Barcelona, Spain

Two weeks since I last posted - hard to believe it's been that long.  Since the last post not much has happened here in Germany.   Between the 3 kids we have soccer Monday - Thursday, which I guess we better get used to if they are all going to have after school activities from now until they go off to college.  Haaken has gotten over the transition of starting school and now seems to look forward to it everyday.  He made a new friend there named Ian, and that seems to have made all the difference.


We had a short trip to Barcelona last week.  We left on Wednesday morning and drove the 3 hours to the discount airline.  Only the third time we've done it but it's starting to get old already.  When we are paying prices that are about a 5th of what we'd pay for a more convenient flight we just have to suck it up and do it I guess.  Thankfully the flight and bus ride to our hotel went smoothly.  Our first destination wasn't actually Barcelona but Lloret de Mar, a beach town about an hour north.  We had heard about this beach from one of Carissa's coworkers who said it was fabulous.  That combined with a $50 a night price tag for apartment rental at a hotel with a great pool and within walking distance to the beach made the decision easy.  We were a little nervous about what it would be like when we got there considering the price  (the pictures looked nice), but it turned out to be great.  We aren't really sure why the price was so cheap - the only reason I could see is because a new hotel is going up right next door and sometimes the construction was quite noisy.


Anyway, we got to our room at about 2pm, changed into our suits and headed down to the pool.  The kids swam and we relaxed and had a snack and some drinks from the pool bar.  After a couple hours we went back the room, got cleaned up and then walked down to the beach.  We had to walk through the town a little bit and it's a tourist town much like you'd find in the States.  Basically the streets are all lined with souvenir shops selling a bunch of junk.  The beaches are great though, and have the most coarse sand I have ever seen.  So coarse that you have no hope of building a sand castle because it can't hold a shape.  The kids had a great time playing in the warm Mediterranean surf.  By this time it was dusk and we decided to eat at a little restaurant on the beach and then walked home.

First dip in the Mediterranean

Thursday we got up and headed straight back to the beach.  After dragging the kids on the previous sightseeing trips we figured they deserved a trip that was more up their alley.  We spent the morning at the same beach (Playa de Fenals) we had visited the previous night and then walked maybe a mile to Playa de Lloret, which is the more popular beach.  The kids played some more, we had a picnic lunch, and then Carissa and the kids had a little nap on the blanket while Dad read and drank beer.  That night we went into the center of town for dinner.  The girls had seen some shops where women were offering fancy hair braiding like you see in the Caribbean and were begging to have it done.  We went to a place we had seen before near our hotel but it was closed and the girls were heartbroken.  In the city, however, we stumbled into another one and the girls were ecstatic.  This pushed back dinner to the point where Haaken and I wandered through the city to find some food and bring it back to the girls who were still getting their hair done.  So dinner ended up being take out pizza in a hair / tattoo parlor.  Not exactly what you travel to Spain for, but the girls were so excited it was worth it.

Coarse sand

The girls weren't smiling the whole time.  Apparently it hurt quite a bit.  Near tears most of the time.

Finished product

Friday we got packed up and taxied to the bus station to get to Barcelona.  We arrived in Barcelona at about noon and after eating lunch and a short nap in the apartment we once again walked to the beach (Barceloneta beach).  Another great beach, this one with standard sand.  Their were whitecaps on the Mediterranean, but we found a great spot partially sheltered by a breakwater that allowed some waves to make it in, but significantly reduced the undertow.  I got in the water and had a great time showing the kids how to body surf.  After a couple hours we decided to walk the boardwalk and try to find someplace to eat.  We ended up in front of a restaurant that had a DJ playing all kinds of hip hop and electronica.  It was packed, and the kids got all excited by the music and the scene.  Haaken of course started dancing - the kid literally cannot hear music and not dance.  It's like it's an involuntary reaction.  We got a table, ate appetizers for dinner and Mom and Dad split a pitcher of Sangria.  We got back to the apartment pretty late and all collapsed into bed.

Body surfing

Haaken loved the waves crashing into him.

Dinner and drinks

Saturday we decided we had to at least see some of the sights and the city.  We started the morning at Sagrada Familia, which is a famous church designed by renowned Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi.  This poor guy spent 40 years living basically in poverty designing and trying to get this church built until one day on the way to the church he was hit by a tram and killed.  It really is an incredible building, but due mostly to the fact that Rick Steve's Barcelona was already checked out at the library, we stood in line for 30 minutes, paid 25 euro in entrance fees, only to find out that it's not even done being built yet.  In fact, it's not even close.  Based on what I read when we got in there, this church won't be done until 2030!  Granted, we probably would've paid to get in anyway, but this is quite the deal they have going - the entrance fee goes to pay for the completion of the building.  The outside is surrounded by cranes and scaffolding (not uncommon when cathedrals are getting cleaned or restored) and the inside is the same - no pews or furniture, just a massive empty room with a dusty floor, and piles of supplies scattered here and there.

Sagrada Familia

Feeling like we got a little bit ripped off, we took the metro to the city center and walked down the most famous street - La Rambla.  It was packed and the kids had a good time checking out all the street performers lined up and down the sidewalks.  We stumbled onto a huge market, Mercat de la Boqueria filled with long rows of fruit stands, and fresh meat and seafood.  The kids each got a glass of freshly squeezed juice to drink while we wandered the market.  It was a great time until the smell of the seafood got to Haaken and he ended up throwing up his juice in the middle of an aisle.  We continued to meander though, making sure to stay away from any seafood stands and then bought some food from a couple different vendors and sat down for lunch.  I could have stayed there all day just sampling and watching the workers and people.  I did get to see one of the meat vendors cut up what I think was a chicken and prepare the sweetbreads for a waiting customer.  Good thing Haaken didn't see that.

La Rambla

Mercat de la Boqueria

After lunch we walked a little further down La Rambla and then detoured into the adjacent Gothic area of town.  Really cool area with super narrow streets and great buildings.  The kids got some gelato and we walked over to the Barcelona Cathedral.  We checked out the cathedral, sat for a few minutes listening to a youth orchestra practice, then left and walked to the metro to head back to the apartment.


By this time it was late afternoon and we wanted to get a little more beach time in so we changed and went back to the beach.  Probably should mention that Spain's beaches are clothing optional, but it didn't seem to faze the kids other than Elise asking "Why do some of the women not have tops on?"  After that they didn't give it a second thought.  Haaken made friends with a little Spanish girl and they had a great time running around chasing a ball and digging in the sand.  We had Haaken say "Adios amiga" when we left which the girl got a kick out of.

That night we tried to find a couple recommended restaurants in our neighborhood to eat at, but one was closed and the other just didn't look that great.  Instead we went to a market and bought some food and brought it back to the apartment.  The kids lucked out and found some American cartoons to watch while we ate and then hit the hay.


The trip back was uneventful as well, except for a Stau (traffic jam) on the Autobahn.  For the next three weeks it's going to be work, school and soccer and not much else.  This weekend we're planning on going to Oktoberfest in Munich.  Next trip is Garmisch for a dental conference.

Rome, Italy (Planes, Trains, and Automobiles)

To sum up the trip to Rome I'd say Rome was great, the trip was too short, and the travel days were way too long.  Our flight didn't leave for Rome until Sunday, so we were planning on packing on Friday night.  After school I took the kids out for a bike ride and we ended up outside our German neighbors house just before we were about to head home for dinner.  The neighbor girls heard us and came out, which resulted in us having a dinner of snacks, beer, wine and apfelschorle and a fire.  We had a great time getting to know our new neighbors and stayed until 10pm I think.

Saturday morning we got up to clean and pack and get ready for our trip.  The kids took a nap and then we drove down to a little town near the airport (3 hours away) called Altenberg.  Our flight left at 9 am on Sunday so we though a cheap hotel stay was preferable to a 4am wakeup call.  Sunday morning we got up and went to the airport.  There was a heavy fog and once we made it through checking in and security it still hadn't lifted and we were beginning to realize our plane wasn't going to get out on time.  Sure enough, at roughly the time our flight was supposed to leave we were told that the plane was unable to land at our airport and had to be redirected to another.  Instead of waiting at the airport we were at, they loaded everyone on a bus and drove us to the other airport which was an hour away.  At the new airport we had to check in and go through security again and then waited for probably another 45 minutes until we boarded the plane.  The flight was fine and we made it to Pisa in about and hour and half.  Prior to the trip, one of Carissa's coworkers had flown to Pisa and then taken a "short train ride" to Rome and said it worked great.  The trains apparently run every hour to Rome so we thought it would be a piece of cake.  Turns out the "short train ride" was 4 hours, which we had to experience to find out because the tickets we got at the airport had no departure or arrival times.  Once we got to Rome we walked for what seemed like forever through the Termini (the main train / metro / bus station) to get to the metro train we needed to get across town to our hotel.  After a 20 minute walk and another 20 minute metro ride we came up from the subway still an unwalkable distance from our hotel.  We proceded to wander down the street to the nearest roundabout to find a taxi and finally made it to our hotel a good 10 hours after we began our trip.

On the airport bus

That night we ate dinner at a nice restaurant right outside our hotel.  Carissa and Elise were in heaven with lots of fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, Lydia and I split a pizza and Haaken ate off of everyone's plate.  I also ordered a half liter of vino to take the edge off.

First Dinner in Italy

Monday morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel and then discovered with the help of the hotel staff that there was a train stop we could've used the night before instead of the taxi.  We hopped on the train, transfered on to the metro and made our way to the Colosseum.  We wandered around the Colosseum and then  over to Palatine Hill.  I'm not sure if it was really that hot out or if we have just been conditioned to cooler weather living in Germany, but Carissa and I were sweating and ornery, and for the first time in Europe the kids weren't interested in the 2000 year old ruins at all despite me excitedly explaining to them all about the Gladiators.  They were probably tired from the day before as well.  After walking through the Forum, up Capitol Hill and a picnic lunch we decided to get back to the hotel to let the kids rest and hopefully have a 'do over' that night.

Colloseum

Palatine Hill

View from the hill

Elise wondered why this guy was checking his cell phone (on top of Capitol Hill)

The kids and Mom recharged the batteries (I went grocery shopping and read) for a couple hours and then we decided to do a night walk through the heart of Rome.  We started at the Spanish Steps and lingered at the Sinking Boat fountain for a while just taking in the scene.  Following a stop for some candy from a street vendor we made our way to the Trevi Fountain.  Both fountains are powered by the Roman aqueducts, although the Trevi is much more powerful, with over 24 spouts gushing water in and around the sculptures of Nicola Salvi.  Weaving our way through the streets we managed to find a recommended gelato shop near the Piazza Colonna for a little more dessert before dinner.  We have a lot of gelato in Germany, but this place had far more flavours to choose from  - probably 50 different kinds - like Nelson's in Stillwater.  What we missed from Nelson's portion size was more than made up for in quality though.

Spanish Steps

Sinking Boat

Roman Street

Trevi Fountain

The  Pantheon was a short walk from there so we checked that out, but only from the outside since the interior had closed probably a half hour before.  Unfortunately they are doing some cleaning/restoring right now so half of the columns in the front were surrounded with scaffolding which kind of ruined our pictures.  From there we made our way over to the Piazza Novona which is a large oblong square filled with artists, musicians, cafes, various other street performers and a couple Bernini fountains.  I guess it used to be a racetrack back in the day (meaning 1st century AD).  It also has an Egyptian obelisk which you find in many of the Roman squares  (they brought them back from Egypt after conquering it.)  Finally we ended our walk at the Campo de' Fiori, which is another lively square and also the site where the Roman burned a famous heretic.  I really never studied (or maybe paid close attention to) Roman civilization in school, but they loved them some painful public executions.  Seems like everywhere you turn is another site of a famous person dying unpleasantly.  We had a very late dinner at a restaurant on the square, constantly getting harassed by street vendors selling junk and trying to take our picture for money with what looked like a Viewmaster.  It was a beautiful night though and the food was great.  We then hopped a bus back to the metro and attempted to transfer to the train that stopped near our hotel only to find out that it had stopped running for the day.  The map I had was more of a tourist map, which meant our hotel was not on it so we picked a direction and starting walking in hopes of finding a taxi and not getting mugged.  To top it off I only had about 8 euro on me so we had to find a cash machine as well.  We got lucky though as we ran into a cash machine relatively soon, and then at the first open restaurant we found the friendly bartender called us a cab.  We probably got back to the hotel at about 11:30.

Lydia at the Campo de' Fiori

Tuesday we got up, again had breakfast at the hotel and then took the metro to the Vatican.  We got to spend quite a bit of time checking out the Vatican museum which was packed (the kids were in a better mood) and then ended that tour at the Sistine Chapel.  After about 2 minutes in the Sistine Chapel Lydia started crying because she had to go to the bathroom so badly.  Dad wasn't happy because the bathroom was back at the beginning of the museum, which meant we had to fight the crowd a second time to get back to the chapel.  We made it back, however, and sat in the Chapel reading from our tour book and staring at the incredible paintings.  Next on the schedule was St. Peter's Basilica, which made every cathedral we've seen so far seem quaint.  I think you have to be there to believe it, the pictures just don't do it justice - the thing is huge.  Apparently from the floor to the top of the dome is 430 feet.  It also can hold 60,000 standing visitors!  Needless to say it took a while to get through the whole thing and try to get some pictures that somewhat captured the scope of it.  We followed this up by heading out to St. Peter's square.  Again showing my ignorance of Rome, I was surprised to learn that the Basilica is the site where Peter, Jesus' right hand man, came to spread the word and as a result was publicly executed for it.  They tried to crucify him like Jesus, but he convinced them he wasn't worthy and told them to crucify him upside down instead.  The altar marks the spot where they buried him.

Outside the Vatican garden

Basilica's Altar

400 ft dome

St. Peter's Square

After another nap back at the hotel, we took a bus back to the Pantheon or I should say near the Pantheon.  I guess it was rush hour in Rome because the streets were packed with crazy Italian drivers and we almost got hit twice.  This time though we were able to go inside the Pantheon which was awesome.  The Pantheon is the only building in Rome that is still pretty much as it was when it was originally built in 80 AD.  I wish we would've gone there before going to the Colosseum and the Forum because it really gives you more of a sense of what is now rubble in those places must've looked like before Rome fell.   Also, many famous buildings were modeled or inspired by the design of this building including St Peter's, the Florence Cathedral and even the US Capital.  We sat outside near the square's fountain for quite a while and Haaken started dancing with a street musician for some entertainment.  We ate dinner at a little place nearby and then walked back to the Spanish Steps metro stop, but not before buying the most expensive ice cream in the history of mankind.  We literally have asked what the price of Gelato is at every shop except this one, and man did we pay for it.  The kids were thrilled with the cones though, so I guess I was worth it....

Pantheon

Haaken being Haaken

Haaken loving some bread and olive oil

Wednesday was the day we were headed home, and it turned out to be even more of a fiasco than Sunday.  We packed up our stuff, checked out and then got on the train to the metro and took the metro to the train station.  Based on what Carissa's work friend had experienced (or I guess told us) and our experience on the way there, we were led to believe that getting a train back to Pisa was a piece of cake.  Once we got to the train station I went upstairs to the terminal to buy tickets.  I was shocked to find that the manned counters had a huge line that we didn't have time to wait in, so I opted for a self service ticket machine.  Relieved to find that the machine had an English option I proceeded to try and find tickets, but the English option was pretty much only half in English.  I wasn't sure what I was doing so I went to get Carissa and the kids for a second opinion.  Carissa and I proceeded to fumble our way through the screens until some random Italian guy leaned over and started punching buttons trying to help us.  There were basically 2 trains that would get us to Pisa in time for our plane.  First we tried for the Family discount tickets with no luck.  Then second class reserved tickets - no luck.  Actually both of these first told us we could get them until we tried to pay for them at which point it told us they weren't available.  By this time I'm freaking out and sweat is just dripping off of me from the thought of no tickets being available.  We kept trying different options and coming up with nothing.  Finally Carissa tried the "flexible" option, which meant we would have separate single seats all over the train.  The other catch was they were 1st class seats.  With no other option we  had to get them and ended up paying $400 for a one way trip to Pisa = Matt stressed, sweaty and not happy.  By this time the train we had just paid tickets for was leaving in 5-10 minutes and of course the printed tickets were completely in Italian.  With no clue where we were going we started rushing for the platforms and I asked some random guy for help.  He took one look at the tickets and took off, beckoning us to follow quickly, with our 3 kids and 5 bags, weaving in and out of the crowd.  Finally we got to the platform, which we prayed was the right one.  We jumped on the train, no idea what car our seats were on and too scared to jump off to find an employee to help us (the other guy had already left) in the event that the doors closed and the train left.  After a couple tense minutes some security guys got on and told me where we were sitting.  We found our seats but still weren't even sure if we were on the right train, but thankfully an English speaking Italian businessman saw the panicked looks on our faces and offered his help.  The guy was great - confirmed we were on the right train and then looked up the train schedule in Pisa to make sure we knew what train to take to the airport.  We finally dropped out bags and Carissa informed me that I needed to change my t-shirt, which was completely soaked with sweat.

First Class was great but unfortunately that only got us to Florence, where we had to jump on another train which was not nearly as nice.  We were lucky enough to sit next to a group of backpacking frat boys from Australia who were loudly discussing where they had been and what drugs they had taken the past weekend. Their accents were thick enough that the kids didn't catch too much of their conversation I hope.  Finally we made it to Pisa, transfered trains again to get to the airport and check it.  Our flight ended up being 45 minutes late, but they made up the time in the air getting us back to Germany in 1 hour.  We landed at about 6pm and still had a 3 hour drive home.  Par for the course, the weather was horrible - heavy rain mixed with swirling fog at night made for an extra half hour to the drive and sore hands for me from grabbing the steering wheel so tightly.  Time to get home was 12 hours.  

Carissa worked the next day and Elise and Lydia had school.  We got through the week and basically laid around the house all last weekend.  This week Haaken started German kindergarten.  The drop offs aren't great, but when I pick him up he's clearly had fun so hopefully the adjustment period won't be too long.  The weekend the girls have been invited to their German friend's birthday party and we are considering driving down to Munich for Oktoberfest on Saturday.  Carissa read recently it's the 200th anniversary so hopefully it's not too busy.

Back to School

Quick update before the weekend.  The past weekend and week were pretty uneventful.  Did a little school shopping over the weekend for the kids at a German shopping mall in Bayreuth, which is a town north of here.  Elise is growing at an alarming rate.  Typically Carissa buys all her clothes for the fall the during the Spring sales, and has been pretty accurate with predicting what size she'd be by the time school starts.  This time it didn't work out so well and Elise had pretty much grown out of all her clothes.  For example, she was wearing size 4 shoes last winter (and up until a few weeks ago) and now measures at a size 7.  I'm surprised she doesn't have permanent foot damage.  Anyway, we got her some new clothes and Lydia has a huge pile of hand-me-downs that she was very excited about.  Haaken got one new outfit at the PX.

School started on Monday and both girls are in a mixed grade class.  Lydia has Ms. Fife, who teaches a 1st/2nd grade class and Elise has Mrs. Friedrichs who teaches a 4th/5th grade class.  We were excited about this because Elise's school in Stillwater does the same thing and it seems to allow kids to go at their own pace a little more.  Both girls were very excited to be at school and like their teachers so far.  Lydia told me that she was really happy about school starting because she was sick of playing Legos at home everyday.  The kids are taking the bus now, although the bus stop is a good 10 minute walk away, through the neighborhood, down a big hill, and then across a very busy and dangerous street, which means I've still got drop off duties.  Our first day we were happily surprised to find out that there is a new American family in the neighborhood with a 4th grade girl who is in Elise's class.  Elise and Daniella have become fast friends which is nice.  Lydia is basically a rock star around the base - seems like everywhere we go her classmates are yelling out "LYDIA!" so she's doing well in the social department too.  Soccer started for Elise last week so we have that on Tuesdays and Thursdays now and then Haaken and Lydia start up in a couple weeks which will be Mondays and Wednesdays.  Once that starts it's going to be a little nuts running around M-Th, but the kids are excited about it and it gets us out of the house.

First Day of School

Waiting at the Bus Stop

We're off!

We found out some really good news this week regarding Haaken.  We had been wanting to get him into a German Kindergarten (ages 3-6) so he can get something out of this whole experience, but had been told at the only Kindergarten that was open in August (the other 2 were on holiday) that a new law had been passed regarding children that have 2 non German parents could not attend.  Apparently they are running out of room here in Grafenwoehr.  On Wednesday the other two opened up so I went to inquire with them just to see if I'd get the same answer.  The first one was here in town and they said they couldn't take him, but recommended that I go to a neighboring village and ask there because they weren't affected by the law.  As luck would have it, a family had just informed this other school that they were moving and so they do have room for Haaken.  We are very excited about this opportunity for him - the teacher told me that most American kids that go there are pretty much speaking German by Christmas.  The only downside is that I lose my little buddy all week (he'll be going 5 days a week from 8 until 12:30).  The upside is that he'll learn German, and I may be able to do some volunteering in Elise and Lydia's classes and have some contact with some adults other than Carissa.  We have to figure out a way to keep his language skills up when we get home too so it doesn't all go to waste.

We are headed on another short trip this Sunday - Wednesday to Rome.  The dates are a little weird and the time a little short due to getting an incredible deal on plane tickets, but we will have 2 full days there and one morning so it still should be great.  I'll be sure to provide a more timely update after that trip.