Where Were We...

So the "Where Are We?" photo from last week of us in front of the castle...

We cannot seem stay away from Germany. The friend mentioned previously in the Christmas Market blog recently had his 40^th birthday. We took a long weekend for the birthday bash, making it our last chance to get up there before our return to the US of A. What a great visit! Usually, I over-plan our trips by about one day, so that the day before our return, we're regretting that final day. We just get a little greedy and don't leave a place on the upswing. This most recent trip to our friend's house is the one time where on the final day, we were both moaning and groaning about how we wished we were staying just one more day.

Our friend, Jens, lives in Wolfsburg, home of the Autostadt (sort of a museum type of thing built around the VW plant). His parents live nearby, and past visits have always included a visit to his parents, usually for some type of meal (and always amazing!). This time around, we spent one day waiting on Lufthansa to deliver our car seat and stroller that they'd "lost." This was quite irritating since the items that should never be delayed are those for an infant. Please, keep my extra clothing and toiletries, but my baby's car seat is kind of a necessity...at least in Germany. In Germany, not putting your child in a car seat probably results in significant jail time or banishment. In Italy, I've yet to see a child put into a car seat. How can these two countries exist so close in distance to one another, yet so vastly far apart in culture.

Once all luggage was in hand, we had a nice Happy Hour while Jens's parents babysat Nora - our first time leaving her other than a short time when she was four weeks old and stayed home with my grandmother while we went out one morning. It seemed to go well, although I think I spent much of Happy Hour looking at my watch and quizzing Jens about whether or not his parents would actually call of us if they were having trouble. We had no qualms about Nora's well being, but were very concerned that his parents might be stuck with a screaming infant. We returned to a sleeping baby and content looking "Oma and Opa."

We left Nora in Germany to be raised by the wolves of Wolfsburg.