The Long-Awaited Guests: The Visit

We were lucky to have some long-awaited guests last week. I wrote before about our plans and thought I'll share with you some of the things we ended up doing.

When you see good friends after a long time, you don't want to fill their visit with millions things to do. But even though we spent a lot of time just enjoying each others company, there was still many things on our agenda.

1. shopping, shopping, shopping - you can find some lovely picture from my friend's blog *here* and *here*

+20°C and sunshine - not bad for late October!

2. sightseeing with Thermine

3. feeding animals in Fasanerie

and my favorite part:
4. drinks and dinner 'ohne Kinder' - see a picture *here*

It was sad, when we had to wave them goodbye, but we have plenty of guests arriving from Finland during the following weeks, so they will keep us busy!

*****
Kauanodotetut vieraamme ovat jo palanneet kotiinsa, mutta tässä vielä pieni tiivistelmä, mitä kaikkea teimme heidän reissunsa aikana:
1. paljon shoppailua - piipahda kurkistamassa kuvia ystäväni blogista *täältä*
2. nähtävyyksien katselua kaupunkijunasta käsin
3. eläinten ruokkimista Fasanerie-eläinpuistossa
4. äitien vapaailta sushin ja drinkkien parissa!

The Long-Awaited Guests: Planning Their Visit

This week, we will get some long-awaited guests: my good friend and her family.

This friend of mine was my bridesmaid at our wedding and she and her husband are the godparents of Fräulein. After three years of us living in Germany, they are finally coming over to visit us!

For many people Wiesbaden is quite unfamiliar, but everybody knows Frankfurt. So, it is not a surprise that they are very interested in visiting Frankfurt.

However, I see Frankfurt as a city of business and finance, with a lot of offices. Naturally, we will take them for a visit, but I have also listed things that they could find interesting around Wiesbaden.


The Nerobergbahn  - a funicular railway that goes all the way to Neroberg. You can see a picture of the Bahn in all the postcards of Wiesbaden, so it is a bit of a landmark. Even though it is very close to our home, we have never ridden with it. Having guests could be a good excuse to visit it and I think the children would like it.

The Nerobergbahn railway, but no carriage at sight

Thermine: the little city train - a good way to see all the local sights could be to take the city train. And this could also be nice for the children.

Schloss Johannisberg - You cannot travel to Rheingau area without visiting a vinery! You can drive to Schloss Johannisberg following the Rhein and eat lunch (and drink wine) at their Restaurant enjoying the lovely view.

The view from Schloss Johannisberg

Fasanerie - There is a great zoo in Frankfurt, but with the limited time we have, I would recommend the local park with less exotic animals. But you are allowed to feed the animals there!

In Fasanerie, the sell food, which you are allowed to feed to the animals

Main-Taunus Zentrum - for shopping. Do I need to say more? ;)

Lalaland Café - Fräulein's 3rd birthday is this week, and I thought we could celebrate it with our guests is this lovely, child-friendly crêpes cafe.

Okinii - The guys will probably go to see some football (can a man visit Germany without seeing a football match?), so me and my friend also deserve a night out. And I have been craving for some tasty sushi since I was pregnant with Baby...


A lot of things to do for the few days there are here... Let's see what they think and I'll report our experiences!

*****
Saamme vihdoin hyvän ystäväni perheineen meille kylään. Jee! Piipahdamme varmasti Frankfurtissa, mutta listasin myös asioita, joita voisimme tehdä Wiesbadenissa ja täällä lähistöllä. 

Oma Oma*

Herr Welle is traveling the whole week (who would have guessed**... ). So, what do we do? We call my grandmother to the rescue!

You might remember, that my mother is quite an energetic guest. Well, my grandmother is exactly the same.

As it is impossible for her to rest while Fräulein is in the Krippe, she has (among other things) cleaned our fridge and defrosted our freezer. Something I have been planning to do for months...

But, needless to say, the best part of her visit is that we are able to spend time with her!

*) 'oma' is 'own' (n or adj.) in Finnish for 'own' and Oma is German for '
**) last weekend Fräulein was thrilled, because "her dad was visiting us"!

*****
Herr Welle on taas reissussa, joten mummoni lensi avuksemme. Ja loputtoman leikkimisen lisäksi hän on taas puuhastellut kaikenlaista, muun muassa sulattanut pakastimemme!

The Return Of the Energetic Guest, Part...um...103?

I don't let Fräulein to play with my camera,
but for some reason my mother's camera
seems to be full of this kind of photos...

My mother was visiting us for four days. This time we didn't have any furniture for her to assemble, but she did do a lot!

Among other things, she cleaned our windows and our balcony.

We did some shopping and enjoyed the summer by having lunch outside.

Fräulein enjoyed her new umbrella, even though it wasn't raining

We visited Opel Zoo (more about that later).

And the best part: she played a lot with the girls.

Hopefully she will find time to visit us soon again!

*****
Äitini oli meillä muutaman päivän kylässä ja hän sai taas tapansa mukaan paljon aikaiseksi.
Mutta tärkeintä tietysti oli, että tytöt saivat viettää aikaa Hammun kanssa!

Escort Service

If you have ended up in this post with Google search 'escort service', you might be disappointed: 
I do not provide any 'friendly' services nor maintenance for old Fords. 

The life of an expat is sometimes a bit lonely, as your family lives in a different country and you are not able to see them as often as you would like to.

I often read from the other expat blogs, how people miss their family and try to gather the finances to be able to meet them every now and then.

So, I must admit that being an expat within Europe is a "light" version of expat life. The flight from Germany to Finland takes just over two hours and by choosing a cheap airline (read: Ryanair), the expenses of the traveling aren't too high.

For example, during September, Herr Welle was traveling for two weekends. But my family was able to rush in and keep company to Fräulein and myself. First my grandmother was here, then my mother. For both of them, the costs of traveling were less than 100 euros.

On Wednesday, I will be flying to Finland for a couple of weeks together with Fräulein. Unfortunately, Herr Welle is traveling on business, so he cannot fly with us or even give us the ride to the airport.

If you have ever travelled with a toddler, you know that two hands are just not enough. First, I must get myself, our 20kg luggage and Fräulein in her buggy from the parking lot into the airport building. Then I must let Fräulein run around and consume energy before boarding the plane. And at the same time, I must take care of our belongings. The flight is scheduled so that Fräulein will (hopefully!) take her nap there. But as she is under two years old, she won't have her own seat and must sleep in my lap. Again, two hands won't be enough for me to, for example, reach my bag for a bottle of water, while she is sleeping. And then there will be the same problem with the luggage, the buggy and the toddler, when we will land to Tampere, Finland.

But to my great relief, my grandmother promised to help us! She arrived yesterday (her second visit within a month!) and will fly back to Finland with us on Wednesday! I couldn't be happier!

This escort service will definitely be worth the 100 euros, which her plane tickets cost!

*****
Expat-elämään liittyy monenlaisia hankaluuksia, kuten läheisten ikävöiminen ja lentomatkat naperon kanssa. Täytyy kuitenkin myöntää, että kun asuu suomalaisena Saksassa, nämä asiat ovat helpommin hallittavissa kuin jos elelisi jossain valtamerten takana.

Esimerkiksi pelkästään syyskuun aikana saimme sekä äitini että mummoni meille kylään. Ja nyt kun aiomme lentää Fräuleinin kanssa keskiviikkona Suomeen, mummoni riensi meille taas avuksi. Kuinka paljon helpompaa onkaan matkustaa, kun on kaksi paria käsiä huolehtimassa Fräuleinista ja matkatavaroista! Ja tämän seuralaispalvelun hinnaksi tuli vain noin sata euroa - todellakin sen arvoista!

The Return Of the Energetic Guest

We were very lucky last week and got my mother to visit us for a few days! As I have told you before, she is a very energetic guest!

Herr Welle and I have been thinking about changing our study / guest room into a room for Fräulein for a while now. However, during the end of last spring I didn't have any extra energy to make that happen, so Fräulein's bed is still in our bedroom.

But as there must be something for my mum to do while Fräulein is in daycare and taking her nap, I thought we could move our desk and bookcase from the study to the corner of our living room.

But we ended up doing a lot more than that! We even visited Ikea and bought some new furniture for Fräulein's new room. And as you saw in yesterday's Silent Sunday picture, we had some help in assembling them.

Helping grandma

Testing (no, this is not her new bed)

Moving books to the new room

I don't have any nice before and after pictures,
but here you can see some of the new things we got for Fräulein's room

But the visit was not just hard work. After many days of rain and autumnal weather, we were able to visit our favorite playground, too.

*****
Äitini oli meillä loppuviikon kylässä. Kuten olen kertonut ennenkin, hän on kovin puuhakas ihminen. Tällä kertaa olin ajatellut hyödyntää äitini paikallaoloa siihen, että siirtäisimme kirjoituspöydän ja kirjahyllyn pois vierashuoneestamme. Tarkoituksenamme on nimittäin ollut tehdä huoneesta Fräuleinin oma huone. Huonekalujen siirrot oli kuitenkin niin ripeästi tehty, että ehdimme vielä Ikeaan ostamaan uusia huonekaluja ja saimme jopa koottua ne valmiiksi!

The Second Week In the Krippe

Fräulein's 'acclimatization' in the kindergarten continues...

Monday

After the weekend, Fräulein seemed to be more happy to go to the Krippe. She walked in to the small children's room and was already starting to take part of the playing, when she remembered that mother was leaving and this was the time to cry. The day (or the two hours) had been even better than the previous Friday and she had eaten her breakfast.

Tuesday

Again 15 minutes longer day than yesterday. It there had been some good and some not so good moments.

After starting in the Krippe,
Fräulein's nap time has prolonged from one hour to two and a half...

Wednesday

Wednesday was a very rainy day (and the temperature had suddenly dropped from from Sunday's 30C to 18C). The group spend the morning in the play room, where there are balls, mattresses and cushions, and the children are allowed to run and jump around freely. The favorite activities for Fräulein! As a result, it was really difficult to have her leave the Krippe... 

Thursday

On Wednesday evening, we got a great guest: my grandmother! But the downside was that Fräulein didn't really like to go to the Krippe. She had also been more whining than usually during the morning. It was agreed with the teachers that Fräulein would spend Friday morning home enjoying the visit of her great-grandmother.

*****

Fräuleinin toinen viikko Krippessä alkoi jo paremmissa merkeissä. Keskiviikkoiltana saimme minun mummoni meille kylään. Ymmärrettävästi Fräulein ei enää torstaina ollutkaan innoissaan menossa päivähoitoon, joten perjantaina pidimme vapaapäivän.

The Sunny Celebration Of May 1st

Germans don't really celebrate May 1st like Finns do. I guess the day is here more for (not so civilized) protests, even though I haven't witnessed one. 

But even though we didn't have any 'sima' to drink or donuts to eat, we did some decorating with streamer and balloons.

Thanks to our Finnish visitors, our balcony is now clean. And Fräulein has spent most of the sunny days there. That is where she wants to go as soon as she opens her eyes in the morning and it is really difficult to get her back inside.

We had lunch at Schloss Biebrich (yes, again - it is really becoming a regular place for us).
There are always free seats outside, both in the sun and under the shades.
The food there is tasty. Usually we order their Flammkuchens, but now we enjoyed the asparagus menu.
And there is plenty of place for Fräulein to run and explore while waiting.

The royal wave.

No Finnish flag, but...

Walk in the Schloss park after lunch.

And back on the balcony.

*****

Vappua ei täällä Saksassa vietetä ihan samaan tapaan kuin Suomessa, mutta yritimme päästä tunnelmaan ilmapallojen ja serpentiinin kanssa. 

Söimme aurinkoisen päivän kunniaksi lounasta jälleen Schloss Biebrichissä. 

Ja Fräulein jaksaa keksiä tekemistä Suomi-vieraidemme siivoamalla parvekkeella...

To Do List Revisited

My mother was visiting us for four days.

My mother's luggage was full of gifts for Fräulein, like these Nokian boots.
It is good that Ryanair has the 10kg limit for luggages...

So, lets see, did we get anything done:

• Go shopping with her. 
• Go shopping alone ( = without Fräulein).

The first two points were combined and we went shopping together without Fräulein. She ended up buying two picture frames, I bought a bit more...

• Have dinner with Herr Welle. Yes, just the two of us!

Done! Saturday night dinner at Spital. I felt a bit old there, as the place was packed with people in their twenties enjoying their fancy-looking drinks.

• Have an appointment with hairdresser.

• Have a German lesson.

Not done - the teacher cancelled.

• Throw away a plant that does not have any leaves left (well, she can do that).

• Have our windows cleaned (by her).

Not done - wasn't warm enough.

• Arrange the bathroom cabinets.

Not done - I was lazy.

• See a doctor to have some moles removed.

Not done - I hadn't booked the appointment early enough.

• Clean the coffee maker and the water boiler. 

Not done - I was lazy.

• Have a cup of coffee outside.

Not done - everyone else had the same idea, so there were no free seats outside when we went out for coffee.

• Eat lunch outside.

Actually it was THAT warm only on Thursday, but Fräulein was in no mood sitting still while we ate lunch (well, she rarely is...). 

As you can see, quite a few things were left undone. But what was more important was that she played with Fräulein so that I could drink my coffee in peace. And taught her new things, like how dogs howl and how to show with her fingers how old she is (Fräulein, that is, not my mum). 

And she'll be visiting us again in two months, so I can copy these things to the new To Do list, which I'll start writing shortly.

On our way back from Frankfurt-Hahn airport.

To Do List

My mother is coming to visit us tomorrow.

She is the perfect guest.
I don't need to clean up the apartment before she arrives, because she likes to do that (yes, really!).
She is more than happy to spend time with Fräulein, so that I get things done.
She is full of energy, so she gets many unfinished things done while she is visiting us.
And beside fixing and cleaning our apartment and playing with Fräulein, she does not need any special activities arranged.

For a while now, I have been writing down the things to do while she is here. Things that I need help with, things that are nice to do with her and things that I need a babysitter for.

• Go shopping with her. 
• Go shopping alone ( = without Fräulein).
• Have dinner with Herr Welle. Yes, just the two of us!
• Have an appointment with hairdresser.
• Have a German lesson.
• Throw away a plant that does not have any leaves left (well, she can do that).
• Have our windows cleaned (by her).
• Arrange the bathroom cabinets.
• See a doctor to have some moles removed (Fräulein already took one off, but I would rather see a specialist...).
• Clean the coffee maker and the water boiler (I don't know why I need my mum for this, but somehow I get many things done while she is here, maybe the energy is transmitted to me, too). 
• Have a cup of coffee outside (yes, it really is that warm here!).
• Eat lunch outside (yes, it really is THAT warm here!).

I guess that is enough for four days...

(I hope she doesn't check my blog before she leaves Finland...)

Last year my mother was spending her birthday here in Wiesbaden,
so I took a photo of her under the Fossil sign...

So Süß!

We have had our first visitors of the year! Herr Welle's brother and Fräulein's cousin visited us over the weekend. The main activities for them were the ice-hockey and the football matches they went to see. We also ate sushi at Okinii.

Fräulein really enjoyed the company of her 11-year-old cousin. She also got a lovely gift from the guests.

There were three small 'muffins' and a plate. The top parts of the muffins are attached with a sticker, so that they can be taken of and put back together.

The toy set is by Imagetoys. The Danish really know how to make nice things. So süß!

Not a Good Idea

... to enjoy the company of your guests with some Glühwein on Christmas Market...

...AND shortly after try out take-away jumbo drinks...

... especially when your daughter is teething and wakes you up for a couple of hours just after you have fallen asleep (no photos available)...

Energetic Guest

My mum is the kind of person who does not like to just sit down and relax. When my daughter is taking her nap, there must be something for my mother to do or she gets bored. Her favorite housework is cleaning the windows, but unfortunately it has been too cold for that. Therefore it is good that there is Ikea quite close here, and we can always use some extra space for storage.

Inspection of the finished product

The Best Part of Expat Life: Having Guests

...and tumbling in the guest bed with grandma!