The Big One- Part 3

The next couple of days were spent in Olenheusen/Gottingen (the hometown of Caspar Gotz von Olenheusen). It was great to see a bit of the countryside and to take it easy for several days. We all stayed at Caspar's house and just spent most the days wandering their land and catching up on sleep.

Caspar called up a fellow aristocratic (yes, aristocratic) friend to give us a private tour of their family castle. He told stories of family feuds that eventually led to dividing the castle in half with one half of the family living on each side. The castle is 400 years old- imagine having something like that as part of your family history!

Climbing the tower

This is a horrible picture but you get an idea of the half-timber design of the homes/stores in Germany. This is in downtown Gottingen. It feels like being in Disneyland or something but it's real.

Haha! Another awful picture. These two with us are the kids of one of Vinny's classmates who were also in Gottingen with us. They followed Truman and I everywhere- this picture is from like 6 in the morning. As soon as I left our room to head downstairs to get Truman breakfast- there they were! This picture captures the hilarity/annoyance right? I don't blame them though, he is very fun to be around.

Walking Caspar's property

This is a view of Caspar's property, it used to be a small village with a church and everything. Now his family lives in various parts of it and it is also rented out. 

Horse stalls right next to Caspar's house

Overall it was a great time of course. It was nice to be in a less-touristy area and see more beautiful things.

The Big One- Part 2

Next stop was a day in Hamburg. Hamburg was a breath of fresh air after Berlin. I LOVED Berlin, but Hamburg was very clean (very little graffiti) and definitely has a richer vibe, as you will see.

We took a boat tour through the harbor but it was in German so the only thing I can really tell you is Hamburg is a major port for international trade. 

This is a huge ship carrying 9000 units of cargo. I don't really remember how much it was but I remember being shocked by the amount. 9000 is shocking right? So we'll go with it. 

An opera house under construction that is now tens of millions of dollars over budget. Haha.

Off the boat and on our feet. They had tons of these really awesome apartment buildings built hanging over the harbor. Looks very modern and I don't really know how that is safe. 

ciao

The Big One- Part One

Germany! Vinny has two classmates in his program from Germany (the 2 on the right, Caspar and Freddy) and they were very excited to show us their homeland so we booked our tickets and pretty much didn't do any other planning for the trip. It was awesome- they took care of everything and we loved it. The trip was beyond my expectations and (un)surprisingly Truman handled it like a champ. Honestly the kid is happier on-the-go than at home most of the time. 10 days, 5 cities, 4 different accommodations, 2 plane rides, 2 train trips, countless car/taxi/underground rides, 1 day of biking, lots of stroller time, and loads of strangers for Truman to charm. The first 2 days were in Berlin

Day One

Biking through Berlin!

He conked so quick. And I don't know why I allowed Vinny's headwear all day. 

A chocolate reichstag? Awesome

The American Sector- we went to a museum called "Checkpoint Charlie." It was an entire museum full of ways people escaped from east Berlin to west Berlin. It was incredible. People were smuggled in cars, built complex collapsible ladders, and even built their own airplanes. 

The real Reichstag (House of Parliament)- This is the core of the big dome. There are stairs going up around the outside and you get great views of  the whole city. 

Brandenburg Gate

Holocaust Memorial

Day Two

Our Place, courtesy of AirBnB. Don't know what that graffiti means. It concerned me until I saw that pretty much all of Berlin is covered in graffiti 

Currywurst. I miss it.

Hanging at a park watching people graffiti a wall.

Wall Memorial. They had lots of information along the wall. Buildings along the wall were first boarded off and then eventually torn down to prevent people escaping through them. Before they were torn down lots of people jumped from the windows to the other side of the wall. The west-side Fire Brigade kept close to catch people on a net. One lady that jumped was 8 months pregnant! She made it safely.

Stones marking where an escape tunnel was. Most tunnels were dug from west to east by people from the west trying to get family members from the east side. 

Maybe a bit too informative. and boring- sorry! I just don't want to forget. This actually happened back in mid-March so I just need to get it done.

Cornwall

Oh Cornwall. We really tried to enjoy Cornwall but it didn't really work. Maybe we'll get a chance for a re-do? Probably not. We spent a whole weekend down in the Southwestern tip of England- very promising with beaches and pasties and a cottage to ourselves. However we all got sick before the trip- and Truman had the worst of it! I have never seen him so sick, lethargic and feverish and uninterested in being outside. The first day was okay but then it was downhill from there. He was happy to sleep in the car so most of the weekend was spent driving to places and then Vinny and I would take turns getting out and looking around. Luckily our accommodation was very cosy- so we came home early most days and were able to just relax and take care of our bubba.

The first day was spent at a place called the Eden Project- big futuristic biomes where they grow vegetation from different climate regions. They had a great play area for Truman- which he loved. And we were able to learn quite a bit about the Mediterranean and Tropical climate regions. Most of which we have now forgotten but maybe some pictures will jog our memories....

Play time!

A sculpture made of electronic waste

Mediterranean Region- The only tidbit I really remember about the Mediterranean is that all of the landscape in the Mediterranean is man-made. So there isn't any land in the Mediterranean that has naturally evolved to what it is today- pretty much all of the vegetation has been put there by humans. 

Rainforest Biome- It was so so hot in here but I guess that's what it takes to create some beautiful trees. This is the largest domesticated Rainforest in the world. They have a very rare coco-de-mer tree whose seeds are the world's largest and highly prized.

This is inside a giant bubble! Quite pretty

The next day we went to Land's End, got a peak of St. Michael's Mount, drove through a peninsula called "The Lizard" and had some traditional Cornish Pasties. We finished the day at a beach near our accommodations in Newquay (pronounced New-key) which was beautiful.

Sad

Sadder

Saddest

So we decided to take Truman into a doctor in hopes that they could provide him with some relief and get him doing better on our final day of the trip. It being a weekend our only option was an E.R. so we took him super early Sunday morning thinking they could get us in quick. If you are ever in the U.K. never ever ever ever EVER go to an emergency room. Unless you are dying. Even then you're probably better off waiting until Monday morning and calling a surgery (that's what they call a doctor's office). SIX hours, 2 nurses, and 2 doctors later we were finally diagnosed with an ear infection. They kept apologizing because they were SO busy- but there were only four other people in the waiting room when we arrived so it really doesn't add up. But hey, it was free?

We hit up Tintagel Castle (birthplace of King Arthur) on the way back. Then happily returned to Stroud.