Hi Daddy

Today's soapbox/gratitude journal: The world could use a few more outstanding dad's. I happen to know a few, particularly in my family. Yesterday, I watched my Dad with three little ones around him playing a riveting game of Uno. There's nothing like a good game of Uno to make for a lively time.

Earlier, my brother repeatedly spend much time and energy trying to calm his poor weeping daughters in the frequent and not so far between moments of distress. He never was much of one for crying little girls back in the day, but they are awfully cute little ladies.

Then, as our child grows increasingly bigger, her father has taken to giving her fatherly advice more and more often. This morning, he shared with her his excitement in meeting her in a few months. She, in turn, shared her excitement with him by kicking him in the face. He's already a great dad.

Yep. Dads are one of the best inventions and I got some really good ones around me.

Pictionary

Welcome back to Europe! My 'laaste collega' (last mission companion) loved to play this endlessly entertaining game - and she played exceptionally well -  which game continued on my subsequent trips to Europe. Because so many languages are so closely crammed together (not to mention the high volume of dumb tourists), most of the signs on the street have few words, if any at all. That means it's up to you to figure them out. Don't hesitate to call out answers!

 

(This way to bike over rotten eggs?) (Sorry, no burger joints in here?)

The best one last. How do you figure?

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Nine, nein, neun! Germany is a beautiful country, at least the parts that we saw, full of history, culture, good food, and German speakers. Imagine!

My husband's parents graciously hosted us in their European size apartment and showed us places like Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, Dachau, the local ice cream shop, various bakeries (a must on any European trip!), the Glockenspiel in Munich, the mountains of Austria, more castles, cathedrals, and many other places along the way. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, if I just stop writing, you can figure out the rest, right?

Okay, maybe a few stories. We spent our last evening at dinner with a woman from church she is German born and raised, thankfully with an excellent handle on English, told us of her trips to the U.S. and how on multiple occasions she was asked if Jews are still persecuted and killed. She's not even 40 yet, so it wasn't too long ago, but someone wasn't paying attention in history class. The war is done. There is more to Germany than what happened 65 years ago. Stepping off the soap box.

The landscape and architecture are worth the 12+ hours of travel alone. Of course, most landscape and architecture give my lovely desert home pretty stiff competition when it comes to beauty. The snow only added to the Bavarian charm...and the treachery of the roads.

And the food...that would make a 30 hour travel day worth it. When your bowl of gnocchi comes out bubbling with cheese, yes it's all healthy, or you get a half a 'turkey' on your plate (turns out to be chicken, but who needs translation), or you end your meal with a fresh slice of apple strudel, it's all worth it. My one recommendation is to have plain old water available somewhere. Anywhere! No little bubbles and not in a 3 oz container. But the birds are taken care of at least.

One memorable part of the trip was watching the neighbor downstairs take apart the street organ he is building to show us the pipes. He built the entire thing himself, including carving the airways and constructing bellows. Unfortunately, it didn't work yet, but he has a few ideas on how to fix it. He showed us an organ he had purchased online and pulled out some music rolls to play. After a nice Austrian dance, and the Bare Necessities, he played Schnappi the crocodile, about a crocodile from Egypt that lives in the Nile. He spends his time schnapping things cause that's about all he can do at his young age. Of course the organ was not complete without a stuffed monkey to sit on top. Sadly of a few of his close neighbors don't appreciate all the noise, but we were glad he shared. Sorry there's no video to share with you.

But I hope  you enjoy the rest of the story in pictures.