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It’s 7:20 am and all is silent in the Maxey flat. I’ve literally been up since about midnight, but am surprisingly wide awake. I took a sleeping pill 2 nights ago and the effects lasted well into yesterday. I then made the mistake of taking a 4-hour afternoon nap w the girls, and THEN another 2-hour disco nap. So needless to say, I was up pretty much all night. Note to self: no more marathon naps.
The bummer of the all-nighter for me is that is typically when all of my anxiety and doubt creep in. It’s like they are hiding throughout the day (which is quite gracious, allowing me to enjoy the day!) but as soon as dusk arrives these little twinges of sadness and homesickness and guilt and fear pop up. Which have resulted in me feeling a bit sad & blue this morning. Hopefully once the girls & Wen wake up I’ll snap out of this and dive into another amazing Nuremberg day.
Which is what we had yesterday! It was a “bank holiday” here in Germany – I have no idea yet what that really means, other than that offices and shops are closed (there are a few more coming up, which means 4-day work weeks are on the horizon – fab! I heart bank holidays!).
We started the day by wandering the city center – the “downtown” area of Nuremberg is surrounded by a 3-mile historic city wall from the 15th / 16h centuries. Within the wall you will find everything from gorgeous churches from the medieval times to modern shops & apartments. It was Wen and the girls’ first time in the city center, so we just wandered and took it all in. There is a small river that runs through sections of the town, and there are amazing bridges at various points along the river which are just beautiful.
In the afternoon we took the girls to a park we had stumbled upon in one of our random drives – it was perfect! I have a feeling we’ll be spending quite a bit of time there – it reminded both of us of Riverside Park in NYC. There are tons of people on bikes, little outdoor food stands to grab a quick bite to eat, and lots for the girls to enjoy. We ended the evening with dinner al fresco at a little cafe near the park, which was perfect.
I mentioned to Wen yesterday that I had rather naively thought that I was past the hard stuff once I started feeling a bit better about the move a few days ago. Clearly this journey is going to be full of ups & downs – each day will be its own adventure, physically as well as emotionally. We’ll be exploring new things and feeling new things, and ultimately just need to trust that this is the perfect path for our family.
Missing you all from Nuremberg. Enjoy your Friday! xo.
piper lane at our new favorite park!
stella jane enjoying her dinner
Jojo - I miss you. The picture of both girls in front of the river is beautiful and looks tinkered with (like you plopped color onto a sepia print) and cute sad too. Sj’s face with the binks is the cute sad part to me — little, expressionless (thanks to binks) and wanting me to squeeze her (I’m pretty sure about that part). I love you all.
C. A. k - Consider it is vacation until you start to working. That’s what we do whenever we feel like sleeping during vacation……
And here’s Robert Frost, in your leisure.
The Road Not Taken
The roads diverged in a yellow wood.
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted to wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both the morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh. I kept the first for another day.
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence.
Two roads diverged in a wood,
And I took the one less traveled by.
And that has made all the difference.
I love you very much. Find something in the sun, in the rain, and in the wind. There will be something worth while.