Recap: Paris, Day 1: Train (Oct 11, 2008)

So, here it finally is. My parents came over for a visit in early October, and they treated us to an unbelievable week trip to Paris. The cost for a van was a little more than we expected (~600 euros), so we decided to hop on a couple of trains and do the Paris metro when we got there. Good thing too, apparently there are about 60 euros in tolls each way, and parking in Paris is supposed to be a nightmare. In hindsight, there is no way it would have been as good with a car. Anyway, the German ICE went from Freiburg to Strasbourg, and then we took the TGV the rest of the way to Paris. The TGV was crazy, we were cruising at speeds of around 250-300 km/h. The trip went pretty well, considering the kiddies had to sit on the train for 4.5 hours.

I am actually faking it in the picture above. Sure, I know, no one is going to believe that. This next little clip was on the ICE at the start of the trip, so things are still going smooth before Reese freaked out on the TGV:

Well, after lots of coloring and cruising the aisles and visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, we made it to Gare du Nord in Paris:

We figured we didn't really have to take care of our luggage in Paris, right? (Look behind Jodi). The kids sure wore us out on the train, so we were quite tired and banished them to the stroller. We had to catch a couple of connections on the Metro/regional trains to get to the condo, so we wandered around a bit. As soon as we got our bearings, we found a 'shortcut' to the regional station, which took us up 3 flights of stairs (no elevator, no escalator, whiney kids, whiney parents carrying the stroller) into some strange neighborhood. We finally found 'magenta' station or something and went down 3 flights of stairs to train level. We learned later that the two stations are actually joined, I think. Well, we made one more connection about half an hour away, and then got off at our stop (the stop that I thought was the closest). We ended up dragging our stuff around 2 km along the streets to our condo. The condo was really hard to find, and it turned out being a hotel and was a completely different name than what our place was supposed to be. It was great to get to the rooms and throw everything on the ground, even if we found some towels and rags scrunched in the bowels and recesses of closets and cupboards. After thoroughly making our room messy, we set out to find a restaurant nearby, and I picked a good old-fashioned French restaurant, El Dorado. (Mexican. Umm Burritos. Heck, umm, doritos):We all look a little spaced out/zombied - Jodi is falling asleep, I am cutting the wild boar, and Erika looks like a space alien. The burritos were good though. After that, we retired to the condo (about half a kilometer away) and we started to feel a little unsure of our surroundings - more on that later. We watched some French tennis recap, and then German darts or bowling or something else like that, and then off to bed. All in all, not a bad start.

Jeff and Jodi

Recap continued: Erika's first day of school (Sept 11, 2008)

In Germany kindergarten starts really early, so to try and fit in a bit better, we thought it would be a good idea to put Erika in it. We found a cute little one three blocks from our place and it is a Sport kindergarten, so apparently they do lots of activity during the day. Erika got all dressed up in her first day of school outfit:

It was nice to have Grandma Green around to help out with calming Erika as she went. She was pretty excited and nervous. This is just outside our place on the walk to school:Jodi stuck around for the day to see how things went and they were rolling around on some skateboardy things for a while:

Phew, that was pretty stressful to think we put her in school when she was only three and a half. She stays 3.5 hours a day now, but started at 5 hours a day. Seems like a lot. She definitely went through the honeymoon stage, and is now quite happy to come home before lunch. We are hoping when the language comes she might start to really enjoy it. She did get invited to her first birthday party the other day from a girl at school, and she is just thrilled about that, so that is pretty neat. By the way, starting with yesterday, you can click on the pictures and they get really big. At least it works for me.

Jeff and Jodi

Mr. Poopypants

Making up for lost time again. I think we are going to do about half an hour a night from now on, if not just to have a kind of a journal for our time while we are over here. It would sure be a shame to not write some of this stuff down while it is fresh. That being said, lots of events to recap in the last few months while the blog (I can't stand that word) enjoyed the abyss. So, let me set the scene again. We came to Germany (still figuring out why), set up a kitchen, went to France and Switzerland, lost a toenail, swore a few times, and, am I missing anything? Swore until blue smoke filled the apartment? Nah. Which leaves us around the beginning of September...

Jodi's Birthday

Jodi's actual party on the 7th was most enjoyable. Me and the kids decorated the apartment::

I tried my hands at a lemon cake with lemon drizzle and lemon icing and sprinkles. I thought it turned out really well::

Ok, well at least it actually tasted good. I kept adding more and more icing to try and mask the cracks because I tried to take it out of the pan way to early. Here's the gist of the celebration, in video form. I think I really captured the mood::

A real shaker. I sure know how to plan them. The next week, the real birthday celebration began. We started with breakfast at the local bakery (Heitzmann), which was relaxing and nice to be alone and away from the kids for an extended amount of time. We then picked up a rental car (after running back 15 min to the apartment because I forgot my licence), and started the drive nice and sweaty across the autobahns to Füssen, in Bavaria (land of the white sausages). The drive was beautiful through the Black Forest, and across lots of rolling, green hills. The directions were incredibly difficult to follow though, and included no less than 25 turns. (Seriously, goofy Google maps, not sure what I was thinking). We arrived safe and sound, and after a quick lunch, headed to the main attraction: the castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein (Hoh and Neu for short, respectively, as much as I want to type those again). Hoh dates back quite a few years, and the castle at DisneyWorld was actually modeled after the Neu. The atmosphere was great: misty and rainy, although a little cold. This was also the first time that we were at a major attraction where lots of the visitors spoke English, and it was definitely easy to hear some loud, ignorant English speakers. We started at the Hoh, and I really enjoyed it::

Jodi is actually the little brown speck in the first picture at the bottom. They even had a little outdoor bath for some tub talks (Jodi's trying to get in above). The castles aren't too far apart, and we could see the Neu in the distance::

We chose the hike over instead of the horse and carriage (they sure tried to maximize their profits - 10 people/carriage) and warmed up considerably, and also stopped for a 5 euro coffee. The Neu was incredible, even though it was only about 1/3 finished, as the guy building it mysteriously croaked in a nearby bog. Politics. He was pretty eccentric and there were some crazy rooms and elaborate paintings. Sorry, we couldn't take pictures inside. We got a book. Here's the Neu from the 'front'..

We stopped for a fun but terribly bland/disgusting supper, and then made our way back to Freiburg. The only problem was, I didn't write down the massive instructions for the return journey, so we added on about an hour and a half to the 3.5 hour drive. At one point, we knew we had followed the wrong road for 30 minutes when we came upon the customs checkpoint at the Swiss border. Preceding the border, there was an instance when I completely locked up the brakes and pretty much stopped on the autobahn as Jodi got a little confused with a German road sign and thought we were on the wrong side of the road or going down a one-way highway or something like that. Needless to say, we got home around 1 a.m., which kind of tainted the conclusion a bit..

Jeff and Jodi

Word around the office is...

Just a few random pictures of the time between our anniversary and Jodi's birthday. The first one shows a bit of an update on Reese's room/storage closet:
Erika snuggling with birthday bear (if you can remember, I said back in January I would post pictures of the bears the kids made for Erika's party). This is one of the last pictures we have of her sucking her thumb...

Cute kids getting ready for a walk:

And now, the main attraction, Reese and his completely original dance moves. Unfortunately, we aren't quick enough to catch his whole routine which includes sliding backwards on his stomach, rolling over, and some stuff on his feet, but here is a taste:

Jeff and Jodi

The Monster Unveiled/Our 9th Anniversary

More Snyder August history. August 21, 2008: Our 9th Anniversary. I win the award for the most romantic gift ever:

As the bandaging came off, the camera got put away as the pain got a little worse, so we haven't included the final product. Sorry. We didn't get any pictures of our anniversary supper (beefy taco dip to top off the romantic day) - making your mouth water Kory? Rest easy Peggy and Sarah, the doctor didn't give us the removed nail so it's not on it's way to your mailbox (or is it?).

Jeff and Jodi

The Unruhs Cross the Seas

So, we are still playing catch-up for the past couple of months. About three weeks after the Basel trip, Tim and Lesley came for a visit. Too bad they couldn't stay for two years though. We went to the Münster, and toured downtown in Freiburg. Me and Tim climbed up the 287 stairs to the viewing place (whatever it's called). The view of the city is well worth the climb.

Erika and Lesley enjoyed the bottom of the Münster:

We also took a day trip to Colmar (France). It was nice to see that they seemed to enjoy it as much as we had the first time we went. Lesley was snapping pictures left and right of random old doors in various camera effects (sepia, etc). We also took a ride on France's (or Europe's, I can't remember) 'largest carousel'. Not sure where they got that claim. We wandered around a bit and made our way to 'Petite Venise', and stopped at a quaint looking place for supper. We figured out from the menu that they only served pizza for a main course (actually, flammkuchen, apparently you should never confuse the two), so we ordered a couple, acquired a month's worth of salt intake, and left more hungry and thirsty than we came. Thus ended Colmar (more or less), a very enjoyable day.

We also spent a couple of hours in the Schwarzwald, at Titisee. It is a touristy kind of place that sells all kinds of 'traditional' German stuff, like cuckoo clocks and wood Christmas decorations. Tim had a tattoo appointment in Freiburg that we needed to get back to, which kind of cramped our time there (I think Tim and Lesley liked Titisee a lot). We toured the shops, checked out the lake, toured the shops, started to head back, and toured more shops, and then headed for the train. Tim got a taste of black forest cake for the return trip, which included a mickey of booze soaked into the cherries. Nasty.

We had a lot of fun during the week checking out Rieselfeld (our area of Freiburg), watching movies, eating a truckload of Mars ice cream bars, and getting caught up. All in all, our best week in Freiburg to this point, thanks for coming over Unruhs! We leave you with a picture of Lesley downtown.

Jodi and Jeff

Sick of us yet?

Oops. I think we were going to update 2 months ago. C'est la vie. So, Basel, right? I think we left off with the hot picture of me in front of the Rhine. If we can recall it right, we ended up at the Hauptbahnhof (central station) at around 12 (this is July 18th by the way), and decided we should take off to Basel, Switzerland, about an hour away. If we had enough money in our pockets for the train, we would go. The tickets came to 19.80 euro and we had 20, so off we went. Reesey sure wanted some lypsol on the train:

Being the responsible individuals we are, we ended up pulling out some Swiss francs from our Canadian car payment fund/account for some sloppy Joes, a.k.a. buns, meat and cheese, Swiss style. And no, the f***gen thing (car) still hasn't sold yet. Yes, friggen. It just so happened we landed in Basel for "All Basel Day" or some other civic holiday which poured every citizen into downtown. The train station was about a 5 km walk from downtown Basel, so we set out at a leisurely pace. A little while later, we made it to the Rhine, which is right beside the downtown part. It was pretty neat to stumble upon it. Jodi looks pretty pleasant, although I think I was preoccupied about how I would get our camera back if the fellow taking the picture decided to run:

(I think I was already hurting/whining about my new sandals. Their comfort was a definate treat). We crossed the bridge (which was really nice) and into downtown, and began the difficult search for nourishment in the 40°C heat. Along the way, we started to wonder why some streets were roped off and many people were crowding about. Jodi got a "butterbretzel" - her favorite German food - and I got a subpar sandwich, to be split three ways, of course. And one spicy water which contained only backwash after one pull by Reese. After the 'meal', we made a little bit of a wrong turn, indicated by the row of sex shops along the street, in a seedy area of the downtown. We quickly made our exit, and then began the search for a bathroom for Erika (we are seriously considering diapers for her again), and then finally found the theater and the Basel Münster:

The theater was pretty impressive (first picture), but the Münster itself wasn't too great. We are starting to realize that Freiburg's Münster is awesome. The best part of Basel was behind the Münster which overlooked the Rhine and a good portion of the city at a vantage point of about 80 feet. On the way back to the bridge, we walked along a really neat street with really old places. The one Jodi liked dated back to 1435:

Well, that about wraps up the Basel trip. We have a couple more things we want to post about before getting back to the present. In line with that: Tim/Les's visit, Füssen (Jodi's 30th birthday), Erika starting kindergarten, Reese our breakdancer, and a fun two weeks with Grandma Green. My parents are coming next week, which should be a lot of fun. Here we come Disneyland Paris!

Jodi and Jeff

Nein Nein Nie Nie Mmmm...

We thought we could mostly fill this update with pictures. So here we go. Reesey is really getting the hang of walking, although he is yet to spontaneously do it himself:

Erika's days are filled with being a Mommy to all her dolls, and picking which one gets to go for walks outside. She recently made a baby carrier for one of them (out of a belt):

The kids on the tram:

A couple of days ago, Jodi put Reese in the tub and started up the water, and checked to make sure it was a good temperature a couple of times. He started to get a little too docile followed shortly thereafter by crying, so Jodi did another check of the water. Apparently, it was a little too warm, as you might be able to see from the rouge pants he seems to be wearing. Don't worry, the damage wasn't permanent and it looks a little worse than it was, but note to self: you can't check the water enough.

The kiddies also played at a little beach nearby (aka sewer drainage). Actually it is a nice area for them just across the street; it has a water pump at the top and the water runs down a little water fall into a sandy area. The parks are quite different here in Germany, and this is an example of one. The courtyards between apartment buildings in Rieselfeld generally have these little parks in them (there are a lot within walking distance):

Next time, we will document our day trip we took to Switzerland, stay tuned. I tried to emulate German custom in this picture, har har.

Jodi and Jeff

Tour

All right. Now for the long awaited moment, a guided tour of our place - built with our bare hands - courtesy Jodi. So, here is Erika's room...

Next, the master suite:

The living room:

The kitchen:

Wintergarten:

Reese's room:

can:

Well there you have it. Bye now.

Jodi and Jeff

Colmar

Well, it's been a while, oops. I think we have pretty much told all about our first couple of weeks and we can move on to more recent stuff. Speaking of recent stuff, about a month ago (recent?) we took a little trip to Colmar, France. It is about a 30 min train ride and 45 min bus ride which tours through little towns, including one completely surrounded by a moat and city wall. It was really neat. Erika really enjoyed the seat belts in the bus. When we decided to get off the bus (we were a little unsure which stop) we chatted for a little bit and then realized we forgot our bag on the bus. So Jodi ran after it and banged on the front door to get them to stop. The bus driver was really nice about it. At least we remembered the kids. Colmar was great, and if Jodi had her way, I would be transferring to France ASAP. The architecture is completely different than Freiburg. Now that we think about, Freiburg is gothic-y, post-war-trying-to-look-ancient, and very orderly/put-together (great efforts considering most of the city was ruined by Allied bombing accidents in WWII), whereas Colmar had a rustic and romantic feel to it. I think this will be a definate sidetrip for anyone that comes to visit. We checked in at the tourist place, and then walked the town, and ate delicious pastries - something that is unattainable in Germany (good desserts that is). Some of the highlights were: seeing a big-rear bird (the biggest swan I have ever seen, don't trust the movie), hunting for bathrooms (a common theme of any outing with Erika), a large carousel, a beautiful modern park, a gondola ride in petit Venise, Erika's Paris dress, and Jodi enjoying old doors. During our hunt for the bathroom, we found some crazy public toilets. You have to pay 30 cents to open the bomb-shelter-style facility, and the door magically slides open to display your beautiful purchase. I almost vomited. It was dripping wet inside and smelt like an outhouse. The craziest part is that the toilet didn't have a 'hole' where the excrement gets flushed down (see pictures). I know, I am still figuring it out. At first, I thought it must spray the entire interior after a deposit because it claims to self-clean. I could just picture the gushing water and flying feces. Jodi thinks she's got it figured out, and if anyone else thinks they have an idea, we are open to suggestions. Erika vetoed the bathroom, and we continued our search. And yes, we came back and paid 30 cents again to take the pictures. I don't think we came across as tourists though. (Yeah right, taking pictures of a bathroom). The gondola ride down the river was probably the highlight, although Reese could have done with a 2 min ride instead of 30. He enjoyed running through the water fountains in the park and giving the swan a drink from his cup. By the way, sorry about the stellar video quality.

Next time: a tour of our 'finished', humble abode.

Jodi and Jeff