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Germany and Denmark’s North Sea Coast (with a Two-Year-Old)
Long-time readers know we typically go to the USA every other summer. That means that this year we were invested in staying in Europe and traveling somewhere with our two-year-old, but unlike past years, deciding on the place wasn’t an easy task. We were thisclose to pushing “purchase” on plane tickets to France (specifically Normandy) but at the last minute we decided not to do it. Although this is a place we’d really like to visit, going there means having to see all the sights, which in turn means very busy days and lots of driving. It sadly did not sound relaxing with a toddler… not to mention the Olympics…
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Week 31 & 32 of 2024 (Year in Review) – On Holiday in Germany with a Two Year Old
August is nearly finished and we’ve recently returned from a two-week trip to Germany and Denmark: through Berlin for a few nights, up to the North Sea coast (North Frisia) at the German-Denmark border for over a week, and then a couple cushion days in Brandenburg to break up the long way back from our overland (train) journey. Although some friends are calling this trip “ambitious” or “courageous” because of traveling mainly without a car with our toddler and dog, we ended up choosing this destination in the end because I’ve been wanting to go to the German coast for ages. not to mention my love of Germany and getting…
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Our Germany Travel Wish Lists
The Corona Age is heralding in a new phase of travel — domestic and local. No longer are we dreaming of going abroad this summer (okay, maybe just a little as there are rumors of the borders to Austria and Slovakia opening by July in some capacity – eyes are peeled) but it seems much safer, if you’re planning to do any travel this summer, to make that trip one of a local variety. What a great opportunity to start dreaming of places to go, then? My imagination had already started running wild when I made the 8 Places on my Czech Republic Wish List. But then Heather, a former…
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august, lately: the first week in berlin
phewww. what a month! i didn’t have time to write this past month (save for that one post about traveling with your dog – check it out if you missed it!) because from the beginning of august, i was immersed in a berlin-language study-do all the things whirlwind! i left my inbox almost fully unattended until i couldn’t possibly put things off any longer while we were away for most of august in berlin, i working on my studies and alex starting his next writing project on his pretty portable olivetta lettera (above) he dragged all the way from budejovice in this sweet little kollwitzkiez flat that i termed “the treehouse” because of…
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christmas in the bavarian alps
i hope you had a wonderful christmas and are still enjoying the holiday season! as i mentioned in my last post, we zipped away for five days to enjoy christmas in berchtesgaden, germany which is nestled literally between bavarian alps on every side and has a lovely and historical downtown. i’ve wanted to visit this town for years… really only a couple train rides from our little budejovice. berchtesgaden is only about fifteen kilometers from salzburg (really, just over the austrian border). you can take a regional bus from salzburg to get to berchtesgaden in fifty minutes, which is what we decided to do on the way there – it was…
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of czechs & germans (a short history)
lovers of european history, i’m calling on you today! the town i live in may be called czechimpossibletosay české budějovice, but it used to just be known as budějovice or budweis for decades, especially in the 19th century when czechs and germans lived side-by-side and it didn’t really matter who was a czech and who was a german. people here at that time just considered themselves “budweisers”.* although rifts were there at the end of the 19th century, it wasn’t until after the first world war which brought about the end of the austrian-hungarian empire and the creation of the czechoslovak state that the division started rapidly deepening, although from the…
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ten years later, in bamberg
for the occasion of my mother in law’s visit, a little bit of travel was in order. not only was it her first time in the czech republic, but her first time in europe, so she was really eager to travel west to neighboring germany (a country of her ancestry) to set foot in the vaterland. even though we are really close to austria here, nope! germany it must be. but if you know me, you know that i had no problem with that. i also knew that she isn’t a big fan of major metropolises, and because bavaria is the closest region of germany to us, a specific city…
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berlin christmas market rundown!
hey. so i know it’s january, folks are knee-deep in resolutions, self-betterment, and photos to prove you went running. but i have some serious intel about the christmas markets in berlin, seeing as i’d been doing this “research” the week of christmas, that needs to be released on the wild internet or the thought will either wither away in my mind or this post will rot in my drafts folder forever. and technically, the twelve days of christmas are still on ‘til the 6th, yo. so pin it, bookmark it, do whatever it is you gotta do if you want to know the low-down on which berlin christmas markets to visit!…
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st. nicholas day & hangin’ in nuremberg
from what i can recall from my travels around germany in 2007, nuremberg (nürnberg) had the king of christmas markets; topping many a list. not only is the setting gorgeous and the stalls seemingly unending, but they are famous for both their glühwein and their lebkuchen (gingerbread). i knew alex had to see this! i mean, germany is soooo close… and yet, so far. although it would take about one hour by car (or less) if one drove directly west of budějovice to get to eastern bavaria, the public transport connections usually straight up suck. even after twenty five years since the fall of the iron curtain, the infrastructure and…
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the american old west… in germany
a week ago, i popped into germany for a day to visit a nice little town called pullman city. the name doesn’t exactly sound very german because it’s actually an american westernstadt theme park, located in south-east bavaria just north of passau. the theme of an old-western american city from the 18th and 19th centuries is very strictly kept to. needless to say, i was really looking forward to this trip. i have been to the bavarian-themed village leavenworth in washington state many times, but this was actually the very opposite: an old american village in bavaria! (mind explosion) and a very popular one at that. if you’ve spent any time in…
