A Trial Trip: Hamburg and Kiel

Towards the end of my pregnancy, we were getting the travel bug and were itching to plan our first post-baby trip.  Since neither of really knew what to expect when it came to traveling with a baby, we figured we should do a "trial trip" before we took on anything too ambitious.  

There were a few things that were taken into account when planning this trip.  First, I wanted to wait six weeks after giving birth. Second, we didn't want to fly. We figured our first trip should be in the car where we could pack (almost) as much as we wanted and stop when we needed. In the end, we probably could have flown, but I think it was a good decision to drive and get our bearings.  

We got a little bit of a rough start to the trip.  Our plan was to leave once Mike got back from class around two, so when I left for the store around 12:30, I figured I'd get back around 1:00 with an hour to get things together.  When I returned, though, I was locked out of our house.  This wouldn't be the end of the world because I would just go walk around with Finn and wait for Mike to come back.  The bigger issue was that I was locked out of the house AND it had started pouring outside.   As if that wasn't enough, Finn began to meltdown as I was standing in the hallway trying to figure out what to do. I frantically texted Mike and he ended up coming home an hour early. As if getting locked out wasn't enough of a hiccup, we walked in to our apartment to realize that the windows were open and there was water all over the floor. We quickly mopped the water up, grabbed our stuff and hit the road, hoping that this was not foreshadowing for how the weekend was going to go. 

Our first stop was Hamburg, Germany which is about three hours from Berlin.  Finn ended up screaming for the first twenty minutes of the trip and  I'm pretty sure there were a few moments at the where I wondered if we should turn around, but we persevered and he eventually fell asleep. We knew other Navy people stationed in Hamburg and had tentative plans for dinner with them.  By the time we arrived, it was after six, Finn had another meltdown the last twenty minutes of the car ride and our plans had fallen through, so Mike, Finn and I walked around Hamburg before settling on dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (judge away, but we figured after almost two years abroad, we deserved some good American food and I think we both wanted a strong drink).   We actually enjoyed Hamburg, which neither of us were expecting. It's a port and a big business city, so there wasn't a ton to see like in a lot of other major cities, but it was a good stopping point for the night.

Finn ended up having a meltdown as we settled in for a drink at the hotel bar and Mike ended up doing laps around the hotel room with him the Ergo before he finally fell asleep. We were grateful that, despite the meltdown, he had a successful night of sleep and the next morning, we got on the road and headed towards Kiel, Germany.  The trip was only an hour or so and Finn did a lot better this time around.  Can you tell we're celebrating any and all successes?

We actually stopped in Laboe, which is near Kiel, around 11:00.  There is an old WWII U-boat there, so knew we had to check it out.  It was actually really cool, even for those of us who don't work on a submarine. Mike wore Finn in the Ergo carrier and it was perfect for being able to maneuver around the U-Boat and for giving Finn a tour of his first submarine.  

So much to look at!

Finn's first look through a periscope!

How appropriate is it that the radio room is the funk room?

Gotta get a picture with the torpedo

Baby's first submarine!

After checking out the submarine, we grabbed lunch and walked around Laboe before heading to Kiel.  We were amazed at how many wind surfers there were, but it made sense because the wind was out in full force. 

Can you see all of the wind surfers?

That night, we met up with Ryan and Ashley Stevens, who live in Kiel.  Ryan is an Olmsted Scholar in Mike's class and they have been in Kiel since the summer of 2015.   The Stevens definitely put our travel to shame, so they had tons of stories to tell about their travels.  They took us to their local Mexican restaurant where we enjoyed delicious Mexican food and margaritas (nomz) before ending the night at a wine bar.  My kind of night.  Finn had a meltdown while we were at dinner and Ashley and Ryan got a look It's always great to catch up with fellow scholars and their families and hear about their experiences.

We ended the first half of our trial trip the next morning when we headed to Copenhagen.  While we were driving, Mike and I were reflecting on Finn's behavior and travel thus far and gave him letter grades for each day. 

Day One: D.  Sorry buddy, but three major meltdowns leads to an almost failing grade.  The only reason you didn't fail was because you slept through dinner instead of screaming. 

Day Two: B-. So much better!  After a successful car ride and sight seeing tour, the only major meltdown we had was the routine dinner time meltdown at the Mexican restaurant.  

I would say it was a semi-successful first half of the trip.  We learned that Finn doesn't do well in the car seat for extended periods of time and definitely does better when we drive in the morning.   He had a meltdown both nights around 7:30, maybe from just exhaustion and overstimulation. It was a trend that continued for the rest of the trip.  Luckily, he was able to calm down (eventually) and we continued on with our night.  Other than that, he was great.  He slept well in our two different hotels and was happy as a clam to be cruising around in his stroller. 

We have a lot of travel in the next few weeks before we head home to the United States, so hopefully Finn will get better in the car seat and we'll figure out how to avoid the 7:30 meltdown as the summer progresses. Inshallah (God willing) as the Turks say....

Tips for Moving and Living Abroad

As we come out of the newborn fog (if that's possible), I've got a few posts scheduled to post about random things.  Then, once we've found a routine, hopefully I'll be able to work in blogging as well. 

We got official orders to Groton, CT the other day for Mike's department head school, which means in between naps and feeding, there's been lots of logistical talk about moving back to the United States.  It made me think about our move(s) abroad and what I wish I would have known beforehand.  I've talked to a few people who are moving abroad about what to expect and how to prepare as they move abroad from the United States and figured it would make a good blog post. Moving abroad comes with a mix of emotions, both good and bad.  On top of that, trying to navigate the logistics of moving to a new country can be daunting.  It's well worth the emotional and logistic setbacks, though! We love it so much, though that we decided to have our first baby here!  Here are some things that have worked well for us. 

1. We still shop at the commissary and have our visitors bring us stuff from home.  Ha! Moving abroad is tough and it's worth having food that you know how to cook to help ease that transition.  I would imagine this to be especially true with kids. Some things we always buy at the commissary are shredded cheese (especially cheddar and mexican flavored cheese), Italian sausage, black beans, peanut butter and ethnic food (like soy sauce and taco seasoning). That being said, we do our weekly shopping at the grocery store and really enjoy shopping at the local markets here and in Turkey.  We've only done two commissary runs since being here and will probably only do one more before we leave. It's not essential, but like I said, food is such a comfort (especially when you're pregnant!) that it definitely helps ease the transition.

2. Germany is huge on paying in cash.  It's strange.  Lots of local places won't take cash for smaller bills, so make sure to always have cash on hand. Even if they do take credit cards, a lot of them will only take a German credit card. Turkey was the complete opposite! Every restaurant and cafe had a card reader.  Because almost all of their cards are chip and pin, they always bring the card reader to the table.  It's strange and unnerving for the wait staff to take your card away from the table. 

3. That being said, we got the Chase Sapphire Reward credit card when we moved abroad because it has no international fees and has 5x points on things like restaurants and hotels.  It's great for traveling abroad.  In fact, last spring, we had planned to book my entire flight home and back to Europe on points we'd accrued from this card.  Mike is definitely more into the points and rewards thing, but it's definitely benefited us to have it and use it abroad. They just released a new Chase card, the Sapphire Reserve, which has more perks, so I recommend getting that if you can. 

4. The stereotype of Germans always being so rude and mean isn't actually true.  It definitely took some getting used to their personality, which is definitely not as warm and welcoming as Americans, but they are actually really friendly, in their own German way.  I was really off-put by it at first, but now have realized they're just more blunt and "get to the point" than Americans who like small talk! 

5.There is German Amazon (amazon.de) and it is a lifesaver! We use it all the time because we are never sure where to get random things.  They don't have stores like Target, so all of the random things you would normally run to Target for (like pillows or a coat hanger), we end up ordering on Amazon.   Plus, a year of Amazon Prime is 49 euros, plus you can get a lot of American shows on their Prime that you can't get on regular Prime.  We pay for both American Prime and German Prime so that we get free shipping to our house, as well as our DPO box (a lifesaver!) and it's totally worth it.  Did that make sense? All you need to know is the there is Amazon here and it's a lifesaver.

6. This only applies to military, but I think it's maybe the most important thing when planning your move abroad.  When you move outside of the continental US, you get an "express shipment." I think they say it takes about 45 days to get to you, so it's not super fast, but we moved out of our DC apartment a month before we were set to move, so it got to us not that long after we moved overseas. For us (one active duty member + one dependent), we got 1000 lbs in our express shipment. We made the mistake of only packing the bare essentials! Pack 1000 lbs worth of stuff.  It's totally worth it. I would recommend basically sending all of your kitchen stuff first, plus a few extra things like an air mattress to sleep on and towels and sheets. I wish I had sent more of my kitchen because then I could have cooked when we moved in to our apartment instead of always having to eat out until the rest of our stuff came.  You also get to check four bags per ticket on the airline for free, so use that to your advantage. When we move back to the states, we're planning to use one of our checked bags for the pack n play so our little guy will have somewhere to sleep right when we get there. You can also gate check strollers, so don't use that as one of your checked bags. That's essentially free! I've never done it before, so all I know is what I've read online, but I've already started thinking about it because it's overwhelming. 

8. You can still communicate with friends/family back home. One thing that was really important to me when we moved abroad was that I would still be able to text and call home. At the time, I had an iPhone and so did she, which was great because we could still FaceTime and text via iMessage. I ended up losing my phone and the replacement was an Android, so that no longer worked.  I got Project Fi, which gave me a US number and allows me to call and text back to the United States without additional charges. I now also use an app called WhatsApp which allows us to video chat and text back and forth with anyone who has the app.  Both people have to have the app, so that's kind of a pain, but it's free.  It's so popular over here that most people use it to text their friends, even if they are in Germany.  It's been great for staying in touch with other Olmsted Scholars and Mike's sister who all live abroad.  Mike and I also have Skype Premium, which gives us an American phone number, which is nice for calling things like our bank or our health insurance back in the States.

Moving abroad is tough, both emotionally and logistically.  There is so much you don't think about before you move and then it's a million times more difficult to figure out in a new country.  The more prepared you are logistically, the easier emotionally it will be.  Every move and every country is different, but hopefully these tips and tricks will help anyone moving abroad get settled a little faster.

One Last Pre-Baby Visitor

Mike's sister, Kelly, lives in London and it's been so fun having her an easy plane ride away the past two years because we've gotten to meet up with her and her husband a few times over the course of our Olmsted experience.   She started talking about coming to visit sometime this spring and we were on board, as long as it wasn't too close to Baby Maximus' due date.   I knew that this weekend might be cutting it a little close, but I also knew Kelly's visit would be a nice distraction if we were still waiting for the big debut.  Luckily, our little guy is nice and cozy and doesn't seem to want to make his appearance any time soon, so we got to enjoy a nice, long weekend with Kelly, although I'm sure she would have loved to have met her nephew!

One of the great things about Kelly's visit was that this was her third time in Berlin.  She had already done most of the touristy stuff, so we got to show her the local side of Berlin and what our daily life is like.   We love showing people around and always try to do new-to-us stuff when they visit, but it was a lot of fun just hanging out.  I realized as I was thinking about her visit that most of our ventures involved food or beer, but I guess that's pretty representative of our life right now.  I eat all the food.  Mike drinks all the beer.  Needless to say, I think he was happy to have a drinking buddy and I was happy to continue to eat all the food.

We went to the local food market for dinner on Thursday and then to a local bar, Hopfenreich that's nearby.  The food market is incredible because all of the street vendors and food trucks come together every Thursday and set up stands in a local warehouse.  We love getting a few different things to try and this time was no different.  We got dumplings, edamame and Mike got some koshery, all of which were delicious.

Friday night, we introduced Kelly to our favorite neighborhood bar, Muted Horn and our favorite card game, Phase 10.   The weather was so nice that we were able to walk to the bar and sit outside for a while before it go too dark, which was so nice.  Mike and I have been talking about how excited we are just to be able to walk places and sit outside and our dream finally came true.  Sitting outside playing Phase 10 was a dream.  Plus, by the end of the first round, Kelly was hooked!

The next day, we were up and out of the house by mid-morning for Das Brunch.  Das Brunch is a popup brunch event that takes place every couple of months at different locations around Berlin.  Mike and I went last fall and enjoyed the menu and the ambiance, so we were anxious to show Kelly how fun it was.  This month, the event was at an old moratorium, which sounds morbid which was actually beautiful...once you got over the cemetery in the backyard! We were excited and hungry.  Unfortunately, we arrived to extreme disorganization and didn't get seated for almost an hour.  It took another hour for us to get our food.  By the time we finished, we all agreed that it was a cool event in theory, but not worth the two hour wait.  Our food was savory and delicious though, so we can't complain TOO much!

We spent the rest of Saturday walking around, hanging out at BrewDog and grilling on our balcony for the first time this season!! Oh and of course, Phase 10. It was the perfect way to end the day! I see lots of weekend nights spent this way and I don't hate it!

Sunday morning, we took it easy.  I made pancakes and bacon and we all hung out for a while.  I wasn't feeling great and the thought of spending another entire day on my feet was daunting.  We did eventually make it out to Mauer Park, which has this HUGE flee market, so we walked around for a while scoping things out.  Berlin is huge on flee markets, but a lot of times, Mike and I feel like people are just cleaning out their closets. This market actually had good stuff that didn't look like was from someone's house. We didn't end up buying anything, but I would definitely go back and was a great place to spend the afternoon.  

Kelly had said that she wanted to try this restaurant Salt 'n Bone, which Mike and I had been to before and enjoyed, so we had reservations for Sunday night there and it didn't disappoint. Kelly and I both had the pulled pork slider while Mike got the fish and chips special.  The cool thing about Salt 'n Bone is that their menu tells you what beer to drink with each item.  I think Mike and Kelly enjoyed the beer, but the biggest hit was the mac 'n cheese.  Or maybe the french fries.  Both were devoured quickly and we walked away content. 

Monday came and went without anything exciting to report.  Kelly worked from home while Mike and I ran errands and went to the doctor.  We were sad to see her leave on Tuesday morning, but were thankful for her visit!  We're definitely going to miss being able to spend long weekends with her (and Sean!) when we head back to the States, but can't wait for one last celebration this summer at her wedding!!

PS I didn't take a lot of pictures this past weekend, but you can tell where my priorities lie by the few that I did take.  All the food pictures. All the time. 

Visitors Galore!

We hope you had a very merry Christmas and start to a happy Hanukkah this past weekend! We're rewinding to the beginning of December where we had two weeks of visitors!

The beginning of December was jam packed with visitors and Christmas markets and, looking back, it was perfect.  It was a great distraction for me to keep my mind off the fact that we weren't going home for Christmas and it was a great way to show off our new home!

The first week of December brought the Bryants!  They're the Olmsted family in Florence, Italy and we've tentatively been planning their visit for a while.  They were our first Olmsted visitors and we were so excited to show them our city since they showed us around Florence last February on our big trip.  Plus, their girls are a blast to hang out with.  There's something about being with kids at Christmas time that adds some extra excitement to the air. 

Autum, Matt, Elle and Emma Claire.  I would post the picture of all of us from Instagram, but for some reason, it's not letting me save it....

We spent most of our time eating our way through Christmas markets while taking a break every once and a while to do some sight seeing.  It's such a good time to visit Berlin because the city is decorated for the holidays and there is always a Christmas market to go to, but there is also the history and sights that can keep you busy for a week (or a year!) if you want!

The day after the Bryants left, the Dombrocks arrived!  This was a last minute trip for them, but we welcomed them with open arms and were so excited to see them! We visited them in their home of Rabat, Morocco last February as well and Melissa came to Ramstein while I was there for a few days and stayed with me last May.  The four of us had a blast sight seeing around the city, hanging out at our house, and, of course, hitting up a few Christmas markets!

Olmsted Scholars and their Olmsted coin in Berlin!

Imitating penguins

We headed out to Spandau, which is a suburb of Berlin one day, since it was supposed to be a great Christmas market and a cute suburb.  It didn't disappoint.  The Christmas market was huge, the town was picturesque and the sights were interesting.  I'm not sure I would do it if there weren't Christmas markets to add to the itinerary, but they had a citadel and museum that were worthwhile.  The museum was of all of the Berlin monuments, which, at first, I thought was a little strange.  Why wouldn't you just go to the monuments themselves? But, it was arranged in chronological order of the monuments and was actually really interesting.  Spandau for the win!

We also celebrated my birthday! Hooray! Mike had class on my birthday and I had a doctor's appointment (Baby Maximus was kicking up a storm in celebration!), but Melissa and Ryan made me breakfast when I got home and after a few hours of sight seeing, the four of us had dinner at Kim Chi Princess.  Mike and I went right after we moved to Berlin and loved it, but it's definitely a place to go with more than two people. You order a dish off of the menu and they bring grills to your table to cook it in front of you.  There are lots of sides, fillings and food to go around.  Afterwards, we headed to a bar where I enjoyed a very delicious birthday mocktail while the rest of the gang had some true cocktails. We ended the night with a game of Phase Ten and drinks at home. Overall, not a bad way to ring in twenty eight!

Hi Ryan!

 We love showing off Berlin and our new home to visitors.  It's only taken a few months for us to truly appreciate all that the city has to offer.  There is always something going on or a sight to see and there is history on every corner.  It doesn't have that old German charm like some of the southern cities do, but there are definitely some spots that can take your breath away.

Nuremberg and Leipzig Christmas Markets

The week after the Ficks left was chaotic to say the least.  We spent the week cleaning in preparation for our next set of visitors*, relaxing a little bit and preparing for our next jaunt around Germany. Oh and Mike had that little thing called class. It was busy, but relaxing.

*I told Anna this the other day and I feel like it needs to go on the blog, too.  The Ficks are the kind of people that we don't worry about cleaning our house for.  We're just that good of friends.  I did pick up and dust a little bit, but nothing like I would for other guests. Love you guys.  Thanks for being good enough friends that I don't feel like I need to clean for you.

The weekend following, Mike and I headed down south to Nuremberg and Leipzig to check out the Christmas markets there.  Both of these cities manage to make it on the top ten lists of Christmas markets, so we knew we had to venture down there at some point and this weekend was looking to be our only shot. That being said, with the Ficks visiting the previous week and two Olmsted families coming the following two, our motivation was lagging. Luckily, we persevered and found ourselves in Nuremberg that evening.

There is a reason that Nuremberg that makes it on the top ten list for markets. It. Is. Amazing.  There were tons of stands of all sorts of Christmas decorations, with everything from ornaments to snowmen (of which we bought both), as well as a plethora of food stands. We were tempted to go to the Christmas falafel stand, but opted for the more traditional sausage instead.  Maybe another day.  Nuremberg was where I discovered the chocolate covered strawberries on a kebab though and my life is forever changed.  I'm pretty sure I had one of these kebabs at every market following.  Baby Maximus loves the sweets!





Because it was Saturday night and really the first weekend of the Christmas season, the market was packed.  So much so, that if I had small kids, I would have been nervous.  It also made it hard to take pictures or really just move around. If I were doing this again, I would go on a week day to avoid some of the crowds. Since it was so crowded, we ended the night at an Irish pub singing Sweet Caroline because even we like to be a little touristy at times.

The next morning, we were up bright and early and ready to hit the road for Leipzig.   We arrived in time to walk around the city in daylight, which turned out to be a gift because the city is extremely picturesque.












While this one didn't quite live up to the market in Nuremberg, we really enjoyed perusing the market and walking around the town.  We both agreed that we aren't sure if there is enough to do in Leipzig without the markets, but the markets gave us a great excuse to explore the town and check another Christmas market off our list!

We returned to Berlin on Monday (the joy of not having class on Monday will never wear off!) and were both grateful that we decided to go down south for the markets.  We had a blast checking new cities off our Germany list and getting into the Christmas season with the markets. I'm already sad that we won't be returning to these markets next year!

Berlin Cooking Class!

Last Christmas, Mike gave me a Turkish cooking class as his gift to me.  We found one in Istanbul that was taught in English, relatively cheap and sounded like the perfect fit for me.  He booked it for mid-April when we knew we'd be in Istanbul.  Everyone was happy.  Then, the week before we left for Istanbul, I got evacuated.   No Turkish cooking class for me.

I knew when we ended up in Germany that I wanted to find a German cooking class as a substitute, but with the craziness of the move and the business of the fall, it got put on the back burner.  I figured it would be something for the spring when I needed to take my mind off of baby waiting.  Mike was one step ahead of me though and booked a class for me for the week after the Ficks left!! Happy anniversary surprise to me!

The day after the Ficks left, I woke up bright and early and met my instructor Kit, as well as two men from New York City at a local market to begin the class.  Kit had prepared the menu and shopping list and all we had to do was walk around the market with her while she showed us how to pick out good produce and meat.

Once back at her house, the cooking began!  Our menu consisted of a salad with apples and nuts (my favorite kind of salad), a vegetable/root soup (so delicious!), German meatballs and chocolate cake for dessert. All of it was so simple to make and came from local ingredients, which made it feel so healthy and tasted so fresh.

 

















Once we finished cooking, we set the table and sat down to eat.  The two men were visiting Berlin for the first time, so between Kit and myself (mainly Kit), we gave them lots of suggestions of what to do and see around the city, while eating the delicious food.  I always think of German food as meat and potatoes, but I think that's a huge stereotype that isn't true.  Meat and potatoes is more of a Bavarian (southern) type of meal.  Northern Germany, including Berlin, isn't as big on the heavy dishes and instead tends to lean towards fish and vegetables.  This meal was filling, but I didn't walk away so full that I was uncomfortable, like I sometimes do with the heavier meals.


If you are ever in Berlin and find that you have an extra day, I definitely recommend Schoene Heimat cooking class.  Kit is a wonderful instructor and such a pleasure to spend the day with.