You can't judge a book by its cover

Micaela is working on some scrapbooking pages of the Twilight Saga and in a store the other day, this TeenBeat-ish magazine caught my eye. Robert Patterson, a.k.a. Edward Cullen, was on the cover, and as I'm always one to enable a scrapbooker, I got it for her. It looked perfect for a 12-year old girl: Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, Camp Rock and kids from High School Musical were all on the cover. There were even 2 "Best Friend" bracelets inside.

I had a few minutes before I needed to pick the kids up from school and decided to page through the Bravo magazine. Along with the many pictures of the aforementioned teen stars, there were articles about how to do better in school and how to be a good friend. Then, I turned a page and the world came to a screeching halt.

There were two pages of questions and answers on how bodies change during puberty, but I thought the featured question from a 16-year-old boy on how he is on his third sex partner now and is wondering why it "takes her longer" was a little much. The answer gave him hints on how to make it better for her. Gulp! Wasn't expecting that based on the cover of the magazine!

Then, I turned the page and there was the "Bodycheck" section. This is the section of the magazine where two teenagers or young adults pose naked and answer revealing questions about themselves. Totally naked from head to knees. Hello!!

I ripped out those pages and after double checking through the rest of it, gave Micaela the magazine. It was another moment where I realized that you can't take anything for granted.

But that's not all! Twilight just opened here a few weeks ago and Micaela had seen it with some friends at the foreign language movie theater in Frankfurt last week. Twilight was also showing this week for just a few days in English at our local theater, so yesterday Micaela and I went. We have both read the books and Micaela is a fan, but me, not so much. I couldn't help but compare the series to Harry Potter (as it is often referred to as "the next Harry Potter"), and found these books lacking. In a big way. But I had heard that the movie was supposed to be good, so off we went.

Beforehand, there were previews for Bedtime Stories and Inkheart. The powers that be obviously knew what audience to expect for Twilight: kids.

Then came a 3-minute ad for the German Film Academy. The first minute or so featured short clips from classic German movies. The second minute or so featured nothing but sex scenes. Graphic sex scenes.

I just sat there in stunned silence. I should have expected it. The week before I had seen Will Smith's Seven Pounds with an English friend and they showed that same ad. My friend leaned over and said, "Can you believe that? What would I have said to my son if I had brought him?" I just could not believe it when they started up the ad before Twilight. I froze and prayed that it would be a tamer version of the ad for this audience. Of course, that hope was in vain.

When it was over, I felt like I had to say something, so I leaned over to Micaela and whispered, "Well, that was an education, wasn't it?" She just rolled her eyes.

Catching up with Emilie

Lebkuchen is continuing its series "Conversations with the kids of Nylund6," this time interviewing 6-year-old Emilie. In a family with 3 other much noisier siblings, Emilie distinguishes herself with her almost constant cheerfulness, willingness to eat vegetables and being the family's only southpaw. Let's find out more about this little cutie-patootie.
L: How are you doing today, Emilie?
E: Good.
L: What did you have for breakfast?
E: Cookie Crisp.
L: Why are you always so tanned-looking?
E: (shrugs) Don't know.
L: What was it like to be in the U.S. over Christmas?
E: Very, very good. Presents!
L: What was your best Christmas present?
E: All of them.
L: What did you get to eat while you were there that you really miss in Germany?
E: Muffins (from the Marblehead bakery).
L: What is your favorite show to watch on German TV?
E: Spongebob Schwammkopf, because it's funny.
L: Can you understand it pretty well?
E: Pretty well.
L: What show do you miss that you can't watch here?
E: Oobi!
L: How did you feel when your dad first told you that you would be moving to Germany?
E: Sad
L: How do you feel now about living here?
E: .....(Big grin)
L: Does that mean happy?
E: ....(maintains freakishly large grin)
L: What do you really like about your school?
E: Ummmmm....(giggle)...art!
L: Is there something you don't like at all about school?
E: Work.
L: Which Barbie movie is the best?
E: Mariposa.
L: Really? Not Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus? Aidan is so funny.
E: M-o-o-o-o-m!!
L: Do your parents love you?
E: Yes.
L: Tell me about the time a few years ago when the whole family went shopping and left you at home by mistake.
E: When you came back for me, I was like "You forgetted me!"
L: Yes, your parents must have felt horrible. (Lebkuchen shakes head.) So, what's the best place you have visited so far in Europe?

E: Berlin. I liked the lights (Festival of Light) when we went on the bus at night.
L: You liked Berlin better than Disneyland Paris?
E: I liked both of them.



L: What do you think of Colin Firth?
E: I don't even know him. Jeesh!
L: He was Harry in Mamma Mia.
E: Oh, yeah. I like him.
L: Good girl. What do you want to be when you grow up?
E: A doctor.
L: A doctor? That's new. What kind of doctor?
E: A vet.
L: But aren't you allergic to some cats?
E: OK, a people doctor.
L: What will you dress up as for Fasching (Mardi Gras)?
E: A doctor.
L: What one place do you still want to visit in Europe?
E: Oh, any place is good....no, I know. Disneyland Paris.
L: Haven't you already been there?
E: Yes, but I want to go there again. Crush's Coaster was the best! Also Peter Pan.
L: What one word describes you best?
E: Silly.

My New Mercedes

Yes, I can say in all truthfulness that I currently drive a Mercedes.

Okay, okay. It's a rental. I was involved in a minor traffic accident a few months ago (not my fault!) and finally this week brought our Toyota Corolla Verso to the shop for repairs. The insurance company arranged for a rental and David stressed that the car had to be an automatic minivan (you may recall what a disaster my trying to learn to drive stick was last year) and we were assured that one would be waiting for me. I pulled into the Toyota dealership and wasn't at all surprised to see that the car waiting for me wasn't only a manual, it was a huge Volkswagon van that seated 10. These things never seem to go right the first go around.

I explained that I needed an automatic and during various phone calls heard the phrases, "She needs an automatic....Yes, automatic. She's American." When I was told that no automatic minivans were available, I said that a five-seater would be fine and said we would try again the next day.

When I pulled into the dealership the next day, I saw a little Ford Fiesta-like car in the rental car spot. It brought back memories of our first 6 months here when I tooled around in a tiny Fiesta and somehow stuffed my 4 kids in with me. The neighbors no doubt likened us to a circus act when we pulled in front of the house at the end of the day and kid after kid exited the teeny car.

The worker brought me outside and showed me not to the tiny sub-compact, but rather to this shiny new Mercedes. As beautiful as the car was, there was a moment where I wanted to say, "Umm, couldn't I have the Fiesta instead?" I would be nervous driving around in a Mercedes. But the moment passed.

Mercedes here makes everything from cars to buses to trucks. Their cars range from very expensive to much more affordable than in the U.S. This particular car is from the "much more affordable" line. It's a diesel which makes it a bit noisy and the interior is certainly not luxurious. No navi as we were promised. But the giveaway is in the back. What do you notice in the picture below that I don't think you can find in a Mercedes back in the U.S.?

Did you find it? Did you notice the roll down window? The kids think rolling down the windows is a hoot. Hey, that reminds me of a story...

A few months back, we arrived home from school in our Corolla that has power windows in the back. Right when we pulled into our parking spot in front of the house, James put down his window to look out and see how close I was to the curb, then pushed the window button before he got his head back in the car. At that moment, I shut off the car, and the frantic gasping/yelling began.

James' head was stuck in the window with the glass pressing hard up against his neck. I couldn't figure out at first if he was laughing, but quickly came to the conclusion that he wasn't. He could barely talk. We all went into panic mode and I hesitated for a split second before turning on the car engine. What if I turned it on and the window continued to go up? I took a breath, turned the car back on and yelled at James to push the button to put the window down. The window came back down, and James was left shaken with a mark on his neck. Still shaken myself, I said, "James, little children have died from that! (That's a true statement, by the way.) You need to be careful!" Later on in the evening, James rubbed his neck, looked at me and said in wonder, "Gosh, I can't believe I almost died today!" I gently explained that it never got that far, and David thought the whole story was rather funny. I can laugh now, but it wasn't funny at the time.

So, maybe roll down windows are not such a bad idea after all.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Right after our tour of Hohenschwangau Castle, we hustled back down to street level to catch a rustic horse-drawn carriage for the trip up to the other castle, Neuschwanstein (New Swan Stone Palace). We debated this carriage ride. On the one hand, it was more expensive than the shuttle bus, but the shuttle buses weren't running due to icy conditions. Plus, we knew the kids would enjoy the novelty of the horse-drawn carriage ride, so we found the long line and joined in. Without the shuttle buses, the line was long and slow and it was well below freezing. After 20 minutes of waiting and not moving much, I asked David, "How long till our tour begins?" and then, "How long does it take to hike up to the castle?" The kids were beginning to complain about the cold, Rebecca cried anytime her pant leg shifted and exposed the skin on her calves and heck, my feet were starting to ache from the cold.

This was our view of the castle as we waited. So close, but so far.

We waited some more and then after watching carriage after carriage arrive and still not seeing the line move much (did I mention it was long?), David and I decided that if we weren't in a carriage in 15 minutes, we would start walking. In retrospect, we probably would have been better off walking in the first place and keeping ourselves moving.

There was a group of tourists right in front of us from that certain other European country I wrote about in a recent blog entry when speaking about a group who had a system for cutting in front of us at Disneyland Paris. They weren't from France. I will only say that they came from a country beginning with an I and ending with a Y. This group was getting impatient as well and when one carriage returned from the castle, their fearless leader walked right up to the driver who was turning the carriage around and tried to comandeer it. She said, "I have a group of 15 people here. We can fill up your carriage right away." At least, that's what we figure she said because we heard the driver answer loudly in German, "No, it's not your turn yet. There are many people waiting in line in front of you!" The woman tried to pressure her, but the stubborn driver would not be swayed. We felt like cheering. David just shook his head and said, "Unbelievable."

Just in time (or so we thought), we boarded a carriage. We sat next to the driver who told us about the horses. Most of the horses we had seen were sweating bullets when they pulled up to the front of the line in this freezing weather and we were concerned about how hard they had to work, pulling at least 15 people at a time up a steep path. The driver told us that the horses only take 4 trips up and down the mountain and then are done for the day. Our poor horses were on their last trip and it showed, poor things.

I had my camera ready during the 20-minute trip, ready to take great shots of this picturesque castle. Imagine my surprise when I never got a view of it the whole time. The castle was completely obscured by the thick trees until we were upon it.

Arriving at the castle with not even seconds to spare. That white mist above the horses' backs is steam rising from their sweating backs. We snapped this picture and then sprinted up the path further to get to the castle entrance to make our tour, no small feat considering our children were still stiff and miserable with the cold. We made it, but just barely. Photos would have to wait till after our tour.

Neuschwanstein is the most photographed building in Germany, but photography is not allowed inside the castle. I did buy a few postcards of the interior.

King Ludwig II's bedroom includes a four-post hand-carved wooden bed, the canopy of which is carved as the cathedral towers from every cathedral in Bavaria, a secret flushing toilet (which flushes with water collected from an aqueduct) and a running sink in the shape of a swan.

King Ludwig is sometimes referred to as the Swan King in English and der Märchenkönig (the Fairy Tale King) in German, but he also often referred to as Mad King Ludwig. His castle has a fascinating history. King Ludwig II of Bavaria wanted to build a castle in the tradition of the knights of old and in homage to Richard Wagner. The foundation stone of the building was laid September 5, 1869. Neuschwanstein was designed by a theatrical set designer, rather than an architect, which says much regarding Ludwig's intentions and explains much of the fantastical nature of the resulting building.

Ludwig II was possessed by the idea of a holy kingdom by the Grace of God. In reality he was a constitutional monarch, a head of state with rights and duties and little freedom of action. And so, he built a fantasy world around him in which - far removed from reality - he could feel he was a real king. From 1875 on he lived at night and slept during the day.

King Ludwig's Throne Room features a glass gem-encrusted chandelier, and paintings of all Twelve Apostles on the wall that surrounds the pedestal for the throne. The actual throne was never finished.

The Singers' Hall is a venue for performances by musicians and playwrights. The King built it for Wagner as a place to write and perform plays. The King died before watching a performance in the Singers' Hall, but it has been used since the King's death.

With only 14 rooms finished, Ludwig moved into his new home. He had only spent a mere 11 nights there when his refusal to react rationally to foreign banks threatening to seize his property (he was in debt due to his pet projects such as Neuschwanstein) led the government to declare him insane and depose him. Ludwig II was interned in Berg Palace south of Munich. The next day he died in mysterious circumstances in Lake Starnberg, together with the psychiatrist who had certified him as insane. Just seven weeks later, the castle was opened to the public.

With the tour finished, we could now take what must surely turn out to be outstanding pictures of the castle and our beautiful children in front of said castle. The only problem was that that was nearly impossible. The castle was enormous and once you left the woods, you were too close to the castle to get a decent shot. And as I also quickly realized, those most famous shots you see of Neuschwanstein, like this one (see scanned postcard below)....

..can apparently only be achieved if you scale the dangerous-looking cliff opposite the front of the castle, hire a helicopter, or invent a flying car with a mind of its own.

Becca has just about had it with the cold temperatures.

Emilie and me in front of a tower.

The kids at the entrance. No amount of me saying, "Kids, they show Chitty Chitty Bang Bang being taken in through this door!" got the kids to snap out of their cold-induced haze.

A decent view of the castle on our trip back down the mountain.

After a welcome cup of hot chocolate and right before we left for the long drive home, everyone posed for this semi-happy castle-over-our-shoulders-shot.

The view of the Alps as we left the area was stunning -- and my camera was packed away in the back of the minivan. This picture from someone else's blog almost captures how beautiful it was.

Hohenschwangau Castle

This was the view of Neuschwanstein Castle (actually, the back of Neuschwanstein Castle) as taken from our hotel balcony by James first thing this morning.

Our day started with a delicious and satisfying breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I am loving this hotel more and more. Firstly, they let us all share a room, rather unusual here in Europe. We really have to search for hotels that will allow even 3 people to a room. Then the cheerful young lady who greeted us at the door yesterday evening scooped Rebecca up and carried her up the stairs to our room. Plus we have a great view of the castle from our balcony and now a yummy breakfast. We'll overlook the roaring toilet in our bathroom that has unnerved Emilie and Rebecca. For some reason, the toilet emits roars at random times. We're just sitting on our beds, no one is in the bathroom, and the toilet will let out a low rumbling....well, the only way to put it is a low, rumbling roar. Perhaps a dragon was driven from underneath one of the castles by all the tourists and now resides in a cave under this very hotel?....No? The kids didn't buy it either.

Our first visit was to Hohenschwangau Castle (Castle of the High Swan County) built in the 19th century. It was constructed on the remains of the fortress Schwanstein, which was built by a family of knights sometime before the 12th century. After the demise of the knights in the 16th century, the fortress changed hands several times and then fell into decay and eventual ruin at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1833, reconstruction of the Castle began by its new owner, the future King Maximilian II of Bavaria.

It was a 15 minute climb up to the castle, with beautiful views of the Alps in the distance.

Some photos taken in the courtyard, waiting for our tour.

The wall above the gift shop

A view from the courtyard

Once inside the castle, we were informed that we were not allowed to take any photos. Here are just a few photos from the castle's website. This is the "Hall of Heroes and Knights."

The Queen's writing room

The bedroom of King Maximilian II and then of his son King Ludwig II. Much of the castle was decorated in the gothic style with countless frescoes on the walls depicting heroic German sagas. These paintings, along with Richard Wagner's dramatic operas, fed the young Ludwig's fantasy-filled imagination.

We were allowed, however, to take pictures through the castle windows. Here is a view from a Hohenschwangau window of Neuschwanstein Castle located just across the valley (click on the photo to get a better view). King Ludwig II wanted to build a retreat in the authentic style of the old German knights' castles and as an homage to Richard Wagner, his inspiring muse.

Knights bidding us good day as we left the castle.

Füssen and standing in line

We flew home to Germany after a great visit to the U.S. and arrived in Frankfurt on December 31st. We wanted to be in Germany for New Year's Eve with its crazy, even dangerous fireworks being set off on every street corner. So, we watched a bit of TV, including some of Elvis' concert from Hawaii, till midnight. Then, the fireworks. We weren't disappointed. They were everywhere and lasted at least 1/2 hour.

Today, we made the American pilgrimage down to Füssen to see the famous castle Neuschwanstein. My German teacher had made the crack "Every American who comes to Germany has to see this castle, which is known to them through the Disney movies. It's not so important to Germans." (as if you see no one else there but Americans. That was hardly the case.) I added that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang shares that claim, but no one seemed to know what I was talking about.

We were sure to pack hats, scarves, mittens and long underwear as temperatures in Frankfurt were well below freezing and we were going to be at the foot of the Alps. It was sure to be even colder there.

We chose to drive as there wasn't a fast train down to the city of Füssen,in Bavaria, but soon enough, ran into slow traffic, the result of busy ski vacationers, according to radio reports. We did enjoy listening to the last book of The Series of Unfortunate Events. Lemony Snicket's books, read by Tim Curry, are fantastic. It's been so nice having the kids be old enough to listen to audiobooks on long car rides instead of needing to watch DVD after DVD to keep them from bugging us with "We're so bored!" and "How much longer to we have to drive?"

The highlight of the trip down was stopping at a large restaurant/gift shop building to use the bathroom. The line went almost out the door and as we discovered as we shuffled our way forward, went down some stairs and wound around a hallway. There were probably 100 people in front of us. We would have a bit of a wait. I saw an older women (who should have known better) come out of the gift shop, look up and down the bathroom line and then cut in line -- in between David, the kids and me.

Whenever this happens to me -- usually at the meat counter at the grocery store -- I just let it go because it's not worth my trouble to try to argue with someone about my place in line. Plus, they're usually older woman who would no doubt feel that I had no respect. This time, however, my husband who was in the back of our group piped up in German and then English with, "Don't you want to go stand in the back of the line like every one else had to?" She just ignored him with a smug expression and he said a few more thing that probably made her nervous, because she then tried to get in front of me. No can do, lady! I stuck out my elbow so that she couldn't and ignored her pressing against me. When we hit the stairs, I continued to block her and then started ushering my family in front of me, so that at least she would have to be behind all of us. At that point, she had the gall to be outraged and as James tried to pass her, she blocked him. I reached my arm out to grab him and she batted my arm away. Wrong move, lady. She unleashed the beast.

In very bad, broken German, I yelled, "That's my son! I have four kids, little kids who need to use the bathroom! All of these people have been waiting and you just come into the line like this!" And then the coup de grâce, I finished with "Shame on you!" With a dramatic flourish, I grabbed a hold of a wide-eyed James and yanked him to me. Then I gave her my best imitation of the German Glare.

Our children didn't quite understand what was happening and were mortified that their parents were yelling at some lady. We explained what had happened, but they were still mortified.

And, I must admit that my "Shame on you!" did not come out quite that way. I said instead "Too bad, too bad!" (too many words in German begin with "sch", I got mixed up between schade and schande), but I'm sure she understood my meaning. The kids won't let me forget it and have been teasing me about that ever since, and the expression "Schade, schade!" has become a Nylundism.

The whole standing in line thing is fascinating. I'm sure many studies have been done about how different cultures handle queuing. For Americans and the British, it's so basic. You stand in line like everyone else and wait your turn. It's fair and it works. How could anything else be acceptable? Germans are usually OK with waiting their turn, but you hear stories about people getting elbowed out of the way by old ladies in the line at the bakery.

We expected the worst at Disneyland Paris as we had read about the French habit of cutting in line. What we noticed instead was how a group of about 20 people from a certain European country that shall remain nameless (except that it was not France) handled queuing. The group would send the 8 or so adults out to different lines to wait, then when the rest of the group (mostly kids) finished with one attraction, they would join the adult who was nearest the front of the line at another attraction. This was all being coordinated with the aid of cell phones. I cannot tell you how disheartening it was to be standing in line for 20 minutes (truthfully, the lines were not nearly as bad as at Disneyworld Orlando, but that's beside the point) and then have 12 kids giggle and push their way to the front of the line where an adult was waiting for them. They weren't breaking any rules, but by the 5th or 6th time of seeing that, we felt like yelling, "Hey! That's not fair!"

Another time at Disneyland Paris, I patiently waited my turn to buy a drink at a beverage stand. When I got to the front of the line I opened my mouth to speak and the guy behind me reached over my shoulder, waved around some bills and shouted out his order. I held my hand above his, looked the lady working there in the eye and said, and it helped, I think, that I spoke French, "I'm next. I'd like 2 bottles of water, please." And she took my order first.

We finally arrived in Füssen and were looking forward to stretching our legs, doing some souvenir shopping and having dinner. When we got to the touristy pedestrian zone, it was dark, we couldn't get a good view of the town, all the stores were closed and the area was pretty much deserted. It was 5:30 on a Saturday night, and, according to the radio, the place should have been crawling with skiers on holiday!
This is what we would have seen if we had arrived earlier as planned. The restaurants were open, thank God, and we got a bite to eat before we all kind of looked at each other, shrugged and said, "Well, we might as well go to the hotel."

Our hotel was in Schwangau, where the castle is and from Füssen took a whopping 5 minutes to get there. Bummer. It was still early, so what were we going to do for the rest of the evening?

We checked into our hotel (see above; now, imagine it completely white with snow) and were pleased that for the first time (and no doubt the last) we were able to fit everyone in one room. We spent the evening watching a few documentaries on ABBA (the Swedish singing group who sung and gave interviews in English, but their interviews were then dubbed into German-- Schade, schade!) and planning our sightseeing day tomorrow.