first stop in Germany: Rothenberg ob-der-Tauber

On the return trip from India, we extended our layover in Germany.  It was Jeremy's first visit and for nine whole days the sun was shining.  No wonder he was in love.

Rothenberg is a real medieval town, original wall and fortifications and all. 

our adorable little hotel served breakfast and we had assigned tables--so cute!

look, a bicycle-rickshaw!

Rothenberg is a very, very quiet town.  Even so, there were still traces of the War, not least of which the memorial to those deported during the Holocaust in 1939.  They uncovered a Jewish graveyard dating back to the earliest centuries, but now there is barely a trace of the community that was once here.

Langkawi, Malaysia...

...is totally thumbs down.  I hope we never have to go back and never have to eat the horrible grilled fish and satay, or swim at any of the beaches or pools.

although the jellyfish were pretty friendly, we somehow suffered through the rest of it.



we got a rental car and Jer managed not to drive us off the left side of the raod too many times.





Sorry, Whaley, you can't go swimming with us.



(the hotel was pretty strict on this one)

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the kids had plenty of time to work on their swimming skills

"Aiskrim"



L. and I loved exploring the rocks and tidal pools and she'd even come over to my way of seeing things (beach > mountain).  At least until she fell and needed stitches. (sigh)

the (insane) Langkawi cable car:

the "A.-launcher":

the "BR-launcher":

next up: the "L-launcher"!

and when we were brave enough to venture into the ocean, we found ways to avoid the jellyfish.

(never actually touching the water is a very effective tactic, in case anyone is wondering.)



K.L., Malaysia

I wrote about it earlier here, and here. 

This city impressed us so much.  Neither J. nor I can remember ever having visited such a pleasant and clean city with so much to offer.  A French tourist we met said that it was the equivalent of a Swiss city in South Asia and Lonely Planet calls it "the most child-friendly city in Asia."  Plus, they speak English, there's fabulous food and it's warm year-round and everything is dirt cheap.  Kolkata friends: it is only four hours away, you must go!

also: sometimes there are nice bathrooms and real shower stalls!

and you can even walk down the sidewalks!

One day, after J. had finished standing in line at the Indian Embassy, we decided to visit a waterpark.  Unfortunately for us (poor, poor us), this one was the only one that was open.  I didn't bring my camera along for obvious reasons, but this is exactly what it looked like.  Well, at least that's half of it.  More over here.  Oh, and besides the waterpark there was a wildlife park and an amusement park and an "extreme" park.  Bo-ring.

They boast the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world and you can bungee jump off of it if you want to (I don't) or ride the zipline over the wave pool. 
But the kids really didn't need any of that.  The water-playground and slides were enough for them. 


It's just too bad that job opportunity didn't work out.

so long, Kolkata!

It was March 30th, the day before we were to leave for Malaysia and also the day of the India-Pakistan semi-final cricket match.  J. suggested we invite all of our friends over for a goodbye-to-us/World Cup party.  We decorated and the flat and brought it some pizzas and since it might as well have been a national holiday, most everyone had the day off.  Almost everybody we invited showed up. 

It was so much fun and...India won!  I wish I could have recorded the roar from outside when they did and I kind of wish we'd been around a few days later when they won the final!  Goodbye, dear friends, we miss you already!

Are you ready for this...?

The photo recap of April 2011 is about to begin.  It's going to be fun.  But before we get started, I need to give some background on where we went, and why and all that.  I also would like to say that today I went to the grocery store, and on a jog and I read some stories to the kids and I may have done some dishes.  That's it.  You have no idea how happy I am that that's all I have to report.  Traveling the world is fun, but jetlag is not; packing and hauling yourself around on 7 flights in just over 4 weeks is kind of great and all, but just wait until you've tried it with a four, five AND six year old! 

During the last ten days, since we landed in the Northwest on May 1, we have spent time sleeping, napping and sleeping some more.  We needed it.  Stay tuned for the posts to follow to find out why...

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So, where did we leave off...in late March we were still in India, right?  Well, the thing about India is that it is in Asia.  So that means that when, through a mixture of inter-and intra-hospital politics and some people just being plain unprofessional and dumb, you now can leave India a full five weeks earlier than planned, should you really go back home right away, or should you figure, "heck, we are only a short flight away from some pretty interesting places.  Why not go explore them?  How about...um, Malaysia?  I'll be there are some great sights and great views and doesn't it have fabulous beaches, too?  And no malaria!"

Turns out, the answer to all is: Yes!  Why, yes it does.  My camera will prove it to you shortly.

So to Kualu Lumpur then on to Langkawi Island for (please don't hate us) another beach vacation.  Then, back to K.L. so we can catch the flight back to Kolkata, so we can catch our return flight to the US.  But wait!  There is a layover in Germany?  Well, isn't that like a free flight to Europe, kind of?  We should stay there for awhile and explore, too!  So we did.

And Germany is so close to Austria so we should visit our good friends there, too...and Venice is only four more hours, so shouldn't we...?  NO.  Someone had to draw the line, and so I did.  No Venice, no Italy.  Not this time.  We need to be sure to arrive back "home" in one piece.

Speaking of "home," we don't have one at the moment.  Most of our stuff is in storage in Colorado in my sister's garage, the rest of it is in the other sister's closet in Brooklyn.  Jeremy has a couple of months of work obligations in NYC, our next destination will be the Southwest, but not until later this summer...

What a fine mess we have created for ourselves here, right?  I know.  (Who comes up with these plans?!?)

Turns out, decent funished short-term housing in a safe neighborhood in Brooklyn and where small children are welcome is not so easy to come by.  I think decent housing in a good neighborhood in Brooklyn is hard enough already--without all the additional factors.  It was much easier for the kids and I to bail, to leave Jeremy to work out his last shifts at the hospital in NY on his own (so long, sucka), while we enjoy the (ahem) extended Spring of the Northwest (uh, tulips in mid-May...?  isn't that a little late?).

So we just stopped in NY for a few days to say hi and bye, collect our belongings and then move along.  One final transcontinental flight and here we are, living with the grandfolks.  We will be here for at least another two months.  Like I said, it feels great to sit still and rest.

deja vu

Daddy ordered a Coke last week at a restaurant.  "What's a Coke?" BR asked. 

A.: "It's a kind of beer."


I could've sworn we'd gone over that at least once before...

look where we are, Daddy!

Why isn't L. in the above photos?  Because she's at school, that's why!  

L. will spend the last few weeks of the academic year in a first grade class at her Granny's school.  She has had three full days so far and she loves it.

(ps: to Theresa and others who have been wondering where we are and where we've been, I have the same questions. 

Just kidding.  (Sort of.)  I am preparing a series of posts to try explain it all, including photos and all that good stuff so stay tuned.  But so you know, I took 140 shots during our first day in Germany alone, so...this could take awhile. 

after we left India...

I took a bunch of photos and video clips of some insignificant things that had become very important in a short 4.5 months. I have images of a shower stall, a city park, a bakery, the whole family taking a stroll down a real sidewalk...things we had been missing.

Mostly, though, we have all missed silence.  Anyone who has spent longer than a few weeks in an Indian city will know what I mean, so I made this for Stephanie and Paul and Jen Van O. and Catherine T. and anyone else who needs to breathe in thirty seconds of quiet in the outdoors:

(filmed in Austria, near Salzburg)

how does BR entertain himself on the 7th flight in a month?

he plays "Calutta traffic jam," of course.