I am right handed. I knew this.  But I am also apparently right-footed.  When I start a flight of stairs, I always lead with my right foot. In our current AirBnB, the stairs are footed (i suppose that also makes them chiral for you chemistry nerds)- and you must take the first step up (or down)… Read More Weird thing about me: I am right footed.

On August 30, just about this time of day, we were arriving at SeaTac Airport to being our Year abroad. 4 countries, 8 AirBnbs into the trip.  Still having fun.  Still adjusting. Everyone is growing and changing in diverse ways. Locations are starting to meld into one another.  Did we get the cutting board in… Read More Milestone: One month on the road.

We arrived in Prague on Saturday.  On Sunday morning, we got up, hopped on the subway and went into the old town to walk around. Prague is built around the Vlatva River.  The Vlatva is well known in Classical music as the Moldau (I think this is the German name for the river).  This is… Read More Prague zoo

Traveling from Dresden to Prague = the train follows the Elbe river bank.  Past cute little towns, dramatic sandstone cliffs. Prettiest train ride I have ever taken.  This record may not hold long.

Traveling with a large family, into cities you have never visited before poses a big challenge.  When we hit Hamburg – we were TOTALLY disoriented when we arrived in the train terminal.  It took a good 45 minutes to gather our bearings and find our way out.  This seems to be holding in every city… Read More Dresden Part II (what the kids loved)

This will sound a bit weird, since we have been traveling for 3 weeks now.. Aside from the language barrier, we could have just been in a different city in the USA.  maybe not Reykjavik or Copenhagen – but we have visited these cities before – they felt familiar already. Certainly the German cities of… Read More Dresden (or- Holy Shit – we ARE in Europe!)

On our last full day in Berlin, We went to the Wall Memorial. This again led to some very difficult discussions, but it was really cool to see the wall as it had been in 1989 when it came down. It was less scary than it HAD been, but still pretty terrifying. The memorial is… Read More The Wall

Day 2 of our time in Berlin was one of those days.  Everything we needed or wanted just fell right into our laps. We bagan our day by taking the tram from our apartment to Alexanderplatz, one of the main central areas of Berlin.  We had a walking tour in a book we planned to… Read More Berin: The day everything went right

What a glorious day to wake up to in Berlin!  Sun shining into our apartment, and it warmed up fast (which is great for the laundry on the drying rack!)  Our apartment is bright and sunny, with a nice porch.  After a week of gray skies in Copenhagen and Hamburg, the sun was a welcome… Read More Berlin – Day 1: Rest(ish) day

Hamburg.  You gave us the willies when we arrived at your main train station, and we could not figure out the ticket machine (no credit cards – cash only!), and no one could help us.  But you really came around overt he next few days. What a neat town, full of unexpected surprises. After a… Read More Hamburg