the little travelers * travel notes

family footsteps

Both of my parents are German immigrants.  My dad first came to Canada, then Chicago to Berkley and then down to the LA area.  My mom came to New York and then to LA, where she soon after met my dad.

In Bremerhaven, Germany they have set up a new Immigrants Museum that was fantastic.  It mostly highlighted the immigrant from the early 1900's rather than the 1960's when my parents came but it was great for the kids to see the process of how many immigrants came to this country and how they got here. 

They had some really great luggage around here!

This was 3rd class and I absolutely cannot imagine sleeping in one of these cabins with children for 6 weeks!  Imagine all the vomit that would all over the place.  uh.

Such a different life than the immigrants that came before us...

This was the Ellis Island portion and they had all sorts of personal stories to listen to on headphones that were all quite powerful.  Many having to do with loss and hope for a new life.  It's good to put our current economic 'crisis' into perspective when we think about many of our ancestors who had to come here, build houses, plant crops and work 24/7 to make it.  Many of us today are complaining about not being able to eat out as much these days.  We all really have it so easy compared to generations past.  Thank goodness!!

pirate festival

Up in the north of Germany, in a little seaside town called Cuxhaven, is where my mom grew up.  While visiting up there we had loads of fun learning about pirate lore.  The tide in that area goes way out and many ships were stranded and raided by pirates steering unsuspecting voyagers in the wrong direction.  It is said that there are still mountains of gold hidden away somewhere along the shore here.  

So we thought taking in a pirate festival would be a grand thing to do!  There were so many cute ideas here that would easily translate into a school's festival or a birthday party.

Sword making

I thought roasting bread was ingenious!  Such a great alternative to marshmallows.  And this is a great patience builder as it took about 15 minutes for the bread to bake.  This is why Europeans are so different than Americans!  No American child would be expected to wait a whole 15 minutes while during his bread dough.  (outside of Waldorf schools, that is)

 

We had to exchange out money for pirate money and had to pay for all food and crafts with this currency instead.  Wood money, cloth bag.

Bandana activity

Super fun day of pirating!

what time zone am I in???

After much flying back and forth, packing up a U-HAUL with my Mom and unloading LOTS of boxes and furniture I finally got my computer plugged back in and dug up my little drive with a few photos of the fairy tale tour on it.  We had a really fun time and would not mind one bit if I were Rapunzel for a year or so locked up in that tower of hers!  

The view from that place was so peaceful and restful to me...  just looking at it again after the hustle and bustle of New York and driving across the desert makes me want to say, "Aaaahhhhhhh..."

There were lots of lovely views out of little windows from quaint hotel rooms.

And in this castle apparently answering the question at the front desk during check-in, "Is that Ms. or Mrs.?" with a "Definitely Ms." and a bat of the eye-lashes was the right thing to do since the man asking set up the banquet room downstairs usually reserved for weddings just for us!  score.  The kids had sooo much fun- as did the adults.

'Quaint' and 'picturesque' sum up the entire trip.  We visited Hansel and Gretel's  and Snow White's forests, Sleeping Beauty and Rapulzel's castles, Hameln to see the Pied Piper's town, and the house where the brothers Grimm lived.  

Being back just over a week I miss it already.  Particularly going to New York City right after where I walked by a few schools with not even one single tree or blade of grass growing on the entire campus.  There was so much greenery in Germany even in the big cities- it would be nice if we could incorporate more of that into more of our cities here.

Here's one for the humor files.  Who can imagine a group of moms sitting around in a 'kegel arena'  all doing kegels together!  hahahaha...  Something my midwife would be real happy about I'm sure!  "Did you do your kegels today??"  

last day in Berlin

Today is already our last day here in Berlin.  We're packed up and ready to hit the road for a few weeks and then head back home for a bit.  Here are a few things I will miss about this city:

My morning walks around the lake.  This little path was definitely love at first sight even though it had little ice pockets on it when we first arrived and no color around whatsoever.  Every day the love has grown deeper as it has put on quite a show in the last few weeks!

The path is fabulous in the early morning all alone but equally charming later in the day with the entire brood.

I have loved watching this little 'lake' (to me a big pond- but it is technically a lake on the map) go from cracked ice to lush green complete with lily pads!  We've only seen lily pads in Asia before this so it's a funny change of reference for us.  They seem so perfect in a Balinese temple or Japanese garden- but are equally lovely in a German pond in the city.

I will miss bringing left over breakfast to poor broken foot here.  The poor duck can only swim in circles due to his broken or malformed leg.  He still has that patient little look on his face when trying to swim towards food in the water but just goes in circles.  All of our aim has improved by trying to get it as close as possible to him.

I will certainly miss watching these little darlings grow up.

I'll miss this crazy dude watching me while at the park with the kids. And of course it goes without saying will miss all the fabulous parks this city has to offer.  I've never been a huge fan of parks or kids playgrounds but must say I'm a convert.  The kids have had so much fun on these playgrounds in the past few months.

I'll miss the sidewalk outside of our apartment.  These days whenever we go anywhere we are rolled out the pink carpet, which I think is even more fabulous than a red one.  I took a landscaping class back in college where one whole lesson was one choosing trees with minimal 'tree litter.'  Can you imagine anything more depressing?  Tree litter??  This must be why Southern California feels so stale and over planned.  I love all the tree litter happening around here these days.  There is a huge tree outside of my brother's work where his co-workers told him that he shouldn't park under during the summer months because it drops a sap that ruins car paint- so no one parks there.  I guarantee if that happened in LA, the city would be sued and the tree removed.  

I will definitely miss the tree litter.

I will miss all the kids peeing in the bushes at the park- not only ours but lots of others as well.  It is the common bathroom with no fuss about it.

I'll miss the gorgeous lampposts,

and street signs.

And the knock out landmarks around each corner. (Some things just look more suitable to b & w, don't they?)

I'll miss downtown city sidewalks that look like this.

And bike paths like this- though I do not even have a bike here!  I just imagine myself biking on these paths and love that the sidewalks are bike free!  With a bunch of kids it so nice to not have to watch out because this is definitely a biking culture here, which is another thing I will miss.

I will miss this city with its rather illustrious past.  Here we have the old Checkpoint Charlie- hardly recognizable since the last time I was here nearly 20 years ago.

And here the last bit of The Berlin Wall they've kept up as a memorial.  I was here in 1990 when the wall was being torn down.  Everyone was after bits of the wall and I thought I'd like to be different so took a piece of rebar that you can see sticking out through the wall here.  I still have it in some box in storage somewhere.  Luckily my mom was here a few months before me and brought home bags of pieces of the wall so I was able to glue a bunch of small shards around a frame of my backpacking pal Jenny and myself standing in front of a section under deconstruction.  They are still selling small pieces as souvenirs. 

I will miss being in this city that has taken a hard hit and recovered.

I'll miss grand architecture around every corner.

I'll miss the flea markets with gobs of gorgeous books for sale.  Even though I purchase none of them because I have a daughter with a dust mite allergy- and they absolutely adore old books.  I just love the way they look.

So many great things about this city that we bid farewell today.  I hope someday to be back and play in its midst again.  But for now we're on our way to the land of the brothers Grimm.  Yup, we're going to be looking for some real life fairy tales.

With guidebook in hand we will say our good-byes for a bit.  We'll be taking a little blogging break as I do not want to concern myself with finding little inns with high speed internet.  We're going to try to get as lost as possible into the woods of Snow White, Hansel & Gretel and The Frog Prince.  We'll see you on the other side.

Rainy Days

Our third day of rain in a row so we've been busy inside these days.

We thought we'd brighten up the inside a bit with some happy dishtowels.  The one on the left is by the big sister (age 9).  I'm really happy that she loves to stitch and does not work from patterns.  She tends to love rules and order so her just picking up a needle and thread and having a vague sense of what she wants to do and then realizing it is a very fun thing to watch.

Mine is in process on the right with bottom trim and wild paisleys to still come.  I also work freeform just seeing what happens as I go.

Here's something from cousin Emma (9 yrs) who chose something a bit more abstract.  This is called 'snow storm.'  

We also had a birthday in the house this week so the 7 year old whipped up this number which reads, "Happy Birthday Cora."  It's a bit tough to read with the super light pink but she made this all on her own- didn't even ask for help threading the needle, which she normally does.  I was really impressed with her flower and this is the first I've seen her do lettering.  She wanted to work on it as a surprise and then gave it in secret to her newly 3 yr old cousin.  After she gave it to her she came to me and showed it to me and said, "I gave it to Cora, but she didn't like it so I think I'll take out the letters and make something else for myself now."  This is when I'm so impressed with my littles that it almost makes me want to cry.  She was so unattached to her very honest little cousin telling her she didn't want it so just thought of what to do next.  There was no lamenting over the past or crying about it or hurt feelings of any sort.  Oh, how I wish I could respond that like to my good intentions that aren't received with the reaction I'd hoped for!!  This is one of those moments when our children really are our best teachers.

There's been a whole lot of game making going on as well.

The most amusing part of this rainy spell is the two older ones deciding to take ballet online.  They were inspired by a recent read of Ballet Shoes by Noel Steatfeild and then watching the movie afterward.  They dug up some very old ballet outfits from the dress-up box and downloaded a lesson taught by a rather stuffy elderly British woman.  It is good humor to watch these two in action.  We will definitely be checking out the other books in this series like Theatre Shoes, Tennis Shoes & Skating Shoes.

The old cliche about our children being our greatest teachers proves to be true so often in my life.  The older girls think they are ready to star in swan lake- they are so confident in their very minimal ballet skills and confidently move forward in their training.  The little one with her gift-giving rejection that didn't phase her.  There is so much for me to learn around here.  What have your children taught you this week?

ethics vs. religion

There is a big debate these days in Berlin over ethics and religion in school.  It is going to the ballots as to whether children will be taught religion or ethics.  Right now all children have mandatory ethics classes and the option to have religion class in addition.   But the religious parties want it to be ethics or religion, not religion in addition to ethics.  They feel that the ethics classes are watered down and remove the need for religion in a person's life- teaching that all you have to do it be a good person in life and that will be enough without the need for God.  

It's very interesting to watch this debate for the public school sector since we technically have separation of church and state in the US.  What are your thoughts?  Do you think mandatory ethics classes are a good idea in public school?  I know lots of you homeschool but for those of you that use curricula do you include ethics as a subject?  Or is it something you just sort of incorporate into your everyday lives?  And if so, how??

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Winner for the Family Travel Flicker Contest comes to us from The Five Mckays: This picture is sooo gorgeous- obviously speaks for itself.

Winner for the Global Crafts & Activities Flicker contest by HerbalT is:

Be sure to enter for your chance to win on of The Little Traveler's DVDs!

flea market

Just walking up to the row of stalls lined up along the river gets me in the mood.  Though we're not buying, just looking is its own delight.  That this flea market is set among the most inspiring architecture rather than a dusty parking lot is a huge bonus.

We have never seen twig pencils this big before!  The girls thought they looked a little impractical for drawing but I loved how they looked!

Windy scarves.

I love the two on the bike in the corner.  I fantasize about a time when I will come to Europe to simply buy art I love...

eating bunnies

Vegetarians don't read this post!  Yup, we ate rabbit.  Rabbit is in every grocery store here right next to the chicken and the pigs.  At first the girls were kind of grossed out by it- well, because:

But we've also had a pet chicken and regularly eat chicken.  We are an omnivorous family.  I've spend years as a vegetarian and most of college as a vegan, but I must say I definitely feel better, don't have anemia and feel more emotionally balanced when I eat meat, so I do.

This was my first time to cook rabbit and it was unusual getting used to seeing such different shapes of animal in the pot.  We used this recipe going for a french style rabbit.

We dredged and browned the rabbit, which did have an unusual order.

But once the onions, mushrooms, bacon and garlic were in all was well.

We had it with roast potatoes and lots of roast garlic.  I don't know about your kids, but mine absolutely cannot get enough garlic in their lives so I always tuck in a few extra heads around the side of the pan.

It came out of the oven looking like this and smelled incredible.  

Seven out of eight people in this house could subside entirely on this concoction- roasted garlic smeared on a fresh out of the oven loaf of 'farmer's bread.'  It went exceptionally well with the rabbit

and was heavenly dipped in the sauce.  This sauce was so good we saved it and used it over pan fried turkey fillets two days later.

Comments from the peanut gallery:

"Tastes kind of like chicken but a little different."

"Mmmm, I love it."

"When can we have it again?"

"It tastes like frog legs but at least it didn't come with blood pudding."  (memories of travels past!)

"It's ok, but I like chicken better."

In all, a successful meal.  Everyone ate it and most loved it.  I try not to get too wrapped up with ethics of food while traveling and really try to expose my girls to local ways of eating so they can make decisions and their own choices when the time comes.  

I often get asked how I 'get my kids to try new foods.'  I don't really have a good answer to this other than I have always offered different foods to them and am always trying new things myself.  I never used baby food or 'kid food' like boxes of frozen chicken nuggets for my kids.  I feed them foods I like to eat and since I have never craved a frozen, breaded reconstituted piece of chicken before it was not something that I was drawn to feed my kids.  I've never cooked separate foods for my kids and serve one dinner for everyone.  If there is something they do not like I do not make them eat it.  There will always be something that they can eat and if they only eat an apple while sitting at the table with us that's fine with me.  I do not mind if they go to the fridge and get a bowl of applesauce or yogurt if they're really hungry and something is particularly distasteful to them.  I've eaten rattle snack, beef penis, duck webs, pig uterus, bird saliva - but I can't stand peas.  They are actually pickier than I'd like but when compared to most American children I suppose I shouldn't complain because they do usually at least try new things.  

The flip side is that they are kind of food snobs at this point.  When we lived in Cali we lived directly behind a Wendy's.  One night when I was particularly pooped I said as we passed, "Let's just go through the drive-thru."  Oh, the protest that I heard, "No, that's disgusting!"  "I am not eating fast food."  "I'll totally get a stomach ache like last time (when a friend took her.)"  Then the 8 yr old said, "There's salmon in the freezer and it is not hard to put a little garlic and olive oil on a piece of fish and stick it in the oven."  So I was put right into place and fast food was not eaten for dinner!

Our current blessing that I'm really enjoying:

The silver rain,

The golden sun,

The fields where golden poppies run.

And all the ripples of the wheat

are in the bread (they've been substituting whatever wheat is in - pancakes, biscuits, tortillas) we love to eat.

So when we sit for every meal

and give our thanks we always feel

That we are eating rain and sun and fields where golden poppies run.

It took the older girls about 10 minutes to learn it and the 2 and  4 yr old about a week before they knew it completely.

the best things in life are free!

Like most cliches, this one became a cliche because it's true.  Being surrounded by so much beauty here these days I'm struck by the fact that it is free.  Even if I were the richest person on the planet the flowers would not be more beautiful than they are now.  I couldn't appreciate them more if I were dripping in monetary wealth.

It would not be more delicious to roll down a hill if we were rich than it is now.

Or the thrill of improving a cartwheel.

Trying to outrun a train,

dig a hole to China,

or have a little conversation with a sister.

All this talk of recession and lack, flues from pigs... - and yet the natural world is as abundant as ever.  

Abundant in color, texture, fragrance and sheer volume.  

The trees are not cutting back on their blossoms in preparation for what's to come, the branches are not leaving some limbs without leaves to stock up. 

 The flowers are not holding back their fragrance anticipating the worst.  

Swans are not building smaller nests just in case.

The natural world is as abundant and innovative as ever.  

These flowers are not deciding to bloom at half their size.  These will not only bloom next year the bulbs will multiply.

Spiders are still spinning as diligently as ever.

Right now the air here is full of life and potential.  Wherever we go blossoms are flying through the air.  Trees are dropping their seeds and dandelions are blowing in the wind.  When I stop and think about how each one of these little seeds could turn into a plant, flower or even a mighty old tree one day - it is staggering to think of the potential floating around here.  

The natural world is so wildly skewed towards abundance.  One tree puts off enough seeds in one season to create and entire forest.  But think about the life span of that tree and how many seeds it puts out.  

Think of a papaya or tomato and how many seeds are inside just one fruit.  It's absurd that anyone goes hungry in this world when the world itself is skewed towards wild abundance- no where near 'survival' or even replenishment.  The seeds from a single tomato could easily provide enough tomatoes for an entire family the following season.  The seeds from one tomato plant over the course of one season could provide enough for an entire community the following season.  

Maybe if we all run out of things that are distractions to us we will once again be able to pay a bit more attention to the natural world around us and enjoy it in all its glory.  We will again be focused on the things that are priceless.  Friendship, beauty, connection.

When there is so much overwhelming evidence all around us that all is well, why oh why is it so easy for us to focus on that which is not.  Perhaps if we just shift our attention on what is not only 'working' but really excelling and thriving on this planet we could watch and learn a thing or two.

And thank you April for fw this very interesting article from Newsweek on Nature and its effects on our psychological well-being.

big city living

I'm not a fan of big cities or living in them, but that being said, Berlin has to be more 'rural' and full of natural spots than any other smaller suburban places I've ever lived.  The Germans really value their green spaces and you don't have to go too far to get to a forest, a park or a green belt.  Last weekend we went to Britzer Garden for their Tulipan display.  This place is 90 acres!  When you climb up onto one of their hills you can see it surrounded by high rises.  This is in the city.

This is something I love here  and think every place in the world ought to adopt- public lounge chairs!  Those huge, industrial lounge chairs were the most comfy things ever.  I parked myself in one those for quite some time and nearly fell asleep.  The whole park had chairs and lounge chairs spread out all over the place.  We came here on Friday and spent 6 hours.  We were back Saturday morning at 9am for another 8 hours.  On Saturday we brought a picnic and books and planned to just hang out but there was still so much to see we hardly had any down time at all.  We did not even get to about 1/3 of the park.

The picture here shows the girls right when we arrived to this little spot.  About one minute after this photo was taken the girls all took off their pants so they could go deeper.  People near water in underwear is nothing to scoff at here- particularly in children.  There is no place in the US where a 9 year old could publicly play in her undies without a major uproar- perhaps even ending up with an arrest of the parents.  I was laying there feeling so happy to be here and so free and feeling like going back to the US would be a bit like going back to a prison of sorts when a group of Muslim girls entered the scene.

Berlin, being a major metropolis has a wide variety of ethnicities and nationalities living here.  They were of course fully covered and I was thinking back to myself just a few months ago needing to be fully covered to be outside in Iran.  When I thought of the US from Iran it felt like the freest place on earth and I looked forward to my return and now here I am sort of dreading it.  Everything is relative!!  But what I really do not understand about America is how we got to be so darn prudish!  I mean it was taken over by people seeking freedom!  It was founded upon the ideals of freedom- freedom of thought, expression and religion.  The people who left Europe and immigrated were those seeking greater freedom- so how did we ever get so darn uptight??  I was telling some Germans the other day about how parents had been arrested for taking naked pictures of their own children in the bath at home and how breast feeding in public is illegal in some states as well as G-string bikinis on many public beaches- not to mention going nude or topless!  Why are we so afraid of nudity??

So here are the clothing of some children who got wet in the creek- and you can just imagine the scene a few feet to the left, right?  Anyone having flashes of Pippi and clothes eating  cows?   Oh, and on the subject- we recently saw a bit of Pippi here and that scene had all the kids swimming in their undies and Anika was topless.  That was all edited out of the versions they showed on American TV.  crazy.

This place had it all!

There were little play areas spread out all over the place and again - some of the most innovative play structures I've ever seen.

Bumper swings.  Yup, when everyone swings just right they bump in the middle.

These were rubbery, slippery, bouncy, trampoline like things.  If you jumped from one level to the next with someone else standing in the right spot you could really launch them straight up into the air.

This was rigged up to go in all directions.  They also used it sitting with half of the girls sitting in one direction and half the other- and both could pump in opposite directions.  Little kids were straddling the rope and going side to side.  I think this is brilliant.

Need I say anything about this!  Hours were spent here.

Note the boy in the background walking a tightrope. We've noticed these a lot here too.  In the forest people brought their own and tied it between two trees and were practicing.   And this huge thing- a lawsuit waiting to happen.  Way too tall and metal for our laws these days.

And there was a whole water section, too.  The cafe to the left overlooks the play area and of course serves beer and wine.

Boulders (real, not fiberglass)  and water- not a combo we're likely to encounter in our litigious society.

Almost all public parks here have these industrial strength ping-pong tables.  People bring their own paddles and balls, which come in excellent little cases.

While playing here a group of - hm, I'm not sure what we call these people now- mentally challenged?  They were mentally retarded -even if we're not supposed to say 'retarded' these days I think you all know what I'm talking about.  They were adults ranging in age from their 20's up to 50's and they were here on the playground.  I have an aunt on my dad's side that is retarded here in Germany and of course has been the state's responsibility her whole life.  She is now in her 60's and is very well cared for.  But what struck me most by this group being here is that mentally these people are children even though their bodies are adults.  In the States these groups are usually taken to shopping malls when they go out in public- because we all know how much children love shopping, right?  What gives?  Here, they were 'allowed' to play among the children at the playground.  There was a woman in her 30's who went positively ballistic when she saw the toddler slide.  She started shouting and laughing and clapping and running in circles saying, 'There's a slide!  There's a slide!'  Then ran full speed ahead in her stooped, lopsided posture, drooling on the way and slid down the slide among the toddlers.  No parents were freaked out or moved their kids away.  Then a man in his 40's followed- and how they howled in delight!  The adults that were around all sort of smiled and I think felt just like I did- a bit envious of the joy something so small could bring and the inhibition to express it so fully.

The strollers here are unreal.  Babies really travel in style.  Here these two nappers are covered with mosquito netting for a peaceful sleep.  

Hand made blankets and lammies in the carriage are the norm and in no way 'alternative' here- definitely a mainstream phenomenon.

The rentals available at the entrance.  They also have these wagons at IKEA to use for customers to haul their stuff and kids!  Then there are scooters, bikes and those little bikes with no pedals.  Oh, and admission was 6 Euro for one adult and two kids.  The same it costs for a one way bus ticket to the grocer.  By far the best money I've spent since arriving.

There is an area with sheep where all the girls learned what electric wire is!

And had great fun watching the boys who thought it was 'kool' that one could get shocked through the other's body.  boys.

And it even had a witches garden full of herbs for potions.  I'm telling you, this place had it all!  I'm really starting to appreciate the decline in childbirthing rates here.  The people who do have children have them because they really want them.  All these hours spent here and all these families and children and I did not here one single scolding over a 15 hour period.  Families actually seem to enjoy each other's company!  Imagine that.  Of course families like this exist in the US- it's just that when we go in public places of large gatherings of families at home it is certainly not unusual to overhear some really nasty talk going on between parent and child.  When we were visiting my brother in Indiana and were at a local lake I recall distracting my little ones from a father cursing at and slapping his 10 year old across the face.  In California we live about 30 minutes from Disneyland and usually go once a year- and an hour into it I'm fully exhausted and steering my kids right and left to avoid witnessing some major verbal lashing.  At a waterpark last summer a mother was screaming at her child for being a 'stupid dumb-ass' for letting a retainer fall into the water.  In contrast, this place was quite, peaceful and full of life, laughter and fun.  We were exhausted at the end of each day in the best possible way- from tons of exercise and having a great time.  I'm a convert!  I need to call my mom and see if I can still get dual citizenship.  She is still German after over 30 years in the US.  My dad became a citizen about 40 years ago, but Mama will die a German she claims.  No interest in turning over that Green Card for a passport.  I can't say I blame her.

After 15 hours over two days the only thing I heard from the girls when leaving was, "When are we coming back?"  I could live here.  In this park, I mean.  Pitch a tent and stay forever.  Well, if spring lasted forever, that is!  This place was voted one of the top 10 parks in Germany- I'm thinking I really need to go check out the other 9!