Things Missed

We had a great little trip to Munich. Lena was a trooper, not making much of a fuss no matter what situation we put her in. Whether it was being mauled/hugged/kissed by two older pre-school boys, staying up waaaaay past her bedtime or getting her to sit through an entire concert of music, she hardly cried at all. I will post some pictures and a longer post once I shake the cold I took back as a souvenir.

Being back made me realise there are a few things that I do really miss about Munich/Germany.

• I mentioned this a bit before. Saying hello, aka "Grüß Gott" when I walk into a shop. And also having the shopkeeper or cashier wish me a nice weekend as I walk out of the shop. It's just the same as the "Have a nice day" that some people find superficial, but hey, it's still better than being wished a car accident to befall you.
• I miss having a bakery on every other corner with lovely little pastries to buy.
• I miss really good public transport. We haven't had the need for it so much here, since we don't know so many people. But in Munich we travelled a lot with trains and trams and buses and it was easy, even with the stroller.

I miss all these things, but I still don't think it was as tough a move as it might have been. I think I was right when I talked about it before, that because both the move and the baby came more or less at the same time, it wasn't as difficult a change as if only one had come along at a time. For example, if we didn't have a baby and moved here, we would often be at a loss of what to do on weekend nights. That's far less an issue with a baby. If we had had Lena in Munich, most of our friends, who are for the most part single or at least childless, would still be doing their thing like watching the rugby six nations in a smoky busy pub. And we couldn't take part in that either. So in a way, doing both at once is easier. The people we are meeting now tend to be in the same life situation as us, new parents, and so are in the position to do the same things as us too. Going over to someone's house for dinner is pretty exciting, as compared to how going to a restaurant or a club used to be the thing of excitement.