The first question
we’ve gotten from everyone about our trip to Europe has been “What about the
girls?” Don’t worry, guys. They were well taken care of. Both sets of
grandparents rose to the occasion magnificently and took turns caring for the
girls. We began our journey by traveling to Tennessee to drop the girls off
with the Boswells, who they stayed with for 6 days before meeting up with my
parents and heading to Alabama for the remaining 6 days. THANK YOU,
Grandparents! You made this incredible opportunity possible and gave the girls
the time of their lives. We are so grateful! Also, all the grandparents took excellent
pictures and saved up stories, so I’ll do a post about the girls and their
wonderful summer adventures, too.
After dropping the
girls in TN, Brad and I set off for Atlanta, which was a little less than a 5
hour drive. We didn’t quite know what to do with ourselves on a roadtrip with
just the 2 of us! We sat quietly for a bit just because we could! It’s such a
different experience. (We did miss the girls…we just also enjoyed finishing
every sentence we started.)
Before our trip,
Brad found a very reasonably-priced lot for us to park the car ($70 for almost 2 weeks!), and we got
through security and in the air, headed to Amsterdam with no problems. It was a
stress-free departure, which is always nice for those of us who usually
struggle in the Travel Drama Department. I watched Moana (does anyone have thoughts on that one? I’m still trying to
decide what I think.), and Brad watched Beauty
and the Beast (I occasionally paused mine and watched with him at my
favorite parts (we could talk about that one, too, but I’ll go ahead and call
it: Brad and I both loved it.). After those initial movies, we did everything
we could to sleep for most of the flight…but alas. I slept about 45 minutes,
and Brad slept none. BOO.
We had a long
layover in Amsterdam and intended to get into the city, but after talking to
one of the information desk ladies, we changed our plans (mostly due to my
concerns about getting back in time based on what she said about airport
security) and instead found some lounge-y chairs and attempted to sleep some. I
slept about 45 minutes again, and again, Brad slept none. We tried SO HARD, but
it just wasn’t meant to be. We did enjoy walking around the airport and
snacking some (when we weren’t semi-horizontal and trying to sleep). Some
helpful things to note about Schipol (Amsterdam airport): it has a couple of
little areas (off the beaten path) that have lounge chairs shaped kind of like
the chairs you find at pools and are great for resting after a trans-Atlantic
flight; there’s a huge climbing/play area for children in the upstairs food
court in the international terminal; there is also a wonderful baby center/lounge
that is made up of little curtained-off alcoves that contain cribs, changing
tables, and seating for mothers; there are also charging stations for phones
periodically throughout the terminal. I’ve flown through Amsterdam many, many times,
but I’m noticing different things about it now that I’m a mom. Playground! Baby space! Hooray!
Look at us! So bright-eyed, so bushy-tailed. *so caffeinated* We were sitting at a charging station, consuming caffeine and trying to look awake. And also matching...accidentally. Bless it. We met up with Griffin, Brittani, and Susan shortly after this, and I could not believe the first time I met these folks was the one time I was matching Brad.
Something I
learned when I lived in Ukraine: when you are headed to a former Soviet-bloc
country from western Europe, you will almost always have a departure gate in
the bowels of the airport. You will also have to take a bus from the terminal
to your plane. You will also discover that lines don’t exist anymore, and it’s
every man for himself. Yep. Flights to Poland are apparently the same. We met
up with 3 others from the Lilly group, and one of them said, “I can’t quite
find where the line is…” so politely while my muscle memory kicked back in, and
I started muscling my way into the crowd. Some things can’t be unlearned.
We got to Krakow
safely and with all our luggage and made our way to the hotel not too long
after. Brad and I got our room assignment…only to unlock the door and find someone in there! It was the wife of one of Brad’s cohort members (her husband
was in the shower, which could have lent the whole situation to even more
awkwardness!), but we didn’t know her, so it took a minute to figure that part
out. Poor Ashley... We went back to get our room sorted, and it crossed my mind that I really hoped no one else ended up with a
key to our room. That would be a
lousy surprise…
The whole cohort
(minus one who couldn’t make the trip) met up for dinner, and that was my first
experience with a Lilly dinner. Guys, we were there for about 3 hours. It was
excellent food and conversation.
Oh! And when one
of the girls from the cohort poured water from the
common carafe into her glass, she made a valuable discovery: rather than
finding a carafe full of water, she found a carafe full of VODKA. So much
vodka. She didn’t even have to taste it to figure this out; it was so strong a
lit match might have set the place on fire. A couple of folks tasted it just to
verify (because it was such a crazy discovery; who finds a carafe of vodka on the table??), and they nearly choked. We
found out later that the restaurant keeps both their water and their vodka in
plastic bottles back in the kitchen, so when they were filling the carafes for
the table, they mixed up the two. OOPS.
Brad ordered a traditional Polish dish at this first dinner: beef cheeks. It was yum. (I got a burger that was also yum but less exciting). Photo credit: Piotr
Dinner was really
helpful for me to start getting to know Brad’s cohort, and I thoroughly enjoyed
it! You know what else I enjoyed? Finally getting to go to bed after two days
of not sleeping. That was a good end to the day, for sure.
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