We're back!!

We got back on Thursday night but I've been too busy and tired to blog until now. I'm still tired but I'm not busy at least, so here's a quick update.

The flight was excellent. We flew Iceland Air which broke up the trip nicely--three hours and 15 minutes to Iceland from Paris, then 5 hours to Boston. Our layover in Iceland was short, and I didn't have any trouble with customs. The woman did ask a few questions about why we were there so long and what we were doing, but I showed her the girls' Austrian citizenship documents and she was happy that we were on the up and up, so that was a relief. If they'd asked me a lot of questions, I could have missed the connecting flight and that would have been an awful pain.

Iceland Air didn't give free food (even for a trans-Atlantic flight!) and at first I thought that was going to be difficult, because all I had on me was 10 Euros to buy snacks, but then it turned out that they gave free food (and free headphones) to kids, so it was all good. The girls ate and watched a bunch of movies and before we knew it we were on the ground in Boston. Customs there didn't give me any trouble either, all they cared about was what I bought and whether I owed US taxes on it. I think they took pity on me too because the girls were exhausted and I was carrying Maggie plus all of our carry-on luggage. We were obviously all on the verge of a major melt-down. Customs guys don't want to listen to over-tired kids have tantrums.

Erik picked us up and we were in Boothbay at 10:10 (I told someone today that we got in at about 9 pm Thursday and mom says, "10:10!! I know because I was watching the clock!")

We're so happy to be back. We met up with a bunch of friends at the playground today and the girls had a great time playing. They're watching a movie now and barely awake so I'll put them to bed soon. Jet lag isn't too bad but we're definitely exhausted at bed time.

More later with Disney pictures!

Disney is fantastic!!

We're having a wonderful time. No photos yet because I'm too wiped out to download any, but everything has been beautiful.

We started with an overnight train to Frankfurt. The girls were overjoyed to be sleeping on a train. We didn't spent too much time revelling in the fun of having a sleeper car because we didn't hit the tracks (ha!) until 8 and breakfast was going to be served at 5:30 am. Not a long night's sleep for the kids.

They had no trouble falling asleep, and neither did I, but Nick says he found it less than lulling and took half the night to settle into a deep sleep. It didn't help that the "beds" were more like plywood with fabric on top.

Our next train left Frankfurt before 7 and we got into Paris at almost 11. Germany looked just like Austria, which wasn't too surprising, but France actually looked very different. Rolling fields, totally different architecture... provincial. And lovely.

By the time we got to Versailles it was like 2 in the afternoon. Erik and Isabelle met us at our hotel, we relaxed and ate a late lunch, then the six of us headed out to "the chateau." That's what they call it, "the chateau." And, wow. I've seen pictures, but seeing it was just unbelievable. It was huge, the gardens were huge (and we only saw a fraction of them). There were reflecting pools the size of a city block. Just amazing. We walked all over the grounds for a few hours, saw the swans, Maggie and Nick got pooped on by birds, and then we went to Erik and Isabelle's hotel. Which is actually another palace on the grounds that's been converted to a hotel.

We kicked around in their room, put a movie on TV for the girls, drank coffee, and generally recuperated. We were pretty tired because we'd already had such a long day, but the coffee helped and we rallied for dinner. Which we had, at a little crepe shop on the way to our hotel (which seemed a lot nicer before we saw the palace turned hotel!). The crepes were amazingly delicious. I had a black sausage, walnut, and apple crepe, Nick had a tripe, egg, and cheese crepe, and the girls both had egg and cheese. Mmmm. Isabelle had scallops, mushrooms and tomatoes and Erik had some kind of blue cheese salad crepe. I can't remember what else was in it.

Finally we got back to our room and passed out. Then in the morning, Erik and Isabelle arrived with these fresh baked croissants that were the most delicious thing I've ever tasted. People aren't kidding when they go on and on about the French food. I'm spoiled for life now.

THEN we went straight to Disney. We took a cab this time because hauling our luggage all over the subway was ridiculously hard.

Disney is so much fun. All four of us are having a total blast. The magic kingdom is divided into four parks: fantasy land (where we spent most of today), adventure land (we just did the pirates of the carribean ride there), frontier land, aaaaaaaand I can't remember the last one. I'm too tired to get up and check the map, I'll get back to you on the last one. Plus there's also Walt Disney Studios next door!

Then around 6:00 pm we came back to our beautiful room and went for a swim. I came back to the room to take the girls to the bathroom and now I'm just too warm and tired to go back in the pool, so Nick's swimming with them. After this we'll head back into the park for dinner and if that takes long enough we'll watch the fireworks before bed.

I think it's going to take us all four days to see everything here!

All packed and ready to go!

The biggest challenge of today has been keeping the girls happy without letting them trash the apartment. Difficult.

Thankfully Anne made things easier by cooking us lunch. So, we're up there eating and she says, "I found out something interesting about health insurance-" and Maggie interrupts with "BOOOOORING!"

Ha! What a little devil! I've been cracking up all day thinking about it.

Drop-off at Kindergarten today was good. She was still sad, she really likes her teacher and her (female) classmates (the boys annoy her. And smell, apparently. One day she said to me, "I smelled something bad at school today. It was the boy next to me. Boys stink." Little boys, she clarifies.) She has nothing against older men, like Philip (she called him her "favorite guy" the last time we went rock climbing. He's at least 30, so I'm just a little worried...)

Nina is less sentimental, but she's going to miss Austria too. Frau Manhart wants the class to Skype with Nina some time, which might be a little difficult with the time difference and early dismissal times in Austria, but I'm sure we'll figure something out. Nina also says she misses her classmates already, and a bunch of them gave her presents today. So sweet!

Tonight we'll sleep on a train for the first time! We're going to wake up in Germany, I believe, and then transfer to another train that will take us into Paris. So exciting! Cross your fingers that we all sleep well tonight!

Art!

Maggie painted this at school today. I think it's beautiful! What do you see?

A sunset, right? Lovely composition, dark clouds in front of the bright setting sun?

Nope!

It's a pony lying on the beach, of course!

I still love it. I love it this much:


That is a heart-shaped potato. I've been waiting for an excuse to use that. :-)

Feeling better today, the girls both went to school. Two more days!! Two more days!!!!

Annnnddd...

It's strep for Maggie. Well, probably strep. I asked the doctor if it was definitely strep and he said there's an 80% chance it's strep. There are a few other bacteria that cause similar symptoms and the only way to be really sure is to do a culture, which they're not going to do because it doesn't really matter, these antibiotics will treat it no matter which one it actually is. So, there you go.

She'll have to stay home tomorrow because she only had her first dose this evening, and I'll probably keep Nina home because she's still kind of up and down, maybe 75% better. But definitely the girls will be back on Wednesday, otherwise I'll never get our stuff packed up!

So far Nick is symptom-free, of course. He never gets sick!!! Why, just once, can't it be him instead of me??? So unfair.

Home, home on the range...

Nina's home again today. Her teacher called last night and said that the school had no heat, so the Nina should come to school dressed extra warmly. Nick told her about the strep and they agreed that Nina should just skip today. He'll check in with her later today, but I assume it'll be back on tomorrow?

Maggie says her throat is a little sore today still, but the doctor's office isn't open until 1:00 today, so no appointment yet. I'll let you know how that goes.

It's just as well Nina's home today anyway, I can't send Maggie if she possibly has strep, and life is easier for me if both girls are home as opposed to just Maggie. Lots of packing and cleaning to get to this week! Then Paris!!!

Unglaublich

That's German for "unbelievable."

Nina and I have strep throat. We leave for Paris in 5 days!

I'm cursed, that's all there is to it. I missed my last Paris trip because I came down with the chicken pox three days before it, and now, here I am again... The Paris Curse.

Well, fortunately a doctor came by the house yesterday (a house call! I guess the government finds sending on-call doctors to people's houses to be more cost-effective than operating urgent care clinics). He wrote me and Nina a total of five prescriptions (an antibiotic each, something for my ridiculously swollen tonsils, a pain reliever for Nina, and medicated lozenges for my painful throat. Which really, really hurt a lot).

I'm feeling much better today than yesterday. My throat barely hurts any more, and my (very slight) fever is now gone. Maggie did have a sore throat overnight last night but seems better today, but I'll take her in to the doctor tomorrow anyway. I don't want her ending up with rhumatic fever. Can you get that from a mild case of strep that your body kicks on its own? Well, I'll ask the doctor. She doesn't have a fever or anything, so hopefully she won't need antibiotics too.

Mostly I'm just lying in bed this weekend. So much for deciding how to spend our last weekend in Baden!