Amsterdam - part 1

We just came back from a terrific trip to Amsterdam. We picked Amsterdam because we wanted to see Merel and Dennis and their new baby Thomas before moving home and because we could get their without flying, which is just a pain in the butt and very expensive with 2 kids, even within Europe. Don't let those RyanAir ads fool you -- flying from Sweden to anywhere is pricey! Plus, we thought it would be cool to take the overnight ferry (with our car) from Gothenburg to Kiel, and drive through Germany to the Netherlands.

So on Friday we picked the kids up from school and headed over to the Stena Line Germany port to get on the ferry. I have never been on a ship bigger than the ferry to Alcatraz, so I thought it was pretty cool to see our little cabin (little being the operative word) and explore the boat, which was packed with 600 cars and 1700 people. As far as I can tell people basically eat and drink the whole time, which is OK for an overnight trip, but sheesh, sort of gross. The kids loved the Curious George play area that had Curious George (Nicke Nyfiken in Swedish) cartoons playing 24/7. Amazing how even cartoons in foreign languages are like kiddie-crack. They were less excited by the waiting around that is sometimes required when getting off the ferry after a night at sea: The next morning we drove off the ferry at Kiel and made our way to Amsterdam. It took forever because of traffic jams and a barf incident (thanks for the memories, Julian!), and we got into town after about 9 hours on the road.

Happily, our rental apartment that we found on VRBO was situated perfectly on the Prinsengracht, bordering the Jordaan neighborhood, and was actually big enough for 3 adults and 2 kids (my Mom would be joining us shortly). You just never know from the pictures how big it actually is (our place in Barcelona would NOT have worked for 5 people though it said it would have). I have learned my lesson to always ask for square footage from now on. Anyway, it's hard to see from the 2nd picture below, but the house was on 4 mini levels, with 1 room on each level i.e. lots of stairs for the kids to throw things down and teeter on making me really nervous and yelling "safe side! safe side!" way too many times. Merel and Dennis came over our first night and we met Thomas and ate pizza and it was a perfect welcome evening. Slightly surreal to see them in Amsterdam (OK, they're Dutch, I know, but they just went together with Gothenburg in my mind, and that takes some adjusting).

Anyhoo, my Mom flew in the next morning and Adrian picked her up at the airport and she was a trooper and stayed up all day battling jet lag. Good Grandma! We went for a canal boat trip and I think the kids MIGHT have looked out the window once. Julian mostly played with "Spot" the horse and "Lasso Man" and Ava mostly talked.
We also had drinks and poffertjes (little fat pancakes with butter and powdered sugar) at this adorable cafe called 't Smalle a couple blocks from our apartment that I loved, especially because you have to climb up some ladder-like stairs to get upstairs where it's super cozy. Amsterdam IS super cozy in general if you ask me:My shot of the outside doesn't do it justice:

Barcelona with kids

We just came back from a week in Barcelona with, you guessed it, the kids. Ever since I saw photographs of Gaudi's buildings (like the Sagrada Familija, Parc Guell and the Casa Batllo above), Barcelona has been on my list of must-sees, which is sort of a good thing and sort of a bad thing if you are traveling with small children. As many of you know all too well, kids (especially 2-year-old boys) don't exactly like to wait in line or look at buildings, which is a problem if Mom has come to the city to do exactly that. I should have re-read my post about visiting Rome last year before we left and reminded myself that the key to successful big-city traveling with kids is to lower your expectations. You will not, I repeat, will not, get to take your Lonely Planet and make check marks next to every museum and architectural gem. You will, however, begin to see bus rides as a highlight of the day (especially in Barcelona with their terrific bus system) ...
... eat way too many sweet things to appease the feet of tired children (this shot is from La Pallaresa and those mugs are filled with melted chocolate below all that whip cream and you are encouraged to dip the deep-fried churros in said chocolate. My kind of place) ...
...and do many kid-centered things that you would other wise never have dreamed of doing. Like rent those goofy-looking family bikes and pedaling along the beachfront on a gorgeous New Year's Day (note that shortly after this picture was taken Julian fell in the cold ocean and cried the rest of the morning about having "owie sand" in his pants because I forgot to bring him a change of clothes):
You might also go to the zoo and see the dolphin show, which turns out to be fantastic, ...
... watch the kids run like caged animals finally released from their captors around pedestrian placas, ...... spend way too much time at playgrounds wondering if you really spent all that money to push swings 1000 miles from home, and do drive-by viewings of the buildings and monuments you wanted to see as your kids yell "Mama, that dog is peeing!!" and talk about dogs and pee for the rest of the afternoon.

And those are all wonderful and valid ways of experiencing a city, even if they are the antithesis of how you used to approach traveling. Plus, when you travel with your kids and your husband you get to spend your days with the most loving, interesting, funny and sweet people in the world. And having traveling companions like that is pretty darned great, whether you see the Miro museum or not.

Copenhagen

For my birthday we went to Copenhagen for the weekend. I'm still amazed that we could just hop in the car and drive to another major European city in 3 hours on a Friday evening. I'm even more amazed that it's taken us a year and a half to actually do it.

To get to Denmark from Gothenburg you can either drive down to Malmö (Sweden's 3rd largest city after Stockholm and Gothenburg in case you were wondering) and cross the very long and very expensive bridge ($70 toll -- and you thought the Golden Gate Bridge was expensive!) or you can take the ferry from Helsingborg and poodle down to Copenhagen from there. We took the bridge on the way over and the ferry back, thus ensuring that we paid large tolls in both directions.

Similar to when we were in Rome, our strategy was to aim low and just get a feel for the city and not try to see everything. Luckily for us, Copenhagen is charming and compact, so that you can walk around most of it in a day or two. The canal tour was a hit with Julian:
He especially liked standing right by the side of the boat and jumping up and down on his seat so that we thought he was going to fall into the (apparently very clean) canals. Happily, we all survived AND got to see some of the amazing modern architecture that city can boast about. The new opera house (behind Julian in the picture above) is terrific, as is the new modern theater building across the water and the huge state library (I think that's what it was) that people refer to as the Black Diamond.

Our hotel was a hit with the kids because of the huge indoor pool, the cool outdoor area in front of the hotel that had kid-friendly sculpture and climbing equipment, and the Danish breakfast spread (nope, no Danish pastries to speak of). Here's Ava enjoying a sculpture:

Before we left the U.S. I would have said that the U.S. is pretty kid friendly, but it's got nothin' on the Scandinavians. In the pool in Copenhagen, there are:

• Bumbo seats for babies to use while moms shower
• Playpens in the changing rooms for toddlers
• Free strollers sitting around so you can push your baby from the changing room to the exit
• Multiple changing stations
  
• Ridiculous numbers of floaties and toys in the pool area
• Roped off areas of the pool just for little babies so they don't get splashed
  

Almost makes me want to have another baby. Not! But I do think it's great.

My friend Gen came to Copenhagen on Saturday with her 2 girls, mom and aunt, and we all ate at Wagamama, the fabulous Asian-inspired chain restaurant that I fell in love with years ago in London. I had a new appreciation for it this time because no one seemed to notice/mind the insanity that was occurring at our end of the table with 4 kids running all around and throwing noodles and moms chasing them down one after the other.

Now that we saw how easy it was to visit Copenhagen for the weekend, I think we'll head back pretty soon. Next time we might just aim for a sunny weekend.

California visit round-up

I've started a couple of posts about our trip to CA and haven't (obviously) posted anything because I'm having trouble summing up the trip in a few cute paragraphs. The trip was about catching up with friends, having the kids hang out with grandma and grandpa, visiting favorite places, eating the foods we've been missing, and also deciding where we want to live, how we want to live and what our priorities as a family are. You see the slight dilemma in what to post. A few nice shots of friends?Or maybe grandparents bonding with the kids in Calistoga?Or maybe shots of the gorgeous weather we had in Seattle and Sonoma?
Those would definitely be more cheerful than pictures of our house in SF with a big "for rent" sign posted out front; Adrian and I reading the details of the Owner Move In and Ellis Act laws concerning tenants in SF (did you know a family of 4 in SF are entitled to $18k+ in relocation expenses if they rent your house for a year or more? Thanks Supervisor Daly, and enjoy your home in Fairfield. Snark snark); and endlessly debating the merits of SF vs. Seattle with young children.

So we had a wonderful time -- I remembered all the reasons I love (friends! food! granny camp!) and am maddened by CA (traffic! shit schools!) -- that was laced with the financial anxiety about the house and the "what's next?" anxiety about moving back to the U.S. next summer. Despite the joys of having friends and family nearby, neither Adrian nor I really wants to step back into a 2-income, 2-kid urban SF lifestyle and all that entails. We'd both prefer a lower key lifestyle (Seattle anyone?), but after much soul searching (and meeting with our financial adviser - hi Adam), it does make the most sense for us to stay in SF for the time being. So Lord help me tame the spider web that is applying to SF public schools from abroad. I think I definitely need to reread that Power of Now book. Not the one about software development, the other one about breathing and staying in the moment and pain bodies, whatever they are.

France - The Food

We spent a lot of time cooking, eating or shopping for food during our trip. This was partly because Emma, Amanda and I all like to cook (certainly we are gourmandes rather than gourmets) and partly because going out to eat with 5 children is just plain masochistic. So we spent lots of time around the big island in the kitchen (which you can see above with a morning's haul from the market in Carcassonne), chopping, chatting and handing out snacks to the kids who ran in and out constantly.

We stuck to French food (no surprise) and managed to hammer out boeuf bourguignon, duck confit, lentil stew with sausages, moules marineres over linguine, and couscous with merguez sausages and vegetables over the course of the week. I didn't get pictures of everything, but here are a few of the meals:
We also started every morning with a trip to the bakery for baguette, pain au chocolat, and croissant, accompanied by copious amounts of nutella, strawberry jam and strong coffee. Here's a shot from the market of the pastry booth, otherwise known as where I want to go after I die:
And since the Languedoc is cassoulet country, here's a shot of the very tasty cassoulet I had in Lagrasse. I have to say I couldn't quite bring myself to eat the duck skin or the big wedge of pork fat, but did enjoy the sausages, tender duck and cannellini beans soaked in the juices of the different meats and topped with crunchy bits of something quite a bit.

And that's the last of my report from France. Long live the Languedoc!

France - Part 1

We just got back from France and all I can say is long live duck fat and kir royales! We flew to Toulouse and spent an uneventful night there before heading down to Carcassonne, where we planned to stay in a rambling, gorgeous maison with the Smiths and the Bousheys (total=6 adults +5 kids) for a week. The trip from Toulouse to Carcassonne was more eventful than planned because the train, normally a quick, straight, 50-minute trip, was replaced by a meandering, curving bus ride, which took 2.5 hours and caused both children to vomit all over themselves, the seats, Adrian and me. So we arrived at the gorgeous Maison Juliette covered in regurgitation of various sorts. Despite the inauspicious beginning and some pretty drizzly weather for the first 4 days, we had a wonderful time.

It took about 3.4 seconds for the kids (Ava, Everett, Miles, Julian and Cate in descending age order), to start going everywhere hand in hand and running like crazy people around the house, building forts, making "yuck soup" in the garden, and playing Sleeping Beauty (Ava=princess). They were pretty much in heaven with playmates, hot chocolate and chocolate croissants around all the time. Plus they got to watch a movie every night. Ava wants to move to France.It was a treat for me to get to spend so much time with the other families after not seeing them for 14 months. We spent a lot of our time cooking, hanging in the gorgeous kitchen drinking wine, walking to the medieval Cite or shopping district, and chasing the kids. Here's us at dinner in the more formal dining room (L to R: Emma S., Amanda B., Geoff B., Alex S., Adrian and Julian): And here's us doing what we are all so good at now: schlepping children on shoulders, backs, hips or in strollers around town, in good weather or bad: And here's me and Emma in the backyard, probably drinking a kir royale while the dads chased the kids through the bushes:

Rome

We must be getting used to being parents because when we planned this trip to Rome our goals were to a) get there and back without having a nervous breakdown b) drink coffee in a beautiful piazza c) eat some pizza and d) if possible, see a few sights. Not particularly lofty, but then that is perhaps the secret of traveling with kids and everybody having a good time. We ended up seeing, drinking and eating a lot more than we expected, and we kept the kids entertained by riding public transportation, providing lots of gelato at opportune moments and taking lots of piazza breaks so they could chase pigeons, spot cats and run around.

Our two best practical tips were to rent an apartment where the kids had their own bedroom and to walk around everywhere with the stroller and the Ergo baby carrier so that we could lift both kids at once if we had to, like if one was sleeping and the other crying because she had to pee. For example. Here's Adrian demonstrating the Ergo on the Spanish Steps:
Our apartment was pretty funky and we were definitely paying for square footage and location over style. It was a mini 2-bedroom self-catering flat right around the corner from the Vatican above the Ottaviano metro stop and was remarkably quiet. Here are Adrian and the kids having a snack (note the death trap chairs - we had many incidents with those things): We loved the grandeur of everything in Rome after being in Sweden, which is generally sedate in its architecture and attitudes. St. Peter's square and the Basilica were astounding. You can't see it in this picture, but there was a huge nativity scene in the square (1 of about 1,237 in Rome during Christmas) that Ava thought was really cool (see below). Both kids also loved the Explora kids museum that has a mini supermarket, kitchen, post office, bank, and recycling center. At $30 for 2 adults and 1 paying kid it's about as pricey as everything else in Rome (except those ridiculously perfect capuccinos), but it was worth it. Adrian and I both loved the Trevi Fountain because it is so ... audacious and unexpected. On the night we were there it had this great, happy party atmosphere. Everyone seemed so pleased to be there, just like we were, taking pictures, blowing bubbles and eating ice cream, despite the 40-degree weather. We didn't make it into a single museum with the kids, and the only reason I'm not feeling guilty about it is because I know Adrian and I will have plenty of trips back to Rome where we can spend quiet hours in contemplation of Raphael's sculptures. And I'll bet on those trips we'll miss chasing pigeons with the kids on the Piazza del Popolo and watching Julian toddle down the alleys of Trastevere in his fleece cap yelling "car! car!" or "dog-u! dog-u!" every 2 seconds.

Europe with kids

You just get to a beautiful European city and what's the first thing you do? Go to a museum? Check out a few churches? Walk from one end of the city to another? No! You go to the pony rides of course! Well, at least that's what we did on our first day in Gothenburg. The pony rides in Slottskogen appear to be one of the few deals in town at a mere 20 SEK or $3.20 a pop. NOT a deal were the chicken breasts I bought a few days ago that were $20/pound or the mushrooms that were $5/pound. Mind you, this stuff is not labeled "organic," "super fancy," or "extra special." Lord help us if we decided to buy organic chicken. I'm thinking vegetarianism is sounding good, as long as we don't eat mushrooms. Or asparagus, that was expensive, too.