Why I Miss My Mommy

My mother came to stay with us for nearly four weeks. She did laundry while I took afternoon naps. She took Seth to German playgrounds alone - an adrenaline rush for anyone. She mopped my floor. She played hours of My Little Ponies and who knows what else. All this heroism in the name of my first trimester ickiness and I have scant a picture to even prove she was here.

Suffice it to say that my mother prefers to be behind the lens. Nonetheless, I do have this picture of one of her last mornings here. We piled the kids into the double stroller, walked down the hill to a playground with a German bakery truck in front of it, and the rest is in the faces. It was fun to do stuff like this with our Grandma. Oh, and she speaks German... no matter what she claims. In fact, I think I can write whatever I want about you here, Mom, and you have no voice because you can't figure out how to comment.

Most Amazing Potty-Stop EVER

So this was the last 90 minutes of the road trip home and we had to choose some beautiful Central German city/town in which to make a potty stop. I know, tough life. So, Wurzburg it was. Holy Freakin Cow!
This city is just 100km from us and so beautiful. We stumbled upon the finish of some world-class marathon, checked out a really famous palace, peed at a Lutheran Church - no disrespect intended, and vowed to come back on another weekend and give Wurzburg the time it merits. What a lovely final stop on an epic trip.

Visiting with Karl Marx

We stopped in the formerly East German city of Chemnitz on the way home. We did, in fact, want to break up the drive for the kids, but I would be lying if I didn't tell you how irresistible the idea of a family shot in front of this massive bronze Karl Marx head is for our 2009 Christmas card shot. The only thing holding us back is that this shot would be missing the latest member, so I reveal it here.

Goodbye Sayda

Sad to see her go - ol' Sayda. She was a great base for East German exploration, albeit a bit far from Poland. I owe you one, Mom.

Kiddie Compromise

The kids had been troopers through Prague, so instead of planning a similar type agenda in Dresden, we visited the Dresden Zoo for the majority of the day. The Germans are really good at Zoos. The kids had a wonderful morning, and then Daddy and Mommy snuck in a 30-minute spin around the (largely rebuilt after the WW II fire-bombing) city center and cathedral.

Prague in the Spring

As a senior in college I took an Eastern European Literature class and it left me with a desire to, "visit Prague in the Spring." Who knows why, it seems a bit arbitrary now, but we got to spend our first day on this trip exploring Prague and it exceeded my wildest expectations. This place is the best.
The city is accessible, yet lively. Friendly, yet cosmopolitan. Evolving, yet historic. International, yet proudly Czech. We all truly enjoyed exploring the sites and streets of this word class city. In order to really quantify things for you -- on the way back to the manor house with exhausted children and Grandma in back, I asked my spouse one of our favorite questions, "So where does Prague rank on your list of all-time best cities?" Drumroll please....number 1! Seriously, this man has been stubbornly holding NYC and Paris as his numbers 1 and 2 (I am not sure in which order), but he answered Prague with little hesitation.

Grandma bought fabulous wooden toys, famous Czech glass beads, and showed us the Infant of Prague. Ethan enjoyed cathedral after cathedral. And Mommy allowed herself to get lost in the world of cobblestones, apple strudel in a quiet patio and novel characters of story-lines which are now all but forgotten. This day truly had something for everyone. Oh, I would be failing my loyal readers if I didn't mention that Seth set off the alarm at the Cathedral that houses the Infant of Prague - (a strange, yet strong Catholic devotion began in the 16th century which involves nuns elaborately dressing a baby doll Jesus). Photo of the crime:

The Manor House

This is where we stayed, it is a Manor House in Sayda, Germany. Don't bother stopping to Google Map that town now, it won't show up. A part of the old stone home is run as a hotel and the other half is broken into three apartments. I found this place on an apartment rental page and we went for it because it looked like there was lots of room for the kids to play and because it was inexpensive. When we showed up, there was a key in the door and no one else there! The experience was rather strange and Husband was convinced that we had been lured into the (former) East German countryside to have our organs harvested and sold on the black market.

Staying in a remote location, was a new technique we tried in our quest to travel successfully in Western Europe with children. The pros: less expensive, lots of area for the kids to play, much different from the urban 3rd floor apartment in which we live daily. The cons: lots of time in the car to get to major sites. I am still not sure what our verdict is on this approach, it was different then Paris -not as leisurely, but we sure did get to see a great deal in the five days.