Liam at 11 (months, that is)

So, let’s face it.  Most of the face time on my blogs is taken up by 1: yours truly and b: Lukas.  Sure, I mix a little Anita in there on occasion, and the youngest one gets at least the occasional passing mention.  But it’s hard to devote as much space to him.  His sort of cute transfers better to photos, most of the time.  Still, it’s worth scribing some of this stuff down now, before I forget it.  Lord knows he’ll be a completely different person again when he turns one!

• He’s fast.  Scary fast.  And sneaky.  The combination makes it tough to anticipate where one needs to be before he hurts himself or others.  He’s still crawling.  Sometimes in that low, army crawl that he perfected a few months back, sometimes in your standard hands and knees style.  And both are fast.  But his hands are faster.  Don’t believe me, just pick him up.  Hold him anywhere near your face and wait for the pain.  More than one person has been “marked” by this cute kid, when his fingernails got a bit too long.  But it’s the sneaky that makes the fast so dangerous.  He’ll really wait you out.  If he recognizes that you’re keeping him away from something, he naturally wants that thing.  But he won’t push it.  He’ll try once, maybe twice.  Then he’ll lie low.  Pretend to forget.  Lull you into a false sense of calm.  And then, when he’s sure you’ve forgotten, a lightning strike.  All too often, it works.  Because he’s fast.  And sneaky.
• He likes music.  Rock music in particular gets his attention.  He’s going to be my Zeppelin guy…
• He shrugs his right shoulder.  Kind of randomly.  Something he started a couple of months back.  Kind of like a nervous tic, but it all too often looks like he’s responding to something around him.  “Liam, how are you today?”  Shoulder shrug indicates “Eh, not too shabby.  You?”  It’s quite amusing.
• His teeth are coming in.  This makes him cranky.  He’s usually a very sweet baby (toddler?  Not yet, I think, but soon).  But the pain makes him cranky.  Mostly at night.  He’s not such a great sleeper anyway, but the teething is making a bad time worse.
• Fun story.  Put up a “Baby gate” in front of the computer room for a couple of days.  There were little Lego pieces all over the floor, etc, and I needed to control access.  Naturally, Liam hated this idea.  He would come to the gate and bang on it to get my attention, wanting access.  After it had been up a few days, he got another bright idea.  He was eating a piece of bread, part of a large pretzel, I think.  Anyway, he held onto it and crawled over to the gate.  When he was sure I was watching him, he deliberately reached his arm out over the gate and dropped the bread on the other side.  “Oops, papa,” he said (okay, it was all in the eyes, but I swear this is what he was thinking), “I have dropped my bread and must be allowed into your office to retrieve it.”  I reached over, picked up the bread and gave it to him.  Annoyed, he waited a beat, then repeated the action, again looking to me to allow him into the room.  After the third time, I tossed the bread.  I’m no fool…
• He loves to people watch.  Put him in the stroller and roll him around outside, where he can see a lot of people doing a lot of things and you have one happy boy.
• He loves his brother.  You can just see him light up when Lukas enters a room.  And anything and everything that Lukas does is just hilarious to Liam.  Laughs his little head off, that one does.

I’m sure that I could go on, but I’d like to bring a blog in with a reasonable word count for a change.  So, that’ll do it for now.  I’ll try to work a bit more Liam stuff into the general read whenever possible…  Cheers!

Parental visit part V: Nuremberg, the final chapter

Yes, that Nuremberg.  Famous now not for their cute little sausages, or their historic old town, but for trials and rallies and all things Nazi.  It’s a part of their past that I’m sure the locals would love to forget, but it will likely always be there.  Still, there’s much more to Nuremberg today than its part in Germany’s darkest chapter.  For one thing, it gave birth to yours truly, which has always granted it a special place in my thoughts.  For another thing, it’s a truly pretty, fun city to visit.  The old town, at least, which is the only part that I’ve gotten around to in my two visits there (not counting those initial nine months, that is).  Not sure how much of the city Dad got around to visiting back in the day (he spent most of his time either at the base at nearby Grafenwöhr or driving about the countryside and down to Salzburg, it seems.  Probably best let him fill in those details sometime).

We took the train into town, then checked into our hotel, a nice but extremely overpriced Le Meridian right next to the station (used leftover hotel points from my Krakow work days – nice to have those come in handy after all this time).  It was to be a two night stay, and we would be meeting up with our friends Todd and Melanie, whom we met in Kansas City and who moved back to Germany a year or two back (She’s German, he’s ex-army and is now apparently working freelance in Iraq most of the time, so is rarely home.)  Besides that, our only real agenda was to see the sights (again sticking to the old city, which in Nuremberg’s case is fairly easy to do as the whole thing is surrounded by a nice big stone wall).

It was an afternoon arrival.  We unpacked, unwound, then headed in to the center.  Our first stop was St. Lorenz Church.  We didn’t go inside, but merely made it a meeting point for Melanie and the girls.  As we were a bit early, we toured the nearby streets, indulged in some great roasted (and sugared) peanuts, macadamia nuts and cashews, and just generally got a feel for the place.  It was a lively setting.  Lots of tourists from all over, booths and tents set up for general browsing.  The weather was cool and pleasant.  I was almost sorry when six o’clock rolled around and we met up with the Strobels for dinner plans (nothing personal, Strobels.  Just a measure of how much I was enjoying the meandering).

Once Melanie arrived, we headed over to a local restaurant (forget the name) and settled in for some of the famous Nuremberg brats (small in size, I liken them to American breakfast sausages in many ways – love ‘em!).  The food was good, the company enjoyable, the wait interminable.  Seriously, even by lax European standards these guys were SLOOOOW.  And it’s not like the place was packed, quite the opposite.  All I can figure is that, when we arrived and ordered, they decided it was time to start the grill, and then they went about it the old-fashioned, boy scout way – rubbing a couple of sticks together!  Afterwards we took a short walk, grabbed some ice cream, and enjoyed the sights.  As we parted ways, we agreed to meet up again on Thursday, as Todd was supposed to be back in Germany and wanted to be a part of things.

The next morning we headed out for breakfast at a little nearby café, then toured some more.  We had no grand designs beyond seeing the castle, and possibly a dungeon underneath the old city hall.  I spend most of my time (as I had during the evening stroll before) looking for likely spots to employ my Mr. Bill toy.  I had picked up this replica of the popular Saturday Night Live character from the late 70s when last in KC, but hadn’t fully recognized its potential until my Dad asked me what photos I had taken with it.  Since that time (mostly during the last Upper Austria trip), we had been amusing ourselves by placing the poor little guy into dangerous situations and snapping his photo.  Lukas was helping, naturally.  I mention this only because I fully intend to upload the results, and figure that a little explanation wouldn’t hurt…

We hit the castle a bit before noon.  It is truly a great looking castle, IMO.  Just the right blend of impressive towers and imposing walls.  Not one where a lot of interior viewing is available, though.  We did the “tour”, and it consisted of seeing some medieval weapons and then going to hear about their impressively deep well.  Afterwards we climbed the tower and took a number of snapshots from every angle (Yes, I did make it to the top and yes, I did think I was going to die.  Might, just might mind you, might be time to hit the gym.  Maybe.)  Lukas and I conspired to get him up on top of some lofty rocks and take a few photos, and we used the baby as another prop whenever the opportunity presented (well, they’re not good for much else at that age, are they?  J).  

Next was a bit of souvenir shopping, followed by another meet-up with the Strobels.  This time Todd joined us, and it was really fun to see him interact with the girls, who had obviously missed daddy while he was away.  I haven’t said much about the girls yet, so here’s as likely a place as any.  Hannah is, not surprisingly, turning into a very cute young lady (after being a very cute little girl, I should add).  She’s getting a bit of the teen ‘tude, but not so much that one can’t enjoy her company.  Helena, who was a baby the last time I saw her, was cute as a button.  I didn’t see much of that side the first night, but during the second meeting all of her inhibitions dropped and she sat on everyone’s lap, chatted up a storm, and generally showed off an impish personality.  Definitely made me think about trying for a daughter of my own, I must admit…

After Anita was conned into turning some sort of fertility ring (don’t ask, I didn’t) by Judy, we set off for a festival a few blocks over, wherein we grabbed a table and proceeded to down a sampling of ribs and steaks, sausages and potatoes, and possibly imbibed a few brews along the way.  Much deliberation was given as to what to do afterwards, and we split into groups.  Melanie and Hannah went to find a quiet spot to get some homework done and the rest of us hiked around the western side of the old town, viewing Alfred Durer’s house, some more ugly statues (which seem to be quite popular in Nuremberg for some unknown reason) and finally some classic houses.  No way to convey the looks of these properly.  Just go see the photos if you haven’t already!

Todd and I then, somehow, talked our way into a further splintering and promptly took off for O’Shea’s, the local Irish pub, where we nabbed an outdoor table, smoked Cuban cigars that he’d picked up in Iraq, sipped Irish whiskey and chased them both with some Guiness.  Tough life, I know.  The rest met up with us shortly after the smoke cleared and we enjoyed a decent pub-style dinner, though the fries were a definite weak point.  I thoroughly enjoyed having a conversation with someone who could really relate to my own situation (not so many KC guys married to German-speaking wives who have moved their families halfway around the world, even among my varied expat community).  After dinner we said our goodbyes, then headed back to the hotel.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening in, where the boys stayed with their grandparents for a while.  And that’s all I’ll say on that matter…

Thursday was our return date, but we had a bit of time to kill before our train was scheduled to depart.  Well, it was a lot of time (4pm ticket time), until one factors in our slow, gentle wake up, and even slower time to get ready and get out for another breakfast, then back to pack.  Still, we found ourselves with a few hours to kill/fill, and tried once more to fit in the dungeon tour (after another enjoyable bratwurst lunch at a restaurant which had their grill up and running even before we arrived…).  The dungeon was suitably dank and creepy.  I, of course, remember very little of what was said, even though my German is now good enough to catch most of the presentation.  I was too busy finding new and exciting photo opportunities for Lukas, Liam and Mr. Bill.  Hey, it’s not every day that one finds oneself in a dungeon!

Not much more to tell.  We caught the train home.  Dad and I got off and Linz and drove the rest of the way to Vienna.  They were here for several more days afterwards, in which time we threw the first of about a half dozen birthday parties for Lukas’ sixth.  Then it was time for departure.  The house needed taken care of back in Weatherby Lake, and Logan and Quinn were undoubtedly looking forward to Grandma and Grandpa’s return, not to mention Grandma Betty and Grandpa Glenn.  Still, it was a good test run.  I think that when they return in 2012 (okay, maybe 2013) we’ll really be ready to rock!

Parental visit part IV: More Vienna, the Wachau and a second trip to Upper Austria!

Okay, this is turning in to Tolstoy, so I’ll try to keep things at a reasonable length.

We were back in Vienna and once again enjoying the sort of days that saw me at the keyboard in the computer room, hacking away (work stuff – not my writing – I’ll leave it to others to throw the “hack” label at me on the writing) while the others enjoyed the fun in the sun (or more likely fun in the shade – not much sun in Vienna this time of year) outside.

Again, there are some good photos out there to see what all was going on, including a day out at the Prater and more time in cafés and parks.  Really, the only outing that I’m qualified to discuss over those days in Vienna was our trip to the Wachau.  The Wachau is a wine region along the Danube, near to Vienna, which has a number of small towns in it, each with a number of heurigers (mentioned before I’m sure, but a heuriger is like a winery/restaurant that only sells its own production.  It’s more complicated than that, naturally, but I’m not in the mood to go into all of the history right now, so that’ll do).  After spending an inordinate amount of time trying to book a boat ride on the river, finding most of them closed for the season and finally settling on an option that was short and sweet, but required us to ride out to the region via train first (which Anita naturally turned into a money saving deal – she’s damned good at that, given a little time). 

We started at Krems, which I had apparently visited before but forgotten completely.  And it was no big loss of memory.  Okay town.  Nothing wrong with it, and it has the wine thing going for it, but it wasn’t anything special.  Not compared to Durnstein, the second town on our visit.  Durnstein was in many ways still a medieval town (all right, maybe not medieval, but damned old).  It had that classic feel to it that San Gmingnano in Italy did (see some of my OLD blogs and photos to check that amazing town out).  If I loved or even liked Apricots, it would’ve been even better, as the local fruit dominated whichever stores weren’t selling wine first and foremost.  Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed the look and feel (despite a strong touristy bent) of the town.  Didn’t hurt to find out that this was the place (or the ruins of the tower above the town) where the Austrians held Richard the Lionhearted for ransom.  Gotta love a history bit involving Robin Hood’s king J.

Somewhere about this time, the visit stopped being enjoyable for me, as we found ourselves racing down to the riverside, then up and down the bank trying to find the boat that we had booked.  Then came a series of small events in which I apparently failed to do anything right, including not liking champagne (bubbly, overrated stuff that I only choke down on New Years Eve because it’s expected.  Give me a nice Barolo any day) and smoked salmon bread (love cooked salmon, just don’t like it cold.  Never have, but on this day that was an issue again for some reason).  Anyway, by the time it was all said and done, I was more than ready to get out of there and head home (several sulking photos of me on the boat are out there somewhere, and that’s the “story” behind them).  Dad and I did another pub quiz in the evening, which restored my mood somewhat (though we didn’t win this time), and that’s about it for the Vienna piece!

We then set off again for Upper Austria, packing for a two-part trip that would eventually see us traveling to my birth city of Nuremberg, Germany.  But first, it was back to family time.  The others set off on Saturday, while I stayed overnight in Vienna to work and met them on Sunday.  We were all set to take the old fashioned steam engine train from Aschbach to Steyr with Anita’s sister Poldi and family (Julia, Katrin and Martin), minus papa Markus.  Sibling number seven joined up with us – Gerti, along with hubby Hubert and their two girls, Jana and Lilli (yeah, I know.  You need a scorecard to keep up with my blogs.  Still, they’re all out there in the photos, so they deserve at least one named mention apiece, ya dig?).  The train ride was fun, with Lukas, Martin and Jana heading outside at every opportunity (and who can blame ‘em, as the ride itself was bumpy as hell). 

Steyr is another beautiful Austrian town (most of them are, you may have realized by now), with a great view overlooking the river and a nice old town section.  We walked it, ate pizza and ice cream, took turns carrying the baby, took lots of photos, and ended up at a playground where we whiled away the last hour or two until the return trip was scheduled.  A few more photos followed by a ride back which was highlighted by a trip to the refreshment car and an attempt to drink wine on an aggressively bumpy train ride (at least I was smart enough to get the white)!

Monday we went to Gmunden.  Say it with me… “Another beautiful Austrian town” – where Gerti and family live.  I’m sure I’ve chronicled it before.  The picturesque (albeit freezing cold even in summer) lake, the swans, the ducks, the classic architecture, the city square, the ice cream…  Not trying to make it sound any less great than it was/is, but we didn’t really do anything except walk along and take some photos.  Afterwards, we met up with most of the family (really, it was a big, big group) at a restaurant where Anita’s niece Manuela works.  They’ve got a great view, which they take advantage of with a “one way see through” toilet/outhouse.  Yeah, an outhouse with a view (photos are in the “Upper Austria” album, for those of you with a strong constitution and a sly sense of humor).  The dinner was predictably enjoyable, with good food and great company.  Anita’s dad, Karl, joined us, then snuck off to pay the bill (really reminds me of my grandpa Glenn in many respects, and that’s a compliment of the highest order around these parts).  Everyone had a schnapps shot or two (except yours truly, who had a beer already and was driving – see, I can be responsible too, in a pinch).  Then we finished off the evening by strong-arming Manuela into getting her guitar and singing for us!

Okay, I think I’ve got it whittled down to one more installment (which is great, because I really should be moving on to documenting Halloween fun by this point in time)!  Up next, the final chapter of Dad and Judy’s visit – Nuremberg!