At least not for the Mize-Humphrey’s. Eliot awoke at midnight after 3 hours of sleep and he tried to go back to sleep. He really did. But after 45 minutes or so I heard, “Mommy?”
“Yes, honey?”
“I wanna do some-fing ehylse.” (this is not his inherent ability to speak German, the kid has trouble with L’s…even his name is ‘Eyatt.’)
At any rate, This went on for quite sometime, as I refused to turn on the lights or even get out of bed. We were in a lovely little german hotel in downtown Lubeck, with walls as thin as paper. So, the rest of the night, or morning, it is hard to know which anymore, was spent trying to keep him from crying, screaming or stomping around and waking the rest of the guests who were clearly here for business and probably did not expect to be awoken by a toddler at 2 am. Counting the flight over, which initiated at night in Chicago, we had totaled 3 hours of sleep in the first 3 days, then gratefully experienced what we thought was the turning point, a 12 hour sleep from dusk to past dawn – we were now time-adapted! So a 3 hour nap + 6 hours of riot-prevention left us feeling one level below zombie – just in time for Reed to engage the Autobahn for 5 hoursof death-defying speeds in a driving rain. Yikes. Cruising at 80-85 most of the time and being passed as though we were driving 35 was at times a but unnerving – but there is an order amongst drivers on the Autobahn; no time for egos, I guess – people have places to go, and highways get them there.
This was the first really amazing breakfast we have experienced. It was a small table, but offered a huge variety of things from dates and breads with a dozen kinds of jam (and of course, nutella) to gourmet cheeses and soft and hard boiled eggs w/fresh chives. Additionally, each hotel has offered meats and cheeses for breakfast. In Sweden, it was very unappealling cold cuts, but here it was gourmet cured salami and such. All we could think about was getting out of there before someone realized it was our kid awake at midnight.
The drive from Sweden to Denmark entailed a 10 mile long bridge! And a ferry, which Eliot loved, as you can imagine.
10 miles of Bridge from Sweden to Denmark
“BIG boat!”
“Tunnel!!!!” I have been known to cruise Orange Street, Missoula, just to keep Eliot happy in the carseat.
The little-bugger was a terror all morning, but promptly fell asleep withing minutes of leaving Lubeck. It was a gorgeous historic town which we saw very little of…and drove through torrential rains.
We did find a large travel-stop which served to wake up our bundle of joy.
Of course he chose to play with an Ikea toy, the exact one that sits in his closet at home, with which he never plays.
Another thing about Europe- the coffee, even hotel coffee is GOOD. Towels are sparse,wash cloths non-existent…yet they keep towels on heaters for us all day…. and the beds are usually twin beds. If you are lucky, you can push them together to make a queen. But, I ‘ll never understand the cold-cuts for breakfast. Pictured here is me, after a FULL night’s sleep last night and a lovely little plate from the ‘apartment’ in Mainz.
rolls and meats/cheese for breakfast.
Our friends from Missoula are living here in Mainz and he found us hotel near their apartment. It is the most spacious we have yet to see, and they call it an aparment, but can be rented day-by-day. Eliot has experienced a bit of everything in the last 3 hotels, from pullout beds…to trundle beds coming out of the wall, to a portable crib (he did not fail to mention later that day, he does not want anymore cribs, only big-boy-beds). He likes to fall right out of bed at night, so pictured here is our solution.
pillows all around. He slept nearly 13 hours and we were very proud parents. Awake, occasionally alert. Travel like this leaves one appreciative of the basics. Einstein got by on 4 hours -good for him. We’ll take 8.
Leben Lieben! 