Move over Maastricht, Utrecht tops the Netherland charts

A few weekends ago, we went to Utrecht for a three day weekend. (Yes, I know that a lot of my blogs start this way but blogging and babies don’t mix so I’m always a few weeks or months behind.) It was All Saints Day on Monday so we decided to take advantage of the extra long weekend.

My friend, Sheila, had raved about the town. Utrecht was known as a mini Amsterdam with lots of canals and a large, lively student population.

I was able to book a great hotel (http://www.karelv.nl/en) at a discounted rate since I planned the trip last minute. The hotel had very large rooms by European standards. It was actually an old monastery located on a small compound with gardens, a wellness center and two restaurants, one of which had a Michelin star.

We arrived at the hotel very late on Friday night thanks to some terrible traffic Jim encountered on his way back from the Dusseldorf airport.

On Saturday we woke up bright and early thanks to Sabine. However, it was nice to have a leisurely morning and enjoy a wonderful breakfast in the gorgeous dining room of the hotel.

We walked into the pedestrian only part of town to do some shopping after our breakfast. The town felt like a combination of Bruges and Maastricht. It had the quaint canals and architecture of Bruges and great shopping like Maastricht.

Utrecht isn’t really a city with a ton of sights and for that reason isn’t on the typical tourist route. It is simply a quaint town with lots of great shopping, some good food and friendly Dutch people.

While shopping, I found a bag that I loved. However, not to be impulsive, I thought I’d look around a bit more before buying it. I shopped for another hour before deciding that I needed to go back and get the bag and matching wallet. Unfortunately, as I walked back into the store, a woman had my bag on her shoulder and was checking herself out in the mirror. While I waited for the woman to put it down, I pretended to look at other bags. I pointed out some of the other bags features to Jim, hoping to lure her away from the bag that was meant to be mine. Unfortunately, she wasn’t swayed and as she walked up to the counter, I asked a sales woman in vain whether they had another bag like that one. Lesson learned. When I find something I really like, I should just buy it because lots of shops in Europe have limited stock.

After the shops closed, we got some frites before heading back to the hotel to let Sabine burn off some energy. We watched some TV in bed waiting for Sabine to pass out so we could go to dinner. We almost decided to skip dinner and just go to bed since it was already a bit late. However, we rallied and found a decent French bistro which had great oysters.

On a Saturday night, the streets were teeming with students heading to bars and restaurants on their bikes. Some of the streets already had their Christmas lights up and it gave the canals a romantic feeling.

The next day was rainy so we were in no hurry to check out. We had a relaxing morning and then hit the deserted town.

Our first stop was the Dom which originally was a Catholic church. Unfortunately, it had converted to a Protestant church so the interior of the church wasn’t anything special.

Next on our list was a boat tour of the canals. It was a pretty nice tour except that the rain prevented us from taking any photos.

We had a nice lunch back at the hotel in the brassiere. We had tried to get a reservation for the night before but it was completely filled so we made a reservation for lunch. The atmosphere was better than the food but it was still a nice relaxing lunch before heading home to Bonn.

First Emergency Room Visit

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to experience a visit to the emergency room in Germany. As far as emergency rooms go, this was a pretty painless visit in all respects.

For a few weeks I had what looked like an infected hang nail. However, on our trip to Portugal, the finger took a turn for the worse and became really swollen and painful. When we returned, I finally went to the doctor. He put me on some antibiotics but told me to go to the emergency room by Saturday if it wasn't any better.

Jim and I decided to go early in the morning to avoid the crowds. The Elisabeth Krankenhaus is only about 7 blocks away so we walked there. We were surprised to find the hospital virtually empty. I guess the times I have been to the emergency room (and was actually conscious when I arrived) the hospital was chaotic with long wait times. Here in Bonn, there are a number of small hospitals in the area so rather than everyone ending up at the same hospital, the emergency patients are spread out. Or maybe since Germans seem to be more law abiding, there are fewer "misunderstandings" involving knives, guns and other weapons.

Somehow I was surprised that I wasn't required to fill out any paperwork before seeing the doctor. I don't know why that surprised me because it really isn't any different than seeing the doctor or dentist here in Germany. They take your name and address and trust you at your word that you'll pay the bill. I guess since most everyone else has the public insurance, there are very few people who have private insurance so it doesn't pose that great of a financial risk.

The procedure itself was pretty quick. The doctor simply had to cut open my finger and release some of the infection juices (not really a medical term but doesn't sound as gross as pus) out. I had to go back every day for a week for the doctor to check the wound for infection and every day the hospital was just as empty. I'm not sure I'd want to go to that hospital for a gunshot wound or something serious because the doctors don't seem to get a lot of practice with emergencies.

Here's a picture of me with my injured finger.

No- I'm not giving you the finger, just showing it to you.

Thankfully, Jim and Sylvia were around for a few days after this because one handed diaper changing is a little challenging.

Lisbon - Gritty, Tasty and Cheap

Our trip to Lisbon was a lot of firsts. It was Sabine’s first trip with her grandparents, Sabine’s first cold, her parents' first cold with a baby and Sabine’s first projectile vomit (um, make that first 2 projectile vomits).

It was great to have Sylvia’s help on the plane. Jim is generally more interested in the International Tribune than helping me wrangle a wiggly baby. Sabine wasn’t too bad on the flight but since she doesn’t sit still, a three hour long flight is still pretty exhausting.

Once we got into Lisbon, we hopped into a cab to get to the apartment. Thankfully the cabbie spoke French so Jim was able to do the talking. Not so surprisingly my one year of Portuguese in college didn’t do me any good. Bom dia was about all I could remember from my hazy college days.

Sabine cried the entire cab ride because she was hungry. I had read that cab drivers may try to rip you off but I don’t think that was an issue for us. I think the cabbie was happy to get us there via the quickest route to get rid of a screaming baby.

Our apartment was up a narrow, little walkway that was accessible only by foot. Of course that didn't stop a few cars from squeezing though.

When we arrived to meet the management company employees for the keys, the cleaning woman was there. We weren't sure what she exactly cleaned since the floors seemed to be really dirty. I'm not sure if it was her dark hair we found all over the apartment or the previous renters.

Unfortunately for Jim Sr. and Sylvia, they got the smallest room I've ever seen. You could barely walk between the wall and the bed. Although if I had to choose between that and the room next to Sabine's bed, I'd go for the small room too.


The apartment was located in the Alfama district which is up the hill from the historic downtown area near the St. George castle. The Alfama is made up of tiny, steep cobble stone streets.

Although at first glance it is a bit gritty, you really get the vibe of the city. At night you can hear all the noises of the city: the fado music emanating from the multitude of fado bars and restaurants in the area; people leaning out of their windows to talk to people or shopkeepers in the street; mothers calling their children back home.

After seeing the tiny grocery stores in Lisbon, I can no longer complain about the size and limited supply of my neighborhood stores in Bonn. After our first couple of visits to various mini stores, we decided that we wouldn’t be cooking dinners at the apartment but rather taking turns going to restaurants in the neighborhood.

After our unsuccessful shopping expedition, next on our agenda was to get information about the city bus tours and get some lunch. We started walking to the Praca do Comercio, a large square along the Rio Tejo. Lisbon is only about 10k from the sea, the city is actually along the River Tejo.

We started walking along the street that ran along the river but there was too much construction and it wasn’t a very pretty street. One block in wasn’t much better as there was construction there as well, but we did find a little restaurant with a nice patio and we figured if the construction didn’t bother the other patrons, a noisy baby wouldn’t either.

We had a few mishaps with the high chair at the restaurant. They had one that actually slips on to the table. We put a chair behind and under her for protection but Sabine just used the seat of the chair to stand up and the high chair would come off of the table. The waiter apparently had seen plenty of children do this so helped us get her resettled. The next incident happened mid meal when I noticed Sabine slipping out of the chair. We realized that there was no strap between the legs of this chair. Thankfully we were paying attention and any real injury was averted.

After lunch we went to the Praca do Comercio to check out the Tourist Information office. It was actually a little bus that was parked in the square. The girl who was manning the bus was obviously ready to end her day as she didn’t really want to sell us bus tickets and gave us some misinformation regarding the tour starting point.


In the same square as the Ask Me Lisbon Bus, was a Portugal Wine Information Center that advertised a “free” tasting. Of course, nothing is ever truly free. They first went through a short introduction of 3 different wine producing areas in Portugal: Alentajo; Dao; and Algarve.

Before any tasting happened, we had to pick two wines to taste and fill out a marketing form rating the wine’s label, appearance and then also give them feedback about the wines once you had tasted them. We all tried four wines and only one of those was really good. It was the first one I tried. Unfortunately, it wasn’t one of the wines they sell so we left empty handed.

After Sabine was fed and in bed, Jim and I explored the neighborhood and got a bite to eat. We ended up at a restaurant just a few doors down from our apartment. The waiter was very friendly and spoke English. We sat at a table outside under some hanging lights and enjoyed some fresh fish with potatoes. Just about every restaurant in Lisbon has grilled cod with lots of olive oil and garlic and roasted potatoes.

Our first night was pretty rough. We all were getting sick and Sabine didn’t sleep well at all. I'm sure that being in a new place was a contributing factor but she was so congested that she wouldn't have slept well at home either. She woke up every hour and needed to be rocked to sleep. Thankfully, at 5:30 the next morning Sylvia took over so that I could get a little sleep. I feel for the mothers out there who have newborns who don't sleep. I don't know how they do it.

The next day we took the bus tour of the city. The tour was a little disappointing, in that there really aren’t a lot of sights to see in Lisbon. We were on a hop on and hop off bus but sadly we weren’t compelled to hop off anywhere in Lisbon proper. We didn’t decide to hop off until we were outside of Lisbon in the little suburb of Belem.

We got off the bus at the Tower of Belem and decided to get lunch. The only places to eat were either a snack bar or a cafeteria style restaurant. Jim and I got some food first and after looking at our food, Jim Sr. and Sylvia decided to pass.

The tower of Belem was pretty but other than admire it from the outside or climb the stairs to see the view from a 120 steps higher, there wasn’t much to do. So after a few pictures we walked back to the bus and we were graced with a pan flute rendition of Sinatra’s "My Way." I have to wonder if any large city in the world has managed to stay pan flute free?

The Monastery of Jeronimos was our next stop. It was a beautiful huge white limestone building. Vasco de Gama’s tomb is in the monastery and it was the place where sailors would go to pray before heading out to sea. We didn’t end up going into the church because Sylvia had heard that it was closed on the bus tour.

We walked into the town of Belem to find the famous Pasteis de Belem. This pastry shop was the first to make the pastel de nata, an egg custard tart that can be found all over Lisbon. We had tried this tart already but wanted to get one from the founder. We bought a package of still warm tarts and devoured them at the Starbucks next door. They came with packets of powdered sugar and cinnamon and the tarts were delicious with both options.

After an exceptionally long wait for the bus, we slowly made our way back to the apartment.

Since Jim and Sylvia had skipped lunch, they went to dinner. Jim and I planned to go to dinner after they got back. However, after two incidents of projectile vomiting, we decided to just go to bed without dinner. Jim was lucky enough to miss the vomiting but he saw the aftermath. (Hint – If you stay at Apartment 37 on the golisbon website, stay away from the small orange couch.)

On Sunday, we woke up to pouring rain. We decided that we’d do a little shopping at the mall we had passed on the bus tour the day before. We were also in desperate need of diapers and had heard that although it was Sunday, the large grocery store in the mall would be open.

Before shopping, we had lunch at a crappy little place in the mall food court. Jim Sr. and Sylvia walked with Sabine while Jim and I shopped. We were both hoping to find something to “give” each other for our anniversary, but we didn’t have any luck.

We picked up some diapers and fixings for a pasta dinner and then took a cab home. My new favorite pasta sauce is Sacla. I don’t know if you can find it in the U.S. but it so much better than any prepared pasta sauce I’ve ever had.

On Monday, Jim Sr. and Sylvia took an all day bus tour to 4 cities, including Fatima. I’m glad that they were able to have one day to see a lot of things baby-free. I think they had forgotten how little you can do each day with a baby. Just getting out of the door can be a challenge and our days didn’t usually get going until close to 11:00.

Jim, Sabine and I spent the afternoon in Cascais. Cascais is a little town that is a 40 minute train ride from Lisbon. Although it is labeled a beach town, there was only a tiny beach that we were able to find. It was far too cold for swimming so we just spent the day eating and wandering around. It was a very relaxing day and we both really enjoyed the town. It seemed to have a lot of restaurants, some good shopping as well as some picturesque narrow little lanes that reminded me of Santorini, Greece.

We found a little park up on the hill overlooking the downtown area and Sabine had fun on the swings, teeter totter and slides.

Sylvia and Jim Sr. got home pretty late from their day trip so Jim and I went to eat as soon as they returned. We found a little spot around the corner that seemed to be busy and smelled of tasty grilled meats. Our guide book suggested not eating fish on Mondays because it wouldn’t be fresh. This restaurant actually didn’t give you a menu on Mondays because they only served grilled pork and beef. Although the meat was much fattier and tougher than the cuts I usually choose; the meat had a good marinade and was quite flavorful.

On our last full day in Portugal we got out reasonably early and took a train to Sintra. It was a holiday in Portugal so it was pretty crowded in Sintra. We saw a bunch of marching bands going back to the train station and figured that there must have been a parade that morning.

Our goal in Sintra was to see the two castles that were located above the town. After a little confusion about the best way to get up to the castles, we boarded a bus and took the incredibly windy tight road up the hill to the ruins of the Moorish castle.

The castle was believed to have been a military fort from the 9th century during the Arab occupation. It was used to monitor the coast line which you could see in the distance.


The castle ruins weren’t stroller friendly so Jim stayed outside with Sabine while Jim Sr., Sylvia explored the castle and then I went back in with Jim a second time. It was fun climbing the old towers and castle walls and the views of the surrounding castles and towns were impressive.

Our next stop was the Pena Castle which had a very Moorish style of architecture. However, it wasn’t built by the Arabs but rather Mad King Ludwig’s cousin.

The castle was designed with the new ideas of comfort and intimacy in mind so the rooms were smaller in size and had fabric walls and thick curtains to give the rooms a cozy feeling.

There was another castle in Sintra called the National Palace but it had already been a long day for Sabine so we skipped the National Palace and headed back into Lisbon.

I had made reservations at 100 Manieras for our anniversary dinner. It had gotten some really great reviews from some reputable sources so we were really looking forward to it.

The restaurant was located in the Alto Barrio. Since we hadn’t really explored that area, we decided to do the Rick Steve’s walking tour of the area and figure out where the restaurant was before our dinner.

We found the funicular that we needed to take up to the Barrio Alto but before we could get on, Jim had a little low blood sugar breakdown. We had made the mistake of skipping lunch. 20 minutes later with a quick visit to McDonalds, Mr. Jekyll turned back into Mr. Hyde and we were able to start our tour of the Alto Barrio.

We took the funicular up which was interesting but not particularly stroller-friendly. Up at the top we stopped at a park just to the right of the funicular which rewarded us with some great views of the city and the river beyond.

As we walked through the Barrio Alto, we were surprised that it was something Rick Steve’s included in his book. The area seemed broken down and charmless. Soon after we passed some sex shops and a drunk who had thrown up all over himself, Jim and Sylvia decided to get dinner back in our neighborhood.

Jim and I found a little tapas bar and had a drink before our dinner. As we walked back to 100 Manieras the area seemed a bit transformed. Now a lot of the trendy restaurants were open and some of the high end shops we hadn’t seen now had illuminated windows. The area took on a very different feeling. My guess is that the area is like the meat packing district in New York City.

Our meal at 100 Manieras was the best I’ve had in my entire life. The restaurant only serves a 10 course meal with no choices. They ask you when you make the reservation whether or not you have any food restrictions or allergies and make exceptions in those instances.

We decided to do the wine pairing with the dinner. They didn’t do a pairing with each course but rather one with every 2 courses. Five glasses was plenty. Not surprisingly, our memory of the courses as the dinner went on diminished considerably. Neither of us can remember what the dessert courses were.

The meal started with a very creative dish that was supposed to be reminiscent of Lisbon and its ubiquitous clotheslines. It was salted dried cod pieces hung with tiny clothespins to a metal clothesline and served with a red pepper aioli. It tasted a little like Thai fish chips if you’ve ever had those.

The next course was really interesting. It was a foie gras bon bon with chocolate and crusted almonds. I’ve always had foie gras that has been prepared in a savory manner but surprisingly it was really good with sweet condiments.

The next set of courses were all seafood. The best was scallop carpaccio with pureed celery root and ground truffles. There was also a salmon tartar dish and squid ink tagliatelle with a raw oyster.

Before the meat dishes they served a palate cleanser which was good but not something I remember.

Once we got to the meat course, things started to get a little hazy. I’d like to say that since I favor seafood and pasta over meat and dessert, I remember those dishes. However, I think that the wine is to blame for the reason that I can’t remember what else we had.

Our amazing dinner was a great way to end our vacation. I would go back to Lisbon just for that restaurant.

Litigation File

I finally attended my "to be filed" stack tonight. It is never a good thing when you realize that you need to create a litigation file.

I thought that the U.S. was over-litigous but we had to move to Germany to get sued.

Back in January, I received a bill for the swimming pool membership. Since I didn't want to have a membership once Sabine was born, I ignored it. In the U.S. when you join a gym, they are meticulous in going over what the member's obligations are to cancel the membership. In this instance, it was a community gym and I filled out a form that had my address and name on it to join. I must have missed the small print at the bottom of the page. I've learned my lesson that I must translate everything I sign. I guess as a lawyer that is something I should already know. Thankfully, one of our German friends is about to take his bar exam and was able to help us clear up this little misunderstanding.

This past month our landlord also threatened to sue us. We've been fighting with him over how much to reduce our rent due to the repairs being made to our winter garden i.e. storage space off of our bedroom. This process has once again proved that Germans may know how to make cars but building repairs aren't their thing.

London Town Calling - Baby Style

At the end of August my friend, Anna and I went to visit a Bonn deserter in London with our two children in tow. My friend, Jen, had moved with her lovely little girl and husband to London in the fall of 2009. Anna and I had talked about visiting for a long time and sadly it took two stay at home moms 7 months to have the same week free to plan a long awaited visit.

Our bright idea was to take the train so that we could both take our strollers. Unfortunately we were unaware of the fact that Jen had three strollers so we could have flown. However, the train trip with a fellow mother made it much more enjoyable so that the 4-5 hour trip didn’t seem to take that long.

Jen graciously met us at the train station so that we wouldn’t have to find our way to her house. Since the day of an infant and toddler is short (7pm), we decided rather than going back to Jen’s immediately, we would stay out for the day and just carry our backpacks.

First on our agenda was lunch. We stopped at 2 or 3 pubs and they all had signs not allowing anyone underage inside. This was my first inkling that this trip would be very, very, very different from all of my other trips to London.

We decided to look for a Wagamama’s for lunch (at my suggestion). There was one near Oxford Street where we were going to do a little shopping. However, the one we were looking for didn’t exist so we ended up at an Indian chain restaurant called Masala Zone.

When we entered, the wait staff seemed to be overwhelmed with the idea of three strollers so it took a good 10 / 15 minutes to get us situated. Thankfully, the hubbub was worth it as the food was quite tasty. I wish we had a Masala Zone in Bonn! For a chain, I thought it was really great food.

After lunch, we hit a few shops on Oxford Street. Of course instead of shopping for clubbing clothes as I had in the past, this shopping expedition was all about baby clothes. Bye-bye cleavage tops; hello onesies.

We realized that it was quite late already and decided to take the tube back to Jen’s house. The tube has not really embraced the handicapped or the stroller-capped. The majority of tube stations have stairs and escalators. Anna and I both braved our first experience with a stroller and an escalator. The up isn’t so bad but the down is a little sketchy.

We got to Jen’s lovely 3 story flat and got the kids fed, diapered, dressed and in bed so that we could enjoy a nice evening.

I was outvoted on the dinner plans so we ordered Dominos pizzas and enjoyed some great cheese. As much as I resisted, I have to say that I enjoyed the pepperoni pizzas that took me down high school memory lane.

Jen’s place is so spacious that we all had our own room with our children. This would be good for those of you who like to sleep with your children. I, however, do not. Sabine and I are super light sleepers so we spend the night waking each other up and no one gets a good night’s sleep. Jim likes to say that we are both thrashers in bed.

The next day started early for everyone (thanks to Sabine) so we walked through St. James Park and watched the changing of the guard. It was the one tourist thing I had never done and the kids wanted to see the horses.

We stopped for lunch at a chain in Trafalgar Square just in time to miss some rain. I know that three women with large strollers and small children are not the most desirable customers so I feel badly for the servers who get stuck with us. Not too long ago, I was the server complaining that a family of 5 just sat in my section.

Lunch with children is never a short affair. The kids need to eat, we need to eat and then there comes the diaper changing relay where we all take turns using the changing station (if we are lucky enough to have one). Otherwise we take turns “spotting” while one mother carefully changes her child who is balancing precipitously on a small ledge near the sink.

After lunch, we decided to head back to Jen’s neighborhood to visit a charity resale shop dedicated to children’s items. Before we were able to get there, it started raining quite heavily so we popped into a bookstore along the way to let the rain subside a bit. I found a few books for Sabine as well as some great vintage wrapping paper that was educational and in French! They will look great framed and hung in Sabine’s room as posters.

We walked back to Jen’s and worked on feeding and getting the kids to bed so that we could enjoy another nice evening. We ordered Indian food for dinner and had an awesome mint flavored chicken dish which I’d never had before. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten the name of it so I'll probably order the wrong thing the next time I get Indian.

On our last day, we packed up in the morning and then hit a fun park near Jen’s house. Sabine enjoyed the little spinning bowls and the swings. Unfortunately, they don’t have baby swings in Bonn so she hasn’t done very much swinging in her life. She wasn't a fan of the swing at first but then she got into the swing of it.

We headed to the train station after lunch and were able to enjoy a coffee together while all three kids sleep simultaneously for the first time of our trip.

How do you say tow truck in German?

Two days after returning from the US, we were off again to the Salzkammergut region of Austria. After our Venice trip we both decided that we needed a truly relaxing vacation which was more about nature than city sights.

The Salzkammergut region is known for its bright blue lakes, surrounding mountains and quaint towns as well as its salt mines. The literal translation of Salzkammergut is good salt chamber. Due to the salt mining industry, the towns existed before the area became known for skiing so are more developed and charming than your typical ski area.

We rented an apartment in Haus Anastasia (www.hausanastasia.com) in a small spa town called Bad Ischl. It was the perfect size for us and had a nice balcony overlooking the surrounding low mountains. The owners were English so they were helpful in recommending things to do in the area and more importantly had a huge movie selection so we didn’t have to watch any of our own DVDs.

Our first evening was a little rough. Jim had an 11:00pm call for work so we didn’t get to bed until after 12:00. Then neither of us slept well. Jim had work on his mind, and I’m not sure what my excuse was. I’ll blame it on the weird pillowcases and duvet cover which were made of a bumpy seersucker material. Who picks seersucker for bed linins? Anyway, we both got only about 3-4 hours of sleep which is less of an issue for me but Jim struggles when he is sleep deprived. Essentially what happens is that I have 2 kids for the day.

After checking the weather and realizing that the forecast for the week was pretty gloomy, we decided that our first day should be the day we go hiking. Our hosts guided us to the Dachstein mountain where we could take a cable car to check out some caves as well has have a little hike.

When we got to the cable car parking lot we were surprised how cold it was. Somehow living in Germany has made me forget all of my mountain common sense. I completely forgot that although the weather was going to be 76 down in Bad Ischl it would be much colder at the top of Dachstein mountain. I unfortunately had only dressed Sabine in a short sleeve onesie, light pants, cardigan and a summer hat. We decided that it was too cold so got back in the car and started driving down the mountain. We then realized that Wednesday was probably the only day we could do this based on the forecast so we turned around and decided that we could put Sabine in some of our clothes to keep her warm. She looked quite cute in her dad’s smart wool pull over.

The cable car had three levels to it. The first stop took you to the ice caves and mammoth caves. The second was the high point with a 5 fingered lookout point and the third was down the other side of the mountain closer to the glacier.

So having decided to brave the cooler weather we bought our cable car tickets and tickets to the caves. Surprisingly although we had been concerned about the 50 degree temps on the mountain, we didn’t give a second though to taking Sabine into the ice caves which would obviously have to be close to freezing temperature for there to be ice.

We went to the top of the mountain first and hiked around the top taking in the views of the surrounding mountains, lakes and the glacier before heading back down to the middle station for some lunch.

After fueling up on Wiener Schnitzel and Pfefferlinge Pasta, we hiked up the steep path to the ice cave. I was ready to strip down to a t-shirt once we got to the cave, but Rick (yes, we are on a first name basis with Mr. Steves) said that you want a sweater for the tour of the ice caves so I left my jacket on.

Before the tour started we saw one mother putting winter coats, hats and gloves on her children. Jim and I both thought that was a little overkill.

The tour started out in your average run of the mill cave and after 3 big caverns, I wondered aloud why these were called ice caves. After another 50 meters and through a door, I got my answer. We were walking along a giant ice flow and the temperature dropped sharply. There were huge ice pillars and even an ice formed room, called the chapel. At one point it seemed like it was actually snowing in the cave.

The ice formations were amazing but we had a hard time enjoying the views because we were so worried about Sabine. We were quite cold ourselves and since we were moving we figured that Sabine must be freezing. We wrapped another jacket around the hiking backpack to form a cocoon around her. While we were busy chastising ourselves for being bad parents, Sabine decided to take a nap. Of course instead of calming us (how uncomfortable could she be if she is able to fall asleep?), this actually fueled our anxiety as we irrationally started to worry that she was suffering from hypothermia.

We were very thankful when the tour finally ended and we were able to get back out to the warm weather. After our harrowing ice cave experience, we decided to pack it in and headed back to Bad Ischl for a nice dinner at the apartment and to let Sabine crawl around.

On Thursday, Jim had scheduled a massage for my birthday at the Eurothermen resort in Bad Ischl. (http://www.eurothermen.at/en-bad-ischl-arrival.htm) Since Sabine is such a water lover, Jim decided to hit the thermal pools with her while I got my massage.

When we walked into the spa, it looked like a cross between a mental institution and a public pool complete with a turnstile entrance. Germans and Austrians take their spas seriously so it has almost a medical feel to it.

Massages are a bit different in Europe. The therapist doesn’t leave the room when you get undressed and the room is usually not darkened. I think that Europeans are generally a lot more comfortable with nudity. Even the locker rooms were co-ed in the spa. They had dressing rooms, but a lot of people just changed out in the open because there were only about 12 dressing rooms for the 100s of lockers there.

After my massage Sabine was tired of swimming so we went to have lunch at a pizza place that our host recommended. The Italian restaurant was a perfect spot for lunch with a baby. It wasn’t crowded and it had bench seats so Sabine could crawl and stand between us.

After lunch we went for a short hike near our apartment. Like a lot of German trails, this one wasn’t marked well and we lost the trail about 3 times. Thankfully, we were able to find our way back to the apartment without getting too lost.

The weather on Friday was rainy and cold so we decided to go back to the Eurothermen resort and pools. We wandered around Bad Ischl in the morning looking for a swim suit for me and a spot for lunch.

After scouring the town, we ended up back at the same restaurant we had lunch at the day before. Like German food, Austrian food is ok to have when you have no other options but I wouldn’t want to eat it on a regular basis so the schnitzel we had on Wednesday sufficed.

We stopped for a post lunch coffee and saw three little boys in Lederhosen and I had to take a picture of them. I was surprised how many people we saw in traditional dress on our trip.

After a late lunch, we went back to the Eurothermen pools. There were 5 different pools with varying salt levels and even a lazy river. The pools were both indoor and outdoor with tons of lounge chairs around.

We both felt great after the salt baths and decided that the Germans and Austrians may be on to something. However, unlike the Germans, the Austrians wear swimsuits in the baths and I was thankful for that.

On Saturday, we went to Gosausee which is on the other side of the Dachstein mountains. We took the cable car up to the top and started hiking. At first I was a little worried because we saw people with serious climbing gear. However, after hiking up about 45 minutes, we saw where the climbers turned off to scale a huge rock wall. Unfortunately, the rain from the day before wrecked havoc on the trails and made them extremely muddy and slippery. So after getting friendly with a few Alpine cows, we decided to turn around and try another more established path up to a lodge where we enjoyed a tasty wurstl.

Of course, we decided against making it easy on ourselves and hiked down to the car rather than taking the cable car. There were some slippery spots so we had to take it pretty slow but that allowed us to take in the gorgeous views. The deep blue alpine lake was gorgeous against the backdrop of the mountains and the glacier.

After our visit to Gosausee, we stopped at the little town of Hallstatt. Hallstatt is a tiny town built into the mountain on the lake and is the only town Rick recommends in the Salzkammergut area. The town itself isn’t much more than some souvenir shops, hotels and restaurants and a salt mine museum. The only other sight in Hallstatt is a cathedral with a skull altar. Unfortunately the only way up to the cathedral was up a flight of stairs so we decided that seeing the picture in our guide book was good enough.

We stopped at a little out of the way restaurant on the end of town for a relaxing drink lakeside. Jim wanted to get a t least one knoedel (dumpling) while we were in Austria so he ordered a beef broth soup with a baked liver dumpling. I, for obvious reasons, passed on the knoedel.

Our last day in the area wasn’t supposed to be nice but ended up being the nicest day of our trip. We headed to St. Wolfgang to wander around.

Jim ended up finally buying a pair of Lederhosen and then decided that he better go to Oktoberfest so that he has the opportunity to wear them. I tried on a dirndl but wasn’t about to shell out 180 euro for a dress I probably wouldn’t even wear (except for Halloween when I’m back in the states). I understand why Lederhosen are so expensive; they are obviously made of leather and are usually hand stitched. I, however, don’t understand why dirndls are so expensive. The material is often not very soft or comfortable and it is really just a dress with an apron and a corset waist.

The town of St. Wolfgang ended up being our favorite in that area. We had a wonderful lunch on a terrace overlooking the Wolfgangsee. We ordered the Tyrolean ravioli with Bergkase that we loved so much from the Dolomites as well as Zander (Walleye) filet with a crab sauce on a bed of spinach.

After a leisurely lunch staring at the lake, we decided that we’d try to find a beach to go swimming. We didn’t bring suits with us but I figured Sabine could just swim in her diaper. The bigger problem was that we didn’t have a map of the lake or any idea where the swimming areas might be. In Europe there aren’t public beaches so we knew we’d have to pay to go to any of the beaches. We found one swimming spot but there was on a small rock beach with a steep drop off that didn’t look very child-friendly so we decided to keep looking.

After a few wrong turns and about 75 minutes later we finally saw a sign for a beach but didn’t have enough warning to make the turn. We had both gotten quite frustrated driving aimlessly around looking for a beach and what happened next didn’t ease anyone’s frustration and required a tow truck.

On the bright side though we discovered how helpful Austrians are when you are stranded in a ditch on the side of the road. Two cars stopped and offered to help pull us out. We also learned where the tow hook is located on our car. Sadly though we didn’t figure that out when we had free offers to pull us out. It was the expensive tow truck driver who showed us where the little removable tow hook was located on our car.

After our little accident, we decided it was too late and getting too cold for the beach so we went back to the apartment for the last night and watched the movie Missing.

The movie had a few Native American characters in it so when Jim said that he really missed American breakfasts out of the blue, I thought he said that his Indian name should be American Breakfast, as in “American Breakfast has traveled many moons and out of ditches to get here”. For the rest of our trip, Jim’s new nickname was American Breakfast, as in “Hey, American Breakfast, why don’t you unpack the car, I have to go to the bathroom.” (A little tactic I learned in grade school to avoid unpacking after a trip.)

Stroller Adventures in Venice

Venice is for lovers not travel weary, spit-up soaked parents with a hot, tired baby and stroller in tow. I’m not sure how I didn’t think about the fact that Venice is a set of 100 small islands connected by 400 bridges and those bridges are comprised of a set of stairs up and a set of stairs down. We surprisingly saw quite a few people with strollers and we all seemed to look at each other thinking the same thing – Strollers and Venice don’t mix.

We decided to stay in Padova instead of Venice. I had heard that it is very easy to get lost in Venice and the thought of hopping on and off boats with two bags, a baby and a stroller while arguing with my husband about which way to go didn’t sound appealing.

I found a much more reasonably priced place in Padova near the train station. It was another one of the budget convenience hotels that I seem to have become so fond of since we’ve been travelling with a baby. Although it wasn’t located in an industrial park like the last place in France, it did have the usual sketchy, I don’t want to be here after dark, train station area feel to it. These days charming is out and convenience is in.

Our trip was off to a rocky start after arriving very late to the airport for our crack of dawn flight and had to sprint to our gate. For Jim, this was just another check mark in the “reasons not to fly” column.

We arrived in Padova at 10:00 so after a little rest we headed to the train station to catch a train into Venice just in time for lunch. Out of necessity, we picked a touristy place just outside the train station along the main canal. The waves from passing boats would flood the floor of the restaurant. Although the food wasn’t memorable, it was our only canal side meal so it was interesting in that respect and memorable in that Sabine broke her first wine glass. She’s already a lush at 6 months.

After lunch we started walking around. Our guide book suggested “getting lost to see the real Venice. There is no need to “try” to get lost because it is a foregone conclusion that you will get lost. Jim thinks that the Italians learned how to post signs from the Germans. You can dutifully follow signs to a destination; however, at some point the signs will mysteriously disappear.

We finally got to St. Marks Square late in the afternoon and were unable to get into the cathedral so we decided to save that for another day.

We decided to wander around the streets near St. Marks and popped into Osteria Enoteca San Marco for a quick glass of wine and diaper change. It was actually one of the restaurants recommended in our guide book but we didn’t realize it at the time. After looking at the menu we decided that we’d try to eat there if Sabine would cooperate. Unfortunately, before we could order, little miss dinner spoiler decided it had been a long day and she was ready for it to be over. We didn’t want to disturb the other diners so we left and decided to try to return for lunch another day.

We hopped on one of the main boats that slowly cruised the main canal back to the train station so we could take a bunch of pictures. Before getting on the train back to Padua, we enjoyed a gelato and that ended up being dinner as the restaurant in our hotel was closed by the time we got back.

Unfortunately, our hotel had a baby bed with wide slats so while we went to brush our teeth that night little Sabine had wormed both of her legs through one of the holes up to her waist. We decided we weren’t all that keen on visiting an Italian emergency room so we had her sleep in our bed. It was a great recipe for compounding our sleep deprivation. Between crying and intermittently thrashing about, sleep was hard to come by for both mom and dad.

The next day we got a very late start as we tried to sleep in a bit. In our fatigued state, we thought Venice might be a little too much so we opted for a small town 40 minutes from Padova called Vicenza.

As it was Sunday and all of the retail shops were closed the main drag was pretty deserted. It looked like it was a pretty good place for shopping

The highlight of the town was the Olympic Theater which we almost decided not to visit, which would have been a mistake. It had an incredibly 3-D stage that was so realistic in its rendering of a street scene.

We wandered around the town, hitting the main square and a cute little wine bar while we waited for a restaurant to open for dinner. Unfortunately, the restaurant in our guide book was no longer in business, so we ended up in a touristy little pizza place. The food wasn’t all that memorable but the wait staff was. Sabine was really fussy so when our pizza came, the waiter offered to take her. He had a great time walking her around and showing off his parenting skills. A bunch of the women were fawning all over her but he was the only one who could get her to stop crying. He earned a generous tip that evening.

The next day we decided to brave Venice again. This time I knew that I wanted to get to St. Marks early before the lines got too long so we took the fast boat on the main canal directly to St. Marks. The line was already pretty long by the time we got there so instead of getting a coffee and feeding Sabine, I decided to just breastfeed her while standing in line.

St. Marks was really quite beautiful and I was very glad that I stood in line to see it but now as I’m writing this, I can’t for the life of me remember what it looked like. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed so I can’t even to refer back to a photo. (#1 reason for writing the blog while on vacation instead of waiting for 2 months- you forget everything.)

After our visit to St. Marks we hit the Doge’s (Duke’s) Palace. The architecture of the palace had a Moorish feel to it and reminded of some of the places I’ve seen in Seville, Spain. The palace was quite lavish and well worth the visit. Who doesn’t love a palace? I think the appeal is imagining what your life would be like if you were that rich.

After touring St. Mark’s Square, we attempted to go back to the restaurant we had tried to eat at on our first trip to Venice. The restaurant was empty when we got there so thankfully there weren’t too many people to disturb. We had some amazing food but didn’t enjoy it very much because Sabine wasn’t very happy. We ended up taking turns walking with her outside the restaurant while the other would eat. We decided that our nice restaurant days were over. Move over Michelin starred restaurants and make room for TGIFridays and Applebees.

After our lunch, we decided to walk back to the train station and try to hit the Frari area and visit the Frari Church and the other sights in the area. It took most of the afternoon to make our way to the train station.

Our last day was spent in Padua. We started out with a visit to the Scrovegni Chapel which requires a reservation. In order to protect the frescoes, they only allow 25 people in at a time for a 15 minute interval. If you only have a short time in Padua, I would visit St. Anthony instead of the Scrovegni Chapel. It was ok but I wasn’t blown away by the frescoes.

Next we planned to do a little shopping but it began to rain so we stopped for a coffee. Unfortunately while having coffee and playing with Sabine in my lap, I noticed that Sabine had a blowout up the back of her diaper which resulted in a lap full of poo for me. Jim sent me to the bathroom while he changed Sabine’s diaper in the stroller. When I came out of the bathroom, the rain had started to come down in sheets so everyone who had been outside was now seated at the window of this café. Poor Jim had to change a diaper in the pouring rain with an audience of about 20 people.

We ended up having another coffee and some snacks at the café while we waited for the rain to subside. We had forgotten the rain gear for the stroller so we had to rig up our two umbrellas to protect Sabine from the rain.

We checked out the two main squares in Padua which were both ok but nothing special. It started to rain again so we popped into a pizza place for a quick pizza.

After lunch we headed down to see St. Anthony. Along the way we discovered the old part of town which was quite quaint. We didn’t have time to dawdle though as we had a short amount of time before getting the bus to the airport. The church is definitely on the pilgrimage route. The chapel containing St. Anthony’s tomb is has requests of people and pictures of their loved ones asking for St. Anthony’s help

On this trip we learned the hard lesson that if Ryan Air uses the airport, you do not want to fly there. Although the Treviso airport didn’t seem to be that much farther from the main Marco Polo airport, it was not on a train line so we were forced to catch a bus that made way too many stops, and doesn't really accommodate travelers. When we got to the bus, the driver said that we couldn’t buy tickets from him. We needed to get tickets at a tobacco shop. I ran back to the train station to look for a tobacco shop and after about 30 minutes of sprinting around asking people if they sold tickets, I finally found a newspaper stand across the street that sold tickets. By the time I got back to the bus stop, the bus had already left and we were forced to catch another one.

Sabine cried for most of the bus trip so we weren’t looking forward to the flight. Thankfully, she slept on the flight home. However, after this trip we decided to rethink our plan to go to St. Petersburg in August. We decided that somewhere low key was going to be a lot more relaxing.