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 81: Long Day of Travel

Oh, sigh. Time to leave. The visit went by so quickly. We got a lot in, but it feels fast. We get up to say goodbye to the kids before they catch their bus to school. Chris gets one more run in with Tim (he went from no runs for over a month, to two in one weekend, go Chris!)

Tall Chris or short doorways?

And then it's time to say goodbye to Kristie (thanks again for the laundry... I know you KNOW what it means, which makes it all the more special that you offered to help do it ;) Tim takes us to a bakery on the way to the train station. We order crazy amounts of bread. 2 regular pretzels, 2 special pretzels, a few sandwiches, and something sweet. The store had to give us our own bag for all our purchases (and they put each individual item in an individual paper bag, to begin with).

Unfortunately, there are no parking spots at the train station. We traveled around twice and didn't see any. So, we have to do a quick pull over, grab our stuff, and say a fast goodbye to Tim. Thank you and your family for such a wonderful visit! It has been so nice to travel around by chauffeur to see the countryside and a slice of your life. Thanks!

And now for our train rides home! Should be easy sailing from here on out.... and that would be my mistake... for thinking it could be that easy!

Our first train is crowded and we have first class seats (from what we can tell) but not assigned seats. When we get to our train-car and look around, there really aren't any free seats. This seems common, Germans seem to take up more space than they pay for and just wait to be asked to move and make room. They aren't annoyed that you ask them to move, but you have to ask. So, there are a lot of coats on seats, or briefcases on seats, making the seats look occupied, when in fact, they aren't. But you don't really know, that person could be in the bathroom or walking around. So, we cannot find seats. We try the second class area, but the story is the same there.

We just find four individual seats and take them. Xander, however, isn't comfortable sitting with strangers, so he chooses, instead, to stand next to Chris for the this part of the trip. It's only 40 minutes until we reach our transfer station. And, luckily, on one of the stops, someone gets off leaving two seats together. Venice and Xander move to these seats so that they can sit together. Chris takes Venice's vacated seat, and we're all close-ish to each other now.

In the end, no one every came to check tickets (this makes some sense, we are on an RE - regional - train instead of an IC or ICE train), so who knows if anyone was really sitting where they were supposed to...

Out the train window

We arrived at the Mannheim station, to transfer to the train that will take us all the way to Hauptbahnhof in Berlin. It's an hour late. We enjoy some of our bread items while we wait. And, as we all shiver in the cold, this is when I realise I have left my rain coat (just a shell, but still) at the Moser's house. Dang it. After all the, "Don't forget your..." I told the kids... I'm the one who forgot stuff.

There is some confusion, as our train disappears from the board and the NEXT train (doing the same route) comes in. Are we supposed to get on? What happened to our train? Chris goes to find a help desk to ask. But he's gone a long time. Long enough that the new train is now pulling into the station and we still don't know what to do. Chris says the line is long and he hasn't even asked anyone yet, so he comes back to the platform. We find a conductor on the platform and ask him what to do. They inform us to not get on the later train that's here now, but that our train will be coming in 5 minutes on another track. Phew. Ok, we're good.

Sunset, Fog, Darkness

And here it comes. Our train, an hour late. We get on and look for our seats. Unfortunately, someone is sitting in one of our four reserved seats. Chris pulls out his ticket, the woman in our seat has a ticket for train 11 and this is train 12. She gets up, apologises and leaves (I hope she was able to get back on, as the train is now pulling out of the station). We settle into our seats. We're in another 6 person compartment, but this time there are two others with us, so we're full up (note, the compartment next door has been vacated... lots of evidence that others had been in there, but now it's empty and ours is full.... bummer).

All of us are really hot. With 6 people in the compartment, it heats up fast. Not to mention that the heat is turned all the way up (each compartment has an individual dial to control climate). Xander just about dies of the heat, so he exits out and walks the hallway, trying to cool down. Chris accompanies him. On their way back into the compartment, Chris sneaks his hand to the dial and lowers it a few notches. Within a few minutes, it starts to cool down in the room. A bit longer after that, the woman gets her coat to drape over her lap and the man gets another shirt to put on. Meanwhile, our family still feels that it's too hot.

Despite the temperature, the train ride goes well. The kids plug-in. I blog. Chris naps (and asks me to kick him if he snores... oh the fears of sharing a compartment). We are treated to a beautiful sunset. Then we enter some crazy fog. And then, just outside of Spandau (the first stop in Berlin, but not Hauptbahnhof, the second stop in Berlin) the train stops. Then they announce "something". After the second or so announcement, the woman in our compartment asks if we'd like her to translate. Yes, please! She tells us that the train has hit a wild boar and they are seeing if we can continue.

Well, after about an hour, the announcer comes on and says, "Wir warten blah blah blah." We're waiting for....? The woman says that other officials are coming in to investigate the train to see if we can continue on this train or if we need to get on another train. In the meantime, the service car is offering free drinks. Chris and the kids go to get drinks and bring back waters and soda, which we enjoy with some of those pretzels we thought were superfluous when we bought them (but now we're feeling pretty good about).

After two hours (Chris has now cancelled our dinner reservations... dang it, there goes one of our last nights in Berlin...), and, "Wir warten..." we're still waiting. And waiting. And waiting. The new announcement, our compartment mate tells us, is that the Polizei are on site (we have seen them walking up and down the halls of the train outside our compartment) and will assist us in an evacuation (I thought I heard that word in the announcement) out of this train onto a train that is now coming.

As we wait, we get to know our compartment mates a bit more. The couple is from Stuttgart and are on holiday. They were offered these Bahn tickets (I didn't quite catch who gave them the tickets) and are here to visit Berlin, but only for a weekend. But, they are retired, and have no worries, so they're content to let happen whatever happens (although, at one point, they joke that they should have driven). We talk about our trip here, Chris' work... and how the kids are just on a special holiday (always seems easier than to explain homeschooling in a foreign language).

The woman is very concerned about our kids. So, at one point, she gets up and goes to the service cart and comes back with several cold sandwiches. Chris offers to pay her back, and she replies, "Oh, I got them for free!" And when we offered to share, she said, "It's for the children." So, even though Chris and I are a little hungry, we can't eat the children's food... so we feed the children. I do like how the people of Germany are collectively here to support the kids. It is a good feeling in times like these. But if the older generation is going without, then we must go without as well. Side note: I'm sure the couple think we're horrible parents. Not only were the kids plugged in most of the time, they also fed themselves a lot of their Halloween candy (and rejected some of the sandwiches they brought them due to too much mayonnaise or "icky" bread).

During these three hours we are stopped on the tracks, power never goes out. This is great because we are able to keep using the air in the compartment, the kids can get wifi, and, albeit very long, our weight is as comfortable as it can be. I used the wifi to figure out where we actually were. The map showed that we were super close to Berlin... by now, we could have been on a bus and gotten there already. But, we're waiting.

And now, here comes the train. Their lights are on. Our lights are on. We are one track apart. We stare at each other. In fact, our kids push their faces and hands onto the window, miming "help"!

And we wait. Side note: This is when Chris and I sneak in some bites of the left-over food that the kids didn't eat (when the couple leaves to go to the bathroom or stretch their legs).

We're waiting

The next announcement relays that the plans have changed again. We will NOT be getting on the train here, but at Spandau. We will continue to Spandau on this train, at a slower speed. Then transfer to the train that was next to us (and is now pulling away). At this point, we decide we will not transfer, but get on the SBahn and just go home from there.

Well, after all that, we did start to move slowly and we did arrive at Spandau... and THEN they said for everyone to get on the SBahn (yeah! Get on a train that's working already!)

So, we get to Spandau (yay) and transfer to the SBahn (yay). As we're traveling along, the lights go out on the train (boo), flicker (boo), and then come back on (yay). People actually laughed when this happened... but it feels like we just missed another disaster.

It feels good to get to Friedrichstrasse, where it's familiar and we know where to go. As we get off the tram near our apartment, I see the fast-food hot-dog/hamburger joint near our house. I mention that we probably all need food (it is almost 10am and we never had a proper dinner). Xander and I return home with our bags while Venice and Chris order some food to bring home.

We "enjoy" a late meal... and then we head to bed. Rest, something we all earned!

Day 78: Travel to Kollweiler

Friday. 

We finish packing, eat a simple breakfast, and head to Hauptbahnhof to catch our ICE train to Frankfurt (with a transfer to Kaiserslautern). Our first train is approximately four hours (the second about an hour), so we’ll be hungry for lunch on the train. We’re guessing we’ll have options for food,but we aren’t 100% sure, so when we find our seats (Chris bought a Bahn card for the big discounts and ability to pick seats), Chris heads back into the station to get us a few items of food. He’s going alone because the train will leave in about 20 minutes and he’s racing the clock. Of course, as soon as he leaves, we find a sizeable menu indicating we’ll be able to order food. I text him right away, but the texts take some time, and then there is no reply.  I try to call, but the call doesn’t go through. I make two more failed attempts. Then he calls me, but when I pick up, he can’t hear me. I finally receive a text from Chris that he’ll just get a few pretzels. 

Side note: When we finally do order, the pretzels are twice as expensive on the train and the selection of food isn’t as large as I thought. So, Chris is wishing he had bought more at the stand in the station. But it all works out. Venice gets Flammkuchen (pizza with sour cream instead of red sauce), Xander orders a bowl of chilli, and Chris and I get a sandwich. Decent, but not stellar. It’ll do. 

Once again, we love traveling by train. Smooth. Freedom to stand up, walk around, use the bathroom whenever we want. This time, we are sitting in a compartment built for six. We have glass doors to shut out those walking by to the bathroom and getting off and on the train. We’re feeling pretty fancy or like we, ourselves, are headed to Hogwarts. With the Bahn card, the seats were very reasonable, so we’re pretty happy.

Venice on the computer and Xander on this iPod.

We are unable to “watch” our progress on the train as the schedule left in our car is the wrong one. I’m glad we figured this out, as it had me worried… our destination wasn’t on there… so a moment of panic (even though they had come through and checked our tickets… still a moment of panic). So, we’ll just have to listen carefully and watch the clock to help us get off at the correct station.

Here in First Class, there is free wifi! This is pretty exciting. Often, there are hot-spots around, made available by Telekom. You need to have some sort of account with Telekom to get a password and then you can sign into the many, many hot-spots around town or on trains. But, on this train, there is free wifi, no password needed, for those of us in First Class. Pretty special! So, we all log on. Xander plays games. Venice watches YouTube. Chris naps. And I get to blog while on the train! Side note: I did one blog… and felt a bit icky… darn motion sickness. 

View from the train (pardon the window reflections)

As the train proceeds, it becomes clear that we are delayed a few minutes. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue. BUT, our transfer time is only 12 minutes. So an 8 minute delay means we only have 4 minutes to find our new track and train. We are watching our progress carefully as we lose a minute, then gain a minute… At one point, our transfer time seemed to be less than 3 minutes. And, a short bit of confusion when we get into Frankfurt, stop, and then back out. I guess it's what they have to do, but it sure is disconcerting to go one way and then another instead of all in one direction. By the time we arrive at our connection stop, we had gained back a few and had a whopping 9 minutes to transfer…. and, of course, our next train… was delayed. So, we now wait.

After our lovely experience in our first class compartment, we became pampered. Now, mixed with other passengers, it's loud (I think our neighbour's phone rang at least 4-5 times, with a "whoo-hooo" style ring). As we get closer to our destination, the sunshine disappears and we enter the fog.

As we exit the platform, there's Tim! Friend from college, here to pick us up. Couldn't have timed out more perfectly. Let the memories and catching up begin!

Driving "home"

Once settled into our new home-base, we catch up more with Tim (we think it's been about 11 years since we last saw one another... and back then they had a young one and a baby, and we had a toddler... so I'm sure not much deep conversation went on back then!) Venice and Xander explored the outside trampoline. Beckett came down to keep our kids company. While dinner was cooking, Kristie arrived home and we were able to meet two of the four kids (one is at an overnight and one is out late with friends).

After an awesome dinner, our tummies full, it was time for some pumpkin carving. Thanks to our hosts for having pumpkins and carving tools ready for us. It's fun to get back into a little tradition.

Carving pumpkins

Venice's pumpkin: water, earth, fire, air - Avatar
Xander: Amplemann, Venice: Water, Levi and Tim: Bart Simpson

By now, its' pretty late. The kids are tired (falling asleep on the couch), the adults are tired, the dogs are tired. And there's a big day planned for tomorrow (our host's oldest has a cross country meet), so we must all get some good rest. It's great to be here. Our hosts are welcoming. We settle in for a comfortable night.

Annie (the dog) is ready for bed (left), Xander becomes a pumpkin, too (right)

Day 59: Tropical Islands

By now you've probably read the kids' recounts of Tropical Islands (they did a great job!) So, I'll try to only add new information or different perspectives without repeating too much.

First thing we did when waking up is to check on Xander and his ankle. He said it was pretty much all better. Yay! Only if he walks super funny or bends it a lot does he feel a pinch. So, we deem him well enough to head out to Tropical Islands. Everyone is very relieved that we do not have to postpone our trip.

The morning didn't start out too well. We gathered the troops and tried to make the 10:30 train to the Dome (the train only comes once every hour) but due to a series of events (sluggish participants, construction messing up the train schedule, and such..) we missed the first link in our list of public transportation. The next tram wouldn't be there for 10 minutes. The same question always comes up. If we take a different train, it's a longer-overall trip, but does it work out for the best if waiting for the next appropriate train is longer? So, 10 min until our next tram, or take a different route that takes 7 min longer. Both options have connections to be made, so how can we calculate how long we'll wait for that connection? And sometimes Google doesn't mention another train you can take, so what if there's a faster connection not list?

Meanwhile, time is ticking by and it's becoming more and more clear we're going to miss our "one an hour" train. And to top it off, none of us really dressed for waiting around an hour in these temperatures (40F). We thought we'd be on the train by now. And of course, it means one less hour at the Dome. Ugh.

We finally make a decision and we're on a tram on our way to our connecting Bahns. This is the time when I realise I have forgotten my phone at home. DOH! Chris, the gallant man that he is, asks if I want to go back to get it. Sigh. No. I can't use the phone inside the Dome anyway (all that water), so let's just leave it. I'll be a dork and take a few photos on my iPad (which I brought to read on the train or in the Dome).

The station, where we catch the "real" train to get to the Dome, is not a big hub. So, not much in terms of accommodations. But we do find a place for food and buy several items to eat on the train. And we wait here (remember, we have now about 45 min to wait) for the small bit of warmth it affords us by being underground. We can use this time to think about the train tickets we just had to buy to get to our destination (approximately €16 per adult and €12 per kid) and how the day is already starting to add up.

Waiting underground (left) Finally on the train (middle) and Look at my cheesy pretzel! (right)

Also, while sitting here tapping our feet to keep warm, I think about the gentleman who rang us up at the Patagonia store. As he told us about how to care for our new jackets, he talked about how he, himself, does not have a dryer. So, when he does wash his jacket (a few times a year), he sits there with a hair dryer drying his jacket. It takes, "hours," he says and is some form of meditation where he, "becomes one with the jacket." He was being funny, but as we sit here waiting, thoughts of this go through my mind (I don't know why) and I take a moment to be grateful for my dryer.

Train time. Venice mentioned how the train swayed gently, as we rode on the second level. I thought I'd get sick, reading my book, but it was all good. A quick and easy ride.

TROPICAL ISLANDS
Tropical Islands = Hawaii in a Box. Seriously.

Beach
Warm water
Slides
Restaurants
Beach front rentals
Tent camping (inside and outside the Dome)
Families with kids
Honeymooners
Older Couples
Shopping
Temperate weather

It's all there.

The "sea" part of the Dome reminds me of The Truman Show or Ascension with it's fake backdrop with clouds (see photo below) giving the impression of really being "at sea".

The kids in the "sea" and the fake backdrop. (Photos by Chris)

Both kids talked about the Green Slide. I agree with their recounting of all the slides. The Green Slide made everything we went through worth it. It was a blast. I did have to hold my nose (I couldn't seem to time it right and got a lot of water up my nose if I didn't hold it) and squeeze my eyes shut (I was worried that the splashing would cause my contacts to fall out). Every slide down, I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. I laughed every time. This is a slide that would be in my fantasy backyard someday. So. Much. Fun.

The kids having a great time on the green slide (Photos by Chris)

After lunch, the kids were reenergised to go back out and swim and swim and swim. I, on the other hand, was ready to sit and sit and sit (I had no desire to do any more swimming, jumping, sliding, etc. I had my fun and I was done). I enjoyed feeling the sand on the beach as I tried to keep my eye on the kids (hard to do as the "sea" is immense and I couldn't see it all). And, like our other swimming experience, there were, maybe 2 lifeguards for the entire "sea". The kids did great and all was ok. They enjoyed their freedom and I enjoyed the beach. Meanwhile, Chris did go to get his phone so we could have a few photos from our day (Yay! Thank you!)

We returned to the "lagoon" and found some open lounge chairs to rest in while the kids played there. I think both Chris and I fell asleep (mere seconds, but still) at one point or another. Which brings me to the point that it was quite "quiet" in the Dome. When we looked into coming here, we found that all lodging was full (hotel rooms, inside Dome tents, outside Dome mobile homes, outside Dome Teepees). The only available lodging were pitch-camping (I take this to mean you must bring your own accommodations), which we didn't/couldn't do. Then there's all the Day Visitors. I say this all to explain that it was at full capacity and somewhat crowded. If you wanted a beach chair or pool lounge, you had to be up at dawn, I'm assuming. When we got there, every chair was "claimed". Not occupied, but a towel hanging over it staking claim for someone else. So, now, at 5pm, there are several chairs available. Day Visitors are leaving and, perhaps, those who are staying are taking a break for dinner or naps in their rooms?

Jumping into the "lagoon" and nighttime lights coming on.
(Photos by Chris)

Anyway, it's busy, it's crowded. But, that being said, we were able to find space at any restaurant. It wasn't wall-to-wall people in the pool areas. If you wanted to swim under a waterfall, there was either one free or just a short wait. The only bad experience we had was with the yellow slide, and I still wonder if the red/green light was malfunctioning and going ever 60-90 seconds (it wasn't consistent) instead of every 30 seconds.

And with all those people in there, it was quiet. You could hear kids playing, splashing... but most all noise was "background" noise. The acoustics of the Dome seemed to encourage sound to dissipate into the upper atmosphere. This fact, and the fact that the humidity wasn't too high, it was super pleasant inside the Dome. And thus, we were able to comfortably cat nap while the kids went off to the Green Slide for some last trips down.

Everyone is ready to leave and make the trek back home. We all head to the lockers to change. I cannot find my earrings. Some of my favourite earrings (I wear them most days, silver flowers from Hawaii). I retrace my steps as I think they fell out of my pants pocket. But I can't find them. Not near the lockers. Not in the dressing room I used. Not on the path too and fro.

So, as we discover the frozen yogurt bar is closed (who closes an ice cream station so early? It's only 7:30pm?) and the line to return a cup is super long... I'm not in the best mood as I'm sad about my earrings.

We go to our lockers one last time to pick up backpacks and jackets. I decide to check the dressing room one more time... Not on the bench, not under it... wait... they ARE there! On the tile under the bench. I had looked there three times and it's now been 30 min (I'm sure others have been in there since me) and there they are. Lying separately. Very difficult to see, but I'm still surprised I didn't see them the first time I came back into the dressing room. I don't care. I have them back. YAY!

Waiting for our train back to Berlin (Photo by Chris)

All bundled up, we head back to Berlin.

Venice mentioned our train troubles on the way back. The frustrating thing is that we could get off at two stops. We chose the second stop because the public trams and connections were shorter by a few minutes. So, we didn't get off at the first Berlin stop. And 2km from the second Berlin stop... the train slows to a stop. As Venice wrote, we found out that there was a broken train in front of us. WHAT? Now we're wishing we got off that first Berlin stop. We were delayed an hour. Or, what if we had stayed at Tropical Islands another hour? The train behind us might not be delayed an hour? Who knows.

But, after we learned the train in front of us was broken (or at least this was our understanding). We happened to be in the front car, so we had a glimpse through the front window and some of the people going in and out working to fix the problem. At one point, we could see we were moving forward very, very slowly. We were going to bump into the train ahead of us. Were they trying to push the train forward? Brace for impact (ok, it wasn't that bad).

As soon as we made contact with the train in front of us, our power went down and then off. It was completely dark except for the glowing digital devices of those of us on the train. Then the lights came back on within seconds. Ok, no problem. Then it happened again, and this time, it was dark for a while. Like 5 minutes. Then, you could see the computers rebooting (oh hey, they run Linux). Lights are back on.

Working on fixing the problem (left) and working on distracting ourselves (right)

Then, we're moving backwards. We look out front, we think we're towing the broken train. Then we stop. Then we move forwards again. Then... I don't know, at this point we're trying to keep ourselves busy and to not think about the dark or about how we could have been home by now if we only got off on the last stop. Or if we were allowed to get out and walk! At some point, we realise there is no longer a train in front of us. But we're still not moving.

Finally, we are good to go. Our train moves. We arrive at our station and (yes, one hour delay)... oh yeah, we're OFF the train! And now for our connecting trams and such... finally home. Very late. A bummer of a way to end the day. Funny. A difficult start and end. But, it was fun in the middle. Holding onto that thought as we all drop into bed for a good night's sleep.

Day 32: Return to Berlin

We were almost first at the breakfast room today. Just one set of folks ahead of us (and we arrived 1 min before 7, opening time). We were early enough that the tables weren't finished being set, there was no hostess to seat us, but we heard the other folks just sat themselves, and so we did the same. Funny side note: Whenever we eat, the kids often take a million minutes to finish their leisurely meal (not exaggerating at all), and they often nibble. I was worried this morning, being an early-rise, that tummies wouldn't be ready for food. But, the kids ate a ton of food (yay) and in a timely fashion (yay)!

Venice enjoying the elevator seat (left)
The interesting (if spider-like-creepy) lights throughout the hotel (middle)
Another view of the "spider" lights, and the kids (right)

As we took a taxi to the main train station, I reflected over some things I noticed about Prague (from my very limited time here). There seemed to be a lot more smoking visible. I don't know if this is because more people smoke here, or just because it is allowed in restaurants and inside some buildings, so we were more exposed to it? We definitely asked to be seated in the non-smoking area when we went to dinner, but it wasn't always available as a choice and it was weird to go back to asking (felt like it was 30 years ago that we had to ask for non-smoking!)

This observation is weird. But I swear I saw a lot of men in tracksuits. Not modern ones, either. But those terry cloth Adidas tracksuits from the 80s. Ok, maybe they weren't terry cloth, maybe they were shiny, but still. I found it odd. And, no, they weren't start athletes (I could tell), more like middle-aged men. And the women? I saw so many women wearing leggings that were zany designs. I thought they'd be perfect for the kids in circus arts... but not necessarily what I would recommend to go see some old sights in Prague. From what I could tell, these men and women were locals, not tourists. So, interesting clothing choices, for sure.

Also, there are barely any bicycles in Prague. I may get out of practice of looking for bicycles. I'm not sure I can accurately paint a picture of the multitude of bicyclists in the streets of Berlin.

When we arrived at the train station, we went to the departure board to find our train... and it wasn't there! Well, it was there, but there was no assigned track. We were more than 30 minutes ahead of departure time, so we were ok. We waited. And waited. Now it's 20 minutes to departure time. And waited. 15 minutes. We're starting to worry. Other trains are getting their tracks assigned and some of those waiting with us take off at a run to board. A few stayed to wait along with us. A couple, next to us, asked if we knew about the train to Dresden (same train as ours), we said we didn't. They looked as worried as we felt. Chris went to ask a worker (someone who's working a retail counter) and they confirmed what we thought, that a track will be assigned, just wait. So we waited...

The board said the train was 5 min delayed, at one point, but still... no track. Our train was now at the top of the board... waiting. FINALLY, we were assigned a track and about 50 of us rushed to find the platform. We arrived, along with everyone else, just a few minutes before the train arrived. We see cars with 2, 2, 2, and then there's a 1! At the end of the train (like our last one) and we waited to board there. A couple ahead of us started onto the train, but then came back down the steps shaking their heads... not this train, the 1 at the front of the train. Are you kidding me? And the trains here, can stop for just 2 minutes before moving on. Since this is the main station, I think it was set to be here for 10 minutes, but we've already wasted a few, and since it was late, do they make up time leaving sooner? I don't know... but we ran to the other side of the train.

Finally on the platform!

By this time, we were the first (of the "wrong") to get onto the train, but there were already people in the first class car (those that were "right"). It seems like more of these seats are reserved than on the train here, so we search and search for the unreserved seats... there are none! But, a father (of a VERY cute little one) said he thought the one type of ticket in the reserved spot is just a "place holder" and it's not like the other reserved seats with names on them. These are ok. Phew.

BUT, hello JERKY. A man traveling alone decided to sit in the "four seats" area, like the one we traveled down in. So, we had to split up. Chris and Venice took two seats facing each other and Xander and I took two seats facing backwards. That adds up to only one seat facing forwards (which was fought over vigorously, and debated how to split the time). Meanwhile, the single man is just watching us figure things out and separate. Again, JERKY.

Now, I ask you... what would you do? Here are all the things I thought about doing:

1) Ask, "Will you please move?" (Ugh, I figure that he can clearly see that we were splitting up. He never offered, so I feel it's awkward to ask and who knows what language he speaks).
2) I thought about just sitting with him. Show him, "Who cares?" (but then we'd all be uncomfortable).
3) Pray that the toddler ,with the nice father, has some sort of temper tantrum (they were sitting right behind Jerk Man), kicks his chair the whole way, or gets motion sick on his seat.
4) Take is picture and shame him on FB.

But what I end up doing is shooting daggers (with my eyes) through the seat towards him. Chris sends me a "Jerky" text about him. We sure showed him!

Good news, he got off in a few stops (maybe after 1 hour) so we moved and were able to sit together for the rest of the trip. PHEW. Time to sit back and enjoy our coffee, it is pure gold after all (see photo).

And coffee leads to bathroom breaks. On the train, the bathroom is free (I may have mentioned it on the ride down). The last time we were in the last car and we had pretty views as we went to the bathroom. Now we're in the front and that means we just see the meal-car behind us. Boring.

Bear!

And the bathroom is small, like an airplanes. And, it took me several trips to the bathroom, hitting my head each time, before I got the hang of it. When you stand back up, duck your head or move to the side, because there is a small overhang and yet, I did hit my head several times. And don't be scared (I warned the kids) once you hit the flush button, the bowl fills with water (and you think it's clogged because nothing happens), just wait... and then WHOOOSH, it all goes down loudly, like an airplane toilet... but it's kind of surprising as it paused between button pushing, water filling and the actual flushing process. Phew!

More relaxing on the quiet ride home.

Back in Berlin, at the main station there, Chris split from us as it is Monday and he's off to work. We take the bags and head to our apartment. Time for lots of laundry, opening windows, taking food out of the freezer to cook for dinner.

As we relaxed, I remembered how quiet our hotel was in Prague. It was super quiet. You couldn't hear any street noises, nothing from the hallway or the floor above. The bed was comfy. The temperature was perfect. And, again, it was quiet. I don't know the last time we slept in such a quiet place (even our home in Oregon is noisy from our neighbours or the street). Back here in our apartment, it's noises we've gotten somewhat used to, but it's noises.

The end of our day here ends with rain and jungle-bird sounds (these are noises we love). I'll share them with you (sounds only):