Oh, oh big ol' jet airliner don't carry me too far away, oh, oh, big ol' jet airliner cause it's here that I've got to stay
What a trip! I love the Steve Miller Band song in my headline... and I was inspired by this thing:
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| Yesterday I had my first flight on a 747 |
I was supposed to fly on Lufthansa both ways- but my DC--> Frankfurt flight on Lufthansa was cancelled due to weather in Frankfurt (the plane was leaving Frankfurt to come to DC and then go back again). So they switched me to United. I was beyond bummed... for starters on my Lufthansa flight I had an ENTIRE row to myself! I could stretch out, sleep comfortably, get up and go to the bathroom without bothering anyone... On United, it was a completely full flight because everyone who was on the Lufthansa flight was switched to the United one. I had a middle seat in the back of the plane. I could've cried. So, I went up to the desk and explained my situation to the man working the counter and he said, well I can move you but you'll have to pay. I then told my sob story about having an entire row to myself on Lufthansa and I'm 6 months pregnant... he did some checking and ta-da! Low and behold, a seat appears... On an aisle, right up against a wall (plenty of leg room because no one was in front of me) and he is not going to charge me for it. Hooray! I will not go into detail about the woman sitting next to me and her crying child... I'm still reveling in the victory of getting out of a middle seat. Thank you pregnancy card! I'm 2 for 3!
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| Way better than a middle seat all the way to Germany! |
I arrived in Frankfurt and then had a connection to Berlin. Frankfurt to Berlin is about an hour flight. When I got there I had to go through customs (Europeans do this light years better than Americans... more on that later), and then go through security again. When I arrived at security, I began to get a scolding in German from the woman working the line. It was strictly one person that could go through at a time and I needed to "Shhhtop". I couldn't even begin to put my belongings into a bin because it was ONE PERSON at a time. I complied, all the while thinking how inefficient this process was.
Once it was my turn, I began to put my items in my bin one by one and the security woman said to me "Haben Sie keine Flüssigkeiten?" which means "Do you have any liquids?" I said "Nein" and she said it again more forcefully, and I said "No" and then she switched to English and said "YOU HAVE LIQUIDS IN YOUR BAG!!!" Again, completely forgetting that I had a bottle of water in my bag, I said "No!"- she turns around my bag and points to my bottle. I felt like an idiot. Whoops.
I made it to Berlin in one piece, Alex and Yannick were there to greet me when I arrived. First stop, a nap! I took a nice long nap and woke up feeling pretty good. We ate one of my favorite things for dinner that night- Döner kebab! I just love them! I have not been able to find anything that compares to them in the States... frequently imitated, but never duplicated. Should I mention that I ate this twice and even considered a third time during my week long trip here?! Ha! They're good.
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| The meat is cooked on a rotating open spit (it's in the background), they shave it off and then top it with delciousness. |
The next day we did some venturing out and about, I snapped a few pictures...
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| Me and Yannick |
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| Alex and I with some DELICIOUS Curry Wurst- you can't see it too well in the picture |
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| The famous Berlin "TV Tower" or Fernsehturm- apparently you can eat in there, but I've never been inside. |
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| A few of my staples |
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| Kisses from my girl Tequila |
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| Of note- the animals in Germany speak another language than in the US- our sheep say "Baaahh" And theirs say... well you can read it above. |
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| Berlin Wall Memorial from the former East Germany side of Berlin. |
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| Delicious pudding that Alex got me hooked on. That girl was bound and determined to keep me fed at all times. It was a success! I'm now back to my pre-pregnancy weight. |
While there I also saw a stuffed Knut- the polar bear that was born in captivity in Berlin and rejected by it's mother and then raised by the zookeepers.
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| This boys mother has not rejected him... ;) |
The baptism was on Sunday, and it was held in a beautiful old church. One drawback to beautiful old churches is that they don't really have heat... Or electricity. So, this made for quite the experience for me.
I wanted to look nice for the ceremony so I picked out a knee length dress, and traded my Ugg boots for a pair of wedges. I didn't bring any sort of tights or leggings...Little did I realize that the church would be just above freezing temperatures INSIDE! My lack of suitable leg wear created what Alex and I affectionately named "TightsGate2013". OMG. You have never known drama like forgetting your tights in a freezing cold German church- surrounded by older German women who are convinced you're going to freeze to death. I think they thought I might actually die.
Alex's mother and mother in law were wrapping me in blankets, and at one point I thought they were actually going to build me a small bonfire in the corner to ensure I was warm. They were telling Alex to remove her outer knee high socks and give them to me! It was craziness. I sat down, wrapped my legs in blankets and showed everyone that I was just fine. I don't think they believed me, but they did leave me alone about it. I'm not going to lie, yes, it was chilly on my legs- but it wasn't awful. There was no wind in the church (thank goodness), and the blankets on my legs worked just fine.
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| Church |
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| My legs, in blankets |
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| Lovely family picture with the Oma/Opa's from both sides and the proud parents in the middle. Please note that everyone is wearing their winter coats/hats/scarves- they did this for the entire service. Never been to a church like that. What an experience! |
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| Love how Yannick is looking at Martin in this pic. So sweet. |
After the church ceremony, we went to brunch at a fantastic little restaurant. It had a breakfast buffet with an amazing assortment of food- including a build your own crepe station and a chocolate fountain. Yet again, Alex would stop at nothing to ensure I was eating ALL THE TIME!
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| Yannick and his dad with matching hats at the brunch |
This trip was very different from my trips to Germany in the past, but I had a great time and it was so wonderful to finally meet this little guy.
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| Such a cutie! |
I couldn't carry him around as much as I wanted (he's a heavy fella- up around 20 lbs), but we still found ways to have fun.
Alex is a fantastic mother, she does such a great job with him. I'm so very proud of both her and Martin. Unlike in years past, Alex and I only took 2 "selfies"- Unfortunately, the time that we decided to take it, it was snowing like crazy and kept getting in Alex's eyes... but it's still a cute picture:
I think the worst part of the trip came when I had to tell Yannick I was leaving the next day... Let's just say there was a lot of this...
And I'm sure all those tears were due to my pending departure, he could never cry like that just for being hungry or needing a diaper change. Nope, he really is going to miss his Patentante...
Well... maybe. This was taken when I was getting my suitcase out of the trunk to head back home. Alex said he would've woken up to say goodbye but the hat was preventing him from opening his eyes. Let's go with that.
The flight home was long, but pretty uneventful. I did take a picture of my food- I should've taken one on the United flight, but it was so crappy it wasn't worth taking up the space on my phone. And Lufthansa even gave you real silverware! United was bendable plastic crap.
Once I arrived home, I was greeted by an epic fail from the sequester...
That my friends is the line for customs. O.M.G. For the US Citizen side they had 3 stations open. 3!!! It took an hour to get through the line... The picture above is of the Visitors line- I'm glad to be a US Citizen because if my line took an hour, that must've taken 3 hours. I asked the guy why the line was so long, and he said "Ever since the sequester it's like this everyday. No overtime. Less staff." 'Merica!
So that was my trip, in a nutshell! It's good to be home, but I miss them already.
Oh, I did snap a couple of bump pics while I was in Germany too... many have been curious about it's progression, so here it goes:
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| This one looks bigger than the other... I think it was from all the food Alex made me eat. Such a mom. |
There is no denying there is a baby in there!
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