In-law Visitors

Yesterday Dan's parents and sister from Pennsylvania arrived in Frankfurt. They were a little jet lagged, so we took it easy the first day, checking out Nordend Fest, which was a total dud as far as German fests go. Then for dinner we went to our favorite German restaurant south of the Main, Kanonesteppel. We ordered a große pitcher of apfelwein, but the troops were too pooped to put much of a dent in it, so Dan and I finished it off. Dan and Steve had the pork shoulder, Cori and I had the Bauernbratwurst, and Kate had Zweibelschnitzel. There were lots of leftovers to take home.

Today we plan to see sights around Frankfurt. It's Sunday, so the stores will be closed, but the sidewalks will be empty for easy stroller walking. The in-laws will head down the Romantic Road to Rothenburg tomorrow and up the Rhein River Valley on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday night we all leave for a 5 day holiday in France. I can't wait to see the gardens and chateaus!

GEZ says pay up

The GEZ is a collection agency for the equivalent of PBS in the US. They don't have any connections with law enforcement, but come around trying to collect TV, radio, and internet license fees, which are permitted by German law to fund public broadcasting. They can only collect the fees if you give them access to your home to tally up what you own or if you voluntarily tell them what you own. The US doesn't have these fees (as far as I know), but in Europe, it is not uncommon to have to pay a tax/fee for simply owning any sort of TV, radio, or device capable of receiving the internet including mobile phones and gaming systems like the Wii. So far, none of my expat friends have been targeted by the GEZtapo, but I've been hounded with threatening letters almost as soon as we moved in. Everything is in Dan's name and I've been unemployed, so I'm not sure where they got my name from. But we've decided to stop dodging them and pay the ~€17 a month fee. I've had enough threatening Germans come buzzing at my door, and don't want to add GEZ thugs to the list.

Whacky adventures in German medicine

Oh the Germans, they are an endless source of entertainment. I went to my German English speaking doctor today. We debated the pros and cons of American medicine, which ended with me getting a bone density scan to settle an argument. Ha! I win, there's nothing wrong with my bone density. Suck it, Germans! I drank milk as a kid and eat a ton of ice cream! But seriously, the Germans are very concerned about their health and believe a μg of prevention is worth a kilo of cure. As such, they have given me all sorts of ultrasounds on different organs and tissues, all normal, thank God. The only thing they find is that "Your muscle tissue is very thin. There is something wrong. You need exercise" Signs of my pesky old neuromuscular disease show up on their scans and they don't like it. The doctor suggested some permanent medical procedures and surgeries that would replace some of my stop-gap measures to prolong my mobility/life. But do I trust the Germans to administer any medical procedure, let alone surgery? She could quote me the procedure prices in €, and they are actually affordable compared to the thousands of $ I would have to spend in the US. Something to think about, I suppose.

Mẹ Day weekend in London

Last night we returned to rainy Frankfurt after a wonderful weekend in London. On Saturday morning, we went out around the city, riding the underground to many of the main tourist attractions including Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abby, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Gardens, Diana Memorial Playground, Trafalgar Square, and more. We ended the day at a local pub with fish and chips, mushy peas, and a couple of pints.


For Mẹ Day (Mother's Day to most of you out there) we spent almost the whole day at Kew Gardens. We got there right when it opened and went straight for the treetop walkway, which did not disappoint. Along the way, Gianna found a rather tame peacock that got a little too close for her tastes. The rest of the trip, she was on the lookout for those dangerous creatures called peacocks, even in the airport! We saw a lot of other wildlife at Kew, including several species of pheasants, guinea fowl, parrots, and a fox. Overall, I would rate Kew as one of the most beautiful botanical gardens I have ever visited, and I have visited quite a few. Still #1 in my book is Singapore Botanical Gardens with a superb bonsai collection, plumeria grove, native rainforest, and an orchid display that puts all others to shame. To round out Mẹ Day, we walked through Hyde Park to the Lebanese section of town for an authentic Lebanese meal complete with people smoking the hookah.


Monday morning we intended to tour the inside of Westminster Abby right as it opened, but the lines were already long, the weather was cold and windy, and the admission price was £15 per person. So instead of waiting, we hopped on a 10am boat tour down the River Thames from Westminster Pier. If the three cappuccinos at breakfast didn't wake me up, the brisk weather on top of the boat certainly did. Gianna really loved riding on the boat, seeing other boats, and just looking at the water. It is hard to find things that are equally as interesting to adults and children when you are on vacation, but a boat tour was just right. We got off at the Tower Bridge and intended to tour the Tower of London, but it cost a whopping £17 per person, even more than Westminster Abby. The boat tour was a relative bargain at £12 for all of us, and you got to see a lot of London without any walking involved. I highly recommend it for both the lazy and cheap!

This was a wonderful first Mother's Day for me and I just want to thank Dan, Gianna and everyone in the US and Vietnam that made it possible for me to be a mother, a special mother, more than a mother, a Mẹ.

Click to see more photos of London and Kew Gardens.

Germany deporting Vietnamese nationals

Take a look at this news article. The details are few, because it sounds like the government is being pretty tight lipped about it. But I am slightly...concerned. The German government has given us so much grief over Gianna because of her Vietnamese name, even though she is a US Citizen and we have all of her paperwork in order. But I feel really bad for these Vietnamese refugees that will be deported back to Hanoi. What kind of life is waiting for them? What kind of consequences will they have to face for leaving the country as a refugee? At any rate, I feel like tethering Gianna to my wrist until this blows over so that they don't pick her up off the playground and put her on a plane bound for Hanoi. I shake my fist at you Germans!

Taking the train

In Germany, you can take the train almost anywhere you want to go. There are U-Bahns and S-Bahns, underground and street trains. In the city, we mostly take the U Bahn, but this weekend we hopped on an S Bahn out to Kronberg and the Opel Zoo. It was a nice ride up into a hilly region out in the country. Gianna enjoyed the zoo, especially the hippos, which she wouldn't stop talking about at dinner that night. She was asleep while we toured Kronberg, an ancient German town with the compulsory castle on the hill.











There are probably many travel agents in Frankfurt that speak English, but I found one particular English speaking travel agent in the Hauptbahnhof that I keep bothering for the best deals on travel. Germans are always interested in the best deal and they won't sell you tickets that they think are overpriced, unless you are buying online, then they are not responsible for your poor financial choices. My travel agent friend booked our London trip for this weekend. Although the train tickets were budget priced, we went with the more expensive short flight that gives us more time to see the city. Paying more € for the flight made sense even to a German since the train trip is dreadfully long and slow. Now we are trying to book a fast ICE train to Paris for the upcoming Ascension Day holiday weekend starting May 21. Dan's parents and sister will be here, so we need 5 adult tickets. The travel agent was cursing the French for holding all return tickets on Sunday. Even if we could travel then, the price was over €200 per person roundtrip, which he wouldn't sell to me--too expensive! So he found alternate trains on different days for €128 per person round trip. I just find it amusing how far the Germans will go to save a €. As Americans, if we really want something, we'll just throw out the extra money and suck it up, maybe stay in a cheaper hotel to make up the difference. Not the Germans. Getting the best price is their top priority. Anything else is shameful, a dishonor to your family and country.

The German Kick Bike

In Germany you can buy pedal-free bikes for small kids like Gianna or even younger. As you may recall, we bought her one of these bikes over Easter and finally got her a comically large Hello Kitty helmet to go with it. She's getting pretty good. The idea is, the kid sits on the seat, runs with their feet a la Fred Flintstone, and then puts their feet up on the foot board when they reach cruising speed. They claim kids can learn to balance on a bike more easily without the pedals. That might be true because I see kids that can barely walk cruising down the sidewalks on these bikes.




She's walking cautiously, then gets up some speed.














She gets distracted very easily and sometimes veers off the road. Here we stopped to see the fountain and ducks.