Tag Archives: Kai

Le Petit Chef

Our Menu

Le Petit Chef had been on our to do list for some time. I had originally booked for our anniversary date night in November 2021, but Teo contracted COVID so we needed to postpone. Fast forward to 2022 and we decided to change our date event into a pre-birthday celebration for our two Aries in the house — Teo and Chika. I think it was even more enjoyable as a family experience, and the entertainment gave Chika and me more time to relax and enjoy the 5 course meal (along with a bottle of champagne and a bottle of red wine). Rather than describe the event, I will let the pictures and video (photo credits go to Chika) speak for themselves. If you want to learn more about it, you can click here.

Urban Adventures Part 1: Paris

The boys had a big 2 week break from school sandwiched around a 4-day Easter weekend. So early in the year I had started to ping some friends in France about swapping apartments. Turns out that France only has one day off (WHAT, the French are actually working more than the Germans!), but as Benoit and Giovanna has just added an extra floor in their house, they suggested we just come and stay together with their 3 daughters: Stella (14), Luna (12), and Gaia (7). So will a base in Paris set we started planning. It was a long drive, and given the German’s love for roadtrips I decided to take a day before and a day after the holiday — otherwise you are guaranteed to be stuck in traffic for hours. Even still, it was a long trip (over 800km) to make. So we decided to add an extra bonus: a stop at Euro Disney on the way.

Travels out were smooth. Left early, and with the exception of an overturned trailer the driving was fluid and uneventful. We decided to stop in Metz on the way — I read about a Japanese exhibition at the Pompidou branch in Metz (it turns out it was an evening performance, but was fun anyway). A nice bistro lunch and some museum sightseeing and then we were off to Euro Disney.

We decided to stay at the Radisson Blu Hotel there — mainly because it was much easier to cancel there in case something came up. We were quite happy there. Got upgraded to a nice 2 room suite, received a nice welcome gift (water, beer, and local mustard), and had a good time playing in the swimming pool. Some room service dinner, a nice bath, and then catching a healthy sleep before Euro Disney.

We managed to pack and get down to the shuttle with a few minutes to spare. We arrived with the first crews at the entry to the park and surprisingly they let us in before the 10:00am opening time. We decided to first try queuing for Big Thunder Mountain, since Teo could ride also. After 40 minutes as we arrived at the front of the line, there was a problem with the ride. 20 minutes later they shut it down. It was a sad way to start to day, but at least when we left they gave us a ticket to comeback anytime.

We then got FastPass for PeterPan and decided to have an early lunch. This worked out well as we beat the rush, and then got FastPasses for other rides (at least I thought we did — the ticket written in French actually said I couldn’t get a FastPass for another hour). At this point light rain started, and so we decided to use our FastPass for Thunder Mountain before it got heavy. The boys loved it! At this point we split up — Kai and I went to Space Mountain (twice!) while Teo and Chika went again for Thunder Mountain. We then switched boys, and Kai rode Space Mountain (2 more times) and Teo rode Dumbo and then Pirates of the Carribean. We wrapped up the day with Peter Pan and the Dumbo Flying Elephant. All in all, with all the challenges and the weather, a great 1st time experience for the kids.

Then it was off to Paris. The drive was relatively short (under an hour) and we arrived. That evening we went to a local beer garden for some tasty beverages and middle eastern food. The next day I took Kai with Beniot to join Gaia’s soccer practice. It was great to see how he could fit in with people from other cultures, even without speaking the language. We then went to a local marketplace for lunch — fresh oysters, sauvignon blanc, frites, and sausages. Then we met up with Remy and Mariko and their children for a super dinner at their chic flat, complete with amazing cakes, more oysters, fresh roast of beef, wine, and probably some of the best cognac produced in the world.

Sunday we were meeting Remy and their crew again at a young peoples science experience (all hands on). Gaia joined us, which was a crash course in having 3 children. Not ready yet. Very cool exhibitions, and amazing hands on experiences — especially the television studio simulations. That night Giovanna and the older girls prepared homemade pasta cannelonis. Was super delicious — I made sure there was no leftovers.

The last day was a busy one. We started with a chocolate Easter egg hunt in the garden for the kids. Then we had to meet a different Remy
for coffee (we finally founds some sun in the Palais Royale). After a quick Uber, we were at to Stephane and his girlfriend’s new flat. Super cool redesign, lovely food (including rack of veal!), and more wine of course. Then a walk through the Marais followed by a bus tour to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, the lines were too long so we had to head back for a Japanese dinner with Ben and Gio’s family, with Remy joining too.

The next day was a train strike, so we started off early. We made it without too much hassle, and were able to make it to Strausborg for lunch. Chika found a great lunch bistro, followed by additional pastry hunting tour through town. Finally it was time to go back to Munich.

A great adventure — lots of hard work, but great rewards.

A day in Pfaueninsel

At Chika’s suggestion, we decided to do a little exploring outside the city limits to the lake areas around Berlin to Pfaueninsel, or Peacock Island. We enjoyed a great picnic, with some lovely peacocks joining us, but the rain cut our trip short. I guess we will have to return again.

Indian Summer in Berlin

It’s a bit sad to see that my last post was all the way back in August (what happened to September).  I even have an iPhone now, so it’s pretty poor track record which I will need to fix.  In the meantime, we have the exciting news of our new nephew/cousin William Logan Wolfson, whom I am hoping to see (and post about) soon.

But back to our story, it was a “million dollar day” (as WW#1 used to say) here in Berlin, so we needed to take advantage.  While we had originally planned a short roadtrip to the west lakes of Wansee, we hit a snag at our favorite bagel place (Fine Bagel) as all the sweet bagels were still in the oven.  We decided that there were plenty of lakes around close by, but not so many good bagels and thus camped at a local playground for the next 30 minutes until our goods were ready.  Now fully prepared for our picnic, we headed to Treptow Park and Berlin Inslet (a small island in the middle of the river, accessible by a bridge).  We enjoyed a nice picnic (with a few too many end of season bees) with our fresh bagels, and then decided on a paddleboat adventure on the spree.  We were not sure how Teo would last, but he managed to stay inside the boat thanks to Chika’s watchful supervision.

Next time, maybe we will go for the motorboat 🙂

Adventures in the USA

What a trip!  A great week at the beach celebrating mom and dad’s 70/75th birthdays with the family, pool parties at Michael and Melanies, dim sum in Philadelphia, and much much more.  So rather than write all the details, I will let the pictures do the talking.

 

Salzburg and Munich

Wow.  Things have been busy.  But a few minutes to catch up on the family adventures.  Work in Munich started at the beginning of June right after a long weekend for the boys.  So we decided to head south en mass and do some extended Bavarian exploring.  One city which had popped up on our radar was Salzburg, home to Mozart and just over the border from Germany.  What a great city it was, especially for the kids.  We stayed at a hotel about 20 km outside of town set in a beautiful country lake area.  Even though the weather was rainy/overcast, we had been given fantastic big rooms at the hotel and enjoyed the indoor pool.  The city was really nice as well, with a great toy museum for the boys.  Munich was unfortunately impacted by some fever for Teo, but we did get to the famous Englisher Garten for some beer and fresh roasted mackerel.  Overall a fantastic trip which is likely to be repeated.