Beach Bums

It looks like today will be the last day of summer! NOOO!!! I mean, you never know and you can't trust the forecast, but we're trying to squeeze every last bit out of it and spend as much time as possible in the great outdoors.



Here's Karl hanging on the Isar river beach with buddy Theo. His newborn brother Johan was also there, but he's still too tiny to be photographed. Okay, he's not THAT tiny.



There's also a lot of construction sites everywhere in town, so stopping to inspect the local work force on our ways to anywhere is unavoidable.

Touring Europa V

Escape was made. To Genoa, ancient port town, birthplace of Christopher Columbus, altogether great mix of antique splendor and modern seediness. It was equally hot, but since we ended up in the quite nicely designed Locanda di Palazzo Cicala who gave us one of their palatial suites with about 30 feet high ceilings, a kitchen and a coke dealer's bathroom worthy of Tony Montana, the heat had quite a different effect those three days. It wasn't stifling, it was rather pleasant. We didn't spend too much time hanging out at our temporary pad though, since there was much to explore. Europe's largest aquarium (post coming up). And the classic digger crew of one guy operating machinery and four guys smoking cigarettes.

The Bear Was There

We had a lovely afternoon at the zoo so that Karl could continue to practice his hypnotic skills. Here you can see him working on an otter.



The bear made the most impressive appearance today. It was acknowledged by our son that bears are very big animals indeed.



In Italy Andrian started to teach Karl the names of a couple of Disney and other animated characters. The formerly correctly identified deer is now called Bambi. Ernie, Bert and Spiderman were nowhere to be seen though.



Baby goats and lambs can be scary animals and last time Karl was totally chicken in the petting zoo, but this time he worked up the courage to actually touch them (okay, to say he was petting them would be a little exaggerated). Maybe he was inspired by his friend Bruno, a. k. a. the Brooklyn Goat Inspector?

Touring Europa IV

Hushed voices or not (even the innkeeper whispered), Karl used his expert skills as a world class noisemaker to make sure, the day was started fresh and possibly with a bang or two. And just as a reminder, in case anybody forgot or didn't know the German word for it, he announced each and every breakfast item loudly and proudly (the pictured baked good for example is a CROIX - SONNNNGGGG !)



At one point the hotel's proprietor Jeanette provided a bottle of soap bubbles for entertainment, which filled the terrace with wild giggles for a while (softening even the sternest culture traveler). Most of the day it was way too hot to do anything though, so got to stay in our "charming" hotel room and play the great game of cabin fever a few times. We tried to convince Karl that we're Sid and Nancy and Karl and that we're just hangin' out in our East Village studio apartment waiting to go and play CBGB's later that night, so we have to practice our three chords on the Fisher Price xylophone. Karl was neither into the punk vibe nor the heat, which he ever so subtly demonstrated by reading the Guide Michelin. To cool down we spent most mMornings and later afternoons at a mountain creek that formed some pools in the shade of another medieval village. Karl got his pebble throwing kicks and loved to wade in knee deep, cold water.



And since his mother is an avid reader of aforementioned guide we got to go to some mighty fine hidden gems of local cuisine, where we could could feed the fish monkey who's been growing quite big on our backs in landlocked Munich.

Touring Europa III

Apricale not only seemed like a village inhabited by crazy cat ladies, it also had a very high number of furry inhabitants to prove it. Karl was taken by the amount of cats in this little town and in the few moments when there was no cat to be seen he repeatedly asked us to go out and find one. Whenever he actually met them though he backed out of the plan of getting to know them any closer.

Meet and Greet

Of course I didn't bring a camera today, the very day Karl got to meet and greet his first celebrity, so now I have no proof and nothing to show. Anyway - picked up Karl from daycare and took him to the Thomas Schütte show at Haus der Kunst, which probably has been first long-term memory. At least he's been repeatedly talking about the huge sculpture of a man without pants, the big wooden melon slices of the "Melonely" installation and the customary glass of Apfelschorle afterwards at the Gold Bar. There were hardly any other visitors, but Jürgen Habermas and his wife, so since we met and corresponded a few times I went up and introduced Karl. Mr. Habermas is not exactly an extrovert, but Karl got a smile out of him. We exchanged pleasantries, but when Karl kept on staring, the honorable philosopher excused himself with a friendly nod and went his way.

Touring Europa II

It took us a few hours to reach the sea. Karl was quite thrilled. Seems everytime he gets to the ocean it's a groundhog day experience, since he doesn't seem to remember the times he spent on the French and Spanish Atlantic. The Mediterranean's more fun anyway, because you don't have that baby-swallowing surf, but rather tame wavelets perfect for testing the salty waters.



After lunch in a nice beach cafe (noodles! ice cream!) we continued to our first destination Apricale. That is a picturesque medieval village perched atop a mountain. Which is great for wandering the dusky alleys. If you're not lugging around a 30 pound wiggling toddler. We kinda got the hint that this ain't babytown, when we sat down for breakfast in our little hotel. It wasn't so much that breakfast was served on an unsecured terrace overlooking a cliff, but the hushed voices of the emptynesters lodging there.

Afternoons were spent on the bustling local town square though, where Karl made friends (and enemies) amongst the local kids, who generously (or involuntarily) provided the type of heavy baby machinery his parents were too exhausted to haul up the steep slippery stairs.

Touring Europa I

We're back from a blissful two weeks in the great land of offline. I guess I peaked at the Blackberry a few times, but otherwise mail meant neat stack of unwritten postcards carried to beaches and trattorias and the only website we saw was the big spider's behind the tomato plants. More on the agrictultural adventures of Karl in a later post, since it's quite obvious that the lawn pictured here has nothing to do with agriculture and a lot with luxury and conspicuous consumption. Well, first stop (more a stopover) was Tessin, that Italian part of Switzerland where European billionaires go to hide from the real world. We got an early start. Karl's intensely into cars now, which must have something to do with the genetical programming of boys, since neither Fred nor I care much about motor vehicles other than using them as a means to get from A to B. Karl though wants to be involved in everything having to do with motoring, even his services as a squeegee and when we let him climb onto the drivers' seat we literally have to pry his fingers from the steering wheel, unless we want to wait until fatigue gets it's way after a few hours of whiggling and jumping. And then there's all the temptations of the road.

Genetic programming's definitely at work in the next photo - Haribo is the classic German candy company that makes all the gummy bears and candied licorice. They present their products on great big stands that emit clouds of candy aroma luring little kids into the business of finding the right tone to nudge their parents into a purchase. In German supermarkets Haribo candy is strategically placed next where the line for the cashier forms and marketing calls it "Quengelware" (literally "whining products"). We did rescue Karl from this evil consumer trap, albeit with brute force. Later that afternoon we arrived at La Locanda del Notaio near Lago di Como (where George Clooney makes his second home), which Fred found in our trusty travel guide published by the makers of Michelin tires. As usual they didn't disappoint. Oh the simple fun a boy can have in a multimillion Dollar landscape design carpeted with world championship sports lawn.



And of course a day on the dusty roads of Europe has to be finished with a nice, warm bath, preferrably in a Hugh Hefner sized bathtub that could fit about 300 rubber duckies (rough estimate).



To be continued (not quite as extravagantly as it started) . . .

Summer Break

We'll be off to the South tomorrow, spend some time in Liguria and around the Riviera. Our neighbors think it's silly to leave Munich during the height of summer. Still - the Mediterranean's calling. So we'll be offline for a while. Back in early September.

New York Cityans In Town (if ever so briefly)

Great excitement today - New York City was in the house! Well, not quite, but on their way back from his grandparental vacationing in Bremerhaven, Bruno, Sabine and Loid had a 5 hour layover, which we spent at the grand "visitors' park" of Munich airport. Which is where we got to see a propped up real helicopter, which of course had to be inspected in detail.



Karl and Bruno had quite different agendas, unlike last summer, when they both had the very same agenda (milk!). Still they had a blast with all the kiddie amenities provided by the airport (real airplanes to climb into, fake airplanes to ride, tons of playground attractions, sodas, noodles, stuff!).



Bruno finally had the wisdom to use the mid-day heat to fall asleep on Loid's arm, while Karl was procrastinating his sleeping duties for a little. We now miss them terribly and Fred and I are gonna fight our pangs of homesickness with a trip to Italy tomorrow.

The Big Score

So we did get the Claes Oldenburgish set. Of course. Which has been a central hangout for Karl and his stuffed buddies. Only interrupted by some distinguished guests. First there was Omi (prounounced O'Meeeee in a kind of a euphoric squeal). She got him a book about an African girl, which became an instant hit of the magnitude that Fred and I can recite by heart by now. She also got him a toy helicopter, which coincided perfectly with the first three-syllable-word he can say without ever missing a beat (it's called "Hubschrauber" in German and now, we can't give you the literal translation into English). But see for yourself - pure intergenerational glee.

Shabby Chic

When we walked by our favorite thrift store this afternoon we found this really cool pencil table set. Karl immediately made himself comfortable and did not want to leave. It's actually a pretty shabby so I wasn't convinced to purchase it right away, but later I realized how completely my son fell in love with it. Hopefully we can still get it tomorrow.

Melon Man

The weather this afternoon didn't look too promising so we went to check out the Thomas Schütte show at the Haus der Kunst once again. Actually Karl had the choice between the zoo and the museum and he clearly opted for the museum. Ever since we went last time he has been talking about the sculpture of the big man with a shirt and no trousers, the Man in the Mud. And the melon sculpture in the room next to it of course. This time he was just as excited, but as an extra bonus the sun decided to come out and when we got out of the exhibition we stood and stared at the Eisbach surfers for quite some time. There were loads of them today and of course even more spectators. And for those of you who complained here's a picture of myself with my son (okay, not the most flattering one for him, but whatevs, he's making up for it with the following shot from our dinner).



When Andrian got out of his Sunday shift we went to have some serious Bavarian beer garden food. Spätzle with sauce: delicious.

Touring Bavaria (Friends And Family Edition)

As you might have noticed: no blogging this past week. Why? I lost my camera! I only noticed it half way through the week, since I always thought I had just forgotten it at home. Stuff like that usually doesn't happen to me, so I'm really annoyed. Anywhateverways, blogging has to go on so I got myself a new one. Just in time for the two excursions Karl made today.



This morning we drove out to see Opa in Seeshaupt. The weather was perfect and Karl was taught some badminton. Also, a swing has been installed just for him.



In the afternoon we finally made our way out to Jessi's new place near Augsburg. They got themselves a lovely house with a beautiful garden. Ferdinand, Julian and Karl thoroughly enjoyed running around like crazy people, while Magnus who apparently couldn't remember his old buddies was a little cofused by them taking over his territory. He got used to it after a while though and maybe he'll even have us over again some time?



Because it is more fun to scream at passersby when you're twice as loud, isn't it?

Wild Summer Fun

Saturday we went to Tina's and Markus' wedding in the Alte Villa, which we had checked out earlier this summer. There were quite a bit of kids and quite a few more at the playground next to the beer garden part of the Villa. They also had one of those modern see-saws that are boards on giant steel springs. If you rock those really hard you can make the board hit the ground, which is Karl's favorite. He scared away two older boys with his wild style see-sawing until he met his match, a little girl with a really smoky voice and a knack for testing the limits of playground equipment. He then continued to explore his newly improved macho side by learning to climb the climbing wall without adult supervision (or at least he thought so). Later on he found two older girls who liked the surprisingly indie-type beer garden band as much as he did. First they wanted to be all girly girls amongst themselves, but Karl just pestered them until they let him dance with him, which he did until we had to wrest him from the dancefloor way past 10PM. (More detailed post about the wedding about to follow).