Germany and Austria part two

This is the second part to our European trip…

We did make a trip out to Nuremberg soon after our friend Meghan arrived (she came the day after Chris did).  It was relatively uneventful… mostly just wandered around, looked at some pretty churches and ate food. Oh, well…I guess one thing did happen…
We went to a restaurant that Lori recommended because they served some traditional food, and she had been there before and liked it.  So we enter and get seated.  There is a basket with a couple selections of baked goods… however, it is unclear if we just take some or if it is leftover from a previous party.  Unfortunately, I don’t know how to communicate the concept “self serve” in German.  So thinking on my feet, I ask if I can have some of the bread for my son.  Lucky the waitress understood and gave me a yes.  After that it was time to order. The woman comes to our table and looks expectantly at me.  I am guessing she figured I was going to order for all of us. Well I tell my friend Lori to order first, so she does….and then the waitress just goes away! We were all very confused.  She finally came back, and we finally got to order everyone else’s meal… but it was a challenge.  Oh yes, and sadly a good portion of the trip, Tristan was fussy…of course!

Another small event I want to mention was Chris and Tucker going out drinking one night at a local bar.  Chris had a German phrase book I loaned him, and with its help…they had a good time. It was apparently some woman’s birthday, and so they joined and wished her happy birthday. They bought drinks for each other and even got invited to the dessert table.  I wasn’t there, so I only heard about it second hand.  While the guys were out having fun, us girls (after the kids went to sleep) stayed in and watched singing shows (don’t remember the name of it off hand) and drank some tasty holiday wine.  Perhaps it wasn’t as eventful as the guy’s night…but it was still nice.  When they got back in it was pretty late.  Boy did they drink a lot too! They just stumbled in with these big silly grins! They very happily recounted all the adventures of the night.  I think the quote of the day went to Tucker though… something like “drunk vocabulary doesn’t go by Webster’s!”  We all had a good chuckle over that too!
During one of the afternoons, we all went to a place called Megaplay. It was similar to the discovery zone many of us may remember from our childhood.  Lots of thing to climb, run, jump, pedal on, and even a special section for real little kids.  Needless to say, Lillie and Tristan had a good time, and so did the grownups.
We also went to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant which was wonderful. Lori and Tucker’s car wouldn’t fit all of us, so we had to go in shifts. So the first group went, and then Tucker would come and pick up the second group… we ate, and had to go back the same way. Really though….very tasty food!

Let’s see… we (being Chris, Meghan, Lori, Lillie, Tristan, and I) also made another trip into Nuremberg to see the castle there.  It was an hour train ride, and then a pretty decent walk up hill too.  Let me tell you, the castle location would have been great for defense! Anyhow, we got there with only about an hour left to see things. So we go in and see what was available. There were no more tours, and the only other options were the museum and the castle tower.  So Chris asked everyone what they’d like to see more. Everyone basically didn’t care which one, so I said the tower. Besides… if we went into the museum…there might not be english descriptions…so I figured the tower would be more friendly in that regard.  So Chris bought tickets for everyone to go.  He is just sweet like that sometimes.  Well after that, both Meghan and Lori decided they weren’t going to go. Needless to say there were some raw nerves for a little bit. Chris, Tristan, and I did go though. Wow! The view was just amazing. You could see the whole city just about. I am normally afraid of heights, but this was so worth it! I will say the climb up was tough though…especially carrying 20+ of baby.  I would post pictures…but Chris still has them. Blah.
After that Tristan was a real crab, so we headed back to Lori’s home.
Before we knew it….it was time to leave for Vienna, Austria.
We rode the train from Freihung and eventually made our way to Munich. We had quite a wait though since our next train left at almost midnight.  It was cold, we were hungry, and there wasn’t much of a place to sit. So we got some food, ate standing, and then ended up pacing for several hours in an attempt to keep our tired little boy somewhat happy.  It worked somewhat.  I even called my friend Ally, who I’d not seen for 10 years, to make plans for meeting up the following day.
Finally, our train arrived and we got on. It was such a relief to be somewhere warm, and where we could not only sit…. but lay down! Did I mention it was a compartment train? We had a first class cabin to our selves.  Now…don’t get too excited.  The beds we very small (about the width of your normal couch cushion…and not very soft. However…it was private.  That was what made it first class really.  So Chris took the top bunk, and Tristan and I shared the bottom.  In theory…this was going to be a great way to travel. In reality, Tristan was the only one who slept much.  Every time the train would slow or stop, I would have to try and not roll off the edge of the bed.  So I didn’t sleep very much or very well. By 5:45am, it was time to get up, as our train was to arrive at 6am and we’d need to get off. So we drank our coffee, had a snack, and then we were off the train again. We had no idea how to get to our next destination either.  We went and tried to ask the info point since we didn’t see the train we’d need next listed, but no one was there! So we keep pacing between station maps try to figure it out.
Then a wonderful angel of a woman comes and asked. In german if we needed help and if she could help.  I explained that my german wasn’t very good.  She asked which language we did speak, and of course I said english, but she didn’t speak any…and so we tried the best we could to communicate in german.  It didn’t work well though, so instead…she went around asking people if they spoke english. She then dragged this poor man over and had him help us.  They were both very kind. The man even walked us down and showed us the platform we would need.  I felt so much better about the people in Austria.  They seemed much friendlier.
So anyway, we ride the train to the stop we need and exit the station. It was raining! Yuck! Guess what we didn’t have with us too….yup, no umbrella. So here we are walking in the rain. I did my best to keep Tristan dry and warm, but it certainly didn’t help that we got lost on our way to the hotel.  Chris called them and got directions. We eventually made it there, but it was far too early to check in (really…we just needed to leave our bags if nothing else). So we talk to the woman at the desk. She tells us we can’t check in…which we figured.  At least…until she saw we had a baby.  At which point she found a room for us. That made my day! I even asked her where I might buy an umbrella…and she offered us hers until we got one of our own.  Needless to say we didn’t take her up on it though.
So we got to just relax in our room for a little bit.  Around 10 or 10:30am, Ally showed up, and we happily went out to explore and catch up.  We went to a cafe right near by for some drinks. Funny enough, Ally informed us that a traditional cafe there must have grumpy waitresses.  It is just the way it is done! She said that if you have a happy one, then you aren’t at a really good cafe! Tristan did start to act up, and so I walked with him briefly…but then Chris took him. I was so thankful too, because this was my only chance to visit with Ally in person.
After that we went to some little touristy shops, and then to the natural history museum.  It was pretty neat since the building and display cases were all pretty old.  Chris was sweet and continued to watch Tristan. This was the only day during our trip that I truly got to really look at much. Tristan is very good at keeping all my attention on him…or else!
We also had a lovely lunch together earlier that day.
I would venture to say that this day was one of the best outings for me.
Oh! And Ally took us to some other cool places… there was one building (that she used to work in) that was art nouveau…and it housed a popular artist’s work too. I really liked it. There was also a chocolate shop (Zotter chocolate) which had some very interesting combinations… things like peanuts and ketchup chocolate. We bought several of the interesting flavors…
Cranberry and thyme chocolate (which was my favorite), rose and basil chocolate, chilly pepper cream chocolate, and a scotch whiskey chocolate (for Chris’s dad).  All of them tasted pretty good too.
After everything, we turned in to the hotel before 5. We were all tired, and had planned things to do the following day.  That night we had a simple dinner in our room…Chris had gone back out to take pictures without us. Well by bedtime, Tristan started running a fever. I gave him meds which seemed to help.  We all went to sleep…and slept pretty well too (well, at least better than on the train).
The next morning, Tristan wasn’t wanting to eat much. That was a big tip off that he wasn’t feeling well (earlier in the week, Lori’s daughter Lillie had gotten sick too).  We had to check out of the hotel by 11 am though, so we packed everything back up, and Ally came and met up with us again.
We decided what we would do that day, and also that we needed to try and buy a nasal aspirator for Tristan’s very runny nose.  We store our bags at the front desk and head out.  We make it not even a couple blocks before Tristan starts looking very” green around the gills” if you know what I mean. A moment later…he pukes all over my shirt. Gross, yes, but I felt so bad that he was getting so sick! We rushed back to the hotel so I can change my shirt into one from the previous day (I only brought two because I was to go back to Lori’s for a couple days after this).  I changed my shirt, and we head our again…this time to find the aspirator first, then go do something. We would have stayed in, but had no room to go to.  So we walk a little bit, and then Tristan throws up again. Not once, but twice! I have no shirt to change into either. So we go to a couple places…and we found an apotheke who we talk to about the aspirator (none of us knew the german word for it). She tells us where to find one, and wouldn’t you know – the german word translates to nose sucker. Good to know, and very descriptive.
At this point, we go back to the hotel…and try to see if I can fly to the states that same day. Alas, no luck.
So instead, we cut our trip short and took a day trip back to germany.
I was sad to go, but needed to do what was best for my little boy. I was happy to report that he was VERY good on the train ride back (5 hours!)
I made a call to Lori to let her know that I was coming over early and that Tristan was sick.
She was so sweet and welcomed us back into her home.  I spent the next couple days just hanging out with her and the kids. Chris made another trip to Nuremberg to sightsee without us.  He seemed to have a good time, so really…it was a good trip all in all.
The flight back was terrible, but still not as bad as I expected. Tristan slept 4 hours, but was awake for the last 6.5 hours. He only spent maybe an hour to an hour and a half really fussing during that time. He was entertained by his socks a lot (we made puppets), and by the touch screen in front. So really it wasn’t bad at all.
After everything though-  it sure is nice to be home and back to our normal routine!