Plan D

Friends of ours, Yavin and Sharon, had been to Paris earlier this June with their family and their recommendation was to spend an afternoon with the toy sailboats at les Jardin de Luxembourg. Our guide book suggested the same. So, on Saturday afternoon late we wandered to the gardens, but the trip took a while as we kept getting distracted. We arrived at the gardens, saw the boats on the lake, and eagerly approached the man who rented the boats. We were 10 minutes too late. The last rental was at 6:00 (all boats out by 6:30) and it was 6:10. Ouch! We got to sit there and watch the others having fun. We'd come back the next day. So off it was to Tour Eiffel...but that is another story entirely...ending at 1:00 AM!

The next day, Sunday we showed up at the garden at 2:00. No boats and no man who rents the boats. In my broken French I spoke with a gendarme to ask what was up and he was puzzled too. Owen was crushed since nearly every hour of the day in between the two visits he reminded us of our upcoming trip to the boats. He and Gina went home, as he was feeling fed up. Lily and I went to see the finish of the Tour de France.

On Monday, we made the garden one of our stops. Now there is a saying in English which goes, "third time is a charm", meaning that patience and perseverance will pay dividends. Tristan, our French foreign exchange student in high school, informed us that the French saw it differently. Their saying goes (in English), "never two without three". The French are either true statisticians at heart (seeing the trend in the data early on) or wonderfully pathos. Owen was living the English version, I was fearing the French version. Afterall, we were in Paris. I suggested to Owen that we have a Plan B in case we were disappointed. Plan B was going to be Paris sewers tour. We arrived at the gardens...not a boat to be seen on the pond. "Paris is such a rip off!" exclaimed Owen.

We sat in the shade and began discussing Plan B. Owen was trying to look for the bright spot, but he was pretty disappointed. Gina and I succumbed to our internal parental pressure to please the kids and offered up Plan D. Secretly, Lily wondered what had happened to Plan C? Plan D....Disneyland. As it turned out, we could invoke Plan D on Lily's 13th birthday. Lily was up for Plan D. Owen was supercharged by the idea. So Tuesday would be (and was) the day we chose Plan D...and what a day it was. Another one of those in which we did not return to the apartment until 1:00 AM.



BTW, each time we go to the Luxembourg Gardens we are compelled to each ice cream. It is a wonderful consolation prize and is great in the heat (85-90 this week). We have been having sorbet exclusively, and by the time we leave we will have spent a tidy sum on the elixir.

And one more thing. Following the third disappointment on that Monday, we also chose Plan B and wandered the Paris sewers...what a sensory experience! Really interesting, pretty stinky, rather loud...but it made us think twice about drinking water from the Seine.

Paris

Here are some highlights of the Paris visit thus far.



A favorite photo - the anticipation in the prologue to the Tour Eiffel.

London Calling

What an experience...London was welcoming, easy, and fun.


We are learning new lessons and relearning the old lessons of traveling. For instance, never order food on something that moves...it will be twice as expensive than you would expect (that was an old lesson). And, make sure to give the travel day...when you are going from and old destination to a new one...the respect it deserves (new lesson). We learned that last lesson on the trip to London and again to Paris. But first, let's talk about the trip to London. At first glance, it seemed like a simple, early morning trip from Berlin to London. We figured we would be in our apartment in London by noon. We were not that far off, got there by 1:30, but we were haggard. Without a car on either end the trip involved a metro ride beginning at 6:30 followed by a bus ride to the airport. When we arrived at Berlin Schonefeld airport, we were greeted by the longest queue I have ever seen. Thankfully that was for all flights NOT going to England, France or Switzerland. You see, we were flying EasyJet...now known to our family as CrazyJet...one of Europe's budget airlines. The flight boarding was a rugby scrum. A lady seated ahead of us was being kicked by the passenger behind and she began yelling bloody murder...a fight nearly broke out. The flight attendants were nonplussed but also not particularly into customer service. We arrived Gatwick and had to queue again to get train tickets into Victoria Station. An hour later we were queued again to get our metro passes so we could take the Tube to our apartment - again, metro travel with two transfers. We were glad to finally find our new home.

The first day in a new place was tough on all of us. We were tired, unfamiliar with our surroundings, and a little chilled. Owen was not happy. By the end of the week, Owen had a different view - loved London. We visited a number of the key attractions rather quickly - an hour in the British Museum, lunch in the Crypt of St. Martin in the Fields, an hour in the British National Museum of Art, etc. We slowed a bit in the Science and Technology Museum and the Natural History Museum as both kids had a keen interest in their displays. A highlight for Owen and Lily was the London Eye. For Gina and I it was a dinner at Belgo - Belgium food and beer.

The Beer List

7/30/08	Paris	Adelscott, biere au malt a whisky	I love bourbon barrel porters, so this caught my eye, but what a mistake. This is a flavored beer, aroma of whisky added along with sugar. So it is sweet, smoky, cloying…makes me shudder. Intriguing at first and then dumped the rest.
7/30/08	Paris	Heineken	Very clean, brightly carbonated, bitter, refreshing. A true classic.
7/30/08	Paris	Hoegaarden Biere Blanche-witbier	A classic European wit – clovey and banana phenolic esters. Refreshing on a hot evening in our apartment in Paris.
7/29/08	Paris Disney	1664, Kronenbourg	Beer in Disneyland!?! At McDonalds!?! I love the French.
7/28/08	Paris	Leffe Biere Blonde	Okay, we had this one earlier in London on tap at Belgo and this time ‘round it was a liter bottle in Paris. It is a wonderful beer for food, especially cheese. Malty, nutty, mildly alcoholic, with the phenolic character of many Belgian ales.
7/27/08	Paris	Fischer, Alsatian ale	A malty, moderately alcoholic lager (6%). Wonderful foam. A refreshing break from a hot afternoon watching the Tour de France, but on an empty stomach…modestly intoxicating.
7/26/08	Paris	1664, Kronenbourg	A cleaner, fuller, but also more refreshing version of the previous lager.
7/25/08	Paris	Kronenbourg	A slightly cloying light lager. Brewed with malt and wheat. Clean but not necessarily refreshing…and this opinion comes after the 6-pack test over several days.
7/24/08	London	Triple Karmeliet (Belgium, 8.0%)	You need to see the pretty glass because it is only matched by the lusciousness of the beer…AND, it is fantastic with mussels.
7/24/08	London	Hoegaarden Grand Cru (Belgium, 8.5%)	OMG! Good, but not quite as luscious…oh, like when you have had a bunch of great beer and quick delicious food. Cap it off with one to roll home on the Tube with.
7/24/08	London	St. Feullien Blonde (Belgium)	Balanced, clean, sharp, a tad acidic on the nose but brilliant on the palate. This beer pairs well with fries, followed up with a course of mussels.
7/24/08	London	Grimbergen Blonde (Belgium)	Hoppy & dry with hints of candy @ the climax (back label talk). Mid-level clove and banana, alcoholic and hefewizen-esque. A hint of root-beer. Between the eyes juicy fruit in the nose. I’d have a stick (of juicy fruit) with mussels
7/24/08	London	Dekonnick (Belgium)	Another fine lager from Belgium – Antwerp…the Beer of Kings. Malty, hint of clove, clean…lovely with mussels
7/24/08	London	Critsal (Belgium)	A clean light lager, mildly bitter…lovely with mussels
7/23/08	London	Organic, Persian Beer (brewed under contract in London)	Not particularly inspiring. Beer originated with the Sumarians, so is this a taste of its roots? Interesting that Islam has removed this beverage from much of Persian culture.
7/22/08	London	Carling Black Label (draft)	It was 11:30 PM and this place seemed to draw us in on the way home from dinner. Mildly inebriated and feeling high from a successful meeting and the IBD’s Exec. Director’s suggestion that we would be meeting in Berlin for our next meeting, we all drank a round of Britain’s top selling brand, standing in a circle, joking, teasing, laughing. Can’t remember the flavor of this one other than cold, wet, bubbly, and cleanly bitter.
7/22/08	London	Foster’s lager (draught)	Clean but unidimensional – light malt and dry but slightly piercing bitterness. Everyone is drinking lager…so even though it is London, when in Rome…The Board of Examiner team for the Diploma in Packaging is relaxing, socializing before heading out to dinner.
7/22/08	London	Green King IPA (cask)	Given that everyone is drinking lager, it was surprising albeit comforting that the barkeep tasted this one before serving it to us and then came over and spoke with us about the cask beers. This one had the hint of lactobacilli growing – a slightly sour funk on top of tutti-fruity hoppiness. Not entirely satisfying
7/22/08	London	Fuller’s London Pride (cask)	Returning to the almost warming, comforting sensation of British malt. Clean, pleasant, quintessential London. Gina and I snuck in a break from the kids, walked to nearby pub and took in the experience/ambiance
7/22/08	London	Beer’s at IBD office
7/21/08	London	Jennings Lakeland Ales Cumberland Traditional Ale	Pronounced sulfurous aroma plus strong skunky-3MBT (packaged in green bottle). Thin in color and flavor. Not pleasant. Didn’t finish this one. With dinner in the Bayswater apt.
7/21/08	London	Jennings Lakeland Ales Sneck Lifter, Strong Ale	Malty plus roasted. Very dark ale verging on porter. Pronounced roasted notes without acrid bitterness. Alcohol is 5.1% and noticeable. With dinner in the Bayswater apt.
7/21/08	London	Fuller’s London Pride	Very malty, biscuity, slight hop aroma. Light, but noticeable bitterness. With dinner in the Bayswater apt.
7/20/08	London	Marston’s Pedigree	The classic, Burton-on-Trent Pale Ale. Still made using the Burton Unions. Their label describes the aroma as Burton sulphury and the palate as biscuit, malty, dry bitterness, spicy hop. This was pretty close. Little in regard to hop aroma. Very clean, dry finish without much lingering. In our apartment in London struggling to stay awake.
7/19/08	Berlin	Berliner Kindle Pils	Not as pleasing as the Shlutnerheisse but nonetheless a classic German Pils
7/19/08	Berlin	Shlutnerheisse Pils	Refreshing, clean, strong dry bitterness Drank along with our first picnic on the floor of our pension room
7/19/08	Berlin	Berliner Kindle Weisse, Green	Whoa! Syrupy sweet, aromatically herbal, Gina was a bit repulsed. Had this along side food court food at the top of a department store – the opposite experience from the afternoon before.
7/18/08	Berlin	Kombacher Pils	Thick foam, clean flavor, welcome to Germany! Had this at our first meal in Europe…a slightly formal restaurant on Rudesheimer Platz that was serving mittagsessen until 5:00 (and it was 4:30). It was a very inexpensive meal, wonderfully prepared, and served in a restaurant that was empty but for us.

Wir sind Berliners

(THS) The trip yesterday never seemed to get boring. Owen was excited and exclaiming about everything. “This is the best plane trip of my life!”, “this seems like make believe!” For a kid who is often unsettled by change he was amazing. And from the start our family has tightened up in a very supportive fashion. As if to say he is turning the switch off (or on, depending upon your perspective), Owen told Lily in front of us all, “I am going to be nice to your for the entire trip…the entire year.” We all gave each other that raised eye brow look. Hmmm. We were all taken by the service on the Lufthansa flight across the Atlantic. Our flight attendant spoke 6 languages and that blew Lily away. The two of them switched from English into Spanish and both were equally impressed…him by her facile and pronunciation and Lily by his ease of slipping in and out of German, English and Spanish…none of which were his mother tongue. He was born in Tunisia to a Tunisian father and a Turkish mother. He was handsome, genteel, and very engaging…and had us all admiring him.

As we pulled up to the IBZ, the place where we will be living beginning August 1, the front office administrator, Suzanne, came out to greet us. “You must be the Shellhammers…welcome.” We performed the repack of all 12 bags in the patio so that we had just what we needed for the London and Paris parts of this trip, and then Suzanne and I went down to the cellar, somewhat more like the dungeon, to stow our bags. At dinner, Lily asked how come I knew Suzanne and where we had met before. I told her that we had never met and explained about our email conversation we had been having over the past two months…sort of like the pen pal relationships from way back. But the relationship had been established and it was evident to Lily…interesting observation.

At dinner we could not stop chuckling…I could not stay awake. Gina, Lily and Owen would watch me falling asleep midsentence or listening to one of the others at the table. I would jerk awake to see the three of them cackling. I found it funny too, but then I would nod off. We crashed at 5:30 and managed to sleep through most of the night…I woke at 4:30, the girls at 5:30 and Owen at 6:30.

Our first day in Berlin was as tourists. We started it with a very elegant continental breakfast at our pension. Owen and Lily were intrigued that we were eating cheese and meat for breakfast, but breaking from the safe-foods-only tradition, Owen tried everything. Is this trip the beginning of a transformation for him? We wandered the city partly on foot and partly via a open-air tour bus. As Owen moves about the airports and city on his heelies, he turns heads. The wheeled shoes must be foreign to Germany and with them he has a cool factor that I don’t think he realizes is as big as it is. The highlight for the day for Owen was the giant lollipop we picked up at the KaDeWe department store – entire 6^th floor is high end gourmet food shopping and dining. It is a must see when you come. For Lily, one of the highlights was walking through the remains of the former basement of the former site of the SS, Gestapo, SD and RSHA main offices – now a plein aire museum called the Topographie des Terrors. The museum was just down the street from Checkpoint Charlie and along the way you pass by part of the remaining part of die Mauer – The Wall. The highlight for Gina and I is simply being here together as a family. I think we are both still amazed.

Tomorrow it’s London Calling.

Flying away

(THS) Our adventure has begun! Flying over Canada on our way to Frankfurt, following a toast to myself with a glass of Warsteiner, I finally find the opportunity to reflect on what we have accomplished. A dream I had the moment I entered the academy was to take a sabbatical leave and live and work in a foreign country. And I find myself somewhat amazed that this dream has been realized…at least its commencement. Owen was hooting as the engines rev’d up that this would be the last time we would be on U.S. ground for more than a year. The observation of my 8 year old son summarized today’s big event …the young narrator telling me that the transition from “normal” life in Corvallis to the “adventure” ahead was physically, symbolically, and ceremoniously marked by flying away…leaving one life behind and beginning a new one afar.

In the past week we’ve packed the house, found a home for the rabbit and the fish, sold a car (the day before we left!), bought and sold significant sums of currency for our apartment deposit and rent, celebrated three birthdays (mother-in-law, son, and wife), celebrated a wedding anniversary (okay, not much celebration unless you call checking items of our lists celebration), had a terrific farewell party thrown for us by wonderful friends (that one ended with their daughter in the ER and then the OR…appendicitis…but that is another story), and capped off the departure farewells with a wine tasting as a local wine shop last night. Whew!

Getting the house ready for renters forced us to consolidate and clean. The picture of Gina and I in the driveway is an oddity to our kids. Both cars in the garage!?! Never seen that before. Just as before when we were preparing our home in Columbus, OH for sale, we work and work at getting it ready…repairing items that long sat at the bottom of the do-it list, painting, cleaning, purging…and we realize what a wonderful home we live in. It will be wonderful to return to. But for now it is time to leave.

Everything we think we need is packed in 10 bags which we carried to the airport. Wonderful news that Lufthansa allows 2 bags per person without charging. Civilized given what the US airline industry is going through. An on time departure…another treat. And now my son sleeping with his head on my arm as I type away. I am relishing the forthcoming transition.