Deutschland

Madeleine and Emily (in red) with their new friend in Fulda, Germany!

Emily (pink) and Madeleine (purple) "cooking" at the castle.

Our international travels behind us, we are approaching this entry in chapter format (much like traveling with small children - one step at a time)!

Are We There Yet?

Madeleine and Emily go to "music school" every Tuesday morning. So, the brilliant plan was to have Till take them to music school (Oct. 6) while I finished throwing the last minute things in suitcases, Till would come home, we'd load the car, pick-up the girls and hit the road. We flew out of Dulles so we had a direct flight - very nice while flying, but it meant we had a three hour drive just to get to the airport!!

In reality - we were all ready to go before music school (high five) so we loaded the car and headed to music school with the intention we'd let the girls play on the playground a few minutes, go to class, and then head out. However....Miss Madeleine did not follow the "Do NOT go down the slide!" directions and ended up with soaking pants and underwear because of the dew on the slide. Granted, we had a car full of clothing in the parking lot, but these were comfy stretchy pants, intentionally selected for the plane ride - and God only knew which suitcase held what at that point.

So, Madeleine and I went to the postage stamp-sized bathroom where I squeezed water out of her pants and underwear (Yes, I literally stripped her down and had her sit her naked little bottom on a paper towel on the floor.) with paper towels and lectured to the extent two other mothers volunteered to lend us the change of clothing they carry for their children. Good parenting on my part....but come on, NOT today!

The girls wrapped up class (Madeleine's pants were now dry thanks to body heat) and we headed out.

We are not even 15 miles up I-64 and Till and I are being inundated with "Are we there yet?" Oh God. We tried answering. We tried explaining. We tried distraction. I tried sarcasm and said "Yes! There is the airplane waiting for us right there!" while pointing at trees as we zoomed by - this only resulted in the backseat asking "Where?" with great enthusiasm.

Finally, I remembered on Valentine's Day I stashed a bunch of suckers the girls had gotten at school in the car's glovebox for "emergencies". I whipped out two suckers, passed them back and Till and I enjoyed 3 solid minutes of peace and quiet.

Taking Flight

We arrive at Dulles, unload the car, check-in the luggage, both of us contemplate divorcing and child abandonment, and then we head through security. It was a breeze!! They could not have been more polite or easier to work with if they had tried (Completely reinforces my opinion that Spokane has the most moronic TSA agents in the country as there is always an "issue" there and NEVER anywhere else - even big airports when flying internationally.).

We get on the plane and the girls and I have 3 of the 5 center seats at the bulkhead with Till across the aisle. This was fantastic! Granted, we couldn't shove carry-on under the seat in front of us, but I am constantly in and out of carry-on when traveling with the girls and it was great to just have it on the floor and not be trying to work around the passenger in front of me having their head in my lap! We also had room to stretch legs and change the girls into jammies.

The girls, being the Southwest Airlines veterans that they are, were shocked to find out some airplanes have TVs and don't have pleather seats! They also thought the bathrooms were "much nicer". Tip - when on a big plane (in our case Boeing 777 - 4 bathrooms next to each other at the bulkhead) look for the one that has a different "door knob" (a lever that literally pushes down). It is the handicap stall and HUGE, which is greatly appreciated when one is hanging out in airplane restrooms with four-year-olds for 15 minutes at a time.

We had hoped they girls would sleep on this flight as it was a red-eye, but we knew hoping wouldn't cut it. These kids don't sleep on planes. I can't complain as they fuss minimally, don't cry, don't fight, etc....but we knew we needed help in the sleep department. A friend graciously suggested melatonin and I ran it by the pediatrician who gave the green light under these circumstances. Emily and Madeleine slept for three hours!!! Not all night, but better than nothing. I didn't really sleep at all because I couldn't believe the girls were actually sleeping and kept checking to see if they were awake (not too bright!).
Emily.
Madeleine, between her pillow and Emily's - which had flopped over, her neck pillow around her neck and United Airline's pillow on her stomach!

Arrival

We arrived Wednesday (10/7) morning and all of our luggage arrived with us, for which we were thankful. Oma and Opa were waiting for us at the airport, which was nice as they watched the girls while we picked-up the rental car (A 20 minute process that would not have been improved by dealing with two small children!). We picked up the car and headed off. Unfortunately, we were separated from Oma and Opa on the autobahn, so we just went to our hotel.

The people at the hotel were very nice. Even though we were hours earlier than we thought we'd be, they let us eat breakfast there and got our room ready as fast as possible. We unloaded the car, hung out in our room, and then Oma and Opa caught up.


Madeleine (L) and Emily (R) on the hotel's front entrance balcony.

Two geese and a duck (who seemed to think he was a goose) who lived on the farm next door to the hotel. They were very territorial about the hotel's driveway and would voice their opinion to any car that drove by.

Madeleine and the cat in the basement. The cat has a label that says "Made in West Germany" just to give you an indication of its age. We got it to work ONE time and it went on and on and on....we finally gave up and put Emily on in the middle of the one turn (It played Home On The Range six-and-a-half times), which is good as the cat never turned on again. Sadly, Madeleine got to ride the cat through 5 songs and Emily only got to ride it for 1.5 times...we didn't know when/if it would turn off, so we stuck her on and were glad we did as she at least got part of a turn.

Emily

At Oma and Opa's house Emily and Madeleine got to play with bubbles, color pictures, use safety scissors and put together puzzles. Melissa and Till were more than happy to turn the girls' entertainment over to non-jet-lagged adults.

Opa and Emily fly a kite.

Opa, Madeleine, Emily, Oma in the yard getting some jet-lag fighting fresh air.

Oma and Madeleine with another kite.

Opa, Madeleine, Emily.

Emily, Oma, Madeleine.

Later, we went from the grandparents' house to the train station (checked the schedule for the next day) and then to Globus (a huge grocery store) to pick up a few things and have a snack in the cafeteria. The girls who had been wide awake for the entire day, crashed in the car on the 3 minute drive from the train station to Globus.

Three minute drive from train station to Globus and the jet-lag gets you! Emily (L) and Madeleine.

Potatoes in the "normal" store. Till was offended I took the photo, but it just amazed me...
Emily (L) and Madeleine - both clutching candy they had picked out.

Madeleine (pink) and Emily are taller than the grocery store counters in Germany!!

Riding the Globus conveyor belt to get down from the second floor...when you take a cart on - it locks the wheels (at least in theory) so you don't even really have to hold on. Madeleine in pink and Emily in blue.

We were all sound asleep by 5:30 PM, awake about 9, asleep again about midnight and then up around 7 or so.

Fulda

Emily and Madeleine had a German agenda consisting of two highlights: 1. go on a train ride and 2. eat a pretzel as big as their faces. We had planned on riding the train to Frankfurt, but with terror threats and the State Department warning, we decided to go the other direction.

Our first full day in Germany we hopped on the 9:10 train and went from Wachtersbach to Fulda, which took a little less than an hour. There are now new "fancy trains" for the regional routes in Germany. We even got to sit upstairs to watch the beautiful scenery go by.


Emily waiting at the Wachtersbach train station.

Madeleine waiting in Wachtersbach.

Emily (L) and Madeleine on the train to Fulda.

It was a little drizzly in Wachtersbach and we rode the train through some rain, but it appeared the rain and the train were going in opposite directions. So, when we arrived in Fulda, it was wet, but not currently raining.

Madeleine and Emily had also wanted to go shopping for clothing and hair accessories. So that is what we did in Fulda. We scoped out three different department stores before deciding what we would purchase where. This not only gave us a complete view of our options - it also made little legs walk around quite a bit in the fresh air as a remedy for jet-lag.

We also quickly popped into a very pretty Catholic church (I am not going to let them think department stores are the only things in Germany) where we sat in a pew, looked at the art and attempted to light two candles (Two of us were not inclined to hold the match, so I did it.)

German department stores are nice and remind me of what we had when I was a child; "real" department stores. The German stores also often have a restaurant on the top floor. The girls had boycotted approximately 13 possible breakfast options that morning and were by now starving; especially Emily, Madeleine had surrendered at breakfast and managed to nibble a cocoa crispy or two. So, we decided we would eat lunch in one of the stores, use the restroom and hit the road.

Then disaster struck.

Till and I purposely ordered schnitzel because it comes with fries and we thought if we could entice the girls to eat something...perhaps they'd be willing to move on to options of more sustenance. Nope! The fries were crinkle-cut which not only strengthened the resolve of those on a hunger strike, it reduced them to tears!! Seriously, give me a break. So Till and I ate our lunch at record speed and then I took the girls to the restroom before heading to the train station.

The "nicer" restrooms in Germany have attendants. I came in with the girls and the woman attendant asked if they were twins. I said yes and was told "how nice/beautiful" I whipped out "danke" (thank you) one of the 10 German words I know. We went to a stall while the attendant said something about princesses (the German word sounds very similar to English). Madeleine finishes up and I have her standing right at the stall door while Emily is using the facilities. We are the only ones left in the restroom and the attendant comes over and starts speaking to Madeleine. We are way beyond my grasp of German so I asked if she spoke English and she said no, patted my cheek, stroked my hair and said Madeleine was beautiful and had pretty blue eyes. Then sang a little song for Madeleine. Emily finishes and then we go to wash hands.

The attendant is now sitting on her chair and has lured Madeleine over while I lift and hold Emily so she can wash her hands. First the woman hugged and kissed Madeleine and then put her in her lap and kissed her back all over. Keep in mind there is a HUGE language barrier here and I have no idea what I would do even if there isn't and I'm busy with Emily's hands. Madeleine looks rather caught off guard, has huge eyes and is looking to me. I just told her "you're okay, you're okay" while finishing Emily. Then the girls traded places. However, Emily was blinking back tears at the point some strange old lady (who was honestly very genuine and meant no harm) kissed her back and I was glad we were on our way out the door - where Emily promptly started crying - again!

In a last effort to raise blood sugar levels we went to the basement of the department store where there is a grocery section and bought sunflower and pumpkin seeds, bananas, apples, grapes and milk for our picky eaters and headed for the train. Emily ate her banana as if she hadn't seen food in a week (in fairness she hadn't really eaten much since Tue. AM at home - which is in part her own fault) dramatically improving her mood.

Emily (L) and Madeleine at a fountain in Fulda

Emily and Madeleine with pretzels as big as their faces!!

The morning after arrival, you can see a bit of jet-lag around the eyes of our pretzel girls.


Uncle Bodo

Uncle Bodo is very interested in music and has been for years. He has a veritable recording studio in part of his apartment. The first few days we were there he had to work, but then he had a day off and let us use his equipment!!

Emily and Madeleine had a great time playing keyboard, singing into microphones, playing with a synthesizer (I think - I'm not up on all of the equipment and wasn't in the room the whole time). There was even a gizmo that made lights light up when you sang!

Bodo was very generous and let the girls use all kinds of expensive things (Had it been my stuff, each child would have been handed two drumsticks and told to drum on the floor.) and even burned a CD of our "record". He aptly titled it "Pure Noise". It is 20 minutes long and you may all expect a copy for Christmas!

Madeleine, Bodo, Emily

Emily in red and Madeleine in pink begin their music careers under Uncle Bodo's supervision.

Bodo and Madeleine

Emily and Bodo

Goats, a Playground, and a Castle

One day we went with Opa and Oma to a wildlife park. We were able to buy food pellets out of a vending machine and feed the animals there...most of them. The donkeys, deer and goats were all interested in a snack. However, there were signs discouraging the feeding of the buffalo - go figure.

The goats and deer (some very small variety) were particularly interested. But, they had the sense to be interested in adults. I was alone at a vending machine buying some pellets, turned around and had nine new best friends. The critters and I are happily chatting as they snacked and then the girls spotted my entourage. The abrupt arrival of two preschoolers immediately scattered the animals!

Finally, the goats realized that the girls not only had boxes of pellets, they are short and could be bullied! One goat in particular was after both children and a bit aggressive. Shockingly, he did not respond as desired to the "Go away goat!!" command he was given. Till lured said goat away while the girls had a chance to feed (which involved dumping the entire box of food in one pile on the ground) the rest of them.Deer in the background...Madeleine on the left and Emily on the right

We also went to a playground pretty close to Opa and Oma's. It is in the shadow of castle ruins and had a "carousel" which we deemed "lots of fun".

Emily (left) and Madeleine ride the "carousel" at the park.

The Eis Cafe where we had fancy ice cream (looked like Mickey Mouse) very close to the playground.

We also got to go to a castle! Sadly, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella were not spotted (we kept looking), but we had fun walking in their footsteps none-the-less.

We got to see the VERY deep well and pour a bucket of water down it. You count to see how long it takes the water to hit the bottom - 15! We also saw dining halls, a chapel, the apothecary's room, and some toys. We purposely climbed every twisting narrow staircase we could find (always prepping for nap time) and even spotted Oma waiting for us in the courtyard below.
Oma, Emily, Madeleine and Opa at the castle.

Queen Emily

Queen MadeleineDid we lose someone? Emily (L) and Madeleine

Jo, Ramin and Oli

Saturday night Emily and Madeleine met some of Till's friends. Turns out parents had lives prior to the arrival of children - shocking! Madeleine and Emily were getting rather hyper at this point (we wind "up", not "down" when tired around here) and it was getting a little late, so the girls did not display their best behavior. Particularly when they were escorted by their mother to the car (we left Till to hang out while we went to the hotel to go to bed) and howled all the way out of the house and down the sidewalk.

However, Jo's mother sent bouncy balls as a gift - which the girls greatly appreciate. And we found out we have a previously unknown dedicated blog reader in Jo (Hi Jo!), who generously showed us pictures of his pet mice!


Departure

All good things must come to an end. Tuesday (10/13) morning we loaded the car and hit the road. Thankfully, we were on the autobahn the whole way - the rental car's heater only worked when driving at least 80 km/hour and it was a bit chilly at 6AM.

Our flight home was thankfully as uneventful as our flight over. However, this time we flew all day and had to be entertained. On the way over the girls discovered headphones, music and the TVs. On the way back they found out the TVs can show more than the plane's progress on a map (the only thing I let them see so we would have a prayer of them sleeping on the way over - and even then they only saw it after waking up) - you can watch movies! We made it through Ice Age III about two and a half times. Then we found The Simpsons. Of course a family of yellow cartoon characters was very visually appealing. However, I was fit to be tied over the content of The Simpsons in general, and this episode in particular, being viewed by four-year-olds. The plane episode featured Lisa as a ballerina who smokes. She not only demonstrates great health choices, but goes on and on about ballet being sexist and limiting. Look Lisa, I have two sets of ballet clothing waiting upstairs at home and if there is an issue with going to class next Monday - you and I will be chatting.

We finally got the TVs turned off and went back to our standby plane activities of stickers and making necklaces and bracelets.

Back in the car on the way home Miss Emily announced "I think I'm going to take a little nap." Um, okay, great idea!! I think Madeleine would have agreed but she was too busy sucking her thumb and trying to keep her eyes open. We had the joy of driving in evening rush hour, so when the express lanes ended and we had to go back into the crawling traffic, we decided to wait it out by pulling over and eating dinner.

Driving home.

After waking the girls from their "naps" (more like comas) we staggered into IHOP where two of us cried over most options presented to us and ate very little. I changed the girls into jammies in the car in the IHOP parking lot and back on the road. We got home about 9 and it was the best "Go to Bed After Traveling" night to date. The girls complained a little about having to go to bed (after sleeping soundly in the car for three hours) and then went right to sleep.

We were all awake about 3AM the next morning. We waited for daylight (seemed to take forever to come) and then headed to the park's playground for fresh air and physical activity. We came home, ate "lunch", and were all napping at 10:30 in the morning.

That afternoon we went to the "downtown" area (a total joke - consists of the library, post office and fire station). We walked over to the Colonial area and as we were walking we noticed both girls were literally skipping along. Till asked if they were happy to be home and they said yes and listed many reasons, culminating in "I'm glad to be back where people speak English!"

Ah, yes, the birth of a yet another ugly American tourist.