We had a great relaxing week in Germany. It only rained one day and we must be affected by three years of living in Holland because even then we went for a walk around the lake. It was a beautiful area in the middle of the Sauerland and only about 2 hours from Enschede. There are hills and forests to walk in, but mainly we spent time away from computers and phones and schedules and obligations other than eating, reading, and watching the World Cup.
Germany is a culture apart and we have only gotten glimpses in the several trips we have taken there; people were generally quite nice and of course, James D broke down any language barrier pretty quickly. It was one of those weeks where by the end, you realise that the kid has made some leaps and bounds in the milestones- we now have five teeth, can climb up heretofore prohibitively steep furniture and STAND on our own, though he is totally oblivious. Its pretty funny to watch and Kat and I spent a good portion of the week trying to come up with the right metaphor for J's as yet unbalanced feet: are they Tater Tots shaped? Sausages? Poor guy hasn't developed arches and apparently his parents are hungry...
Speaking of sausage Germany is a funny place: we didn't feel so guilty about vegging in front of the tv because the culture can be so bizarre to us sometimes. Living in the Netherlands, we are used to seeing English/American programming subtitled in Dutch, but not so for the Duitsers- even that terrible Mtv show about the Blink182 drummer was completely silent (apparently they have no doppelgangers for these idiots) but was just subtitled in Deutsch.
Other strange moments on German tv that we took note of:
-show about bratwurst entrepreneur who wakes in the night with new sausage ideas; a particularly gripping documentary...
-endless variations on the fact that the WC was in Germany; two of the best sideline shows were (1) robot dogs playing football, and (2) penguins playing football.
-Grown men dressed like babies. Don't ask, but as a parent quite familiar with changing diapers this was among the most disturbing.
-Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Apocolyptica, the hard rock band made of 5 cellists and a drummer who mostly cover Metallica...
-ringtones/cellphone things to buy? as non-cellphonists this is always confusing to us but apparently there is one to purchase in Germany of two teacups sitting together in the stands that are chanting some encouragement to the Mannschaft... why teacups?
Here is James enjoying the lake:
The lake:
Our crib:
Ah, the endless diversity of beer...
We (Kat) gave Ghost a trim when we got home; its like a fur diet! He is half the dog now, but much more comfortable...
4 comments:
Wow, that is a lot of hair. He really is half the dog.
Your trip sounds great.
I wish it were as easy for me to lose that much weight so quickly! I am glad you had a relaxing time, it must have been nice to get away from it all and have no schedule.
Don't worry about James' feet, babies don't have arches for quite a while. So glad he is standing on his own...you know what is coming next....
It just doesn't get any cuter than that! What an ADORABLE picture of him. I know you had a wonderful relaxing time!
I laughed really hard about the sausage documentary.
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