After finishing our visit with Mom and Dad in the morning, we packed our bags once again. We ate lunch and then left for Bloomington-Normal. Derek and I decided to drive separately in case I needed to take the kids back earlier than Wednesday. We weren’t sure how 3 more nights in a hotel would go, especially since we suspected that Cade had an ear infection. We left about 12:15pm and we went straight to a walk-in clinic. Derek and Abby headed to the hotel and I stayed with Cade to have his ear checked. After waiting an hour and a half, the doctor took one look and could tell that he did indeed have an ear infection. I filled his prescription at Kroger and picked up a few more snacks and things while we waited. By the time we got to the Chateau, it was almost 4;00. Cade fell asleep on the way to the hotel, so we just carried him in and put him in his bed. I went for a walk with Abby while Derek sat with Cade. Then Abby and Derek went swimming while I stayed in the room. Cade woke up at 5:00 and I took him down to the pool just as Derek and Abby were finishing up. We came back to the room and got changed for supper.

We went to Chili’s, which is just a few minutes from the hotel. Derek and I got chicken fajitas and Abby chose mararoni and cheese and corn on the cob. She ate all of the corn! She loved it. Cade got a little bit of everything. After supper we went into Best Buy to look for something, but no luck. So, we went back to the hotel. It was almost 7pm already. The kids played with some toys for about an hour and then it was time for bath. It was after 9:00 before they were both sleeping. Abby slept in one bed with me and half way through the night, Cade slept in the other bed with Derek. Abby kicked and pushed me all night. It drove me crazy! I think everyone else slept pretty good, but I felt so uncomfortable all night long!

1-11 from our trip…the good and the bad
11. 11 days
10. 10 great nights, okay a few nights weren’t SO great, but still…
(4 with Matt, Sarah, Kaylin & Shane and 6 in Germany)
9. about “9”00…900 pictures taken!
8. “ate” We “ate” a lot of fast food, but some good local food too. (schnitzel, sneeballen, desserts)
7. 7 (or more) Happy Meal toys
6. 6 days touring Germany
5. 5 throw ups (4 for Cade and 1 for Abby)
4. 4 countries (Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria)
3. 3 airports (O’Hare, Dublin, Schipol)
2. 2 amazing castles (Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau) (Abby still talks about both.)
1. 1 unbelievable trip

Happy birthday, Aunt Kelli!

We woke up at about 6:15am and got ready to head to the airport. The car was packed the night before so there wasn’t much left to do except shower, get dressed, and have a little something to eat. We planned to leave at 7 and I think that is exactly when we walked out the door. We said goodbye to Sarah and the kids and Matt drove us to the airport. Sarah and Kaylin stood in the window and waved. I sure had a great time with them and I knew I was going to miss them. Matt dropped us off at the airport and we said goodbye again. Abby was tired and wanted to stay in the car, but I somehow persuaded her to get out. I think I told her that we were leaving on the airplane and if she stayed in the car, she would still be in Amsterdam when we were at home. Anyway, we made our way into Schipol Airport and the confusion set in…first on our part and later on AerLingus/KLM’s part.

When we walked into the airport, we were confused as we could not find a desk for AerLingus. I saw an information desk and asked them and they said to use the KLM desk. Okay. We weaved our way through the lanes that were set up while other people cut underneath. Frustrating. We stood in line for just a few minutes and then it was our turn. I’m not sure what took so long, but we were up there for a long time. Other people came and went and the line behind us grew longer and longer. We finally got our bags checked and our boarding passes for our flight from Amsterdam and Dublin. We had to take the carseat to a different check in and after that I organized our documents. Wait a minute. There is a boarding pass for Cade in Amsterdam, but not in Dublin. Here we go again. On our way there, Cade did not have a boarding pass and they just wrote INF (infant) on my boarding pass. But then in Dublin, they asked where his boarding pass was. Good question. They let us on, but they didn’t like it. I decided to go back to the check in desk and ask for one. The only problem was that the line was LONG and both kids were already a bit restless. I decided that it was their fault I didn’t already have a boarding pass. So, I stood on the side and when someone left, I entered from the side. I explained to the man, who was right next to the woman I began with what had happened. He tried to reprint. Didn’t work. He tried other things with the computer. Didn’t work. He called AerLingus. He tried something else. Didn’t work. He called again. He tried again. Didn’t work. I am not kidding that I probably stood there for 20 minutes while Derek tried to keep the kids entertained off on the side. Finally the man walked me to the little AerLingus desk and he talked to the woman in Dutch. She tried something. Didn’t work. Seriously! I couldn’t be the first person traveling with an infant on my lap. She finally printed a piece of paper showing that Cade was in the system, but she could not give me a boarding pass. Fine. Whatever. So, I went and found Derek and the kids and we made our way through security. Then we walked and walked and went through a passport check. Then we walked and walked and were almost to the gate. The kids were both out of drinks, so we decided to buy some water and oj. I filled up their cups with water and there was just a tiny bit of milk at the bottom of the cup, so it made it cloudy water. Oh, well. We then had to stand in line at the gate because we had to go through security. I thought we already had, but apparently we had not. We stood in line for about 20 minutes. We couldn’t even sit down at the gate before we went through the security. We got to the front and I put the kids’ cups, the bottle of orange juice, and our one quart sized baggie of liquid medicine in the bin. That is what we had done every other time and it was fine. Well, this time, evidently, it wasn’t fine. The man told me we couldn’t take the oj on because it wasn’t sealed. We hadn’t opened it yet, so I said, “Yes, it is.” He said that it wasn’t and I said, “We haven’t opened it. It is sealed.” He pointed at someone else’s bag and said, “It has to be sealed.” Apparently we had to have it in some plastic bag that is sealed. I don’t know where the bag was from, but we didn’t have one. So, I said, “FINE.” He took my oj. I figure he was just thirsty. Anyway, then he said, “You can’t have these either.” He was referring to the kids’ cups. What?! Every other time through security, they have let it go. Well, I was holding Cade and Derek was trying to keep track of Abby and all of our other stuff. I looked at the man like, really?! I just stood there. Finally, I said, “Is there somewhere I can dump it out?” I needed the cups for the flight home. He pointed to a garbage can in the corner. I just stood there. He finally asked if I wanted him to do it. “Could you, please?!” He started to walk over to the garbage can and I don’t know if someone told him or what, but he came back, with the cloudy water cups and said that it was fine to take them on. !#$%^&*&^*%$#! So, I got to take the two sippy cups of cloudy water onto the plane, but my factory sealed oj was too dangerous. Whatever! I don’t usually get frustrated with security because I know it is to my benefit, but that was dumb. Well, then we got into the gate area and had to stand in line again to have our passports checked and board the plane. We finally got to the front of the line and drum roll please…….they didn’t have Cade’s passport information in their system! Are you kidding me? So, we had to step aside while the man assured us, “It will be okay.” Oh, it better be! Five minutes later, we walked onto the plane. Schipol sucked.

We were in the second to last row. So after banging the kids and the bags the whole length of the plane, we sat down and one hour later, we landed in Dublin. We went through one security check and lucky us, our bag was picked to have the lady rummage through. It was our bag of breakable souvenirs. So, she opened up about 3 boxes before giving up and telling us we could be on our way. If she’d looked in every one, we would have been there for an hour. We found a little restaurant and had some lunch. Then we waited before going through a US pre-customs check. I’m not sure what they checked, but anyway. Then we went down some stairs and waited. Over the intercom, “Would passenger Kilmartin please make yourself known to an AerLingus representative?” What now? Again, they didn’t have Cade’s passport information. So, I gave her the information and supposedly we were all set. We bought some pop for me and Derek and juice for the kids and tried to relax. About 10 minutes before it was time to board, both kids fell asleep. That made it quite interesting to lug our bags, both kids, and get out the passports one more time before it was time to board the plane. They both woke up right after we got through the passport check. At that point, my travel machine idea was sounding better and better. We got on the plane. Our first good news of the day was that we had 5 seats again and each seat had its own tv screen with about 15 movies to choose from, tv shows, games, and flight information. We were on our way back over the ocean. Abby watched Diego, Spongebob, Horton Hears a Who, and played some Disney games. We ate and played toys and finally with about 2 1/2 hours out of the 8 hour flight, both kids fell asleep.

When we landed in Chicago, we gathered our bags and walked right through customs, even though I had bought tulip bulbs in Amsterdam. They didn’t even ask to see them. We found a pay phone and called Mike and Toni, who were waiting at the Oasis. We could hear Toni, but she couldn’t hear us. We tried again with the same result. We hoped that she would know it was us and we waited. About 15 minutes later, we saw our Dodge Grand Caravan come around the corner. Toni had packed us some food for the ride home. I didn’t even realize I was hungry until I started eating it. She even brought me a nice cold can of Coke. Derek drove us to Mendota and we dropped off Mike and Toni. I fell asleep on the way home and it felt like I blinked and we were home. We pulled in the driveway at 8:10pm, which is 3:10am Amsterdam time. We had left Matt and Sarah’s 20 hours earlier. Both of the kids had been sleeping for at least an hour. We carried them in to their beds, and we were in bed not long after. What an amazing trip.

We got off to a slow start on Friday. We figured with Abby throwing up the night before and Cade not doing too well in the car when he is tired that we would just go slowly. Everyone was up by about 8 am and we made some toast in our little kitchen. The kids had some fruit too. I tried to finish cleaning up from the events the night before. I tried to dry out the pillow case with a hair dryer but it pooped out after a few minutes. Oh, well. I decided to just leave it hanging in the bathroom, damp. We finally made our way out at about 10:15 and were trying to get all loaded into the car. The owner came running out of the house and asked, “Has there been some mistake?” Huh?! was my thought. She continued by saying that one of the pillow cases was missing off of a pillow and had they not put one on. I think that was her nice way of saying, “Where the hell is the pillowcase?” Anyway, I told her that Abby had gotten a little something on it (okay, a lot of something on it) and that I had washed it out and it was hanging in the bathroom. She said that was nice of me and I didn’t have to do that. I thought, “Oh, lady…yes I did!” Anyway, we finished piling into the car and just before we pulled out, the owner’s husband came running out. “Wait!” he said. “You left some things in the bathroom…clothing.” We kind of laughed and said, “Oh, we are done with it.” “Trash?” he asked. “Yes, or you can have it. Whichever.” He smiled and headed back inside, probably thinking we were crazy. I thought they would figure it out when we stacked stuff on top of the garbage can. Anyway, for those of you who don’t know, when we travel we take old clothes and leave them behind. This leaves room for souvenirs and when we get home, less laundry! We had gotten rid of a lot of things because of the throwing up the night before. I hadn’t intended on throwing away Abby’s pjs, but they weren’t worth trying to wash out when she has about 7 more just like them. Well, for not really doing anything, it was an eventful morning.

We were finally on our way toward Berlin and the direction Trudy took us this day was much faster to get to the autobahn. We went along for about an hour and suddenly came to a complete stop. Traffic was backed up. The only time we’d inch up is if someone decided to exit. We sat there for almost a half hour before we decided to make it into the right lane and exit as well. Trudy took us back country with about 5 other cars to the next entrance onto the autobahn. There had been an accident about 15 cars ahead of us. The detour was meandering to say the least and as we crisscrossed back and forth over the autobahn, we saw that traffic had started up again…shoot! Oh, well. At least we were moving. We finally got back on the autobahn and drove awhile before we stopped at McDonald’s for lunch. There was another neat play area with basketball and a maze. This McDonald’s had free refills and ice, which is not common in Germany (well all of Europe, as far as I can tell.) We were on our way again and it was exciting to pull into Berlin. We tried one more time to get a green badge for the “umwelt zone” with no luck, so we just drove in. Trudy led us to the Novotel Mitte in central Berlin. It was easy to find and we rolled in about 4:10pm. For some reason they still needed 10 more minutes to finish our room. So, Derek went and parked the car and the kids played in a little toy area in the lobby. Our room was nice, but crowded. They had pulled out the pull out couch for us and made it into a bed, but that took up a lot of extra room. Abby watched some German cartoons and we relaxed for a little while before heading out into the city. We walked a few blocks and found ourselves at Museum Island. We were looking for the DDR Museum and thought we knew where it was, but didn’t quite. We asked and they pointed in the direction. The problem was that it was a very little building behind a great big building and we ended up at the great big building. We finally kept walking and saw it right along a canal. The museum taught about life in the former East Germany and there were displays and drawers and cabinets to open. There was also a living room and kitchen to show what a typical East German apartment would look like. The only problem was that it as stuffy in there and there were a lot of people. For anyone who knows me, you know that is not a good combination. I did not feel very good at all. At least now I am smart enough to recognize it. So, I sat down for a little bit and then made my way through fairly quickly. The best part was Abby pretending to drive an East German car. After we left, we bought some wooden Easter eggs from a street vendor and then found a little place to get some dinner. Derek and I each had a brat and we also got an apple crepe. The brat reminded me of the one I had nearly 20 years earlier at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin when I was there with my parents and brother. It wasn’t as cold outside this time, but it was still very good. I wish I’d taken a picture of it. It is really long, on a hard little bun, and had spicy mustard on it. Yum!Neither of the kids felt like eating, so we ate quickly and then headed back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel, the kids had some fruit and crackers and not long after that it was time for bed.

If any day went the least like I thought it would, this is the day. We started with a typical, but good, European breakfast at Gastehaus Weiher. Frau Oswald served us with rolls, cold meat, cheese, hot hard boiled eggs, room temperature yogurt, hot chocolate, and orange juice. Abby started by not wanting anything, but after sitting there awhile, she joined in too. We pulled out by about 9am and were on our way to Munich. We thought it would take less than 2 hours to get there, but we were on some back roads and did not make great time. We knew that it might be difficult to get into the city center because of the “umwelt zone.” In many places in Germany, the cars have to pass an emissions test and then they get a sticker for the windshield. It is supposed to cut down on traffic in the city and help protect the environment. Well, we pulled into a gas station and asked and she either indicated that we didn’t need one or that she didn’t sell them. Regardless, we decided to say, “Screw it,” and we drove into the “umwelt zone” without our green badge. Trudy, the GPS, had been wonderful up until now. She had us curving around tiny little side streets no bigger than an alley. We wanted to get to the Marienplatz by 11am to see the Glockenspiel (giant clock) chime and the people to come out, much like we had seen in Rothenburg, but on a much bigger scale. Well, we hit traffic and it was clear that we weren’t going to make it when we were still driving at 11am. So, I made an executive decision and told Derek, “Let’s get out of here.” We got out of the city and headed for Dachau Concentration Camp. It is just NW of Munich and it only took about 20 minutes to get there. In the city of Dachau, we stopped at a Burger King for lunch. The playland was locked and we asked if it could be opened, but it was closed. Bummer. We ate and then I asked at the counter how to get to the Concentration Camp. Now, I know “Concentration Camp” is not German, but I figured they would know what I was talking about. I asked one lady and she held up a finger to indicate, “Wait.” A man came from the back and I asked him. He looked at me and said, “No English.” Oh, well, we were on our way to see what we could find on our own. Luckily, just down the road we saw a sign and it was just a minute away.
The camp was larger than I had thought it would be, but once we got walking around and I thought about how many people were living there, it felt small. It was the same kind of feeling I had at the Anne Frank House. The gate on the way in that reads, “Arbeit Macht Frei” which means, “Work will set you free.” I thought about all of the people that read that as they arrived at Dachau and how work had nothing to do with it. It was very powerful. We saw some cells and walked around the grounds. We stood where they had roll call and went into a recreated bunkhouse. There were only 2 standing bunkhouses and the rest we could just see the concrete slab with rocks where they used to stand. They were so run down that they had torn them down. We were there quite a while and the kids were tired so with a drive still ahead of us, we did a quick diaper change in the parking lot and were back on the road again.

We weren’t far on the autobahn when traffic pretty much stopped. It was bad! We finally left the right lane for the exit and got back in the left and just drove. We thought that maybe Trudy could find another way, but she wanted us to make a u-turn. So, we did. We drove a few miles up the autobahn, exited, and drove back down to the exit we were supposed to take. Luckily from our direction, it was hardly backed up at all and it wasn’t long until we started moving along pretty good.

I had found all of our places to stay on the internet before we left and we had reservations for all of them. The great thing about a reservation is that you know you have a bed waiting, how much it is going to cost, and generally what type of place it is going to be. The bad thing about a reservation, especially one that you have to pay in advance, is that you might not want to drive that far that day, or you might not be able to find it. Without Trudy, I don’t think we would have found this one. On the internet, it seemed to be not too far off the interstate. Well, that wasn’t exactly so. We were driving through beautiful countryside, but I just kept thinking, “Is this right?” I was sure hoping so because I was so ready to get out of the car. We finally found the small town of Konigstein and asked a lady for Haus am Markt. It was just down the street. Derek checked us in and the owner’s husband helped us with our bags. He showed us to our apartment upstairs. That’s right…an apartment. It was great. We had an entry hall with a bathroom, a bedroom with a large bed, a living room area, dining table, and small kitchen. The kids liked having some room to move around and we turned on German cartoons. I headed down the street to the market to pick up some things for supper and breakfast. I got to the town center, it was small, but I still didn’t know where the market was. I first almost went into a liquor store. I headed one direction and didn’t see anything. I found three old ladies sitting on a bench. I smiled and asked, “Market?” They all just looked at me and shook their heads. I motioned like I was eating and said, “Food?” Still nothing. I waved and moved on. I found the market the other direction than I started and went in. It was hard to shop for things and not be able to read the labels. I could guess some of the things because of the picture, but some I wasn’t too sure. I was looking at spaghetti sauce and I didn’t know if it was meat or tomato or what?! I mostly bought fruit (canned and fresh), Easter candy, pretzels, and milk. Oh, well…it worked. We ate dinner, watched German cartoons, and got ready for bed. Derek slept with Cade in the bedroom and Abby and I slept on the pullout couch in the living room. We weren’t sleeping but a few minutes and Abby threw up all over the pillow, her pjs, me, and giraffe-e. Oh, my…mandarin oranges. I got Abby calmed down, gathered the items that needed to be gathered and got Abby cleaned up. As I was getting her changed, she said, “I want that banana for breakfast tomorrow.” I had to laugh and told her that was fine. I got Abby settled back into the 1 sheet, 1 blanket, 1 pillow bed and started rinsing and washing. I decided I needed help and got Derek. He sat with Abby until she fell asleep and I made a sink full of soapy water. I washed out the pillow case, Abby’s t-shirt, part of the sheet, and giraffe-e and decided to throw away Abby’s pjs and my pj pants. Ugh! Luckily it wasn’t too late and Abby slept fine the rest of the night.

We woke up early at about 7:15 am and left the room by 8:00. We needed to get to get to the ticket office to pick up our tickets that we ordered online for the tours of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein Castles. Derek drove the kids and me there and dropped us off. It was only about a 2 minute drive. Then he drove the car back to the B&B and ran back to meet us. Yes…we are cheap. We didn’t want to pay for parking. The kids and I picked up the tickets and were just coming out of the building when Derek came walking up. We started our march up quite a hill to get to Schloss Hohenschwangau. It is the castle where King Ludwig II of Bavaria grew up with his parents and his brother. We got to the entrance and had about 20 minutes to spare until our tour started at 8:50am. I sat down to rest and the kids and Derek took a look around. When it was time to go in, I put Cade in the sling (which totally saved my arm) and Abby marched up the stairs to the entrance. We had our tour and the castle was pretty impressive. There were only about 10 people in our group, which was nice to be able to move around a little and the tour was all audio. I think a lot of people skip it and just see Neuschwanstein, but I am glad we took the time and energy to see it. After some more photos, we made our way back down the hill and into the town to find the carriage ride up to the top of the mountain (okay, not quite the very top, but it would have been a heck of a trek, especially with the kids.) It was well worth the 12 Euros! We enjoyed the ride up and Abby sang a Backyardigan song to entertain the rest of the people in the carriage. We’re going to the top of dragon mountain, she sang. We got to the carriage drop off and still had a bit of a hike to the entrance of the castle. After taking a few pictures, we only had to wait about 10 minutes until it was our turn to go in. We were on the tour with a bunch of (I’m guessing) high school students from NYC, I think. One poor girl was sick and threw up into a garbage bag in the middle of the tour. We booked it to the front to avoid any germs and tried to steer clear of her for the rest of the tour. We had enough issues without getting any flu germs! Neuschwanstein was built by King Ludwig II and it was only partially completed (11 rooms, I think) before he died at about age 40. Please don’t take any of this information as complete fact. I’m just working off my memory! Anyway, he only lived in the castle for about 176 days. The rooms that were completed were amazing. We couldn’t take pictures inside the castle. I think that Neuschwanstein Castle (inside and out) is one of the most impressive places I’ve ever been. It ranks up there with the Great Pyramid in Egypt and the Great Wall in China. We bought some souvenirs in the gift shop and started to make our way back to the carriages. On the way down, we stopped at Schlossrestaurant Neuschwanstein for lunch. I had some good schnitzel, which was just like a giant pork tenderloin without the bun. Abby had some more margherita (cheese) pizza and Derek some potato soup. Cade just eats a little bit of what everyone is having. On our way out, we bought some Sneeballen, snowballs, which are donuts with powdered sugar. They sure were good! We rode the carriage back down the mountain, which was only 6 Euros this time and again, worth every cent. Back in town, we did a little souvenir shopping and then made our way back to the B&B. Abby and Cade slept and Derek and I sat on the balcony. When it was almost time for supper, we decided to go to Austria. We ended up at a McDonald’s, which was only about 10-15 minutes away. I figure someday when Derek or the kids are in Austria and someone asks, “Have you been here (Austria) before?” They will answer yes and then they’ll ask, “What did you do last time you were here?” It will be kind of funny to say, “We ate at McDonald’s.” hahaha Well, we made it back to the B&B and we were all beat. We sat on the balcony in our pjs for a few minutes and then we all fell asleep. What an amazing day!