Florence

This post has been a long time coming.  We went to Florence, Italy, at the end of August, but this is the first time I've had to sit down and actually write about it.  It's amazing how your free time disappears when you have a kid.  But Shanna has him occupied upstairs, I'm sipping a beer, and ready to write.  One funny thing I noticed while sorting through the pictures was how much Ben has grown in just 2 months.  I can't believe how small and young he looks now compared to the end of August.

Shanna has wanted to go to Florence for awhile, so after our successful trip with Ben to Greece in July, we booked our trip to Florence.  The flight there was a quick direct shot, and before we knew it, the driver from the hotel had us at the front door.  It was a quaint little hotel right in the heart of old town.  We were just a few blocks from the giant Cathedral.  After getting settled in, we pulled up a map and found the restaurant a friend of ours from DC recommended.  It was a good choice, the food was amazing and I got to try some local Florentine beer.  We walked around after dinner as the sun set to walk off the heavy Italian food, and made our way around the Cathedral.  It was huge, and absolutely beautiful.

After the sun started to set, we headed back to the hotel to call it a night.

The next morning we got up and headed to the museum that had the famous statue of David by Michelangelo.  It's one of those things that was never on my "I have to see this" list, but now that we were here, I was looking forward to it.  The receptionist at the front desk recommended getting there right as it opened at 8am.  She said that by 9 or so the line would be as far as you could see.  But if you got there at 8, there wouldn't be anyone there.  She was absolutely right, when we walked up there was maybe 10 people in line.  By the time we walked out 45 minutes later, the line stretched forever.

When we walked in, there were several works from Michelangelo, but they had big signs directing you to the piece that everyone was there to see.  One thing that I didn't expect was how large the statue was.  I always thought it was life size at most, but this statue was HUGE.

After the museum, the next stop was the Hard Rock cafe.  That was the meeting point for the Italian cooking class we signed up for.  We'd done a similar class when we were in Morocco and really enjoyed it.  Since we both love Italian food, this was something we both wanted to do.  They took us down to the local market to pick out all the fresh food we were going to cook with.  Then, they took us to their cooking school that was inside a building that was built in the 1500s.  There was something kind of neat about learning to cook Italian food in a 500 year old Italian building.

The group that was there for the class all had one thing in common...mothers and their daughters.  It was really weird, there were at least 4 or 5 Moms there with their daughters.  Other than Shanna & I, there was only one other couple.   But everyone was really nice.  We had a mix of people from Ireland, Seattle, New Jersey, and Switzerland.  Our chef was great.  I was a little disappointed in the class in that I thought it would be like Morocco where we were actually doing the cooking.  We helped here & there, but primarily the chef cooked and showed us how.  But I can't complain about an endless supply of wine while watching a chef cook you an Italian meal.  The meal was an amazing Pasta Ragú (he made the pasta from scratch) and dessert was Tiramisu.

It might not look like a large portion, but it was heavy and VERY filling.   When it was done, we left the building and started walking around.  For those that know me, you know I can't stand "reality" TV, but Shanna loves it.  One of the shows she liked was Jersey Shore, and in one of the seasons, they spent the summer in Florence.  So before we left, I looked up some of the addresses, including the house they stayed at.  Because we had to take a picture in front, we picked Ben up a cheesy Italia hoodie, and I took a picture of Shanna & him in front of the apartment.

Yes...he's doing a fist pump.  From there, we balanced it out by visiting a church that had some of the greatest minds in Italian history buried there.  Michelangelo, Danti, Machiavelli, and Galileo.  I was in awe standing above the burial place of Galileo and Michelangelo.

After that, we did something we wouldn't normally do while in Italy...we found a pizzeria.  But not just any pizzeria....Vesuvios!   If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're lucky...it means you don't watch Jersey Shore.   That's where they worked during the summer on the show.  They had their stuff hanging all over the walls.  The pizza was actually pretty good.

The next day we planned an all day excursion to various cities around Florence.  Our first stop was a small medieval town built in 1214 called Monteriggioni.  It was a small town, but neat to walk around.  If you've ever played the Assassin's Creed games, this town was used in one of them.  As a result, there was a store there entirely dedicated to selling their merchandise.

From there we headed to Siena.  The area itself was first inhabited around 900BC, but was eventually built up as a Roman city.  The cathedral there was built in the 1100s, and was amazing.

After the tour of the city, we had some free time so Shanna & I found a small deli and got an assorted plate of olives, cheeses, meats and salad.  Of course, we washed it down with a bottle of house wine.  It was a simple meal, but one of the best we had all weekend.

Next up was San Gimignano.  It's another medieval town in the Tuscany region on the outskirts of Siena.  One of the things it's known for are it's large tower buildings in the city.  At one time there was close to a 100, but over the years, only 14 have survived.  That's still significant, though, since in most other cities in the area, none have survived wars and urban renewal projects.  While strolling around the area we found a cheese shop that sold a dry cheese mixed with Chianti wine.  It was delicious, so we bought a small block.  We also found some clothes for Ben.  The one thing you noticed as you approached the ancient entrance was the beautiful Italian landscape.

Our last stop of the day was at a vineyard in Chianti.  I'm not a huge wine drinker, but Chianti wine is by far my favorite kind.  This vineyard not only made wine, but they also made their own olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  They let us sample 8 different kinds of wine, along with a 30 year aged Balsalmic Vinegar, and olive oil infused with Truffles.  I bought a bottle of the Truffle Olive Oil, but couldn't justify the price of the Balsamic Vinegar...but it was amazing.  I came close.  We ended up leaving with a few bottles of wine and the olive oil.

The next day we strolled around the town, killing time until we had to leave for the airport.  We crossed a bridge in the area that had a long string of shops on either side.  It's been a market place since the Renaissance period.

This trip was a lot of fun.  We've been to Italy several times, and I always love going because the people are friendly, the food is delicious, and even the cheapest house wine tastes fantastic.


One of my goals when we moved here was to visit all the countries my family immigrated from over 100 years ago.  So far, I'd hit 3 out of the 4 with Italy, Ireland and Scotland.  The only one left was Poland.  I also really wanted to visit Auschwitz before we left.  With that in mind, our next trip was to Krakow, Poland.  That'll be the next post!

For pictures, click here or any picture above.

Greece

After a successful trip with Ben within Germany, we were ready to try a trip outside the country.  We had previously planned on waiting until September because his passport was supposed to take 3 months to come in.  Turns out it took 1 month.  So, a summer that we had previously planned on exploring Germany, now opened up to the rest of Europe.  Shanna was going back to work for the first time since Ben was born on July 7th, and I had a few days off for July 4th weekend, so we decided to take a trip.

Athens is somewhere I've always wanted to go.  To be able to walk along the Parthenon, and ruins of ancient Greece, which have been there for thousands of years, was an opportunity I did not want to miss out on before we move back home.  So I started looking at hotels, and found one right in the main shopping district of Athens, next to the Greek Parliament and with a great view of the Parthenon.

The day of the trip I was pretty nervous.  It was one thing to drive to Garmisch for one night when we had my parents there to help, but this time we were flying to another country for 4 days and only Shanna and myself to look after Ben.  I also had no idea how he'd be on an airplane.  Turns out we had nothing to worry about...he could not have been a better traveler.  Our first leg to Zurich was only 45 minutes, and he laughed and played in Shanna's lap the whole time.

The second leg to Athens, he slept the entire trip.  When we landed in Athens, it didn't take long to get our bags and head to the general area outside of security.  I had arranged with the hotel to have a driver pick us up, and he was there on schedule.  I don't know how to spell his name, so I'm going to write it phonetically.  Akis had a baby seat in his car, and in no time at all, we were on the road to the hotel.  It turns out the hotel did not have infant car seats, but since I had spoken with them ahead of time, Akis had borrowed the car seat from his sister, and was using that one.  Ben didn't seem to mind.

In no time at all, we were at the hotel and checking in.  After a quick passport check, they directed us up to the 7th floor to the "check in reception".  When we got up there, they had a glass of champagne waiting for us.

Once checked in and in our room, we were hungry, so we headed up to the top floor to get some lunch.  The food was pricey, but delicious.  It was much warmer than in Germany, so we cooled off with some Ceviche.  From the top, we had a beautiful view of the Parthenon.

After lunch we packed Ben up in the stroller and headed outside.  The hotel was located right next to the Greek Parliament, and in the heart of the shopping district.  It had been a long day of traveling, so we didn't want to do too much, but we did want to walk around.  The shopping district was nice, but what was really neat was while strolling down the alleys, we stumbled across an old church.  The artwork inside was amazing.  Turns out the church was 1,000 years old.  Amazing to think this church, surrounded by ice cream shops, kids stores, and fashion stores, had stood there for 1,000 years.  We eventually found a kebab stand, got dinner, and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we had arranged a private guide to show us around Athens.  The hotel offered organized tours, but since we didn't know how Ben would be, we decided a private guide would be better.  That way we could go at any pace, and if we needed to stop for him, we could at any time without slowing a group down.  Our guide met us in the lobby at 8, and we got started.  The first stop was in front of the Greek Parliament, where every hour they have a changing of the guard ceremony.  It was neat to watch, but we both agreed, not as impressive as the changing of the guard in Copenhagen.  What was neat, though, was the reason they did it right there was because it was also the location of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

From there, we walked over to the ruins of the Temple of Zeus.  It was closed at that time, but we would return later in the day to walk around.  There wasn't much left, but there were several columns that were enormous...amazing to realize it was all built thousands of years ago, before anything close to modern technology was in place.  From there we started walking to the Parthenon.  One neat thing about Athens is it's not uncommon to come across an area completely dug out, with a plastic wall around the dug out area and a plaque.  When construction has taken place in Athens, they will often times come across ancients parts of the city while digging.  We passed several such places where you could see excavations of various places.  We came across an old bath house that had been found.

Eventually we made it to the top of the Acropolis, where the Parthenon and Temple of Athena Nike are.  We've seen a lot of neat things since we moved here, but some of my favorites have been ancient structures I learned about in history class growing up, like the pyramids in Egypt, the ancient stone buildings in Malta, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, and now the Parthenon in Athens.  Walking along side it was incredible.  From the top we had an amazing panoramic view of Athens.

When we had finished walking around, we headed down briefly to the Acropolis museum.  At this point Ben was ready to eat, and was getting fussy, so we didn't walk through the museum, just the ground floor which was free.

We headed back to the hotel, parted ways with the guide, and took care of Ben.  After he had a short nap, we pulled the map out and planned a walking route to cover the rest of the afternoon.  First up was to head to the old Roman shopping district.  We stopped in some shops, including one that sold baby and kids clothes.  Shanna found a shirt for Ben she liked, and when we walked up to pay, there was an older lady working behind the counter.  She smiled when she saw the stroller, but it was covered, so she hadn't actually seen Ben yet.  She pointed out pictures she had on the cash register of her grand kids.  Then she came around to see Ben, and got so excited.  She kept remarking how much he looked like her grandson.  When we looked at the picture, she was right, the resemblance was uncanny.

From there we headed through winding cobblestone streets and alleys until we came back to the Acropolis museum.  The nice part was it was air conditioned.  We also noticed how friendly and accommodating the employees were.  More than once we had someone come up to us and let us know that if we needed to change Ben, feed him, or do anything like that, they had a brand new family room at our disposal.  Shanna ended up using it to feed and change Ben later, and she couldn't believe how nice it was.  There was a comfortable changing table, a rocking chair, and other amenities to make bringing a baby there easier for the parents.   The museum itself was neat, too, with all kinds of artifacts found when excavating around the Parthenon, as well as tablets that used to be on the Parthenon itself here on display.

After the museum, it was time to head back to the Temple of Zeus.  Thankfully it was free, because there wasn't anything to see on the inside that you couldn't see from the outside.  But, it was neat to walk around up close to fully see how large this temple was, and how impressive it must have been to walk through it when it was built thousands of years ago.  From there, we headed over to the stadium built for the first Olympic games of the modern era in 1896.  They charged for admission, but like with the Temple of Zeus, you could see everything from the outside, so there was no need to pay money to go in.

It was getting late in the afternoon at this point, and we were beat from walking around all day.  We headed back to the hotel, and decided to see how Ben would react to a pool.  We had gotten the special diaper in case we went in the water, so we got him changed and headed up to the roof.  He did OK in the pool.  When just his legs were in the water, he was curious, reaching out and touching the water.  When the water hit is stomach, though, that's when he turned the pout on full force and started crying.  It wasn't a kiddie pool, where it stays relatively warm, so we figured it was probably too cold for him.  We ended up just sitting on the deck, having a few drinks, and heading back to the room.  That night the World Cup game was on TV, so we ordered room service and relaxed in the room all night.

The next morning we had an all day excursion planned.  The same guy who picked us up from the airport was there to drive us all around the Peloponnese region.  We had a different guide on this day, and were glad we did.  The previous day's guide was nice, and was knowledgeable, but it was obvious she was not comfortable around kids.  The new guide, Melissa, was the complete opposite.  She had 3 small kids of her own, and Ben loved her.  When we were driving, if Ben got fussy, she'd immediately stop whatever she was saying, and sing songs quietly to him in Greek.  He would immediately calm down.  Other times, when she was talking, Ben was fixated on her every word.

Our first stop was Mycenae, ruins of an ancient city.  It is estimated it was first build and inhabited around 4,000 years ago.  It's not on the highest point in the area, but it is at a high point, where you can see for miles all around.  Agamemnon lived there, and was buried there.  At it's height in 1370 BC, there was an estimated 30,000 people living there.  The site also had a small museum, which contained artifacts excavated from the area, including Agamemnon's death mask.  One of the neat things she pointed out was the city was built there because it was believed a giant was resting near by.  Sure enough, looking from the top of hill, the mountain range in the distance looked like a giant laying down.  You could make out the noise, the left eye, etc..  It takes some imagination, but if you look at the pictures page, you'll see it. 

 

From there we drove to a small town on the coast called Nafplio.  We had an amazing lunch there.  I branched out a little and had cheese stuffed squid with an appetizer of grilled octopus.  It was delicious.  And of course, we had to order the Tzatziki.   That stuff is absolutely amazing.  We had it on bread, with greek olives, on our kebabs, you name it.  We had it every single day we were there.  After lunch, we walked around the town.  We saw some beautiful private beaches, as well as a fortress that was built out on a tiny island in the water.  They also had a tiny, yet beautiful, church.  Melissa told us the Greek Orthodox baptismal ritual, unlike the kind I grew up with, involved olive oil instead of water.  And it wasn't a dab on the forehead, they soaked the baby in it.  Custom states that the more oil, the better.  She said that it was not uncommon for grandparents to stand over while it was being done, and point out various areas on the baby's body that were missed, like the arm pits.  

When we were done there, we headed out towards the ancient city of Corinth.  If you're familiar with the book in the Bible Corinthians, the people of this city are who Paul was writing about when he visited there.  Along the way, we learned a lot from Melissa.  Not just about Greek history, but Greek culture as well.  She was telling us that in their culture, you can't come up with your own name for a child until you have three of the same gender.  The reason is the first two boys are named after the grandfathers, and the first two girls are named after the grandmothers.  So her name, Melissa, was also her Grandmother's name.  Before we got there, we passed several stands selling fruit from the local farms, as well as honey, vinegar and wine made locally.  We stopped and sampled some of the wine...it was incredible.  We bought a bottle of White and Red.  We couldn't believe how cheap it was.  A 1.5L bottle was 4.50.  

Corinth, as well as the Temple of Apollo within the city, was all ruins.  So while there wasn't much to see, just knowing the history of the city made walking around fascinating.  If you remember the three types of columns from ancient Greece and Rome, the Corinthian style of column originated here.  I'm glad we had Melissa with us, though, because she knew what the city layout was.  So she could point an area that looked like a pile of rocks, and tell us it used to be a bath house.  She also took us to an area where Paul was put on trial for preaching Christianity.  They had a plaque there, with a quote from Corinthians etched in it.  Growing up Catholic, we learned all about the stories in the Bible, so it was pretty amazing standing here.  

On the drive back, Shanna and Melissa talked about anything and everything.  In conversation, Melissa asked us what our plans were the next day.  It turns out her son was turning 2, and because he was not in school, the only "friends" he had were all girls, because they were friends of his older sisters.  She wanted us to come and celebrate with her family so Ben could be there.  I'm not sure what he and the 2 year old really could have done, but still, I wish we could have stayed an extra day to go.  The chance to celebrate with multiple generations of their relatives in Greece would have been amazing.  Unfortunately we had a 1pm flight out, so there was no way we could have made it.  

The next morning we got breakfast at the local bakery and headed over to watch the changing of the guard.  The previous morning we had gotten there right after it finished, so we missed it.  This morning we made sure to get there on time.  As you can tell from the picture, Ben was enthralled.  

Like on the flights there, Ben was great.  One thing that was great was the VIP treatment we got at all the airports because of him.  We got to head to the front of the line for check in, security, and we got to board the airplane first before anyone, even the first class customers.  

We really enjoyed Greece.  I was stressed leading up to the trip because of all the unknowns of traveling with Ben, but he ended up being fantastic.  Now that we know he travels well, we have all kinds of trips planned.  Shanna wants to go to Florence for her birthday in August, and we're looking at Budapest, Hungary, for our anniversary in October.  We have a map up in Ben's room with pins of all the places he's visited, while Shanna was pregnant and after he was born.  By the time we move back home, we're going to have all kinds of pins in that map.  So check back next month!

To see the pictures, click any picture above or here.

Garmisch

A few weeks ago, when my Mom and Dad came to visit, we decided to take Ben on his first road trip.  At the time, his passport hadn't come in yet, so we could only travel within Germany.  Garmisch is a popular ski resort in the winter, and hiking destination during the summer.  We'd always talked about traveling there, but never had.  Since we couldn't leave the country, now sounded like a good time to visit.  Because this was our first over night trip with Ben, we kept it to one night.

We tried to put the dogs up at their usual kennel, but since it was a German holiday weekend, and this was a last minute trip, they were booked.  No big deal, though, because with two cars, we could easily transport the five of us, plus the two dogs.  We hit the road early Friday morning, and were down there in no time.  We'd driven close to Garmisch a few years ago when we drove to Nove, Italy, and one thing I remembered about the drive was how beautiful it was.  It did not disappoint this time, with a clear day and beautiful mountains.

We made it down there fast, and got checked in.  From the hotel, we had a beautiful view of the mountains.  In addition to wanting to visit the tallest mountain in Germany, the Zugspitze, we also were there to visit one of Ludwig's castles, Linderhof.  It's the only one of his three castles we hadn't seen yet, and was high on Shanna's list to visit because it's the only one of the three castles that is not only finished, but King Ludwig II actually lived in.

Before we could head there, though, we had to take the doggies on a long walk to wear them down, so that they would sleep while we were gone.  Dogs were allowed on the palace grounds, but not in the palace itself.  While we were walking around, Dad spotted a '73 MG, the first car he bought when he was commissioned in the Navy, and the car he had when he first met Mom.

After the dogs were sufficiently worn out, we put them in the room and headed to Linderhof.  After we got there and bought our tickets, it was a short walk through the forest area to the actual palace.  The palace was smaller than I expected, especially compared to the other two, Neuschwanstein and Chiemsee, but still impressive under the back drop of the mountains.

We took the guided tour, and thankfully Ben slept through the whole thing.  Shanna has a wrap she wears around herself, and Ben slides right into it.  When she has him wrapped up and is walking around, he goes right out.  He did wake up in the final room, and was mesmerized.  It was the hall of mirrors, modeled after the same hall in Versailles, and he couldn't stop staring at it.

When the tour was over, we walked around the palace grounds, then headed back to the car.  Once back at the hotel, we were both tired, and Ben was ready for bed, so we had dinner at the hotel restaurant and called it a night.

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast at the hotel, checked out, and headed to Zugspitze.  At close to 3,000 meters high (almost 10,000 feet), it's the tallest mountain in Germany, as well as the highest point in Germany.  It also spans both Germany and Austria.

There are multiple ways to get up and down the mountain, so we decided to use them all.  To get up the mountain, we took the cable car.  Once you got the top, it was amazing how much the temperature dropped.  It had been in the mid 80's at the bottom, but was 50 degrees at the top.  The view from up top was incredible.  You could see for miles up there, as well as the beautiful lake down below.

On the cable ride up, as we got close to the top, we actually saw two mountain climbers.  I don't know if they started at the base, or part way up, but still, I couldn't believe they were out there.  There is no way I would ever be out there doing something like that.  After we got to the top, there was a giant observation deck with restaurants, a bier garten, and of all things, chairs that you could stretch out and tan on.  The sun was more intense at the top, so even though the wind temp was 50 degrees, in the sun it felt much warmer.  There was also a cross at the very top of the peak, but it was only accessible if you were climbing the mountain.  And sure enough, as we got out to the area where you could see it, those same mountain climbers were making their way to it.  As they both touched the top, everyone who was in the general area started clapping.  If you look closely at the picture below, you'll see them above us as they were about to touch the peak.

We briefly walked over to the Austrian side of the mountain and looked around, but it wasn't any different than the German side.  

We took a cable car down part of the other side of the mountain, where they had a giant Maypole set up and a place to eat, but since no one was hungry, we then took the last method of transportation down...the train.  Most of the trip was actually underground so that the train can make it up in the winter with heavy snows.  When we were mostly down the mountain, we finally came out of the mountain.

By that point it was getting late in the day, so we headed home.

Over all it was a fun trip, and good to see that Ben could handle a trip with no problems.  Now that his passport is in, our next trip is planned for July 4th weekend.  In previous years, we've visited England and Russia for July 4th...this year we're heading to the birthplace of Democracy, and spending a 4 day weekend in Athens, Greece.  

Check back in a few weeks for that blog post!

To see the pictures, click here or any picture above.

Benjamin Ethan Norton

Some of you may have noticed the lull in posts here.  Our last trip was in December, and there hasn't been any since.  Shanna had reached the third trimester by January, and wasn't able to do all the walking / touring that come with our travels, so we took a break.

On Thursday morning, April 17th, Shanna woke me up a few minutes before my alarm was set to go off to say her water had broken.  Thankfully there were no other signs of labor, so it wasn't a mad dash to the hospital.  I was able to take a shower, take the dogs in to the kennel, and grab some breakfast to bring back.  By the time I got back to the house, our suitcase and bags were at the door, ready to go.  We made a brief stop on base to pick up the translated versions of our Birth and Marriage certificates (needed for his Birth Certificate), then headed to the Charlottenhaus.  That's the hospital we'd decided on to give birth at.

When we first got there, they checked Shanna out and found she wasn't dilated at all yet.  Since the water was broken, they had to induce.  The first few hours were painstakingly slow.  From 11am to 4pm, she only increased to 3cm.  For the first hour, before they gave her an epidural, we sat out on the balcony of our hospital room.  It had a beautiful view of the city...we could even see our house from there!

By 4pm, the doctors said they would try one more dose, and if that didn't work, it would have to be a C-section.  Thankfully the second dose did the trick, and our little Benjamin Ethan Norton was born at 6:34pm, weighing 8lbs (3.63kg) and 21 inches (53cm) long.

I'd never witnessed a live birth before, and it was an experience.  I knew babies looked nothing like they do in the movies, but had no idea how different it was.  When Ben came out, he was purple from head to toe.  The doc checked him out, said he looked good, but did put a little hose blowing out oxygen into his face.  Within 5 minutes, his skin had changed to a normal color.  After 9 months of waiting, it was amazing to finally meet him.  He only made a few sounds to indicate his lungs were clear, but other than that, he never cried.  He just looked around with wide eyes.

After all the normal health checks on Mom and Ben had been completed, they wheeled Shanna and Ben to her room.  One of the nice things about this hospital was they offered Family Rooms.  That means there were two beds, one for Shanna and one for me, so I could stay with her.  In Germany, they require you to stay for 3 days before you're discharged after a birth.  If she'd had a C-section, they would require you to stay for 5-7 days.

At this point, every one was exhausted.  Shanna, for obvious reasons, but her Mom and myself were too.  It had been a long day for everyone.  I drove Pattie back to our house, then headed back to the hospital.  The first night wasn't bad at all.  The nurses gave me a crash course in diaper changing and putting him in clothes.  For the first 24 hours, babies can eat, but they don't have to.  They still have plenty of nourishment in their bodies from the womb.  So he only woke up twice through out the night, and never really cried.  He also only dirtied one diaper.  We thought this was going to be easy, but that was definitely NOT a preview of things to come.

From Thursday night through Sunday morning, it was a blur of feeding, diaper changing and sleeping.  Every morning I'd drive back to the house to get Pattie, we'd spend all day at the hospital, and that evening I'd drive her back to our house.  After the 24 hour mark, we started the every 3 hours feeding.  That doesn't stop at bed time...we've continued with feeding him every 3 hours ever since day 2.  He's started hitting a growth spurt, so sometimes we feed him even more frequently than that. Thankfully we've worked out a shift schedule that works.  Shanna has to get up every 3 hours regardless to feed him, but once that is done, whoever's "shift" it is stays up with him until he falls back asleep.  The other goes back to bed to sleep.  We're both tired all the time, but it's worth it.

On Easter Sunday, the pediatrician visited us to do the 72 hour check on Ben.  She gave him a clean bill of health, and cleared him to head home.  Shanna had picked out a "going home" outfit a month or two back, so it was time to get him dressed up and ready to head home.

A month or so back, I was talking with a friend at work, and she mentioned that when she had her daughter, and they headed home, she was terrified because she now had a baby in the backseat.  At the time, I thought that there was no way I'd feel that way, but man, was I wrong.  I was glad it was Easter Sunday, because there was no one on the road.  We live in the city, and the hospital is in the city, so the speed limit was 30mph (50kph) the whole way...I was happy to drive that.

The next few days we stayed at home.  Between the Midwife and a lady from the New Parents Support Group on base, though, we've had someone here helping out every day to make sure Ben is doing well.  They've given him high marks, and say he is coming along just as he should be.

This past Thursday, one week after Ben was born, we took him out for his first outing.  It wasn't anything big, but it was nice to get out of the house.  We first headed to Real, which is a German version of Target.  We had a few things to pick up, and it was a good first test of the stroller.

It was a beautiful day out, and we weren't worn out yet, so we headed to a great Italian place near our house.  They have a nice outdoor seating area right across the street from a park.  We had a nice lunch, then walked over to the park for a little bit.

At that point, we were ready to head home and take a nap.

Nothing much else has happened since, but this week we're planning a trip downtown to Frühlingsfest.  This will be the first year we've gone down during the day just to walk around.  The past 4 years we've gotten tickets for the tents and gone at night.  This year we'll be walking around during the day with Ben in his stroller.  I can't wait!

The primary purpose of this blog is a travel blog, but occasionally I'll deviate for major events...this qualifies.  So if you don't see many posts over the next few months, that's why.  We are still planning some trips here and there, but it takes approximately 3 months for Ben to get his citizenship and  passport.  Until that happens, all our trips will be within Germany.

If you'd like to see up to date pictures, we started a Facebook account for Ben.  We're using that to store all his pictures.  If you have a Facebook account, and would like see them, search for "Benjamin Ethan".  If you can't find it, send me a message and I'll send you a friend request from his account.

The pictures above don't link to a picture page, they will just show you a larger version of the image.

Speaking of Ben, I think I hear him waking up...time to go bring him to Mommy for lunch!

Denmark/Sweden Christmas Markets

This trip began in an interesting way.  One day at work I was talking with some co-workers, and one of them mentioned Kopi Luwak coffee.  It was one of the most expensive coffees in the world, and for good reason.  You might want to skip this part if you get queasy easily.   The reason the coffee is expensive is because of what it takes to make it.  There is a type of coffee bean that a certain animal (can't remember which) has to eat.  It does not fully digest it.  The bean(s) travel through it's body, and when it hits it's stomach, it's stomach acid doesn't dissolve.   But it does change it's chemical makeup.  The animal then poops the bean(s) out, and the bean(s) are then harvested.

It got me thinking.  I wondered if any breweries brewed a Stout beer with it.  Sure enough, a brewery named Mikkeller in Denmark did.  I'd had their beers before, but they are not easy to come by in the US.  Each one I'd tried had been amazing.  We talked about going on a trip there, so I started looking in to it.  It turns out that Copenhagen has two Mikkeller bars where they only serve their beer.  They also have a famous Christmas Market.  The market is in Tivoli Gardens, a famous garden/amusement park.  I sent the info about the market to Shanna, and she was all in.  I had a four day stretch in Mid-December where I wasn't working, so we booked our trip.

Our friends ended up not being able to go, which was disappointing.   But if there is one person in the world I can always have a good time with, it's Shanna.  Last Thursday we got on a plane, and in a few hours, landed in Copenhagen.  The airport is so close to the border with Sweden that when we got outside, we had our choice of Swedish or Danish taxis.

We'd heard before how expensive things in Scandinavia were, but we still were not fully prepared.  Through out the weekend, EVERYTHING was expensive.  Even the 10km cab ride from the airport to the hotel cost $60.  We eventually got to the hotel and were checked in.  I'd read mixed reviews on the hotel, but we really liked it.  It was an old building, but had obviously been renovated inside.

After we got settled in, we figured we'd head to the Mikkeller bar for dinner and drinks.  Non-alcoholic for Shanna, of course. :)  It wasn't too far a walk, and we were there.  I have to admit, I was excited.  I love microbrew beers, and this brewery had some amazing beers with a great reputation.  With that came a large crowd, though.  We got lucky and were able to get a table for two.  Shanna had an alcohol free IPA that blew me away.  It tasted like a real IPA...had I tasted it without knowing there was no alcohol, I would have guessed 6 to 7 percent.  It was amazing.

When I had researched the Kopi Luwak beer, I'd seen the name of the beer they brewed it in.  What I hadn't realized at that point, though, was there was actually two beers they used it in.  That night, they happened to have one on tap, so I ordered it.  No beer there was cheap, but they were all amazing.  We spent several hours there enjoying the local brews before calling it a night.

The next morning we found a city tour bus that had a pick up point right in front of our hotel.  It was an interesting tour.  We learned about Hans Christian Anderson, and the places he frequented when he lived in the city.  We also got see the Little Mermaid statue which was built because of his story.  The highlight, though, was definitely the Changing of the Guard at the Copenhagen palace.  We've been to London, but didn't see the changing of the guard there.  So my expectation was to see a new set of guards come out and relieve the previous shift.  Boy was I wrong.  They put on a huge display.  They had a large marching band come out, parade around us playing music, then ceremoniously relieve the guards at each post.  It was really neat to watch.  What I expected to take 5 minutes ended up lasting for almost 30 minutes.

Once the bus tour was over, we got off and hopped on a boat tour through the canals.  I didn't post too many pictures from that since it was such an ugly day, but it was neat flying through the canals.  I had to laugh at one point.  When my friend at work and I were discussing going, he mentioned a restaurant he and his wife wanted to visit.  I had no idea how exclusive this place was...not only was there a six month wait list, but the average cost of a meal was $275.  I'm not kidding...$275.  Needless to say, he and his wife would have been dining by themselves that night. :)

When the boat tour was over, it dropped us off near a Christmas Market, so we walked around.  The irony is, with all the local food offered, we decided on German brats to eat.  After walking around the market, we headed into a local shop.  It advertised itself as a Sephora, which Shanna wanted to visit for their makeup.  I had to find a toilet while in there, and stumbled upon a beer shop in the basement.  Imagine that. :)  So Shanna walked out with makeup and I walked out with some new beers to try.

While walking around, we also came across a LEGO store.  We'd seen a LEGO store in the airport, and several around town.  It was later that we found out that LEGO is based in Denmark.  I had no idea.  We had to get a picture of the front of the LEGO store...they had a giant replica of the Copenhagen Palace guards we saw earlier.

From there it was on to one the famous Tivoli Gardens Christmas Market.  I have to admit...not only was I impressed, it was by far the best market we'd been to in Europe.  Year round the gardens have rides, arcades, and other things to entertain visitors.  During December, they also have a Christmas Market.  In walking through, we saw replicas of famous landmarks like St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, the Taj Mahal, old buildings in China, etc...  They even had a small area with live Reindeer that you could pet.

One of the more incredible things we saw were Willow Trees.  If you've ever seen one, you know how many branches they have.  Whoever set up the park painstakingly tied a strand of lights to each branch on the trees there.  The end result made each tree look like fireworks going off and raining down light.  It was amazing.  Shanna and I dipped fruit in chocolate, played classic carnival games, saw a light/fountain show set to Christmas Music, and had an amazing time.  We didn't ride it, but we marveled at the 100 year old Merry-Go-Round.  Shanna read later that this park was the inspiration for Disney World.

We eventually found a restaurant to eat at in the park.  It wasn't just any restaurant though...it was a brewery.  We started with creamy Lobster bisque, then Shanna had fish and I had a steak.  The food was outstanding.  Remember how expensive I said things were?  I normally don't talk about money, but to illustrate that fact, in addition to the food I mentioned, I had 2 beers and Shanna had a sprite.  So, two bowls of soup, a steak dinner, a fish dinner, 2 beers and a sprite.  Total cost with tip?  $200.  CRAZY.  After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

The next day I was on a mission.  The Mikkeller bar we'd been to the first night didn't sell bottles to go, but their bar 4km north of us had a bottle shop.  Shanna wanted to relax at the hotel, so I hopped a cab and headed up there.  This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip.  When I walked in, it was just myself and the bartender.  I ordered a beer off the tap that looked interesting, then asked where the bottle shop was.  He pointed to the door, and I asked if I could take my beer.  When he responded "The only way to shop for beer is with one in your hand", I knew we could be friends.   When  I walked in to the shop, I sent a text message to Shanna saying we were lucky our suitcase had a weight limit on the plane.  She accurately replied, stating we were lucky this place wasn't near our house.  I wanted one of everything.  The bartender walked in and began recommending beers.  I ended up talking with this guy for 30 minutes...he knew his stuff.  Every question I had, he had an answer.  He was incredibly knowledgable about beer, and the Mikkeller brewery.  If we had an extra day, I could have spent the whole day talking with this guy.  I ended up trying the other Kopi Luwak beer they had, and loved it also.  I bought a bottle of each Kopi Luwak beer for myself and a few friends back in Germany, then cabbed back home.

Shanna & I had talked about visiting Malmö, which was across the border in Sweden.  We decided to do it...why not?  That way we could say we visited two countries on this trip.  Plus we'd heard their Christmas market was nice.  After a short 30 minute train ride, we were there.  The market was actually really disappointing, especially compared to Tivoli.  The "draw" was all the lights on the historic old street.  We did find a neat old building.  It was an old Warehouse built in 1595 in a Dutch style.

Other than that, and the Texas store we stumbled across, Malmö was disappointing.  Maybe we had too high expectations based on Tivoli in Copenhagen.  That night, after a train ride back to Copenhagen, we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, and called it a night.  I know, everyone who travels should avoid American establishments and try local cuisine, but I'm not going to lie...their burger was amazing.  It's hard to find a good burger made from good beef in Germany, so I was ecstatic to have this burger in Copenhagen.

The next day was pretty low key.  We slept in, got breakfast from the local 7-11, and headed to the airport via the train.  That's right, they have a 7-11.  Not just one, but a TON of them.  In a 1km radius of the hotel, we probably saw 10 of them...if not more.  I haven't seen a 7-11 since we moved here to Germany, so it was strange.

Copenhagen was amazing.  We had a great time, and now I want to visit more Scandinavian countries.  Maybe we'll hit the Fjords of Norway in the summer!

To see pictures, click here or any pictures above.

This might be the last post for awhile.  We're talking about Iceland in January for the Northern Lights, though...if we do, that'll be the last trip until the baby comes in April.  We'll see!

Salzburg/Berchtesgaden Christmas Markets

My work schedule for December was all over the place, but Shanna & I looked at it and found two extended weekends for us to take some trips.  The first three day weekend we had, we decided to head down to Salzburg, Austria, for their Christmas market.  We'd both been to Salzburg several times, and absolutely loved the city.  I could easily move there and live the rest of my life.

We would normally drive since it's only 4 hours away, but we booked in November, and every December we've been here there has been significant snow.  This time, to play it safe, we booked a train.  Go figure, we've had unseasonably warm temps all month.  But it was actually nice to sit back and relax, and have the train take us all the way there.  We had one quick lay over in Munich, then it was on to Salzburg.

Having been to Salzburg multiple times, I knew the street to look for hotels on.  Every other time we've visited, though, it's been in the summer when rates were astronomical.  So staying on the main shopping street was too expensive.  During the winter, though, tourism is down and the prices are reasonable.  As a result, we got a great hotel right on the main shopping street.  The Goldener Hirsch has been around for hundreds of years, and was a really nice hotel.

After we got checked in, we went for a stroll.  I knew about the Christmas Market by the Cathedral, but one of our friends told us the Fortress that over looks the city has a small one as well.  We decided to hit the Fortress one that first night.  When we got to the top, you couldn't help but be awed by the surrounding mountains.  We'd been up there before during the day, and it was beautiful.  Being up there at dusk was incredible.

I'm glad we did...it was small, with only 10-15 booths, but it was not crowded, and we thoroughly enjoyed walking around.   We found one vendor selling Raclette.  I'm not sure how to describe it other than melted cheese on top of bread and Prosciutto with some fried onion bits on top.  It was...no kidding..amazing.  I could have downed a few right there.  We washed it down with Glüwein for myself and Kinderpunsch for Shanna.  I normally don't like hot drinks, but this stuff is good.  Every Christmas market in Europe sells it.  When we were finished, we took the cable car down to the bottom.  We stayed out a little bit longer, but were beat after a long day, so we called it a night.

The next morning we got up and headed out to find breakfast.  The hotel was charging off season prices for the room, but not for breakfast...35 Euro/person was just a little too much.  We ended up finding a great cafe nearby that had a delicious breakfast.  Instead of 70 Euro total at the hotel, we paid 18 Euro total.  After breakfast, we headed to the Christmas Market.

We could not have asked for more beautiful weather.  The entire weekend there was not a cloud in the sky.  We walked through the market, finding all kinds of interesting things.  Without me knowing, Shanna found a Scotch flavored Chocolate bar she bought for me and gave to me this morning in my Christmas stocking.  One of the highlights of the market was the ice skating rink.  I enjoy ice skating, but Shanna never did that or roller blading as a kid, so she's not a fan.  We ended up standing there for awhile watching the kids ice skate.  It was fun to watch...some of them flew around the rink, others held on to the rail for dear life.

By the time we'd finished up, it was only around 1pm.  So we ended up looking up the bus schedule to Berchtesgaden.  Berchtesgaden is on the German side, and only about a 45 minute bus ride from Salzburg.  We'd driven through the town when visiting Hitler's Eagle's Nest before, but never actually stopped in the town.  We had talked about visiting their Christmas Market if we had time, so we took the bus and were on our way.  The ride there was breathtaking...I have to say it again, the entire area is one of the most beautiful places in Europe.

When we got there, we took a taxi to the market and walked around.  We loved the market.  The people were friendly, but I found the history there to be fascinating.  One thing that stood out above all others to me was a Mural and memorial dedicated to the soldiers from the area who died in World War I and World War II.  Travel around Germany enough, and you'll start to notice that a lot of areas gloss over or ignore 1914-1918 and 1939-1945.  Not Berchtesgaden, though...they had a memorial to their war dead right in the center of the Altstadt (Old Town) area.

It was really neat walking around the town.  For those that don't know, we have two dogs, a Rat Terrier and a Jack Russel.  While going through the market, we came across a store that had a dog out front playing with a deflated ball that looked exactly like our Jack Russel.  He would take the ball up to people and drop it in front of them.  They would either ignore him, or kick the ball.  He would fetch, and come back.  I know our dogs, though...when they drop something in front of you, fetch isn't what they want.  They want tug of war.  So when he dropped it front of me, I picked it up and held it.  Sure enough, he lunged and grabbed the other end.  He proceeded to shake and twist it, just like our dogs, trying to pull it loose.  The dog was awesome...if we could have brought him home, we would have.

We eventually finished, and took the train back to Salzburg.  When we got there, we wanted to find a place to eat.  We walked to a few places, and they were all booked.  We finally found a hole in the wall tavern that we absolutely loved.  I had a big pot of mussels, and Shanna had fried liver.  I had a few beers, so I was willing to be adventurous and tried the liver.  I have to admit...it was delicious.  It was the epitome of a dive bar, complete with cheap Christmas decorations.  But sometimes those are the best places to eat.  We headed back to the hotel from there, and called it a night.

The next morning we had breakfast at the same cafe, did a little more shopping, then headed to the train station to go home.

Salzburg is an amazing city.  If you ever have the chance to visit, don't pass it up.  It's full of history (our hotel was a few houses down from the one Mozart was born in), the people are friendly, and the area is beautiful.

The next post should be up shortly about our recent trip to Denmark for their Christmas Market.  In the meantime, you can click here or any picture above to see our pictures from the trip.

We made it on German News

Normally this is a travel blog, but every now and then I'll post something non-travel related.  Two weeks ago I was working over night.  Normally I get home around 7:30am when I work over night, but this particular morning I needed things from the grocery store, which didn't open until 8am.  So I got off work at 7am, waited an hour, got what I needed, and was home by about 8:45am.

As I pulled up to our house, I noticed Shanna's SUV was still parked in the street.  When I opened the door to the house, Shanna came from around the corner.  Turns out that she had placed her key ring in the car, accidentally hit the "lock" button on the door, and she closed the door so she could scrape the ice off.  With her keys locked in the car, along with her phone, all she could do was sit outside and wait for me.  Normally she would have had to wait about 15 minutes, but because I went to the grocery store, she was sitting outside for an hour and a half.

We've had ADAC since we got here, and it's more than paid for itself.  It's the German version of AAA back in the states.  I called them, told them what was going on, and they sent someone out.  When he arrived, I noticed a van behind him that said SWR.  I knew that was the local German news station, but didn't think they were together.  Turns out, they were.  When the ADAC guy parked, the van did too and three guys got out.  One had a big camera, the other a boom mic, and the third was the reporter.  The ADAC guy told us they were following him around all day filming a documentary, and asked if we minded them filming.  We said sure, and they proceeded to film the entire experience.  I had been at work all night, and had seriously considered changing into comfy pajamas before the ADAC guy arrived.  Now I was glad I was still in work clothes!

Every few days I've gone to SWR's website and searched for ADAC.  Finally, the video showed up a few days ago.

So, without further ado, here is Shanna & my's segment on German news.

The next post will be a normal travel one.  This weekend we're heading to Salzburg, Austria, for their Christmas Market.  Next weekend we're flying to Copenhagen, Denmark, for theirs.  But for now...enjoy the ADAC guy unlocking our SUV!