Travel Treasures

Home again

Our flights are on time. we waste time spending our last Euros on chocolate at Duty Free during the layover in Dusseldorf. What will the kids remember from this trip? the many modes of transportation [train, bus, trolley, scooter, hybrid auto, airplane, skateboard, wakeboard] and the fine cuisine [sausage, fried potatoes, foreign salads, and the chocolate]. They will also remember the many people both friends and family who love them, who made me who I am today, and want to see them again tomorrow.

last day and night in Berlin

The ride to Berlin goes smoothly. I'm thankful for the seat
reservations we were required to make because the train

is very full.  Our uncle picks us up. Although my 6 year old has not
seen him since they visited three years ago,

she is swept up by his twinking smile and his generous hug. We eat, we
walk to the playground. My 13 year old son

shows off on his skateboard and my daughter misses her scooter
"Roller" which we have left at the grandparents house.

We settle into our comfortable beds. the kids sing me a naughty song
they've composed. At midnight, I hear my my

daughter crying and moaning. "Are you sick?" I ask. She vomits
everywhere. I drag her into the bathroom, mercifully

close by, a trail of vomit behind us. She deposits the rest of stomach
into the sink and the rest of her bowels in

the toilet. She shivers and I wash her. I drag the soiled bedsheets
into the tub, run water and shampoo over the

mess. The sour smell everywhere threatens my own gut. I pull on her
pajamas, fix her a bed. I wash the floor and the carpet as best I can.

I fall into bed. thirty minutes later she's away again. we make it to
the bathroom, now she really must be empty. I

wash her and put her back to bed. I'm well and fully wired now. I
listen to my Ipod and wait for sleep.

The next day, she seems fine but I insist that she eats just a very
little. The kids play cards, build puzzles and

fiddle on the computer. Our aunt has a little project for the
teenagers, a bit of german to english translation for

a photo tour of berlin for my mother. Mom had joined us for a tour of
the city early in our trip, and our aunt

thinks she'll enjoy having a photo disk with explanation. It is good
for the children to have a common goal.

We spend a lazy day together. We get to know the two cousins, ( he is
12 and she is 15) and their mom, a lovely

French women. The cousins have been on vacation with their
grandparents (our aunt and uncle). She has come to meet us,

to shop in Berlin, and to bring the children home. They and we share a
space together between here and there. we are content.

luxury is in the eye of the beholder fast asleep

mom, angel investor of our trip, decides we have roughed it long
enough. We take a taxi from the train station, no more trains,
trolleys or busses with our luggage today! We have spent enough nights
in un-airconditioned rooms where the curtains do not keep out the 3 am
dawn nor the mosquitoes of northern Europe in the summer. We stay, at
my suggestion, at an American hotel chain in Berlin for her last night
in Germany. We revel in our shower and the fact that we can dine a
mere elevator ride from our cool, dark hotel room. Sheer indulgence!

Mom is anxious, so we awake too early and arrive at the airport, again
taking a taxi, an hour before she can actually check in. We enjoy a
surprisingly good breakfast with scrambled eggs then check her into
her flight. She is relieved to be homeward bound and I am happy she
has enjoyed her trip.

My six year old and I find our bus immediately and stand a short time
later at the train station. Here too, we find that the next train
leaves in a few minutes and easily make the connection. I call ahead
to alert the next relatives of our imminent arrival and they meet us
on the platform an hour later on their end.

the next three days are spent laughing with cousins, telling tales of
our adventures, playing cards and eating chocolate. we enjoy a blessed
lack of public transportation. the only planning we do is for a small
birthday celebration in honor of my son's grandfather, who will turn
73. The children plan the dramatic presentation of a fairy tale in his
honor. Eight kids, consisting of seven cousins aged 3 through 20 years
old and one boyfriend, will participate.

Kiel-Hamburg-Nuremburg: do trains award frequent flier miles?

We left Kiel, a place of comfort and rest, a place of long talks over
sushi and wine to go south. we had found our way to the local bakery
each morning to purchase fresh rolls and croissants. We had
breakfasted in peace and jazz  around a table with friends. We had
sampled fresh cheese and bread, wandered among restored farm houses,an
art exhibit and an old-fashioned county fair with the children. we had
eaten gallettes and drank beer shanties once more in an outdoor cafe.

Our first stop after kiel was hamburg, an hour away by train.  Karin
and her kids meet us at the platform. we watched as a film crew filmed
a mock assault, presumably for a television program. stowing our
luggage at a locker in the station, I feel like an international spy.
How would I pass this key unseen to my fellow agent?

we make our way by trolley to Planten und Blomen, a local park
featuring water slides, hand-driven waterpumps and the usual array of
swings and see-saws. Karin was so thoughtful and brought a bathing
suit for my daughter as hers was inconveniently located in our luggage
at the station. Most probably a spy was trying on her bikini at that
exact moment.

the children do not gel. hers are still tired from their recent
vacation and my 6 year old, just between the two in age, saw no reason
to befriend anyone who did not jump immediately into the sprinklers on
such a hot day. Karin and I chat, drink coffee and nibble on local
pastry. My mother reads a novel.

then we sweep the kids toward the bus and make our way across town to
meet her husband, my friend David. We can eat lunch with him during
his lunchtime near his office. sadly, we get off the bus a stop too
soon and drag ourselves over the molten sidewalk along the harbor.
protected from the water, our way is surprisingly long and breezefree.
we arrive bedraggled at clever young professional hangout called the
Beach Club. Imported sand and boardwalks try to trick us into feeling
tropical. the service is terrible and the food forgetable, but it is
good to see David again. He tells us about his new job, his
achievement in landing at the firm is another triumph of luck, balls
and persistance.

then we are on our way back to the main station to retrieve the spy
luggage and our a 4 and a half hour trip to nuremburg.

we are met at the station by grandpa and wife. they hug, we receive.
we take a trolley to their car. my 6 year old and I follow the
stepgranny home while mom rides with grandpa and the luggage to the
flat where we will spend the next two nights. we share a little fruit
and conversation, then retire for the night.

After breakfast at our pension, we meet grandpa and ma for a day in
the city. We admire the longest stretch of existing Roman wall in
Europe. this while survived the Allied forces destruction of the city.
The castle has been well restored and provides a view of the city.
churches and bridges are the city's well known landmarks. my daughter
and I spend time people watching during some of the church visits.

We then eat Nuremburger sausages and kraut, washed down with beer. Our
next stop is ruins of another castle within the town. Finally we enjoy
a kidfriendly visit to a toy museum and cafe, complete with plenty of
hands-on play. stepgrandma and I sneak into a toy shop to choose a
present for my daughter's upcoming birthday.

In the late afternoon we return to the grandparents apartment where we
meet Luisa and her mother. Luisa is a sunny seven year old who
immediately befriends my daughter. the two take off on scooters around
the neighborhood, then spend time climbing barefoot and coloring
pictures. We pry them apart for dinner, but they soon reunite for more
play. eventually our new friend must go to bed as she will have school
the next day. grandpa, daughter and I take a walk with the scooter
along the river Pegnitz to another ruined castle. In a grassy field I
step into a hidden hole and fall hard to my hands and knees but am
unhurt. my daughter scrapes herself for the tenth time while pumping
the scooter and this time draws a fair amount of blood. I carry her,
grandpa the scooter most of the way home. with bandaid and booboo
cream she recovers.

we say our goodnights and spend a mostly peaceful night in our tiny
but comfortable rooms. we have a shower and sink in the room, which is
a wonderful asset, but the toilet is along the hall, past a steep
staircase. every time my mother awakes for the bathroom, I panic
thinking my daughter is wandering half asleep in the corridor. she had
woken up the night before at 2 am, bursting for the bathroom but
unsure of where it was and where she was. I'd wager she also did not
know the room or city where she awoke either.

morning brought one more breakfast at the pension. I cannot believe
that I am actually sick of white bread. my gut and I have finally had
our fill of the charming bread rolls and I long for my healthy cereal
at home. grandparents pick us up with the car to visit st john's
cemetary, the largest and most noble in Nuremburg. Both have
grandparents and parents interned there and I am startled by the size
of the imposing monuments to both families. we enjoy lunch in a
Baroque Garden and the food and service are excellent. Mom enjoys
pasta with local mushrooms in season. my daughter and I devour an
enormous salad with grilled chicken. I sneak off to pay the bill,
grandpa is insulted. My daughter falls again with the scooter, I patch
her up again. She is at this point in the trip, covered in bruises and
scabs. I wonder if she falls so much because she needs more attention
or is this a growth spurt in which she no longer knows the length of
her limbs and extremities? Questions haunt a parent.

I explain that lunch was my treat because we needed to celebrate their
upcoming 40th anniversary. Mollified, grandpa says, "But that's not
until next week." I reply, "We won't be here next week."

We are delivered to the train station. we thank them for their
hospitality, they thank us for coming. Their gift is bringing their
granddaughter, says grandpa. we promise to stay in touch.

we have time for a treat in an ice cream parlor, purchasing a birthday
card and browsing the bookstore. then we find our train for the 4 and
a half hour ride to berlin. I review the events in my mind, how I have
done my duty in bringing my daughter to visit the somewhat estranged
grandfather in the old country. I recall how, before sitting down to
dinner grandpa gravely presents an envelope containing "the money he
owes his granddaughter for the last three birthdays." I decide I have
earned a few points on the big heaven scoreboard and settle in to
reading Pippi Longstocking aloud to the almost birthday girl.

Gray hair

The day starts well. We all awake early with the noise of the nearby construction site. All the household is preparing for a journey. Our hosts leave Hamburg for their vacation in the south of Germany: my family leaves for a weekend in Kiel. We deliver my son to his train to his grandparents. As his train departs, we window shop, biding our time until our train leaves. Just before boarding, I receive a call: my son was not on the train arriving at his grandparents. Two frantic hours we spend calling back and forth, trying to decide what to do. He arrives at his station three hours later. He had slept past his stop, leapt into the train in the opposite direction, making his connection in four minutes, then correctly boarded the next train to his grandparents.

My hair is turning gray.

The hour is late, I'll fill this story in another time. g'nite

Hamburg in the Summertime

We stagger from the train onto the platform. Our uncle waves, hurries to us and sweeps each of us in turn into his arms. He actually lifts my 6 year old up off the ground and she giggles, although normally she would shy away. Thoroughly greeted, we lug our bags to his car and quickly we are at his flat. I've spent many happy hours here with him and his family, watching the kids race the hallway over the years, shaking our heads equally at American and German politics, comparing notes on living in cities in both countries. This place feels like home. We bulldoze our way through an impressive array of cakes and coffee, then leave on the subway to meet our aunt for dinner.

The walk from the train station, past the Reeperbahn red light district, and Hamburg Harbor, one of the busiest in Europe, into one of the oldest sections of town, is fiercely hot and too long for our American legs. They have selected a favorite of destination of theirs on a canal across from the Warehouse district in the historic Deichstrasse. 'Te Briezh' is a Brittany inspired restaurant serving sweet crepes and savory gallettes. The former may be filled with your choice of Nutella or strawberries and topped with ice cream, for example, and the latter is a buckwheat version of the crepe, to be filled with a vast array of meat, veg and in most cases, goat cheese. We feast and wash it all down with mildly alcoholic apple cider.

Fortified, we begin the walk back over many canals,  window shopping past the Rathaus (City Council) and several wonderful churches. The next day we will ride an elevator to the top of the most famous in the city, St. Michael's for a windswept 360° view of it all.

Our last notable moments in Hamburg are spent in Blankenese; winding streets lined with magnificent villas lead to the Elbe, one of Hamburg's rivers. As we emerge from the hot pedestrian traffic around the train station into the leafy sidestreets leading to the water, we happen upon a secondhand shop. In front of the shop, which is cute as a button and begged exploration, stands for sale a scooter. It is the sturdy German vehicle that virtually all children ride before they can handle a bicycle. The "Roller" is yellow with black stripes, based a familiar cartoon character. My 6 year old daughter and I fall instantly in love. I negotiate a reasonably price and suddenly the sun is shining only for her. Stylish and mobile, she is only too happy to let the silly grown ups goggle the homes and gardens. We stop for ice cream and promenade the river. Life is good.

Bureaucracy

The pedals feel familiar under my feet as the bicycle wheels turn toward town. I've ridden these bike paths so many times before, though not recently. I know I'll find the way, even though I cannot picture the route ahead in my mind. I trust that one street will lead to another and eventually bring me into the heart of this medium-sized German village, large enough to have a post office, yet too small for its own movie theater. A church chimes the hour. Paved road gives way to cobblestone. The government office I seek is located within the local castle grounds, the place I was married and my son was also christened. Eventually I find the right door marked "Tyrant for Foreigner's Gripes" or something to that effect, only to discover that this particular office is closed on Wednesdays. All the other functions in the place are available, only the particular bureaucrat I need has the day off. How convenient.

My still virgin passport and I peddle towards home defeated. On the way we stop at my bank to open a new account. Yes, internet banking is available. No, downloading my bank data into a spreadsheet as I do in the US is not. After much clicking and information-entering, my painfully new customer service representative informs me that the system is down and could i please make an appointment for the next day to sign the paperwork? As I was leaving for Hamburg that afternoon, this would be impossible, so we agree I will return on a week from Friday.

As usual, a morning that should have been full of accomplished tasks has been slurped up by life's annoyances. Pushing tires over well traveled paths, I make my way back to my family. We pack, schlep to the train, endure a slightly delay departure time, and ride to Hamburg.

Phaeno

<it was a day for the children. we all defied gravity in a science museum, then watched my 13 year old do so on a skateboard and a wake board. My 6 year, the fish was mostly to be found in and under water. We learned not to search the surface for her blond head but rather for the soles of her handstanding feet. She was happy in her element. The grannies and <i snapped photos, sipped coffee under the shade of a pretend resort, an artificial beach on a manmade lake which was surprisingly tropical with its outdoor couches and massive umbrellas. <it felt like south beach and we happy to cheer for my son on his board and my daughter on her hands. <in the background loomed the glass and steel tower of the Volkswagen AutoStadt (translation: Car Town or Tower of Babel exalting the automobile) and for contrast, Wolfsburger Schloss, the local castle.

Breakfast al fresco in Gifhorn

We breakfast as only the germans can, which means, as my six year old put it, "Mom, we're having a feast!" For our conspicuous consumption in the bread basket are four kinds of rolls: crispy white,  multigrain with seeds on top, hot pretzel style and dark. We dive into hard and soft cheeses and cold meats, three kinds of jam, honey, butter and Nutella.

Thus fortified, we set out to sail around Kiel bay, our friends' little corner of the Baltic Sea, the busiest waterway in the world. we can see why. It is an Autobahn of ferries, large and small; the smallest sailboats and the largest cruise ships; tankers, and tugs. From our vessel we see a submarine under repair and an experimental solar powered motor catamaran receiving maintenance.

Our next stop is "the beach", which coming from Florida, came as a bit of a shock to my daughter. Sharp rocks decorated the shoreline and the water was only a few feet deep for about one quarter mile. Beyond that we could see tankers and ferries chugging by in the channel. We enjoyed fish sandwiches, the local specialty, and then decided to test the water. we attempted a game of frisbee but there were too many stones underfoot.

We then freshen up at at "home", our friends' apartment, and speed away for a five course fish dinner in the resort area of Strande, courtesy of my generous mom.  Cocktails, Proseco,and a German Riesling lubricate the conversation. The kids head to the bar area with their dessert where a big screen television broadcasts the final game of the World Cup soccer match. We zip home at halftime to watch the exciting conclusion: a well deserved victory for Spain over the Netherlands.

As food is such an obvious theme in our travels, it is fortunate that marathon amounts of walking are as well. The next day was again a travel day as we left for Gifhorn. Our journey consisted of one regional train Kiel-Hamburg, one Intercity Express Hamburg-Hanover, the height of comfortable travel; and finally another regional starting in Hanover to our final destination near Wolfsburg. Regional trains  have no air conditioning,so we arrive completely baked and more than a little cranky. Grandpa picks us up at the station. A plunge into the local lake refreshes us for a visit to the cousins, followed by a pleasant barbeque in the grandparents' garden.

Low tech crafts vs. high tech yacht construction in Kiel

my daughter's eyes light up as the woman spins hairthin silver strands into a cloth decoration. she's just one  of 10 expert craftsmen and women demonstrating authentic handiwork of the Viking village. we inspect the handforged steel knives, shoes made of cow and goat leather, fabric hand spun and died with natural flower based colors. she chooses a single bead for a necklace souvenir. 

our next stop is Luehrsen, my friend's shipyard, to admire the newly completed 289' luxury yacht his firm has just handed over to their client. the interior is a black onxy and white marble masterpiece of art deco styling. the owner loves New York so we see the Chrysler building, the Empire State building and other New York landmarks

Now we're watching world cup soccer and uraguay scored a second goal against Germany. We all shouted our outrage. My 6 year old has a new word and she's not afraid to use it. "damn, damn, damn," she said.

Five minutes of passing and feinting and Germany scores to tie the game! In the end Germany is victorious for third place in the tournament, but for my money, it was a heartpounding performance by both teams. We go to bed with dreams visions of soccer balls in our heads.