I was so sad to leave Amsterdam. The Vondel Park, the Van Gogh Museum (where we learned that it was not pronounced "Van Go," but "Van Huh," with a drawn out, guttural "h" at the end), the Indonesian food. I really, really enjoyed my time there. However, Bill had a few meetings scheduled in Germany, so off we went to Berlin.
I have never been enamored with Germany. It must have been all of those WWII units in middle school and high school that soured my taste for anything Teutonic. But, I have to admit, I was actually excited to go because my wonderful father-in-law's family emigrated to the States from Germany and Bill's older sister, Kseniya, lived there after college to study at the Guttenberg Museum in Mainz.
Regardless of my enthusiasm, I experienced nausea and deep-down-in-my-bones-exhaustion every hour of every day that we were in Berlin.
Regardless of my enthusiasm, I experienced nausea and deep-down-in-my-bones-exhaustion every hour of every day that we were in Berlin.
I only went out 3 times in the week that we were there: one day I went food shopping, another day I went to the Mauerpark to check out the flea market and ate Thai food (for the first time that year!), and the last day I was outside was when I took Des to the zoo and aquarium. I remember very little of our stay, which is really unfortunate. Bill and Des went to see the Berlin Wall and did a walking tour through Berlin. I slept for 13 hours a day.
At this point, I was getting really tired of feeling sick and tired and having to move every few days. I had had enough of carrying our luggage. And to take public transportation to and from the airport (because taxis in Europe are so ridiculously expensive) with all of our bags was absolutely the most terrible, horrible, no good, very bad part of the trip. I was relieved to be leaving Berlin and going to Krakow, where we would stay for the next three weeks, so that I could semi-unpack and not feel the rush to go out and sightsee.
We chose to spend the last 3 weeks of our time in Europe in Poland because our bff Sherrie had told us how beautiful it was and, most importantly, how cheap it was to stay there. And indeed, Krakow was a beautiful city to spend a few weeks in. By the time we got to Poland, the leaves were already changing and my favorite season was underway. Side note, one thing I absolutely adore about the United States is our appreciation for - no, our zeal for - anything and everything pumpkin during the fall. I mean, Fall is like a holiday unto itself, with all of our supermarkets bedecked in red and orange leaf garlands; squash and squash varietals everywhere; cornucopias dotting the consumer landscape; the smell of clove, orange peel, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice permanently in the air. Unfortunately, it seems like in the rest of the world, besides the leaves changing, there is no fuss given to the grandiosity that is Fall.
We chose to spend the last 3 weeks of our time in Europe in Poland because our bff Sherrie had told us how beautiful it was and, most importantly, how cheap it was to stay there. And indeed, Krakow was a beautiful city to spend a few weeks in. By the time we got to Poland, the leaves were already changing and my favorite season was underway. Side note, one thing I absolutely adore about the United States is our appreciation for - no, our zeal for - anything and everything pumpkin during the fall. I mean, Fall is like a holiday unto itself, with all of our supermarkets bedecked in red and orange leaf garlands; squash and squash varietals everywhere; cornucopias dotting the consumer landscape; the smell of clove, orange peel, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice permanently in the air. Unfortunately, it seems like in the rest of the world, besides the leaves changing, there is no fuss given to the grandiosity that is Fall.
We had the most amazing experience with our Airbnb landlords in Krakow. Our landlord's name was Grzegorz (gzhe-gorsh) and he lived in the apartment across from us in the building he owned. He and his wife would invite us over for these elaborate, multi-course Polish dinners (one in particular, Billy and Grzegorz got piss drunk by doing shot after shot of Vodka for HOURS). Our apartment was on the other side of the river from Krakow and walking across the bridge to the old Jewish Ghetto (the Podgorze District - site of Schindler's List) and the Old Town (Stare Miasto) was so unbelievably beautiful. The history of Krakow sucked me in: the story of the dragon terrorizing Krakovians and living underneath Wawel Castle, the history of German occupation, the surrounding concentration camps. It really was such a beautiful city.
We left Poland to spend one last day in Budapest before heading off to Dublin for a 24 hour layover. At this point, I was dying to get "home." All I could think about was all of the Chipotle I was going to eat, the pumpkin pie I would make, seeing our STL neighbor friends, being surrounded by people speaking English, and having our car again. I was really, really sad to say goodbye to Europe and to our wonderful 10-month-long stay, but excited to start Phase 2 of our nomadic lives.
We were so lucky to have had such a wonderful experience during our 10-month-long stay in Europe. We learned several valuable lessons:
You can find Part 1 (Helsinki) HERE and Part 2 (Amsterdam) HERE.
- Don't pack heavy toys. A couple of Des's favorites, 1 or 2 small books, and the iPad is all we really need.
- You don't need more than 3 shoes; Billy says 2.
- Don't bring any more jewelry than what you normally, permanently wear (wedding ring, small earrings). It will get lost.
- No matter how nice your apartment is, it is more important that you enjoy living in your neighborhood. There's no point in traveling when you're more comfortable in your apartment or house than out of it.
- Stay put for at least 3 months if you can help it. Although I'm so happy we visited Finland, The Netherlands, Germany, and Poland, I think it would have been better to have stayed in Budapest longer and to have visited these places, having our apartment in Budapest as a home base.
- Make friends! Some of our favorite memories are not of the museums we went to or the restaurants where we ate; it was spending time in the homes of our new friends, sharing a meal, and getting an insight into their culture.
- Give your kids more credit. They may be inflexible in their own little ways, but they can also surprise you with their courage, their resilience, and their audacity.
You can find Part 1 (Helsinki) HERE and Part 2 (Amsterdam) HERE.