Day 95: Traveling Home

Today's the day. We return home.

We originally thought we'd take the Tube to the airport. The cost is way less and yet, only about 5 minutes longer than taking a taxi. However, when faced with taking those large bags up and down all those stairs and hallways, we opted for a taxi instead. Ok, Uber car.

Side note: It actually didn't cost that much. It was well worth it. And, just so you know, it takes about 45 minutes of aggressive driving to get to the open road. Once on the freeway, it's only about 15 minutes to the airport. After this hour, Xander is feeling a bit ill from the stops/starts and tight curves out of the city.

Hello, Heathrow!

Chris digitally checks in. We take our luggage to get tagged... and, well... two of them are over weight. One is REALLY too heavy. We quickly take from one and put into another, re-weighing and re-packing. The gentleman behind the counter wants the bags to be around 24 kg, even though the limit is closer to 22kg. One of them was 27kg, so it was a bit of repositioning to get it working right. We could have left the "as is" but it would have cost us an extra $200, so it's worth it to fix.

Side story: During this time, the clocks turned 11am. The gentleman helping us asked us to please be quiet for the next minute. All counters went quiet, an announcement came over the PA system asking for a moment of silence in support for Paris. After the moment is over, computers restart and business begins again.

Our bags are checked in. We have a little bit of time. I get water for the kids while Chris heads into the Tube station area to turn in our Oyster Cards (you get your deposit per card back and any outstanding balance). Well worth doing.

Time to go through security. As we enter the line, the woman checking tickets looks at Venice on my arm and asks if she's ok. We mention she's a little ill and will be ok. The woman asks if we would like a wheelchair. When we hesitate, the woman informs us that the walk to terminal B is about a 20 minute walk. Uh, yeah, we would LOVE a wheelchair! There is no way Venice can walk that far. Thank you for the suggestion and information on how to get a wheelchair.

This time, everyone makes it through, except me. Well, I make it through no problem, but my bag is sent down another track to be manually checked. Everyone gathers their items back up (putting shoes and belts back on, repacking laptops, and such). I get into line behind a gentleman who is having his bag hand checked as well. While I wait to be checked out, Chris and Venice head off to get a wheelchair.

Security. Good times. First, there was no one working the counter where bags have been flagged. So, we wait. Then finally, someone came to work this line. The gentleman in front of me had left his laptop in his carryon on. WHAT? After the millions of signs that ask you to remove your laptop AND the people working behind the bins and conveyor belts verbally asking for you to remove your laptops, he still leaves it in his bag? Ugh. So, every zipper has to be opened, everything has to be wiped down with the "chemical" tester.  Everything has to be removed from the bag and removed. Some items are sent through the scanners again. Meanwhile, Xander and I are waiting, waiting, waiting. The man is cleared and he slowly puts everything back into his bag. The woman cannot begin with me until this gentleman packs up and leaves. So we wait. She makes a comment that if he wants to avoid this, next time, please take out his laptop. The gentleman replies, "I heard that," with the attitude off the charts. Ugh.

My turn. Similar treatment. Open all the zippers. The woman goes through everything. Unlike the gentleman ahead of me, I get no explanation as to why my bag was flagged. And now, Xander and I rush to meet up with Chris and Venice. We had a lot of time before, and now, we're starting to run out of time.

We find Chris and Venice, eating lunch downstairs. Xander and I grab a quit bite and join them at the table. Chris quickly heads out to find the wheelchair and comes back with a cool purple wheelchair. We're in business and ready for our 20 minute walk to our terminal and gate.

Once we arrive at our gate (we made it with enough time for one last bathroom stop), a gentleman came over to us and said that there is a special wheelchair entrance on the other side of the gate (he already has his wife over there). We thank him and head over to where he's waiting. Minutes later, we are checked in and behind the counters waiting to board the plane before anyone else is even asked to line up at the gate. Kind of cool to not have to board with the hoards. Chris wheels Venice down the jetway and we get on and find our seats. We are ready for our 10+ hour flight home!

Side note: At one point, there were about 5 airplanes coming in for a landing. Their headlights were lined up in the sky and it was a pretty cool sight. Chris went to take a photo and was politely told that photos are not allowed. Hmm. Is that normal or is that heightened security?

The flight is uneventful (yay). And, this airplane is a different style of plane we came over on. This one has a digital screen for every single seat. On the way over, we had to sign into their wifi (which was horrible) to try to watch anything (stilted and undoable). On this flight, we each get our own access to the entertainment and there are no glitches in the streaming capabilities. Yay! I watch Paper Towns and Harry Potter and the Prisoner from Askaban. Side note: Half of the list of available movies are comprised of Harry Potter movies and Bond movies (all of them). I can't help but wonder if it's because we're traveling from London or is it just a coincidence. Anyway, I watch my two movies (and a few Amy Schuler episodes) and the flight goes by quicker than I can imagine.

We all love watching the little graphic airplane make its trip from London to San Francisco,
showing us where we are in our trip. 

Another side note: By the time we arrive in SFO, our bodies think it's after midnight. And yet, we each only slept about 15-30 minutes on the plane. Excitement to get home, feeling sick, not able to get comfortable... not sure, but none of us are feeling rested when we get to SFO and go through Customs. Venice, in particular, had a rough time on the flight and missing out on sleeping. We do get her a wheelchair after disembarking the plane, but we did have to ask and got lucky that they were able to find another one for us. Normally, I guess, you arrange ahead of time for a wheelchair. Sometimes there is an extra one (like now) but they have to be sure that anyone who ordered one gets it (can't give it to us on accident).

welcome to san francisco

As we approach Customs, there are self-check-in kiosks. Chris checks us in, says we have nothing to declare (which doesn't quite match what I put on our paper copy we filled out on the airplane), and we head to a real person behind a counter. We answer a few of the questions that they have to ask to check us out (what were you doing, where did you go, what's your business)... you kind of feel like you're getting to know someone and they're really interested in you, but there is definitely a feel of, "this is serious" and we're asking to be sure you're not a crazy person bringing back contraband. Anyway, the guy never asks for my paper copy (phew), and we had to the next step.

Finally, after three check points, we are in the SFO airport. We pick up our bags and walk them one hallway to a place where we re-check them. We're just doing the manual labor of taking them from one place to another, the bags are not really rec-checked. They have been checked all the way through to Eugene, so no re-weighing or anything like that. Just rolled from point A to point B and we're on our way. Unfortunately, we have to go through SFO's security check now. This time, I sail through. Phew.

We make our way to the American Express lounge (Chris has a card that gives us access to this lounge) and we settle in. Venice lays down on a couch and sleeps. The rest of us eat a bit of food and recharge our digital devices. And then it's time for our flight home.

Haha! Joke's on Customs,
we DID ship a live animal!

We have crappy seats on this flight (we're not all together) due to the fact that we purchased them just a day before. But, Chris talks to a woman behind the counter and we get them changed so that we can sit with the kids (two and two). A short flight. Uneventful (yay). We get another wheelchair (phew) and head to meet our family.

Xander and I head down the escalators and fall into Granny and Jiichan's arms, tears of happiness overwhelming us all. Chris and Venice arrive a minute later from the elevator and it's their turn for more hugs and tears. Funny story: While we're in the midst of our reunion, a friend, who has also been traveling, stops in to say hi! Someone who we saw at the airport when we were leaving for a trip to Montana last spring. Small world! Or, is that just our home town? You're always bound to run into someone you know.

It's a bit surreal to be back. Our bodies feeling like it's about 6am, we are zombies and just wanting to get into our own beds. We'll deal with our emotions... tomorrow.

Day 86: Travel to Oxford

Time to pack up... again. Good-bye noisy flag! (There is a metal bar at the bottom of the flag to keep it open... but every time the wind blows, the metal bar hits the wall outside our window making a lovely rapping noise.)

It's also time to shower. The hair dryer here is like a vacuum cleaner that, instead, blows air. It's attached to the wall and has an odd tube connecting it to the unit and a wide "mouth" that looks like it's going to suck up your hair, not dry it. But it does dry... I do have a hard time directing the air where I want it to go, so I give up after a minute or two.

We had breakfast at Nero (a common café chain here) on our corner. We finish packing and head out to the Tube.

We're glad to see that the Tube is much less crowded this morning. It is Saturday and it's later in the morning, so we actually get seats! That's how empty it is. Everyone is grateful.

I'm still surprised by how warm it is here. We're all hot walking along the streets, dragging our luggage and heavy food bag (chips, nuts, candy), and backpacks. Just glad it's just drizzling and not raining, that would have added to the fun.

We get ourselves to Paddington Station (cool!) and Chris goes to the ticket machine. There seems to be a lot of "do-it-yourself" ticket machines, here. We had ordered our tickets a week ago, but you have to print them at the station. So, Chris puts in the information and 13 credit-card sized pieces of paper come out. 1 is a receipt. 4 are tickets for us on our trip to Oxford. 4 are tickets for us on our trip back. And 4 are specific for our seat assignments on the way back (no assigned seats on the way there).

A Tube hallway (left), Paddington Station (right)

Now we wait for a platform assignment. We're a bit early, but that's ok, there are tons of seats facing the departure board. Brilliant! So, we can all relax while we wait. Meanwhile, it's now POURING rain outside. The sound it makes on the roof is wonderful and I'm super glad we aren't arriving now, we would have been soaked. Interestingly, we are getting a little dripped on, here and there. I guess the roof isn't leak-proof. Annoying, but not bad considering alternatives.

Our train gets assigned a platform and we head out to find a seat, since we don't have assigned seating. The train is virtually empty so we pick 4 seats facing one another. But they're cramped and we convince Chris to switch to the 6 seats facing one another. Maybe we'll get lucky and we'll get all 6. No such luck. Chris' hesitation was right. We should have stuck with out 4. Oh well. We share with some strangers and it's not too bad. The trip is only 1 hour. The biggest problem is how much luggage we have (4 bulging backpacks, 2 rollers, 1 bag of food, and 1 bag of extra stuff that didn't fit into the other luggage... guess we'll have to ship more stuff back??) Finding space wasn't too hard as we were there early, but we're hogging the space, that's for sure.

Our first stop is Slough. Barely anyone gets off. Next stop is Reading. Almost everyone gets off. So the last leg of our journey was almost just us on the train. I guess Reading is popular!

Now it's our turn to disembark and we are in Oxford. The rain has stopped again. It's mostly dry. We follow signs to a taxi stand. There is a group of kids (sportsteam of some sort) waiting on the taxi island, but they don't seem to be in line? We look about, it seems more like the bus side of things... where to go...? There is another couple there looking around like us... they ask if we are looking for a taxi, too? Yes! They are from Florida. So, it's just us Americans who can't find the taxi stand!

But we do eventually find it on the other side of the island (it was only 50ft from the bus waiting area). But it says to wait for the taxi on the other side.. where? The other side of the street is for cars. Up on the hill is a parking lot. It's not clear where to go. Meanwhile, taxis are driving right by us, some empty and some with passengers. I walk around to see if I can find something else to help... Chris goes across the street to investigate. And, when I come back to where the kids are, I see the "Other" side of the sign that says to wait on the "other side"... on THIS side of the same sign it says to wait "here". Oy! I guess they want to control the swing of the line, but seriously, that was confusing. And just as we figure it out, here comes a taxi and stops for us, just as if it was easy all along.

At the train station... looks like a LEGO building (left), a part of High street (middle and right)

We haven't taken too many taxis while in the UK, but these last two rides have very opinionated drivers. Our driver from our Stonehenge tour was also opinionated. Today's driver asked if we fell for Merkel while we were in Berlin. We mumbled something and he said, "Well, England has. Hook line and sinker." Ok... just get us to our hotel and we'll be happy! Side note: The people here definitely have an air of intelligence about them (I can tell just by looking). There is an afternoon paper that fills the stands. It's free (how does this happen in this day and age?) and people get in the line to pick one up on their way to the Tube. AND they actually read it! I do feel, as a community, they are much better educated by the happenings in the world than I am I don't doubt that.

We arrived and check into our hotel. We have two rooms side-by-side (no adjoining doors), so we split up. Chris and Venice take one room and Xander and I take the other. Then we head out in search of a coffee café.

As I promised the taxi driver, it has stopped raining and the sun has broken through the clouds. The city is beautiful, sparkly its after-rain sheen.

Chris and I enjoy our coffees. Very good. The kids enjoy their half-baked brownies (Venice got chocolate-raspberry and Xander got chocolate-salt-caramel). Very good. And then to walk back through town again. Side note: On every block, there is no less than 2-3 barbers. We even passed one that had three people waiting while one got his hair trimmed. We figure, this is Oxford, one MUST keep one's hair neat, therefore, the abundance of places to get groomed.

We decided to walk through the botanical gardens as it's our way. But, we just missed the last entry by a few minutes. We'll have to come back tomorrow if we still want to come. There is a place to peak into the gardens and then a hedge-maze out front, so we did get a little taste of what's there. We'll wait if we need to see more tomorrow.

High street (left), Xander on the bridge (middle-left), Botanical Gardens (middle-right), Hedge-Maze (right)

This trip is probably our first venture where we didn't do much, if at all, research before coming. So, it's a quick search on the internet to figure out where to go and what to see. Chris had read about a bookstore, in town, that claims to have the largest single room devoted to book sales in all of Europe (10,000 sqf if you want to know). Xander isn't too excited about the prospect of being in a giant room with books. On the other hand, Venice is excited and we push forward.

As we walked through the front of the Botanical Gardens, there was a city map (they are erected all over town), I saw that we were nearly on Dead Man's Walk, the route of medieval Jewish funeral processions. It sounds more ominous than it is. In fact, today, with the sun out and lowering in the sky, it's a very serene and beautiful walk.

On the other side of Dead Man's Walk is Christ church. This is our first hint that there might be something going on here in town... we see a few people in cap-and-gown outfits. Graduation? I did a Google search later and did find that today is one of Oxford University's fall graduations. I didn't check into any other colleges that are in town (because there are tons and tons of colleges here, I didn't know that...), too many to search. But we did come across several more graduates during the rest of the day.

Christ Church (top and bottom -left), a street... forget which one (right)

We also walked through the covered market area. This shopping and eating area reminded me of Pike Place in Seattle. Lots of little shops sharing the covered area. We scope out lunch for tomorrow (Pieminister) and dessert (Ben's Cookies). Then we find our way to the bookstore where we lose ourselves for about an hour.

The covered market (left) and the largest single room devoted to book sales (right)

When we finally pull ourselves out of the bookstore, we find that it's twilight. The town continues to be beautiful. We walk through other colleges, taking tons of photos as we go, and make our way back to our hotel where we've decided to have dinner.

Town (top and right)
Jesus College (bottom left and middle),
where the first woman to study there crossed the threshold in 1974

Back at the hotel, we get ready for dinner. We are the ONLY ones in the restaurant. Not a good sign, right? All the other restaurants we passed were full-up. I have to say, the food was excellent and we were waited on quite nicely. It was as if we had a private party. Only when we were ready to pay our bill did other people come in to dine. What a nice way to end our day. Side note: Venice has not been feeling well. She's been itchy and has had a sore throat for a while (foreshadowing warning...)

After dinner, we head back to our rooms. None of our keys work on Chris' door. I can't remember if I mentioned that we were locked out of our room in London a few days ago, too. My key stopped working. A hotel worker happened by, tried his key and that didn't work either. He went to fix our keys and it was all good. This time, they hotel workers came up and couldn't get their door to work. They suspected that the batteries in the door were out and said they would fix it in the morning after we head out for the day. So, Chris and Venice are tucked in for the night, no leaving!

Once in our own rooms, getting ready for bed, Xander says, "Was that fireworks?" I say, no, couldn't be... why would there be fireworks? Must have been a car backfiring. Well, we heard it again, head to the window, and to our delight, we were treated to a long, wonderful fireworks show! Right outside our window! 

And we thought our evening couldn't get any better.... and we were right. Our joy ended around 9pm when "kids" started running up and down our hallways, making quite a raucous. I'm bad at telling age, now... maybe early 20s? I actually feel like they were younger and this was their first time in a hotel without adult supervision.

In any case, they ran up and down the hallways, chasing each other, laughing, yelling, thumping. Up and down the hallways and staircases. This is an older hotel, so everything creaks and thumps so much louder than in a new-modern hotel. So, a little after 9pm, I got "old lady, motherly" on them. I opened my door and shushed them. I actually said something like, "Hey guys, come on, there are kids trying to sleep, here." The girls seemed apologetic (I don't think the guys even heard me) and it was more quiet... for about 15 minutes. At that point, I had fantasies of opening the door quickly and taking their photo to send to the front desk with a complaint. But... that was too much for me. Chris, however, opened his door and shushed them too. Then, around 10pm, Chris called the front desk. Didn't do much help. Maybe by 11:30pm it had quieted down. What a bummer of a way to end the night.

For you, I'll let you end on a bit of our fireworks display:

Day 85: Slow Down Day

So, last night everyone was exhausted. Tired from moving out of our Berlin home, from our travels to Britain, and now tired from our tour yesterday (even though we sat on a bus for most of it). Chris and I talked, and we chose to move things around. He is going to work today and the kids and I will take it easy (Chris going to work today might even be classified as "taking it easy" over touring about a new city).

My only job for the day is to ship ONE MORE BOX. Our big bag was too heavy to make it through the States without a penalty cost. And this is before buying any souvenirs from this part of our trip. So, it makes sense to ship more items.

The four of us head a building over for breakfast at a coffee café (Café Nero... we see a lot of these). It's a perfect start to the day with a small bite to eat with Chris before seeing him off.

Another bonus of Chris working today, is that we can pack the two big bags to hold at HotelTonight's office while we take a weekend trip (with only two carry-on sized bags) to Oxford. So, we pack those two bags up with items we don't need over the weekend, and fill a big bag and my backpack with items we do not think we'll need for the duration of our trip. We should have sent them from Berlin, but that's how it goes. This is round B.

We are only a mile from HotelTonight, but this seems too far to wheel two very large bags. It also seems impossible to take them onto the Tube during rush hour (and we haven't even looked at the map to see if that wouldn't still be a lot of walking involved). So, we head out the front of the hotel and catch a taxi. Cool! Now I can say I've been in a Hackney carriage! We were wondering if there was room for luggage... sort of. There is no trunk. Since there are only two of us, we don't use the extra fold-down seats and we pull the luggage in with us. Pretty cool, even for just one mile.

When we arrive at HotelTonight, we have to call up to get into the building. It took us about three calls to get the buzzer to work (and meanwhile, the intercom was breaking in and out) so we could open the door. After walking into the building, we could see there was an elevator. At this point, Chris was confident that he could go on his own (he was worried about carrying the two big bags up stairs, etc. not knowing how far he had to go). So, he went up the elevator to secure our bags and put in a full day's work. Another bonus, two of his coworkers from the SF office are in town this week and today's their last day. With our previous schedule, he would have missed seeing them. This new schedule has him overlapping today, so it's nice to get to see them and work with them before they head out of London.

After leaving Chris at the elevator, I head back... or so I tried. I couldn't get OUT of the building! Sounds crazy, but the door was locked, or stuck. Or, am I incompetent at opening doors? I'm looking at knobs, possible locks, twisty-things... nothing works. There is a woman standing outside, not giving me any attention... maybe this is better than me being fully humiliated, but on the other hand, I was hoping she'd point or mime some kind of hint to me. Just when I was almost in full panic mode, and was about to call Chris saying I can't get out of the damn building, I noticed a button on the wall (about 4 feet from the door, on the right side of the hallway) with a big note saying, "Push, then open door." OMG. I push the button and, miraculously, I am able to leave the building. I laugh out of exasperation, but I'm not sure the woman outside was entertained or irritated by my demise.

At this point, I'm sweaty. But, I will also take this time to point out how warm it is here. It's in the mid 60s, but raining. So, I have to keep my jacket on and hood up if I want to stay dry, but I'm sweating in my new down coat... if only I hadn't forgotten my old raincoat, which was just a shell and would have been perfect in this hot-rainy weather.

I had decided to walk the mile back to the hotel room. This would be some of my exercise for the day, plus, it would give me an opportunity to see where we are living and what's around us. I'm sure I look like a tourist, with my head up, looking everywhere as I walk slowly.

This is the trifecta photo.
Red-double-decker buss (left), Bobbies (middle), Phone booth (right)
and a bonus "LOOK RIGHT" in the forefront

So far, London is overwhelming to me. The crowds are intense. The sidewalks are small. The traffic is fast (and going on the wrong side). Everyone is not only in a hurry, but they seem to be run-walking everywhere. Even at my fast past, people are heading past me in a blur. This feels very different than Berlin where the sidewalks were wide, traffic was fast, but not insane (or maybe in Berlin there was a wider shoulder on the roads, maybe the roads were wider too), and in Berlin, people who were in a hurry, weren't like the people in a hurry here in London. I just feel tense all the time. I know it's a new place and we're figuring things out, but it just feels like a lot of it is due to having to be alert for people wanting to pass, people coming at you, cars, lights, etc. If you just go one street off the main road, it's a world of difference, so when I got get onto one of these streets, I do breathe a little easier.

Something that I find amusing, as I'm walking through the city, is what goes through my mind. In Berlin, I mostly thought about its recent history with WWII and the Nazis. London may have a long history that is interesting as well... but all I can think about is showtunes, SNL skits, and other media references (usually poking fun at the British or seems like it when I retell it in my mind). When I was younger, I was in the musical "The Boyfriend". So, as I walk through Bloomsbury, all I can do is think of the song, "A Room in Bloomsbury" (start at minute 2:40). Now, it's been over 30 years, so I can really only remember one passage and chorus, so that repeats in my head over and over and over and over. The next thing I think about is the "All Things Scottish" SNL skit from back in the day as I pass a Scotch Shop. And finally, I took a photo of a building today, one that had bricks that I liked, to show how they mount their street signs. Anyway, Venice noticed this same building and sign, but for another reason... the street is named Macklin and it makes her think of the character Andy (who pretends to be Bert Macklin from the FBI on the "Parks and Recreation" show.

Bloomsbury (left), Scotch Shop (middle), Macklin street (right)

So, I feel kind of dweeby as I walk through Posh-London and all I'm thinking about is making fun of the British (I'm speaking in an exaggerated British accent in my head all the time...) Is this how we are raised in the U.S.? To mock the British? Must be, because, otherwise, I feel like I'm a good person.

As I was nearing our hotel, I passed by a few Chinese restaurants that looked good. I'm already thinking of lunch with the kids. We had thought we might try a Japanese fusion restaurant for lunch, but it looked fancier. The places I'm passing now seem to be more fit to a quick lunch. So, I'm hoping to get the kids to agree.

Back at the hotel, I relax a little, blog a little, get the kids ready for the day a little. And I do convince them to try this Chinese place I found. There actually are two Chinese restaurants right next to each other (when we found it again). One has a lunch buffet and had a lot of fried dishes available (yumm, looks good). Everyone inside is multicultural (but very few, if any, Asians). Right next door, is another Chinese restaurant and this one has soups, noodles, and other dishes available for sit down lunch (and has very few, if any, non-Asians). It took some group discussion to all get on the same page, and, in the end, we choose the more authentic restaurant (yes, on the first page of the menu is chicken feet... we are in the right restaurant).

The food is SO good. I don't think I've had Chinese food this good since we were in SF. Yum. Our tummies are happy. We made the right choice.

Lunch dish (left), "Watch out! There's a thief about" (mid-left)
Lunch dish (mid-right), "Coin-henge" (right) 

I had brought my large bag and backpack filled with items to ship to lunch. After eating, we head to the post office to ship our stuff. However, when we get there, there are no boxes for sale. Ok, a few, but they look like donut boxes, definitely not strong enough or big enough to hold our stuff. So, off to Mailboxes Etc. for us. Several blocks later, we arrive at MBE and ask about shipping items internationally. Holy crap... it's expensive here. I really should have shipped these items from Berlin. Darn it. But, we're a bit stuck (again). I could buy a box and package it all up and then walk BACK to the post office and wait in their long line... but that sounds horrific at this point (my back is tired form carrying all this stuff back and forth), I just want it over and done. So, I commit. And while we're packaging it all up, a man comes in to ship his stuff... hears the price... and walks out saying he's just going to take it as his third piece on the airplane because that's free and the price quoted was too high... I'm with him and I think that will be what we do next... buy a box and just put it on the plane. Even if we have to pay, it will be half, if not, a third of the price I just paid to ship this box. Sigh.

Feeling loads lighter, we head through town to the Cartoon Museum. This is not something that was on our list of things to do or check out. However, as I was searching for the post office, and other places, I saw "Cartoon Museum" on the map. It sounded fun and kid friendly. It was definitely one of those museums that are on the much smaller-side of things. No worries, the kids are free with my admission. After looking around, we spent a few minutes in the room upstairs where they encourage you to draw your own cartoons. Lots of help (books, posters, etc.) and lots of supplies (paper and pencils).

Cartoon Museum (left), Venice's work (right)

When we left the museum, we were ready to head back to the hotel. BUT, I had promised the kids we could stop at Krispy Kreme first. Something on their "life" bucket -list, so we HAD to do it. A few false starts, but we find the store, buy some donuts, head back to the hotel, and the kids enjoy their treat. Not long after, Chris returns home wondering why we aren't hungry yet!

Yet another bonus of Chris working today is that he got a few suggestions for dinner tonight. We pick Flat Iron, a close walk, and looks good, although we can't find a menu online. Well, it seems that our luck ran out, in terms of timing, we get there and it's a 30 minute wait for dinner. Not too bad, we do put our name in. One of the first things we notice about this restaurant is that the doors are locked to get in. You can get out, you just can't get in unless the host opens the door for you. And he only opens the door for one group at a time. He'll open the door, take your name and information (phone number for texting) and then he shuffles you back out the door where he'll talk to the next group. He was constantly asking people to wait outside and that he'd be with them in a moment. It is a smaller looking restaurant with NO space to wait inside. But it's odd.

We walk around while we wait for our table. We thought we'd go to a park, but it was chained closed (closed at 5:30pm). So, we stop for coffee nearby, for the caffeine, but also so we'd have a place to sit. There were no benches for sitting (they were in the closed park). And the sidewalks are so narrow, there's no where to sit. Anyway, so we buy coffees so we can sit. And remember, it's now 7pm and 63 degrees! It's warm!

Side story: Two people came by asking for a handout. The first one went by asking and I replied, "Oh, nein." Doh! So, when the second went by, I just shook my head (you know, used the universal language).

When our table was ready, we were ready. It was a cozy (and hot) atmosphere. And we realised why we couldn't find the menu online, it is most likely because it is only one thing on the menu, steak. That's it. There were a few sides and salads to add-on, but the only entree was steak. They had two specials that night, another style of steak and a hamburger. But while we were ordering, one of the specials ran out, to be replaced with another. But still, small menu. Xander went with the hamburger and Venice, Chris, and I shared the Ribeye steak... it was 3 pounds! We did a good job on it, but needless to say, there were leftovers.

We loved our cleavers!!!

And now that we have something we could share with the homeless, we don't see any. I would have given them our leftovers, but as it is, they go into our refrigerator with our leftover Chinese lunch.... I know we're going to forget it.

Time for bed. And guess what?! This is when the brass band begins to play, "When the Saints go Marching In" across the street. Did I mention that our hotel windows don't make a good seal? So, we can hear them loud and clear. It's actually fun music... just not at 10pm when you're trying to get kids to sleep. Sigh.

Day 74: Shipping and Friends

This morning, Chris and I took our two big luggage bags to the Mailboxes Etc. store.

Filling out the many papers for customs (left)
The two big bags (right)

Again, it's one of those mind games we play. We went in with a price point in mind (which took a lot of debate.. do we, do we not... what is our time worth... what is a ridiculous amount to spend... but we don't want to carry the bags all over...). But you come to decision you feel good about, so you move forward.

Then you get there, and the guy behind the counter gives you a number (what he thinks it's going to cost) and you gulp. It's 50% more than what you came up with in your mind game. But, you're somewhat committed. You move forward trepidatiously. And, phew. When the final price is revealed, it's a lot less than the guy's estimate, but more than you previously thought it would be. But by now, you're so relieved it isn't the huge number that scared you, so you just say, "Do it!"

And then you run home and email your family member you're sending it to that it'll be there faster than you thought, and oh by the way, is it ok that we sent it to you? THANKS, Paul and Tori!

With our wallets empty, Chris heads to work and I head back to the apartment. I have big things on our to-do list today. HAIR and SHOWERS. The kids must take showers. I will cut Xander's hair. I will dye my own roots. This takes all morning and a bit of the early afternoon. But, it's worth it (the kids may not agree, but it is so).

Machine rim (left) and the lint I extracted (right)

The kids eat re-heated pancakes from the other morning (yay for microwaves!) I do more laundry. Side note: there is no lint screen that I can find. Chris once asked a coworker about this and her reply was, "Yeah, that's something you have to be careful of with these machines." She mentioned how sometimes the machine won't work as long as it's supposed to and you can help with its lifespan if you take care to remove the lint. But again, there is no lint screen. So, for each load, I'm scraping, by hand, the soggy lint from the rim of the machine.

There is the main part of the rim, which is easy to access and then there is "inside". Look at the photo above and see the slight gap in the rubber seal? One must pry this apart and stick their fingers inside, swipe, and try to get all the lint that has accumulated in there. If it's slightly damp, it's easier to gather it up. If it's dryer, then you tend to slide over the lint and can't make it bunch up, making it near impossible to grab. It's a battle. I will be very grateful to have a lint screen again where it's super easy to grab all the lint and toss it in the trash. Ahhh, the little things in life.

Our plans for this evening are to head to dinner with an old friend, Barry (we knew him BK - before kids). He is in town on business, as he comes to Berlin about once a quarter. Chris is carving pumpkins at work this evening, so we'll have to meet him there as well. Side note: Of the 10 or so HotelTonight employees staying to carve pumpkins, Chris is the ONLY one who has ever done this before. So, by default, he is their instructor of tips and hints. I asked if anyone's lid fell in, but Chris replied that his first instruction was to carve at an angle to avoid a "falling lid". Good job, Chris!

Their pumpkins turned out great!

Chris' pumpkin is the second row, one in from the left (it has an "H-bed" on the lid.

Funny story: Whoever was in charge of getting the pumpkins and carving utensils, didn't get candles! So they could not light them up at first. However, the next day when we visited, someone had picked up a bunch of tea-lights, so, phew, they'll get to enjoy them fully before they mould over!

So, last minute, we decided to meet Chris in front of his work so we can walk a few blocks together. We head to the restaurant, where Barry is already enjoying a beer. Barry tries to settle his bill, but they say to just bring his beer to the table. This is very common. Your drinks and food follow you where ever you go and you settle your bill at the end of the night. In tonight's scenario, all is added onto one bill. But in other situations, if you have a large group, you might just walk up to the register and tell them what you had and pay your bill (so no need for them to split a large bill into "who-had-what"). Pretty handy! Another great example of how the culture is honest and people follow the rules of paying for what they got.

Xander (and his newly cut hair)
at the restaurant.

It was a nice evening catching up with Barry. The kids might disagree (and I've never heard them so quiet before!) They were bored, bored, bored, with the adult conversations about work, family, and stuff. Good thing it's a weeknight and everyone has to go to work tomorrow. The evening wasn't too long and before we know it, it's time to say good-night/good-bye to Barry.

We're off to find a bus (to take instead of a tram, due to construction). Here's the thing.... bus drivers here are cray-cray. They are double-long with super-serious turning radius. So, the "front" bus will point angle towards the curb, close behind a parked vehicle, to pick people up at a stop. Chris says, "No way he gets out without hitting the parked car." But he does! And, he goes through chicanes of barriers and other cars like he's on a motorcycle instead of a double-long bus. I wish I had a video. At one point, I had to stop looking out the front window as I was gasping at every turn. Phew!

Phew! Another day ends safely.

P.S. This checks off one of my "Bingo" items (to see someone we know in a foreign country! Yay!