Berlin

Ahhhh Berlin. We LOVED Berlin. Thank goodness, because the trip got off to a very rough start. The flight arrived on time, and Tegel is the tiniest airport. You literally exit the plane to the baggage claim. Somewhere in the midst of getting the luggage and the stroller and the zillion extra things we now travel with, we forgot the baby bag. We got all the way to downtown Berlin before we realized that one of our most important pieces of luggage was missing. Fast forward through fruitless frantic pleas (in my sad rarely used German because NO ONE seemed to speak english) with people in the train station and at the airport trying to locate the missing bag... we finally decided to just go back to the airport and try to look for it ourselves. Worlds slowest bus ride later we find ourselves at the airport and finally manage to locate the bag (one super judgy lost and found lady later- "but that was HOURS ago"- clearly Germany is lacking the stellar public transportation Switzerland has, but whatever). Finally, bag in tow, we go back to downtown Berlin to get the key to the apartment we were renting for our stay. Poor Noah was a doll through all of this despite the fact that he had a terrible cold.

Luckily things got better from there. Our apartment was spacious and clean and in the most adorable neighborhood. It was sort of the Park Slope of Berlin, if you will. There were adorable shops, nice tree lined streets, and fantastic restaurants. There was also this great flea market nearby which had a mix of random vintage goods and artists selling their work. It was like a street fair in New York, but always in the same place, with Beer and way better stuff.

Park by the Flea Market 

Impromptu concert

Flea Market entrance

Fresh handmade potato chips... on a stick

See it really is like Brooklyn... there were even German hipsters

A little taste of home :) 

Neighborhood where we were staying

The next day we took a walking tour. The city has so much history, from WWII Nazi era to the Berlin Wall, we wanted to see make sure we got the important stuff. It was a bit of a gamble with Noah, but he ended up being an angel. Our tour guide was excellent and we really got to see a lot over the course of the day. It turns out that something like 92% of the city was destroyed in WWII, so it's hard to find original buildings- we tried! There are also a ton of great museums, but we decided we would really be pushing our luck if we did that. Instead we just spent the rest of our trip walking around and exploring the city.

Berliner Dom

Unter den Linden is a very main and very famous street in Berlin.

Memorial to the suffering of civilians during WWII 

Bebelplatz
It's a bit hard to see, but under this glass is an installation art piece on the site of the Nazi book burning. It is empty bookshelves which could fit the 20,000 books burnt as they tried to eradicate all thoughts and ideas that conflicted with their own (ie. almost everything). Our tour guide called it 'brilliant'- something about the absence of presence and the presence of absence... Matt and I just saw empty bookshelves. 

I honestly cannot remember what building this was... but I guess it was important?

Noah kept taking off his socks despite the fact that it was NOT warm.

Solution: socks so long he COULDN'T pull them off. We are now the proud owners of one pair of 'Berlin' socks. 

Pieces of the Berlin Wall that were repainted as art

There is a brick path to show where the wall stood.

Actual original portion of the wall, still standing

Currywurst is like the national food of Berlin (maybe not officially, but it's EVERYWHERE)

Propaganda art from the Soviet Days

Loved the walk signs

Holocaust Memorial 

This is the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby over the balcony. Sadly the tour guide went through all the reasons this hotel was famous... radio silence, then mentioned the Michael Jackson thing to a resounding "ahhhh" (myself included) 

Brandenburg Tor

Riding public transportation. Not QUITE as good as Switzerland, but not too shabby 

The Reichstag

Hilariously named sushi restaurant

It's been a long time old friend

Noah was OBSESSED with the boys sitting behind us on the airplane on the way home.

Dancin' Man

This one was from the other day...

Double Digits!

10 months old today!

Blueberry Yogurt, How I Love Thee

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

February & March Random Musings

This is quite overdue, but here are some miscellaneous pictures from February and March:

Following in Mommy & Daddys' footsteps 

Boston & Riley skyping. They were barking away at each other!!

 Enjoying some sunshine:

Sick Noah- usually a fever doesn't get him down, this was the first time it did :(

He was quite annoyed that he got himself stuck. I thought it was quite hilarious.

Swimming lessons!

Curious about the basketball... much to Daddy's pleasure

Finding new ways to explore the Exersaucer

Again, angry when stuck.

We put our dog in a bag... would it be wrong to carry our baby in a bag?

Easter Class at Baby Sensory 

Checking out the grass for the first time

Boston wanted to ride too

Where did those bubbles go? At Kindermusik

9 Months Old Today AND First Steps!!

3/4 of a year old! My how time flies. In honor of his 9 month birthday, Noah took 2 steps today- BY HIMSELF!!! These were his first two solo steps ever. They weren't repeated, so there is no physical evidence, but I saw it with my own two eyes. He also now says 'ba' and also sometimes 'va'. Yesterday it actually sounded like he was saying 'va va,' which sounds very close to the Portuguese word for Grandma (what he will call my mom). I know supposedly at this point he just makes sounds and doesn't know what they mean, but today he went toward Boston and said 'Ba!' It was seemed so legit!

I would never have guessed a few years ago that in my future was stay at home mommy-hood. While sometimes I do miss adult interaction and problems that can be solved with logic, on days like today I consider myself to be extremely lucky. I got to see my son take is first steps- how cool is that?! Every day I get to watch a little human develop- and it's pretty darn amazing.

It's been a rough week so far in the Leis household given the awful news out of Boston. It's a city near and dear to our hearts, so there have definitely been some tears over the past few days. Luckily we have this little guy in our lives with his big innocent smile to help bring some cheer back.

Best Friends Forever

They finally entertain each other, and Boston doesn't even mind Noah's high pitched screeching.

Make way for Noah

He is finally finding his walking toy more interesting

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Fennergasse,Zurich,Switzerland

Geneva

We had a free weekend and decided to go to Geneva, since we hadn't yet visited the french speaking part of the country. Unfortunately the weather wasn't terrific, and Noah wasn't feeling so great, but we made the best of it. Geneva is definitely has much more of an urban feel than Zürich (which feels more like a big town to me). We actually saw homeless people, which you start to forget exist, living in Zurich.  I would definitely like to go back, perhaps when the weather is nicer.

It's funny how traveling has changed now that Noah is a bit older. He's going through a phase where he is mobile enough to be annoyed that he has to sit in a stroller all day, but not mobile enough to be able to get out of it just anywhere. This has made it a bit more challenging to spend the day exploring. We also learned that in our post-sleep training world, he DOES NOT sleep in the same room as us. When he wakes up, he sees we are there and wants to be with us. If we pull him into bed, he just crawls all over us. No sleep for mommy and daddy. Any suggestions?!

All ready to go! 

Sitting on the train like a big boy

Jet d'Eau

Flower Clock

8 Months Old Today!!

YIKES!

Channeling Alfalfa

Noah thinks Jimmy Fallon is HILARIOUS

We went to Geneva this past weekend (more on that in a separate post), and in a little down time Matt and I were watching a 'History of Rap' clip from the Jimmy Fallon show (kid approved, of course). Turns out Noah found it hilarious. We have no idea why, but he was cracking up (shrieking, hand slapping, laughter). We had to share.

B-I-N-G-O

So just the other day Noah actually made the clapping motion for the first time. He hasn't quite figured out how to make the clapping sound, but that doesn't seem to bother him.

Today he was watching Baby Crack Genius and B-I-N-G-O came on. I look over and he is "clapping" when they clap. HUH!? Some things these babies do just amaze me. I think they have no idea what's going on... oh they so do!

Spring! (well it's starting to feel like it anyway)

The past couple of days have been progressively warmer here in Zürich. Friday it's supposed to be 60 degrees! To celebrate this warmer weather, and more importantly SUNSHINE (I'm not sure where the sun goes in the winter here, but we don't see much of it), I brought Noah for his first trip to the park. In his current, non-walking state, the only activity for him is really the baby swings, but that was enough.

Then today, after seeing an oh-so-cute picture of Olivia Roth in her bike helmet, I decided it was time to test out where we stand with our springtime activity gear. Noah must have been in a good mood because he let me try it all on him without a tear, and even gave me lots of smiles!

First we had to test out the cool bike helmet that Tia Laurie gave him for Christmas. Now we just have to put the baby bike seat on the back of Matt's bike. Then we progressed to our other spring and summer accessories (courtesy of the Siwickis).

He definitely loves this helmet. He must have sat in front of the mirror checking himself out and laughing for at least 5 minutes. That's like an hour in baby time.

I think he likes this one too...

What you see there is the trail of destruction that follows Noah these days.

I wear my sunglasses at night

In the train station... no wait it's our living room!

We have been wanting to get an "official" SBB clock for some time now. Matt finally bit the bullet and bought one. This clock was made famous recently because Apple copied the design (without credit) for the iphone clock. Anyway, what better item to commemorate our time in Switzerland than a clock!?

Skiing

It is with both great happiness and regret that I tell you we went skiing this past weekend. It is with regret because I can't believe it took us until March to go, but great happiness because it was AMAZING. 50's, sunny, great snow, BEAUTIFUL. We went to one of my favorite mountains (that I have seen so far, because goodness knows there are a million), mainly because there are not a lot of mountains nearby that have childcare for babies.
Going skiing this year was quite a bit different than last year, when Matt and I would just hop on a train. It now involves a rental car, packing the night before to make sure Noah has all the potential supplies he might need, and a twice as much gear.
I am terribly bummed that Noah will not even be 2 for our last winter here. I would really like to get him started at ski school, but the earliest they do even here is 2.5 years. Oh well.

Matt has not only accepted the importance of a helmet, he now likes it. Thanks Laurie!!