Tomorrow morning we're all going to the airport. Kathy is heading home with the kids while I take a short hop back up to Frankfurt for a couple days - we've got a customer visiting our facility in Hanau. I fly home this Thursday.
Kathy packed roughly 800 pounds of stuff into our luggage while I was out of town in Denmark & Sweden this week. All I have to do is pack my clothes tonight and we're ready to head out at the crack of dawn, dump our baggage, return our cars to Hertz, and go.
I believe the kids think they're going to end up trick or treating Saturday night (which wouldn't be a horrible way to keep them up late enough to start the process of re-setting their internal clocks) but we'll see what happens. After ten plus hours in airplanes and fifteen or sixteen hours of total travel time we'll see how chipper they are. I have to say she's pretty amazing, able & willing to travel with a half ton of baggage plus three young boys from continent to continent. All hail Kathy!!! Someone please arrange some nights out when she gets back - she's been with the boys nearly constantly for 2 1/2 months and seems to be having some girlfriend withdrawal.
It feels simultaneously as if we have been gone for ages and as if we've blinked our eyes and the time was gone. It's been a great experience but we're all looking forward to seeing home again. I could really go for a Jack's frozen pizza and a liter of mountain dew... and a car that isn't a Fiat or Renault... and a Coke that tastes like a real Coke... and cable TV in english... and my Martin... and a Chipotle... and a decent steak... Uh, and you too of course! :) Seriously though we really do miss everyone a lot and can't wait to see you again.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Long overdue update (Jim update)
It's October 20 today and we've made a grand total of zero blog updates since arriving in Switzerland. That's primarily due to the fact that we have no wirelss internet at our house in Chayre.
It's a very different environment here as we're in a 'holiday house' or chalet kind of thing right on the lake. Since it's pretty much off season all of other holiday houses, campers, and cabins near us are empty. So it's very quiet, we really haven't met anyone socially, but the boys can be noisy as hell outside without bothering anybody. After a month in an apartment being told "Stop jumping! Our floor is somebody else's ceiling!" or "Shhhh!", it's nice to be able to let the monkeys act like monkeys.
Anyway, our place is a log cabin/chalet built in the early 70's judging by the tile and cooking utensils and hasn't been updated since. It kind of has that cabin smell, if you know what I mean. It's right on the lake as I said and the boys were able to splash around the day we arrived before the temperature plunged by 30 degrees.
Work has been busy but we've had a good time on the weekends. Kathy's childhood friend Christine came to visit a couple weeks ago and she's always good yucks. They went to see cheese being made in Gruyere' (yeah, those chicks are WILD!) and we went to the mountains near Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen two weekends in a row.
The scenery really is eye boggling and there's one spot where you can actually see a waterfall inside of a mountain. I think it was Rick Steves who described it as "God's band saw cutting through the mountain at 5000 gallons per second". The energy of twelve hundred tons of water falling past you every minute makes you feel fairly inconsequential on the big scheme of things. Everything was wet and slipping and despite the hand rails we made a point of scaring the crap out of the kids by telling them the true story of how a 13 year old boy died there a few years ago. Apparently he was climbing around somehow, slipped, and that was that. For the first time ever, our kids held onto our hands without griping so it apparently was effective.
This weekend we plan to drive up to Fribourg as there is some kind of kid friendly town activity on Saturday night. We're going to meet a colleague who lives there and has kids similar in age to our younger ones. I think the plan is to have fondue (melted cheese) along with raclette (uh, more melted cheese but slightly denser). That's kind of the swiss diet. From what I've read, nobody poops here. Ever.
Kathy flies home with the kids on Halloween (10/31) while I head back to Hanau, Germany to work for a few more days and come home 11/5. It's been great, work-wise and family-wise, but I think we're all about ready to head home.
P.S. Bob Snyder and Mike Davitt, our friends Brooke and Jason are moving back to Minnesota from Boston on 10/25 and will be staying at our place for a few weeks as they get settled and find a spot of their own. So if you see a big shaggy looking guy with a beard lurking around our place, please do not shoot him. Do not. Patty and Kathy S, you don't shoot him either. Unless of course he doesn't answer to the name 'Jason' - in that case it's a burgler, so plug him. Thanks!
It's a very different environment here as we're in a 'holiday house' or chalet kind of thing right on the lake. Since it's pretty much off season all of other holiday houses, campers, and cabins near us are empty. So it's very quiet, we really haven't met anyone socially, but the boys can be noisy as hell outside without bothering anybody. After a month in an apartment being told "Stop jumping! Our floor is somebody else's ceiling!" or "Shhhh!", it's nice to be able to let the monkeys act like monkeys.
Anyway, our place is a log cabin/chalet built in the early 70's judging by the tile and cooking utensils and hasn't been updated since. It kind of has that cabin smell, if you know what I mean. It's right on the lake as I said and the boys were able to splash around the day we arrived before the temperature plunged by 30 degrees.
Work has been busy but we've had a good time on the weekends. Kathy's childhood friend Christine came to visit a couple weeks ago and she's always good yucks. They went to see cheese being made in Gruyere' (yeah, those chicks are WILD!) and we went to the mountains near Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen two weekends in a row.
The scenery really is eye boggling and there's one spot where you can actually see a waterfall inside of a mountain. I think it was Rick Steves who described it as "God's band saw cutting through the mountain at 5000 gallons per second". The energy of twelve hundred tons of water falling past you every minute makes you feel fairly inconsequential on the big scheme of things. Everything was wet and slipping and despite the hand rails we made a point of scaring the crap out of the kids by telling them the true story of how a 13 year old boy died there a few years ago. Apparently he was climbing around somehow, slipped, and that was that. For the first time ever, our kids held onto our hands without griping so it apparently was effective.
This weekend we plan to drive up to Fribourg as there is some kind of kid friendly town activity on Saturday night. We're going to meet a colleague who lives there and has kids similar in age to our younger ones. I think the plan is to have fondue (melted cheese) along with raclette (uh, more melted cheese but slightly denser). That's kind of the swiss diet. From what I've read, nobody poops here. Ever.
Kathy flies home with the kids on Halloween (10/31) while I head back to Hanau, Germany to work for a few more days and come home 11/5. It's been great, work-wise and family-wise, but I think we're all about ready to head home.
P.S. Bob Snyder and Mike Davitt, our friends Brooke and Jason are moving back to Minnesota from Boston on 10/25 and will be staying at our place for a few weeks as they get settled and find a spot of their own. So if you see a big shaggy looking guy with a beard lurking around our place, please do not shoot him. Do not. Patty and Kathy S, you don't shoot him either. Unless of course he doesn't answer to the name 'Jason' - in that case it's a burgler, so plug him. Thanks!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
2nd to last night in Hochstadt (Jim update)
It's Thursday night and we're counting down to our departure for Switzerland on Saturday. It's amazing how quickly the month went. We've really gotten into the groove of this nice little town and now we have to leave. Last night, we went out for dinner with another couple we met, Michael and Stephanie Schoeneman and had a blast. They took us to a great place we hadn't been in yet, called the Babelgass on the little main street of town. I had just spent four hours humping four very heavy pieces of luggage around the Frankfurt Airport train station (long story) so I was REALLY ready for a beer. The best part was that the bar was in a sort of courtyard with a play area so the kids weren't forced to sit still while the adults made boring grown up conversation. Anyway, we had good fun talking with the Schoenemanns and made it home near midnight. Tomorrow I turn in one of our cars at Hertz, we pack, we enjoy one last night drinking a little bit of Ingo's beer, and we hop a train at 8:00 a.m. Saturday.
P.S. Bob Snyder, if you read this, could you do me a favor and look at my front yard? I saw some mole hills when I was home and I hope they're not tearing the hell out of it. Thanks!
P.S. Bob Snyder, if you read this, could you do me a favor and look at my front yard? I saw some mole hills when I was home and I hope they're not tearing the hell out of it. Thanks!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Paris or Bust!
OK, so Paris was NOT a bust, yahoo! We made it, in one piece, "safe and sound" as they say. I lost no children on the subway, did not run over any French people, and no one, as far as I know, got bitten by a camel! All is good. We did however, spend a ton of time in the car where the children had unlimited access to their Nintendo DS players and videos on my laptop. Brain suckers I say, none of them could spell their name when we arrived!
It took us 10 hours to make the 6.5 hour drive. Primarily due to the fact that the Autobahn was closed around Frankfurt and neither Gretta (my GPS) nor I have a 6th sense about direction and how to get around construction in a city. It took us over 2 hours to travel less than 20 miles. Imagine the response I gave when the children asked "are we there yet" and we hadn't even left town! We also had some experience with Paris traffic on the west side of our journey, which shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone, even Gretta...
We stayed in a B & B near Giverny, the town where Monet did most of his painting. The B&B was on a 10 acre farm with no other guests in it that week. Awesome for 3 little boys who have been watched over like hawks on every city street we travel on (they tell me I am over-protective about traffic...well, this may be true,but...if they would just watch where they were going!!). The boys were able to play outside without my supervision, something to remind them of home, and good for everyone I must say.
Giverny has turned into quite an artist colony since Monet put this very quaint, rustic, little 2 street village on the map. The village has many art galleries, art museums, as well as street side artists selling their wares. One gentleman had loads of sand delivered to his yard and used it to make sand sculptures. The rule was you could see the sculptures for free, but he asked for a euro or two for a photograph. The kids enjoyed the sculpture of a cool dragon and of the Last Supper. So much so, that after leaving, Daniel says to me (in a way only Daniel can), "mom, that was really cool we got to see that First Breakfast sculpture!" I am not kidding. He is funny, that boy. The boys were unimpressed with the impressionist museum claiming (too loudly I am afraid!) that the paintings all looked like blobs and asking when we were going to see some art that looked like something! Out of the mouths of babes, honestly, I thought the art looked like blobs too. I just would have never admitted it! Monet's house and gardens were fabulous. The gardens look exactly like you would imagine them to and have probably seen in every popular Monet artwork (or umbrella!).
We were wisely advised to avoid ever driving in Paris, even with trusty Gretta as our guide, so we took the train into the city. Smart choice. Paris traffic is AWFUL!!! I was going to say, "like none other" but I still have night terrors about riding in a taxi in Cairo, it may not be worse than that! We had an agenda of 3 or 4 (the 4th was going to be a bonus) sites to see in Paris. We saw 2. I know,it sounds kind of lame, but you try getting 3 distracted boys on and off subways, down streets filled with things to look at and pigeons to feed and still cover any ground. Not possible. So, I just let the boys set the pace (I say that now like I am such a calm mother, if you could have counted how many times I said, "Come ON boys, please! Hurry up! We will never get there at this rate!" You may think otherwise.)
We spent almost 3 hours at the Eiffel tower. A kind of goofy, but super popular tourist attraction. I know why; my kids loved it! It was pretty cool to be so high up and see the entire city. Fortunately for me, this attraction is one of the very few we have seen in Europe that has pretty good safety standards. There was almost no way my kids could have plummeted to their death off of the tower. I only had to worry about losing them in the giant crowd. The best part about the Eiffel tower (after the view) is the great number of pigeons in the courtyard below. The kids saved all their leftovers from lunch and fed pigeons for what seemed like hours. Connor's new claim to fame is that he caught 3 of them in his hands. Yuck! Don't they have bugs and stuff?
After getting lost for quite some time, (I should have brought Gretta) we ended up at Notre Dame. We actually made it here (by accident) for mass. Very cool. The church is truly amazing, and is worth all of the hype.
The day after Paris we visited Versailles. King Louie the 15th (I think) built this enormous structure to show off his wealth. Well done Louie, it is big and looks like it cost a lot of money. We toured the inside which was very cool, but not as cool 9at least to the boys) as the big snail we saw outside. I left the boys to look at this for about 45 minutes while I walked the gardens alone. They wanted to take it home. Boys are funny little creatures, aren't they?
Well, that about sums up our 5 day furlough to France. Jim was in Minnesota at the same time we were in France. This made the boys a little homesick for the first time. Jim brought back peanut butter and syrup so I think that helped a little. This week Jim is in Ireland for a few days and I am hanging out with Jim's brother Steve who came to visit for the week. It is really good to see him. The boys sat by the window for over an hour waiting for him to show up.
Once again dear friends, I wish you all the best!
It took us 10 hours to make the 6.5 hour drive. Primarily due to the fact that the Autobahn was closed around Frankfurt and neither Gretta (my GPS) nor I have a 6th sense about direction and how to get around construction in a city. It took us over 2 hours to travel less than 20 miles. Imagine the response I gave when the children asked "are we there yet" and we hadn't even left town! We also had some experience with Paris traffic on the west side of our journey, which shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone, even Gretta...
We stayed in a B & B near Giverny, the town where Monet did most of his painting. The B&B was on a 10 acre farm with no other guests in it that week. Awesome for 3 little boys who have been watched over like hawks on every city street we travel on (they tell me I am over-protective about traffic...well, this may be true,but...if they would just watch where they were going!!). The boys were able to play outside without my supervision, something to remind them of home, and good for everyone I must say.
Giverny has turned into quite an artist colony since Monet put this very quaint, rustic, little 2 street village on the map. The village has many art galleries, art museums, as well as street side artists selling their wares. One gentleman had loads of sand delivered to his yard and used it to make sand sculptures. The rule was you could see the sculptures for free, but he asked for a euro or two for a photograph. The kids enjoyed the sculpture of a cool dragon and of the Last Supper. So much so, that after leaving, Daniel says to me (in a way only Daniel can), "mom, that was really cool we got to see that First Breakfast sculpture!" I am not kidding. He is funny, that boy. The boys were unimpressed with the impressionist museum claiming (too loudly I am afraid!) that the paintings all looked like blobs and asking when we were going to see some art that looked like something! Out of the mouths of babes, honestly, I thought the art looked like blobs too. I just would have never admitted it! Monet's house and gardens were fabulous. The gardens look exactly like you would imagine them to and have probably seen in every popular Monet artwork (or umbrella!).
We were wisely advised to avoid ever driving in Paris, even with trusty Gretta as our guide, so we took the train into the city. Smart choice. Paris traffic is AWFUL!!! I was going to say, "like none other" but I still have night terrors about riding in a taxi in Cairo, it may not be worse than that! We had an agenda of 3 or 4 (the 4th was going to be a bonus) sites to see in Paris. We saw 2. I know,it sounds kind of lame, but you try getting 3 distracted boys on and off subways, down streets filled with things to look at and pigeons to feed and still cover any ground. Not possible. So, I just let the boys set the pace (I say that now like I am such a calm mother, if you could have counted how many times I said, "Come ON boys, please! Hurry up! We will never get there at this rate!" You may think otherwise.)
We spent almost 3 hours at the Eiffel tower. A kind of goofy, but super popular tourist attraction. I know why; my kids loved it! It was pretty cool to be so high up and see the entire city. Fortunately for me, this attraction is one of the very few we have seen in Europe that has pretty good safety standards. There was almost no way my kids could have plummeted to their death off of the tower. I only had to worry about losing them in the giant crowd. The best part about the Eiffel tower (after the view) is the great number of pigeons in the courtyard below. The kids saved all their leftovers from lunch and fed pigeons for what seemed like hours. Connor's new claim to fame is that he caught 3 of them in his hands. Yuck! Don't they have bugs and stuff?
After getting lost for quite some time, (I should have brought Gretta) we ended up at Notre Dame. We actually made it here (by accident) for mass. Very cool. The church is truly amazing, and is worth all of the hype.
The day after Paris we visited Versailles. King Louie the 15th (I think) built this enormous structure to show off his wealth. Well done Louie, it is big and looks like it cost a lot of money. We toured the inside which was very cool, but not as cool 9at least to the boys) as the big snail we saw outside. I left the boys to look at this for about 45 minutes while I walked the gardens alone. They wanted to take it home. Boys are funny little creatures, aren't they?
Well, that about sums up our 5 day furlough to France. Jim was in Minnesota at the same time we were in France. This made the boys a little homesick for the first time. Jim brought back peanut butter and syrup so I think that helped a little. This week Jim is in Ireland for a few days and I am hanging out with Jim's brother Steve who came to visit for the week. It is really good to see him. The boys sat by the window for over an hour waiting for him to show up.
Once again dear friends, I wish you all the best!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
September 20 (Jim Update)
Hello All. We haven't updated this week since I was back in Minnesota for a sales meeting for a few days and Kathy was in Paris with the boys. It's nice that here in the FDA free zone one can get a potent Valium/Lithium/Quaalude cocktail over the counter to help cover the after-effects of Paris traffic. I imagine she'll put up an update on Paris soon.
Tonight we're going to the Maintal Hochstadt "Kartoffelfest". That is, the Maintal Hochstadt Potato Festival. There's a building on the little rustic main street of town with a big wooden gate in front called the Kaevern. (the cavern) It's owned by one of the many Vereine (clubs or societies) ubiquitous in Germany. The fest will happen in a little courtyard inside.
According to a guy we met here in town, there are 140 different Vereine in Maintal and pretty much everyone belongs to one or more. One guy we met, Berndt, belongs to five. His significant other, Uschi, is in the local women's archery verein. There's a verein for medieval reenactors. Cooking. Wine making. Cars. Whatever.
One guy, Ollie, is a member of the local Maennerballet (men's ballet) Verein that puts on a recital once per year, which sounds pretty funny. He's about my age and build with a good 30 pounds tacked on. He was on his third beer last time we saw him at the beer garden and he had to leave to go to rehearsal if that tells you anything. From the way he describes it I suspect it's a pretty humorous show. It sounds like a "get out of the house & go to the bar to get tanked with your buddies every week before practice" thing. The only price is looking like an awkward dope once per year in front of everyone you know, which seems like a pretty good deal. I may have to fire up the Nowthen men's ballet chapter when I get home. Hell, we could probably 'rehearse' for a year' and can the recital at the last minute anyway due to a rash of plie' injuries and be free and clear!
Anyway, the Kartoffelfest deals with all food that is potato related. Potato soup, salad, puffs, frites, etc. The Verein that puts it on was started in 1908 and from the German name I gather that its whole purpose is putting on eating & drinking events and concerts that also involve drinking. Now THAT's a Verein I could get behind. Like much in Germany the Kartoffelfest sounds like an excuse to imbibe beer.
Last Friday we were invited over for dinner to the home of a cool older couple we met, Berndt and Uschi (mentioned above). They're very nice, speak excellent english, are very interesting, and have a really, really, really great house. It was built in the mid-1500's which is cool but the really neat part is that it incorporates a tall stone tower that stands over and includes the old city gate.
The tower is older, from 1470, and the floor immediately above the city gate is their family room. The old cruciform gun/arrow ports are still there though they now have glass covering them so they're weather proof. The hole still exists where you could shoot crossbow bolts down or dump boiling oil on people trying to get through the gate, though it's now covered by the hardwood floor. The entire interior is a mix of ancient wooden beams and rustic bare stone walls juxtaposed with modern floors, heating radiators, lighting, etc. The next floor up is their guest bedroom. Up there, through the westward gun port window you have a surprising view of the entire Frankfurt skyline glittering some miles off in the distance, perfectly framed by the quaint old cobblestone main street of Hochstadt. (Frankfurt is the only German city with skyscrapers and a real skyline)
Now I don't normally feel the pangs of envy. I'm literally always happy when somebody I know buys something really cool or has a stroke of good luck. I get truly pumped when a friend comes out well on something. But I felt an unusual exception in this case. As interesting and fun to talk to as Berndt is and as sweet and kind as Uschi was, I felt the unfamiliar but strong desire to forge a revised will with me as the rightful heir to their house and tower and arrange some kind of accident. Fortunately this accursed conscience that my parents drilled into me as a child (along with my weak grasp of German) stayed my hand. Therefore instead of premeditated murder for material gain we had a tasty dinner with local Hessian specialties, had great conversation, our kids didn't destroy anything except a glass ashtray of Uschi's, and generally had a wonderful time. Probably all for the best.
We hope to see them tonight at the Kartoffelfest.
More later.
Tonight we're going to the Maintal Hochstadt "Kartoffelfest". That is, the Maintal Hochstadt Potato Festival. There's a building on the little rustic main street of town with a big wooden gate in front called the Kaevern. (the cavern) It's owned by one of the many Vereine (clubs or societies) ubiquitous in Germany. The fest will happen in a little courtyard inside.
According to a guy we met here in town, there are 140 different Vereine in Maintal and pretty much everyone belongs to one or more. One guy we met, Berndt, belongs to five. His significant other, Uschi, is in the local women's archery verein. There's a verein for medieval reenactors. Cooking. Wine making. Cars. Whatever.
One guy, Ollie, is a member of the local Maennerballet (men's ballet) Verein that puts on a recital once per year, which sounds pretty funny. He's about my age and build with a good 30 pounds tacked on. He was on his third beer last time we saw him at the beer garden and he had to leave to go to rehearsal if that tells you anything. From the way he describes it I suspect it's a pretty humorous show. It sounds like a "get out of the house & go to the bar to get tanked with your buddies every week before practice" thing. The only price is looking like an awkward dope once per year in front of everyone you know, which seems like a pretty good deal. I may have to fire up the Nowthen men's ballet chapter when I get home. Hell, we could probably 'rehearse' for a year' and can the recital at the last minute anyway due to a rash of plie' injuries and be free and clear!
Anyway, the Kartoffelfest deals with all food that is potato related. Potato soup, salad, puffs, frites, etc. The Verein that puts it on was started in 1908 and from the German name I gather that its whole purpose is putting on eating & drinking events and concerts that also involve drinking. Now THAT's a Verein I could get behind. Like much in Germany the Kartoffelfest sounds like an excuse to imbibe beer.
Last Friday we were invited over for dinner to the home of a cool older couple we met, Berndt and Uschi (mentioned above). They're very nice, speak excellent english, are very interesting, and have a really, really, really great house. It was built in the mid-1500's which is cool but the really neat part is that it incorporates a tall stone tower that stands over and includes the old city gate.
The tower is older, from 1470, and the floor immediately above the city gate is their family room. The old cruciform gun/arrow ports are still there though they now have glass covering them so they're weather proof. The hole still exists where you could shoot crossbow bolts down or dump boiling oil on people trying to get through the gate, though it's now covered by the hardwood floor. The entire interior is a mix of ancient wooden beams and rustic bare stone walls juxtaposed with modern floors, heating radiators, lighting, etc. The next floor up is their guest bedroom. Up there, through the westward gun port window you have a surprising view of the entire Frankfurt skyline glittering some miles off in the distance, perfectly framed by the quaint old cobblestone main street of Hochstadt. (Frankfurt is the only German city with skyscrapers and a real skyline)
Now I don't normally feel the pangs of envy. I'm literally always happy when somebody I know buys something really cool or has a stroke of good luck. I get truly pumped when a friend comes out well on something. But I felt an unusual exception in this case. As interesting and fun to talk to as Berndt is and as sweet and kind as Uschi was, I felt the unfamiliar but strong desire to forge a revised will with me as the rightful heir to their house and tower and arrange some kind of accident. Fortunately this accursed conscience that my parents drilled into me as a child (along with my weak grasp of German) stayed my hand. Therefore instead of premeditated murder for material gain we had a tasty dinner with local Hessian specialties, had great conversation, our kids didn't destroy anything except a glass ashtray of Uschi's, and generally had a wonderful time. Probably all for the best.
We hope to see them tonight at the Kartoffelfest.
More later.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
A day at the beach!
OK, so I know Jim just updated the blog last night, and my intention is not to overwhelm any readers by taking up too much time, but this is pretty funny!
So, knowing Tuesday was going to be the nicest day of the week, we planned to blow off school and go to the beach. This is, by the way, the thing I enjoy most about Home Schooling- the endless flexibility- very nice! So I used the internet (and Yahoo Babel Fish- my new favorite translating web site) to find a local beach. No worries. Gretta (my GPS) actually got us there without incident (very often we are lost!).
We find the beach, pay to get in, get changed and walk towards the beach. The very first person we see is an older than me younger than my mother, topless women. I quickly take the boys (who have pointed out every pair of breasts on magazines, art work, advertisements and sculptures since we have been in Europe) out of her ear shot and explain to them that just like all of the breasts we have seen around town, the Europeans are also more liberal about this on the beach, so get your comments out now before we walk by. They of course make the obligatory "oh gross" barfing sounds (while sneaking peeks I am certain!) and we head to the sand. We plop down our towels and get settled only to discover that not only are there a smattering of other topless women around the beach, there is also an entire section of naked people just to the left of us! Just imagine my boys reaction! Of course the naked people were separated by a gate on the sand, but we all shared the same diving/swimming docks. Too funny! As I am pointing this fact out to Daniel before he heads to a particular floating dock, he says, "don't worry mom, I have seen lots of naked people before!" Really? Where? As a side note, most people in this world, shouldn't be naked on a public beach. Enjoy your day dear friends!
So, knowing Tuesday was going to be the nicest day of the week, we planned to blow off school and go to the beach. This is, by the way, the thing I enjoy most about Home Schooling- the endless flexibility- very nice! So I used the internet (and Yahoo Babel Fish- my new favorite translating web site) to find a local beach. No worries. Gretta (my GPS) actually got us there without incident (very often we are lost!).
We find the beach, pay to get in, get changed and walk towards the beach. The very first person we see is an older than me younger than my mother, topless women. I quickly take the boys (who have pointed out every pair of breasts on magazines, art work, advertisements and sculptures since we have been in Europe) out of her ear shot and explain to them that just like all of the breasts we have seen around town, the Europeans are also more liberal about this on the beach, so get your comments out now before we walk by. They of course make the obligatory "oh gross" barfing sounds (while sneaking peeks I am certain!) and we head to the sand. We plop down our towels and get settled only to discover that not only are there a smattering of other topless women around the beach, there is also an entire section of naked people just to the left of us! Just imagine my boys reaction! Of course the naked people were separated by a gate on the sand, but we all shared the same diving/swimming docks. Too funny! As I am pointing this fact out to Daniel before he heads to a particular floating dock, he says, "don't worry mom, I have seen lots of naked people before!" Really? Where? As a side note, most people in this world, shouldn't be naked on a public beach. Enjoy your day dear friends!
Update September 9 (Jim Update)
As Kathy implied, I recently wrote up a few hundred word update covering the end of our vacation. Unfortunately our wireless kicked me off about one paragraph in, so I lost a solid hour's writing. My resentment has subsided so I'll try again.
Being married to Little Miss Extrovert (hereafter referred to as LME), we have a little cadre of acquaintances here in Maintal Hochstadt after only two weeks. The first guy we met is the owner of the tiny local brewery, named Ingo. Yes, she is also good at selecting the best people to get to know. LIKE THE GUY WHO MAKES THE TOWN BEER! We toured his brewhaus - about the size of our living room - and had beer with him at 11:00 a.m. that Saturday. Subsequently LME and I have met his wife, daughter, and a few other locals.
People seem nice and one of the guys we met is a retired pilot who owns a house attached to the tower containing the gate to the old part of our town. We're going over to his place on Friday to take a look inside the tower built in 1470. We were clear with him up front that even though the building is made of stone and has stood for 539 years, our boys are destructive and we can't make any guarantees. He's willing to take the chance.
Pretty much everyone we've met has eventually asked, "So how did you end up in Hochstadt?" so it definitely feels off the beaten path. We're enjoying the local beer and last night had some of the regional specialty, 'Handkaese mit Musik". Literally 'hand cheese with music'. The hand cheese is a soft, transluscent stinky cheese. It's served drenched in oil, vinegar, and garlic with finely chopped onions. The 'with music' name is because of the tendency for those toppings to make you toot. Who says the krauts don't have a sense of humor.
The first weekend we also went to the Freiwilliges Feuerwehr Fest or volunteer fire department picnic. For those of you who grew up in a small town like I did, it is exactly like the volunteer fire department picnics back home. Only it's Bitburger on tap rather than Miller light and it's Bratwurst and Spiessbraten rather than burgers and dogs. Also, the band plays mostly really really crappy german music rather than Creedence and Lynrd Skynrd covers. The crowd went ape shit for their rendition of 99 Luftballoons if that tells you anything, but I was pretty pumped to hear a song where I knew the words and could sing along! But the red faced, drunk locals are just like the red faced, drunk locals back home. It almost made me homesick. See ya/auf wiedersehen.
Being married to Little Miss Extrovert (hereafter referred to as LME), we have a little cadre of acquaintances here in Maintal Hochstadt after only two weeks. The first guy we met is the owner of the tiny local brewery, named Ingo. Yes, she is also good at selecting the best people to get to know. LIKE THE GUY WHO MAKES THE TOWN BEER! We toured his brewhaus - about the size of our living room - and had beer with him at 11:00 a.m. that Saturday. Subsequently LME and I have met his wife, daughter, and a few other locals.
People seem nice and one of the guys we met is a retired pilot who owns a house attached to the tower containing the gate to the old part of our town. We're going over to his place on Friday to take a look inside the tower built in 1470. We were clear with him up front that even though the building is made of stone and has stood for 539 years, our boys are destructive and we can't make any guarantees. He's willing to take the chance.
Pretty much everyone we've met has eventually asked, "So how did you end up in Hochstadt?" so it definitely feels off the beaten path. We're enjoying the local beer and last night had some of the regional specialty, 'Handkaese mit Musik". Literally 'hand cheese with music'. The hand cheese is a soft, transluscent stinky cheese. It's served drenched in oil, vinegar, and garlic with finely chopped onions. The 'with music' name is because of the tendency for those toppings to make you toot. Who says the krauts don't have a sense of humor.
The first weekend we also went to the Freiwilliges Feuerwehr Fest or volunteer fire department picnic. For those of you who grew up in a small town like I did, it is exactly like the volunteer fire department picnics back home. Only it's Bitburger on tap rather than Miller light and it's Bratwurst and Spiessbraten rather than burgers and dogs. Also, the band plays mostly really really crappy german music rather than Creedence and Lynrd Skynrd covers. The crowd went ape shit for their rendition of 99 Luftballoons if that tells you anything, but I was pretty pumped to hear a song where I knew the words and could sing along! But the red faced, drunk locals are just like the red faced, drunk locals back home. It almost made me homesick. See ya/auf wiedersehen.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Happy First Day of School Minnesota!
I mistakenly told my kids that today was the first day of school for all of their friends back in Minnesota. Imagine the complaints I got from them about us starting early! Oops! I need to learn to keep my mouth shut! Anyway, to all of you mothers out there who will finally have a quiet house, enjoy! Shed a tear or two if you must, but enjoy wallowing in the silence.
We spent the weekend driving to Bastogne, Belgium, the site of the famous "Battle of the Bulge" of WWII. It was very cool. We toured a museum that had those little audio tour headsets to carry around. The kids loved it. I will let you guess which kid and which husband loved it the most! I bought Michael a Battle of the Bulge comic book, he has since devoured it, logging in every detail I am sure. I feel sorry for any history professors that make an error in a lecture. Michael isn't super forgiving of those kinds of mistakes! Cool that the kids get a first hand look at a very pivotal point of WWII.
After struggling to find a hotel that would sleep 5 of us (use a French accent and say, "It is impossible!" a few 15 times, and see if it kind of bugs you after awhile!). As a note in point, it is impossible. Hotels rooms very seldom sleep 4 much less than 5 in Europe. We ended up getting 2 rooms in a town that seldom sees tourists (so much so that people asked us how we ended up there!) and bedded down for the night. Sunday we drove to Diekirch, Luxembourg, another site of a big battle in WWII. The kids were able to climb on tanks and tour another pretty impressive museum. Again, Michael and Jim were the last ones out, Connor, Daniel and I held in for much of the self-guided audio tour, then the ants in the boys pants kicked in and we were back climbing on tanks! American Veterans are still being honored here for all they have done for this little section of the world. It was nice to see.
This week we are planning on taking advantage of the great forecasted weather (high 70's/low 80's) and will get out as much as possible. Jim is going to Minnesota for 5 days leaving on Sunday. I (being brave or crazy we will see which) am planning on taking the kids to Paris while he is gone. It is about a 7 hour drive through Germany, Luxembourg then France. I am hoping to find a place to stay far enough outside of Paris to avoid ever driving in the city. I have heard it can be overwhelming and scary! We plan on using the city's train system to get around. If anyone out there has ever taken 3 kids to Paris by themselves and survived, I would love some pointers!
If you are near the Ranch Sunday evening, stop in and say hi to Jim, I am guessing he won't have much chance for visiting, so you would have to drop in on him. He is instructed to bring back syrup (it is $11 for a small bottle here) and Legos from the basement. Remind him, will you? All the best my dear friends! Tchuss!
We spent the weekend driving to Bastogne, Belgium, the site of the famous "Battle of the Bulge" of WWII. It was very cool. We toured a museum that had those little audio tour headsets to carry around. The kids loved it. I will let you guess which kid and which husband loved it the most! I bought Michael a Battle of the Bulge comic book, he has since devoured it, logging in every detail I am sure. I feel sorry for any history professors that make an error in a lecture. Michael isn't super forgiving of those kinds of mistakes! Cool that the kids get a first hand look at a very pivotal point of WWII.
After struggling to find a hotel that would sleep 5 of us (use a French accent and say, "It is impossible!" a few 15 times, and see if it kind of bugs you after awhile!). As a note in point, it is impossible. Hotels rooms very seldom sleep 4 much less than 5 in Europe. We ended up getting 2 rooms in a town that seldom sees tourists (so much so that people asked us how we ended up there!) and bedded down for the night. Sunday we drove to Diekirch, Luxembourg, another site of a big battle in WWII. The kids were able to climb on tanks and tour another pretty impressive museum. Again, Michael and Jim were the last ones out, Connor, Daniel and I held in for much of the self-guided audio tour, then the ants in the boys pants kicked in and we were back climbing on tanks! American Veterans are still being honored here for all they have done for this little section of the world. It was nice to see.
This week we are planning on taking advantage of the great forecasted weather (high 70's/low 80's) and will get out as much as possible. Jim is going to Minnesota for 5 days leaving on Sunday. I (being brave or crazy we will see which) am planning on taking the kids to Paris while he is gone. It is about a 7 hour drive through Germany, Luxembourg then France. I am hoping to find a place to stay far enough outside of Paris to avoid ever driving in the city. I have heard it can be overwhelming and scary! We plan on using the city's train system to get around. If anyone out there has ever taken 3 kids to Paris by themselves and survived, I would love some pointers!
If you are near the Ranch Sunday evening, stop in and say hi to Jim, I am guessing he won't have much chance for visiting, so you would have to drop in on him. He is instructed to bring back syrup (it is $11 for a small bottle here) and Legos from the basement. Remind him, will you? All the best my dear friends! Tchuss!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Home Schooling blues...
Ok, so people have said, "you never know Kathy, you may want to keep homeschooling when you get back..." yeah, probably not. It isn't as bad as all that, but I have to give all my teacher friends out there huge amounts of credit for having so much patience with my children! Trying to keep all 3 boys on task, sitting at the same table, while doing different things is going to be my challenge. They seem to enjoy distracting each other and then blaming someone else for their work being undone. Character building, character building, character building...don't let me forget!
Everyday we get more and more accustomed to the area. I found a fantastic pool complex about 30 minutes away that I took the kids to on Tuesday. The place is a total throw back to an earlier life in the USA when we didn't live in such a "Nanny State" . Between the three large pools, I only saw one lifeguard who sat inside an office. No one was monitoring the high dive or the low dive, and kids and parents were generally responsible for their own safety. Kind of refreshing I have to say.
Yesterday, I took the kids on an impromptu walk to the next town. Impromptu I say, because we planned on walking to the store for milk when we happened upon a bike path. We ended up going about 3 miles total, which would have been fine except I didn't pack any water. I did not hear the end of it- the boys were convinced they were dying of dehydration! They should all go into theater production with the amount of drama they can produce.
Heading to a Jewish museum in Frankfurt today. The rain just stopped and we have almost finished school for the day. Time for a field trip!
Everyday we get more and more accustomed to the area. I found a fantastic pool complex about 30 minutes away that I took the kids to on Tuesday. The place is a total throw back to an earlier life in the USA when we didn't live in such a "Nanny State" . Between the three large pools, I only saw one lifeguard who sat inside an office. No one was monitoring the high dive or the low dive, and kids and parents were generally responsible for their own safety. Kind of refreshing I have to say.
Yesterday, I took the kids on an impromptu walk to the next town. Impromptu I say, because we planned on walking to the store for milk when we happened upon a bike path. We ended up going about 3 miles total, which would have been fine except I didn't pack any water. I did not hear the end of it- the boys were convinced they were dying of dehydration! They should all go into theater production with the amount of drama they can produce.
Heading to a Jewish museum in Frankfurt today. The rain just stopped and we have almost finished school for the day. Time for a field trip!
Monday, August 31, 2009
We are settled ( I think)
I know Jim had started a few entries that were magically (and frustratingly) deleted a few days ago. Our internet connection seems to be a bit spotty at times. He has now learned the concept of frequent saving just like the old days of term papers in college. I am not sure when he will get back to them. So you get me instead. The less entertaining, but more newsy half of this unit.
We have moved out of the camper and into our apartment in Hochstadt, Germany. Now, had we not spent two weeks living together in a matchbox camper, this apartment might seem small, but our perspective has changed since we left our 5 acre ranch in MN. We feel like we live in a castle! We have three bedrooms and a futon pull out in the living room so each kid has there own bed (if not there own room). We have a functional kitchen with a typical European refrigerator that is slightly bigger than a dorm fridge! Those of you who know me well (or even just a little) know my propensity to store enough food to feed 20 guests at a moments notice- well not anymore! Fortunately, I guess, I don't know anyone here so the chance of an impromptu drop-in is much less! (If you come, however, I will run to the grocery store for you! It is only a few blocks away!)
Speaking of groceries, I never imagined the grocery store being something I would have to learn how to navigate, but I do. Picture Aldi, it is just like that but with all kinds of dairy products, pickled things and salads I do not know what to do with. Of course I want to try everything, but I have no clue where to start. I was walking back from the bakery on Saturday and met an older gentleman who used to teach at a University in Washington state. His English was great and he was excited to talk to an American . I am thinking of walking by his place everyday to get to know him better and ask him to come with me to the grocery store and explain what everything is. Does that sound strange?
Well, Daniel knows that we are not in the United States anymore. For those of you on my FB page you may have read that 10 days into our trip Daniel said to me (with complete seriousness) "You mean to tell me we are not in the United States anymore?" I have since shown him a map of the continents and explained to him that he can tell when he is in the United States when we start using American dollars again! Goofy kid!
Speaking of kids, the boys are adjusting well. Somehow without any TV, video games and only the occasional movie, they have figured out how to entertain themselves. They have found food to eat almost everywhere, and are especially fond of the Pommes Frites (french fries) that come with the tiny plastic fork. Connor plans on taking these forks to school and using them in the cafeteria. I think he hopes it to be a status symbol. It could be possible with 8 year old boys.
Michael has been a great tour guide. He is good at directing us through the various castles and museums we have been to. He is patient enought to read all of the plac cards and write ups so we don't miss anything. He plays the role as older, "wiser" (in his mind) brother perfectly!
I think I am going to enjoy having very little house to take care. Nice to feel like when I am done with my basic chores (laundry, dishes etc. ) I am actually done. Maybe when we get back we will sell the house and move into town to an apartment (can you imagine Jim in an apartment!!???). We spent our weekend touring the Rhein valley villages and plan on heading to a lake district today. I love it!
Jim started work yesterday so I am on my own with the kids. Wish me luck navigating the streets of Germany alone. If you have been here you know how narrow the roads can be, in fact I added a little dent to the rental car yesterday- bummer! We started doing school in the morning and plan on exploring in the afternoon. I hope this schedule works out.
Love to you all- know you are missed! I will encourage Jim to finish his entries when he can.
We have moved out of the camper and into our apartment in Hochstadt, Germany. Now, had we not spent two weeks living together in a matchbox camper, this apartment might seem small, but our perspective has changed since we left our 5 acre ranch in MN. We feel like we live in a castle! We have three bedrooms and a futon pull out in the living room so each kid has there own bed (if not there own room). We have a functional kitchen with a typical European refrigerator that is slightly bigger than a dorm fridge! Those of you who know me well (or even just a little) know my propensity to store enough food to feed 20 guests at a moments notice- well not anymore! Fortunately, I guess, I don't know anyone here so the chance of an impromptu drop-in is much less! (If you come, however, I will run to the grocery store for you! It is only a few blocks away!)
Speaking of groceries, I never imagined the grocery store being something I would have to learn how to navigate, but I do. Picture Aldi, it is just like that but with all kinds of dairy products, pickled things and salads I do not know what to do with. Of course I want to try everything, but I have no clue where to start. I was walking back from the bakery on Saturday and met an older gentleman who used to teach at a University in Washington state. His English was great and he was excited to talk to an American . I am thinking of walking by his place everyday to get to know him better and ask him to come with me to the grocery store and explain what everything is. Does that sound strange?
Well, Daniel knows that we are not in the United States anymore. For those of you on my FB page you may have read that 10 days into our trip Daniel said to me (with complete seriousness) "You mean to tell me we are not in the United States anymore?" I have since shown him a map of the continents and explained to him that he can tell when he is in the United States when we start using American dollars again! Goofy kid!
Speaking of kids, the boys are adjusting well. Somehow without any TV, video games and only the occasional movie, they have figured out how to entertain themselves. They have found food to eat almost everywhere, and are especially fond of the Pommes Frites (french fries) that come with the tiny plastic fork. Connor plans on taking these forks to school and using them in the cafeteria. I think he hopes it to be a status symbol. It could be possible with 8 year old boys.
Michael has been a great tour guide. He is good at directing us through the various castles and museums we have been to. He is patient enought to read all of the plac cards and write ups so we don't miss anything. He plays the role as older, "wiser" (in his mind) brother perfectly!
I think I am going to enjoy having very little house to take care. Nice to feel like when I am done with my basic chores (laundry, dishes etc. ) I am actually done. Maybe when we get back we will sell the house and move into town to an apartment (can you imagine Jim in an apartment!!???). We spent our weekend touring the Rhein valley villages and plan on heading to a lake district today. I love it!
Jim started work yesterday so I am on my own with the kids. Wish me luck navigating the streets of Germany alone. If you have been here you know how narrow the roads can be, in fact I added a little dent to the rental car yesterday- bummer! We started doing school in the morning and plan on exploring in the afternoon. I hope this schedule works out.
Love to you all- know you are missed! I will encourage Jim to finish his entries when he can.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Salzburg Camping (Jim entry)
Leaving the Neuschwanstein area, we drove to Salzburg and visited a couple campgrounds. Two were quite expensive (41 and 45 euros, or ~$60 and $67!) but we found a third that was 25 euros which was much more tolerable.
The boys were sick of driving and seeing things and it was drizzly, so we found a spot, plugged our camper in, started some laundry with the pay machines, and let the guys watch a movie on our laptop. We put on Benji and they initially protested vehemently. After all, there are no giant robots, gun fights, or explosions in the entire movie, just a story about a boy and his dog. Needless to say they enjoyed it a lot and mom and dad got two hours of peace and quiet. We had dinner in the campground restaurant with the boys and we indulged in a few bottles of Stiegl. As a point of clarity, the boys had dinner but no Stiegl.
Stiegl is the local beer of Salzburg, brewed on the edge of town, and when I was a student here in 1989-90 I think we derived about half our caloric intake from those half liter brown bottles. It has just a hint of a funny sweat sock odor when you take the first couple drinks but that goes away. (it's the cheapest beer in Salzburg, which is why is became our standard back in my study abroad days) The tiny hint of sweatsock odor only returns if you have way way too many Stiegls and overshoot the target, so to speak. In that event, the odor also comes with a taste... I'll leave it at that. Fantastic stuff! And I enjoyed having lots of memories percolate back through my little brain as we drank it. We otherwise did nothing that afternoon & evening but hang out and rebuild our supply of clean clothes.
The boys were sick of driving and seeing things and it was drizzly, so we found a spot, plugged our camper in, started some laundry with the pay machines, and let the guys watch a movie on our laptop. We put on Benji and they initially protested vehemently. After all, there are no giant robots, gun fights, or explosions in the entire movie, just a story about a boy and his dog. Needless to say they enjoyed it a lot and mom and dad got two hours of peace and quiet. We had dinner in the campground restaurant with the boys and we indulged in a few bottles of Stiegl. As a point of clarity, the boys had dinner but no Stiegl.
Stiegl is the local beer of Salzburg, brewed on the edge of town, and when I was a student here in 1989-90 I think we derived about half our caloric intake from those half liter brown bottles. It has just a hint of a funny sweat sock odor when you take the first couple drinks but that goes away. (it's the cheapest beer in Salzburg, which is why is became our standard back in my study abroad days) The tiny hint of sweatsock odor only returns if you have way way too many Stiegls and overshoot the target, so to speak. In that event, the odor also comes with a taste... I'll leave it at that. Fantastic stuff! And I enjoyed having lots of memories percolate back through my little brain as we drank it. We otherwise did nothing that afternoon & evening but hang out and rebuild our supply of clean clothes.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
From the Bodensee to Neuschwanstein (Jim update)
The lure of the deluxe camping place was very tempting but we only stayed one night. The kids played again in the pool the next morning as dad made a couple RV repairs, we got situated, and prepared to roll down the road. By this time we were getting pretty facile at the process of converting the camper from sleeping set up to driving set up and back. (lots of moving cushions, folding of sets & beds, and repositioning of stuff involved)
We planned on going to Garmisch and going up to the top of a mountain via a cable car. The Zugspitze is the highest mountain in Germany so we thought we'd try that. Arriving late, we camped at a roadside gravel pull off on a mountain road (free camping!) but the next morning it was unfortunately foggy even at the top of the mountain. So we said to heck with it and drove toward Neuschwanstein castle in southern Bavaria.
Neuschwanstein is the disney-looking castle you see in lots of pictures of Germany. We parked at the bottom of the hill in a spot approximately 2 inches wider than our camper. Measuring it later, the spot is actually also 3/4" shorter than our camper but we made it fit. As I implied, we're really getting the feel for this camper van business!
The walk up is long and steep but the boys made it. As we had a couple hours to wait for our tour slot we dediced to hike up to a bridge over a gorge with really dramatic views of the mountains, lowlands below, and the castle. It was truly eye popping. My eyes also popped a bit more as I felt the wooden deck of the 50 foot footbridge bounce under the weight of a hundred tourists or more. Crossing the bridge we started on a gravel path around the mountain. Unfortunately it didn't have handrails in most parts but did sport some fairly steep seventy or eighty foot drop offs. In the end, Kathy and I started to have heart palpitations watching the boys on the 'Death Path' as I decided to call it later and we had to turn around. Even holding the boys' hands it felt way too dangerous. Clearly the krauts aren't as concerned about litigation as we are in the U.S.
We toured the castle which Kathy and I had visited before and the boys liked it.
We planned on going to Garmisch and going up to the top of a mountain via a cable car. The Zugspitze is the highest mountain in Germany so we thought we'd try that. Arriving late, we camped at a roadside gravel pull off on a mountain road (free camping!) but the next morning it was unfortunately foggy even at the top of the mountain. So we said to heck with it and drove toward Neuschwanstein castle in southern Bavaria.
Neuschwanstein is the disney-looking castle you see in lots of pictures of Germany. We parked at the bottom of the hill in a spot approximately 2 inches wider than our camper. Measuring it later, the spot is actually also 3/4" shorter than our camper but we made it fit. As I implied, we're really getting the feel for this camper van business!
The walk up is long and steep but the boys made it. As we had a couple hours to wait for our tour slot we dediced to hike up to a bridge over a gorge with really dramatic views of the mountains, lowlands below, and the castle. It was truly eye popping. My eyes also popped a bit more as I felt the wooden deck of the 50 foot footbridge bounce under the weight of a hundred tourists or more. Crossing the bridge we started on a gravel path around the mountain. Unfortunately it didn't have handrails in most parts but did sport some fairly steep seventy or eighty foot drop offs. In the end, Kathy and I started to have heart palpitations watching the boys on the 'Death Path' as I decided to call it later and we had to turn around. Even holding the boys' hands it felt way too dangerous. Clearly the krauts aren't as concerned about litigation as we are in the U.S.
We toured the castle which Kathy and I had visited before and the boys liked it.
An update - Finally!
Hello All (from Jim this time),
So it's August 25, Tuesday, and we haven't made an update for over a week. Suffice to say, free wireless access hasn't been as prevalent at campgrounds as we were led to believe. I'll recap our travels a bit so far.
We left Keith & Missy's and Kathy decided that we should head south. (Germany & Austria, rather than France) Alsace, a wine growing area of eastern France looked to be pretty much on the way so we thought we would weave over the border for a night. Unfortunately, Gretta our GPS - for some reason Kathy always names electrical appliances - I don't know why - took us by a really lousy route through some mountains and it took twice as long to get there as it subsequently took to get back. The countryside was very beautiful with vineyards everywhere and pretty little villages. We saw no other Americans there.
The campground was okay, except for the centipede population which seemed to be concentrated in the shower rooms. European campgrounds are not like the U.S. where you're likely to enjoy real solitude and at least the illusion of nature. Over here, campers are about ten feet apart. Picture our house as the lodge with literally 250 campers occupying our land. It's a bit weird but we've gotten used to it. I figure the claustrophia is offset by the slight but real chance that I'll at some time inadvertently see through the tent flap the very fit looking 20-something german hottie in the bikini two places down (that's 20 feet) changing into a dry suit.
We stayed there for two nights and saw a quaint little wine town called Riquewihr in between. The kids were lukewarm on the beautiful timberwork houses and cobblestone street but were impressed by a well on a side street.
At one point it was really really hot and we decided that the kids needed to blow off some steam rather than just look at stuff so we found an indoor pool at a nearby town. All was well once we got the campervan parked but once we checked in, got out locker, etc. we were stopped before we could actually enter the pool. Apparently the French aren't keen on their very sizeable muslim population (shocker!) and are trying to regulate out burkas, headscarves etc. You might wonder "how is this relevant to your already dull vacation story?" Well I'll tell you.
The bottom line is, our normal size American swim trunks are too large... Anything that isn't Jacque Cousteau banana hammock sized seems to fall into wierdo muslim burka swimsuit territory and is banned. And I'm not kidding.
Our choice was therefore to not swim or buy and wear speedos. Now before anyone's heart goes aflutter, I did not go the monokini route but enjoyed the scenery in the sun bathing area outside, proudly flying the flag - a big baggy frickin' set of trunks that hang nearly down to my knees like God himself intended for men to wear. The French... The boys did looke really cute in their 13 Euro speedos but Connor made us promise that there would be no photographic evidence. He was really pissed but the allure of the pool was too strong. Good boy. All in all it was a fun diversion.
Anyway, Kathy drank a little wine which is very out of character for her, we lost none of the kids, we made no friends amongh the french people at the campground, and didn't dent our camper. So we were golden. Not wanting to push our luck we headback for Germany. (actually Germany, than Switzerland, than Austria, then Germany again) Damn I like parantheses - I think I'll use a few more. ((()))(()()()()))))))))) Yeah, that feels good...
Anyway again, we had a little navigation misunderstanding as we headed to a German town called Garmisch. Kathy thought Garmisch was before Lake Constance, a.k.a. the Bodensee or Lake Constanz or Lake Konstanz but it's actually east. We therefore tried to roam around lake Konstanz looking for a campground - which moderately sucked. Lots of europeans on vacation there driving RVs like retards. Just like us. Nothing more fun than skinny windy roads full of traffic and oblivious pedestrians while trying to drive an RV with a manual transmission with three boys fighting in the back and a wife who's annoyed when you ask where the hell we're supposed to be going! That's what I always say! In fact, you've probably heard me say that many times... The lake is pretty large and very beautiful which is why so many people are drawn there at peak season.
Eventually we said screw the built up area, headed up the hill out of town, and found a campground with everything! Pool, playground, restaurant, store, and a beer garden for dad. It was very good.
So it's August 25, Tuesday, and we haven't made an update for over a week. Suffice to say, free wireless access hasn't been as prevalent at campgrounds as we were led to believe. I'll recap our travels a bit so far.
We left Keith & Missy's and Kathy decided that we should head south. (Germany & Austria, rather than France) Alsace, a wine growing area of eastern France looked to be pretty much on the way so we thought we would weave over the border for a night. Unfortunately, Gretta our GPS - for some reason Kathy always names electrical appliances - I don't know why - took us by a really lousy route through some mountains and it took twice as long to get there as it subsequently took to get back. The countryside was very beautiful with vineyards everywhere and pretty little villages. We saw no other Americans there.
The campground was okay, except for the centipede population which seemed to be concentrated in the shower rooms. European campgrounds are not like the U.S. where you're likely to enjoy real solitude and at least the illusion of nature. Over here, campers are about ten feet apart. Picture our house as the lodge with literally 250 campers occupying our land. It's a bit weird but we've gotten used to it. I figure the claustrophia is offset by the slight but real chance that I'll at some time inadvertently see through the tent flap the very fit looking 20-something german hottie in the bikini two places down (that's 20 feet) changing into a dry suit.
We stayed there for two nights and saw a quaint little wine town called Riquewihr in between. The kids were lukewarm on the beautiful timberwork houses and cobblestone street but were impressed by a well on a side street.
At one point it was really really hot and we decided that the kids needed to blow off some steam rather than just look at stuff so we found an indoor pool at a nearby town. All was well once we got the campervan parked but once we checked in, got out locker, etc. we were stopped before we could actually enter the pool. Apparently the French aren't keen on their very sizeable muslim population (shocker!) and are trying to regulate out burkas, headscarves etc. You might wonder "how is this relevant to your already dull vacation story?" Well I'll tell you.
The bottom line is, our normal size American swim trunks are too large... Anything that isn't Jacque Cousteau banana hammock sized seems to fall into wierdo muslim burka swimsuit territory and is banned. And I'm not kidding.
Our choice was therefore to not swim or buy and wear speedos. Now before anyone's heart goes aflutter, I did not go the monokini route but enjoyed the scenery in the sun bathing area outside, proudly flying the flag - a big baggy frickin' set of trunks that hang nearly down to my knees like God himself intended for men to wear. The French... The boys did looke really cute in their 13 Euro speedos but Connor made us promise that there would be no photographic evidence. He was really pissed but the allure of the pool was too strong. Good boy. All in all it was a fun diversion.
Anyway, Kathy drank a little wine which is very out of character for her, we lost none of the kids, we made no friends amongh the french people at the campground, and didn't dent our camper. So we were golden. Not wanting to push our luck we headback for Germany. (actually Germany, than Switzerland, than Austria, then Germany again) Damn I like parantheses - I think I'll use a few more. ((()))(()()()()))))))))) Yeah, that feels good...
Anyway again, we had a little navigation misunderstanding as we headed to a German town called Garmisch. Kathy thought Garmisch was before Lake Constance, a.k.a. the Bodensee or Lake Constanz or Lake Konstanz but it's actually east. We therefore tried to roam around lake Konstanz looking for a campground - which moderately sucked. Lots of europeans on vacation there driving RVs like retards. Just like us. Nothing more fun than skinny windy roads full of traffic and oblivious pedestrians while trying to drive an RV with a manual transmission with three boys fighting in the back and a wife who's annoyed when you ask where the hell we're supposed to be going! That's what I always say! In fact, you've probably heard me say that many times... The lake is pretty large and very beautiful which is why so many people are drawn there at peak season.
Eventually we said screw the built up area, headed up the hill out of town, and found a campground with everything! Pool, playground, restaurant, store, and a beer garden for dad. It was very good.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Decisions, Decisions...
It is 6 am Germany time. This means most of you who are reading this are tucked snugly in your bed fast asleep, at least this might be true, it is 11:00 PM in Minnesota. We just spent a great night with our dear friends Keith and Missy Pritchard in a town near Stuttgart, Germany. The Pritchard's are stationed here for at least 3 years with the Army. As Jim stated so eloquently last night, coming here is like putting on an old, favorite shoe. It just makes you feel good. When we were in Europe 16 years ago, Keith and Missy were also here with the military. We spent many nights coming and going from their apartment in Baumholder. It was a great comfort to us as inexperienced travelers to have a "home base" and do a load of laundry now and then. True to form, I did get to wash 2 loads of clothes last night. The Pritchard's understand the meaning of the word Gemutlikeich (I cannot spell it however!) .
Decisions, decisions... Apparently, I made the mistake of complaining to Jim that he always decides where we go and what we do when we travel. Consequently, he wants me to decide where we go for the rest of the rest of our camping trip. The decision is between going South to Bavaria, Germany, or West to France. Nice problem to have, I know. Do we travel to a known entity in a land somewhat familiar to us (Germany, Austria) where Jim speaks the language or do we head West to France where we know very little about, don't speak the language, but can experience something new? I know, I know, nice problem to have. I'll let you know how it turns out.
So far, so good. The camper we have looks bigger on the outside than it seems on the inside. Isn't that always the case once you get all of your stuff unpacked? We had not arranged for bedding until last night, so the children (and us) have been using towels for blankets. Pretty funny. Such good parents we are! Fortunately, the Pritchard's are loaning us bedding so no more towels for us! The kids have managed to find food they like almost everywhere we have gone. The one exception is that Michael is completely dissatisfied with German ketchup! I think he will survive. What kid doesn't like sausage, Germany is a good place to find great smoked meats. It also happens to be a place to find great, great beers, we love that too!
We went to a department picnic with folks from Jim's work. The hospitality was wonderful and the kids had a great time. They played with a little German boy who liked doing cartwheels and handstands as much as Connor! They decided to draw pictures to communicate. Kids are amazing, I love how they are so uninhibited when it comes to making friends. I will post pictures when I can (I am borrowing a computer to write this...). The night of the picnic, we parked our camper in a nearby parking lot. Funny to wake to the sounds of people parking their cars around us going to church! For those of you who know about my "public sleeping" phobia, you will understand how I felt!
We also took the kids to one of our favorite towns, Rothenburg. A cool old town with a Medieval wall that we walked around. The kids had fun pretending they were stopping attackers from invading the city, again, I have great pictures... I will get them up here soon.
Well, I am signing off for now. I need to go plan my entire families future... oh the responsibility! I have to admit, it is kind of nice having someone else do all the planning and just complain a little to make my point. That darn Jim had to go and call my bluff!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Ready, Set, Go!!!
I have never been ready early before! Wow! I am not so sure I like it though, I am much more accustomed to running out the door yelling "Go! Go! Go!" to the children. A whole new perspective for me. We'll see if it sticks.
So, our bags are packed (sing it!) and we are ready to go, the taxi is waiting (or the fully loaded Suburban), he is blowing his horn, already I'm so lonely I could cry (not really lonely, I have Jim and the boys to hang with...)- (all together now!) We are leaving on a jet plane, don't know when we'll be back again (really, it is Oct 31- Halloween, easy to remember!) , oh babe I hate to go...(who am I kidding, I am so excited to head over seas I couldn't sleep!) ...oh how I love a good song!
To all of my dear friends and family, we are really going to try hard to be good stewards of your time if you are bothering to read this blog. This means we are challenged to something interesting on a regular basis. I think we are up for it. Jim is a much funnier writer than me, so if I can convince him to write some entries, you all are in luck.
The boys are jazzed for the plane ride, that is about as far ahead as they can think right now. We should all be so good at living "in the moment."
Ok, my head start is diminishing, I better log off and go bark some orders at one of the 3 amigos! Which one should I choose?....
Auf Wiedersehen!
So, our bags are packed (sing it!) and we are ready to go, the taxi is waiting (or the fully loaded Suburban), he is blowing his horn, already I'm so lonely I could cry (not really lonely, I have Jim and the boys to hang with...)- (all together now!) We are leaving on a jet plane, don't know when we'll be back again (really, it is Oct 31- Halloween, easy to remember!) , oh babe I hate to go...(who am I kidding, I am so excited to head over seas I couldn't sleep!) ...oh how I love a good song!
To all of my dear friends and family, we are really going to try hard to be good stewards of your time if you are bothering to read this blog. This means we are challenged to something interesting on a regular basis. I think we are up for it. Jim is a much funnier writer than me, so if I can convince him to write some entries, you all are in luck.
The boys are jazzed for the plane ride, that is about as far ahead as they can think right now. We should all be so good at living "in the moment."
Ok, my head start is diminishing, I better log off and go bark some orders at one of the 3 amigos! Which one should I choose?....
Auf Wiedersehen!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Well, I did it! I created a blog page for our family- incredible! OK, it wasn't as hard as I thought, my younger cousins were right...don't tell them though! When did I become this old lady who isn't caught up on the latest technology? Wait a minute, I don't think I have ever been caught up on the latest technology, whew! Still not old...
My goal with this blog is to keep whoever is interested caught up on our family's wanderings around Europe. Our daily lives in MN are not so interesting to merit a blog, but who knows, maybe I will love this style of public journaling and keep it up when we get home. Or maybe not...
We are t minus 3 weeks to leaving for a 10 week trip to Europe. Exciting! But I have a lot of packing to do. Consequently, I haven't done any. Typical.
I will spend the day shopping for stuff we need to bring with us, maybe that will inspire me to pack. We'll see. However, my folks remember fondly how Jim and I packed at midnight the night before we left for a year-long European trip. Proof positive that last-minute preparations and procrastination really do work.
Signing off-
My goal with this blog is to keep whoever is interested caught up on our family's wanderings around Europe. Our daily lives in MN are not so interesting to merit a blog, but who knows, maybe I will love this style of public journaling and keep it up when we get home. Or maybe not...
We are t minus 3 weeks to leaving for a 10 week trip to Europe. Exciting! But I have a lot of packing to do. Consequently, I haven't done any. Typical.
I will spend the day shopping for stuff we need to bring with us, maybe that will inspire me to pack. We'll see. However, my folks remember fondly how Jim and I packed at midnight the night before we left for a year-long European trip. Proof positive that last-minute preparations and procrastination really do work.
Signing off-
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