Our New Backyard

As foreshadowed in my post of several months ago, we are beginning the next chapter of the Geipel Adventures. As with most of life’s transitions, coming home is bittersweet. We had over two fantastic years living as ex-Pats and exploring the parts of the world that were closer to us there than they are to Zionsville, Indiana.  But, we are also happy to be back on more familiar territory and to reunite with friends and family.

With the routine parts of life like grocery shopping, determining clothes sizes, visiting the orthodontist (Dr. Toll in Germany could have easily warranted an entire blog post!) and even parking the car back on “auto-pilot,” I feel like I have more time and am more productive. That said, knowing each day will bring something new to learn and some new adventure, however small, is a great thing for a while. It takes you back to how the world feels when you are 20 and exploring new things for the first time: college, new cities, new jobs, new friendships. But, even back then, if I remember, it was nice to eventually find a “comfort zone.”  We are back in ours with a store of fantastic memories and a yearning to continue the explorations and adventures regularly!

Gary, for one, will continue with the regular international travel in his new role at Lilly. He returns later this Fall to the position of Senior Director, Global Oncology Corporate Affairs. How’s that for a long job title that tells you very little in the end if you are an outsider?!  The short description is that he will be responsible for helping to influence the health policy and reimbursement “climate” for new and existing oncology drugs in the European and Asian countries as well as Australia. Helping in the effort to assure patient access to oncology drugs is an inspiring goal.  On a much more personal note, this new role also means we can count on his travels for keeping us flush with frequent flyer miles for future family trips!

In the meantime, while Gary survives in a tiny, rabbit-hutch sized studio apartment for another few weeks in Frankfurt, those of us here are overseeing the start of our home-building. At the moment, it means frequent trips to see a large hole in the ground! Though we had a beautiful Fall, the recent spate of regular rain has kept it looking like we are building a swimming pool, not a house and progress has stalled just as it was getting underway.  This is not all bad, however, as I still have final decisions to make and details to plan and the slow-down gives me some breathing room to do that.

Audrey and Ethan have settled in to their respective schools – Audrey back at her old school and Ethan at a new high school. Both are happy and continue their participation on tennis and basketball teams. I have been lucky to renew some of my freelance writing relationships and continue with an eye out for others.  I have also launched myself back into school!  With a first, web-based course (except for exams which are in-person!), I have begun work on a tourism and travel planning certificate  from  IU. With notions of a possible retirement business for Gary and me, I decided the background and expertise might come in handy. And, perhaps I’ve become more reliant than I realized on that regular supply of new challenges that being an ex-pat supplied!

Our young but extremely handsome and
gifted building supervisor!

So, life readjusts, adventures change and we look forward daily to the next chapters as they are written. But, some chapters are less “bloggable” than others!  We decided that our family record of the home building process would be the old-fashioned kind: we will keep a scrapbook of pictures, stories, and memories.

So, until the annual Holiday Letter – Auf Wiedersehen !

Tsuess!
Kris

Our Own Backyard!

We have lately realized that while we have been taking every advantage we could to explore cities and countries nearby and have loved every adventure; we have done relatively little exploration of our own backyard – Germany!  Therefore, we are exploiting every remaining weekend, visit from friends and family, and holiday (there are many in June, to our great good luck!) before we go back for summer in Indy for “local” trips.

Bavaria

A very good friend from Iowa brought Spring with her in early April and we had two glorious weeks of sunshine, warm temperatures and lots of sightseeing. She was game for exploring Frankfurt, the Rheingau wine country and a long weekend in Bavaria. Gary and Audrey joined us in Nurnberg and we drove on to Berchtesgaden and the Konigsee in the Alps near the Austrian border. We enjoyed a boat ride on the Konigsee and saw several places that Gary’s dad painted as a young man (he and Gary’s grandfather were both very talented artists) – the photos make clear why he was inspired to paint these settings!  How fun to see the actual locations of paintings so familiar to me.

On to Lake Chiemsee to tour a palace built by “crazy King Ludwig” as a replica of Versailles. The palace is on an island in the middle of the lake so we enjoyed yet another boat ride. He didn’t finish building before his mysterious death but, the main wing of the place shows that the resemblance is clear! One could do a “King Ludwig” tour of Bavaria and not go wrong – the Neuschwanstein castle, Herrenschloss on the Chiemsee and three others sprinkled through the most beautiful parts of Bavaria. The full tour will have to wait for a future trip…

In contrast to touring the opulent living of King Ludwig, we learned what it would be like to work the salt mines. Of course, for us, it was unrealistically fun – to ride the trains into the mine and slide down the two story wooden slides from one level to the next. You can see we were issued special overalls to avoid any splinters to the bum!

We Never Tire of Berlin

Perhaps we have explored Berlin more than any other place in Germany - but, we enjoy it every time. And, not just because of the Ritter Sport store with the make-your-own-chocolate-bar bar though Berlin is the one and only place you can do this. When my brother, Dean, and Jannae visited on their way home from Paris, it was as good an excuse as any for another trip to Berlin. And, as usual, we found new things to do in addition to the Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial and Ritter Sport Shop - dinner at the top of the Reichstag was definitely a great idea. We also enjoyed the Pergamon Museum with its re-constructed ancient Pergamon Altar and other ruins beautifully displayed.

Family Traditions 

Gary has made it regular tradition to do weekend trips with just one child at a time. Recently, it was Audrey’s turn. They had a great time visiting another palace and Rothenberg. Audrey is always game for just about anything and – just as importantly – she never forgets to bring home souvenirs for the rest of us. After an entertaining and memorable tour by the “night watchman” and exploring the ramparts and churches of Rothenberg, she scoped out the very best bakery to bring home “Schneeballen” pastries for Ethan and me.

Roman Ruins at Xanten

Over the past year, Gary and I have been enjoying several courses on Ancient Roman history from The Teaching Company (brief commerical interruption:  fantastic courses by renowned university professors in 30 minute lecture format on CDs ). The Roman empire reached well into Germany and we have explored a number of ruins – some very close to home and some further away. Last weekend we took a spur of the moment overnight trip to Xanten – home of the best preserved and partially restored Roman city in Germany.

 The city baths – which could accommodate up to 1,000 citizens at once – are well excavated and covered by a huge  steel and glass structure to keep out the elements and preserve the fragile ruins. An excellent audio/video tour kept us both entertained and feeling smarter than we were when we arrived!

Our reliance on Trip Advisor paid off yet again. We found a beautiful bed and breakfast on a farm that raises horses. And, not just any horses – polo ponies bred specially to be non-allergenic. After dinner, we watched for quite a while as one of the horses was re-introduced to the paddock after being away for a few months for breeding. The others were not so sure they wanted to welcome him home! Beautiful horses. And, I’m quite sure it was a vast understatement by the inn’s hostess when she whispered to us that: “I think they are quite expensive.”  Yep, I suspect it is a niche market, catering to polo players with allergies  here in Europe!

An early morning thunderstorm more dramatic than anything the midwest can offer cleared out by breakfast  but, left its impact. The park and museum were operating with no computers as they all went "kaput!" Handwritten tickets were no trouble but, when it came to paying for lunch with an EC card (like a debit card), there was trouble. The solution: they offered Gary a bike, in dubious repair and with a warning that the chain my come off, and sent him down the road a kilometer to the nearest Geldautomat to withdraw cash. In the meantime, the kids and I had gone to explore the ampitheater and could not imagine what was taking him so long to pay the lunch bill.  He returned with the bike in one piece and we all were treated to free ice-cream, courtesy of the manager, for his trouble!

And, now, a new backyard!

We woke up Sunday morning in Xanten not only to thunder and lightening, but also to learn that a low-ball offer we made on a lot in Zionsville was accepted without even a counter-offer!  So, we now have a new, nicely wooded backyard to go home to when the time comes.  Of course, we will need to build the house first… The fun will begin in earnest this summer during the time in July when the kids and I are on home leave. I can put my considerable experience with home repairs of the last two years to good use as I look forward to this next chapter of our lives:  The Geipels Build a Home!  Thank goodness the adventures will continue!

Stay tuned…  

Hunting the Light

The kids’ school has a weeklong break in mid-February – after all, they’ve been back from their 3-week Winter Break for five weeks and are ready for another to tide them over until the 2-week Easter Break in April! Being contrarian by nature, we flouted the common trend here to seek the warmth and sunshine of Mallorca or some other Mediterranean beach location, and instead headed north to the Arctic Circle! While the “light” we were officially hunting was the northern lights, we also found lots of sunshine (if not the warmth of the Mediterranean) during the seven hours of daylight.

We booked the last two cabins on the Hurtigruten line to cruise the Norwegian fjords. The Hurtigruten ships are both cruise and cargo and sail up and down the coast with frequent stops that afford passengers the chance to check out the many small towns and sights while cargo is loaded and unloaded. As we learned, it also means a number of night-time cargo-only stops. We also learned why our cabins were the last to book – close proximity to the engine room, made very obvious during those night-time dockings! Gary and I learned that the kids still have the ability to sleep through anything. We, however, do not! Ah, well, the price was right for an otherwise fantastic experience.

Our introduction to Norway was a day spent in Bergen before boarding the ship. We were tempted to pick up our obligatory tacky souvenir that first day as there is not a single shop that does not have a shelf full of trolls. Trolls, in fact, are everywhere! But, I was holding out for something at the site where St. Olaf’s bones are interred – the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. Though Molly could not join us for this trip, we made the pilgrimage to the burial site of her college’s namesake on her behalf and have the replica St. Olaf statue on our souvenir shelf as evidence of our homage! Though not the most northerly stop of the trip, it was the coldest. 

While on board, we spent a good deal of our time in the panorama lounge enjoying reading, card games and, of course, the never-ending postcard of breathtaking scenery, moving by outside the windows. Gary and Audrey spent plenty of time bundled up out on the deck as well. Most of our shore excursions provided ample opportunity to stretch our legs. With some notorious hikes that involve more stairs than foreshadowed in our family’s vacation history, we nonetheless didn’t have too much trouble convincing the kids to climb to the highest point in Alesund for a beautiful view. The steps were steep and ice-covered but did not deter us or an astonishing number of older more frail people, who had wisely purchased the “ice-grippers” to attach to their shoes at the ship’s store.

 Here’s something else that surely is unique to the Norwegian climate – we walked around downtown Alesund and discovered what the locals must do to keep busy during the 24-hour nights – even the sidewalk railings have hand-knit sweaters!

We spent a good deal of time on the third day fretting that we would miss our most anticipated excursion, scheduled for our fourth day of sailing. An engine problem kept us in port for 10 hours, enduring half a dozen announcements of impending departure, all to be foiled by engine tests that proved the repair not quite adequate. Audrey learned it wasn’t only the engine malfunctioning as she was trapped in one of the ship elevators for 10 minutes. She made friends with the person who responded via speaker to the alarm button while she waited to be rescued!

Fortunately, when we finally set sail again about bedtime, the plan to make up time meant a night free of the planned cargo stops! And, we made up enough time to make it to the planned dog-sledding trip! What fun. It was slightly later in the day than originally planned so at 4:30p it was already dark. This added to the beauty of the trip as we sledded by some beautiful vistas of the small town of Tromso all lit up. The musher ahead of Audrey’s and my sled completed the Iditarod race in 2006.

Just before stopping in Tromso, we crossed the Arctic Circle. To mark the event, the captain of our ship and his “colleague,” King Neptune, performed a special ritual on deck. Only Gary and Audrey were brave (?) enough to participate in the baptism by ice water followed by a cup of warm mulled wine. Once within the Arctic Circle the “hunting” for the Northern Lights starts in earnest. We were rewarded on two very clear nights with some spectacular light displays, something by no means guaranteed as the weather is often cloudy.

 We encountered truly frigid cold and gale-force winds on our last full day of sailing. The folks who had booked the snow mobile safari were disappointed it was cancelled because the wind was too strong for us to dock at Kjollefjord. However, we were able to dock to take the trip to the North Cape – the northern most point on the European mainland. This picture perfectly depicts our warm-blooded son and his frequent winter attire – worn here to prove a point, of course, but not too far from the truth! We rode a tour bus out to the cape because that is the only way to access it. Our bus was part of a six bus convoy – the required method of travel up the winding road - escorted by a gigantic snow plow. I spent the first 21 years of my life in Wisconsin and Minnesota and I can honestly say I have never seen a snow plow the size of that one! As we gazed out at the completely white horizon – fields and mountains of fresh snow blending into the low hanging clouds – it didn’t take much imagination to believe the fact that five days previous, a tour group was delayed for two hours waiting to return from the cape, even with the trusty snow plow guide, due to complete white-out conditions.

By the next morning when we disembarked for our flight to Oslo, the ship was completely covered in ice!

And now, Spring has arrived in Konigstein so we are thoroughly thawed-out...  

Merry Valentine's Day!

Though St. Valentine’s Day seems to have English origins that remain somewhat murky, Americans and America’s commercial engine long ago co-opted current holiday celebrations and expectations. That much is indisputable! It is not a holiday that has any tradition or wide-spread acceptance in Germany. However, there are determined commercial interests making an effort to “create” the holiday here. The nuances of the holiday are lost in cultural translation, however.

Store windows of florists and stores like Mueller (a very small-scale version of Target) display large signs reminding shoppers that February 14th is Valentine’s Day. Because these posters more often than not also advertise perfume and are in English, I suspect they are simply American store displays sent the world over – this happens at Christmas as well.

Last year, Valentine’s Day passed by without much notice on our part because we were on a vacation during the school’s “Ski Week” holiday. This year, Ski Week is a week later. I set out to put together a small burst of unexpected Valentine’s excitement – some cards and gifts for the kids and a card for my beloved. I was encouraged by all the advertising. Guess what? If you want perfume or a heart-shaped box of chocolates, you’re in business. If you want anything more original or less saccharine, or even, say – a Valentine card – you are out of business. There was not a Valentine card to be found in any of the three shops in our area that might sell cards or stationary. I wound up in the craft supplies section of Mueller and made my first hand-crafted Valentine since probably 3rd grade!

Gary was even more innovative has he found and repurposed a Christmas card that sported a red heart and angel (representing me, of course!)… This seems perfectly fitting and will provide warm and funny memories of our time here – much of it figuring out how to re-purpose things and events to suit our needs! At least the florists have things down pat, offering beautiful floral arrangements with a plastic red heart poking up from the middle! Beautiful flower arrangements are something you can count on here - Germans LOVE to give flowers for any reason or no reason. They do flowers very well!

Early Valentine’s Sweets
Giving chocolates on Valentine’s has never been a tradition with us. This year was not the year to break down and start, despite the fact that it was the ubiquitous gift offering in the stores. The reason? Molly was home the first week of February for her break between “J-Term” and Spring Semester. She came armed with a baking recipe per day to try out with Audrey in the kitchen. The girls baked up a storm and we reveled in one more decadent treat each day than the day before – breakfast muffins, scones, cookies and, the final pièce de résistance -- chocolate peanut butter bliss cheesecake!

We enjoyed having Molly home and the family feeling content and whole for a week. It was a relaxing week for Molly and me as the kids were in school so we did not do any traveling. We did get out to our favorite winery and restaurant and the usually gloomy weather obliged us instead with a blue sky and sun.

Flying Buffets

We’ll stick with the food theme for a minute – ever heard of a “flying” buffet? I hadn’t. We hosted an Open House for Gary’s new boss and his wife, recently arrived from Australia as ex-Pats from Britain. Since we expected over 20 people, and, as you are all very aware now, I have a doll-sized kitchen with doll-sized appliances, a caterer was in order. When I looked at the catering options and the contract, they appeared to be sketchy translations. I have learned to recognize the work of Google Translate ! (Largely because I am quite dependent on it myself!) So, I assumed a Flying Buffet was just a bad translation.

Turns out, it is instead another one of the many circumstances when Germans just integrate English words into their normal vocabulary. In this case, it meant that the food was served up in small single servings into small dishes with miniature forks and spoons. Then, a server “flys” around the room offering up the food and then returning to collect the dishes before another flight around the room with more food. It worked perfectly because we don’t have room to seat 20 people at tables. The Germans were all very familiar with the term as several thanked me for the “wonderful flying buffet” and, they certainly hadn’t seen the contract!

Another interesting thing about the Open House. It was the first time that this group of people had been together inside one of their colleague’s home. In fact, it is rare they get together with spouses/partners at all – a retirement dinner almost two years ago was the last time. The group has worked together for over 10 years – Gary and the new boss being the only recent additions. I was thanked numerous times for “inviting us inside your home.” They seemed quite genuine in their enjoyment of the evening but it was easy to pick up the slight awkwardness they felt at the beginning due to the “setting!”  They take reserved to new heights. In fact, in comparison, I feel as though I’m absolutely gregarious!

The Next Exciting Celebration after Valentines Day?
Nope, not Easter, it's very late this year – it’s March Madness! Our annual pool keeps growing and now is an international pool. The Geipels have have a bit of a streak going with either a winner or a runner-up for a number of years. We hope to keep this streak going as the pot continues to grow!

This year, March Madness comes just in time. Both Audrey and Ethan’s basketball seasons come to an end soon so we will get our “basketball fix” via ESPN America instead of at the FIS gym. Ethan’s last home game this past weekend was as exciting as any Final Four game I’ve seen – all the more so because he was playing in it! After losing by 5 points the night before to the team from The Hague, they spent the Saturday morning game between 2 and 6 points down. Until the last two minutes of the fourth quarter. Tied up and then answering basket for basket, it came down to the last 5 seconds. FIS scored all three free throws – three because of the most unusual foul I’ve ever seen – the shooter was fouled as he threw his second free throw -- and held off The Hague’s last drive to the basket. They won by one point!

Ethan’s JV team is off to a 4-day tournament in Vienna after their last regular season game in Zurich at the start of March. I think they’ll do well. More importantly, it is a great bunch of boys and they have a really great coach. Audrey’s middle school team finishes at the end of February. Her team is the only middle school team (there are four – two girls and two boys teams) with an undefeated record!

Ski Week

This is one of the wonderful things about the FIS academic calendar. Included in the school holiday schedule is this completely random week of vacation in mid-February! This is in addition to three weeks at Christmas and two weeks at Easter. We'll take it!  Around about this time, many of us are quite ready for a break from the dreary gloom that is Germany in winter.

Traditionally, those who don't seek out skiing in the Alps seek some warmth and sunshine instead. Not so the Geipels.... we are instead heading north to the Arctic Circle! Actually, I am relieved that we didn't choose the other destination on our short list while we were planning back in December. We were quite tempted by a week in Egypt  - it is a very popular destination over here and we were drawn by the promise of warm sunshine and a tour through sites of ancient history. Fortunately, we chose the second destination on our list otherwise, we would have been sitting on the couch here at home watching on TV as modern history is made. Cautious optimism and excitement for Egypt notwithstanding, we would have regretted not making the choice we did -- to sail north on the Hurtigruten (say that a few times - isn't it fun to say?!)  along the coast of Norway to take in the fjords and, with luck, the Northern Lights!

How Stereotypes are Born

Living abroad will generally expand people’s horizons and make them more flexible, open-minded and empathetic – or, at least, soften the rough edges of the stereotypes they hold dear. Sometimes, however, one instead bumps into the living, breathing, all-too-real stereotypes themselves…

Right Reihe, Wrong Platz

The kids and I went to several movies last week to “celebrate” the end of Winter Break. Several recent releases were playing in “original version,” which means in English. The Germans sell movie tickets with seat and row numbers – you are asked when you buy your tickets whether you prefer front, middle or back seats. Because the transaction is most often in German and I’ve never been in an even close to full theater, I didn’t fully understand that a specific seat was being assigned until last week.

As it was a week day and the movie was in English, we initially found ourselves in a movie theater with one other person sitting five rows in front of us. We found a seat in the middle of the theater and sat down to wait for the previews. About 10 minutes before the movie was to begin, a German dad and son came in – audience members 4 and 5. Turns out, of the 200 seats in the theater, Audrey and I happened to be sitting in the seat numbers printed on their tickets. Now, bear in mind that there are at least 197 other seats in the theater to choose from…. Do this father and son simply chose a seat and sit down? No. The father has to tell me that we are in their seats and stand waiting for us to move. Before I could react, the other person in the theater - an American college student – pipes up that “probably the seat assignments don’t really matter.” The father apparently thought better of making a scene and sat right next to us instead with big sighs. Can you say rigid? Rule-bound?

Once the previews started – they realized they were actually in the wrong theater all together and got up and left with even more huffing and garumping.

A 12-Step Program to Losing Tax Revenue
Today, I went to the special post office location set up for collecting VAT taxes on anything of any value mailed to Germany. First let me say that I ordered something from eBay, shipped from the US that even with the exchange rate, shipping and the 19% tax the Germans slap on everything, was still cheaper than buying here.

So, here’s how the experience went:

1. Deutsche Post receives a package addressed to me from the USA with an estimated value of more than 40 Euro; diverts it to a special facility and mails a letter to me.

2. Mail man delivers a letter to me two days later, informing me I have 11 days from the day the package was received to pick up my package and includes one full page of related instructions.

3. I drive to another town to this special post office.

4. I present  myself, my ID (to verify I was the person it was addressed to) and the required e-Bay receipt printed from my e-mail.

5. The box is retrieved from the storage room and I am required to unwrap and open it for the clerk.

6. Upon verification that it was in fact what I ordered – after careful comparison of the contents with the receipt, the clerk goes to her desk and spends FULLY five minutes typing away at her keyboard.

7. Clerk presents me with SIX pieces of paper, stamps two of them with a rubber stamp and requests I sign one of them. She then instructs me to proceed to the cashier to pay the required 10.65 Euro tax.

8. The clerk tells her colleague (sitting next to her) to go over to the cashier window.

9. I take no more than THREE steps over to the security-glass cashier window and wait for the “cashier” to make her way from her desk, unlock the cashier office door and come to the window.

10. I slip my money through the small opening in the window and the cashier proceeds to write up – by hand—a receipt in triplicate, she stamps the original with a rubber stamp (just for good measure…)

11. I give the cashier one of my six sheets of paper, she gives me the original of the receipt.

12. Twenty minutes later, I get in my car with my package. The German government would now be richer by about 10 euro except for the fact that it has cost them no less than 20 euro in personnel time to collect it from me!

This could be chalked up to a guaranteed revenue stream if it weren’t so patently obvious that it costs at least twice as much to implement as it takes in.  Perhaps it is a full-employment scheme? Or, just flat-out love of rules, regulations and bureaucracy?

Just to Keep Us Off-Balance

I went to the regular post office today as well. In a move directed at keeping us completely off-balance, the German post office had a surprise up its sleeve: postage for a letter to the USA went down by 55% on January 1st. So, now it costs just 97 cents to mail a letter rather than the equivalent of $2.22! Perhaps they actually DO have a revenue stream coming from that “special tax office of the Post Office.” What do I know anyway?!

Planes, Trains, Automobiles and Ferries

Well, we didn’t spend the holiday week between Christmas and New Year’s with George Clooney, but if he was at his villa, we did spend it with the same beautiful view as he did. It is easy to see what drew him to Lake Como in the foothills of the Italian Alps! We found that visiting Bellagio in the “off” season was perfect. The weather was mild, the skies clear and blue and we truly felt as though we were in a private villa, staying at a new apartment suite hotel rebuilt on a property with a spectacular view and had the town virtually to ourselves. We could really imagine we were living the high life in a villa: we've never gone to sleep or woken up to more beautiful views. One wall of our bedroom was entirely glass.

Echoing what is becoming a dominant travel theme of Geipel trips, we had several transportation adventures – some annoying, some harrowing and some spectacular. If there is any travel advice we offer frequently it is to avoid RyanAir at all costs. But, we hesitated one too many times to take our own advice – yep, we flew RyanAir to Milan! No more. These flights are truly like Ground Hog Day: first, pay as much for your suitcase to travel as you did for your own ticket, scramble to get a seat, sit for 90 minutes flight in a seat that won’t recline while listening to flight attendants alternatively hawk lottery tickets for sale and growl and grumble at passengers, after a bumpy approach, join in applause with the rest of the passengers on a safe landing. That’s it; it never varies.

Rare shot of all five of us - on the deck of our "villa!"

We have become accustom here to some harrowing driving (see previous posts: autobahn, Ireland roads, Town Car in Banff), but hadn’t seen it all until driving the roads around Lake Como. It’s one thing to have your doors blown off on the autobahn by a car passing you at 110 mph – in the snow – but, it’s quite another thing to be passed at 60 mph around a blind curve on a 1 ½ lane-wide road! Yikes. The curvy roads around the lake were spectacularly beautiful though Gary missed most of the scenery because the roads, with no shoulders, wrapping around cliffs and rock walls required every ounce of his vigilance. The locals – some in their Maseratis and some in their 20-year old Fiats – thought nothing of passing us at twice the legal (and sane) speed limit. I imagine in high-season, this may happen less often as the traffic must slow to a crawl with all the tourists.

We braved the roads nonetheless to see some of the nearby towns. To save time and stress, we found the car ferries very convenient to quickly get to the towns across the lake without driving the long way around. And, they offered unique views of the lakeside Villas and towns. While there were only a handful of shops and restaurants open this time of year, each restaurant we stumbled into was excellent. There is nothing like Italian food in Italy – especially in towns that cater to the rich and famous! 

Mid-week, we got up very early and drove further into a valley in the Alps to board the Bernina Express – the highest rail crossing of the Alps – which took us to St. Moritz, Switzerland in time for lunch. This is the way to see the snowy Alps. The train cars are outfitted with special panoramic windows and the views are incomparable. The most surprising thing of all to me was that the trains along this route are electric! We glided over viaducts and through tunnels on tracks that are a century old but in the most modern of trains.

Along the way, we climbed over 6,000 feet in altitude, witnessed a sport we hadn’t heard of before -  kite skiing, and were treated to views from palm trees where we began to snow 3 feet deep at the highest point. The kids managed to multi-task - playing Farkle while taking in the scenery (interesting to kids for only so long...).

St. Moritz is exactly what one would expect of a town known as much for being a playground and shopping mall for the upper, upper crust as it is for the nearby skiing! Lunch was good but cost us dearly. Shopping was limited to window-gazing except for the now-obligatory tacky souvenir: a Swiss playing an Alpine horn seemed exactly appropriate. Diamonds or designer clothing would have been more representative but fits neither the definition nor the budget of “tacky souvenir!”

Milan -- Haute Couture, Haute Disordine e Degrado, Haute Chiesa Campanili!

Well, I've totally abused the languages of both France and Italy. Similarly, the conflict and contrast in Milan left me feeling a bit abused! We spent a day there before flying home and learned that while it is the city of the fashion world, it along with most of the cities and towns we drove through in northern Italy, it has vast areas of great disrepair  - dirty, buildings (not the ancient ruins) in falling down, unpainted condition and clutter and rubbish sitting out in yards and on sidewalks.  Yet, among this unpicturesque cityscape rises one of the great cathedrals of Europe - for me, it surpasses Notre Dame in its beauty and majesty.

The Duomo di Milano is nothing short of spectacular. After a leisurely look around the inside, Gary and the kids climbed to the top for the bird's eye view while Molly and I did some quick shopping on the main shopping piazza. On the piazza was the largest Tiffany's box under the largest Christmas tree we've every seen! One of those "pop-up shops" that are currently "the rage."

Sophisticated Vending Machines

What happens when that ubiquitous American icon that plagues our children’s eating habits is exported to oh-so-sophisticated Europe? I know you’ve been wondering this for some time. I have the answer! In Italy, it is installed in airports to dispense – you guessed it – PIZZA! I wouldn’t have believed this if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes at the Milan airport. The pizza is made to order and dispensed within minutes.

And  here in Germany, in Berlin, vending machines have been installed in the most fashionable shopping district to dispense bars of gold bullion. Yes, that’s right. If you are shopping and have the sudden recollection that you need some bars of gold to-go, you can saunter up to the conveniently located vending machines to satisfy your shopping or financial investment needs 24/7!  Even better than an ATM, no?

The Top Sure-Fire Ways You Know it is December in Germany

The Germans do know how to do Advent and Christmas. December arrives with great fanfare here.

Among the most telling signs of Advent are the ubiquitous Christmas Markets. While there are a wide variety of market options – from our small town, 2-day affairs to month-long crowded and famous markets – any uniqueness that may have existed decades ago appears to be lost. One can universally find gluhwein stands intermixed with candy and warmed nut stalls and vendors selling woodworking goods such as nutcrackers, nativity sets and the traditional German candle “pyramids.”

We have been to half a dozen markets over the past two seasons and find that these three variations of vendors comprise 99% of the market. Literally, you can walk from one “gluhwein” vendor to the next in less than 15 paces – and, they are all busy! This mystifies me – in my mind, all that needs to be said about the appeal of gluhwein is in the first sentence of the recipe: “start with an inexpensive, full-bodied red wine.” Add to that serving this German version of mulled wine in a small ceramic cup to be drunk while standing in the cold among 50 other people drinking from their cups before standing in a long line again to return the cup to the vendor for the return of your 1 Euro deposit. It’s a good thing there are so many vendors as this drink appears to be enormously popular with the Germans, judging by the crowds at each and every booth!

We did have a nice experience in Mainz in mid-December as the weather was beautiful, the crowds sparse, there was fresh snow and we were in tremendous 

 Christmas spirit after listening to an all-French Horn concert of traditional Christmas Carols featuring Audrey, our budding French Horn musician. Her teacher provided the entrée to this annual performance. French Horn players ages 6 – 80 gather each year to practice for about 90 minutes and then perform in the city concert hall in downtown Mainz. It was truly a treat. And, just steps away was the Christmas Market which featured a gigantic “pyramid” at the entrance. If you look closely at the bottom tier of the pyramid you see, inexplicably, a character who looks like a character from "South Park" mixed in with the St. Nickolaus, angels and nutcrackers!

We naively enjoyed the light snowfall and brisk weather during the day, not realizing what it would lead to that evening. Molly was due home from Minnesota for her Christmas break the next morning. Her flight to Amsterdam that night was on time but, we learned her flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt was cancelled and after over an hour on hold with the airlines, found that there was no other available flight for three days because of the weather-related havoc wreaked upon the airports of Europe!

So, Gary jumped in the car at 9:00 that night and drove to Amsterdam so he could meet her plane at 7:00 the next morning. What should have been an easy 4 hour drive each way turned into an 18-hour ordeal of snowy driving with a brief 4-hour stop-over in a hotel along the way. They arrived home exhausted but safe by mid-afternoon, just 3 hours after Molly’s flight would have arrived if it weren’t cancelled. Audrey and Ethan had the snow shovelled just in time.

Last year, I didn’t recognize this as a December ritual but, when it happened like clock-work again this year, I now realize it is a predictable routine – the Apfel Frau selling her fruit door-to-door. She parks her truck at the top of the street – the snow plow doesn’t clear the whole width of the street so the truck would get stuck if she drove onto our street – and, wearing a green apron over her winter parka, she knocks on each door in turn. When I declined her offer of apples (which store for weeks in the cellar, I was assured), she had clementines and pears to offer as well. With near-daily grocery trips a requirement here, I am not sure who finds the once-a-year need for fruit delivered to the door! I wonder how she makes a living?

Her arrival at the door reminded me of the visit last year by the knife and scissor sharpening vendor. Thankfully he arrived last year while my German tutor was here so she could explain to me what he wanted. A young boy of about 12 years old, also clad in an apron, rang the bell and offered to sharpen our knives and scissors. For some reason, this struck me as a quaint but outdated custom of the distant past. I told this story to the kids and no more than a day later, who should appear at the front door? Yep, the scissors and knife sharpening boy! I guess December is as good a month for the annual visit as any – with scissors put to frequent use in gift wrapping and art projects and knives put to the test with all the holiday dinner preparations, right?

My Christmas shopping in recent years has gravitated to as much online shopping as possible but, over here, it has become almost exclusively online for simplicity. The nearby mall this year guaranteed my reliance on my computer as they are in the midst of a parking garage construction project that has nearly halved the parking capacity. This mall is already known for parking conditions rivaling a busy Christmas season even mid-day on a weekday during the non-holiday season (a recent trip after school to buy Audrey new basketball shoes included 20 minutes looking for a parking spot and 15 minutes in the store!).

All of this online shopping means the postman and I have become buddies. He is patient with my German and I am grateful for his memory of his grade-school English! Because our mailbox is quite small and the Germans frequently require a signature at delivery, I see more of my neighbor than usual as she brings the packages left at her house when I’m not home. She must think we’re nuts (mail order shopping is still not so common here).

Just when you think you’ve mastered certain processes though, something new comes along. The combination of needing European Region DVD/xBox discs (PAL rather than NTSC – I’m just showing off my hard-earned ‘tech-savvy’) and preferring movies and video games in English sent me to the British Amazon site for several orders. This led to some new mail order adventures. I received a package notice that immediately had me second-guessing my primitive German reading skills. A quick check with Google Translate however, confirmed I’d read it right – my package was to be picked up at the “Tierriech” in the center of Konigstein. “Tierriech” translates as “Pet Kingdom.” Hmmm. Turns out, this was absolutely correct. The local pet store, called “Pet Kingdom” doubles as a local outpost for the common British package delivery company – not so common here in Germany. Thankfully, when I walked into the pet store with my delivery slip in hand and a confused look on my face, the non-English speaking clerk knew immediately why I was there – even if I wasn’t so sure!

My next stop that day was the regular post office to pick up a package that could not be left at the neighbor’s. A video game ordered for Ethan, which had a “teen” rating in the US is clearly considered much more dangerous over here. It required delivery to a person over 18 years old. I brought my passport with me but after standing in line for 15 minutes, discovered that because it was ordered under Gary’s Amazon account, he was required to pick up the package. Of course, the post office hours are only during a normal work day. The clerk, a young man, must have taken pity on me and offered that if I could bring Gary’s passport and return to his line, he would give me the package.

I returned an hour later and he scanned Gary’s passport number telling me he wouldn’t look at the picture so that he wouldn’t know it wasn’t mine! Good thing those regulations are in place to control delivery, huh?! Actually, I was quite grateful for this very un-German reckless disregard for the rules. He couldn’t resist a parting response to my question of ‘who knew video games could be so difficult to buy?’ observing that, “everything from America is dangerous.” What?