I wish I was a better writer so I could truly convey my sense of contentment on my 50th birthday. Hitting a milestone birthday, you can’t help but take stock and measure your life. It’s natural to become a bit contemplative. When I think of how I want to be remembered, I usually think about wanting to have a positive impact on the world and the people around me – the “It’s a Wonderful Life” test. But I think right now, I would settle for being remembered for enjoying a full liter mug of Beer with my wife and children in the Chinesischer Turm Bier Garten in Munich or trying to squeeze out an extra 15 minutes of our bike rental and then getting lost which resulted in turning in the bikes late – almost costing an extra days rental fee. I know that years from now the memory of cramming a full day, self guided tour of Munich will still trigger a smile. And Nora will say “Oh Dad…” when she thinks about it. And Bridget will have a measure of admiration that I got up and ran at 7AM. And Fiona never stops tickling me. And Maggie will feel like I appreciated her effort to get a cake in Munich so we could all share it in the lobby of the hotel to end the day. And of course, the drummer at the Hofbrauhaus will bring peals of laughter for years to come.
One of my favorite, all-time memories is our family hike on Harney Peak in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We were hiking out along the ridge toward the peak and Maggie got tired and wanted to turn around. I talked her into letting Bridget, Nora, Fiona (who I was carrying on my back) and I go further for 5 min and then turn around and come back to pick her up and head back to the car. I had a hard time turning around. We would go a few hundred yards and I would think “there must be a really cool view around the next turn of the trail.”. I kept telling the girls, “Let’s see what the view is up past that next tree or the past next boulder. Before I new it we had gone along the trail for 30-40 additional minutes. I think the only reason we stopped is that Maggie was calling to us across the chasm of the ridge to come back. I hope the travel we have done as a family has given the girls a sense of adventure and an anticipation of discovering what is around the next corner.
Back to Germany… I was especially pleased how all the girls would sample different German/Czech foods. Everyone tried goulash, sauerkraut, lots of different sausage, roast pork, weiner schnitzel, dumplings, etc. The girls tried lots for different breads and meats for breakfast and of course sampling different pastries was no problemo. We had Apfel Strudel (mit Vanilla) quite a bit to end our meals out and the girls really enjoyed that.
Each of the girls invested in learning one city/region and helping us figure out what to see/do. The commitment to work/learn at travel is great to see. On our only full day in Berlin, Fiona pushed us out of the hotel to see the Pergamom Museum even though we were dog tired. That is an example of the O’Brien travel spirit – we may not pass this way again, so see as much as you can and learn as much as you can. I hope we take many more trips together, but it will get harder and harder to find the time. Sigh… the kids are growing up and may be traveling on their own the next time they come back.
One of the reasons I was so eager to do another long European trip was the way we reconnected as a family in Italy/France 2 years ago. I think the same thing happened again in Germany. On a trip like this we are forced to be with each other 24 hours a day. We have to rely on each other to get around, to ask for directions, to calculate the exchange rate, to decide on what we will do with our time, to decide what to eat for lunch, etc. Having to work together like that brings out the best and sometimes the worst. But, invariably the “attitudes” melt away and we’re all able to enjoy each other’s personalities and enjoy our family. As the days of the trip go by we laugh more and more… at each and at ourselves. I wish we could have done a month again this year, but I don’t think that will ever happen again. Regardless, I will always treasure these trips and look back on them as one of the most joyous and meaningful times of our lives. We sacrifice a lot to do it, but it is worth every bit of money and time.
Maggie again deserves all the credit for making it happen. If it wasn’t for her herculean planning effort we would be sitting at home. We had a few bumps in the road, but that is life… you deal with it and keep moving. I think the girls learned from that.
Bridget has been talking about how she is looking forward to Virginia where she can just “veg” by the beach. I don’t think we “vegged” for a minute on this trip.
The girls always kid me about taking too many pictures/videos, but they sure do enjoy looking through them whether it be the same day and years later. When they look back at the pictures from July 4th 2011 they’ll/I’ll remember:
- Started out the day with a run. Felt good - Hadn't run in about a week, but still was able to crank it out. I got lost and turned around but was able to find the city center (Marienplatz) and navigate my way back using the sun to orient for east / west.
- Dad’s big German breakfast – two pieces of chocolate frosted pound cake, two bowls of muesli with yogurt, a chocolate waffle (donut), a glass of juice, a cup of coffee, a kiwi, and a ham and swiss sandwich on a hearty roll
- Making an extra sandwich and shoving in the back pack while the waitress looks the other way
- the weariness from touring too many sites we took on in one morning
- St Michael's church - Jesuit church - Renaissance on the outside, baroque on the inside. The girls are starting to understand the differences in architecture.
- Marienplatz - Neus Rathouse (new city hall -- 100 yrs old) - Glockenspiel was cute, but way too long, Gold plated statue of Mary. Altes (old) Rathaus. Overall not the most interesting plaza I've seen.
- mis-reading the map and having Bridget show me where St Peters was
- St Peter's church - relics galore - had a full skeleton of a saint fitted out with some crusader armor and lots of jewelry. When Martin Luther and Co. were splitting from the church in northern Germany, the good Catholics were holding the line for the pope in southern Germany and were richly rewarded with relics for their efforts. We climbed the bell tower for an awesome view of Munich. The bells were ringing (noon) on the way down and the girls enjoyed watching them ring.
- Telling the Rick Steves joke (How was your trip to Germany? What?))
- Viktualienmarkt - really fun market with 50 or so stalls selling all sorts of fruits, vegetables, wine, sauces, etc. Great beer garden was beckoning, but it was too early. They have some great pastries here in germany -- the other day we saw some bear claws that were as big as my head.
- The Jewish synagogue was surrounded by a wailing wall type structure and there was a museum next door with an exhibit that made us think the Jews are still trying to deal with the Holocaust and the German people.
- Saw a church that doubles as a showroom for some architects. Girls still learning about architecture. Learned about Rococo.
- Huge pedestrian malls here that was the first one in Europe. It is very relaxing to stroll, people watch and check out the shops, musicians, mimes, etc
Fiona really liked the bike ride and rode in the number 2 spot most of the time. It was amazing we didn’t get lost more often. The girls are starting to help with the directions … especially Bridget.
I thoroughly enjoyed our bike ride through Munich. Somewhere (probably Rick Steves Germany guidebook) I read about a looping bike ride we could do though Munich. We started out renting bikes at Mike’s near the Hofbrauhaus. We wended our way through the city center, walking our bikes through the Marienplatz and north through the walking mall, then on to the Nymphenburg Palace. It was huge and very impressive. Swans seem to be big in Germany and they were very evident at the many pools at the palace. Bridget was developing a close relationship with one of the swans and we worked hard to get the perfect picture of her and her handsome friend. We stopped for a few pics and then moved on. Bridget spotted the landmark Shell Station near the palace to help us find the bike path to the Olympic park (1972 Summer Olympics). We told the girls the story of the Palestinian terrorists/taking the Israeli Athletes hostage at those Olympics. It might be good to watch the movie sometime during the summer. The park was very impressive with lakes hills and massive arenas all in one complex. The design of the venues was very fanciful using cables to suspend sail like tents as the roofs of various arenas. We rode around for quite a bit and caught glimpses of the BMW Welt (factory) and museum.
We drove an Audi station wagon on our trip. It was diesel but had great pick up a and a sport suspension. There were times (see the drive from Potsdam to Dresden) when we needed every bit of performance. By then end of the trip, Maggie was ready to give up the mini van for one of those.
My 50th birthday was a wonderful day… spent all day with my family, got lots of exercise, had lots of adventure and learning, had a couple beers and chocolate cake to top it all off.
The girls and Maggie gave me a nice card with some heart felt sentiments. I’ll digitize their comments here at some point:
Other memories …
I am not vapid. Bridget is vapid. At one pointing the trip, I was talking to B, and she said “you’re vapid”. Although, I was insulted, it was an impressive word usage. It turns out she did not say that, but she learned a new word.
I thought the German people were very friendly overall and I enjoyed the country very much. I can’t help but compare it to Italy though and Germany could never live up to that trip because of the world class nature of the tourist attractions. St Peter’s basilica dwarfs any church/cathedral we saw in Germany. Not literally, but we’ve been seeing and hearing about the Vatican since we were kids and then to actually be there is an awesome experience. To read about the Italian Renaissance from an early age and then to experience it Italy is a “pinch me” type of experience. While I was excited about Germany, I don’t think the anticipation was the same. I truly enjoyed our day in Munich, but somehow the Chinesischer Turm Beirgarten doesn’t compare to the David.
I think for some reason, we don’t get that much german history in school compared to British, French, and Italian. I would like to come back some day a little more prepared to absorb the history.
I thought the trip might be more about the soccer, but that was only a small part of it. I think the women’s game just doesn’t have the same magnitude of the men’s world cup. We talked to some fans at the Sweden game that had been to the men’s world cup in Germany 5 or 6 years ago. They said there were 3-4 games every day somewhere in Germany and the cities where the games were held would shut down and the whole town would party. Don’t get me wrong… it was fun and I’m glad we did it, but the soccer was just a smaller part of the experience that what I expected.
Songs that stuck in my head on this trip:
- All is klar herr kommissar, by Falco
- Autobahn song by Kraftwork
- I’m a Danish, I’m a Danish, oh oh oh, I’m a Danish by Weird Al Yankovich
- Pave paradise, put up a parking lot by Joni Mitchell
One of the things I said to B often in this trip was, “I commend you.”.
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