So, We Live in 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.