After more international trips than I can count, I can definitely say was this was the most challenging of all. Navigating German school laws, COVID, expired passports, and more than I can’t even get into. But was Sydney’s big day, so needed to pull out all the stops.
We all started together on the first leg to Frankfurt, after which Chika peeled off to take care of some business meetings. Kai, Teo, and I arrived successfully into Philadelphia, with the first of many, many, many great meals. The next day we went to go meet the extended crew for some outdoor activities — the weather was great.
To augment all the fun with some education, I took the boys down to Philadelphia to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell (and of course some Dim Sum) where we got to catch up with Allan Kyle (wish we had more time to spend together).
Thursday Chika arrived (just in time for some amazing steaks). Friday we needed to get our PCR tests and then the kickoff for big event with Friday night services and a dinner where we got to catch up with Goldman’s.
The next day the big show was on. Sydney was a magnificent Batmitzvah and William did amazing job in operations. I will not comment on my own performance, but was happy that camera’s were not allowed.
As amazing as the day was, the evening was beyond expectations. A rockstart party from every dimension. Venue, decorations, food, drinks, music, entertainment and more. Everyone just had an amazing time.
So we had a final meal with the family for Sunday brunch, and then headed back to prepare for our trip to the Dominican Republic (and for me and Chika to escape for a quick sushi meal in Yardely — quite good surprise!)
At 6am, our transport was there to take us to the airport. Amazingly, we managed to fill 4 bags to the max and barely made it onto the plane… But after all the hurdles and challenges we had finally made it. It was pure bliss just waling around in December with t-shirt and shorts. But, at our destination there was plenty more — in fact too much. They abilty to eat and drink non-stop (room service, mini-bar, pool bar, multiple restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc.) was overwhelming. Even when we ventured into Santo Domingo, the food was too delicious and overproportioned. Luckily, we did some small hiking into caves to burn a few of those calories.
In the end, the best was having such a special time for the boys to spend quality time Grandmom and Pop Pop. That was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
We were still navigating holidays in COVID circumstances and had originally planned to keep it small with a landing day in Munich followed by some Austrian explanations. Then came the text from Chika — a Google Map url somewhere towards the North Western areas of Germany. I was in Munich, Chika and they boys were in Berlin, so we decided to meet in Frankfurt. Off we went to Hiedelburg, home of the oldest University in Germany (1386) and the Hiedelburg Castle. We visited both (hiking up to the Castle and then lunching a the student canteen after our original mountain top terrace was closed until evening). We spent the evening in Rüdesheim am Rhein, famous for Riesling wines which we enjoyed along with a lovely whole duck stuffed with figs and dates (not to mention their famous flaming coffee). The next morning, we strolled through the old town and took a gondola ride to rise above the morning fog.
Afterwards we drove up the Rhine river to spot the many castles along the way, with a short stop off for bobsled riding before reaching Koblenz (which has an amazingly large number of ice cream spots for such a small old town, and the one which we tried — eGeLoSIa Laden — was extremely good). We rode the gondola up to the fort for a beautiful view of the city, but then needed to move on to catch our dinner reservations (and shopping) in Dusseldorf.
The next morning we needed to head back to Berlin, but decided the day should bring something to the table and settled on stopping for lunch in Hannover. While expectations were somewhat low for this commercial/EXPO town, we did discover a very nice area around the opera (who knew) and had a 5 star meal at MARY´s Restaurant where our children managed to survive for almost 2 hours.
Was too short and too lovely a trip, so will need to head back again in the near future.
It was the last date for tickets to go on sale for the final weeks of the exhibition, and even with troublesome website that kept crashing for 30 minutes Chika kept on and managed to get us tickets for this Sunday.
It was an amazing show even for the kids (Chika had a great idea to show the boys a video background about Kusama so they understood more about the unique background of the artist.) The interactive nature of her art and the intensity of the visuals is unparalleld. Definitely the best exhibition since moving to Germany and easily a top 5 in my lifetime.
With COVID seeming to be under control, we tried to return to the normal routine of Chika and the boys travelling to Japan during the summer school break. But a few weeks beforehand there was a sudden change in the regulations: quarantine requirements jumped from 3 days to 14 days, a deal breaker for a one month trip.
So we launched an emergency holiday plan. I had always wanted to go back to Puglia after visiting there for my friend’s 30th birthday. Another contact at work had enticed us with this video and then we were sold. The next challenge that confronted us was that our destination was 1400km from Munich — how will Kai and Teo survive an endless car journey? And while there were many places we wanted to visit, packing up every day and getting back into a car wasn’t the family holiday we wanted. With this in mind, we sketched out a rough plan. First, we would stop for 2 nights in Bologna. Then after staying at with our friend Vincenzo in his hometown of Cerignola for the night (at least no check-in/check-out required) we would have a full interupted week by the beach before an intense 2 day return drive (which was originally planned for 3 days, but the weather was too good to leave).
The first day was a leisurely day. We had booked an airbnb in the center of the old city and already had the access codes to enter. We organized a rapid covid test in the morning as we were told we needed it to enter Italy. (In fact, there wasn’t any border control on the way or the way back!!!). Without much fuss, we drove straight through to Bologna. After settling into our Airbnb — a very nice loft apartment in a lovely buiilding perfectly located in the old town — we had a lovely 1st meal of fresh seafood at Pescheria San Gervasio in the area around the market hall. Fanatstic! Kai and I stayed out to watch the EUFA quarterfinals between England and Denmark.
The next day Chika had some work calls, so the boys and I went exploring and had a nice breakfast. We picked up Chika and decided to give the boys a ramen lunch as there wasn’t going to be much asian food futher south. We topped off with some awesome gelato at Cremeria La Vecchia Stalla and managed some cultural exposure at Basilica di Santo Stefano.
We really wanted pasta with clams and booked a restaurant in the east of the city. Heading there by foot, it was clear we were entering the bohemian are of town. Compared to previous evening, food wasn’t as mindblowing but with the help of some gelato everyone went home happy.
The next morning, we wanted to get on the road to make it to our friends place for lunch. A small snag as the garage which was supposed to upen at 6.30am was completely shuttered, but after a quick text to our Airbnb concierge things were sorted and we were on our way. We were warmly greeted by our friend Vincenzo and has family, given a tour of his grandfather’s apartment which he had re-acquired and redone, and then was treated to a home cooked meal (which when eating out all the time is extra appreciated). Vincenzo then brought us to his local sports club to cool off in the pool — much needed due to the long travels and warm temperature. We had simple evening back home bringing in some excellent pizzas from the shop a 2 blocks away (Vincenzo assured me that he has tested all the places and it is the best in Cerignola). In the morning Kai and grabbed a coffee with Vincenzo at his local spot (open 24 hours!) before he had to leave to a speaking engagement. Luckily, he was heading south as well so the reunion still has a few more chapters to go.
We drove on to Lecce (the Florence of the south) and continued to enjoy the fresh, raw seafood. Kai loved it so much he ordered a second place of tuna carpaccio all for himself. The crew decided it was too hot for sightseeing, so we headed onwards to San Foce where our beach was.
It’s always an mental adventure when you show up to an Airbnb apartment for the first time. Just for example, my suspicion that the washer and dryer was shared and not in the apartment came true (it was on our floor, so not that bad). The views from the flat were amazing however, and the air conditioning was devine. There were even some extra bonuses like a large fire escape access (not a full terrace, but none was advertised either) and nice showers and communal drying racks on the ground floor.
We grew to enjoy the apartment. Access to the beach was basically across the street with 2 nice lidos where you could rent chairs/umbreallas as well as get coffees (1€ expresso macchiato!) or slushees. We took advantage almost every day.
As per protocol, I did my morning excursion to see out the best bakery (the advice from the Airbnb host was to go out into the main strip). It was more choosing between small and smaller coffee shops. Good, but I knew Italy has better. For the sake of my calorie consumption, it probably turned out to be a good thing.
On the 3rd day of our beach week, we planned to meet Vincenzo at the time share resort he was staying at in Alimini. It was a massive complex of complexes with resorts next to one another on a long broad beach. The water was very shallow and clear compared to the Jersey shore of my youth — but much more piece of mind for the boys to play more on their own with lifeguards on duty. After a full day, on the way back home in search of a grocery store in Torre Della’orso we discovered an amusement park which we returned back to multiple times. Note: the grocery stores in the beach towns are quite limited.
Since we didn’t get to really see Lecce on the way down because it was too hot, we made a second attempt by trying early in the morning. Based on Vincenzo’s advice, we had a great breakfast at Caffè Alvino with direct view of the ancient amphitheater. In fact, I would rank it as my top destination for a good cornetto. Unfortunately, we only managed to get in a view of one basilica before we couldn’t take the moaning of the boys any longer. We headed back to the apartment for some beach time / relax time before the big event: The EUFA 2020 Final of Italy vs. England. I had spotted a sign a day before at one of the local restaurants promoting the game and reserved us a table. The venue was fantastic: beautiful rooftop with a massive projection wall. The game was an emotional roller coaster, with England scoring just 2 minutes into the game, rolling all the way through overtime to penalties with Italy victorious in the end. A definite highlight of the trip.
The next morning, Kai and I set out around 7am to check out the Grotta Della Poesia insde Roca, a natural swimming pool dating back to the bronze age. We loved it so much we returned the next day with Teo, then realizing 7am without tourist mobs is much better than going at 10am.
We had originally planned to leave the next (Friday) afternoon, but as the weather north was fading and the weather south doing better it was only logical to stay. This allowed us to visit Vincenzo and family again in Alimini, closing with a final epic dinner at Laltro Baffo and tour in Otranto. If that wasn’t enough, we went back to Torre della’Orso to meet my work colleague and let the boys have one last go on the trampolines.
Finally it was time to head back. We did a long stretch of about 800km back to Bologna. The good news was that we passed through the bad weather and were able to enjoy a nice dinner and stroll through Bologna, including the best pasta Bolognese of my life at La Taverna Di Roberto. The last leg was not without its own adventure, with detours due to traffic and flooded roads, but successfully managed.
I am not sure when we will be ready for the next 4000+km roadtrip, but at least we know that we can make it great fun as a family.
Keeping kids engaged during lockdown isn’t so easy. But it forces us to explore outside our known boundaries and try some new things. I had planned an evening with my friend Jo, and since it turned into a Sunday evening we expanded it to a family affair and with that the pizza masterclass was born.
The good news from an activity standpoint is that there are activities spread over mulitple hours: creating the raw dough, preparing the pizza canvas, designing the pizzas, baking the pizzas, and of course eating the pizzas. And through it, we also learned: yes, yeast is a fungus like mushrooms, it likes to eat sugar and enjoys warm temperatures, and when you bake it into the pizza crust you don’t really taste it.
With the first campaign successfully under our belt, I am ready to further explore the potential of what pizza making can be (I am thinking steak calzones next!!).
No, this not a WWII thriller. However, there was a lurking enemy of a different sort — fear of COVID. Not only was the disease a threat to phyiscal health, but the uncertainty of where it was, and who was carrying it, and how it was transmitted also created a mental fatigue as well.
We debated the pros and cons of travelling, and of leaving Germany. Finally, a stroke of luck/serindipity was delivered — some of the kids classmates were travelling in Croatia, which was one of the destinations we had in mind. Within a short while, we had booked a few nights in the center of Rovinj and started off via Munich.
We had some rain on the way out which threw off our schedule. We decided that instead of rushing a visit to Bled in Slovenia we would opt for some quality schnitzel in Austria. Chika found a great place, Postwirt’s where had a fantastic meal and some random stares from Austrian types who didn’t appreciate our mask wearing.
Back on the road, the weather had cleared. Some small delays at the border, but nothing exceptional. Our biggest concern would be that for one reason or another we wouldn’t be allowed to cross (especially since none of us had EU passports, only residence permits), but no issues arose. We finally made it into Rovinj — a lovely old-town right on the Adriatic coast. It seemed that our hotel was not accessible by car, so we needed to park fairly far away and drag all our gear across the city. And then up 3 flights of stairs to our flat. But it was a great little duplex with great views over the harbor. And air conditioning (not a usual fare in our German lives). We quickly changed and met our friends for some delicious mediteranean dining, al fresco of course. Overall, food was a great highlight of Rovinj, especially the visit to the winery estate hotel Meneghetti. I have to say, this was one of the highlights of the trip — such great ambience and a super fun meal and wine tasting.
After Rovinj, I felt the need to decompress and chill by the pool (which we didn’t really have in Rovinj, although we could easily walk around the corner and jump straight into the Adriatic.) We opted for a Radisson Group resort in Pula. We had a nice apartment with the beach straight in front of us, and swimming pools (salt water!) to our left and right. It was a nice place to explore, with activities like tennis courts, musical shows, swimming classes, etc. But mainly we just relaxed and enjoyed the pool and the sun — every day was perfect weather.
Finally it was time to start the journey back. I had some business colleagues in Ljubljana, Slovenia who invited us so we set our course. We made plans to visit the limestone caves on the way and almost missed them. We had run into an issue at a small mountain border crossing due to our lack of EU passports. We needed to backtrack to a larger crossing (keeping our fingers crossed that we would be allowed back) which had a longer queue, but we evenutally made it and even got to make it on the tour of the limestone caves (which was excellent). We checked in at the Interncontinental — a nice 5 star experience — especially the breakfast on the top floor in the morning.
Our hosts Daniel and Klavdija were amazing. Ice cream for the boys (and us too), tour through the town, illusion musuem, and lastly a dinner at the castle fort in the center of the city. Even that wasn’t enough, so we met again at their offices in the BTC for some go-kart racing.
All good things must come to a end (or at least a pause), so we needed to make our way back to Germany (which we did without issue). But now I am so ready to start planning our next visit back to Slovenia and Croatia.
So the orders came down state by state in Germany, and then finally Berlin was in lockdown mode. Sort of. You could only leave the house for essential trips, e.g. grocery shopping, but also for exercise (with social distancing observed). With 3.7 million people living in Berlin, many parks inside the city can get quite crowded especially with perfect sunny days. So we decided to explore outside the city. With the help of the hiking guide Komoot, we were travelling to places we’d never been before. We are still getting the hang of things — did we send the right navigation destination to the car (on occasion we used GPS coordinates!), how long can the boys go before they self-destruct, how much food and drink do we need to bring (more is better) — I would say that we did a pretty good job for newbies. The hikes were interesting enough to keep the boys engaged (especially with picnics in the middle), easy enough to allow some distance, and far enough outside the city to keep our social distancing intact. I am hoping that this pandemic ends while still keeping up our family treks.
So due to a technical glitch where I couldn’t manage to sync all my photos from my phone to my PC, this posting is even later than my typically belated ones. But with a bit of extra time these days at home with the Corona Lockdown, I finally dove in and got this done (whew!).
It seems like forever ago, but I still feel that I am carrying a few extra pounds from the trip. Being the holiday season with no real responsibilities or things to be done aside from entertaining the boys, we ate a lot. We had a lot of cooks in the kitchen (or the grill) whipping up everything from steaks to pancakes, meatballs, soups, and even fondue. Even when we did leave the house, we continued to eat: amazing Mexican at Condessa, Tom’s Dim Sum (2x), Prime Rib at Longwood Gardens, Reading Terminal, Annie’s Pretzels, YangMing (it was takeout, which means we ordered more than was physically possible for any humans to eat), and that was all before getting to New York City. It was great to have time to spend with the family, keeping up with important traditions like lighting the Channukah Candles and going to see the latest Star Wars on Christmas Day while creating new ones — I think fondue will definitely be part of our holiday rituals now.
NYC with the boys was as full on as ever, even with my parents over to help. Chika and I did manage to get out for a night to have some great sushi, drinks, and even dessert at Momofuku’s (interesting, but overrated). Probably the biggest moment of adventure on the trip was when we boarded the plane and found other people were sitting in our seats. After 10 minutes of anxious wondering, we finally got the word that the whole family had been upgraded to business class!!! Kids now think this is the way it should always be. I should only hope our luck continues for 2020!
A friend from work had shared his new family holiday model of renting a big Airbnb in a city and chilling. So when it came to deciding what to do on this years family trip, which included all the grandparents, it seemed that this would be good solution. We started working on Rome: good weather, good food, some good cultural activities for the boys. But as we had all been to Rome, we decided to go a bit further and added a few days in Naples on the trip, to visit Pompeii and of course to eat the best pizza in the world.
The planning team sprung into action, and we quickly had sorted out our flights and major accommodations. We included a few days in Berlin to get everyone settled in and get over jetlag. After a few relaxing days (with plenty of good German bakeries and an exciting Georgian restaurant extravaganza) we were finally off on our travels.
Everything was smooth — all our bags managed to pass regulation and we made it through to Naples without much incident. There was the arrival at our rented apartment in a dark back alley of Naples late in the evening without being able to get in touch with the owner, but finally at the last second they appeared and we were off to our flat — at the top of 3 flights of narrow stairs. But the place was nice a fresh, with a great little terrace with view out to the harbour. The boys were tired from the travel, so I went with the parents on a walk to find some pizza and beer to consummate our arrival. The next morning, Chika, Yukie and I went on a breakfast run. Surprisingly, the culture is more to eat in and enjoy a pastry at a counter than to bring home, but eventually after an hour we found a place a few blocks from our flat with a nice selection of goodies. We also came to the realization that the dingy alley we arrived in was in fact blocks away from the central arteries in our area of Naples.
We decided to take the bus to Pompeii (planes, trains, automobiles, and buses!) as it was directly around the corner from our flat. It turned out to be an easy journey even with the Napoli drivers, and without much hassle arrived at Pompeii. We did attempt to hire a guide, but they kept us waiting until a big enough group appeared to eventually we gave up and went on our own with a few audio guides. It was a beautiful day exploring the ruins, and a great experience for the boys to see the real ruins.
We had booked a seafood restaurant for dinner, but on the way there we realized that traffic in Naples was not going to cooperate — not only could we not get a cab, but the journey to the restaurant was going to be longer than expected. Fortunately, we had scouted some places the night before and was able to get a table for a very nice meal and the first of many pasta carbonaras for Kai (he is now our official connoisseur for pasta carbonara and has acquired a taste for pepper in the dish).
The next day we made the trip to Rome after a morning excursion to Santa Lucia. While the train ride was an express trip of a little over an our, we decided to add some extra adventures of travelling to and from the trains by metro. Who needs a gym when you have stairs and luggage right? We found that our flat in Rome was right in the middle of everything, just a few hundred meters from the Spanish Steps. For the dinner the 1st evening we traveled all of 10 meters across the street to one of apartment hosts recommendations. An excellent meal, but the pasta carbonara was a bit too spicy for Teo but we were able to switch for a pasta pomodoro at the table. On a separate food note: there is an amazing supply of ice cream in Rome. You really cannot go more than 2 blocks without some sort of cold cream on offer. While the boys like the store next door with the blue smurf ice cream with marshmallows, I liked Giolitti’s classic fares (the oldest shop in Rome) the best even if it was quite overcrowded.
We spend the next days exploring Rome — historical sites like the Colosseum, parks, and of course lots of food. At least for one night, Chika and I managed to sneak out and enjoyed some drinks at the Jerry Thomas Speakeasy which is on the top 50 bars in the world list (and from our experience definitely worthy).
All in all, was a great way to spend time as a family together. Our lucky boys had full on attention, and it was great to have some extra support in keeping us all together in the big cities. Thanks to mom and dad to helping make it all happen.
