Blackhams on the Run: Visiting My Brother in Germany

My brother, Ethan, has been in Germany for a couple years working on a physics postdoc while his wife works on her PhD. They are getting close to finishing and even though the timing wasn't good with an almost one year old, I decided we better get over there to visit him before he moved somewhere else. We thought Andrew would be a good age to appreciate and enjoy Europe. Skyler came along too in spite of everyone telling me I should leave him at home because at 11 months I just couldn't fly half way around the world and leave him at home.

At Chicago OHare Airport excited for their first international flight!

One of the things I was nervous about with Skyler was the flight. We flew to Chicago and the three hour flight went fairly smoothly. But then we had to get on our eight hour overnight flight to Dusseldorf. Would he sleep or would he keep everyone up all night? He's such a happy baby but he's also at an age where he wants to get down and move around. We boarded the plane and found that they had put us behind the wall that separates business class and economy. I was thrilled for all the leg room. Our flight left around 5 pm. As soon as the plane started to move Skyler was asleep. Any chance he would sleep until we got there? Then they brought out bassinets for him and the couple next to me with a baby. He slept the whole flight except about half an hour when he woke up to eat. When we arrived at 9 am in Germany he was rested and ready for the day. It turns out my second worry about how he would adjust to the jet lag was no problem at all! It was the rest of us that took a few days to recover.

I would sleep all night on the plane if I had one of these beds too!

Ethan was there to greet us at the airport. I was expecting some cool weather but when we walked outside it was rainy and cold! I was worried that we didn't bring warmer clothes. We got the rental car keys and headed to the garage where they parked them but when we got to the parking space where it was supposed to be it wasn't the right car. We wandered around the garage hitting the buttons hoping to find the right car and freezing the whole time! We found someone who worked there who didn't speak a word of English. Ethan used his limited German to find out he had no intention of helping us. Ethan headed back into the airport to find some help and we finally stumbled along the right car. Then came the next fun part. Trying to fit all our luggage in the biggest European car we could rent! We finally fit it all in and we were on our way to Munster!

Andrew in front of Ethan's apartment in Munster

Ethan's wife, Cecilia, had some yummy crepes waiting for us when we got to their apartment. After we filled up on all the delicious food we had to try to stay awake until night time. Andrew spent the afternoon playing video games while we visited. I was amazed that he didn't give in to the jet lag and fall asleep. I guess he was too excited to be in Europe!

We crashed that night and expected to wake up early the next day but ended up sleeping for 12 hours! We were happy to wake up to a rare sunny day in Munster although it was still a little cool. We put Skyler in the stroller and went for a run. We came back to the apartment to eat breakfast and get ready for the day. At this point Andrew finally sat still long enough for the jet lag to hit.

The nap didn't last long though. We stopped by Ethan's work so he could show us what he and Cecilia have been working on.

Ethan's lab in Munster

Then we were off exploring Munster. Although this isn't the stunning part of Germany that most tourists want to see Munster is a cute little town and we enjoyed spending the afternoon walking around. Here's a look at what we saw in Munster.