A brief summary of our trip to Germany:
The only part of the trip that I anticipated with stress rather than with excitement was the travel. Getting myself and the kiddos to and from Germany was a daunting task, despite knowing that many people have endured much, much more. Thankfully, all worry was for naught. The kids were superb through the 20+ hours of flying and the additional hours in the airport. I even had Johnny Isakson, one of Georgia’s two senators (and one of the few US Senators I would even recognize!) compliment me on their behavior at the airport in DC. (I thought it was Senator Isakson, but I wasn’t sure until I saw his name on his luggage as he walked away.)
We did have a few small “incidences” along the way. Our flight from DC to Newark was delayed, and we were in danger of missing our connection to Hamburg. So I was rebooked on a “just in case” itinerary that would have taken us from DC to Newark, Newark to MADRID, and Madrid to Hamburg. Not only is Madrid NOT AT ALL on the way to Hamburg, but such a route also would have taken an extra 12 hours. Now, I’ve always wanted to go to Spain, but definitely NOT by myself with two children and with a limited supply of diapers / food / Euros! Thankfully, all went well and we caught our connection in Newark. Still haven’t made it to Spain, but someday. . .
And on the way home, we missed our Newark-DC connection but were easily rebooked on the next flight out and made it home without further problems. Again, the kids were amazing.
Our time in Deutschland was great. We ate LOTS, trying to (literally) cram in all of our favorites in a limited amount of time. We spent a few days traveling to Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin, which were great. Being there almost exactly 20 years after the fall of wall was great timing; unfortunately, two little kids are not all that interested in exploring the historical significance of these cities. So, we took in what we could and focused on enjoying time together as a family. We’d definitely take the chance to return to these cities to see some more, but we also think our next few years of family vacations will emphasize kid-friendly activities over touristy sight-seeing.
The time in Glueckstadt was fun but too short, as always. It’s been amazing to see our children get to interact with their great grandparents, and we are trying hard to take advantage of that for as long as possible. Simona got to attend a German preschool for a morning, which she loved. Andreas sampled his first ice cream, and both of them got spoiled by family. Caleb and I particularly enjoyed sitting with Nancy’s Dad and Oma in the evenings, telling stories, drinking beer (or water!), and eating Schwarzbrot.
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Other updates: As mentioned we lost our camera in Germany. We do have pictures to upload and hope to do that soon. (These are from my dad’s camera and from our video camera.) My parents generously gave us their old digital camera, but we need to figure out how to get pics off the camera and onto our computer, so post-Germany pictures may be a while in coming. We’ll try to stay on top of it!