Hallo, we made it to Germany!

I was reminded this morning that we don’t speak German…yet; we have been learning!  Laundry was challenging to do at the laundromat since I couldn’t read the directions.  After I paid for two washers that were already in use and not by me, a nice man helped me.  I also had to get change from the market across the street.  There was NO English spoken there!  It was a comical morning but I eventually got our clothes washed.  In the meantime, Cory took the kids to explore in their Halloween costumes of course since it was October 31.  He has again found us a hotel that is so convenient to everything!  We only taxied (no Uber as it’s not allowed in Germany) to a few places including an area called Sachsenhausen for lunch at Atschel.  It was some of the most delicious food ever especially their schnitzel with green sauce (a Frankfurt specialty).  Yum!  We did try the Apfelwein and now we can say we tried it. Ha. After lunch Bea’s radar eyes were on as usual and found a fun playground to enjoy.  Why not!  All good things must come to an end though and it was nap time.  Cory found us another amazing restaurant for supper; we are loving the German food!

The kids (Teddy especially) love animals so we figured this was the perfect place to go to the Frankfurt Zoo.  It was a great zoo with an amazing monkey house including baby orangutang and gorillas.  They were so fascinating to watch!  There was also an Okapi which was exciting as it’s an animal we’d never seen (and featured in Disney’s “Lion Guard”).  The highlight though was when Teddy saw a sign for the cats that read “Die Katz” and started repeating it!  We have been working on everyone learning German and this was straight out of the app.  After another quaint pub lunch, we walked around a bit before heading back for naps.  Tonight we were reminded how kid friendly Germany (and Europe) is when our taxi had built in booster seats for Bea and Teddy.  In most countries a car seat is not required in a cab; however, we’ve found built in boosters or the cabs have one or two in their trunk for us to use.  The kids have also gotten kid utensils at most restaurants which is so helpful especially for Teddy.  Tonight’s meal was interesting as we learned about all the sour cream that goes on some dishes.  It wasn’t Cory’s favorite!

On Wednesday, Cory led training again so the kids and I had a relaxing breakfast before going to to Senckenberg Museum (National History Museum).  Teddy was really excited to see the dinosaur bones and stuffed fish and mammals.  We had taxied to the museum but no luck finding one on our way out so I got my exercise.  So much that when we finally found lunch, I insisted on sitting outside to cool off!  Back to the hotel for nap time and to read more of our first chapter book, Charlotte’s Web.  Bea is really enjoying it!  Tonight we ventured out and had Indian food and it was amazing!  Sweet Cory obliges me by ordering for us all.  He always picks food better for me than I would myself!We woke up on Thursday morning with great news from our Sweet Home Chicago about the Cubs winning the World Series.  We had fun singing the “Go Cubs Go” song all day long to celebrate!  Bea has continued to wear her Merida costume each day since Monday.  She gets lots of princess comments which she loves!  We were all about a stroll today to see the sights of Frankfurt.  We saw the Frankfurt Cathedral which has a 300′ tower then walked on Elserner Steg, Europe’s first suspension foot bridge.  Bea danced to the accordion music playing and loved seeing all the (love) locks.  Next we turned to see ‘picturesque Germany’…Frankfurt City Hall, Old St Nicholas Church and quintessential timber frame buildings.  We also stopped into a shop to see all the wooden toys, nutcrackers, glockenspiels and  coo coo clocks.  It was such a neat area that we told Cory he had to go back with us tonight especially to hear Old St Nicholas’ chimes.  They only chime three times a day and we got to hear them at 5:05…on the dot!  We also saw a bride coming out of City Hall and kids singing around and giving her flowers.  Bea loved seeing the bride!

I must share this about our sweet Bea.  She has the most thoughtful heart.  Tonight we made Bea and Teddy eat a certain number of bites then we said we’d get ice cream.  Bea quickly ate hers and Teddy ate all but one bite.  He kept fighting it so we were ready to say forget it and he’d figure out the consequence when she was eating hers.  However Bea couldn’t stand it and somehow fed Teddy his last bite.  As soon as he ate it, she kindly said “now Teddy gets ice cream too!”  What a sweet sister!

Back to the hotel and time to repack.  Our hotel room in Frankfurt was a suite so Cory and I were able to chat at night…not while one of us sat on the toilet seat. Ha  Cory picked up our rental car for the rest of our trip while I repacked us.  We fit everything we need for the next five days in one bag!

Friday morning, we roll out to the countryside!

Love,
Cory, Millie, Bea & Teddy