Dear Friends and Family,
It appears that my last post was in October of 2007, which I believe confirms what many of you have known for years…I’m just a schlub. The good news is that I’m still trying to get better, so in that vein I am once again putting pet to paper (or hands to keyboard, as the case may be) to share will all of you some of the exciting things that have happened in our lives since October.
You will probably note the distinct (or is that just stinky) lack of photos in this entry. I have spent almost all of my available free time for the last 3 days trying to figure out how to get individual photos from the Mac to this web page, but without success. I simply cannot invest any more time in this effort, so out it goes completely picture free. Unless, of course, you count the links to our Flickr pages throughout this posting. If you would really like to see pictures, they are all out there on Flickr. Be warned, though, there are lots and lots and lots of them.
November 2007 – A brief summary
I have talked before about the Sauerkrautfest that is held in our village every November. They shut down the main road through town and the town center becomes a mass of carnival rides and vendors. The set up seems to be similar each and every year, but each year we have gone there has always been something there that makes the trip worth while. For me, the only reason I need to go is the sauerkraut and potato dumpling stuff they make. Wow, is that stuff ever good!!!
Of course Sara had a birthday in November, too. She had four friends over for a sleepover, and I seem to recall that it took some time before we were fully recovered. Sara’s primary request for this birthday was an iPod Shuffle. We bought her one and even had a special message engraved on the back. It says “Sara Tillett – Princess in the tower” because Sara’s room is the top-most room in the house. To get to her room you must first go upstairs, then you must climb the spiral staircase that leads to a large square hole in her bedroom floor.
A Very Beautiful Christmas “Chair/Tree”
I hate to say it, but the most memorable thing about this past Christmas was the darned Christmas tree. We started our Christmas tree process in early December because I like having the tree up as early as possible. We bought a $42 tree from the Boy Scouts, but when we got it home we thought it was probably too big for our tree stand. Mindy went out the next day to find a bigger stand. First she went to the exchange on base (no stands), then she went to Dehner's (a sort of garden store, but still no stands), and then finally to the Toom store (rather like Dehner’s, but called Toom). At Toom she picked up a rugged looking stand that was supposed to support a tree of up to 3 meters. Since ours was only 2 meters high, we thought it would do fine. And it did…at first. Then just few days after setting it up and decorating it, on Sunday night to be specific, we heard a crash downstairs after the kids had all gone to bed. At first we thought it was the kids, but when Mindy went downstairs a while later to turn off the dishwasher she saw the tree lying on its side. Luckily only one of our precious ornaments broke, and Mindy was able to glue it back together. It was the ceramic baby shoes ornament that we got for Sara's first Christmas.
Anyway, we looked at the tree stand and it looked pretty broken. We stood up the tree, Mindy took off all the ornaments, and then we set the tree outside while we decided what to do. I felt that the best plan was to take the broken tree stand back to Toom and get another one, so Mindy went back to Toom the next day. We got the new tree stand in place and put the tree in it and put some (but not all) of the ornaments back on the tree. Then just a few days later, the tree fell down again! This time the tree stand didn't appear to be broken, so we stood the tree up, tightened the stand, and then it fell once more. By this point I had my fill of this Christmas tree and was ready to be done. We set the darn thing outside and put a sign on it that said Free (actually Frei, which means Free if you’re a German).
Well the story is not done yet. The next morning Mindy was relating some of our Christmas tree woes to some friends at the school bus stop. One of the folks there had an extra tree stand that he offered to give to us in an attempt to address our tree stand issue. Mindy brought home the stand and set up the tree. She didn’t put any ornaments on at all at first because she just knew that this tree was going to fall again. Some time went by and the tree seemed to be standing just fine. In fact, Mindy would go to the tree every once in a while and give it a shake just to make sure it wasn't about to fall. After a day or so of the tree standing firm, Mindy once again began placing ornaments (but not the precious ones) on the tree. Then a couple of days later Mindy went to the bus stop to pick up the kids and when she got home again, there was the tree laying on it's side FOR THE FOURTH TIME!!! AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
Well by this time Mindy had had enough of that Christmas trees also. She took the tree out into the back yard (where it stayed until after Christmas) and started thinking of some other creative way to do something Christmas tree-like. Some years ago Mindy's sister decorated a grocery cart instead of a tree. Mindy figured if her sister could use a grocery cart, then we could use an old chair, some tables that Mindy had picked up somewhere, and a tiny little artificial Christmas tree that we've had for a while. Personally, I think this is about the best Christmas "tree" we've ever had. The best part is that it never fell over.
Nürnberg (Again) and the Hoarfrost
I know you probably all think that we’ve been to Nürnberg about a million times, but we really do like that city. At Christmas time, Nürnberg has a very famous Christmas Market. I had been before, but Mindy and the kids had not. We were invited by a friend of ours, Sascha, to come to Nürnberg and enjoy the market with him and his girlfriend and of course we accepted.
We arrived at Nürnberg about mid morning and met Sascha and Charien at their apartment for breakfast. Sascha loves to help us to learn about and appreciate German, and particularly Bavarian, culture. The meal was primarily composed of fresh breads, fruit, and white bratwurst (weisswurst). For Mindy and I, the bratworst was the best part, especially the traditional sweet mustard that is served with it. Mindy liked it so much that Sascha let her take the bottle home with her.
At about noon-time, we made our way down to the market in the downtown area of Nürnberg. To be honest, I would be very hard pressed to thing of a time when I have tried to move through such huge crowds of people. It was a Saturday after all, and folks come from all over Europe for this market. The good news is that we didn’t loose a single child the entire day! I also learned how to order the mini-bratwursts that Nürnberg is famous for by saying “drei im Weckle, bitte.” We stayed until after sundown and left for home about the time it was becoming uncomfortably cold.
Speaking of cold, just a few days after that trip we were able to witness hoarfrost. I never new what hoarfrost was before, but now that I’ve seen it I don’t think I will ever forget. Hoarfrost is just frost, except that it forms in long crystal formations that look rather like white thorns. It is beautiful up close, but when the hoarfrost has covered a large area it is an absolutely stunning site! It makes the world white, but not like their had been snow, but rather like someone had gotten crazy with a can of white spray paint. Then as the day wears on, the ice crystals tend to fall off the trees onto the ground directly beneath. The effect is that it looks like snow falling, but only under the trees. Amazing!
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Nov/Dec 2007 Photos
Deutsches Museum
During the week between Christmas and New Years, we took a trip to Munich to visit the Deutsches Museum. We left early in the morning and drove hard so that we were nearly at Munich by about 10:00a. We parked the van at a Park & Ride in the village of Dachau, which is famous for being the location of the first concentration camp during the reign of the National Socialists under Hitler. Then we took the train from the Park & Ride to the stop nearest the museum.
The Deutsches Museum was delightful and huge. It was far too big to see everything in one day, but we didn’t let that stop us from trying. We finally surrendered in the late afternoon when the kids could barely walk anymore. I loved seeing all of the different kinds of aircraft and Mindy especially liked the collection of ancient and antique locks. There was an extensive display about printing and printing machines, which got their start in Germany. There was also a dress made entirely from paper. Fascinating!
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Deutsches Museum Photos
Cory’s Baptism
I’m pretty sure that there was some stuff that happened between January and April, but whatever those things were, I have no memory of them now. In early April, however, was a quite memorable event: Cory’s baptism. Cory turned 8 in March, which means that Cory was now old enough to be baptized. He had an interview with the bishop, invited some friends, and on 4 April we went to the church for this most special of events.
There were actually two children who were baptized that day; Cory as well as Emma Ireland. Having more than one family involved sure makes things easier. I printed programs and made arrangements for the building and such, and the Irelands provided refreshments for after the baptisms were complete. Have two children getting baptized also meant that there were an awful lot of people there. The guests included Cory’s best friend from school and a couple of my colleagues from work.
The baptismal service was memorable for the wonderful Spirit that was there, for the fact that this was our last child being baptized, and for the talk that Mose gave on baptism. We asked Mose if he would be willing to speak at Cory’s baptism and he said yes, but we didn’t bug him to much about it until the date of the event started approaching. When we did ask him what he was planning to present, we were pleased and surprised to hear what he was planning. Mose wanted to do an object lesson and so he proposed talking about how moving through life we get dirty, but baptism washes us clean. He also wanted to talk about the idea that baptism is a gate that we must pass through in order to get to the straight and narrow path that leads back to our Father in Heaven and that we will continue to need the Grace of Christ if we are to remain clean. Mindy and I helped only a little bit with things like recommending that he use cinnamon sugar instead of sand to represent the potential for getting dirty. The talk, when he gave it, was insightful, inspiring, and delivered with confidence. During that baptismal service Sara prayed, Mose gave a talk, and Cory was baptized and their parents were very, very proud!
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Cory's Baptism Photos
Spring Break in London
When we first arrived in Germany, we sat down together as a family and discussed what kinds of things we would like to see and do while living in Europe. Mindy wanted to go to Ireland and we did that. I wanted to go to Euro Disney and we did that. Mindy wanted to go to Paris and we did that. And we both wanted to visit London. Now we have done that, also.
We planned and save for this trip for quite some time. The saving part was the most important because with an exchange rate of 2 dollars for every one pound, London is about twice as expensive as it should be. We also looked hard to try and find the best deals on airline flights, hotel, and local transportation. Even with our best efforts, this trip was a bank buster. By the end of our time in London, Mindy had taken to calling me “Mr. Exchange Rate,” since every time she found something that was even remotely tempting, I would launch into a calculation of how much said object would “really cost.”
Given the careful planning, the preparation, and the costs involved in this trip, irony demanded that something had to go wrong. Well that something was the unexpected illness of one of our children. The day before we were to leave, Mose developed quite a fever. He had no other symptoms, really, but the fever was scary enough by itself. We wanted to take him to the doctor before we left, but our doctor was away on vacation (hey, that was our idea first!). After some discussion, we decided to continue with our plan and hope that we wouldn’t need to take Mose to a doctor in London.
Transportation in London was relatively inexpensive, easy to figure out, and available to and from basically anywhere. We used the subway (the Underground, or the Tube) exclusively because there was a Tube station about 50 meters from our hotel and there were Tube stations within walking distance of everyplace we wanted to go. There were many things about riding the Tube that were memorable. You see LOTS of interesting people, the trains run frequently, and everything is in ENGLISH!!!! Well, sort of. We did grow quite fond of hearing the nice lady with the British accent telling us to “Mind the gap.”
The trip to London was relatively uneventful, unless you count our worry for Mose. We took a late flight on Monday evening that got us into London at about bedtime. We found our way to the Tube, rode the train to the stop nearest our hotel, and exited the station. It was a wonderful thing to discover that our hotel was just across the street from the Tube station. Boy that sure made things convenient! The hotel was not plush, but they did have a family room that slept 5. My estimation is that having a family room cut our lodging costs in half. We did a bit of unpacking that night and promptly set off to bed in the hopes of being sufficiently rested for the big Tuesday we had planned.
Tuesday – Natural History Museum
We took our time getting up and ready on Tuesday morning. The Natural History Museum didn’t open until mid-morning, so there was no need to rush. The hotel we were staying at offered a free breakfast (toast, juice, corn flakes, and bran flakes), but they also offered a full English breakfast. The full English breakfast look very nice, but it was also very expensive. We decided that since we would be having five breakfasts at the hotel, that we would each of us have the full English breakfast on one day. Tuesday was for me!
The Natural History Museum was walking distance from our hotel, so after breakfast we sauntered down the road in the direction of the museum. On the way, we encountered Lord Baden Powell House. For those of you who do not have Scouting aged sons, Lord Baden Powell is the founder of the Scouting movement. I believe the building was a youth hostel, but we didn’t actually go inside to check. Instead we took pictures of the statue out front and of the Scout symbol on the side of the building.
Despite our leisurely pace, we still arrived at the museum before it opened. A queue was forming but we wandered about looking at the architecture and reading the posters that seemed to be everywhere. Most of the posters were about a special butterfly house that was open for a limited time outside of the museum. After our wandering, we found our way back to the queue and lined up. Just for the record, entry into the Natural History Museum is free, which is good because every Pound costs about 2 dollars.
In my humble opinion, the dinosaur exhibits at the Natural History Museum were the best that I have seen anywhere! They were truly amazing! We also looked at mammals, reptiles, and fish. I’m not quite clear how we missed the bugs, but I suspect it might have something to do with the fact that none of us really like bugs very much.
We only spent about 2 and a half hours in the museum itself. The butterfly thing looked interesting, so we eventually found our way out to the queue for buying tickets. Yep, the bad news on this one is that it wasn’t free. The queue was about 45 minutes just to get the tickets, but there was not much of a wait once we got started through the maze that led to the butterfly house. The maze was actually pretty cool. There was a lot of information about butterflies and the best part is it was all in English! Yeah!
The butterfly house itself was also very cool! It was hot. It was humid. It was outrageously crowded. But all of that was OK, because there were thousands of butterflies of different shapes, sizes, and colors everywhere. Once again, none of us are really bug people, but we did get Cory and Sara to allow a butterfly on their hands. Mose didn’t like that idea, but he did hold a paper card with a butterfly on it. That’s as close as he wanted to get.
By early afternoon, Mose’s fever was coming back so we opted to take the afternoon off in the hopes that Mose would be better for Wednesday. We really needed him better for Wednesday, because that was going to be a big day for us. We went back to the hotel, the kids watched TV in English, and I went looking for a local grocery store and discovered Sainsbury’s.
For dinner Tuesday night, we ate at the Indian restaurant right there in the hotel. Mindy has had Indian food before and she thinks it’s wonderful. For me and the kids, though, this was our first experience. I had some sort of lamb dish which was pretty good, but then the server asked if I would care for some Indian condiments and I said sure. There was a mint sauce which was OK, but when I tried the lamb with the mango-chutney stuff, I thought I had died and gone straight to heaven. The kids weren’t quite as thrilled with their food as I was with mine, but it was still a very good dinner overall.
Wednesday – Royal Academy of Arts and Wicked at the Apollo Victoria
Wednesday was Sara’s day for the full English breakfast. She rather enjoyed it except for the beans. The one truly surprising thing about the full English breakfast was they served it with what were essentially Pork-N-Beans. I enjoyed them the day before, but Sara worked her way around them.
Wednesday was an important day because we were going to see the exhibit title “From Russia” at the Royal Academy of Arts, and we were going to see the play “Wicked” at the Apollo Victoria Theater. Mose was not quite well yet, but he was getting better. We wanted to see “From Russia” because they were showing primarily Impressionist works from the Pushkin Museum and the Hermitage in Russia. I have not real desire to visit Russia, so seeing this exhibit seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity. “Wicked” was recommended to us by friends who had gone to see it as a family also and had thought it was marvelous.
“From Russia” was not free, but it wasn’t very expensive. We probably could have walked there from our hotel, but we took the tube anyway. We arrived shortly after it opened, but there was already a queue. The exhibit was well worth the queue, the cost of entry, and even the trip to England. It was positively stunning! Mindy and I have both always enjoyed the French Impressionists and it is mind blowing to me to be able to stand in front of those works. It was amazing how many of these pictures Mindy had studied while she was in college. Her comment was almost always the same…”It looks so much different, so much better in person.” I myself have never been a fan of Paul Gauguin, but now that I have seen some of his works in person I find that I like him even less. Yuck!
Art is fascinating for Mindy and I, but the kids were not too thrilled. There always seem to be a lot of naked women on the walls of art exhibits, so we only spent a couple of hours dragging the kids around the Academy. At around lunchtime we went looking for, and of course found, a McDonalds. To be honest I have never felt much better about McDonalds than I have about Gauguin, but with the exchange rate as it was I was quite happy to find a place where would could all eat for about $40. I think that by the time we finally leave Europe, we will have experienced the very best and worst that McDonalds has to offer around the world! Oh, on this day they were pretty good.
The McDonalds we found was in a train station that was just across the street from the Apollo Victoria Theater. We were too early to pick up our tickets, so after lunch we just kind of wandered for a while. The tickets were available soon enough and eventually we made it in and to our seats. Our seats were in the front of the back section on the right hand side. One nice feather of this theater was that you can “rent” opera glasses for 50 pence, or about a dollar. We rented 3 sets, which pretty much allowed each of us to have a set whenever we felt we needed one. We were allowed to take photos before the show, so we had quite a bit of fun just goofing off with the camera.
The show was just as good as our friends had said it would be! The music was delightful, the storyline was engaging, and the cast was very talented. Mindy and I went to New York once and saw a play on Broadway, but it was even better having all of us together at the theater in London. Events like this make memories that last forever. Sara, of all of us, enjoyed the show the most. We have a CD of the music and I don’t think she has willingly listened to anything else since then. Wow!
Once the show was over, we found our way back to the hotel. After we had rested up a bit, we wandered down to Sainsbury’s (the grocery store) and wandered about marveling at how very American the store seemed. They even had Oreos! We all picked up a pre-made sandwich, some crisps (I think that’s what the English call potato chips) and a few drinks and headed back to the hotel for dinner in the room and a bit more English TV.
Thursday – The Tower of London and Kensington Park
Thursday was a bit of a lighter day since the only major event we had planned was the Tower of London. If there was sufficient time, we were also going to wander a bit around Kensington Park. Mindy had the full English breakfast, the rest of us had toast and cereal, and then we headed for the Tube station and off to the Tower of London.
For Mose and Cory, the Tower of London was the highlight of the entire week and for the rest of us it was pretty darn close. The first thing we noticed when we arrived at the Tower was that it wasn’t a tower. It was more like a castle. As usual, we were early and so we spent some time looking around outside and taking pictures of the London skyline.
Once inside, we spent about 45 minutes just walking around. We went in and looked at the Royal Jewels, but while the “bling” was impressive it wasn’t especially interesting. What was interesting was the tour that we took once we were done. The tour was led by one of the Beefeaters by the name of Mark. Mark was absolutely the best thing about our time at the Tower. His tour was informative, interesting, and very often funny, for example when he joked about Henry the VIII promising Anne Bolin that he would love her for as long as she lived. The humor was sometime macabre, but I suppose I rather enjoy that.
The tour took about an hour or so, but the time went by very quickly. After the tour we went into the White Tower to view the Armory and to see all of the swords and spears and armor and such. There were two places in the Armory that we found especially fascinating. First was an exhibit about chain mail armor, featuring a full leg chain mail covering, but also including a modern metal glove as commonly used in the meatpacking industry. The leg piece was interesting because you could pick it up and feel the weight and look at the way the links were woven together. The lady there explained that children were often employed to put the chainmail together since they had small, nimble fingers. The metal glove was fun because you could put it on and have some feeling for the protection offered by metal links even today. The second interesting exhibit was a room with interactive displays or ancient weapons. It explained the various uses of various weapons and also included fun things to do like testing your ability to pull an English Longbow or trying to handle a sword hilt while wearing leather and metal gauntlets. Cool!
The Tower of London was a lot of fun, but we eventually got to the point where we felt like we had seen enough. And it was at that point that we embarked upon a quest for what was to be the worst meal we would have in London, the worst meal we have had in Europe, and possibly even the worst meal we have had at any place and at any time. Just outside the Tower of London were a couple of small food stands, both of which offered fish and chips. Now fish and chips is a meal I had very much wanted to enjoy while in England, which is why I insisted that we go to one of the food stands instead of to the Subway just a short distance further. Well I ordered the fish and chips and it was everything I could do to choke the darn stuff down. The fish was greasy, the fries were cold and stale, and my meal was much better than the hot dog that Mose got. I’m not sure if the hot dog was made of pork, beef, or chicken, but I rather doubt it. The mustard they served looked positively artificial and the bun was stale to the point of being crispy! Now just to be fair, Cory rather enjoyed the burger he got, although I thought it looked horrible. And the worst part of all of it is that we paid for that nasty food in Pounds, each one of which is worth 2 dollars!!!! AAAAARRRRGGGG!!!!!!
After getting back to the hotel and doing our best to recover from the awful lunch, we headed out on foot to enjoy the afternoon at Kensington Park, which was just down the road from out hotel. I don’t know about you, but when I think of a park, I think of slides and swing sets and fun things for people to do. That’s not the kind of park that Kensington Park is, though. I suppose that in the Queen’s English, park means green grass and no buildings. Kensington Park was massive and crisscrossed with so many paths and trails that we brought along a map to try not to get too lost. When we were done, we took the Tube home rather than attempt the long walk back to where we started.
Our stated objective in going to Kensington Park was two-fold: we wanted to let the kids have some time outside of a museum to possibly run and play and such, and we wanted to see the famous statue of Peter Pan. The park was adequate, although not ideal, for the first purpose. There was only one playground in the entire park and it was clearly designed for kids aged 5 and under. That didn’t really slow Cory or Sara down very much, but Mose (now 13) this was a great disappointment. There were a lot of wide open spaces, though, and the kids did manage to “run” themselves ragged. The Peter Pan statue was nice enough, but after arriving there I did begin to wonder if it was worth the effort. The park, though, was beautiful and I do think the kids enjoyed being outside for a while after all of the inside time we had enjoyed up to that point.
Friday – National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum
By the time Friday had rolled around we had developed a rather consistent routine and were getting around rather well, in my opinion. Cory had the full English breakfast, which was probably a bit too much food for him, and the rest of us did just fine with our toast and cereal. After breakfast we crossed the street to the Tube station and set off for the National Gallery
The National Gallery is right off of Trafalgar Square, and to be honest the square was impressive enough by itself to make the trip worthwhile. We arrived before the crowds and so we had so pretty good photo opportunities. We didn’t take any photos inside the gallery, but the paintings were stunning. It is always better to see art in person.
About lunchtime we went back to the hotel, grabbed some lunch at KFC, and then walked down the road to the Victoria and Albert Museum (or the V&A). The V&A is a museum quite different from any other museum I have experienced. It’s not an art museum, nor a museum of technology, nor a museum of fashion. I suppose, though, that it seemed like a cross between all of those things.
Mindy especially enjoyed the dresses on display from previous decades or centuries. Mose was bold enough to accompany her, but he seemed to hold up OK. Sara, Cory, and I took the opportunity to be museum investigators. We received investigator kits from a desk near the entrance to the museum and headed to one of the top floors of the museum looking for a gallery that housed different types of antique furniture. Our first task was to go through the gallery looking for different types of material (leather, marble, wood, velvet), then we had to create a stable chair using plastic straws and connectors, and lastly we did a puzzle in the shape of a window from a gothic cathedral.
There was a second quest in our kits that involved listening to a CD and searching for various sculptures in an adjacent gallery. For example, one story on the CD was of the mythical Minotaur and the associated task was to find the Minotaur sculpture in the gallery. My feeling is that for Cory and Sara, the V&A was one of the best museum experiences they have had. Mindy had a wonderful time while we were there, but for Mose it was not that good.
Dinner that night was good. We ate at an Italian place just down the road from our hotel. It wasn’t cheap, but the food was very good.
Saturday – Harrods, Shopping, and Home
Saturday was our day to head home. Mose had the full English breakfast, and then we packed our bags and checked out of our room. The hotel agreed to watch over our luggage for us so that we could make one last outing before heading to the airport for our evening flight back to Germany. Our friend Cari had told us that the Harrod’s department store an experience in and of itself, so we hopped in the Tube, wandered a bit, and eventually came across Harrod’s. That store was the biggest, most expensive, most extravagant store I have ever been in and I have never felt more out of place while shopping. I don’t think there were 3 items in the whole store that I could have afforded, and even if I could I still wouldn’t buy them because they were so grossly overpriced! Granted, the displays and the décor were stunning, but it was not a store for us.
The two things in Harrod’s that we did very much enjoy were both demonstrations. In the toy section was a lady demonstrating some kind of sticker creation kit. The darned thing was 20 Pounds ($40), so I never would have bought it, but it was interesting to watch her create a custom sticker using various films and such. We also saw a demonstration of the game Mario Kart Wii. Everyone but Mindy took a turn and all of us were convinced that it was a game that someday we must have. That, my friends, is very effective marketing. The only reason we didn’t walk out with one is because it wouldn’t have worked with our US system.
For lunch we hit McDonald’s again. Man, I love McDonalds! The food is never spectacular, but it is remarkably consistent, and best of all it’s cheap! After lunch it was time for one more ride on the Tube, but this time back to the airport. Our flight was in the early evening, which means that when we finally got back home, it was quite late.
Overall, London was everything we hoped it would be. The museums were spectacular, the food was expensive, the public transportation was easy, and the memories we made were wonderful. Although, I still think we like Ireland better!
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Photos from London
The Dachau Concentration Camp
I like Germany. In fact I like it a lot. I have always found our German friends and neighbors to be friendly and helpful. It is easy, being surrounded by such wonderful people, to forget the horrific crimes perpetrated by the German’s during WWII. Now that Mindy and I have visited a concentration camp, remembering will be easier.
In early May, the Equal Employment Opportunity office planned a bus trip to the Dachau Concentration Camp in Bavaria. Our entire family had been to the village of Dachau before, when we went to the Deutsches Museum in Munich. We didn’t go to the camp, though, and I would still be disinclined to take my children to such a place. Mindy’s friend simply says that Dachau is evil and refuses to go there.
Dachau was the first such camp established by the National Socialists. Over time it became the model camp that set the standard for how such a camp should be managed. Dachau never became a death camp like Auschwitz, but that does not mean that it was a summer camp either. Gas chambers were built, but not used and when coal was available, the crematorium ran day and night.
Once at the Camp, we each received an audio guide, which is basically just a audio player with easily accessible audio content. There are numbered signs around the Camp. When you see something interesting, you just punch in the number and the audio guide begins to speak. There were commentaries from former prisoners and from liberators (Americans who participated in the liberation of the Camp in 1945). The commentaries were fascinating and sometimes disturbing. I remember one in particular from a liberator. He spoke about walking around the village of Dachau after the Camp had been liberated. Everyone he spoke to proclaimed that they really didn’t know what was going on behind the fences, yet they surely saw the trains full of prisoners and they surely smelled the smoke from the crematorium. The greatest crime in Dachau, I fear, was that so many people simply chose not to notice the evil taking place right under their noses.
One of the most moving buildings was the bunker. The bunker was actually a prison block with a single long hallway with cells on both sides. The cells had the original doors on many of them, which gave the place an authentic, intimidating feel. In many of the cells there were quotes projected onto the cell wall from prisoners who had been in the bunker.
In addition to the bunker, we went through a museum and through a “block where prisoners were housed. We learned that Dachau was used to hold political prisoners, priests, ministers, dissidents, and “undesirables.” We also learned that camps such as Dachau were sold to the public as “work camps.” The sign on the iron gate leading into the camp says “Arbeit machts frei,” or work makes one free. In truth, the camps ended up providing free labor that helped the Nazi’s continue their war. The living conditions and the sanitary conditions were deplorable and disease often ravaged the prison population.
Toward the middle front of the Camp was a most extraordinary sculpture. It was black and very large and when I first looked at it, I couldn’t decide if it was a barbed-wire fence or a mass of human bodies. Closer examination revealed that it was both. The emaciated arms and legs were wires and the outstretched hands and feet were like extended barbs. It was both beautiful and terrible.
My only real complaint about the entire trip was that it was too short. There was more to see and experience than we had time for, given the long bus ride home that we faced. I’m not sure that I would want to go back again, though. It was a very heavy day and I left feeling sad for those who had suffered there and distressed that such evil could be perpetrated here. I’m glad that I did it, but I wouldn’t want to do it again.
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Photos from Dachau
Rick Astley in Concert
Mindy loves music, which makes choosing an anniversary present a very easy thing some times. Last year, you might recall, I bought Mindy tickets to see Michael Buble` in concert. The concert wasn’t until October, but I still took full credit for a good anniversary gift. This past January we came across a website that indicated that Rick Astley would be performing as part of the “Then and Now Tour,” which featured a range of acts that were popular in the 1980’s. We certainly wanted to go, but the only problem was that the nearest venue on the tour was in Birmingham, England. The date for the Birmingham show was 17 May and so I once again bought my wife concert tickets for an anniversary present.
When May finally rolled around, we had bought plane tickets, booked a hotel, and arranged for friends to look after our children. The concert was on a Saturday evening, so we flew to Birmingham on Saturday morning. I had checked on public transportation in Birmingham before we left, but I wasn’t able to make sense of the system from what they had available on the internet. I thought it would be OK, though; surely I would be able to figure it out once we got there! Unfortunately, the reason I couldn’t figure things out from the website was not because the website was poor, but because the transportation system in Birmingham is fundamentally indecipherable! The only way we ever found our way to our hotel was because I, gasp, asked for directions. The directions we received got us to the main station easily enough, but once there I couldn’t figure out which line to get on to get to our next station. The missing line seemed to be managed by a company called “Walk.” It was only when I AGAIN asked for directions that we were informed that we needed to walk from one station to a different station in order to catch the train that went to our hotel. They said there would be signs leading the way, and they did…for almost half of the distance. At that point the signs ceased and we were left once again to my feeble sense of direction. Finally I asked YET AGAIN for directions. What we were told was something like “go into that shopping mall, there, then go downstairs and exit on the far side.” We did eventually make it to our hotel, but my skill at navigating public transportation in an English speaking nation did very little, I’m afraid, to impress the pretty girl I was with.
I am sorry to report that I have now had two trips to England without a decent meal of fish and chips. In Birmingham, though, I did enjoy a very good plate of Japanese noodles. While trying to find a place to eat, we came across a place called “Wagamama.” At first I thought it was an Indian restaurant, but when we took a closer look, we discovered that they specialized in Japanese noodles. There was a line at the door, but with a name like “Wagamama,” I just didn’t think we could pass it up for someplace less busy. The line moved very quickly, though, and we were seated sooner than we expected. I had fried noodles and Mindy had some spicy ramen soup and it was all wonderful. Not only that, but the prices were reasonable. Reasonable! And it wasn’t even McDonalds!
The concert on Saturday evening was wonderful! We arrived early, because that is what we do. We were there early enough that we first had to wait for the venue to even open. Once that happened, we also had time to buy a souvenir program, eat some pizza, and watch almost every other person arrive. When the show finally did start, it was worth every bit of cost and effort. Their were seven acts all together; Cutting Crew, Johnny Hates Jazz, Curiosity Killed the Cat, ABC, Paul Young, Bananarama, and Rick Astley. The came out in that order and each act performed slightly longer than the act before it. Cutting Crew did only three songs, but Rick Astley must have done almost 10.
For me the best part was Curiosity Killed the Cat. I don’t think I have ever heard of this group (well…person) before, but the music was very good. Plus the guy was just a really good dancer. For Mindy, the highlight was clearly hearing Rick Astley. She has been a fan for years and I believe she owns every album he has ever released. He stopped touring a long time ago, so even though Mindy has liked him forever, she has simply never had the chance to see him before. His voice was wonderful. He was funny and self deprecating, and overall entertaining. All in all it was one of the best concert experiences that we have ever had.
Just for the record, Birmingham is a pit. The concert ended about 11:00p, which didn’t seem to late. The one thing we had left to do that day was to find our way home. It wasn’t easy finding our way back to the train station. Eventually we followed the crowds and found it. My impression is that there are a lot of drunk people riding trains in Birmingham on Saturday nights. We rode the train back to the main station, took the walk to the other station, and ran when we saw that there was a train at the platform. We got on the train just before it left, and it’s a good thing we did since when we arrived at the station near our hotel, the security person was their waiting with the gate half closed. As we passed through, he locked up, so I guess we barely caught the last train of the night.
We spent some time on Sunday walking around and waiting for the time to come to fly home. We had checked out of the hotel on Sunday morning and found our way back to the train station near the hotel only to discover that it was locked up. Further investigation revealed that while there are some trains that run on Sunday, our train wasn’t among them. We therefore walked back to the hotel and called for a taxi to the main train station. There was a nice mall in the center of Birmingham, but just about everything else we saw around Birmingham seemed old, decrepit, and decaying. Even the graffiti seemed to have been painted years ago during brighter times. I’m afraid that Birmingham left me unimpressed.
Stuttgart – Wilhelma: Botanical Gardens and Zoo
OK, just one more and then I really need to be done. Just last weekend, we went with our friend Doreen (Hi, Doreen!) to Stuttgart to see the zoo and botanical gardens at a place called Wilhelma. The star attraction there is a baby polar bear named Wilbaer. It’s kind of like Wilber except the w sounds like a v and there is a long a sound in the second syllable. I think that the name is supposed to be a bit of wordplay on the name of the place (Wilhelma) and the fact that he is a bear; hence Wilbaer. The whole point is that polar bear cubs are cute and this was a chance to see one.
The first thing we encountered when we got to Wilhelma was a set of greenhouses. I’ve never been to a botanical garden before, but if this is what they are like I am sold! It was absolutely stunning. They had desert plants, tropical plants, orchids, flowers, palms, and more. Mindy was our acting camera operator and she had a field day. We have more than 300 pictures from our time at Wilhelma and I bet that more than two hundred of them are just of the plants and stuff we saw in the botanical gardens.
Yes, there were other things besides plants. I seem to recall seeing lots of birds and a two-toed sloth. Some of the monkeys were fun to watch. There were elephants (that we only saw from a distance), giraffes, and the peacocks were not the least bit shy (or quiet). Of the animals, though, Wilbaer was the star. When we got to the place where he and his mother reside, there were signs that seemed to indicate how long we would need to wait. My assumption was that the bears came out every once in a while and that we just had to stand there until that happened. Well we learned that my assumption was wrong. Wilbaer and his mother were just on the other side of a large rock, right were we couldn’t see them. They were there for the entire half hour or so that we spent waiting for them to appear. Once we figured out what was going on, we worked our way to a better vantage point and finally got our view. Sure enough, Wibaer was cute!
November 2007 – A brief summary
I have talked before about the Sauerkrautfest that is held in our village every November. They shut down the main road through town and the town center becomes a mass of carnival rides and vendors. The set up seems to be similar each and every year, but each year we have gone there has always been something there that makes the trip worth while. For me, the only reason I need to go is the sauerkraut and potato dumpling stuff they make. Wow, is that stuff ever good!!!
Of course Sara had a birthday in November, too. She had four friends over for a sleepover, and I seem to recall that it took some time before we were fully recovered. Sara’s primary request for this birthday was an iPod Shuffle. We bought her one and even had a special message engraved on the back. It says “Sara Tillett – Princess in the tower” because Sara’s room is the top-most room in the house. To get to her room you must first go upstairs, then you must climb the spiral staircase that leads to a large square hole in her bedroom floor.
A Very Beautiful Christmas “Chair/Tree”
I hate to say it, but the most memorable thing about this past Christmas was the darned Christmas tree. We started our Christmas tree process in early December because I like having the tree up as early as possible. We bought a $42 tree from the Boy Scouts, but when we got it home we thought it was probably too big for our tree stand. Mindy went out the next day to find a bigger stand. First she went to the exchange on base (no stands), then she went to Dehner's (a sort of garden store, but still no stands), and then finally to the Toom store (rather like Dehner’s, but called Toom). At Toom she picked up a rugged looking stand that was supposed to support a tree of up to 3 meters. Since ours was only 2 meters high, we thought it would do fine. And it did…at first. Then just few days after setting it up and decorating it, on Sunday night to be specific, we heard a crash downstairs after the kids had all gone to bed. At first we thought it was the kids, but when Mindy went downstairs a while later to turn off the dishwasher she saw the tree lying on its side. Luckily only one of our precious ornaments broke, and Mindy was able to glue it back together. It was the ceramic baby shoes ornament that we got for Sara's first Christmas.
Anyway, we looked at the tree stand and it looked pretty broken. We stood up the tree, Mindy took off all the ornaments, and then we set the tree outside while we decided what to do. I felt that the best plan was to take the broken tree stand back to Toom and get another one, so Mindy went back to Toom the next day. We got the new tree stand in place and put the tree in it and put some (but not all) of the ornaments back on the tree. Then just a few days later, the tree fell down again! This time the tree stand didn't appear to be broken, so we stood the tree up, tightened the stand, and then it fell once more. By this point I had my fill of this Christmas tree and was ready to be done. We set the darn thing outside and put a sign on it that said Free (actually Frei, which means Free if you’re a German).
Well the story is not done yet. The next morning Mindy was relating some of our Christmas tree woes to some friends at the school bus stop. One of the folks there had an extra tree stand that he offered to give to us in an attempt to address our tree stand issue. Mindy brought home the stand and set up the tree. She didn’t put any ornaments on at all at first because she just knew that this tree was going to fall again. Some time went by and the tree seemed to be standing just fine. In fact, Mindy would go to the tree every once in a while and give it a shake just to make sure it wasn't about to fall. After a day or so of the tree standing firm, Mindy once again began placing ornaments (but not the precious ones) on the tree. Then a couple of days later Mindy went to the bus stop to pick up the kids and when she got home again, there was the tree laying on it's side FOR THE FOURTH TIME!!! AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
Well by this time Mindy had had enough of that Christmas trees also. She took the tree out into the back yard (where it stayed until after Christmas) and started thinking of some other creative way to do something Christmas tree-like. Some years ago Mindy's sister decorated a grocery cart instead of a tree. Mindy figured if her sister could use a grocery cart, then we could use an old chair, some tables that Mindy had picked up somewhere, and a tiny little artificial Christmas tree that we've had for a while. Personally, I think this is about the best Christmas "tree" we've ever had. The best part is that it never fell over.
Nürnberg (Again) and the Hoarfrost
I know you probably all think that we’ve been to Nürnberg about a million times, but we really do like that city. At Christmas time, Nürnberg has a very famous Christmas Market. I had been before, but Mindy and the kids had not. We were invited by a friend of ours, Sascha, to come to Nürnberg and enjoy the market with him and his girlfriend and of course we accepted.
We arrived at Nürnberg about mid morning and met Sascha and Charien at their apartment for breakfast. Sascha loves to help us to learn about and appreciate German, and particularly Bavarian, culture. The meal was primarily composed of fresh breads, fruit, and white bratwurst (weisswurst). For Mindy and I, the bratworst was the best part, especially the traditional sweet mustard that is served with it. Mindy liked it so much that Sascha let her take the bottle home with her.
At about noon-time, we made our way down to the market in the downtown area of Nürnberg. To be honest, I would be very hard pressed to thing of a time when I have tried to move through such huge crowds of people. It was a Saturday after all, and folks come from all over Europe for this market. The good news is that we didn’t loose a single child the entire day! I also learned how to order the mini-bratwursts that Nürnberg is famous for by saying “drei im Weckle, bitte.” We stayed until after sundown and left for home about the time it was becoming uncomfortably cold.
Speaking of cold, just a few days after that trip we were able to witness hoarfrost. I never new what hoarfrost was before, but now that I’ve seen it I don’t think I will ever forget. Hoarfrost is just frost, except that it forms in long crystal formations that look rather like white thorns. It is beautiful up close, but when the hoarfrost has covered a large area it is an absolutely stunning site! It makes the world white, but not like their had been snow, but rather like someone had gotten crazy with a can of white spray paint. Then as the day wears on, the ice crystals tend to fall off the trees onto the ground directly beneath. The effect is that it looks like snow falling, but only under the trees. Amazing!
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Nov/Dec 2007 Photos
Deutsches Museum
During the week between Christmas and New Years, we took a trip to Munich to visit the Deutsches Museum. We left early in the morning and drove hard so that we were nearly at Munich by about 10:00a. We parked the van at a Park & Ride in the village of Dachau, which is famous for being the location of the first concentration camp during the reign of the National Socialists under Hitler. Then we took the train from the Park & Ride to the stop nearest the museum.
The Deutsches Museum was delightful and huge. It was far too big to see everything in one day, but we didn’t let that stop us from trying. We finally surrendered in the late afternoon when the kids could barely walk anymore. I loved seeing all of the different kinds of aircraft and Mindy especially liked the collection of ancient and antique locks. There was an extensive display about printing and printing machines, which got their start in Germany. There was also a dress made entirely from paper. Fascinating!
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Deutsches Museum Photos
Cory’s Baptism
I’m pretty sure that there was some stuff that happened between January and April, but whatever those things were, I have no memory of them now. In early April, however, was a quite memorable event: Cory’s baptism. Cory turned 8 in March, which means that Cory was now old enough to be baptized. He had an interview with the bishop, invited some friends, and on 4 April we went to the church for this most special of events.
There were actually two children who were baptized that day; Cory as well as Emma Ireland. Having more than one family involved sure makes things easier. I printed programs and made arrangements for the building and such, and the Irelands provided refreshments for after the baptisms were complete. Have two children getting baptized also meant that there were an awful lot of people there. The guests included Cory’s best friend from school and a couple of my colleagues from work.
The baptismal service was memorable for the wonderful Spirit that was there, for the fact that this was our last child being baptized, and for the talk that Mose gave on baptism. We asked Mose if he would be willing to speak at Cory’s baptism and he said yes, but we didn’t bug him to much about it until the date of the event started approaching. When we did ask him what he was planning to present, we were pleased and surprised to hear what he was planning. Mose wanted to do an object lesson and so he proposed talking about how moving through life we get dirty, but baptism washes us clean. He also wanted to talk about the idea that baptism is a gate that we must pass through in order to get to the straight and narrow path that leads back to our Father in Heaven and that we will continue to need the Grace of Christ if we are to remain clean. Mindy and I helped only a little bit with things like recommending that he use cinnamon sugar instead of sand to represent the potential for getting dirty. The talk, when he gave it, was insightful, inspiring, and delivered with confidence. During that baptismal service Sara prayed, Mose gave a talk, and Cory was baptized and their parents were very, very proud!
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Cory's Baptism Photos
Spring Break in London
When we first arrived in Germany, we sat down together as a family and discussed what kinds of things we would like to see and do while living in Europe. Mindy wanted to go to Ireland and we did that. I wanted to go to Euro Disney and we did that. Mindy wanted to go to Paris and we did that. And we both wanted to visit London. Now we have done that, also.
We planned and save for this trip for quite some time. The saving part was the most important because with an exchange rate of 2 dollars for every one pound, London is about twice as expensive as it should be. We also looked hard to try and find the best deals on airline flights, hotel, and local transportation. Even with our best efforts, this trip was a bank buster. By the end of our time in London, Mindy had taken to calling me “Mr. Exchange Rate,” since every time she found something that was even remotely tempting, I would launch into a calculation of how much said object would “really cost.”
Given the careful planning, the preparation, and the costs involved in this trip, irony demanded that something had to go wrong. Well that something was the unexpected illness of one of our children. The day before we were to leave, Mose developed quite a fever. He had no other symptoms, really, but the fever was scary enough by itself. We wanted to take him to the doctor before we left, but our doctor was away on vacation (hey, that was our idea first!). After some discussion, we decided to continue with our plan and hope that we wouldn’t need to take Mose to a doctor in London.
Transportation in London was relatively inexpensive, easy to figure out, and available to and from basically anywhere. We used the subway (the Underground, or the Tube) exclusively because there was a Tube station about 50 meters from our hotel and there were Tube stations within walking distance of everyplace we wanted to go. There were many things about riding the Tube that were memorable. You see LOTS of interesting people, the trains run frequently, and everything is in ENGLISH!!!! Well, sort of. We did grow quite fond of hearing the nice lady with the British accent telling us to “Mind the gap.”
The trip to London was relatively uneventful, unless you count our worry for Mose. We took a late flight on Monday evening that got us into London at about bedtime. We found our way to the Tube, rode the train to the stop nearest our hotel, and exited the station. It was a wonderful thing to discover that our hotel was just across the street from the Tube station. Boy that sure made things convenient! The hotel was not plush, but they did have a family room that slept 5. My estimation is that having a family room cut our lodging costs in half. We did a bit of unpacking that night and promptly set off to bed in the hopes of being sufficiently rested for the big Tuesday we had planned.
Tuesday – Natural History Museum
We took our time getting up and ready on Tuesday morning. The Natural History Museum didn’t open until mid-morning, so there was no need to rush. The hotel we were staying at offered a free breakfast (toast, juice, corn flakes, and bran flakes), but they also offered a full English breakfast. The full English breakfast look very nice, but it was also very expensive. We decided that since we would be having five breakfasts at the hotel, that we would each of us have the full English breakfast on one day. Tuesday was for me!
The Natural History Museum was walking distance from our hotel, so after breakfast we sauntered down the road in the direction of the museum. On the way, we encountered Lord Baden Powell House. For those of you who do not have Scouting aged sons, Lord Baden Powell is the founder of the Scouting movement. I believe the building was a youth hostel, but we didn’t actually go inside to check. Instead we took pictures of the statue out front and of the Scout symbol on the side of the building.
Despite our leisurely pace, we still arrived at the museum before it opened. A queue was forming but we wandered about looking at the architecture and reading the posters that seemed to be everywhere. Most of the posters were about a special butterfly house that was open for a limited time outside of the museum. After our wandering, we found our way back to the queue and lined up. Just for the record, entry into the Natural History Museum is free, which is good because every Pound costs about 2 dollars.
In my humble opinion, the dinosaur exhibits at the Natural History Museum were the best that I have seen anywhere! They were truly amazing! We also looked at mammals, reptiles, and fish. I’m not quite clear how we missed the bugs, but I suspect it might have something to do with the fact that none of us really like bugs very much.
We only spent about 2 and a half hours in the museum itself. The butterfly thing looked interesting, so we eventually found our way out to the queue for buying tickets. Yep, the bad news on this one is that it wasn’t free. The queue was about 45 minutes just to get the tickets, but there was not much of a wait once we got started through the maze that led to the butterfly house. The maze was actually pretty cool. There was a lot of information about butterflies and the best part is it was all in English! Yeah!
The butterfly house itself was also very cool! It was hot. It was humid. It was outrageously crowded. But all of that was OK, because there were thousands of butterflies of different shapes, sizes, and colors everywhere. Once again, none of us are really bug people, but we did get Cory and Sara to allow a butterfly on their hands. Mose didn’t like that idea, but he did hold a paper card with a butterfly on it. That’s as close as he wanted to get.
By early afternoon, Mose’s fever was coming back so we opted to take the afternoon off in the hopes that Mose would be better for Wednesday. We really needed him better for Wednesday, because that was going to be a big day for us. We went back to the hotel, the kids watched TV in English, and I went looking for a local grocery store and discovered Sainsbury’s.
For dinner Tuesday night, we ate at the Indian restaurant right there in the hotel. Mindy has had Indian food before and she thinks it’s wonderful. For me and the kids, though, this was our first experience. I had some sort of lamb dish which was pretty good, but then the server asked if I would care for some Indian condiments and I said sure. There was a mint sauce which was OK, but when I tried the lamb with the mango-chutney stuff, I thought I had died and gone straight to heaven. The kids weren’t quite as thrilled with their food as I was with mine, but it was still a very good dinner overall.
Wednesday – Royal Academy of Arts and Wicked at the Apollo Victoria
Wednesday was Sara’s day for the full English breakfast. She rather enjoyed it except for the beans. The one truly surprising thing about the full English breakfast was they served it with what were essentially Pork-N-Beans. I enjoyed them the day before, but Sara worked her way around them.
Wednesday was an important day because we were going to see the exhibit title “From Russia” at the Royal Academy of Arts, and we were going to see the play “Wicked” at the Apollo Victoria Theater. Mose was not quite well yet, but he was getting better. We wanted to see “From Russia” because they were showing primarily Impressionist works from the Pushkin Museum and the Hermitage in Russia. I have not real desire to visit Russia, so seeing this exhibit seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity. “Wicked” was recommended to us by friends who had gone to see it as a family also and had thought it was marvelous.
“From Russia” was not free, but it wasn’t very expensive. We probably could have walked there from our hotel, but we took the tube anyway. We arrived shortly after it opened, but there was already a queue. The exhibit was well worth the queue, the cost of entry, and even the trip to England. It was positively stunning! Mindy and I have both always enjoyed the French Impressionists and it is mind blowing to me to be able to stand in front of those works. It was amazing how many of these pictures Mindy had studied while she was in college. Her comment was almost always the same…”It looks so much different, so much better in person.” I myself have never been a fan of Paul Gauguin, but now that I have seen some of his works in person I find that I like him even less. Yuck!
Art is fascinating for Mindy and I, but the kids were not too thrilled. There always seem to be a lot of naked women on the walls of art exhibits, so we only spent a couple of hours dragging the kids around the Academy. At around lunchtime we went looking for, and of course found, a McDonalds. To be honest I have never felt much better about McDonalds than I have about Gauguin, but with the exchange rate as it was I was quite happy to find a place where would could all eat for about $40. I think that by the time we finally leave Europe, we will have experienced the very best and worst that McDonalds has to offer around the world! Oh, on this day they were pretty good.
The McDonalds we found was in a train station that was just across the street from the Apollo Victoria Theater. We were too early to pick up our tickets, so after lunch we just kind of wandered for a while. The tickets were available soon enough and eventually we made it in and to our seats. Our seats were in the front of the back section on the right hand side. One nice feather of this theater was that you can “rent” opera glasses for 50 pence, or about a dollar. We rented 3 sets, which pretty much allowed each of us to have a set whenever we felt we needed one. We were allowed to take photos before the show, so we had quite a bit of fun just goofing off with the camera.
The show was just as good as our friends had said it would be! The music was delightful, the storyline was engaging, and the cast was very talented. Mindy and I went to New York once and saw a play on Broadway, but it was even better having all of us together at the theater in London. Events like this make memories that last forever. Sara, of all of us, enjoyed the show the most. We have a CD of the music and I don’t think she has willingly listened to anything else since then. Wow!
Once the show was over, we found our way back to the hotel. After we had rested up a bit, we wandered down to Sainsbury’s (the grocery store) and wandered about marveling at how very American the store seemed. They even had Oreos! We all picked up a pre-made sandwich, some crisps (I think that’s what the English call potato chips) and a few drinks and headed back to the hotel for dinner in the room and a bit more English TV.
Thursday – The Tower of London and Kensington Park
Thursday was a bit of a lighter day since the only major event we had planned was the Tower of London. If there was sufficient time, we were also going to wander a bit around Kensington Park. Mindy had the full English breakfast, the rest of us had toast and cereal, and then we headed for the Tube station and off to the Tower of London.
For Mose and Cory, the Tower of London was the highlight of the entire week and for the rest of us it was pretty darn close. The first thing we noticed when we arrived at the Tower was that it wasn’t a tower. It was more like a castle. As usual, we were early and so we spent some time looking around outside and taking pictures of the London skyline.
Once inside, we spent about 45 minutes just walking around. We went in and looked at the Royal Jewels, but while the “bling” was impressive it wasn’t especially interesting. What was interesting was the tour that we took once we were done. The tour was led by one of the Beefeaters by the name of Mark. Mark was absolutely the best thing about our time at the Tower. His tour was informative, interesting, and very often funny, for example when he joked about Henry the VIII promising Anne Bolin that he would love her for as long as she lived. The humor was sometime macabre, but I suppose I rather enjoy that.
The tour took about an hour or so, but the time went by very quickly. After the tour we went into the White Tower to view the Armory and to see all of the swords and spears and armor and such. There were two places in the Armory that we found especially fascinating. First was an exhibit about chain mail armor, featuring a full leg chain mail covering, but also including a modern metal glove as commonly used in the meatpacking industry. The leg piece was interesting because you could pick it up and feel the weight and look at the way the links were woven together. The lady there explained that children were often employed to put the chainmail together since they had small, nimble fingers. The metal glove was fun because you could put it on and have some feeling for the protection offered by metal links even today. The second interesting exhibit was a room with interactive displays or ancient weapons. It explained the various uses of various weapons and also included fun things to do like testing your ability to pull an English Longbow or trying to handle a sword hilt while wearing leather and metal gauntlets. Cool!
The Tower of London was a lot of fun, but we eventually got to the point where we felt like we had seen enough. And it was at that point that we embarked upon a quest for what was to be the worst meal we would have in London, the worst meal we have had in Europe, and possibly even the worst meal we have had at any place and at any time. Just outside the Tower of London were a couple of small food stands, both of which offered fish and chips. Now fish and chips is a meal I had very much wanted to enjoy while in England, which is why I insisted that we go to one of the food stands instead of to the Subway just a short distance further. Well I ordered the fish and chips and it was everything I could do to choke the darn stuff down. The fish was greasy, the fries were cold and stale, and my meal was much better than the hot dog that Mose got. I’m not sure if the hot dog was made of pork, beef, or chicken, but I rather doubt it. The mustard they served looked positively artificial and the bun was stale to the point of being crispy! Now just to be fair, Cory rather enjoyed the burger he got, although I thought it looked horrible. And the worst part of all of it is that we paid for that nasty food in Pounds, each one of which is worth 2 dollars!!!! AAAAARRRRGGGG!!!!!!
After getting back to the hotel and doing our best to recover from the awful lunch, we headed out on foot to enjoy the afternoon at Kensington Park, which was just down the road from out hotel. I don’t know about you, but when I think of a park, I think of slides and swing sets and fun things for people to do. That’s not the kind of park that Kensington Park is, though. I suppose that in the Queen’s English, park means green grass and no buildings. Kensington Park was massive and crisscrossed with so many paths and trails that we brought along a map to try not to get too lost. When we were done, we took the Tube home rather than attempt the long walk back to where we started.
Our stated objective in going to Kensington Park was two-fold: we wanted to let the kids have some time outside of a museum to possibly run and play and such, and we wanted to see the famous statue of Peter Pan. The park was adequate, although not ideal, for the first purpose. There was only one playground in the entire park and it was clearly designed for kids aged 5 and under. That didn’t really slow Cory or Sara down very much, but Mose (now 13) this was a great disappointment. There were a lot of wide open spaces, though, and the kids did manage to “run” themselves ragged. The Peter Pan statue was nice enough, but after arriving there I did begin to wonder if it was worth the effort. The park, though, was beautiful and I do think the kids enjoyed being outside for a while after all of the inside time we had enjoyed up to that point.
Friday – National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum
By the time Friday had rolled around we had developed a rather consistent routine and were getting around rather well, in my opinion. Cory had the full English breakfast, which was probably a bit too much food for him, and the rest of us did just fine with our toast and cereal. After breakfast we crossed the street to the Tube station and set off for the National Gallery
The National Gallery is right off of Trafalgar Square, and to be honest the square was impressive enough by itself to make the trip worthwhile. We arrived before the crowds and so we had so pretty good photo opportunities. We didn’t take any photos inside the gallery, but the paintings were stunning. It is always better to see art in person.
About lunchtime we went back to the hotel, grabbed some lunch at KFC, and then walked down the road to the Victoria and Albert Museum (or the V&A). The V&A is a museum quite different from any other museum I have experienced. It’s not an art museum, nor a museum of technology, nor a museum of fashion. I suppose, though, that it seemed like a cross between all of those things.
Mindy especially enjoyed the dresses on display from previous decades or centuries. Mose was bold enough to accompany her, but he seemed to hold up OK. Sara, Cory, and I took the opportunity to be museum investigators. We received investigator kits from a desk near the entrance to the museum and headed to one of the top floors of the museum looking for a gallery that housed different types of antique furniture. Our first task was to go through the gallery looking for different types of material (leather, marble, wood, velvet), then we had to create a stable chair using plastic straws and connectors, and lastly we did a puzzle in the shape of a window from a gothic cathedral.
There was a second quest in our kits that involved listening to a CD and searching for various sculptures in an adjacent gallery. For example, one story on the CD was of the mythical Minotaur and the associated task was to find the Minotaur sculpture in the gallery. My feeling is that for Cory and Sara, the V&A was one of the best museum experiences they have had. Mindy had a wonderful time while we were there, but for Mose it was not that good.
Dinner that night was good. We ate at an Italian place just down the road from our hotel. It wasn’t cheap, but the food was very good.
Saturday – Harrods, Shopping, and Home
Saturday was our day to head home. Mose had the full English breakfast, and then we packed our bags and checked out of our room. The hotel agreed to watch over our luggage for us so that we could make one last outing before heading to the airport for our evening flight back to Germany. Our friend Cari had told us that the Harrod’s department store an experience in and of itself, so we hopped in the Tube, wandered a bit, and eventually came across Harrod’s. That store was the biggest, most expensive, most extravagant store I have ever been in and I have never felt more out of place while shopping. I don’t think there were 3 items in the whole store that I could have afforded, and even if I could I still wouldn’t buy them because they were so grossly overpriced! Granted, the displays and the décor were stunning, but it was not a store for us.
The two things in Harrod’s that we did very much enjoy were both demonstrations. In the toy section was a lady demonstrating some kind of sticker creation kit. The darned thing was 20 Pounds ($40), so I never would have bought it, but it was interesting to watch her create a custom sticker using various films and such. We also saw a demonstration of the game Mario Kart Wii. Everyone but Mindy took a turn and all of us were convinced that it was a game that someday we must have. That, my friends, is very effective marketing. The only reason we didn’t walk out with one is because it wouldn’t have worked with our US system.
For lunch we hit McDonald’s again. Man, I love McDonalds! The food is never spectacular, but it is remarkably consistent, and best of all it’s cheap! After lunch it was time for one more ride on the Tube, but this time back to the airport. Our flight was in the early evening, which means that when we finally got back home, it was quite late.
Overall, London was everything we hoped it would be. The museums were spectacular, the food was expensive, the public transportation was easy, and the memories we made were wonderful. Although, I still think we like Ireland better!
Would you like to see more pictures? LOTS more pictures?
Photos from London
The Dachau Concentration Camp
I like Germany. In fact I like it a lot. I have always found our German friends and neighbors to be friendly and helpful. It is easy, being surrounded by such wonderful people, to forget the horrific crimes perpetrated by the German’s during WWII. Now that Mindy and I have visited a concentration camp, remembering will be easier.
In early May, the Equal Employment Opportunity office planned a bus trip to the Dachau Concentration Camp in Bavaria. Our entire family had been to the village of Dachau before, when we went to the Deutsches Museum in Munich. We didn’t go to the camp, though, and I would still be disinclined to take my children to such a place. Mindy’s friend simply says that Dachau is evil and refuses to go there.
Dachau was the first such camp established by the National Socialists. Over time it became the model camp that set the standard for how such a camp should be managed. Dachau never became a death camp like Auschwitz, but that does not mean that it was a summer camp either. Gas chambers were built, but not used and when coal was available, the crematorium ran day and night.
Once at the Camp, we each received an audio guide, which is basically just a audio player with easily accessible audio content. There are numbered signs around the Camp. When you see something interesting, you just punch in the number and the audio guide begins to speak. There were commentaries from former prisoners and from liberators (Americans who participated in the liberation of the Camp in 1945). The commentaries were fascinating and sometimes disturbing. I remember one in particular from a liberator. He spoke about walking around the village of Dachau after the Camp had been liberated. Everyone he spoke to proclaimed that they really didn’t know what was going on behind the fences, yet they surely saw the trains full of prisoners and they surely smelled the smoke from the crematorium. The greatest crime in Dachau, I fear, was that so many people simply chose not to notice the evil taking place right under their noses.
One of the most moving buildings was the bunker. The bunker was actually a prison block with a single long hallway with cells on both sides. The cells had the original doors on many of them, which gave the place an authentic, intimidating feel. In many of the cells there were quotes projected onto the cell wall from prisoners who had been in the bunker.
In addition to the bunker, we went through a museum and through a “block where prisoners were housed. We learned that Dachau was used to hold political prisoners, priests, ministers, dissidents, and “undesirables.” We also learned that camps such as Dachau were sold to the public as “work camps.” The sign on the iron gate leading into the camp says “Arbeit machts frei,” or work makes one free. In truth, the camps ended up providing free labor that helped the Nazi’s continue their war. The living conditions and the sanitary conditions were deplorable and disease often ravaged the prison population.
Toward the middle front of the Camp was a most extraordinary sculpture. It was black and very large and when I first looked at it, I couldn’t decide if it was a barbed-wire fence or a mass of human bodies. Closer examination revealed that it was both. The emaciated arms and legs were wires and the outstretched hands and feet were like extended barbs. It was both beautiful and terrible.
My only real complaint about the entire trip was that it was too short. There was more to see and experience than we had time for, given the long bus ride home that we faced. I’m not sure that I would want to go back again, though. It was a very heavy day and I left feeling sad for those who had suffered there and distressed that such evil could be perpetrated here. I’m glad that I did it, but I wouldn’t want to do it again.
Would you like to see more pictures?
Photos from Dachau
Rick Astley in Concert
Mindy loves music, which makes choosing an anniversary present a very easy thing some times. Last year, you might recall, I bought Mindy tickets to see Michael Buble` in concert. The concert wasn’t until October, but I still took full credit for a good anniversary gift. This past January we came across a website that indicated that Rick Astley would be performing as part of the “Then and Now Tour,” which featured a range of acts that were popular in the 1980’s. We certainly wanted to go, but the only problem was that the nearest venue on the tour was in Birmingham, England. The date for the Birmingham show was 17 May and so I once again bought my wife concert tickets for an anniversary present.
When May finally rolled around, we had bought plane tickets, booked a hotel, and arranged for friends to look after our children. The concert was on a Saturday evening, so we flew to Birmingham on Saturday morning. I had checked on public transportation in Birmingham before we left, but I wasn’t able to make sense of the system from what they had available on the internet. I thought it would be OK, though; surely I would be able to figure it out once we got there! Unfortunately, the reason I couldn’t figure things out from the website was not because the website was poor, but because the transportation system in Birmingham is fundamentally indecipherable! The only way we ever found our way to our hotel was because I, gasp, asked for directions. The directions we received got us to the main station easily enough, but once there I couldn’t figure out which line to get on to get to our next station. The missing line seemed to be managed by a company called “Walk.” It was only when I AGAIN asked for directions that we were informed that we needed to walk from one station to a different station in order to catch the train that went to our hotel. They said there would be signs leading the way, and they did…for almost half of the distance. At that point the signs ceased and we were left once again to my feeble sense of direction. Finally I asked YET AGAIN for directions. What we were told was something like “go into that shopping mall, there, then go downstairs and exit on the far side.” We did eventually make it to our hotel, but my skill at navigating public transportation in an English speaking nation did very little, I’m afraid, to impress the pretty girl I was with.
I am sorry to report that I have now had two trips to England without a decent meal of fish and chips. In Birmingham, though, I did enjoy a very good plate of Japanese noodles. While trying to find a place to eat, we came across a place called “Wagamama.” At first I thought it was an Indian restaurant, but when we took a closer look, we discovered that they specialized in Japanese noodles. There was a line at the door, but with a name like “Wagamama,” I just didn’t think we could pass it up for someplace less busy. The line moved very quickly, though, and we were seated sooner than we expected. I had fried noodles and Mindy had some spicy ramen soup and it was all wonderful. Not only that, but the prices were reasonable. Reasonable! And it wasn’t even McDonalds!
The concert on Saturday evening was wonderful! We arrived early, because that is what we do. We were there early enough that we first had to wait for the venue to even open. Once that happened, we also had time to buy a souvenir program, eat some pizza, and watch almost every other person arrive. When the show finally did start, it was worth every bit of cost and effort. Their were seven acts all together; Cutting Crew, Johnny Hates Jazz, Curiosity Killed the Cat, ABC, Paul Young, Bananarama, and Rick Astley. The came out in that order and each act performed slightly longer than the act before it. Cutting Crew did only three songs, but Rick Astley must have done almost 10.
For me the best part was Curiosity Killed the Cat. I don’t think I have ever heard of this group (well…person) before, but the music was very good. Plus the guy was just a really good dancer. For Mindy, the highlight was clearly hearing Rick Astley. She has been a fan for years and I believe she owns every album he has ever released. He stopped touring a long time ago, so even though Mindy has liked him forever, she has simply never had the chance to see him before. His voice was wonderful. He was funny and self deprecating, and overall entertaining. All in all it was one of the best concert experiences that we have ever had.
Just for the record, Birmingham is a pit. The concert ended about 11:00p, which didn’t seem to late. The one thing we had left to do that day was to find our way home. It wasn’t easy finding our way back to the train station. Eventually we followed the crowds and found it. My impression is that there are a lot of drunk people riding trains in Birmingham on Saturday nights. We rode the train back to the main station, took the walk to the other station, and ran when we saw that there was a train at the platform. We got on the train just before it left, and it’s a good thing we did since when we arrived at the station near our hotel, the security person was their waiting with the gate half closed. As we passed through, he locked up, so I guess we barely caught the last train of the night.
We spent some time on Sunday walking around and waiting for the time to come to fly home. We had checked out of the hotel on Sunday morning and found our way back to the train station near the hotel only to discover that it was locked up. Further investigation revealed that while there are some trains that run on Sunday, our train wasn’t among them. We therefore walked back to the hotel and called for a taxi to the main train station. There was a nice mall in the center of Birmingham, but just about everything else we saw around Birmingham seemed old, decrepit, and decaying. Even the graffiti seemed to have been painted years ago during brighter times. I’m afraid that Birmingham left me unimpressed.
Stuttgart – Wilhelma: Botanical Gardens and Zoo
OK, just one more and then I really need to be done. Just last weekend, we went with our friend Doreen (Hi, Doreen!) to Stuttgart to see the zoo and botanical gardens at a place called Wilhelma. The star attraction there is a baby polar bear named Wilbaer. It’s kind of like Wilber except the w sounds like a v and there is a long a sound in the second syllable. I think that the name is supposed to be a bit of wordplay on the name of the place (Wilhelma) and the fact that he is a bear; hence Wilbaer. The whole point is that polar bear cubs are cute and this was a chance to see one.
The first thing we encountered when we got to Wilhelma was a set of greenhouses. I’ve never been to a botanical garden before, but if this is what they are like I am sold! It was absolutely stunning. They had desert plants, tropical plants, orchids, flowers, palms, and more. Mindy was our acting camera operator and she had a field day. We have more than 300 pictures from our time at Wilhelma and I bet that more than two hundred of them are just of the plants and stuff we saw in the botanical gardens.
Yes, there were other things besides plants. I seem to recall seeing lots of birds and a two-toed sloth. Some of the monkeys were fun to watch. There were elephants (that we only saw from a distance), giraffes, and the peacocks were not the least bit shy (or quiet). Of the animals, though, Wilbaer was the star. When we got to the place where he and his mother reside, there were signs that seemed to indicate how long we would need to wait. My assumption was that the bears came out every once in a while and that we just had to stand there until that happened. Well we learned that my assumption was wrong. Wilbaer and his mother were just on the other side of a large rock, right were we couldn’t see them. They were there for the entire half hour or so that we spent waiting for them to appear. Once we figured out what was going on, we worked our way to a better vantage point and finally got our view. Sure enough, Wibaer was cute!
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Photos from Wilhelma
Zig-Zagging Thoughts
Mose recently had 2 more permanent teeth pulled. This means that Mose this year has lost a grand total of 12 teeth; 10 came out with some help from the dentist (four of which were permanent) and the other two came out on their own…well one did, at least. One came out because Mindy reached in and grabbed it. She’s real good about such things, although Mose was none too thrilled! Sara is still in braces, but the transformation we have already seen has been stunning. Is orthodontia expensive? Yes! Is it worth it? I certainly has been for my daughter! Cory currently has two loose front teeth. Mindy is anxious to get them out! Not because she wants Cory to begin working on growing some permanent teeth, but just because she likes to pull them!
The kids are officially done with school now. Cory did very well and is an excellent reader. Sara got straight A’s during the fourth quarter and made Principal’s Honor Roll. I didn’t quite burst with pride, but I was pretty darn close.
Mose attended a thing called the Tech Fair earlier in the spring. He came home with multiple prizes and awards. Apparently he has been a genius all along and we have always just thought he was a nice kid. He and a partner worked on a bridge that took the top prize for the bridge building competition. Yes, I know…pride is a sin, but how can I help myself! These kids are just wonderful!
Seminary is over for the year and so I am growing my beard as quickly as I can. It looks like I will be teaching Seminary next year also, which makes me very, very happy. Sure it’s a challenge having a lesson ready every day (on top of a full time job), but I have never had a church assignment that was so completely satisfying. I’d be glad to do this forever! Um...well...as long as I can always have the summers off.
And of course in just a few days we will be heading stateside for 5 weeks of running around and trying to see everyone we can. I fully expect that this trip will be an adventure of such magnitude that it will merit an entry in and of itself. If you are on the list of folks in California, Utah, Nevada, or Idaho that we are coming to see, then know that we are anxious to see you. For all of those that we won’t be able to see this time, know that we love you and miss you and we will find our way back to the east coast eventually.
Zig-Zagging Thoughts
Mose recently had 2 more permanent teeth pulled. This means that Mose this year has lost a grand total of 12 teeth; 10 came out with some help from the dentist (four of which were permanent) and the other two came out on their own…well one did, at least. One came out because Mindy reached in and grabbed it. She’s real good about such things, although Mose was none too thrilled! Sara is still in braces, but the transformation we have already seen has been stunning. Is orthodontia expensive? Yes! Is it worth it? I certainly has been for my daughter! Cory currently has two loose front teeth. Mindy is anxious to get them out! Not because she wants Cory to begin working on growing some permanent teeth, but just because she likes to pull them!
The kids are officially done with school now. Cory did very well and is an excellent reader. Sara got straight A’s during the fourth quarter and made Principal’s Honor Roll. I didn’t quite burst with pride, but I was pretty darn close.
Mose attended a thing called the Tech Fair earlier in the spring. He came home with multiple prizes and awards. Apparently he has been a genius all along and we have always just thought he was a nice kid. He and a partner worked on a bridge that took the top prize for the bridge building competition. Yes, I know…pride is a sin, but how can I help myself! These kids are just wonderful!
Seminary is over for the year and so I am growing my beard as quickly as I can. It looks like I will be teaching Seminary next year also, which makes me very, very happy. Sure it’s a challenge having a lesson ready every day (on top of a full time job), but I have never had a church assignment that was so completely satisfying. I’d be glad to do this forever! Um...well...as long as I can always have the summers off.
And of course in just a few days we will be heading stateside for 5 weeks of running around and trying to see everyone we can. I fully expect that this trip will be an adventure of such magnitude that it will merit an entry in and of itself. If you are on the list of folks in California, Utah, Nevada, or Idaho that we are coming to see, then know that we are anxious to see you. For all of those that we won’t be able to see this time, know that we love you and miss you and we will find our way back to the east coast eventually.
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