

I think my favorite local haunt, to date, is Satzvey Castle (although Monschau is a very close second), while my favorite trip is too hard to decide. I've loved them all.

What's left on the list: Bavaria, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Ireland, Krakow, Spain and Gibraltar, Normandy, Switzerland, Nove pottery, Venice, Vienna, and so so much more.

stay tuned........

more bis bis

2009-11-13T10:00:00.001+01:00

more treasures from the .bis bis

carved wood sideboard and matching wall shelf -- 42 Euro
(p)leather? loveseat -- 35 Euro.

It's a good thing we went with the used furniture to add more living room seating, because B has recently discoverd crayons, pens, dryerase markers, pencils and anything else he can get his hands on. Note: all of the above come off tile with relative ease

oh, and a Chicco backpack/stroller combo for 4 Euro, not that I need another kid transport vehicle, but it was still in its packaging so for 4 Euro, you know it was coming home with me.

LOVE me some bis bis!

Catchin Up: Poland

2009-11-10T18:04:00.000+01:00

In early August, a friend and I took a long weekend trip to Boleslawiec, Poland (pronounced bo-leh-swav-ee-ets). Boleslawiec is just over the German border, about an 8 hour drive, and is the home of Polish Pottery. To Americans living in Germany, Pottery trips are mythic. Most Americans here for any length of time eventually make a Polish and an Italian pottery run. Boleslawiec is a popular girl's trip but in the winter time it could be a nice family trip as there's skiing nearby (so daddy keeps the munchkins while I shop and vice versa while he skis). Boleslawiec isn't very large, but they have a lovely restored downtown area that reminded me a lot of a smaller, less touristy, Prague. The pottery shops are on the other side of town, however, and we spent three solid days looking at pottery, and only found the downtown section by accident one evening when we were looking for a place to eat.

When it comes to Polish pottery, turns out I'm a traditionalist and like the peacock pattern best (In fact I almost bought the exact same peacock casserole dish twice, and did buy a vase and a coffee mug in peacock for myself and an apple baker and a teapot in peacock for BINGO gifts).

I didn't do tons of buying -- a half dozen pieces for me , a few gifts, and some prizes for our local women's group, and by the time you factor in gas and hotel and dining out, not sure I saved that much money (Prices in Boleslawiec are 1/2 to 1/3 the retail prices). But Boleslawiec is a cool trip because you have to drive through regular old Poland to get there. You see more of the old country than you ever would jetting in and out of Krakow as a tourist. There are two main highways that connect Germany to the Boleslawiec region of Poland. One is new, one is not. We drove in on the old highway with its cold-war era border crossing still in tact. It was creepy, creepier than any of the cold-war era monuments preserved in Berlin. Berlin, much like any Eastern European metropolis, has modernized and grown up around it's communist past, preserving pockets of it within the modern city. But the old border crossing into Boleslawiec is surrounded by nothing but forest with the old building looming large and ominous. Adding to the experience, once you cross the border, the highway conditions deteriorate rapidly. On the German side--modern smooth, well kept roads. On the Polish side--old, bumpy, potholed roads. (This was not the case on the new highway coming out of Boleslawiec: perfect interstate and a modern, only minimally staffed border crossing that looks like any toll station. Poland is now part of the EU so there's no stopping at the border).

We spent most of our time dashing between the Boleslawiec stores where all the clerks spoke English (as did all the wait staff and hoteliers, btw), but one morning we went out to Osieczni, a neighboring village, looking for a factory store recommended by our hotel. We never did find the recommended factory store, but we happened accross a different, family run factory store. It was definitely more factory than store. The factory took over the top two levels of the family's home. They spoke no English, stopped their work to show us around, and took us into the storeroom to look for things to buy. They were very excited to see us, however, and simply wrote down the prices of anything we were looking at.

We arrived in Boleslawiec late Thursday evening and left Sunday morning, and keeping a steady pace had enough time to cover all the shopping bases. Another day would have allowed for a little more leisurely browsing, or better yet, an afternoon to take one of the day trips our hotel recommended. Super glad I went. Not addicted to the pottery, so likely won't go back, but it is a lush green forrested region of natural beauty and the small taste of uncommercialized Poland we happened into in Osieczni, was as close to an "authentic" experience as we out-of-towners often get.

for more on the region, check out our hotel's website

It's a non-holiday

2009-11-09T19:48:00.001+01:00

So according to my yahoo news ticker, Germany is spending the day remembering and celebrating. Apparently today is an important holiday. 20 years ago today "The Wall" came down. Thing is..... I've been out and about today and have seen no one remembering or celebrating.

The Berlin Wall (along with the OK city bombing, 9/11, and the Challenger explosion) is one of my "Kennedy" moments. I wasn't even a blink in anyone's eye when Kennedy was shot, but 20 years ago today I was a sophomore in highschool, moving from class to class watching live news coverage of the wall coming down on the then new streaming cable into the classroom technology**.

Maybe the boys and I will go walk the farmroads this afternoon and poll the local population and see if they knew they were witnessing history in the making. Doesn't seem like many of them will actually remember precisely what they were doing 20 years ago today.

I'm thinking the day might better be called... "if you're not in former East Germany, nobody cares" day.

**For what it's worth...the Berlin Wall and the US men's hockey team's bid to make it to the gold medal game at the 1992 Winter Olympics were the only live news events shown in my four years of highschool (and the hockey game wasn't shown in every class, only AP European History, presumably the teacher was a fan.)

hey, hey, Cinderella

2009-10-04T21:19:00.002+02:00

Went to a ball this weekend. In a real Castle, just like all those fairytales. What a good time and what a fabulous setting!

Local Treasures

2009-08-01T21:14:00.000+02:00

We've been taking advantage of all the nice weather recently, taking to the bike trails for afternoon rides. Most often our destinations are local playgrounds where C can frolic and feed the ducks. My favorite is one just up the road in Gangelt tucked beneath the trees with a few walking paths that meander by a river. His favorite is one a little further afield in Niederbusch with a life size chess set and zip line that zooms him accross the mud pit below.

The boys and I had a lovely morning last week exploring new bits of Geilenkirchen. Found some swans in the central park and then after window shopping for a bit stopped into Cafe Schleypen - a highly recommended spot for yummies that we'd yet to try. C loved the case full of cakes he got to choose from. I loved the outside courtyard he could romp around in as we all three shared the homemade goodie.

Later, we lit off to the blueberry field to meet up with friends and U-Pick some incredible morsels. However, upicking German style is a lot different than our honor pay, overgrown, blueberry lot stateside. Here, the bushes are in precisely manicured rows and upon arrival you're assigned a bush, told to pick only that bush, and kindly asked to keep your children from wandering around to pick other bushes. Here too, blueberry picking must be an all day affair as we saw lots of locals with their lawn chairs and coolers, camped out amid the rows of berries.

next up.... Valkenburg
coming soon....POLAND and POTTERY
around the bend..... Scotland

WildPark Gangelt

2009-07-14T21:11:00.001+02:00

Explored a local treasure recently, taking the boys to WildPark Gangelt -- part playground, part nature trails, part zoo. C 'tis the perfect age for it, by the time we leave here he will have outgrown it. Not a huge place, and that's part of its appeal. It's small enough that he can walk it an hour, still leaving plenty of time for playgrounds and picnics.

His favorite part was the beehive, where the queen was marked with a read dot. "Don't worry" he said, "the Bees aren't so scary"

Opeanyear 'round, I think we might just have to snag an annual pass.....

Baby Book Time-- the first year

2009-07-13T14:38:00.001+02:00

At One Year....
He's a skinny little dude. 19.8 pounds (8th percentile, up from 5th percentile at 9months) and 30.11 inches (65th percentile, up from 22nd percentile at 9 months). Not walking yet, but doesn't like to sit still, not even to sit in his highchair to eat. Meals, more often than not, are little tidbits eaten on the go, but as he keeps growing, must be getting enough.

For his birthday we had some friends over to try out Daddy's new grill and the kids decorated cupcakes. I put strawberries all over B's as strawberries and watermelon are two of his favorite foods.

His newest trick is giving five and although he makes lots of sounds, the only sound that functions as a word (signifying a specific meaning) is cawya, which you guessed it, is his word for big brother. Big Brother is awful sweet to him. When B's in his crib, fussing to get out, I tend to talk to him as I walk up the stairs to get him, "Don't worry, baby, momma's coming". Anytime B's awake and begins fussing, C dashes off to wherever B's penned in, hollering to him along the way, "Don't worry, baby, Cawya's coming"

there's no escaping it....

2009-06-27T21:34:00.001+02:00

We've got a pretty grand Netherlands-based, Goodwill-like chain over here. The Bis Bis. There are 4 within a short drive and a few weeks back we scouted them all looking for a dining room table. The Dutch love the modern, clean lines of IKEA furniture. Even expensive furniture showrooms are stocked with more expensive IKEAesque items. The result, the Bis Bis are filled with older furniture for pennies.

For example:
Our dining room table and 4 chairs (solid dark wood, with two leaves that pop up to comfortably seat 6 if not 8) -- 85euro

old secretary desks -- 60euro

old phone desks (for those of you in the know, like the one grandma and popo always kept in the kitchen in NC) 35euro

whole wall china cabinets 175euro

original singer sewing tables 50euro

AND, they'll deliver (although we have recently met neighbors with a pick up truck).

The Bis Bis has become our favorite place to wander, even though as of yet we've only bought the table and chairs. We went back today to pick up a fan [it's hot here this week] and a beer pilsner or two and unfortunately got skunked on both those counts, but 'twas still a fun outing, EXCEPT for the fact that while shopping we had to listen to most of Michael Jackson's Bad CD.

so, like I said in the title -- there's just no escaping it.

Mill Day....

2009-06-20T17:17:00.001+02:00

Once a year, all of the old-fashioned German Windmills are open to the public. There are 5 or 6 in our county, so on Muhle day, which happened to be one of the most beautiful days we've had all year, we took to our bikes, met up with some friends, and made a windmill circuit.

We started in Breberen; continued on to Waldfeucht, got lost so skipped Kirchoven and ended up inHaaren

Total, we cyclced 32km (about 20miles) and were gone about 6 hours. One mill had a grill set up where we could refuel on Brots and Kartoffelsalat and another had Kuche and Kaffee for sale. C started out on his trail-a-bike and did just fine until it was time start home from Haaren. He'd had a lot of sun, and his allergies were bothering him, so he and B took naps on the way home in the pull-behind kid cart, affectionately known in our house as "the cave". However, said cave was behind my bike, not daddy's, since daddy's better with C on the trail-a-bike. Lemme tell you pulling 20lb of kid is a lot different than pulling 70lb of kid, especially up hill!

Mills in this region typically ground grain, rather than moving water the way we learned of windmills back in elementary school. The Haaren mill is actually a working mill and a local farmer buys the milled flour to mix in with his feed. I really can't believe they let the public into the mills - it was crowded, the spaces were cramped, and no safety barricades between the visitors and the milling mechanisms, not to mention the ladder-steep stairs we had to climb to get up the mills. Our friends had an 18month old with them, so between theirs and ours, the mommas spent a lot of time holding collars to be sure curious little minds didn't get a little to close to the spinning gears.

All in all good fun, one of the cooler "local" things we've done, and we'll definitely put next year's "Mill Day" on our calendar!

Raindrops on Roses.....

2009-06-14T23:39:00.000+02:00

Stunning mountain views, excellent (if cheesy) city tours, kid-friendly biergartens, street vendors, castles with waterguns, playgrounds, and famous gazebos ..... just a few of my favorite things about Salzburg.

The hills were most definitely alive. This was the view from our apartment balcony, not a bad way to enjoy a morning coffee or an evening glass of wine. Our apartment was just on the city outskirts, about a 10 minute drive from the center of town. Well stocked with enough space for each kiddo to have his own room and an easy walk from a number of food choices, including a biergarten with an awesome playground-- a great place to eat dinner our first night in town and let C burn off some steam from the long car ride.

We spent two full days touring the city and started with the Fraulein Maria Sound of Music Tour. There's no better way to see the city, even dodging raindrops as we were. Early in the travel season, it was only our family, so we essentially had a private tour. 3+ hours biking about 9 miles in total and stopping at all the famous movie sights. Our guide, a Sound of Music devotee and a local university music student (originally from Finland)also pointed out other local sights and was a wealth of information about Salzburg in general. We rode by the gardens and statues and markets the children and Maria explored in their do-re-mi outings; saw the Salzburg concert hall, the Convent, the houses used for filming, and THE "16 going on 17" gazebo. Eldest hung in gamely on a trail-a-bike and even got to take a break at a local playground, while baby just took it all in hugging momma's back strapped into a baby seat.

It rained on us at the end of tour, so we quick changed the kids' clothes and then found a Rick Steve's recommended biergarten for lunch -- great place with lots of space for the boys in a little local neighborhood with the local brew. After lunch it was back to our flat for a nap and then a funiculur ride up to the top of the Salzburg fortress (So we could see the fortress and the view, and so C could ride the crazy, mountain-skirting elevator/train). In another life we'd've caught a conert, up at the top, but with the little ones the ride and walk around was the way to go.

Saturday -- day two-- we started the morning with a self guided walking tour, courtesy of Rick Steves, learning more about the non Sound of Music Salzburg sights. C collected rocks as we walked (it's become a bit of a thing for him to pick up rocks wherever we go. It started this winter in Nurnberg and you know I totally encourage it a) because it keeps him busy, and b) because it reminds me of that awesome scene at then end of With Honors), stopped for icecream more than he should have, and played in the fountains as we poked our heads into churches, cemetaries and old government buildings. After our tour grabbed a quick lunch at a burger shop, strolled the shopping district, and then gave the kiddos a few hours off back at the flat.

For dinner, (after getting C some playground time in a fabulous park ) we grabbed some street food while walking between the main squares (and yes C got yet another ice cream -- I think icecream might be his special travel reward)

There's a parking garage in this mountain, one of the more creative ways I've seen to preserve a city's natural landscape. So cool, I had to take a number of pictures of it.

The next AM, we loaded up the car and headed on our way, C waving g'bye to the mountains as we passed them, when it finally dawned on him, "Mommy, there's snow up there."

The actual SOM mountains were filmed across the German border in Bavaria, to get the "green" look the director wanted, but the mountains surrounding Salzburg were gorgeous. We didn't make it to Eagle's Nest (one of Hitler's compounds just across the German border, known for the road Hitler had built to connect it to the town below, and didn't get into the Bavaria region at all, but as we still want to hit Munich and Garmish, we'll be back!

Planning a European vacation..... go to Salzburg!
(here's a cool link to good fun in the Antwerp train station a few months back. Although Salzburg natives claim to have never actually seen the Sound Of Music, at least some Europeans have!)

I'm Humored....

2009-06-07T10:06:00.001+02:00

New posts coming soon on Salzburg and our mega cycle Windmill Adventure, but in the meantime, I gave someone directions to my house this AM and they humored me. WARNING: don't drive across the field! :-)

Make your first left after the church, onto a road that has no name, but there's a white sign that says "Baustellen Ausfart" (You'll pass the church on your right and then a bus stop on your left after the church. The road you turn on is after the bus stop on your left and across the street from a little wishing well type thing.) It looks like kind of like you're on a farm road. Keep going to the end. Turn right when you dead end into the horse pen. (IOW, don't keep driving across the field). Make your next right and that's my road.

Ahhhhhhh, village life (in a world that I don't think has ever considered zoning laws)

from "In Bruges" to "Sound of Music"

2009-05-20T22:50:00.001+02:00

On our way to Salzburg, Austria for the long weekend. It's about a 8 hour drive, so we left this afternoon after work and drove part way. My kids, awesome travelers that they are, are tucked into their beds and since I am without the TIVO for the evening thought it'd be a good time to take a look back....

Back in March, we left the bitty ones home with daddy and went on a grownup day to Bruges. What an awesome little city. The weather was cold and rainy, but Bruges itself... charming! I can't wait to go back when the weather's nicer. The kids and I can stroll, get some waffles, maybe even take a boat ride while daddy climbs the Bruges belfry, (which I did. The pic below is the view). And, just for the record the Colin Farell movie, In Bruges, totally inaccurate; there's no way one can fall (or be pushed?) out of that tower. But 'tis still a fun movie to watch before and after going to Bruges so you can place all the landmarks that go by.

speaking of watching movies for landmarks --- made eldest watch Sound of Music this weekend. I've been humming Do, Re, Mi ever since. "mommy", he says, "I don't want to sing Do, Re, Mi anymore" Can you tell who this weekend is really for? Anyway, back to Bruges.....

We took a city bus tour, which was nice because it drove us up by the windmills, which we wouldn't have gotten to on our own. I climbed the Belfry and then we simply meandered the squares, stopped at cafes for coffee and waffles, ducked into the brewery and strolled through the old convent, before making our way back to the charter bus for the ride home.

Bruges is the kind of city I like, the kind of city that's small enough to walk thoroughly, small enough to be charming in its whole, (at least in its whole historic district) rather than in parts. Lots of folks come to Europe for London, Paris and Rome. Not me. My money is on Florence, Prague, Cambridge, and now Bruges. I'm hopeful Salzburg will have the same, love to wander it, feel to it. And even if it doesn't.... it does have the Faulein Maria's Sound of Music tour, so what's not to love?

They say the "Hills are Alive" -- check back in a day or two and I'll let you know.
So long, Farewll, Aufwiedersehen, Goodnight!

Tiptoe through the Tulips

2009-05-04T11:10:00.001+02:00

We made it to the world famous Keukenhof Gardens this weekend. We did it as a day trip, yet forgot to factor in the Mc Family travel rule while in Europe: There will always be a traffic jam. *EVERY* single road trip we've taken since we've been here, short or long, has been lengthened significantly by a traffic jam. The trip to Keukenhof, which should've taken 2.5 hours, took closer to 5. Thank goodness the other two couples we were meeting (who had our tickets and who had gone up the night before) didn't mind waiting and thank goodness my kids are phenomenal travelers. Oldest is skilled at entertaining himself with road games and can alternate between holding youngest's bottle for him and giving him toys. Baby sleeps better in the car than almost anywhere else and if C gets too antsy I simply pop in the German CD. He doesn't like the CD series that teaches you actual phrases and sentences, but he listens with rapt attention to the one that simply goes over words: we've got the days of the week, months of the years, numbers and colors just about mastered.

The gardens themselves were beautiful. This year's theme was New York, NY. That part was a little over-hyped. Supposedly you could see the Statue of Liberty drawn out with different colored flowers, and maybe you could from a helicopter, but the viewing platform provided by the park wasn't tall enough to really make anything out. If we go again, we'll pack a picnic lunch. They didn't care if you brought your own food and their food was not so good, overpriced, and shut down at 4 in the afternoon. We actually ate stand waffles for lunch and for dinner (C was in heaven). They had a petting zoo and two playgrounds for the kids. C actually thought we were going to the zoo, and he just had to look at some flowers first.

I'm not sure we'll go back every year, but I'm glad to have gone and would certainly encourage anyone who was ever in the area during the spring time to make the effort to get to Keukenhof.

fountain FUN in Maastricht

2009-04-29T20:38:00.001+02:00

he's "all boy" as they say

I didn't have any extra clothes for the big boy and 'twas too cold just to stay wet, so he ended wearing momma's cout for the afternoon

played too hard, had to take a snooze

baby book substitute

2009-04-19T00:12:00.002+02:00

Maybe I'll start him his own blog, but for now, this'll have to do.
At 9 months, he's moved from 1% on the weight chart to 5%. He's got two teeth, is mastering the mechanics of crawling, and loves to eat finger food, but only if it's mama's fingers doing the feeding. (I tend to hold those slimy foods for him, things like pears that he just can't manage to pick up off the tray, and lo and behold if it didn't take the kid all of about 2 seconds to figure out it was far easier to put mama's finger in his mouth than hassle with it himself).

He has the best fun with big brother; he'll cackle and laugh for the rest of us, but downright guffaws when C comes along. Their favorite game is the scream game. The rules are such: C screams, B screams, C screams, B screams.... pattern continues 'till I tell C to move on. B, of course, misses that directive, keeps screaming, and the whole game starts over again. (*Note* this game is good F-U-N when in the car).

Don't leave home without it (AKA --our weekend in the Mosel)

2009-04-17T12:04:00.001+02:00

'Tis a dreary day today and eldest is engrossed in a Geman DVD grandma left behind, youngest is napping, and I've just about had my fill of housework for the day, so a good time to start catching up a bit, I think.

Those of you who know me well know I went on a bit of a stroller spree when expecting baby. C is a stolling kiddo. Still often prefers to ride than walk... So, I cajoled grandpa into getting us this not-quite-a-double stroller. It has been a sanity saver. C can walk when he likes, he can sit when he likes, he can even nap on the jump seat, as evidenced during a recent all day outing to Maastricht when after frolicking in the fountain, snug and dry wrapped in mamma's coat, he and baby explored the city in their dreams while the rest of us strolled the city and found the old roman gate. (Picture Forthcoming -- I can't get to the server at the moment)

We've only been here a short time and the Joovy's gone on all our major outings, EXCEPT, our jaunt down to the Mosel a month or so back when Grandma and GP were visiting. See, space that trip was at a premium. The five of us filled the car's cabin and the only place for stuff was the trunk. I made the executive decision to take a different, smaller-fold stroller, and simply make C suck-it-up and walk.

I chose poorly. This is what happened in Trier. C booted baby to the Bjorn and this after the rest of us had already endured two hours of whining moaning and feet-dragging from our bored/tired preschooler. Had I found space in the car for the Joovy, our entire day in Trier would have been more enjoyable. C could have chilled on the jumpseat where he is far more easily entertained with games of "I spy", "count the statues", etc.

Live and Learn

While in the Mosel we visited Trier and Cochem. Both lovely towns. I especially liked Trier. Good fun wandering all the ruins tucked between market squares, outdoor cafes and modern shopping districts. Trier is unique to Germany because it boasts preserved ruins from several architectural eras -- Roman, Gothic, and so on. It's a one stop-shop that city.

Cochem's claim to fame is it's Reichsburg castle which sits high on a hill overlooking the city below. Cochem is small, easily covered in an afternoon and full of quaint, narrow cobble-stoned streets fun to meander. Also, a riverwalk, nice to enjoy if the weather's pleasant. We did not tour the mustard mill, but did stop in to buy some of the good stuff. We came home with a garlic mustard and a cayenne mustard. Can't put French's on all these German sausages can we?

Don't give up

2009-04-07T23:48:00.001+02:00

new posts are coming soon --

we've had grandparents a-plenty the past 6 weeks, which means lots of sightseeing and even a grown-up excursion or two. (*Remind me to explain the problems of traveling in Europe with kids, even when your kids are awesome travelers)

in the meantime, if you facebook and haven't yet found me, look me up, friend me, and catch my twitter-esque updates

more later, but until then, a super cute pic I found on my phone recently. Can you believe he was ever that small? ....

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2009-03-01T21:13:00.000+01:00

And is too -- sunny and 55 degrees, wow, what a nice change.
We walked the farmroads to a local bakery and didn't even mind that much when we got there and the bakery was closed. D had preschooler with him on the bike, so we sent them a little further to the bakery in the next village. Fortunately, it was open, and they came back with the BEST Berliner I've had yet.

We tackled Aachen this weekend too, riding the train instead of driving. C very much enjoyed the train experience. Tip: look for the handicap train cars -- the seats aren't as comfortable, but there are no steps and lots of space for the stroller. The Aachen station's not a bad walk from the historic center. We strolled the streets; ate lunch at an awesome tex-mex place (think a classier, yummier, grownup MOES); took C to the toy store; visited the German version of Borders -- that had a carousel in the kids section, btw; sampled the Printin; and took the time to tour Charlemagne's Cathedral and Treasury (which boasts a rather impressive collection of medieval relics, the largest in Northern Europe).

In my mind I'm going to

2009-02-21T15:54:00.001+01:00

PARIS

BTW -- 200 cool points and a big shout-out for you if you automatically filled in "Carolina" after reading that title. 'Cause that means you got my intended homage to JT. (100 cool points for even being familiar with the JT classic and a bonus 100 for knowing me well enough to know that's where I was headed)

Anywhoo, yes, we were supposed to go to Paris this weekend. It's a holiday weekend here -- Carnivale (think Mardigras on an even larger scale that what New Orleans does MardiGras). D has off and as we , surprise surprise, aren't really party-hardy folk, we figured we'd head off somewhere where Carnivale is less of a deal. The only such place within 3-day weekend proximity would be France, so what an awesome excuse to take our first excursion to the City of Lights.

However...... (and isn't there always an "however") B's just getting over strep. D's getting over feeling puny too. The Grands get here on Thursday and their room is still more storage than room -- which I was supposed to remedy this week, but with my boys being under the weather soooooo didn't happen, which means we put Paris on hold for another time and opted to be homebodies this weekend.

Yes, homebodies really is the word. I ventured to a Carnivale party Thursday evening with my German class. Far crazier than any college party I ever encountered OR any college party I overheard my students discussing as they shared their weekend misadventures in my 8:00 AM Monday classes (which is saying something as for a time my Grad School Alma Mater topped playboy's partyschool list).

D's work ended at 11:11 AMon Thursday morning. I'm positive the beer started flowing at 11:12. By the time me and my German Class buddies rolled in at 8:15PM, well let's just say it was one lit crowd. I only stayed an hour or so and on my way home had to avoid three pedestrians who couldn't keep to the sidewalks and saw more than one partygoer having a laydown, bottle in hand, wherever he happened to fall. But....

Friday at lunch, ran into a friend who told me she and her family had stopped into the gas station Thursday evening and had to call the German police 'cause some Carnivale reveller was Uber determined he was gonna take a ride in their minivan. AND we live in small villages, with celebrations that are tame compared to the monster celebrations in places like Koln. They do have designated kids parties and kids parades throughout Carnivale week(end), but as we *thought* we were gonna be away, didn't bother assembling costumes or making plans to attend.

Maybe next year?

Anyway, have read my "Take the Kids to Paris" guidebook and figured out where we'd like to stay in Paris as well as how we'd get there, so maybe soon Paris will be more than in my mind. (Although in an effort at full-disclosure I did spend 3 days in Paris as a highschooler [close to 20 years ago--OUCH] and I clearly remember Montmarte, the arc de triomph, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower and if I dig up my photo albums am sure I'd remember even more, so at least the Paris in my mind is not totally movie produced)

until then, Alaaf! (The cry o'Carnivale-- loosely transalted Hurray!)

a little bit of home..... well, sort of

2009-02-10T15:14:00.002+01:00

Ever since we arrived we've been hearing about the Centro in Oberhausen. It'd been described to us as an American style shopping mall. My sponsor even offered to take me there that first week in country, fearing I was feeling shell-shocked and needing a taste of something familiar. You see, malls, in our region are pretty unheard of. There are several excellent shopping districts, but they are outside, mostly specialty stores, and without the conveniences of lets say food courts, coffee bars, and centralized restrooms (This last is oh so important when preschooler is along).

Last Saturday was another blustery, cold day, so we decided to check out what's billed as one of "Europe's largest shopping and leisure centers". It's a very very nice, quite large, two story mall, pretty much like anyone built in the states in the last few years. Yet it didn't really feel like "home", despite the starbucks and the window shopping. One difference is that Europeans, at least in this region, have a completely different ethic of public space than we're used to. The mall was fairly crowded (apparently every other soul within driving distance decided they too were going to spend that blustery day inside), yet the German crowd navigation technique seems simply to be: get where you're going, and let other people worry about not running into you.

It's also a little weird to be in a rather crowded public venue and realize everyone looks pretty much the same. And believe me, you do notice it. Both D and I commented, independently, on the relative homogeny of the crowd. It's the type a thing over a decade in higher ed has trained me to notice.........but even if you haven't spent your entire adult life engaged in some discussion of identity politics, you're pretty used to being surrounded by different types of people, so used to it, in fact, that you often don't even notice many of those differences. It's a little off center when the crowd all looks the same (seriously, I'm not just talking race here, although it certainly was a predominantly Caucasian crowd, I mean body type, as well as hair color and hair style, even the ubiquitous black or navy coat). It's just an odd sensation, like I'm in the midst of a bunch of Cylons or something. But I really can't imagine how odd it must be for someone who really *does* look different, 'cause you know, at least appearance wise, me and my crew blend right in.

All and all, however, 'twas good fun to meander and fit the shopping experience at Oberhausen into our already existing American framework. There were very few named stores anyone stateside would recognize (an Esprit, a Claire's and a Ralph Lauren, I think) There were your obvious foot-lockeresque stores filled with sneakers, but I spent a lot of time explaining to D this is an Old-Navy like store, this is an Ann Taylor like store, etc. There were lots of stores for the tweeny-teeny-college set to shop at, lots of stores for me to shop at if I were outfitting a work wardrobe, and several what I call mainstream casual stores (you know, like Old Navy). What was conspicuously missing, at least to me, is what I would call upscale grown-up casual --you know, Banana Republic, J Crew, etc.

They had an outside promenade full of restaurants, offering us far more dinner choices than we typically have in one location, and the promenade itself would be a great place to go back to when the weather's nicer just to stroll (although I imagine when the weather's nicer we'll have lots of other places to check out).

So, yep, a fun family outing and Oberhausen just might be my first stop if I ever need to find "THE" outfit.

Proud to say....

2009-02-06T09:34:00.001+01:00

We had baby into the doc's this week for a 7month check up and I am proud to say that he is bigger than 1% of all other 7 months old (so smaller than 99% of them), but the fact that he is actually *on* the growth chart is an exciting development, since at his 6month checkup he was nowhere close to making it onto the curve -- not the optimal growth pattern for a tyke who weighed just a smidge over 8lbs at birth. AND, barring illness we don't have to go back to the doctor until his 9month well check. Considering we had 10 visits in January, that too is an exciting development.

a quick break from travel blogging

2009-02-04T15:07:00.000+01:00

I'm thinking.....

If you're gonna claim a leadership role within an organization that holds as a central platform tenet the expansion of social services (and thereby the expansion of government spending), don't you think you have an ethical if not moral obligation to do your part?

Oh yeah, I forgot, hope and change are free.
just spitballin over here......

my new toy

2009-01-26T23:05:00.000+01:00

Spent the afternoon shopping, sans munchkins and this came home with me. Europeans have been making single serve coffee for far longer than similar machines have been available stateside and the inserts actually cost less over here -- lattes, cappucinos, espresso, drip coffee, cafe crema, tea, hot chocolate, you name it, I can brew it.

I do however still have this (my thrift store find) for those all-coffee, all-the time days

THORN

2009-01-24T22:31:00.002+01:00

Germany typically brings to mind Octoberfest and Liederhosen, which is what you get down south in the Bavaria region. We're quite a ways north in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. There's a great deal of farming (Tons of sugar beets are grown around here. Quick: you win if you even know what a sugar beet is) with small town after small town popping up to connect the farmlands. We live right along the German/Dutch border and have found, so far, that we really do enjoy hanging out in Nederland.

Today we ventured to Thorn. Follow the link and you'll find a lot of history about the town's church, which really is the main tourist thing to do in town, but the real reason to go to Thorn is to visit De Pannekoeoenbakker, home of thin crepe-style pancakes, as big as your head, that come topped in over 400 combinations. The boys and I were supposed to go with a group of moms on Thursday, but had to cancel to take the baby into see the doctor, so this afternoon we all went. There's a playground in the basement for the young ones, which gives mom plenty of time to drink her coffee. I think we'll be regulars! (Come and visit and we'll take you to try your own pancake.)

Catchin' UP: Christmas and Christmas Travel

2009-01-19T20:27:00.000+01:00

Wow-- it's te last third of January already! If the rest of 2009 goes by so quickly, then we're in trouble.

Our first German Christmas was nice. We shoved all the boxes against the walls and carved out a little cubby in the living room to do Christmas morning (which actually turned into Christmas-Morning week as C was content to open one gift at a time and play with it for a while before opening another. I don't think he opened his last gift until after our trip. Christmas dinner was a simple one, and although we missed our extended family, with whom we usually celebrate, the Mcs were all together -- and that's something to be thankful for considering how many of the last few Christmases D's spent in another time zone.

We ignored all the unpacking for Christmas day, spent Boxing day in Ikea, and ingnored the unpacking some more the day after as we loaded up the orange box and headed south to Nurnberg and Rothenburg.

Nurnberg was really good fun. The things we did were by and large rather kid-friendly (the toy museum, the train museum, the zoo) and could have been in any city, but we got to see a good chunk of Nurnberg as we walked between attractions. Our second morning we toured the castle and climbed to the top of the Castle's Turret. *Mental Note* -- Climb no more twisty, narrow, steep stairways unless DADDY's the one wearing the baby.

Day three found us in Rothenburg, which according to Rick Steves is the best preserved example of a medieval walled city. The wall is completely in tact and you can't drive in the city. It was cold cold cold cold cold that day and there were still lots of tourists out, so I can't imagine the throng in the summer season. It's kind of tourist-trappy as there's store after store of clocks, nutcrackers, ornaments etc. Some, actually made in Germany, yet many others made in China to look like they were made in Germany. This one is by far the most famous.

Seems like every city/event has some kind of food that it's associated with, and yep we try them all -- in Berlin it's the Currywurst, in Nurnberg it's finger bratwurst, in Bavaria in general it's apple strudel and vanilla sauce, at the Christmas markets its warm waffles and gluwein, and in Rothenburg it's the Schneeball (German for snowball). Trust me, if you ever go to Rothenburg...... Skip the Schneeball.

It's not near as good as it looks. It's really pie crust shaped into a ball and dusted with powdered sugar. Go for a strudel or a kuchen or a piece of cheesecake or a good beer, but skip the shneeball, even C was less than impressed and only ate a few bites, which is a shame because we spent the whole morning bribing him into compliance with the promise of the schneeball to come. [We thought it was fried dough, donut style]

After Rothenburg it was off to the largest exchange in Europe so that D could buy a TV (yeah an all day affair, should have seen him trying to fit it in the box with the stroller, the pack-n-play, the suitcases and all the rest of the gear)

Then, we headed home. However, the roads had iced over and before the sakt trucks got to them, someone on our stretch off the autobahn had an accident. All traffic had to exit, except off course for the traffic that had already passed the last exit. (Exits on the Autobahn, btw, are pretty far apart, so we had to creep quite a ways before we could actually clear the traffic jam. So yes, the drive home which should have taken 2.5 hours took 7 and we welcomed 2009 en route.

The kids, however, hung in there gamely (except of course for C's potty emergency in the traffic jam when he refused to go on the side of the road like all the other menfolk) and handled the travel/touring far better than I had anticipated. Which is good, yes, as we hope to be doing alot more of it in the months to come.

I think we're settled enough that the blog is back, so keep checking back to see what we get into.

taking one for the team....

2008-12-22T15:06:00.000+01:00

This post is just to say that all you folks who've told us you're coming over sometime while we're here,both to see us and to see all the sights that are nearby..... we're expecting you.

We've got a guest room in the basement ready, but not without casualty. While we maneuvered the queen size boxspring into the basement with lots of muscle and the help of gravity (after removing the hand rails and sacrificing some paint in the stairwell), we're not getting it out without a chain saw. It would be a real shame to go through the motions of setting up a guestroom and yet not have any actual guests to put in it.

We'll leave a light on for you!

(Now I'm off to check on D who's in our room putting togethter our bed, which we were smart enough to leave boxed from the store so it could ship unassembled; there's NO way a kingwould've made it up the stairs. But if it can be put together now, it can be taken apart again when its time to pull up stakes.)

looks like we'll all have a place to sleep tonight :)

An Acquired Taste?

2008-12-15T12:59:00.001+01:00

Ate lunch recently at the local subway. (Subway and Mcdonalds are the only two places I've found with fountain sodas or coffee in to-go cups). The menu is pretty much the same as in the states. However, the chip choices were interesting.

ever tried a prawn-flavored potato chip? Did you ever imagine such a chip existed? D ate the whole bag, so he must have liked them. Me, not so much.

Tonight is our last night in our guesthouse, which means this will likely be my last post until our internet gets up and running (two weeks if we're lucky, a month if we're not.)

Merry Christmas one and all. We're still undescided where we're headed for the holiday, so be sure to check back after the new year to see where we ended up!

Aachen and the Autobahn; Cereal and Sausages

2008-12-09T10:25:00.001+01:00

We made it Aachen this past Saturday-- a really old German city (yeah think Charlemagne's time, so really yreally old). But this time of year it's claim to fame is that it hosts the largest Christmas market that's kind of close to us and has a fabulous toy store.

The weather Saturday was cold and drizzly, but if we waited for a sunny day to go anywhere we'd never get out.

The toy store is three levels and has a slide that the kids can slide on to get from the main floor to the basement. Saturday, St. Nikolaus was out giving presents to the kids. (St Nikolaus was also outside every store we walked pass giving out chocolate, so much so that when C was ready for more candy he'd say to me, "Where's Nikolaus")

The Market itself was super crowded, but it was still good fun to meander.

I started B on some cereal this week and as you can see from the picture he's already progressed from cereal to sausages.

To get to Aachen we took our first spin on the Autobahn. I didn't drive, but I did pass my driver's test last week and took the car out for the first time on Sunday. ("the car" would be the 1997 BMW Dan bought this week for our second car-- our orange box is still in transit.) Local lore has it that when you come to GK, you leave with either a baby or a BMW. BMW: check!

Christmas Markets here and there

2008-11-30T18:39:00.002+01:00

We went to the Geilenkirchen christmas market this weekend and had a good time walking a bit of the city (it was the first time we had really walked around GK proper.) After being here for nearly two weeks scored our first currywurst for lunch.

we tried to go to another local market today, but by the time we got there, both kids had fallen asleep in the car, it was raining and we would have had to park rather far away and slog through the rain-- didn't seem like it was worth waking them up for it.

we have decided that b/c we will either have no stuff or very discombobulated stuff for Christmas that we'll spend Christmas week in Nurnberg at the mother of all Christmas markets, seems like a good year to do it

Both GK and Heinsberg have children's play equipment on random street corners (see above). C likes to go exploring now 'cause he never knows what he's going to find!

Heinsberg-- flying solo

2008-11-28T11:28:00.001+01:00

Our guesthouse is in the town of Heinsberg. Earlier this week a friend and I walked down town for lunch. However with three kids in tow, two of whom were sick and all of whom alternated between fits of whining, kvetching, and general complaining, what I saw of Heinsberg that day remains a bit of a blur. Until my stroller stash gets here, walking outings with both kids are less than ideal. I have to carry B, which is no big deal, really, 'cause he's still such a lightweight. My garagantuan preschooler, on the other hand, presents a problem. C still would rather ride than walk -- and the 20 minute walk downtown is too much for him anyway-- but the only stroller I have with me simply isn't designed to hold my 50lb monster, especially over curbs and cobblestones.

However, D came home after lunch yesterday and after feeding both kiddos and getting them tucked into bed for their naps, I went back to Heinsberg, this time flying solo.

'Twas the first solo time I'd had since we landed and had a lovely time in and out of the children boutique, the toy store, the stationary store, and a second hand shop or two. I found the German version of the dollar store (which really and truly looks very much like the American version of a dollar store), stopped to try on some shoes, and lingered to sip some Gluvein at one of the booths in the market.On one hand I do wish C was with me because he would have like the pseudo-puppetshow thing I happened accross in the market, but we can take him back one day, just for that.

The wee bit of solo exploring makes me feel a bit more human and not quite the bumbling, incompetent American.

This morning, I ventured out with both kiddos. We grabbed a snack at the local bakery and then came back to a playground right around the corner from our guesthouse. C has a very interesting playground ethic. When he's at the playground with other kids he *always always always* convinces the other kids to get on the equipment first; that way it's their bottoms that dry of the morning dew. Today there were no other kids and C gets to the top of the slide, pauses at the platform, sees the water, and looks at me and asks, "where's W?". (W is our 2.5 year old friend in town). Disappointed he was when he realized he'd have to dry the slide himself today!

Happy American Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T10:47:00.001+01:00

Today is just another ol Thursday over here. Yet, it's still a good time to stop and count some of our many blessings, including all of our family and friends. We've been invited to thanksgiving dinner at friends on Saturday, but today D had to go to some meetings and the boys and I made banana bread. I had to open a temperature converter on the computer to know what tto set the oven at. (Note: 350 F is 176 C). I couldn't find any measuring devices, so it was really guess-a-bread on the proportions... we'll see how it turns out. I think I got pretty close using a 5oz baby bottle I'm carrying around.

This week has been a wee bit crazy. The boys have been to the Doctor both with bacteiral bronchitis. I was at the dentist with what I thought was a root canal, but thankfully turned out to only be an uneven filling.

The Christmas markets start here in earnest this weekend, so will try to get to one in the next couple of days.

It snowed here this week (from what I hear an unusual occurence, especially this early in the year) so C had fun frolicking in it. I can post some pictures as soon as I find the camera cord.

D is looking for a used car this week. Here's something you don't normally think to check out before buying. Achtung Automarder! - Local Pests

Have an extra helping of Turkey todayy for us!

To Sittard

2008-11-22T18:59:00.002+01:00

Today we wandered over to Sittard in the Netherlands. From what I hear we'll be there a great deal, seems like folks around here are always saying, "When I was over at Sittard..."

Todays destination was the open air market and then lunch at bagels and beans. If you go, C highly recommends the double chocolate muffin.

After lunch we went a little further to Shinnen so D could look at TVs and C could play on the indoor playplace as it 'twas mighty cold here today (a few snow flurries even). The indoor playplace, however, ajoins the bowling alley and C had more fun watching the bowling. He cheered each person on as they stepped to the line and then offered the heartiest of congratulations whether they threw a strike or a gutter ball. Me thinks that we might have a bowling birthday this year, hmmmm?

The Mcs have landed

2008-11-18T17:39:00.000+01:00

What day is it? The boys seem to have adjusted ok and slept full nights last night with normal naps today, D and I, however, are still operating on EST and are two mighty tired travelers.

The trip itself went really well, a couple of seating snafus on the plane and a really long wait to clear customs, but otherwise uneventful. C has earned the preschooler of the year award; he's just been an angel (and angel isn't typically the word I use to describe the boy)

Didn't see anything of brussels other than what you see along the interstate, namely brief glimpse of the Atomium, but it's not a far drive and might be one of our first day trips once the car arrives.

Our guest house is lovely and the owner's a dear.
http://www.gaestehauscosima.de./

more ramblin....

2008-08-13T02:33:00.000+02:00

It was just about this time last year that we were rambling around Britain, Germany and the Czech Republic. A year later: we've added one more wee one to the Mcs and just found out we are moving to Germany this fall, so there will be lots more ramblin' in our future.

tulips in Amsterdam, the Scottish highlands, the City of Lights, and the Sound of Music tour in Austria are just some of the trips we're already planning, not to mention German castles and Belgian Chocolate shops

stay tuned!