Christmas, Olmsteders Invade Prague, & Silvester

December was a busy month and deserves more than one post, but life's tough. Sorry December 2012. So after we returned from Neil's swim meet, we dove into all of the Christmas cheer Berlin had to offer. With 20+ markets in the city, we had plenty to chose from. We hit a one-weekend market at the Jagdschloss in Grunewald, one in the center of the city, and thanks to a visit from the Shores' of Gdansk, we hit the most beautiful of all at Schloss Charlottenburg. Also, we got a Christmas tree.

Bus to Grunewald

Hike to the Jagdschloss Weihnachtsmarkt

Annika's only visit to Santa this year.
She loved it.

City Weihnachtsmarkt treats.

Schloss Charlottenburg Weihnachtsmarkt

Our tree.

We also had Thanksgiving redux with Annika's boyfriend Guzzi and his parents. (Sidebar: I have to say that all of our German friends do not disappoint in the name department. Guzzi's real name is Gustav and his parents are Rebecca and Georg Von Mitzlaff). We try to get together for dinner every few weeks so the kids can play, and the adults can talk. They had hinted at their desire to have an American Thanksgiving but weren't available for our actual Thanksgiving extravaganza, so we did it a few weeks late. Apart from Guzzi maybe trying to strangle Annika as we tried to get them to hug, it was a great success. Also, it snowed, and I made a really creepy snowman.

Turkey time.

Playing nice.

YOU WILL HUG ME!

Awwwwww.

Yikes. I have no excuse. Just yikes.

A few days later, it was Christmas. It was pretty low-key because the next day we were off on the train to Prague! I had been greatly looking forward to it after James did nothing but rave about the one day he spent there after Thanksgiving. We would also soon figure out that a number of other Olmsted scholars and their families would be visiting the City of a Hundred Spires/Golden City. The Christmas market and all of the Christmas decorations were still in full swing, and it made a beautiful city even more amazing. We sampled some of the delicious and definitely not healthy market fare including some cinnamon-sugar-coated doughnuts which were roasted on a spit over hot coals. I also must say that the Christmas tree was one of the best I saw anywhere, and my picture does not do it justice. Also, we learned what is not allowed in Czech banks.

Christmas morning

Annika enjoying everyone else's gifts.

Train to Prague

Nom, nom, nom.

Christmas market entertainment,

Prague Christmas tree.

No guns...or dogs. I assume everything
else is fair game?

The next day we walked all over Prague...literally. We trekked up to an Eiffel Tower replica and then up the Eiffel Tower replica which offered some great views of the city. En route, we saw a large golden femur suspended above the street. No explanation was ever offered as to why it is there. On the way back from there, we stopped into the Toy Museum which Annika loved...don't mind the picture which indicates otherwise. We also saw the largest straw nativity in the world. That night, we had dinner with the Flammias (Olmsted 2012, Firenze, Italia) and the Johnsons (Olmsted 2011, Ljubljana, Slovenia) in a Czech restaurant and brewery. (I basically never have pictures of mealtimes because trying to coral the monster and also maintain some level of involvement in conversation while eating is about all I can handle). It was, as always, a pleasure to hear everyone's stories and just catch up on goings on in English.

Golden femur.

Mini Eiffel Tower way up there.

Us way up there.

Straw nativity.

Annika enjoying the toy museum.

The following day we did some more walking and took in sights including the Jewish quarter, a giant metronome, and more great views of Prague. We also had lunch at a great bike-themed restaurant. The menus were international and based on the famous bike races of Europe, and they offered a discount with your ticket to the Jewish quarter sites (Yahtzee).

Le Tour menu.

Giant metronome.

Another stunning view of Prague.

Our last full day in Prague we took it easy after what must have been 10 miles of walking over the previous 2 days. We had dinner that night at a train-themed restaurant with the Johnsons and the Musas (Olmsted 2011, Rabat, Morocco). It was a great way to finish our trip there and another evening of wonderful conversation plus the added bonus of the adorable Musa boys entertaining Annika a bit (Again, sorry for the lack of pictures. Just trust me, they are beautiful children). The next morning after a beautiful sunrise run, we grabbed breakfast at a bagel place which not only had a playroom but also adhered to my strict dietary guidelines. Then we hopped a train back to Berlin for the New Year's Eve (known in Germany as Silvester) festivities.

Prague at sunrise.

I love gluten!

We had heard that Berlin was home to one of the best Silvester celebrations in the world. It did not disappoint. With a child, your New Year's Eve is not as wild and crazy as it once may have been. I have never been a huge fan of New Year's Eve, so that suits me really well. We headed downtown to the main festivities relatively early in the evening just to check it out. There was more food and drink than one could ever hope to sample, so we grabbed a drink, walked around a bit, and took in the entertainment. As we would find out watching at home from the couch, the early evening entertainment is just the main show entertainment doing their sound checks and dress rehearsals. We heard a couple of songs from Blue, a British boy band from the early 2000s making a comeback. We kind of dig them. We then headed home and put Annika to bed so we could enjoy a bit of champagne and awesome German television coverage which included an attempt at the Guinness Record for the most people doing the Gangnam Style dance at once. As with all German television, it was awesome and terrible. We readied ourselves for the fireworks which are legal to buy three days (12/28-31) and shoot off one day a year. You know how when you were a kid on Halloween you would binge on candy because it was really the only time you were allowed to go totally nuts? It's like that but with the stereotypical German strength and vigor. Amazingly, Annnika slept right through it, and around 2:30 we could hear ourselves think as the noise finally dwindled.

Blue killing it.

Brandenburger Tor festivities.

Our fireworks extravaganza.

With that, I am finally caught up on 2012...and only 7 months into 2013! Not too shabby.

Coming up:

• More snow
• Snowy Easter and trip to Bulgaria and Vienna
• The snow ends and we try not to die doing a triathlon
• The great train adventure through the Netherlands, Belgium, and France...and Germany.

Christmas in July...Barely

I think I may have hinted when I first started this blog that I am a terrible blogger. I am inconsistent and tend to get sidetracked by almost anything else. As a person who has a difficult time sitting still, it does not come naturally to me to sit and write/type. I think about a lot of things I want to write whilst doing other things (swimming, biking, running, cleaning, chasing Annika around various European cities), but the actual manifestation of those thoughts as a blog entry are rarely seen. This is evidenced by the fact that my last update was about Thanksgiving and typed in March. This summer is full of travel and visitors, and as such, I need to get my act together or give up. I'm not much of a quitter, so I am going to attempt to do a few quick recaps of some of what we've been doing since last November. Here goes:

So excited that I took a
screenshot. I was so
innocent back then.

In early December we headed to Freiburg for die Deutsche Kurzbahnmeisterschaft (German master's swimming championship) and then to Ramstein AFB for Neil's flight physical and a trip to the commissary. On the way we planned on stopping Bayreuth to split up the drive time for the monster and check out a Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market). It was the beginning of Weihnachtsmarkt season, and I have to admit that as a lover of Christmas it was one of the German traditions I was most looking forward to experiencing, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We left around Annika's bedtime figuring she would fall asleep in the car for a bit. In typical form, she screamed pretty much the entire trip and then decided to shove her hands in her mouth and gag herself...all over her car seat...on day 1 of a 9 day road trip. ..literally 2 minutes from the hotel. The trip was off to a bang-up start, but as an eternal optimist (This is a lie. I am, at best, a realist who leans towards the bright side as long as I've had a chance to run that morning) I had faith that at least it would most likely not get too much worse.

Annika playing/drinking/reading...all
better than screaming/puking.

Fortunately, I was right for a change. Bayreuth was a cute little town with a cute little market. We strolled around a bit and the headed the rest of the way to Freiburg. I had learned my lesson after 45 minutes of car seat cleaning in a hotel bathroom the night before, so I assumed what is now my permanent position for car rides longer than 20 minutes in the middle-back seat next to Annika. It's not the most comfortable but definitely beats the alternative.

We made it to Freiburg with no major incidents and, after a few quick spins around the city due to some construction, found our hotel. Neil had a swim meet the next day, so we took a quick tour of the Weihnachtsmarkt before heading to dinner and turning in. We were all up early the next day, and Neil headed off to the pool. Annika and I headed to watch him swim a little bit later and then headed back to the hotel for a quick nap. I want to take this opportunity to say that while I appreciate that swimming is excellent exercise and recognize that Neil is super-fast, I wouldn't mind if he swam races lasting longer than a minute and a half. Don't get me wrong. They are almost always exciting, but it is stressful to try to catch the right bus to get to the pool in time to actually catch the fleeting event but not get there so early that Annika loses her patience (which oddly enough takes about as long as his race). The whole round trip takes, on average, about thirty times as long as the time he is actually in the pool. I guess what I'm saying is that if Annika decides to be a swimmer, I hope she at least swims some middle-distance races. Anyhoo, after Annika's nap, we stuck around near the hotel until the meet was over. Fortunately, the market was right behind the hotel, so we walked around, sampled some Glühwein, and made some friends until it was time to meet back up with Neil.

Annika in the gutter.

Annika checking out the market.

Annika and her new friend after playing in the gutter

Time for a drink.

We made our way back to the hotel to meet Neil and the Wahls (the Olmsteders in Freiburg) who had just returned from some travels of their own. We made our way to a delicious dinner and then back to the hotel so Neil could get ready for day 2 of the Meisterschaft. The next day the Wahls graciously opened their home to us and we spent one more night in Freiburg. Annika was entertained by Liv (their adorable and patient dog), and we saw some of the sights courtesy of our wonderful tour guides. After safely completing a guest picture for them, we headed back for a Mexican feast. It is always great to catch up with other Olmsted folks and see what everyone is up to in their respective cities. Thanks again Joe and Trysta!

Neil, Annika, and the slightly-too-tall hotel tree.

Deutsche Meisterschaft

Annika & Liv

The next day, we made our way to Ramstein via Karlsruhe so that Neil could get his flight physical and we could stock up on necessities like cooking spray, non-granulated brown sugar, and chicken stock. We hit the Karlsruhe market for lunch and continued on our way. We also got to see our first (and sadly far from last) snow of the season. We met up with a few people from Neil's squadron at McChord and watched a man with a keyboard sing (being diplomatic with that word) some Christmas favorites. To be fair, he was singing in what may have been his third language, and I could definitely at least tell what song he was singing. We made it home without incident and got ready for our first Christmas in Berlin.

Karlsruhe Schloss

Weihnachtsmarkt lunch

Waiting for the Ramstein shuttle/getting
use out of the snow boots.

Ramstein library during Daddy's dentist appt.

No Bing Crosby, but a valiant effort.

Coming up:

• Christmas 2K12
• All the street food one can eat in Prague
• Snowy Easter and a trip to Bulgaria to warm up...obviously
• More swim meet travels
• The Hoff tries to save the East Side Gallery
• Midwest Senkowski visit/Berlin 70.3/Warsaw
• Northwest Europe by train
• Whatever else I can squeeze in before we leave for Denmark in a week.