Since stoooopid ipad does not have a card reader, i am stuck uploading some grainy photos ... Until i find a PC with a card reader ...
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Copenhagen, what a town
Since stoooopid ipad does not have a card reader, i am stuck uploading some grainy photos ... Until i find a PC with a card reader ...
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Lost Hamburgers
Contributed by Cathy
After leaving our dear friends in Braunsweig, we took the ICE to Hamburg. As I did not really have a chance to double check our hotel on google maps, I went with the old traditional way. . . an address and a map. Before I got on the train, Yvonne and I found a street with the name as our hotel's on the Hamburg map. The street was in the North Western part of town, this was a bit odd since I vaguely remember wanting to rent a hotel near the main train station to avoid travelling too far with our suitcases. But I blamed it on baby brains. We decoded to get off at a secondary station in order to be closer to our hotel. After getting off the ICE, we took 2 metros to get closer to the hotel in order to save a bit of cab fair. To our surprise there were no elevator to go to the lower platform to catch the metro. So we had, or should I say Nicolas, had to lug our lugguage 5 flights of stairs in two trips and then come back to help me with the baby and stroller, and this at least 4 times (due to transfers of metro). We got off at the Hoheluftbrueke station, after deciding in which direction to go, we opted to walk since the weather was so nice and our hotel was less than 1 kilometer away. The street we were on was to change name to Steindamm. After walking, I am sure more than 1km the street name finally changed from Hoheluftchaussee to Lokstedter Steindamm. It is then that I realised that Lokstedter was actually part of the street name. And not a third name for this street, therefore there we were walking on and on the wrong street, more specifically in the wrong neighborhood! Our hotel was not here, we looked at the map again, found another Steindamm street downtown, indeed our hotel was downtown near the main train station. At that point we hopped on the bus that would bring us to the main train station, hence near our hotel, passing right where we had started over 2 hours ago!
We finally found our hotel nestled between Turkish fruit stands, sex shops and peep shows. Overall our hotel was brand new, nice and safe. Needless to say that after this little map reading mishaps I am fired from giving directions, at least for now....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
After leaving our dear friends in Braunsweig, we took the ICE to Hamburg. As I did not really have a chance to double check our hotel on google maps, I went with the old traditional way. . . an address and a map. Before I got on the train, Yvonne and I found a street with the name as our hotel's on the Hamburg map. The street was in the North Western part of town, this was a bit odd since I vaguely remember wanting to rent a hotel near the main train station to avoid travelling too far with our suitcases. But I blamed it on baby brains. We decoded to get off at a secondary station in order to be closer to our hotel. After getting off the ICE, we took 2 metros to get closer to the hotel in order to save a bit of cab fair. To our surprise there were no elevator to go to the lower platform to catch the metro. So we had, or should I say Nicolas, had to lug our lugguage 5 flights of stairs in two trips and then come back to help me with the baby and stroller, and this at least 4 times (due to transfers of metro). We got off at the Hoheluftbrueke station, after deciding in which direction to go, we opted to walk since the weather was so nice and our hotel was less than 1 kilometer away. The street we were on was to change name to Steindamm. After walking, I am sure more than 1km the street name finally changed from Hoheluftchaussee to Lokstedter Steindamm. It is then that I realised that Lokstedter was actually part of the street name. And not a third name for this street, therefore there we were walking on and on the wrong street, more specifically in the wrong neighborhood! Our hotel was not here, we looked at the map again, found another Steindamm street downtown, indeed our hotel was downtown near the main train station. At that point we hopped on the bus that would bring us to the main train station, hence near our hotel, passing right where we had started over 2 hours ago!
We finally found our hotel nestled between Turkish fruit stands, sex shops and peep shows. Overall our hotel was brand new, nice and safe. Needless to say that after this little map reading mishaps I am fired from giving directions, at least for now....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Hamburg, Germany
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Groom takes baby to hospital
Contributed by mommy (Cathy)
After cocktails and canapes we went back to the hotel to enable Isaak to have a nap. When he woke up from his nap an hour later he had trouble catching his breath due some mucus accumulation, this was the cherry to top the sunday, another symptom to add to the list. As new parents we were of course worried therefore we decided to have him checked, of course this is not the easiest thing to do on a Saturday afternoon, in a small town. After speaking with the bride and groom, whom helped us get a taxi organized, we got ready to go the the hospital and accept that we may miss a reception since we may have to wait for a while to get our little guy checked. As we are heading to our taxi, the groom was there waiting for us to come with us! He would not take no for an answer, he wanted to come to make sure that we would be properly understood at the Children's hospital. Upon our arrival, he accompanied us inside, requesting the taxi to wait. He explained our situation and Isaak's symptoms and then was told that the Dr did not have a very good English. The receptionist did not want to take the responsability of translating the information back to the Dr. Therefore she requested that Martin (the groom) stay. As it was obvious that he was a groom (wearing tuxedo and all) she expedited the hole process as Martin said he had to go back to his wedding. A whole 15 minutes later, with a diagnosis that everything was fine with the little guy, a 30€ charger and some tynenol type medecin for Isaak later, we hoped back in our taxi, and headed back to the wedding. That was the fastest service I have ever had in my life at a hospital. The moral of this story is, if you want fast service in a hospital wear wedding atire and if you want to live every moment of you wedding day don't invite foreign new parents that will require your help if their child becomes ill!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
After cocktails and canapes we went back to the hotel to enable Isaak to have a nap. When he woke up from his nap an hour later he had trouble catching his breath due some mucus accumulation, this was the cherry to top the sunday, another symptom to add to the list. As new parents we were of course worried therefore we decided to have him checked, of course this is not the easiest thing to do on a Saturday afternoon, in a small town. After speaking with the bride and groom, whom helped us get a taxi organized, we got ready to go the the hospital and accept that we may miss a reception since we may have to wait for a while to get our little guy checked. As we are heading to our taxi, the groom was there waiting for us to come with us! He would not take no for an answer, he wanted to come to make sure that we would be properly understood at the Children's hospital. Upon our arrival, he accompanied us inside, requesting the taxi to wait. He explained our situation and Isaak's symptoms and then was told that the Dr did not have a very good English. The receptionist did not want to take the responsability of translating the information back to the Dr. Therefore she requested that Martin (the groom) stay. As it was obvious that he was a groom (wearing tuxedo and all) she expedited the hole process as Martin said he had to go back to his wedding. A whole 15 minutes later, with a diagnosis that everything was fine with the little guy, a 30€ charger and some tynenol type medecin for Isaak later, we hoped back in our taxi, and headed back to the wedding. That was the fastest service I have ever had in my life at a hospital. The moral of this story is, if you want fast service in a hospital wear wedding atire and if you want to live every moment of you wedding day don't invite foreign new parents that will require your help if their child becomes ill!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Wernigerode
Wedding ceremony
We spent a wonderful night in a suite at the Gothisches Haus Hotel. The staff had everything in place to accomodate a baby, such as bottle and food warmer, special soap and towel, and a changing station. The sun shining in from over the Rathaus was a pleasant wakeup. Breakfast gothisches was great with fresh orange juice, a buffet of eveything, including 5 different kinds of fish, block of cheeses of all kinds that we could cut ourselves, and staff that would happily bring you your favorite beans -- i ordered capuccinos and Cathy macchiatos. The neverending choice of yogurts and quarks, that we topped off with fruits were enjoyed by Isaak.
The civil ceremony started at 11:30 sharp (afterall, we were in Germany). It took place in the old Rathaus (city hall), recently restored to its 1587 glorious appearance. Isaak had fun hearing his voice echo in the hall, as can be heard in the videos of the event. The wedding party exited from the steps of the Rathaus into the old city square. The sky was beautiful with white cotton clouds scattered in front of a blue sky. Moments later, doves were released and celebratory voices coulde heard echoing through the medievil old streets of Wernigerode.
Photos to come
The civil ceremony started at 11:30 sharp (afterall, we were in Germany). It took place in the old Rathaus (city hall), recently restored to its 1587 glorious appearance. Isaak had fun hearing his voice echo in the hall, as can be heard in the videos of the event. The wedding party exited from the steps of the Rathaus into the old city square. The sky was beautiful with white cotton clouds scattered in front of a blue sky. Moments later, doves were released and celebratory voices coulde heard echoing through the medievil old streets of Wernigerode.
Photos to come
Location:Wernigerode
Wedding day
We spent a wonderful night in a suite at the Gothisches Haus Hotel. The staff had everything in place to accomodate a baby, such as bottle and food warmer, special soap and towel, and a changing station. The sun shining in from over the Rathaus was a pleasant wakeup. Breakfast gothisches was great with fresh orange juice, a buffet of eveything, including 5 different kinds of fish, block of cheeses of all kinds that we could cut ourselves, and staff that would happily bring you your favorite beans -- i ordered capuccinos and Cathy macciatos. The neverending choice of yogurts and quarks, that we topped off with fruits were enjoyed by Isaak.
The civil ceremony started at 11:30 sharp (afterall, we were in Germany). It took place in the old Rathaus (city hall), recently restored to its 1587 glorious appearance. Isaak had fun hearing his voice echo in the hall, as can be heard in the videos of the event. The wedding party exited from the steps of the Rathaus into the old city square. The sky was beautiful with white cotton clouds scattered in front of a blue sky. Moments later, doves were released and celebratory voices coulde heard echoing through thoe medievil old streets of Wernigerode.
Photos to come
The civil ceremony started at 11:30 sharp (afterall, we were in Germany). It took place in the old Rathaus (city hall), recently restored to its 1587 glorious appearance. Isaak had fun hearing his voice echo in the hall, as can be heard in the videos of the event. The wedding party exited from the steps of the Rathaus into the old city square. The sky was beautiful with white cotton clouds scattered in front of a blue sky. Moments later, doves were released and celebratory voices coulde heard echoing through thoe medievil old streets of Wernigerode.
Photos to come
Location:Wernigerode
Friday, June 24, 2011
Journey to Wernigerode
We left our dear friends from their new home in Trudering, in the western part of Munich early this morning, to catch the 10:15AM ICE (rapid transit) train to Hannover, with a scheduled stop in Nürnberg.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Regensburg, on the shores of the Donau
Yesterday, we visited a medieval city on the shores of the Donau river called Regensburg, famous for its Regensburger sausages with Haendlmaier sweet mustard and sauerkraut. The narrow streets were filled with nice stores, and the city was easy to navigate since it had a slant towards the river.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Revisiting Munich
Yesterday was a day to visit old colleagues at my former work -- PDF Solutions. The weather was so great that we returned to the City Centre to enjoy some Bavarian food, beer, and sights.
We ended the evening in the Augustiner Biergarten, one of our favorite places near the main train station.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Landed in Munich
Not much going on the past two days since we landed. We've visited several friends around town, and little Isaak has a bad cold that is making him quite unhappy. The weather is excellent today so we'll be taking pics around town.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Munich, Germany
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Visiting the Hague
Today we spent the day strolling the Hague city center. It was a really windy day with some gusts easily reaching 60-70km/hr. I believe this is quite normal considering this is a coastal city with famous wind and kite surfing activity.We enjoyed the Binnenhof (the Dutch Federal government building), walking through the square where Queen Beatrix annually opens the Parliament. Art is scattered throughout the city, interlaced between art galleries and museums such as Escher (the guy who brought use those never-ending staircase).
Lunch was a delicious and reminiscing adventure for me, enjoying old favourites: croquettes. These ham and bechamelle-style sauce filled fried fish-stick looking things (described in tourist books as deep fried meat ragout coated with breadcrumbs) are kind to the pallet after a dipping in a dijonaise-style sauce.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Arrival in Den Haag
After a terrible experience on KLM, we've landed in Amsterdam. A quick hop on the train and we arrived at The Hague after a short 40 minute train ride.
Stopped at the cheese shop, spirits store, and of course the fish market where I enjoyed my first fresh herring in 15 years. We're all stocked up for an evening of Trapiste beers and aged cheese.
Today is a day of catching up on jet lag, so its a short one!
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