A Nice Place to Visit

This is hard for me to write, because I have mixed feelings. Going home can be very emotional, and this was my first trip back to Chicago in five years. I have to admit, the trip turned out better than I initially anticipated, but it was in many ways stressful.

Adding to the stress was my mother's death in July. Because I hadn't spoken to her often in the last 10 years, I was at first numb. I didn't feel sadness or guilt the way I did when my father died. I felt nothing. But then I had to go to her condo in Chicago and everything changed. Suddenly, I was feeling pain, anger and grief. I went to her place four times during the 17 days we were in Chicago, and each time my feelings deepened.




I was also worried about what my aunts and cousins would say to Larissa, who drove to Chicago from Bozeman with her dog Wolfy, and me. I didn't know how they felt about our estranged relationship with our mother. It turned out that they were very understanding and supportive. At the family reunion that my cousin Christy hosted, everyone was so nice. I was a little timid at first, but it was so nice seeing everyone. This sounds cliche, but I felt so comfortable talking to my family as if we talked everyday. It felt as if we were still as close as we were when we were young and running around Wisconsin Dells. I'm glad my cousin and her husband decided to throw this party.


Bob's sister also threw a party, so we had two family reunions, and we visited many of our friends, but we weren't able to see everyone, not in 17 days. We did manage to find some time to do touristy things,


like Great America (Batman--best roller coaster I've ever ridden),


Michigan to see the boys' cousins,


Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, Buckingham Fountain,


the Field Museum,


and the Sears (now Willis) Tower with their new Skydecks--glass-enclosed viewing platforms, including transparent floors. Looking through the glass floors made me so nervous that I developed a tension headache. The boys were very cautious about walking out onto the decks too, even Philip who at 2-years-old jumped onto the glass floor at the CN Tower in Toronto.

We enjoyed our trip to Chicago, and I hope to return sooner than five years, especially since the boys really miss their grandparents, but I can't say that I miss living there. We spent a lot of time in the car, not only because of the distances between city and suburbs but because of traffic too. Although it was a fun trip, I was so happy to come home to Erlangen.

My 50th Birthday

Last week, I celebrated turning 50 in Munich. Originally, I wanted to celebrate in Paris, but Paris is 8 hours away by car and too far for me. Then I thought Strasbourg. No, still too far (3 hours). But Munich is less than 2 hours away! (Is avoiding long distance travel a sign of old age?)

We spent two nights at the Holiday Inn-Schwabing. When we first lived in Erlangen, we used to stay there often, and Alex, who was only two the last time we stayed there, still remembered a few things about the hotel. So Holiday Inns may not be as charming as most German hotels, but this one is convenient, has a pool, kids eat free, and dogs are welcome. Perfect!



Our first night, we met our friends S. (from Ukraine via London) and J. (from France via London) at the Hirschgarten Biergarten. It's near their apartment and the boys wanted to skate the Hirschgarten Pool. After skating and drinking beer, we had dinner at Cafe Neuhauser in Munich's Neuhausen neighborhood, hence the appropriate name. The food's Italian and excellent. Alex, our pizza connoiseur, loved his cheese pizza.


On Tuesday, my birthday, we visited the Deutsches Museum, a lot like Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry but without the long lines (I've never been to the mining exhibit in Chicago because of long waits, and in Munich, I've seen the exhibit twice) and cheaper. The rest of the day was spent just walking around Munich. We had lunch at the Viktualienmarkt (top photo), an open-air market in the city center, and later dinner in Schwabing, the neighborhood that's home to our hotel. Schwabing reminded me of some of Chicago's neighborhoods, such as Lakeview, Uptown, Wicker Park. For example, the restaurant, Drugstore, where we had dinner, had a small theater upstairs.

Back in our hotel room, at 11 PM, the time I was born, Bob and the boys sang "Happy Birthday" to me. What could be better on one's 50th?

Potsdam and Berlin

During the Osterferien (Easter break), Bob had to work in Potsdam, and we all went with him. I don't think we would have visited Potsdam if it hadn't been for Bob. After all, Potsdam is about 30 kilometers from Berlin, so why stay in Potsdam when you can stay in Berlin. Wrong attitude.



Our hotel was near the entrance to Park Sanssouci, which means "carefree" in French, a huge park with a collection of rococo palaces built by the Prussian king, Frederick the Great. Since the park was literally our backyard for four days, I took Oscar for walks through the park twice a day, everyday. We didn't visit the interiors of any of the palaces (the boys become belligerent at the mention of a tour), but we climbed the stairs and explored the grounds around Schloss Sanssouci. From the terrace is a view of what look like Roman ruins, but they were actually built by King Frederick. They make for a nice view, and if one can afford to have his own "ruins"...


Since Potsdam is the capital of Brandenburg, they have their own Brandenburg Gate. Not as big as it's well-known cousin, but impressive in its own way.



The boys don't go anywhere without their skateboards these days, so I had to find them a skate park. Luckily, there is one in the Volkspark Potsdam (People's Park of Potsdam). It has a half-pipe and lots of ramps. The boys learned how to do drop-ins. They loved it. We had to pay to use the park--not much, €1.50 for me and €0.50 for each kid--but there's a conservatory, gardens and playgrounds. There's even a memorial to the former GDR, better known as East Germany.


Of course, we drove into Berlin one day. We visited the Natural History Museum of Berlin, which has the world's largest mounted Brachiosaurus skeleton.


We ate currywurst at Konnopke's (with an apostrophe--usually in German they just add the "s" without the apostrophe), which supposedly is where currywurst was invented. I don't know if this is true, but it was the best we've ever eaten.


We stopped at the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Street. There are several of these memorials throughout the city. This one was not far from the currywurst stand.



Naturally, we had to visit the Reichstag and the Brandenburg gate. And before we returned to Potsdam, we stopped in Kreuzburg for Mexican food. I read an article in the New York Times about Mexican restaurants in Berlin run by Mexicans. We picked one, Santa Maria, and it had the most authentic Mexican we have eaten in Europe. It was so good, we ordered food twice.

We've already decided that the next time we visit Berlin, we'll stay in Potsdam and drive, or take the S-Bahn, into Berlin.

Skiing in Allgäu

This year's ski trip was in Allgäu, Germany, instead of Obertauern, Austria, because we decided to ski over the Fasching Ferien (carnival holidays) instead of the Easter break, when we usually go. Late April is just too late to go skiing, in my opinion, although I'm sure there's still snow in Obertauern. Unfortunately, everything was booked in Obertauern during the Fasching break, which is the traditional time for most Germans to go skiing (some people refer to it as the Ski Ferien), so we decided to go local.


In Allgäu, we stayed in an apartment in Pfronten and skied nearby Breitenberg. Our first day turned out to be a little frightening, because of a thick cloud that settled on the mountain. At first, it wasn't too bad. We could still see the lift through the fog, and so we skied on the trails alongside it. But later in the afternoon, we lost sight of the lift. We could hear it but couldn't see it. That's when I decided to quit. Bob, on the other hand, wanted to continue, but since majority rules and the boys agreed with me, we went swimming instead.


We went to the Kristall Thermal Baths in Schwangau, home of King Ludwig II's famous castle, Neuschwanstein. It's actually in the photo behind the boys, but it blends right into the mountains.


We also crossed the border into Austria and skied Berwang. The boys liked it better because of all the jumps that were set up along the runs. Therefore, we ended up skiing Austria the rest of the trip.


Of course, we had to spend one day touring the area. We made a stop in Schwangau to get a better look at Neuschwanstein.


And near Steingaden to see the rococo Wieskirche, built on the site where a farmer saw his wooden statue of Jesus crying.


We also stopped in Oberammergau, a very touristy town in Bavaria famous for the Passion Play they put on every 10 years. Despite its commercialism, its a charming town with the facades of simple buildings painted to make them look baroque (Lüftlmalerei).

What will it be next year--Obertauern or Allgäu?

I'm Teaching Again

Right after the Christmas break, I started teaching again. I'm working as a free-lance instructor for the Friedrich Alexander University here in Erlangen. My friend, who teaches in the English department, heard that the Sprachenzentrum (Language Center) was looking for someone to teach English classes in the biology department. Since I'm a biologist, she recommended me.

Thus far, I've taught scientific writing to master's degree students in a four-week genetics module. I basically gave a few lectures on writing research papers and then edited the students' papers with them. I was impressed at how serious these students were. They really wanted to improve their writing and they wanted to understand the grammar rules. In Chicago, my students used to ask why papers in biology had to be grammatically correct. "But this is not an English class," was their usual response. My German students actually intimidated me with all their questions, because sometimes I didn't know how to explain the grammar rules.

Tomorrow, I begin my next course--oral presentations in English--in the immunology department. This group is PhD students, so they may be even more intimidating. I hope not.