Regensburg - a medieval tale

The cobblestone streets of Regensburg.

We've now been home for almost a week and I  still haven't given you the last instalment of our German adventure.

We headed north from Munich on the train to the town of Regensburg – an important trading centre during the middle ages. The town is very special as it was the only major town that didn't suffer significant damage during World War II, so it was named a UNESCO Heritage site in 2006.

The gorgeous village with it's narrow lane ways and cobblestone streets enchanted me. The buildings were gorgeous and so old! We had a brilliant time wandering around the town, stumbling on small squares filled with a Christmas market. We ate more sausages on rolls and down more gluhwein. The kids munched on apple fritters and pastries too.

On our last day we lunched at a small restaurant on the banks of the Danube called Wurstkuchl. It's a sausage restaurant that has continually served up bratwurst, sauerkraut and rolls with sweet mustard for 900 years! It started serving food to the builders of the old stone bridge nearby. It was cozy, the food and beer was fantastic and we met some lovely German people who shared our table. The best end to our adventure. I totally understand why this place has been operating for so long.

Our last day arrived, we had a couple of kilometre walk to the train station that involved navigating some steep steps. We looked out and the sun was shining, it was difficult to catch a cab so we thought we'd chance the walk. We set off and after about 5 minutes it started to snow. It hadn't snowed the whole time we were in Regensburg. As I looked behind me on the Stone Bridge, I saw a flurry of snow coming our way and soon we could barely see. The girls ran around excitedly, Darbs in the stroller yelled at the snow blowing in his eyes and ears. We pushed on through the white and eventually reached the train station. As we stepped inside the station the clouds rolled away to reveal blue sky and the snow storm blew away. Typical!

We then wait for our train and waited. And waited. We waited 45 minutes before it pulled into the station. So much for the punctuality of German trains! I have to say we had more than a couple of late trains while we were there, so I'm starting to think it's a myth.

We started to get a little panicky about catching our flight, the snow had started to come down again and we still had a bus to catch to the airport after our train ride. We needn't have feared, we made the bus and got to the airport just in time. Just in time to be told our flight was delayed.

We boarded our flight an hour late and then sat on the plane for another 3 hours due to technical issues and de-icing. By the time the plane had taken off we should have been almost touching down in Dubai. After more technical issues once we arrived at Dubai airport we didn't arrived home until almost 4.30am. Kids hadn't slept and were pretty feral. I was pretty feral myself. It was good to be home, to sleep in my own bed, to be back in the warmth and the sunshine. Cold is fun for a week, but it's nice to get back to sunshine. Also, dressing the kids in all those layers was starting to do my head in! Give me sundresses and shorts any day.

We had such a brilliant adventure despite a few hiccups. It's so good to have these adventures as a family and although there are moments when you want to kill each other, the good memories always override the bad ones. While I was ready to swear off overseas travel this time last week, I'm already starting to wonder where we will head next.

Trudging to the train station.

The 900-year-old sausage restaurant.

Pretty Regensburg

Meeting old Saint Nick at the Christmas markets.

Munchen

After a serene few days in Mittenwald, a picturesque town in the German Alps, it was quite a shock to arrive in the big city. 

There was hustle, there was bustle. I felt like our family of five was a bit of a circus sideshow. I don't think three kids is a common number for a family here. We seemed to get a number of "looks". I must admit it didn't set me up well for Munchen. Our accommodation was humble (so to speak) and not in a great part of town, I was starting to wonder what all my friends and family who raved about the place were thinking.

Starving, we were lucky to quickly find an authentic beer hall, filled with young local men in lederhosen having Sunday lunch. The food and beer was cheap, plentiful and very good. Things were starting to look up. 

We spent the next few days walking, walking and more walking. We saw all the sites of the old town -

Marienplatz, Karlsplatz, the Residenz, Hofgarten and the English

Gardens. We ate wurst mit semmel and more wurst mit semmel. We found gorgeous Christmas displays and Christmas markets. We walked until our legs ached and our ears were numb from  the icy winds. We got plenty more "looks" - I'm still not sure what faux pax we were committing. 

I must say the girls walked for miles and barely whinged for just how far they stumbled around town. 

As the train pulled our of Munchen central station, we were pretty damn exhausted, but ready for more German adventures.

I'm not sure Munich is my kind of town, but I'm glad I've been. It's also inspired me to write a series of posts on travelling overseas with children, which will be coming soon.

Have you been to Munich? Did you love it? 

Guten tag!

One of the best parts of living in Dubai is the opportunity to travel. This weekend is a long one in the UAE, including a surprise day off for winning Expo 2020 the girls had 5 days off.

So we decided it was time to go back to Europe for a week. We looked at flights, thought about what the kids would like, what Skip and I would like and settled on Germany. So right now, we're tucked up in the sweetest village in the German Alps - Mittenwald. 

Walking around Mittenwald is like being in a Grimms fairy tale. The gingerbread houses, the pine forests, the spectacular mountains. Plus everything is under a pure white blanket of snow. It's one of the prettiest places I've ever been. To top it off the people have been amazingly friendly. 

We've spent our time playing in the snow, drinking hot chocolate and eating pork and cake. Heavenly.

I've spent every moment walking around amazed at the beauty around every corner. I feel like I'm living in a Christmas decoration.

Tomorrow we move on to continue our German adventure in Munich. Beer, gluhwein, Christmas markets and, of course, more pork and sauerkraut. 

The old man is snoring...

The weather is fairly predictable in Dubai, hot and sunny for the vast majority of the year. When people plan things for the outdoors there is never, ever a wet weather back up. Rain is just so rare here, that it would never cross your mind.

A handful of days a year it does rain and boy does it put the city into a tailspin. Last week, at school pick up there a few drops of rain, in Sydney you'd probably think 'was that rain?', in Dubai it had the kids whooping and running around with the greatest of excitement. There was talk of warm baths and hot chocolates when they got home - "It's 30 degrees!" I reminded them.

Then we awoke on Thursday morning to what the average Sydney-sider might call a shower. It was quite windy and it had all of us peering out the window in wonder. "They have to close the school," Goosey said. "Oh don't be ridiculous!" I told her. "It's just a little bit of rain!" Thinking that she's just jealous of her sister who was staying home sick.

I joked on Facebook that I was going to turn the AC up and grab my doona and pretend it was a real winter's day, when I got a message from school - there was an emergency closure and I had to go and pick up my child. What?! I looked outside and there were still grey clouds about, but the sun was peering through and I could even see blue sky. The government body had decided to close all schools in Dubai down, so I thought that they obviously knew something I didn't and raced off to collect Goosey, who was very pleased for the early mark!

It didn't rain again until 4am the next day. I think their intention was right - it only takes a small amount of rain to throw Dubai roads into chaos, but it did feel a bit silly when the big storm never came.

The rainy excitement continued over the weekend as we drove around the flooded streets - very few storm water drains mean that the roads can be flooded with a five minute shower. "Car WASH!" yelped Darby from the back as our 4WD drove through the soggy streets on our way home from the supermarket.

The sun is back today and so we return to blue skies - until the heavy seeded clouds come our way again! Here are some pics.

Chatterbox

Darbs has been a little slow in the talking department, at least compared to his older sisters. I was never really worried about, knowing that one day he would open his mouth and words would come spilling out.

He's been 'chatting' away in his own language for a long time. Then more and more single words. Then in the past few weeks he's suddenly put it all together. Lots of long complicated sentences.

Wonderful, you're probably thinking, and it is. Although I didn't really need another chatterbox in the house - or the car.

My car trips with the boy used to be fairly peaceful. He'd sing along to the radio and peer out of the window.

Now my car trips are like this:

"Mummy, I want chocolate milk. Mummy. Chocolate! I want Chocolate milk. Mummy, I want the car wash. Mummy! Go car wash! Mummy, look! Ferrari! I want a Ferrari, Mummy! Mummy! I want chocolate, Mummy. Mummy! Mummy! Muuuuuuuuuuum! I want milk. Chocolate milk. Mummy look! Juice truck! And taxi! Yellow taxi. Mummy, big truck! Big truck! Biiiiiiiiig truck! Mummy! Look Mummy, plane! Plane! Mummy, dog! Grrrrrrr, woof! Mummy, beach! I want to go beach! Beach! Beach! Beach! Mummy, I drive car? Pleeeeeease! I driving car! Mummy, chocolate milk!"

And so on. And so on. It's rather exhausting.

From my end it sounds like this:

"No. No! I said NO! Oh, yes. No. No. Sure. No. No NO!!! When we get home. You can have normal milk. No. Yes, it's yellow. Not today. No. NO."

Sigh.

Party time

This past weekend, I put on my finery and drove up the driveway of one of Dubai's fanciest and grand five-star hotels. The valet took my car, leaving me free to waltz into the large foyer – marble, Arabic chandeliers and fountains as far as the eye could see while incense and the scent of coffee filled the air.

I strode up to the reception to see exactly where the Royal Villa, the party venue, was. I was politely told that a butler would soon meet me and escort us, if I wouldn't mind waiting just a moment.

I turned around to see Darbs attempting to drink from one of the fountains, Goosey chasing one of her schoolmates around on the slippery marble and Lil-lil dancing around in the smoke of the incence.

"Kids! Quick! What are you doing??!! Get over here!" I bellowed. Smashing the serene ambiance with my fishmonger's wife scream.

What was I doing with my kids in a posh hotel? Surely they belong at home on such a grand occasion, I hear you saying. I suppose this could be true, but you see we were there for a 5th birthday party. Yes, that's right, a 5th birthday party.

One of Goosey's local classmates was celebrating his 5th birthday with a party that would probably cost more than most Australian weddings. The mother of birthday boy wore an amazing designer ball gown and stilletos higher than I have ever dreamt of wearing and she was 7-months pregnant.

Despite the fancy surrounds and the sheer excess, at the end of the day it was a party. There was food, a cake, kids ran around on the grass and played games, they squealed with delight when they let the helium balloons drift up into the sky. Our hostess was so warm, welcoming, generous and hospitable as is customary in Arabic culture, there were absolutely no airs and graces. It was a great way to spend a Friday afternoon and see how the other half live. The kids really had no idea of how fancy the party was, they could have been at McDonalds for all they cared. The mums on the hand (it was a women's only party) were wide-eyed and amazed.

The kids and I made a quick exit before the other party goers were herded off to a private cinema to watch a movie. It was late and my kids are Aussie, they needed to go to bed (late bedtimes for kids is another very Arabic thing).

As I handed over my ticket to the valet and grabbed Darbs before he turned one of the luggage trolleys into a billycart, I thought, "This is one of the reasons why we are here!" It's certainly something I'll remember for quite a while.

Such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you

November is my favourite month in Dubai, the weather is warm but not sizzling. This sets the tone and life feels pretty close to perfection. So the first day of the months has not been a disappointment!

This morning I woke and slipped out for a run. The sun was rising over the skyscrapers and the sky a beautiful golden orange. There was a slight breeze making it the most perfect temperature.

I came home and ate breakfast with the family. We then did what we do every Friday morning and slipped into our swimmers and headed for the pool. Skip and I sipped on coffees as the kids splashed and dived into the water. The sky was a perfect shade of blue, the water of the Arabian gulf glistened like diamonds as the sun skipped across the surface and the breeze blew any heat away from our skin. The palm trees swayed above us giving just the right amount of shade.

We then played in the sand, threw the ball to each other, rode scooters and headed to the playground. All the while the weather and surroundings made the most perfect backdrop.

Life isn't always as perfect as this, but when it is it's about as good as it gets and you think: "Why would you live anywhere else?!"

Happy Friday!