This has to be the most amusing story that I have run across since I began reading the Polish weeklies published in English (although the drunk guy who broke wind at mention of the president's name was pretty funny too).
So, I'm reading the Warsaw Insider (http//:www.warsawinsider.pl) the other day and I run across an article about naming your baby. Like in the US, parents need to register their newborn in order to obtain a birth certificate. However, I couldn't stop laughing when I heard that the people who run this Bureau of Civil Affairs have the right to reject the baby's name. A law passed in 1986 gives these bureau employees the power to decide whether the name parents choose is offensive or potentially embarrassing to the child later in life. If you insist on a rejected name, you must petition a court of appeal.
At first, I thought this was a joke based on some rumor. However, I asked my Polish friends and they confirmed this to be true. Now that I think about it, this is probably a good idea for the US as well with all the weird names people come up with nowadays. But, it's not just the weird names. I learned that if I had wanted to name Thing 1 his given name and he was born here, they would not approve the English spelling. This means that Thing 1's name would be Rzecz 1 which is the polish name for Thing 1 (My son is not really named Thing 1, but for this blogs purpose that is his name). I'm afraid at what Thing 2's name would look like. I knew I was not crazy to have my second baby in the USA. Even if we opted for a 3rd while here, I would go back to the US to deliver.
So, celebrities beware! Courtney Cox and David Arquette's baby, Coco, would have had her name rejected for sure. Co in poland means "what." I doubt these conservative polish officials would have allowed them to name their kid "What?What?" Ditto for Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter "Apple," whose spelling would be altered to "Jabłka."
Monday, May 14, 2007
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Spring Break 2007: Southern Germany Theme Parks
Who says Florida is the theme park capital of the world? For spring break, we decided to have a fun family weekend and explore what Germany had to offer in the way of theme parks. Unfortunately, our trip did not get off to the best start.
I had reserved a taxi for the morning, but when the time came, there was no taxi. When I called, they said they could send one in half and hour. It was Saturday! How many people actively need cabs on a Saturday morning at 7am? There was no time to lose so we packed up the car and opted to pay for parking at the airport instead.
We rushed to the airport and parked in long term parking. Unlike other airports that have shuttles to take you to the terminal, we had to do without. The Cat took the bags and I took the kids up a hill to the departure terminal.
Things were not looking up since there was a very long line at Lufthansa's check in counter. There was no way we were going to make the flight. When it was finally our turn, we were informed that the Embassy travel office had not provide Thing 2 and me with a ticket, only a receipt. We were definitely not going to make the flight.
We went to the Carlson Wagonlit office at the airport to take care of the problem. The problem actually ended up saving us thousands of dollars. It turns out that, despite our late arrival at the airport, since the ticket agent made the mistake in not issuing the ticket, they would have to rebook our entire family at no cost to us. It was a major holiday week (Constitution Day and Labor Day) and had we had to change our flight for being late, we would have ended up paying nearly $1000 per ticket. So I am grateful for the agent's mistake.
The next flight to Munich was not until 3:30pm. So we had about an 8 hour layover in the Warsaw airport. Let me tell you about the Warsaw airport. There is only one terminal at this time because they keep delaying the opening of the new more modern one. There is a place to grab some ice cream, a cafe to have lunch and a few souvenir shops. That's it. No window shopping at Burberry or Coach. No toy store, nada!
After exhausting the ice cream and lunch options, the children played with some of their toys and Thing 2 practiced her walking throughout the terminal. She also peed on herself which required a change of clothes and since I had my luggage with me for a 6 hours of that 8 hour wait, it worked to my advantage.
We finally left for Munich around 3:30 arriving around 5pm. We rented our car and hopped on the autobahn towards Nuremberg which is mostly known for the war crime trials against the Nazis. The German autobahn is fantastic. It reminds me of home, but much more scenic.
Originally, we had planned to travel to the mountains to see Neuschwanstein Castle. The Cat and I had been there in 2000 and the kids had never gone. Thing 1 was familiar with it from the Little Einsteins. However, we had to cut that out of the itinerary because it was more out of our way than our other two destinations.
We arrived in Nuremberg in time to check in to our hotel and have dinner. We stayed a the lovely NH Hotel Nuremberg which was very clean and very modern looking. It reminded me of the decor at the Pizza "Bistro" Huts that I have previously described. I like chocolate brown so I was right at home.
We stayed overnight, had breakfast in the morning, packed the car again, and headed to Playmobil Fun Park. Playmobil is a brand of toys native to Germany that sell around the world including the US. Ironically, in researching the park, I found that there is a similar Fun Park in West Palm Beach about an hour from where I used to live. Go figure!
Anyway, the park is themed after the toys. It's not so much an amusement park as it is a play park. Different play areas were themed after different Play Mobil Sets. There was also an interactive indoor area where kids could explore the different toys and of course the gift shop.
The park was great. Our visit did not quite turn out that way. Thing 1 who has been suffering from terrible migraines, started experiencing a headache shortly after lunch. He ended up throwing up. We decided to cut our visit short and head to our next hotel, but he was really sick and was throwing up in the car. Luckily, I had a souvenir cup and let him use it to throw up in. It was not a pleasant day.
We checked into the Hotel Zettler in Gunzburg which was a bed and breakfast turned hotel. Thing 1 was feeling very ill and we just let him rest into the evening. We did not know if he would be up to going to his most anticipated attraction, LEGOLand Deutschland, in the morning. I think he heard us talking about it and made a complete recovery by dinner.
We headed to LEGOLand Deutschland the following day. It is every LEGO fan's dream. They had different areas themed after the different LEGO sets as well as a Mini Land of cities designed entirely with LEGOS. The park was more geared toward children Thing 1's age and older. I think 6 would have been a better age for him to have gone. Thing 1 enjoyed it anyway and Thing 2 was happy just tagging along, not quite understanding why her brother would disappear every so often. We spent a pleasant and very cool day at the park before heading back to Hotel Zettler.
The next morning we had a very pleasant and beautiful ride back to Munich to catch our flight home. The Bavarian region of Germany has loads of attractions for families and I'm not talking Oktoberfest here. The Germans are quite child friendly. For example, since Thing 2 is still drinking milk, I had to purchase milk every so often for her bottles. The Germans gave me free milk everywhere I went for her. Any time we went somewhere the kids would receive special treats. Young families would enjoy a vacation here.
I had reserved a taxi for the morning, but when the time came, there was no taxi. When I called, they said they could send one in half and hour. It was Saturday! How many people actively need cabs on a Saturday morning at 7am? There was no time to lose so we packed up the car and opted to pay for parking at the airport instead.
We rushed to the airport and parked in long term parking. Unlike other airports that have shuttles to take you to the terminal, we had to do without. The Cat took the bags and I took the kids up a hill to the departure terminal.
Things were not looking up since there was a very long line at Lufthansa's check in counter. There was no way we were going to make the flight. When it was finally our turn, we were informed that the Embassy travel office had not provide Thing 2 and me with a ticket, only a receipt. We were definitely not going to make the flight.
We went to the Carlson Wagonlit office at the airport to take care of the problem. The problem actually ended up saving us thousands of dollars. It turns out that, despite our late arrival at the airport, since the ticket agent made the mistake in not issuing the ticket, they would have to rebook our entire family at no cost to us. It was a major holiday week (Constitution Day and Labor Day) and had we had to change our flight for being late, we would have ended up paying nearly $1000 per ticket. So I am grateful for the agent's mistake.
The next flight to Munich was not until 3:30pm. So we had about an 8 hour layover in the Warsaw airport. Let me tell you about the Warsaw airport. There is only one terminal at this time because they keep delaying the opening of the new more modern one. There is a place to grab some ice cream, a cafe to have lunch and a few souvenir shops. That's it. No window shopping at Burberry or Coach. No toy store, nada!
After exhausting the ice cream and lunch options, the children played with some of their toys and Thing 2 practiced her walking throughout the terminal. She also peed on herself which required a change of clothes and since I had my luggage with me for a 6 hours of that 8 hour wait, it worked to my advantage.
We finally left for Munich around 3:30 arriving around 5pm. We rented our car and hopped on the autobahn towards Nuremberg which is mostly known for the war crime trials against the Nazis. The German autobahn is fantastic. It reminds me of home, but much more scenic.
Originally, we had planned to travel to the mountains to see Neuschwanstein Castle. The Cat and I had been there in 2000 and the kids had never gone. Thing 1 was familiar with it from the Little Einsteins. However, we had to cut that out of the itinerary because it was more out of our way than our other two destinations.
We arrived in Nuremberg in time to check in to our hotel and have dinner. We stayed a the lovely NH Hotel Nuremberg which was very clean and very modern looking. It reminded me of the decor at the Pizza "Bistro" Huts that I have previously described. I like chocolate brown so I was right at home.
We stayed overnight, had breakfast in the morning, packed the car again, and headed to Playmobil Fun Park. Playmobil is a brand of toys native to Germany that sell around the world including the US. Ironically, in researching the park, I found that there is a similar Fun Park in West Palm Beach about an hour from where I used to live. Go figure!
Anyway, the park is themed after the toys. It's not so much an amusement park as it is a play park. Different play areas were themed after different Play Mobil Sets. There was also an interactive indoor area where kids could explore the different toys and of course the gift shop.
The park was great. Our visit did not quite turn out that way. Thing 1 who has been suffering from terrible migraines, started experiencing a headache shortly after lunch. He ended up throwing up. We decided to cut our visit short and head to our next hotel, but he was really sick and was throwing up in the car. Luckily, I had a souvenir cup and let him use it to throw up in. It was not a pleasant day.
We checked into the Hotel Zettler in Gunzburg which was a bed and breakfast turned hotel. Thing 1 was feeling very ill and we just let him rest into the evening. We did not know if he would be up to going to his most anticipated attraction, LEGOLand Deutschland, in the morning. I think he heard us talking about it and made a complete recovery by dinner.
We headed to LEGOLand Deutschland the following day. It is every LEGO fan's dream. They had different areas themed after the different LEGO sets as well as a Mini Land of cities designed entirely with LEGOS. The park was more geared toward children Thing 1's age and older. I think 6 would have been a better age for him to have gone. Thing 1 enjoyed it anyway and Thing 2 was happy just tagging along, not quite understanding why her brother would disappear every so often. We spent a pleasant and very cool day at the park before heading back to Hotel Zettler.
The next morning we had a very pleasant and beautiful ride back to Munich to catch our flight home. The Bavarian region of Germany has loads of attractions for families and I'm not talking Oktoberfest here. The Germans are quite child friendly. For example, since Thing 2 is still drinking milk, I had to purchase milk every so often for her bottles. The Germans gave me free milk everywhere I went for her. Any time we went somewhere the kids would receive special treats. Young families would enjoy a vacation here.
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