Urban Surfing

Greg and I walked around the Englischer Gardens yesterday. The park is a huge city park, probably bigger than Central Park. There's a fantastic river running through it with a pretty strong current so people can float along it. Right where the river starts, people like to surf because it produces some good waves.

Here's just a pretty view of the park:

First glimpses of Munich

My friend, Lee and her husband Leif, happened to be in Europe and stopping in Munich this week. So, we invited them to stay with us at my aunt Na'ama's house. I wanted to give people a few highlights of our time together in Munich and the outskirts.

A large church-like building we passed along the way:

Some dogs in bike baskets we saw in the fruit and vegetable market downtown:


View of city hall in the Marienplatz:


Those three with their beers at the famous Hofbrau haus:


Audis passing our S-Bahn car on the light rail:


And lastly, one especially for those interested in green roofing, a grass roof on a garage we passed by:

Feeling the good karma

Our good friend in Aurora, Molly, really made us believe in karma-both good and bad. Well, we've definitely had some good karma on this trip so far. Our plane ride started out with some bad karma-we tried to check our cat into the flight at the wrong desk and were told that we'd have to go to the cargo area. Cargo was outside the airport, but not far enough that a taxi would take us (as far as we were told). Having no other alternative but a taxi, Greg and I found one and sat in it resolutely before we even told the driver where we wanted to go. There was no way he was going to tell us "I can't take you there."

After a $10 cab ride (!?!!?), we got to this cargo area only to be told that Scoots's carrier was too small and we'd have to go to a pets store to get a new one, which would make Scoots late for his flight. Thankfully, the guy at the desk took pity on us because of the whole cab incident and managed to find a good-sized, specially made carrier that someone else had left behind (see picture to right). And he didn't even charge us extra for the bigger size! Scoots went off in the new carrier and was much happier.

Since we now had our regular carrier to take on the plane, we had one more item to check in (adding to our two other large suitcases, duffel, and backpacker's backpack). We lucked out again with a great gate agent who didn't charge us extra for the unexpected piece since it was empty.

So, all in all, British Airways saved us $250 on this flight alone.

It finally sets in

It is definitely more fun when the wind drifts you by. Three-and-a-half hours into our flight from Chicago to London, we realized that our dream was coming true...we were doing what we've wanted to do and overcame many obstacles in our way to get there.

This decision to go abroad has seemed ludicrous/scary to some and exhilarating to others. Whichever it is (and I'm sure at times, it'll feel like both those feelings), it's our experience. We've claimed our lives, our mistakes, and our successes. They all will be of our own doing.

Hope you all enjoy the blog posts Greg or I write about our adventure in the coming years!