Elternzeit II

The next adventure up for my family was the North Sea. Being so close to a huge body of water is like a magnetic pull to at least visit once....well it was for this land-locked girl.
We all piled in the car and headed up north until we hit water. The water was a bit chilly, but not nearly as

bad as I expected it to be. Eli and I played in the sand, made signs, and kept out of the way of jellyfish.
Oh yeah....
jellyfish....
They were everywhere! They were really pretty just slightly terrifying because none of us had to go pee.
They were this gorgeous purple that reminded me on a iris.
we kept poking them with sticks... Okay... -I- kept poking them with sticks.
It was very nice and I'd go there again in a heartbeat!

After that drive to the North Sea, I convinced my parents to try and travel by train since that's just how you do it here. So we decided to go up to Bremen the next day by train with a group of my friends. We all went to the Bahnhof, piled in a train, and were able to relax the entire way to Bremen. No yelling at the GPS. No looking for parking. It was rather great.
But first! We had to take a picture with the statue Bremen is known for. The Town Musicians of Bremen is a statue of a donkey, dog, cat, and roster all sitting atop the other's back. It comes from a very popular children's story that I'll let you google (or click the link I provided).





Just down the street from said statue, is a cathedral that Ty just had to check out. The St. Peter's cathedral was very nice, but the best part is that we could go up into the tower, just like in Hamburg.

View of the square from the tower.

Mom and Eli looking out over the town.

Just because being in the tower didn't make me tall enough....

Aw..... someone from 1986 loves me!

Love the english here.... think you're missing a consonant....

After that we walked over to the chocolate shop in style:

Hey, hey, we're the Monkees!

Mom was pretty happy once she got there.

She may have tried to buy out the whole store...

We walked back to the Bahnhof and were admiring the beauty of the building when I heard someone playing the saxophone on the street. Well....you know me! The dancer inside of me just jumped up and couldn't help but move. Sadly, Eli has gotten to the point where he needs to lead now, so I can't dance with him until I teach him how to do that.
So, next option. I slapped on my best puppy dog eyes and asked Blake to PRETTY PLEASE dance with me.

And it seems to have worked!

The next two days were fancy dinners. Both days we decided to suit up and go out either with or without my family depending on how tired they were. Here are some pictures just because when you suit up, you gotta take pictures! 

After that the family left, but I can't wait to see them again when I get home. Seems like they had a great time! I was very glad to explore with them and show off Germany!