Karlsruhe Heat

The first few days of our travels were spent in Karlsruhe Germany where Mark was to have his first race. We were all a bit bleary eyed to start the first day as it was a very late night. Abigail did not sleep much with trying to sleep in the same bed with a 20-month-old. I got out right away to try and find some coffee and some food for everyone to eat. Many coffee shops did not open till later and finally had to settle on a small grocery store. Abigail and Jamie met up with Mark and headed to the Botanical Gardens. Becky and I met up later. It was already hot and eventually got up into the 80’s. Mark had not been feeling well for a couple days and was not doing well this day either. He headed back to his hotel to rest for his race. Jamie took a nap in the stroller at the park and then we headed into town to grab some lunch. We found a nice, shaded beer garden at a restaurant and relaxed there for a while.

It was a Saturday, and they street were bustling. Bicycles are everywhere in the city. People of all ages ride them, and they come in every size and shape you can believe. You really have to watch out for them as they will come up on you from every direction. Karlsruhe is not a very old city as European cities go. It was founded in the late 1700’s and has a unique feature that there are 32 streets that fan out from the palace. There are many streets crossing other streets at strange angles. The city was heavily bombed during WW2 and thus many of the buildings are post 1950. There are older buildings that survived the bombings and so there is still an old German city feel to certain streets and areas that we moved through.

After a quick Jamie nap, we headed to the Carl-Kaufman Stadium to see Mark run. He had been at the track long before we got there. Just as we arrived a storm blew through, not with any real rain, just very gusty wind. The heavy clouds and wind cooled things way down. Sadly, Mark was not able to complete the race. He started, but being ill for a couple days just took too much out of him and he could not do it. It is always enjoyable to attend these meets and see all the athletes and this particular one was a great experience due to being in another country.

We met up with Mark and headed out to grab some dinner and did the typical German meal of Five Guys Burgers. It was good. Then back to the hotels and to bed. We had tried all day to find a cot for Jamie. The only store that would have had one was closed on the weekends. Amazon would have taken several days and there was nothing to do till Monday.

In Germany on Sunday, they have Shop Closing Laws. This means that almost everything is closed, even many restaurants and coffee shops. This was also a problem as Jamie needed diapers. We did find a place to have a nice breakfast and then we started looking for diapers and only came across an apothecary that had adult diapers. We did find a woman coming out an apartment with children near Jamie’s age and since Mark speaks German, he was able to ask her, and she kindly gave us several for the day.

We then headed to the Karlsruhe Zoo. It was another hot day, but about 10 degrees cooler than the day before. We eventually rode some well-designed boats in the little zoo lake. The boats are on a track under the water, and you just get in and it takes you around. Jamie really enjoyed it. We then grabbed something to eat and there was a nearby splash pad that Jamie wandered into. Soon, he was very wet and very happy. He had a great time, and the other kids loved playing with him. After some food, some dry clothes, a little walk over to the rose garden he was asleep in the stroller. Becky and I each took off and wandered around the park and relaxed. Mark had to do a training run for next week ends race. Abigail just sat in the shade and kept an eye on the sleeping child. We finally woke him up and headed out. We ended the day by meeting up with Mark at a nice restaurant near the hotel and had a nice dinner outside. Jamie made friends with all the people around us. It was a good day.

The next day the weather began to change, and it was raining off and on. Mark had to work. Becky and I took Jamie to the gardens for a bit, and we found another water feature they had there. Jamie was pretty tired and only played in it for a short while. Mark, Abigial, and Jamie were all tired without any real sleep with Jamie not having his own bed. Abigail met up with us and said that they had ordered a cot for Jamie and we were all going to the mall to get it.

We rode the tram to the mall. Neither Becky, Abigail, nor I speak any German, so this little trip was a bit of fun. The CityMapper app is truly a great thing to have. When we got off the tram at the mall we first walked through the IKEA store that was right at the tram stop. Jamie fell asleep as we did. We then walked over to the actual mall and just made it inside before the skies opened up and down poured. It rained for over an hour. We got the cot and had some lunch and as we walked out the rain stopped. We made our way back to the hotel and Jamie loved his new cot.

Dinner this night was just some sandwich stuff we bought in the shop earlier. Mark and Abigail got Jamie down and then we adults planned out our next two days. We decided to head to Strasbourg France one day and then Basel Switzerland the next. Both are easy train rides from Karlsruhe. It did take a long time to get the train tickets bought for Strasbourg. We were going to try and watch a movie, but it took a bunch more time to get the tv to show in English rather than Polish and then we still could not get any device to work with it. We finally gave up and went to bed since we had an early train in the morning.

It really has been an experience being in a country where everything is in another language. It is my first experience with this. Very little in Karlsruhe is displayed in English and most people only speak very weak English. It has been a good experience to see what so many people who travel to the US or UK feel when they come. It is mentally exhausting at times when you just want to know the most basic things.