Week 19 & 20 of 2024 (In Review)

I can’t complain about early May – my spring fatigue and illness were over and it was birthday week! My early May birthday fell on a Wednesday this year but we were still able to make a one night getaway trip to Cesky Krumlov – the obvious choice for a fairytale experience within a thirty-minute drive. The actual day was pretty overcast but still did all the things such as plenty of outdoor time, coffees, playgrounds for the little one, sushi for a celebration dinner — it’s always what I request.

This year I treated myself to a stay at the Zamecka Apartments at the very foot of the castle in Cesky Krumlov. I’d never stayed so centrally before and the views from our massive holiday apartment were incredible for people watching and just gazing romantically. Because of the floorplan, our little one got an entire 60m/sq room to himself while we were in the other bedroom attached to the kitchen and bathroom. Holiday stays and hotels with a young toddler are really something. It always involves the eternal parent question: How can we put him to bed and then not sit in the dark the rest of the night? By this measure, we are always having to make sure to rent apartment style accommodations or at least hotel rooms with a little extra room or nook where we can close a door, or another space for us to spend time in (such as a living room). I am not sure he’ll ever have such a big (apartment-sized) room to himself ever again! Maybe it makes up for the times we put him in a bathroom or hallway 🙂

One thing that completely surprised me and I was not ready for… the possibility that my own child might get car sick! Sure we’ve been used to it with our beloved dog, but on that bus home the last thing I expected was a vomit incident. Fortunately it happened right when we pulled in at the bus station and let’s just say everything worked out in the end but we all reeked. And now we know that barf bags need to be on standby! Chalking yet another point up for train travel for us.

Otherwise it was a brilliant week or so with Eurovision, nice weather, garden celebrations and Mother’s Day all falling on the same week. I think I enjoyed Mother’s Day even more than my own birthday! Warm weather, a morning walk to the Vltava river beach and play park… got to sit in a lounge chair and drink coffee and then! Filled our pram basket with flowers from the garden center and got to spend one whole hour of unimpeded, solitary gardening in the afternoon. Feeling boundless gratitude for everything. I am so grateful to be a mom to our little Mouse who, crazily enough, will be turning two in a couple weeks.

Kids in Krumlov

For those that come for the Czech-related content, I will just add – Krumlov is wonderful to take children! Our favorite playground to hang out in is near the river at Hradebni street and the big city park has so much space to roam and explore, not to mention another great playground. We’ve been coming especially to the Hradebni riverside playground for years (and before having children, with our summer camps!) and it’s been perfect to sip a cappuccino while they run around and enjoy themselves there.

Watching

Besides Eurovision, lately we’ve been watching a lot of comedy. Conan O’Brien came back to the silver screen with his series Conan O’Brien Must Go which we’ve been heartily enjoying, and just last weekend we watched the Connor O’Malley special on YouTube – recommended (pretty much, only) for fans of sketch shows such as I Think You Should Leave. It takes a special kind of humor to appreciate Connor O’Malley so please don’t watch and get mad at me later.

Reading

I’ve been loving getting immersed in Katja Hoyer’s long-awaited non-fiction masterpiece Beyond the Wall. It’s a big one and my time for reading is continually decreased these days but this is the one big all East Germany fans and the DDR-curious have been waiting years for.

I’m loving the timing of reading this as I plan for our Northern Germany trip this year.