$wiss $horts

Flikkema Family Creed #14: "If we go on a vacation, we go all out." That means we go to the top of each building / mountain / structure, ride every available form of transportation, and hire private tours. Gourmet dining is - sadly but understandably - excluded from this creed due to the existence of small children. This creed makes for more memorable vacations with fewer regrets. Until your credit card bill shows up, anyway.

$witzerland is painfully expensive. We've been there twice and are thinking next summer looks good for a third trip. Right after we get our (hopefully large) tax refund. Pretend you're in Chicago and you get your food and drink exclusively from the vendors at Wrigley Field. And you're staying at the Hyatt next door. And taking limos to VIP sites all over town.

• Cheapest Meal: approx. $42 lunch of brats, chips, and two shared drinks
• Best Find: hidden 40% off coupon (Kevin's addiction for brochure browsing finally pays off) for the most expensive Gondola ride in the area
• Most Ridiculous Price: $68 for a used, small cow bell (we declined to purchase it)
• Best Deal: for $5 parking we hiked and saw 7 incredible wateralls and 1 cool snake

The best anesthetic to the pain is, of course, Switzerland itself. All the Germans we know go to Austria. It's cheaper, plenty of mountains, and has hotels that cater to families. We may try it out in the Spring. But we love Switzerland. We went before the summer crowds (though we still had to run occasionally to beat out tour busloads) and after the bad weather.

• The Good: Mountain tunnels, waterfalls, the apartment, pool slide, watching paragliders, hiking, riding gondolas, summer toboggan runs, train rides and happy kids.
• The Bad: Steep inclines with the stroller (oops wrong turn), losing a hat, losing a pillow, losing a sweatshirt, losing a gondola ticket (sigh), bugs, clouded-in mountain peak.
• The Ugly: I had to wear my glasses the whole time and the sun was painfully bright. Eli's knees and hands after 4 days of hiking (tripping).

Our children were much happier here than they were in Prague. Coincidentally, we liked them better too. It's the one place we're willing to go back to. Though i'm sure repeat visits is against at least one of our family creeds....

Ahoiy! Bring on the Coleslaw.

You know what's great about Prague? We had to learn to share. Painful, yes, but we all did a little of what the others wanted and in the end it was a good lesson. I think. Kevin got his viewpoints (that means steps, folks, lots of 'em). Eli got his streetcars, subway trains, and taxis. Mary got her treats. And I got coleslaw. Cabbage, white cabbage, is a staple of the Czech diet and coleslaw comes with every meal. As my family is not as sophisticated as I am, I got 4 helpings.

Here is a slightly generalized breakdown of our activities, below. For more details, see captions of our pics to your right (that way --->).

The black light show was entertaining (Image Theatre) and the kids were rapt. Thankfully, as they were the only children in the large audience. And it seemed like in all of Prague. They are now able to stay up late a night or two, which is very nice, but still not fancy-restaurant-ready. We discovered two more great reasons to travel with your kids. You SAVE MONEY by eating at KFC / McD's instead of gourmet and going to only one show instead of staying out late every night at a club or theatre. Also, and this is important, you arrive VERY EARLY at all the popular sites (while other tourists are sleeping off hangovers) and never need to wait in a line. Plus no one wants to be mean to cute little kids so you get the best viewing spots and seats on the fullest of trams.

More learning for mom and dad. Eli and Mary are, strangely, not as interested in old buildings as we are. And this trip they let us know that. It's getting harder... looking for strange statues that might catch their interest, finding fountains that have fish in them, seeking out a snack shop or toy store for bribes. But they're still tough kids and decent travelers. And so we continue to torture them. We console ourselves with the thought that "one day they'll thank us for this" and trade off city tours with funner, kid-friendlier vacations. Next week: Switzerland. The bikes will be coming along (Mary now has a tricycle) and there are zero old buildings on the schedule.

Nose Drops: Cure for the Common Child

Modern medicine in Germany has a different twist to it, and it takes some getting used to. Every childhood ailment can, apparently be aided, improved, or cured with saline nose drops. You still need a prescription because there is .001% of something or another in it but they are just nose drops. Let's take a look at the diagnosis.

Cold? (Okay this one I can understand)
Nosedrops.

Ear Infection?
Nosedrops. Antibiotic.

Strep Throat?
Nosedrops. Antibiotic.

Pink Eye? Eye ailment of any kind?
Nosedrops. Eyedrops.

Allergies? Fluid buildup? Cough? Stomach flu?
Nosedrops!

I have not, as yet, needed to bring in a child for a bump to the head or gash in the knee. But i've got four bottles of nosedrops in the cabinet and can treat them myself! When the expat wives get together and trade stories of kids' ailments, this always comes up. At least there is something about childhood illnesses we can laugh about.

Chimney Sweeps & Wish-I-Could-Bleeps

Go waaaay back and think Mary Poppins... remember the chimney sweeps? That image came rushing back to me on Friday when an honest-to-goodness chimney sweep showed up at my door. He looked exactly like this (including the hat, I kid you not):

Now I hire a chimney sweep service in Iowa and it was a couple colleged kids in t-shirts and jeans. Not the ultra-humble, exceedingly polite and deferential version I found on my doorstep. They didn't speak German either, come to think of it.... He said he'd be back next year. I may ask to take his picture.

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"The payer will pare the pair of pears." You can imagine how this will trip up a new English speaker. Aha! German has some similar challenges. Knowledge is double-edged sword which means I try to say a lot more - as I know more - and I inevitably embarrass myself. Sigh.

For example. I learned this week that every single time we were out walking with the kids and ran across a dog owner out with their pet I asked, for the benefit of my interested children "May she paint your dog?" When my teacher was able to speak again after wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, she explained that the word for "to paint" (streichen) is close to the word for "to pet" (streicheln). Only German ears /tounges get the difference as that one measly 'l' in the petting word is basically silent. Grrr.

And to top it all off I was bragging to a German friend at church, in German, how I was "so proud of myself for SHAVING the grass this week." He stared at me blankly a bit and then burst out laughing. By this time I had caught the mistake and found the correct word - very close but no cigar - and was trying to stop him from telling everyone in the vicinity what I had said. Gah! What's that saying about 'pride cometh before a fall....?' I can tell you with absolute certainty that this is true in regards to speaking a new language. But you will amuse your new friends.

When in Holland....

...do as they do and eat as they eat. We found some chocolate sprinkles, strop waffles, liverwurst, black licorice and other nastalgic treats. No Wilhemina peppermints though, doggonit.

We....

... stopped to smell the tulips.

... tried on some wooden shoes.

... played in the water. Er, the kids did. Kev and I stayed dry and warm.

... introduced our children to traditional dutch treats (sprinkles! strop-waffles!).

... rode bikes! Well, Eli did anyway.

... tried out the dutch hairdo. I saw this on several women and decided to try it myself.

... walked / biked the canals in towns and country.

... gawked at windmills.

It was a great weekend (but a loooooong drive). On a side note, Mary has finally learned to steer her little car AND is now sleeping in a toddler bed from a friend. She loves it and is doing great. Only diapers are holding her to her babyhood, now, and I don't know when we'll take that on! Travelling makes potty-training tough and although she seems to understand, she's not very interested. My deadline is January when she starts in the Kindergarden.