Oh my. I never posted this. Here you go. Pictures will have to come later...
Right. Because the 2 weeks off of school just over a month ago was Christmas Break. What's another week off school?
This time we traveled down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen to visit our friends the Desais for a few days until their girls were done with school for the week (this being Germany, each state has a different vacation week so things don't get too crowded). We visited Innsbruck, Austria, where it was cool and windy and the kids were whiny. Ankur, a meteorologist and expert on climate change, was explaining the Foehn winds to us, claiming that the kids may be victims of it. This led to one of the taglines of the weekend: "It's the Foooeeehn".
Thursday afternoon found us hiking the mountain behind Emily and Ankur's house in beautiful, sunny, bright, cool-but-not-cold weather. Remember our last trip to GaPa in early October-- the Alpine snow day? We got winter in October and fall in February. Hiking builds up quite an appetite and luckily we hiked right up to a mountain "hutte" run by one of the girls' classmate's family. Beers, sodas, juice and hot chocolate consumed (outside!) before the walk back down. At the house, appetite heightened again, we presented a typical German dinner-- wurstchen, bretzln und bier. Emily and I made a pilgrimage to Dannel Feinkost in Munich, the only purveyor of kosher bratwurst (and other kinds of wurst) in all of Germany. It's a small shop, filled to the brim with meat. Basically, heaven. We quickly picked wiener wurst (tasted like hot dogs; good hot dogs, but hot dogs nonetheless), curry wurst (yum...), weiss wurst (because it's Nils' favorite), pistachio-studded salami (really interesting and really good) and some tangy dried kubanos. Mark and the kids picked up pretzels at the farmers' market and everyone went to bed glücklich und voller.
We all headed to Bamberg for a weekend trip, but not before Ankur and the Copelovitches rented an Audi A5 and hit the Autobahn. Ankur handled the car and the 5 year old in the back yelling "Faster! FASTER!" very well. I like to drive fast, but the Autobahn seemed (from the middle of the backseat) to be a whole different world-- the cars were driving at tremendously different speeds-- some may be going 65 mph and some 120 mph.
Having the A5 inspired us to stop at the Audi Factory in Ingolstadt for a tour. We expected to be rushed through the factory on a catwalk, far from the action. We were surprised and pleased with a 2 hour tour on the factory floor, seeing the robots at work close up and, as the car frames started turning into actual vehicles, people working on an 88 second clock-cycle to complete the cars. Every Audi is custom made (we were watching A3s being constructed) and a few people on our tour were there to pick up their new cars. Off the assembly line. I'm not a huge car lover, but it was pretty cool.
Bamberg was a lovely town, a UNESCO World Heritage site that was left alone during the war. It was a nice, relaxed weekend with good friends, just what we needed to rejuvenate (from what, I'm not sure, but that's what it felt like...) and drink beer, Bamberg's specialty.
In other news, we're building a model of our synagogue for Micah's social studies project. Each student picked a Berlin landmark and is writing a report and creating a model. Micah was very excited that when it was his turn to pick the Neue Synagoge was still available. It has domes and windows, arches, glass, stone... Seriously, kid, the Brandenburg Gate has 6 pillars and some horses on top... The Reichstag is a cube...Anyway, building commences this evening and I think the process will be a lot like a synagogue building committee-- lots of people with lots of ideas arguing to be heard and a tantrum at every opportunity. Can I get an "Amen!" Beth Israel Center?
And finally, a saint we skip-- Valentine's Day! Hooray, I didn't have to make valentines! Nor did I have to feel guilty throwing away all the valentines other kids made and my kids received! I'm in love!
No comments:
Post a Comment