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

'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

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

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

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

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.