Day 54 - Good-bye, Auf Wiedersehen, and Tchuess!

This morning Todd went to class for the last time. Therese and I spent the morning tying up some loose ends - confirming bed and breakfasts in Ireland, packing up toiletries, cleaning out our cabinets. We walked down to meet Todd for lunch for the last time, eating at our favorite yufka place and then stopping by Fernando's for ice cream. We said good-bye to a lot of our (Therese's) favorite landmarks and other favorite German things (see pics below). We went to Il Cavalino for dinner tonight for our favorite freshly made gnocchi and then that's kind of it. It still hasn't hit me that it is our last day here. Hopefully we'll go to sleep early tonight. Therese is currently crying because she wants to fold up her Pack-and-Play. She's afraid we'll leave it in Germany.

The man who runs our place is coming over at 8:50 to check us out of our room and we have to be packed and to move some furniture back in place before he gets here. Our taxi is coming at 9:15 to drive us to the train station where we'll catch a train to the Zurich airport, then we're off to Ireland for the week. I don't know what our internet availability will be like in Ireland so this will have to be it, the end of the blog from Germany. I plan on posting some final thoughts, whether from Ireland or the States. This has been a really fun way to keep track of our great summer in Germany and to feel like I'm keeping in touch with some of our friends and families. Now if only I could keep up with Therese's blog....

Saying good-bye to the things we love:

Therese's last "Germany treat" - Herr Knezevic gives her these chocolatey treats at least once a day

Therese calls this the "stick tree" - she loves going by it every day

Therese's favorite house to pass by on our way home

Our favorite bakery

The big bear in front of the toy store - I had to carry Therese away while she screamed today

Murals next to the church. My favorite is the one to the left of the tree that says "I love Gott."

The last yufka

Ah, Fernando's...

Days 52 and 53

Wednesday and Thursday were a bit uneventful for us in many ways. We needed to do laundry and to start to pack so my mom and Dave had the day to themselves and then met us for dinner. On Wednesday I spent hours doing laundry and taking my last trip to the grocery store (I am refusing to buy anything else now that we are so close to leaving). Therese's skin broke out really badly again so we kept her inside for most of the day, making sure she was plenty cool, had plenty of sleep, and was given plenty of cortisone.

We met my mom and Dave at the train station at 5:30. They had come to our town straight from spending a beautiful day in Lindau. The LOVED it, and who can blame them? It's a great little beachy island with picturesque views of Lake Constance and the Austrian Alps at every turn. They found a wonderful spot off the beaten path to eat lunch in front of the water. Their only bad experience happened on the way to the island. They had to switch trains at Friedrichshafen and it seems that the train they were supposed to switch to in order to get to Lindau was cancelled. At least this is what they assumed happened. Not knowing the language, it's hard to know, but one minute they were standing on a train platform with crowds of people, then the next minute there was an announcement over the PA and people ran in other directions leaving them all alone on this platform. They were able to catch a train to Lindau 45 minutes later.

For dinner we went to Alte Zunft, a cozy little bar/restaurant with dark wood and a good atmosphere. My mom and Dave wanted to split a pizza for dinner, but they wanted a combination of ingredients that was not on the menu (the menus will list about 15 pizzas looking something like "Pizza Mafiosa - olives, onions, and ham"). Todd asked in German if they could order a pizza with the toppings they wanted. The waitress said yes,then starkly turned around to get a piece of paper to write their order on while muttering (not under her breath and definitely in English),"But it's not proper." :-) After dinner we grabbed ice cream at our favorite place - Fernando's. My mom and Dave liked it so much that they got seconds so they could try new flavors (they had walnut, cookies, Irish whiskey, and chocolate). They caught their train to Ludwigshafen talking of plans to go back to Lindau the next day while we packed.

Thursday morning we spent a few hours packing and weighing our bags trying to get them all under the weight limit for our flight to Ireland (flights between the US and Europe allow for more weight than inter-European flights). We borrowed a scale from our landlord and rearranged our belongings a few times. We made it under the limit (we hope) by sending 9.5 kilos of books home via DHL. Todd has bought a few books here that you can't get in the States and I brought a lot of books with me to give me something to do during the day while Reese napped. Poor Todd had to drag our boxes of books (9.5 kilos = 21 lbs) all the way down to DHL in the city center, a 30 minute walk. While there we ate our final meal at Il Postio - spaghetti with shrimp and pork with pineapple and cheese (I know, it sounds disgusting but it tastes great). We then put Therese down for a nap. She didn't move for 2.5 hours. In this time we received an email from my mom saying that she and Dave had switched hotels and were now staying in Radolfzell near the train station. This would make it much easier for them to catch their train to Munich in the morning plus we could see them whenever we wanted since they wouldn't have to train back and forth. from Ludwigshafen. So how did they find this hotel? the woman the front desk at their Ludwigshafen hotel actually called around for them and found them this hotel in Radolfzell, enabling them to cancel their last night at her hotel.

In the afternoon my mom and Dave came to our place in order to use our Skype to call my sister who works for Delta and is managing their standby tickets. They still don't know which flight they will be able to come home on, and they were trying to figure out which one(s) to try for. Flying on standby is a little stressful, but you can't beat the price.

We visited my mom and Dave's new hotel room and then ate dinner at Hotel Kruez in their pleasant patio/bier garten. The food was delicious - Todd and I splite salad with ribs and a vegetable curry dish. They morning had been a bit cool and cloudy, but by that night it was clear and warm. During dinner we noticed that Therese had some hives around her ankles and arm so we made sure to head home nice and early to get her some Benadryl. Before we started up to our place, we walked through the main marktplatz where there were some beach chairs, speakers, and a big screen set up. They were about to play the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Too bad it was dubbed in German. We took our final pictures and then said good-bye to my mom and Dave. They left for Munich early this morning.

Good-bye picture with Dave, Todd, Therese and I in front of the church

I'm including some parting pictures of our Germany home. I had to take them before we started packing and rearranging it all.

Our kitchen - no microwave, dishwasher or disposal but at least there is an oven

Our kitchen table

The dorm-sized refrigerator we shared with 2-3 other people

Our bedroom (the armoirs divide the room so that Therese's crib is in its own section of the room)

More of our room

Therese's "room" behind the armoirs

Day 51 - The Rhine Falls, Take 3

On Tuesday we decided to take a half-day trip after Monday's long adventure. We left for the Rhine Falls when it was still nice and cool out in the morning. It is only a 20 minute train to Schafhausen, Switzerland from Radolfzell which makes it ideal for a smaller trip. Our timing worked perfectly. When we arrived in Schaffhausen, we had 7 minutes to buy tickets to the little platform that serves for a train station at the falls (called Schloss Lafen). We bought the tickets and were seated on the train with 2 minutes to spare. Therese was happy because it was a Swiss train. She LOVES all trains, but particularly loves Swiss ones because their head-rests vary in color. She makes a big deal out of picking out which color she will sit under and points out the color of seat of everyone around her.

We took the beautiful short train ride to the falls which takes you next to the Rhine and over the falls. Once on the platform, I decided to let Therese walk up the first bit of stone (and mud) stairs while I carried her stroller. She was a champ and walked pretty swiftly up to the castle. The whole area was still under construction (and will be until next summer) so we went straight to the trail that leads to the footbridge over the top of the falls. The entire walk in shaded except for the bridge, making it a pleasant and cool walk. Plus the path is paved so it is easy on your feet. It is still hard to describe the feeling of walking over this bridge with torrents of water rushing below your feet while hearing nothing but the sound of the crashing water. It is so powerful. On the way down the falls, Therese and I took the bike path so that I could push her the entire way. She was persuaded to sit in her stroller by the promise of a slide at the bottom of the falls. We let her run around the park for a little while and then ate perfect brats and fries right on the water's edge. The high point of Reese's day was not the slide or the following boat ride or ringing the bell of a tour bus shaped like a train (for which Dave got in trouble for letting her do) - no, the high point of her day was riding a little plastic horse that went up and down and played music like any other toy horse in any Meijer or mall in the US. That is what she wanted to talk about. She also greatly enjoyed running up and down a little ramp near the bathrooms. Go figure.

After her time on the horse and running up and down the ramp, we took a boat back across the Rhine and walked up the millions of stairs to the train platform. The boat ride was refreshingly breezy and cool. You could almost touch the cold Rhine the boat was sitting so low. Of course we didn't need to touch the water because we could feel the spray of the falls on our faces. We could feel the tug of the current on the boat, another reminder of the power of this water.

After arriving on the other side of the Rhine and walking up a million stairs to the train platform (Therese walked up every one of them), we had just 3 minutes until the train came to pick us up. Great timing. After this little trip, Therese and I split up with my mom and Dave so we could all take naps. Therese beat us all to it and fell asleep in her stroller. I decided to walk her over to Todd's school to meet up with him so he could help me push her home. As soon as we were at Todd's school, Reese stirred, slightly parting her eyelids, and then exclaimed, "Daddy's school!" That was the end of her nap.

For dinner we went to the Golden Engel in order to partake of the salad bar. We sat at a pleasant table outside. My mom and Dave wanted Vodka tonics, but somehow things was getting lost in translation. We think the problem was with the use of the term "tonic water" because the waitress couldn't seem to get over the "water" part. We ordered our food and Todd, being the adventurous person that he is, ordered the daily special not knowing what it was. It was a fish - a whole fish, eye and all. Despite the scariness of the presentation, it tasted very good. Being the American that he is, Todd stayed away from the head. When the waitress brought out the food, she gave Dave a salad with shrimp on it. He had ordered a pork filet. She put it on the table and Todd told her in German that we did not order this salad, that he ordered the fish and the three of us ordered pork. Interestingly, the waitress' immediate reaction was to say that no, this was in fact Dave's food. We all insisted that this was wrong and Todd recited what we ordered. Suddenly something clicked in the waitress' head and she took back the salad. At least this worked out better than the previous day's lunch. Of course, if Todd wasn't there to speak German who knows what would have happened. After this incident a new waitress took over our section. She was very friendly giving Therese fruit snacks and commenting on how she was sweet. Todd and I noticed how nice she seemed and realized it was because she smiled. We are both a bit tired of German reservedness. You can say that people in the US are artificially nice to each other, but at least they are nice. It gets really old going places and feeling like you are bothering the waiter or cashier or person on the street walking next to you. At least the Irish hospitality should make up for this German stoicism.

My mom and Dave in front of the top of the falls
Therese having fun running down a ramp

The hair was flying...

Day 50 - Meersburg and a Little Bit of Switzerland

View from the castle in Meersburg

Monday was another gorgeous day. My mom, Dave, Therese and I headed out to Meersburg for the day. My mom and Dave had really enjoyed their time the night before in Ludwigshafen. They found a nice little restaurant to have drinks and a light bite to eat. Their room was also plenty cool even without air conditioning. Here all of the windows and sometimes the doors are a single pane of glass with a handle where a door knob would be. If you turn the handle upward, the top of the window (or door) tilts inward while the bottom stays closed. They don't have screens, but bugs and rain never make it through the window. If you tilt the handle to the side, the window opens like a door. If you tilt it down, it locks. These windows are great.

Right, so Monday we met at the train station and headed to Konstanz. Once there we caught a bus and a ferry to Meersburg. The ferry ride was beautiful. The day was so clear and the air was still a little cool. Once in Meersburg we could see the Swiss Alps across the lake. It was so clear that we could see the snow very distinctly on top of some of the mountains. Since it was still a little cool we thought we should head up the steep narrow streets to the castle right away. We toured the castle (I did this with my dad as well). Last time Therese slept through the whole thing. This time she did not. She tantrumed and ran around and tried to slip under the chain ropes, declaring that she wanted "to jump on the beds" and "sit on chairs" from centuries ago. Every once in awhile we could calm her down by talking about how princesses used to live in the castle (perhaps a small lie). She then wanted to see the princesses :-). When we left her to wander and walk by herself she did ok. She enjoyed picking up rocks in the castle garden, but then she wanted to carry them around the castle and throw them out the windows. She eventually put them on the outside of a windowsill thinking they were going to reach the lake beyond.

After traversing the castle, we headed for lunch down on the main street at the bottom of the town. We were hoping to get chicken but there were no seats at the restaurant showcasing the spinning spits of whole chickens so we ended up next door at an Italian place. Therese was having a major melt-down by this point, screaming,"REESE WANT CHICKEN!" over and over again. We asked the waiter if there was any chicken on the menu. He pointed to the one item he said was chicken. It was not. It was turkey. I do know enough German at this point to know the difference. Reese ended up crying and screaming so loudly that I had to take her out of the restaurant and into some nearby shade to have a talk. I asked her to use her words and to tell me what she wanted. She said, "Reese wants to cry!" So she did. Eventually she calmed down and we agreed to go into the restaurant and color. While we were away our drinks came and my mom and Dave ordered our food. When the food came out, my dish was a few small pieces of turkey (of course) in a mushroom sauce and some spaetzle. My mom and Dave were going to split spaghetti carbonara, but they were given a bowl of spaghetti bolognese. The two are nothing alike - they do not look alike (one is white with bacon, the other is red with ground meat), they do not taste alike, and, most importantly, they do not sound alike. My mom and Dave stopped our waiter and told him that he had delivered the wrong dish, that they had ordered carbonara. The expected response, at least in the US, would be something like "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll be right back with your dish. [insert friendly smile and maybe an apologetic look]." Not in Germany. The waiter said, "No, you ordered the bolognese." When they insisted they had not, he simply said, "Well I understood you to have ordered the bolognese" and left. I know, you are thinking, "Oh, he must have been having a bad day" or maybe "Don't generalize one particular person's behavior." But you are wrong. Read my next blog post.

After lunch we got ice cream and sat on a bench in front of the water. Well, my mom and I sat. Dave and Therese ran around. We then caught a ferry on which Dave and Reese blew bubbles by holding a little bubble wand up in the air as the ferry sped across the lake. Therese thought this was the best thing since string cheese (which we have to constantly remind her they don't have in Germany).

After the ferry, we caught a bus and met Todd near the main square in Konstanz. This is where we should have called it a day, but we didn't. I showed the lovely prostitute port statue to my mom and Dave and then we all headed to a really neat public park just across the Swiss border. Todd's former teacher had shown it to him the week before. Once you cross the border (no, their are no guards - just a small car barrier), there are Swiss flags painted on the sidewalk leading to the park. Cameron, Todd's classmate from Iraq, couldn't understand this- why would the Swiss want people to walk on their flag? Apparently there is a painting of the American flag and GW Bush on a sidewalk in Baghdad for people to walk all over.

My mom and Dave, worn out from the extreme hills of Meersburg, stopped at a nearby bar and had a drink while we took Therese into the park. There were a number of play sets - one that looked like a train, one that was made of logs, one that was all ropes. They also had zip lines, a swimming hole with a hose, and a number of bouncy metal toys. The best, however, was the little farm of animals. Therese got to feed baby goats, mountain goats, bunnies, and pigglets. She really wanted to feed the bunnies, but the goats kept catching wind of it and they chase the rabbits off to try to get the food. It was the same for the baby goats and even the mama goat. The alpha kept coming over and chasing the others away and then reaching his little mouth through the wire fence groping the air for food. Therese also saw a little donkey drinking milk from its mother. She pointed to it and said, "Horsey!" We told her that this was actually a baby donkey. She paused for a second and then said, "Donkey eats horsey!" By the time we joined back up with my mom and Dave, she was sharing her new knowledge, telling everyone, "Donkeys don't eat horseys."

Reese and my mom on the ferry to Meersburg

Therese "helping" Dave blow bubbles.

Reese feeding the alpha goat

Feeding the bunnies

Day 49 - Mamie and Papa!

Sunday my mom and stepdad arrived safe and sound, but not until 3:00 (as was expected). Todd, Therese and I headed out at 10:30 for church and decided to stay down in the city until their train came rather than making the half hour climb back to our place and half hour walk back down to the train station. This meant that we had a whole beautiful afternoon with nothing to do but waste time. How often do we have that happen? It has been very nice having so much down-time this summer. I have no house to clean, work to do (or people to talk to) so it's been very laidback and slow-paced. Todd and I have had a ton of time to spend together - another rarity. I will certainly miss this. Anyhow, Sunday afternoon we ate crepes at a little cafe followed by ice cream and a trip to the park to ride some swings. Therese and I showed Todd the "other" park with "the hot slide" as Reese calls it (it is metal and not in the shade so it does get quite hot). Walking along the path to the park that lies right beside the lake, we looked at the hills across and for the first time were able to see the Alps with a little snow on top. What a beautiful, clear day.

At 3:00 we were standing right on the train platform to greet my mom and Dave. Their train was a few minutes late which was no big deal to us, but it had worried them a little. They couldn't understand the German announcement on the train saying they were running late so they nearly got off the train at their scheduled time. If they had, they would have ended up in Singen instead of Radolfzell. I don't know how we would have found them. When their train did roll in, we were at the very front of the track to greet them. Therese clapped and laughed as the train whizzed by, saying, "Mamie says 'punkin,' Papa says 'Uh oh.'" She loves when my mom calls her Pumpkin. She's really into nicknames right now. She likes to call me "Mompy" and Todd "Caddy." If you ask her her name, she's just as likely to say "Bumble Bear" as Therese.

After hugs and hellos, we headed for a restaurant since my mom and Dave hadn't eaten lunch. We chose Il Postino mainly because it was open. On Sundays all stores and many restaurants are closed. We ate some spaghetti carbonara and split a pizza with ham, salami, and artichokes. We then headed back to the train station so we could find our way over to Ludwigshafen, the little lake town they are staying in. My mom and Dave both have rolling suitcases that they pull behind them. This would normally be a very easy way to travel, but Therese insisted on helping push or pull them at all times. She's such a good helper...

Ludwigshafen is a 10 minute train ride away from Radolfzell, which isn't too bad at all. The worst part is that the train only runs once an hour since the town is smaller. We found their hotel pretty easily (though the walk seemed to take forever in the sun). My mom was dismayed to find that they have no air conditioning, but I don't know of anywhere here that does. Ludwigshafen is a really nice little area right on Lake Constance. There are many sailboats and restaurants overlooking the water plus lots of greenspace and fountains. I think they're happy with it. Therese liked it a lot. She snuggled right in to my mom's bed with her new little "German bear" (as she calls it) that my mom gave her. She also had too much fun picking up rocks and throwing them in the water. After all of this excitement, Todd, Therese and I went home, ate a quick dinner, and fell asleep nice and early.

Therese making herself at home on my mom's bed
Reese "helping" my mom and Dave

Todd, Therese, Dave and I in the city garden

Todd, Therese, my mom and I in the city garden

Therese insisted on touching the water...

Day 48, Part 2 - Lindau

Lindau is a little island on the eastern part of Lake Constance. It is most well-known for what is pictured above - the port whose entrance is guarded by a lighthouse and a large statue of a lion (the symbol of the Bodensee or Lake Constance). The island is a hot-spot for tourists which meant that it was very busy with people and booths selling souvenirs filling the streets. The view of the lake was great, but the most astounding was looking back over the Bodensee toward Bregenz and seeing the Alps stamped above the green mountains like a faded water-mark. We've been told that on a really clear day you can see snow on the Alps. I tried to capture the experience in dozens of pictures, but they just didn't come out right.

In addition to beautiful views of the lake and nearby Austria, we were able to walk through passages built in the 1600s and one built to commemorate the Thirty Years War. There were churches and gardens of the usual variety to see as well. We lost our way a little on our map, but it didn't matter because the island is only a mile long at best. I particularly liked the Thieves Tower, a medieval prison and watch tower that had a long braided rope dangling out of one of the windows as if they were taking precautions again someone accidentally getting stuck in there. I kept waiting for Rapunzel to lean her head out the window and wave.

After meandering about the island, Todd and I told Therese we would go to a park so she could play. We had seen one coming into the train station. The trouble was that we couldn't remember exactly which direction it was. We walked back to the train station, then along the tracks, then up over a bridge and through a parking lot. Eventually we made our way back over another bridge and down a hill where we finally found the playground. If we had only walked about 5 feet and made a left from where we started, we would have been in the park. Oh well. Reese enjoyed trying out all three slides and climbing up ladders and riding a little metal horse. It started to look like rain so we headed back home a little earlier than we had planned. We topped the day off with a yufka and a pizza from our new favorite little place (Atkas Kebap). Therese went to bed early and didn't make a peep all night :-).

A view of the lakefront and the old lighthouse (all the way to the right) from the harbor

This passage in the building ahead was built in the 1600s. It was very short compared to modern ones.

The Thieves Tower

Reese at the park

Day 48, Part 1 - Bregenz, Austria

Today was our last full Saturday in Germany so we thought we'd go to Austria :-). Actually, we planned on heading to the eastern part of Lake Constance to visit Lindau, a very popular little island to see. When Todd told some people of this plan, they said we should visit Bregenz, Austria while we were over in the east. Bregenz is this gorgeous town set at the bottom of a big mountain on the shore of Lake Constance right across from Lindau (you can see Lindau from Bregenz - see my pic below). We decided to go to Bregenz first. I'm so glad we did. We spent more time there than in Lindau. It was so beautiful.

We when got off the train at the harbor in Bregenz it was cold (50s) and rainy. This gave us the perfect excuse to try a real Austrian coffee shop (Vienna's coffee shops are praised here as the best in the world). We went to this little lakeside restaurant/cafe unable to find a plain coffee shop. Todd LOVED the coffee which was really strong. I had hot chocolate. All three of us had bread. They served the bread with a variety of different toppings (butter, honey, jams, Nutella-type spread). We tried the black currant jam - my first introduction to black currant - and it was delicious, very tart and sweet at the same time. While we lounged around in the cafe the rain cleared up. We walked along the water on the "sea promenade." Everywhere I looked there was beautiful vegetation and flowers planted in a gorgeous combination of colors.

Along the promenade we saw dozens of paddle boats tied up. On a clear day the lake must be full of them judging by how many they were renting out. We eventually came to a site that Bregenz is very famous for - the "floating" opera stage. Every summer they celebrate the arts in this city by constructing a stage in the lake on which they hold an opera. I thought this would be some small little stage floating but connected by ramps to the shore. It wasn't. It was huge and stuck out of the lake a good 40 feet from the shore. You would have to take a boat to get there, which many people did in order to help with the ongoing construction. The stands look like a baseball stadium's seats rising right out of the water.

After seeing the stage we wandered up to the old city, a mostly medieval part of town. As we walked along the steep winding streets we caught glimpses of the valley below us and the town's fortifications that still stand directly across from us. It was so beautiful I can't quite think of how to describe it. The city wall and gate are still in use. The palace, according to the sign, houses a rotary club and a Lion's club. There was a clothesline hanging from the third story windows on part of the wall.

At the top of the hill we visited a church that was founded by St. Colombanus and St. Gallus in the early 600s. There was a memorial for World War I outside the church and many graves of people from World War II. It's weird to think of this solemn place honoring soldiers who fought against ours. After we visited the church we went down the valley next to it and climbed the long steep stairway up to the city wall and gate. We were able to walk around the palace and adjacent areas. There were random staircases that dropped very sharply deep into the ground below the palace and the city walls into ominous blackness - passages right out of a fairy tale into the dungeons.

We ended our time in Bregenz with lunch on one of the main thoroughfares. I was nervous that it would be overly expensive, especially given our experiences in Switzerland. I had noting to be worried about. The food was incredibly well-priced (aka cheap). After some chicken nuggets, chicken wings, fries and an Austrian-style cheeseburger, we headed to part 2 of our trip - the island of Lindau.

The view of Lindau from Bregenz (you can see the two lighthouses)
Walking along the "sea promenade"

The floating stage and seats

Therese picking flowers on our way through the medieval streets

View of the valley and the old city wall from the church

The stairs leading to the city wall and gate (yes, we carried Therese up these in her stroller...)

The Picture

Therese thinks this picture, which hangs above our kitchen table, is of Todd. The resemblance is striking, isn't it? When I ask her who he's holding, she says, "A bag."

Days 43 through 46

This has been the fastest week we've spent in Germany. I can't believe it is already Thursday. We settled right back into our routine after Munich. Monday was a gorgeous day so Therese and I spent our morning at the two parks swinging and sliding. We also spent significant time in front of the toy store chasing bubbles that were being blown by a stuffed bear. Reese loved it so much that she had to show it to Todd when he got out of class. We didn't just hang out in front of the store, however - we actually went in. Therese brought about 5 toys along with her to Germany and somehow we managed to lose one of them - the tennis ball. She's been asking for it daily since it disappeared 2 or 3 weeks ago so I decided to replace it. We wandered around the toy store a bit and found a large number of Settlers games, expansion packs, and even puzzles. At least the Germans have good games :-).

Tuesday was filled with time at the parks as well. Todd, Therese and I also went to the train station in order to get tickets for my mom and stepdad. There are always deals on the fast German trains, but you have to get them before they sell out of the lower priced tickets and the tickets have been selling fast. We got tickets for them to travel from here to Munich and from Munich to Frankfurt at much cheaper rates than the normal price. While at the train station, we grabbed lunch at a great little Turkish place called Atkas Kebap. We had been there once with Jesse who claims it has the best yufkas in the city. I had thought it was good/fine when we went there with him. This time, however, I really appreciated how good it is. For those who don't know, the standard Turkish restaurant consists of a large counter behind which there is a gigantic piece of meat (about 3 feet high and two feet in diameter) turning vertically on a spit very slowly in front of some source of heat. The workers then shave off the part of the outside that was just roasted and put it in whatever you order whether it be a pide (pita), seele (like a calzone sort of), or a yufka (in a bread that is like a tortilla). The meat itself tastes very seasoned and tender. When you order a yufka at this place, they then start throwing the dough for the tortilla-type bread, cook it fresh, and then fill it. Yum. Did I mention that the meat is lamb?

Tuesday night when we were saying our prayers with Therese before she went to bed, we asked her who she wanted to pray for (like always) and she went through her normal list. I added, "For great-grandma who has a cold - that she feels better and that she is healed." Therese nodded earnestly and added, "With pretzels."

Wednesday I was looking forward to going to the market, but as soon as we stepped outside it started to rain. I persuaded Therese to go back inside for a half hour until the rain subsided. We ran to the market quickly before meeting up with Todd. I purchased what will probably be our last jar of fresh preserves. I'll miss them very much. With that said, I am VERY ready for American food. Two nights ago I dreamed about buying a gallon of cold skim milk - something that is truly a dream since here a) milk is only sold a liter at a time, b)kept at room temperature, and c) they do not have skim milk. Yeah, I think I'm ready for home.

Today (Thursday) I received an email from my mom letting me know that they made it safely to Germany. They are going to be north until Sunday when we meet them at the train station. Last night I casually asked Birger what the weather was supposed to be like today. He said the world was supposed to end, meaning that there were going to be big storms with bad winds. I felt a little adventurous (or maybe bored) this morning and headed out anyway. Reese and I made it to both parks, fed the ducks, and splashed around in the lake before Todd got out of school. It was very hot and humid so I thought I should get Therese some ice cream to cool down. She agreed. After lunch time we had a rain shower followed by some clear weather. Then came the real storm - heavy rains, thunder and lightning, strong winds. Birger got home shortly after the storm cleared. I asked him if he got caught in the rain. He said, "Yes, I got caught in the first wave of rain...or wait, the first shower...wait, how do I say that in English - that I got caught in the first rain shower but not the second? Do I say the first wave of rain or the first rain shower or something else?" I told him either of these would work to which he dramatically rolled his eyes and said, "Uuuuugh, English is so imprecise." :-)

Ah, Settlers

What great variety...

Reese and bunny

She looks like she's off to work

She's cute and she knows it

King's Island, Meet Your New Competitor

That's right, those socialist little blue guys have made it to Germany. So German ice cream, like gelato, is known for tasting exactly like the flavor it represents (banana ice cream tastes just like a real banana, etc.), which begs the question, what does a real Smurf taste like?

Day 42 - Good-bye Munich

Sunday was a cold but clear day. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time to tour between checking out of our hotel and catching trains. We settled for wandering around the city center and looking at fountains and shop windows for awhile before walking Jesse to the train station. I walked Therese around the station looking at all the different food stations and shops while Todd and Jesse fondled some Cuban cigars at a tobacco shop. Eventually Jesse's train arrived (late) and we said our good-byes. We aren't sure if we'll see Jesse again. I hope we do - he's really nice, bright, and easy to talk with - but it seems like the closest we'll ever be is two hours away...

After seeing Jesse off we headed to the Augustiner Bier Hall for some half-liters and pretzels. The place is huge and very open with benches sitting on top of wooden kegs and long butcher-block style tables lining the walls. We may have ordered lunch here, but they had English menus that were translated a little too clearly. The "minced veal lung" and "pig's neck" just weren't doing it for me. We ended up eating chicken wings in the train station. I am now on a mission to eat chicken every chance I get since it doesn't happen too often. Therese also enjoyed a cup of banana ice cream which had been promised to her in exchange for eating lunch in her stroller.

The train rides back from Munich were very different than the ones there. In the ICE we once again had a little compartment, but this time were joined by a man and a woman who had not reserved seats but made sure to position themselves so that no one else would try to sit in the cabin despite the MANY people aboard the train. Otherwise this train ride was uneventful. The second train, the one that got us home, was very different. When we got on the train in Ulm, it was starting to get crowded but there were still seats open here and there. I was surprised by how many people positioned themselves or their things to dissuade others from sitting next to them. A few stops into this train ride, the seats really started filling up. Yet no one moved. Not even to take their purses off of the chair next to them. For example, their were four seats facing each other right behind us and the two ladies sitting there sat diagonally from each other with purses and coats spread out so that it looked like they were with husbands/partners. People sat in aisle seats instead of window seats to make it hard to see if the seat next to them was clear. This all seemed very rude to me. Then, at one stop, on came this much older lady who clearly had a difficult time walking long distances. Most of the seats were now taken by other people who had asked people to move their purses, etc., but there were still a few openings, but no one moved to offer her an open seat. She would have to stand (as others were). Todd, Therese and I shared seats so this poor woman would have somewhere to sit. By the time we were 45 minutes from home there were at least 10 people standing right in front of us, including a guy who was trying to read a newspaper with both hands despite the swaying train and towering right over us. It was not the most pleasant journey home, but Therese did really well and we did get to sit the entire time so I can't really complain. All it was a wonderful trip.

Our farewell pics in the Karlsplatz - Reese and mommy

Our happy family

Todd and Jesse

The Augustiner Bier Hall