Round Round Get Around I Get Around

Most days we take the train to get to school. Two trains, actually: walk to our closest stop, wait for the train, take it 2 stops, switch to a different train, take it 3 stops, walk 10 minutes through the park to the boys' school, say goodbye to the boys, walk through the park and streets another 10 or so minutes to get to Autumn's school. To get back home, I'd take a different train 3 stops. Switch trains. Take it 1 stop. Walk home.

We leave the house at 7:25. School starts at 8:00 for the boys...about 8:15 for Goose. Whoever takes the kids in the a.m. doesn't return till about 8:30 if there's no stopping for groceries, etc.

A few times now, we've taken bikes. We did it once just after we moved here (to this flat) and, at that time, it was not worth repeating: Dalton had a broken pedal and lacked confidence when it came to navigating the "bike lane" between parked cars and pedestrians, the route we took didn't always have crosswalks so we once had to cross a rather busy street by running to the center median, lifting our bikes up on to the median and then waiting to run across to the other side. Some parts of the route didn't even have specific bike lanes so you just share the road with the cars. As the solo parent on that particular endeavor, it was completely nerve-wracking and didn't save us a bit of time. We didn't even attempt it again with the time it took to get down to our building's bike room, unlock it, unlock all the bikes, lock the room back up, set out on the harrowing journey, and then lock all the bikes up again at the school. We went through the winter perfectly content to continue our train tradition.

Then the weather began getting nicer and we started thinking about the bikes again. But Jason cannot ride my bike (mine's way too tall) and mine is the only one with the child seat for Autumn so, if it was his day to take the kids, bikes weren't an option. However, one day recently, Autumn had a field trip and she had to be at the Kindergarten at the same time the boys needed to be at school. So, two parents were going to have to go...so we opted to try the bikes again. We live, like, exactly 2 km (1.3 or so miles) north of the boys' school. But, going straight south is the terrifying, oft bike-lane-less, occasionally crosswalk-free route. Instead, Jason mapped out a different route that only added a bit more distance: 2.5 km (1.6 miles) but always had a bike lane and crosswalks. He led the way and I picked up the rear and the kids all loved it...I broke off to take Autumn to her Kindergarten and he took the boys on to their school. If you don't count the gigantic fight Jason and I got into when we both arrived home, as far as the kids were concerned it was a huge success. :)

And, of course, when I picked them all up later (Jason-less) we still did okay.

And that is where our bike luck ended. The next time, I did it all solo. Easton led the way and does a very good job with following all the rules and knowing when to stop, when to slow and look both ways. He did great. Until he misunderstood my directions and went a slightly different way and got all mad at me. A few minutes later, Dalton couldn't make it up a very short but very steep hill and fell over and cried from frustration. But, with Autumn on the back of my bike, I can't just stop and hit the kickstand and run to help him...I have to take her off the back first. We made it, though, and when it was time to ride home later, something happened to my bike where my back wheel would not roll anymore as we were about halfway home...but I couldn't figure it out. And that was the day I discovered my bike lock was completely broken so it's not like I could even leave it where it was till someone could come help. I called Jason and messed around with it quite a lot and eventually got it ride-able, but no idea how. So we continued on home.



And yet, somehow, we opted to do it again another day. This time my chain came off my bike, which I was able to fix, but when you have another person affecting balance on the back, it was a bit of a surprise as I took off pedaling, expecting to go...but didn't. So, again, had to hop off super quickly so we wouldn't tip, take her off, fix the chain, then go get the boys. The boys rode around on their bikes for a bit in the school yard and their friends took turns on them too, when the friends left and we tried to leave as well, suddenly Dalton's bike wheel was locked. The brake was locked on it and, again, I couldn't figure it out. I locked the boys' bikes back up and pushed my bike along to take the trains home. But, you can't take your bike on the trains for free, you have to buy it a ticket. And you can only hop in certain designated bike spots of which their weren't any on the first train but the kids had already jumped into the train and it was leaving! So I desperately jumped on with my bike in a non-bike spot and was going to play the ignorant American card if I got in trouble. I didn't. Whew! But, my bike isn't light or small and carrying it up and down subway steps is not my idea of a good time at all.

Jason took the kids to school the next day with a few tools to fix D's locked brake. Turns out, it was just that the handles had twisted around too far and were pulling on the wire from the hand brake so all one had to do was untwist the handle bars. Silly me.

I picked them up on the bikes, though, and within, like, 2 minutes of leaving school, Dalton had wiped out on his bike. He was trying to get out of the way of some people and, instead of jumping up to the brick inlaid border, his wheel skidded along the brick border and he fell. So, stop with Autumn, get her off, go help Dalton, put Autumn back on, ride again. Probably a minute later, Easton wipes out and starts howling in pain. People walking the park paths next to him stopped to help till they saw me and then some people on the tennis court stopped and were calling to him to come over to where they were so they could help him (they couldn't see me but even when they could see I was helping him they kept asking me (in German) if everything was okay--very friendly). Apparently, E was riding too close to the wire fence on one side and his hand got caught against it and shredded his knuckles a bit. But, same ordeal as before: stop, take Autumn off, run back to Easton, help, walk back to my bike, put Autumn back on, ride again with sobbing child two spots behind me. :( It was at this point they said we weren't going to ride our bikes to school ever again.

 Dalton has a hard time balancing with his backpack on because it slips off his shoulders a lot (even when walking) but I can't often wear his backpack for him because I have my own, usually full of groceries and such and scarcely allowing room for Autumn as seen here in my window reflection:



At 5, it unusual in Berlin that Autumn would be on my bike at all. Most kiddos in the city grow up with what they call a "Laufrad"...basically what we call a "balance bike" or "strider bike" back home. Laufen is "to run" and Rad is "bike" (or wheel). Anyway, the kids get those as wee tikes and by 3 or certainly by 4, they are pedaling two-wheelers all on their own. What we call "training wheels" and apparently the proper (British) English call "stabilizers" are very rarely seen, in my experience. Also, of possible interest to you American friends: you hardly ever see "bike trailers" here. If there is more than one kid, you still won't really see the back trailers, you're much more likely to see something like this:




A non-self propelling kid is, more than likely, going to be on the back or *gasp* in the front of the parent's bike!




Anyway, Autumn is way behind on her cycling skills as compared to Berlin-Kinder but that's okay. We'll work on it. Even so, I'd be uncomfortable with her riding the very busy route to school just yet.



Most of the journey to school is 6 lane streets....3 lanes going in each direction. It is a fairly major thoroughfare. Sure, it's not the highway but these are not suburban paths...this is a huge city, Yo. However, biking is a very legit way to get around here and there are special bike lanes, bike laws, and bike traffic signals. By law, you must have reflectors in place and a bell:



The bell is to warn the inattentive wanderers and bus loads of unsuspecting tourists to get the heck out of your way (Dalton loved getting to ring his as some group of touring senior citizens waiting to board their bus got in the way):



And because of so many year-round cyclists and pedestrians, German drivers are very good about looking out for people.  It's scary to my American self, but living here has changed us all.  I'm a lot more comfortable with things I wouldn't have dreamt I'd be comfortable with (and probably the same is true for a lot of you back home in the States who see some of this on my blog and Facebook--"What is she thinking?!?!?"  Germany is not America.). :D 

Case in point:





Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!  Right?!?!?

Eh. 

Germany laws about car seats are similar to the regulations back home.  If you're under 12 or under 1.5 meters tall (59 inches, aka 4' 11"), you need at least a booster.  That is all of my children.  All of 'em.  Buuuuuuuuuuuut, I really don't think people follow it the same way here.  I don't.  I see short under 12s at school hopping out of Kindersitz-free cars left and right.  There is a mom at school that has her rear-facing infant seat in the front passenger side.  I know you'll find plenty of that ignorance in the States, too, but all my friends were all very car seat safety savvy and I was too (and will be again when we visit).  I once refused to take a kid to the Krispy Kreme drive-through in an expired (by a couple of months) car seat. 

Based on living here going on a year now (!!), I'm led to believe that the police don't enforce the car seat law the same way here either.  Not that these are official websites, but here are two different sites that say basically:

Transporting a child greater than three years of age without a car seat is allowed only if all other car seats are in use. Seat the child in the rear seat and fasten him with a seat belt or other safety device attached to the seat.

Again, I know those aren't official sites, but that info likely came from somewhere.  I spent some time looking for the official laws today but, Ich kann nicht Deutsch sprechen (Oh wait! I just did!) and so I can't find the official info so easily. 

Anyhoo, we don't ever ride in cars here.  Seriously.  The last time I was in a car was October when I took a taxi from the airport with my mom, Grandma, and sister.  However, yesterday I rode in cars twice.  So weird, right?

Yesterday morning, I had to have a brief meeting with another parent at the boys' school.  So I hadn't yet walked Autumn to her school.  Thanks to the meeting, we were late for Autumn's Kindergarten, so that mom offered us a ride in her Mercedes.  (Yuh-huh!)  She took basically the exact same roads I'd take at basically the exact same speeds if I'd had Autumn on my bike.  And it was like, "If our friends take this exact road with their helmetless, kids-in-front rickshaw things" (on the street part...no bike lanes there), "then why am I suddenly 'against' doing the exact same thing in a car?" 

I'm not. 

To convince myself further, I took into account how we stand and walk and climb stairs on moving busses (and trains) all the time...the same busses that are on bigger roads than this car just took.  Busses that have to slam on their breaks all the time when a rogue bike cuts them off.  I realize busses are different if there was a crash, but a young'un seems more likely to be injured by falling down in a moving bus than she does by traveling 20 km/hour (~12 mph) buckled in the back seat of a big ol' Mercedes driven by a German on a road we're sharing with possibly more bikes than cars.

Also, riding car seat-less in cars is certainly not a habit we're adopting.  I would most definitely not hop on the Autobahn without my kids in a car seat.  Even if German drivers are excellent, focused drivers, I really do believe in car seats.  I never see car accidents here.  I know they happen, but they just seem much more infrequent than back home. 

I'm sure it's hard for some of you to see where I'm coming from with this, but that's okay. I repeat: Germany is not America.  And an American living in Germany has to adjust some ways of thinking. 

So we try. :D

Einschulungsuntersuchung

What a word, huh? Meaning: "School Enrollment Examination"


I know you're all always super interested in some of the "big differences" we experience here versus living in the States.  ;) And this is one of them. 


First, let's back track a bit.  You may recall that "elementary school" doesn't start until Grade 1 here.  When you're 6.  But, unlike in the States, it's the year you turn 6.  So, back home, the cutoff to begin "kindergarten" was turning 5 by mid-September/early October.  Usually.  Obviously there were exceptions district to district or even for the super advanced, or alternatively, you could choose to "hold back" your child for a year or so.  Not in Berlin.  Soooo, if your child was born anytime in 2009 (like Autumn) they will "have" to begin Grade 1 this fall.  However, rather than being one of the youngest in her class with her late August birthday like she was back home, she will be more towards the middle. 


The law has recently changed so parents used to be able to decide for themselves a little bit.  We have friends with a daughter born in late 2008 and they chose not to start her in Grade 1 until this year with Autumn.  But, this is the last year that this will be allowed in Berlin.  Unless "Berlin" decides your child is not ready.  And that's where the Einschulungsuntersuchung comes in.


All children set to start Grade 1 must visit the government's Kinder- und Jugendgesundheitsdienst (Child- and Adolescent Health Services) for a school readiness evaluation.  And yesterday was Autumn's.  I didn't tell her she'd be missing school and left it to be a happy surprise.  We spent the morning snuggling on the couch watching a little TV and I cleaned the flat for small group later in the day.  And then we headed for the amazingly beautiful Rathaus Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Town Hall). 








The place was massive, so I decided to ask for help in locating office 43a....but, as we've found with most government "officials", they don't/won't/can't speak English.  No matter:  I can now say "43a" auf Deutsch (I couldn't when we moved here) and easily understand his "through this door, down, and left" instructions accompanied by hand motions and a whistly "down" sound effect. 


We found the office and again, found that the woman we encountered did not speak English.  I basically said Autumn's first and last name and held out the required form I'd brought along.  But she didn't understand Autumn's name till I said it again more like a German would pronounce it "Ah-toom Zetserrr" and then she was like, "Ja. Ja.  Hereinkommen." So we kommen'd in here. ;)  I handed her the form and the vaccination record from the U.S.A. and when she struggled with what she wanted to say next I told her that Autumn could speak a little German....  So she turned to Autumn and spoke very slowly and clearly and, obviously in German, said, "Hello, Autumn.  I am Frau B__.  I would like you to draw me a picture of ....." and she lost me after that.  But Autumn listened, nodded her understanding, and went and sat to draw the Bild Frau B had requested.  I know I should probably no longer be surprised with Autumn and her German skills, but I'm sorry, I'm still continually impressed by what she knows.  It is still so trippy to hear her understand something I can't understand or respond in a way I can't respond, you know?  She's 5!  I have to explain English vocab to her all the time still, but in German?  She's got us all beat and it continues to blow me away. 




While Autumn drew her picture, I was given another form to fill out. In German, of course. And guess what: my battery on my phone was nearly dead which turns off my "mobile data access"...access I need if I'm going to use my translating apps. Ack! However, I was so proud of myself that I was able to fill out almost all of it without any translating. How far I've come! When we moved here, I would have gotten through Name, Vorname, and Geburtstag (birthday) and probably not much else. But this time, I could gather so much more from context clues, even if I couldn't translate exactly word for word. So, on the health survey when they're asking me if she's had "Windpocken" (chicken pox, apparently), I might not know exactly what they'd asked, but I knew I could safely answer "nein" as she's never really had anything. I could see the word for "heart" and again, know I could assume it meant some sort of heart troubles, and I didn't know the word for brain (Gehirn) but, given the context and the Epilepsie written in parenthesis after the word...again, I was able to confidently know what I was answering "no" to. If I had seen this same form 10 months ago, it would have felt so much more overwhelming and impossible. Yay progress!

It asked about both her mother and Vater's levels of education, whether we work part or "whole" time or why I don't work, siblings first names and birth years, if anyone in the house smoked, how much TV or video games she was exposed to each day, whether "mein Kind" has it's own television (Gar nicht!!), how long she's been at a Kindergarten and which one...and I did it! I did it, people!!! :D

Meanwhile, there's Autumn just carrying on entire conversations and following instructions over in the other part of the room with Frau B. But she can't read any of it...I've got her there. ;)

She was asked to remove her shoes and sweater so they could do her height and weight. She was told she could put them back on and asked if she wanted help with her buttons (I understood all that!). She checked her hearing and did some eye stuff.


When she was checking for color blindness, she was showing her pictures to see if Autumn could see the object within all the dots, right? And she'd be all over there in German responding, "a flower (eine Blume), a car (ein Auto), a dog (ein Hund), a bunny (ein Häschen), a turtle (??), a butterfly (ein Schmetterling)..." and then one she didn't answer. And I knew it wasn't because she suddenly couldn't see the image, it's because she didn't know how to say "crab" in German. So, while I mostly tried to stay out of it like I'm sure I was supposed to, I just had to be all, "Was ist es in Englisch, Autumn?" and "Crab" is indeed quite close to "Krabbe" so Frau B could give her "exactly" (Genau!) response with a smile.

Shortly after that, a side door opened and--surprisingly--another person took us over in to the next room. For whatever reason, though, Autumn had a much harder time communicating with this woman. Luckily, this woman--presumably a doctor/psychologist of some sort--had decent enough English and she explained to me she was asking Autumn if she was ill. And I gave her a look like, "What?" and added, "She's healthy. She is not ill." And she was like, "So is her voice always like this? It is unusual." Huh. Really?! I was like, "Well, she is suddenly being a little shy (she was talking sort of babyish) but yeah, that is how her voice sounds. She is healthy today." Ha! She also looked at the "6 months" answer I wrote for how long she'd been in a Kindergarten and went, "Well that explains much" (of how suddenly "bad" Autumn got at German). She showed Autumn some logic sorts of puzzles and Autumn was being a complete (and obvious) goob with them and not paying any attention at all. She was asked to copy a few images with a pencil and paper (she did so-so, she'd much rather draw her own creations, she's got nothing to prove--all our kids are like this. Why?! Little Kwiti was such a show off. :D). She was asked to quickly count some objects on flash cards (she did well) and a few other similar activities. Then the doctor-type demonstrated a two-footed jump back and forth over a line and asked Autumn to do it while she timed her. She had Autumn undress to check her heart and tummy and ears and teeth and spine. Autumn said, "Well this is inappropriate" (about taking off her clothes, ha ha ha). After Autumn re-dressed the doctor said, "I am going to say some fantasy words and you say them back" and Autumn was all, "I don't know any fantasy words" and so I explained, "Autumn, I think she is going say some made-up words like 'flibberty gibbit' and you repeat what she says" and the doctor was like, "Make-up??? Fantasy words: words that do not exist? 'Made up'?" and I explained yes, that's how you would say it to a child in English, versus "fantasy words". And at that point, Autumn was sort of done with all this boringness and sort of half-arsed her way through repeating after the doctor. But the doctor could see she was bright enough and just getting bored and said, "Even though she is small and being a little shy, I think she will be ready for school. We will give the results to this school" and sent us on our way.

I had planned to make the rest of Autumn's day off sort of special. I miss hanging out with just her (or just any one of my kids, really) so we went to get some lunch at a restaurant. My mom used to do this with us sometimes, like if we had an orthodontist appointment during the school day or something, she'd take just the one of us to Burger King or something first. Anyway, I had packed her some stuff to eat and we went to a Spätzle place for me. So yum.


I told her I had a surprise when we finished our lunch and she knew I had some sort of "treat" in mind and indeed I did: it was to go get a couple of churros next door, like we'd had in Spain.


Then we headed home and made cookies together as that's something she really loves to do with me, but doesn't often get the chance anymore. We made some of those no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies to share with our small group that night:


She was so excited about "two treats?!" as most days we don't even get one big dose of sugar like that. :D

Not too much later we headed off on my bike to get her brothers from school. A school we now have confirmation she is "ready" to attend in a few short months.

Dresden

Germany has quite a few public holidays in the month of May. There is Tag der Arbeit (Labor Day) on May 1. Christi Himmelfahrt (Ascension Day) which is also Vatertag (Father's Day) on May 14th (a Thursday, so the kids are off school that Thursday and Friday but only the Thursday is an official public/bank holiday). And then there is Pfingstmontag (Whit Monday a.k.a. Pentecost) on May 24 this year...so the kids get off May 25th and 26th (but just the 25th for the general public).

Anyway, with those long weekends, I decided we should do some more exploring around Europe. Not because we "needed" a vacation with Barcelona having been just a few months ago, but because we can. After all these days off this month, the boys won't have any more breaks or days off until they finish the school year mid-July (!!). So, it was somewhat last minute when we booked our trip to Dresden. Because these are holidays all over Germany, and because we're a larger family, it was harder to find a hotel. In fact, I really couldn't find one for the long weekend of the 14th and 15th. And Jason has a work trip over the 25th and 26th, so that left May 1st if we wanted to go anywhere before the end of the school year.

So, we booked a hostel (hey, we're in Europe, we wanted to give it a shot!) and some train tickets. Dresden is about 2 hours by rail and we planned for a 3 night getaway.

Thursday, April 30, 2015
Travel day came and all morning I was feeling rather poorly, I was certainly coming down with quite a cold. I hardly had a voice and I was trying really hard not to be miserable. Essential Oils to the rescue! A good friend made a special delivery to the flat while I was packing and brought over her sizeable stash of essential oils to share. She told me what to use and how to use it. So thankful!!! I fear how much of a "vacation" this would have been without those. I packed while the kids went to school and Jason went to work in the morning of Thursday, April 30th.

I finished packing then rounded up the kids just after 1:00, stopping by the flat to drop off their backpacks, pick up our suitcases (and Jason!) and some quick lunchy foods. We walked to a more major train station about 10 minutes away and caught a train to the Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station) where we waited to catch our 2:45 regional train. It was our first time to travel by this sort of train and we didn't quite understand where we could sit. There were different classes, of course, and then there was the option to pay to reserve seats or just wing it for free. Obviously, cheapskate over here opted to wing it. We were in the wrong spot at first but eventually figured it out and nabbed some seats all together with a table in our midst:




I brought coloring stuff for the kids and their iPods. It wasn't a terribly long journey. Dalton was into drawing "Fish Men":


And also something on his iPod which he was excited to show his dad....until he realized his dad decided to take a nap. :(


So he had to show someone else instead:




We got to Dresden's Hauptbahnhof and had to ask what was the best transport ticket for our family, figure out how to buy it, and then go hop on a smaller train to get us closer to our hostel. My phone didn't show us the extensive tram network when suggesting directions so, we did quite a bit of walking that first day with the kids running through dandelions to get to the Sunshine Hostel.


Now before you're all, "Eeek! A hostel?!?!" where you think of sharing bathrooms and sometimes even bedrooms...we actually stayed in a "holiday flat" which was completely private. We had two bedrooms, our own bathroom, a kitchen... Other than being quite a ways away from the touristy areas it was pretty great. The guy at the front desk spoke virtually no English. But, we'd been expecting that there would be less English there as compared to Berlin. No biggie. I managed to check us all in and we headed upstairs.

We had a bedroom for Jason and me:


A bedroom with two sets of bunk beds for the kiddos:


A table for 6 (those were the exact IKEA chairs we sold before moving to Germany):


And a nice living area with a TV and even some books and games:


It wasn't fancy by any means, but it was nice to have all the space. However, because it was a hostel, we were sent up with clean sheets and I had to make all 5 beds myself. (And no towels! We had to pay 2€ a towel.) I had to fit a flat sheet over the mattress and stuff the duvet into a clean cover and then do the pillows. With as crappy as I was feeling, I really wished I was doing something else but oh well. Even though we had a big bed, usually you'll find that a big bed here ('king' size-ish) is actually two 'twins' with separate bedding. And that's how it was here too:


As I was making the beds, the guy from the front desk came and knocked on the door. Remember, he really didn't speak English, but he'd prepared a question in English for us. I heard J answer the door and the guy ask, "I have a question: do you want breakfast tomorrow?" Now, we run into this all the time: when you attempt to speak the others' language, they expect that you'll also understand when they speak that language back, right? So, that's what happened: the guy spoke in English, and then in our we-must-soften-our-negative-response American ways, Jason was like, "We'll skip it. I think we plan to eat elsewhere." Which, if you think about it, is kind of complicated if you don't speak much English. So, from the kids bedroom I shouted up a more German-direct response of, "No thank you!" and Autumn, our little translator ran up and offered a "Nein, danke." Ha. Back to making the beds. And figuring out dinner.

I had told Jason with, as poorly as I was feeling, and having just "exerted" myself making all the beds (oh, woe is me!), I'd rather find a restaurant than have to go grocery shopping and come back and cook with as late as it was getting. But, we weren't able to find a suitable restaurant nearby. So...we walked up to a grocery store and walked back to prepare it at, like, 8:00 p.m. Jason bought himself a soup but the little tab opener thing broke off. And our kitchen didn't have a can opener. So, in an act of hungry desperation, Jason ended up stabbing a knife through the lid which then shot soup alllllllll over the kitchen and all over my face, hair, and clothes. It's funny now, but boy was I not laughing at the time. I felt like crap, remember, and honestly just wished I could be in bed rather than be a mom. As Jason cleaned the exploded soup up, I arranged some stuff for the kids and we had a very late dinner and got them off to bed.

Easton sleeps on the top bunk at home (and always has), so we let the little two sleep up top for a change:


And bedtime is when I discovered that the curtains in our rooms weren't going to do the best job of keeping out the light in the morning:


And sure enough, they were up super early the next morning. Not just regular early despite having stayed up extra late, but extra early. Great.

Friday, May 1, 2015 


We had some breakfast in the room and got dressed. In the past, I've packed the kids in Ziploc bags to keep organized. Or I was really interested in the "skivvy roll" idea I saw making the rounds on Facebook a year ago or so...but I don't know what kind of Über-stretchy socks those people used. So, for this trip, I rolled all the kids' stuff up for one day and "secured" it by folding their pants' elastic waist around the bundle. For whatever reason, we called them "plops". So, they had a drawer full of 3 plops to choose one each day. :)


Our plan for the first day was to head to the Deutsches Hygiene Museum, and no, it's not about flossing and tampons, it's more of a medical museum with fun human body things and a children's section all about the 5 senses. Right up our alley, really. So, we hopped on a tram and headed over.

We were only allowed to take pictures in the children's part but there was all sorts of cool stuff like the transparent man and stuff about germs and birth and fetal development. The kids actually watched a woman deliver a baby on a video. I didn't see something like that until I was almost 12 and about to witness my sister being born so we had to take a preparatory class. And you certainly wouldn't find something like that just all on open display in the States. They weren't traumatized. Easton was horrified, however, by this giant bug model. Like, seriously sick over it. Go figure. Bloody baby squeezing out of a pained woman in all her glory vs fake bug. But whatevs. I'm glad they thought the birth was cool. It is cool.

They had another part where you could "battle" someone over who could be the most relaxed.  You'd strap these electrodes to your head and try to think about nothing and whoever had the least brain waves would send a ball over to the other person's side.  I am certainly the most anxious and uptight member of our family, but it also means I've got the most experience trying to relax....so I won every time.  I also beat Jason in another part of the museum where you could test leg strength.  My quads were definitely stronger than his.  And he gets credit for not saying {out loud} how he's sure it's because my quads have to hold me up all the time and are used to working hard or something.  Surely it's due to taking subway stairs two at a time with loads of groceries strapped to my back on a daily basis.  Or always having another person on the back of my bike whenever I ride it.  He wished there was a part on upper body strength where he was sure he could still take me. ;) 

We ended up avoiding a couple of sections of the museum.  One was a part on sexuality which was a little above and beyond our comfort level and there was one part of the museum that children under age 14 weren't even allowed in...so naturally I wanted to go in. But I didn't. We headed to the children's area instead for bunches of fun:




Before long, I was too hungry to continue much longer. My dinner the night before had been limited, as was my breakfast. I was starting to shake and be grumpy. So we left in search of some food.

But first we stumbled upon this Tarzan tree:


And this exciting skate park:


And then food:




We ended up at a Vapiano which is a chain we have plenty of here in Berlin. Pizza for the kids and pasta for me and J. And I got tiramisu as well. Because I was still hungry.

After lunch we wandered over to the Altstadt (Old Town). We mostly planned to just wander around and look at things. The boys found this staircase down to who knows what....it had angled glass there at the bottom but I still don't know what was down there:




The building just behind Dalton's and my head is part of the Residenzschloss (Royal Palace/Castle) and the building further back in the middle is the Katholische Hofkirche (Catholic Cathedral / Church of the [Royal] Court).


Random statue:


Climbing his way through Germany:


Fake bricks just painted on this flat wall:


And this is in the Stallhof (Stable Courtyard) of the Residenzschloss.


The Fürstenzug (Procession of Princes) which is on the outer walls of the Stable Courtyard where we just were. According to Wikipedia, this is the largest porcelain artwork in the world.


There were all sorts of horse drawn carriages roaming about the area, but this dude had a costume. He looked more colonial American to me but what do I know?


Apparently this lemon juicer building is the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden (Dresden Academy of Fine Arts) but I must confess I had no idea till I sat to write this here post:


You may have noticed Dalton on my shoulders above? Sometimes he claims to have leg problems. And he really does start to walk weird. But I wasn't going to carry him all over. So here big brother gave him a helping hand:

That cute lil yellow building behind them is apparently the Coselpalais. Whatever that is.



You may be aware that Dresden was bombed to bits towards the end of World War II.  Bits, I tell you. But, somehow these decorative statues on the Kunstakademie look way old rather than recently rebuilt. I dunno....




A lovely staircase at the Georg-Treu-Platz up to the Brühlschen Garten and terrace:








A statue of Gottfried Semper up there.


On the aforementioned terrace:








What a cute statue!






And in the aforementioned garden:


That is the Sächsisches Staatsministerium der Finanzen (Saxony Ministry of Finance) across the river behind them.


And this one in the background is Sächsische Staatskanzlei (the Saxon State Chancellery / Chamber):




I'm so tall!!! Look at me leaning in, even. :/


More from the terrace:




Elvis living statue:


And shortly after that, we walked down the stairs from the terrace to the Schloßplatz...Autumn had her hands in her coat pockets and on the very last stair, she stumbled and did a bit of a face plant. :(


Her nose began bleeding immediately. I thrust my camera at Easton so I could quickly tend to Autumn with Jason and E documented it:


As well as the small potential fire from a still-lit cigarette in this trash can:


Poor Goose:




Some more living statues, we gave the kids money to give these ones:


And they move as a "thank you":


Dalton was very excited to see her ear poke out under the wig...and it wasn't grey! :D

From there we decided to go see if we could check out the Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault) in the palace which contains "the largest collection of treasures in Europe".


I still don't know what this flying car was about:


They only let a certain amount of people in to the museum at a time, so we bought tickets for about an hour later and went to get ice cream while we waited for our time slot.


Looking down the street while they snacked (I ate tiramisu at lunch so I didn't have ice cream), I could see this fancy looking dome through the arch there. It is part of the Zwinger.


Looking at the street while they snacked. Ha ha ha.


Slowing making our way to the Green Vault:




Made it!




We all got audio guides and listened and looked at almost too much treasures. None of us were super interested, it was more of a "because we're here..." sort of thing. One highlight for me, was Autumn listening intently to the audio guide and telling me, "That cup is filled with abominations" as a scene from the book of Revelation was depicted on a platter.

Then we decided we'd done enough boring grown up stuff and took the kids to a park we'd passed. It looked pretty cool:

They'd come shooting out of that slide!





After awhile we were past due for dinner. We walked across the street from the park to a place called Maredo which is technically a steak restaurant but we found some things and then rode back to the flat for bed.


Saturday, May 2, 2015
We hemmed and hawed all morning over whether a bus tour was worth it or not. Ultimately we decided that yes, we would do it. Jason and I brought our own ear buds, as that's one of the "issues" we'd read about on some bus tour reviews.


The boys sat in front of us and pretended they were listening to some head banging music. Eventually they got on their iPods. It's just not that exciting when you're 8 and 10.

After our tour, it was time for lunch. But, feeding our family is never the easiest task. The answer? The mall food court! Seriously, all 5 of us got something from 5 different places. Easton had a giant wurst on a tiny bun with hot mustard on the side. Dalton got a sandwich (the boy loves sandwiches). Autumn just got a Laugenstange which is this sort of long pretzely roll. I got a veggie auf lauf which, in this case anyway, was a sort of potato and veggie au gratin. And Jason got Asian food. Then, because the kids weren't totally full, we ran into the grocery store (also in the mall food court) for a yogurt for Autumn and some more stuff for the boys.


We left the mall and tried to head for the Old Town part of Dresden again but the mall was never ending, we just couldn't seem to walk around it, so we cut back through it and happened to stumble upon this promo thing for the Green Vault where they offered to dress Easton up like a knight:






They told us the chain mail on his torso was 12 kg (26.4 pounds) and the head part was 2 kg (4.4 pounds) plus whatever the sword and shield weighed. Sheesh!

It's no wonder they opted not to even try the chain mail on this Goosey Girl:




It seemed like they weren't necessarily going to offer Dalton a turn, but he was waiting for everyone else to go so patiently and quietly hoping for a turn. So he got one.




And finally we made it through to the other side of the mall to see these pretty views again:




That is the Frauenkirche "The Church of Our Lady" (although it's Protestant). We went inside. But I think we've been spoiled by the Berliner Dom and the Sagrada Familia because, while pretty, it just was not all that impressive. This church was one of the victims of the 1945 bombing and the rebuilt version is like, only as old as Easton. And, perhaps because of money or whatever reason, they sort of didn't go "all out" on this one. The "marble" is painted on.  My mom's faux finished bathroom at home looks better than this:


And again, instead of elaborate carvings, they just sort of painted some supposed-to-look 3D designs:


The organ was legitimately fancy, at least:


And the former cross, recovered in the rubble:


We sat in there for a bit and moved on.

Another of those "how did they make this look so old" questions:


Attempting the very stairs where she face planted the day before:


We decided to walk the Augustus Brücke (Augustus Bridge) over the Elbe. It presented some lovely photo ops:






I made Jason stand higher and I'm still so much taller:


Crossing the bridge also provided some amusement...our rule when looking over such heights is that your have to keep your feet on the ground. Hence Easton's odd pose:


But Dalton was too nervous about his siblings to look over himself. And he couldn't handle Autumn not keeping both feet down.


"Both feet, Autumn!"
"What?"


Her "What's the big deal?" hand:


Taking matters into his own hands:


"Dalton!"


And eventually we made it over the whole bridge and down to the banks of the river on the other side:




Action shot!









Dalton's "treasure map":


After skipping stones and throwing rocks for awhile, we decided to head to the Großer Garten but we needed transportation. We passed the Altmarkt (and it's May pole!) on the way to the tram:


And then we were at the "Greater Garden".




Some slack liners:


Dresden will forever remind me of dandelions. There were so many "wishes" ready to be made and the kids kept calling themselves "snow team!" while throwing white fuzz all around.  They were so entertained.






The end of cherry blossom season:




The lovely Sommerpalais in the park:


And then we took the kids to a playground in the park for a bit:






We finished at the park and rode the tram back to our part of town. We stopped at the grocery store again for a couple more things for dinner that night and breakfast the next morning.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

It was during said breakfast the next morning that Dalton lost a tooth. We didn't even know it was loose till the night before. He gets quite nonplussed when parts of his body fall off. Not like a "Hey look!!! My tooth fell out!" like most kids.  He just put it on his schokocroissant covered hand and went "Here."


We packed up which involved cleaning out the fridge, taking out our own trash, and stripping all the beds. Then we checked out and walked the kids over to a nearby park as our train wouldn't leave for a bit but we had to be checked out of the hostel.




Autumn was desperate to get in that brown "pod" area but found it rather challenging. We refused to help reciting our motto of, "If you can't do it yourself, you can't do it." It made us look mean and lazy in the States but in Germany we fit right in (German parenting seems to encourage more responsibility and independence). :) Eventually our determined Autumn made it in there....buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut then she got too scared to come down the slide. She was holding up the line.  There was even a grown up in there.  So, her brother went to rescue her but she still didn't come down. And of course her whining is just coming out of the tube slide all magnified and loud. Goober. Eventually she came down and I made her take a break and settle down.

After a warm sunny morning at the park, we headed for the Dresden Hauptbahnhof again and found some lunch at this nifty buffet-ish place with a kids play area. I got a custom omelet, potatoes, and some fruit.  Jason got a few things including a cold spargel strawberry salad.  'Tis the season.


After some pit stops, we hopped on our train. Much harder to find seats this time as many were reserved....but with help we noticed they weren't reserved until people boarded Berlin. So we sat in their 3 seats, Jason off on some random folding seat and Autumn on my lap:


On our journey, Autumn knocked over her drawing supplies and while cleaning up I discovered we only had 11 of our 12 colored pencils (could have lost it at any point since Thursday, however). But Dalton, who seemed to only be paying attention to his iPod, suddenly burst into tears and scrambled under the table insisting we had to find it. He wasn't sad that a color was missing. He was sad for the pencil all alone out there in this big world.

Yes really.

(And we never did find the pencil.)


Anyway, after a couple of hours we were back "home" in Berlin. Still a little crazy that Berlin is home.