WE'RE HERE!

We have been in Freiburg for just over a week now, and I am happy to report that things are going very well. The days leading up to our departure however were stressful, to say the least. Edwin developed laryngitis / croup on the Friday before the Monday we were leaving. I spent most of the weekend taking care of him, and the majority of Sunday morning we spent at the walk-in clinic waiting to be seen. Luckily, the doctor also diagnosed an ear infection and we got medication for both ailments, unluckily we had a very sick little boy on our hands who needed to board a plane in 24 hours and a ton of packing still to do. Fun times—NOT. So, Charles took over most of the packing/cleaning/storing duties and I tried to keep Edwin happy and on the road to recovery. The meds for the croup kicked in pretty quickly and his breathing and cough started to improve. He did a great job on the plane, slept like a champ and stayed happily in his car seat for the entire 7 hour flight (I highly recommend travelling with a car seat). I think all those trips between Montreal and Toronto paid off, because (knock on wood) this kid is a good traveller. We had to change planes in Frankfurt and the last leg of the trip was a bit more trying than the first—jet lag, illness, and the fun of the airport was wearing off. We did however make it, and only suffered one luggage causality, we left the car seat in the taxi that took us from the Basel airport to Freiburg. So, Eddie's car seat is in Switzerland at the moment. I do have to give my husband a big, public, high-five for the stellar job he did packing my 27" iMac and Epson printer, both arrived safely. Thank you Charles, I should have never doubted your genius. (If you plan to take your computer on a flight email me and we can recommend a flight case.)

When we left Montreal we were wearing parkas, hats, mits and boots, thankfully spring is in full bloom here. I hated wrestling Eddie into those snow pants every morning. Speaking of Edwin, he is thriving. The freedom he has to run around by the Dreisam river, just a few minutes from our apartment, is unparalleled. We are all enjoying it so much. We spend a huge portion of our days outside, exploring, walking, running, climbing, jumping, touching, looking, smelling and listening to all the new things around us. I feel like this proximity to nature is what had been missing in our lives. North America provides the suburbs and countryside as an alternative to the hustle and bustle of city living, but Europe generally manages to keep cities liveable. We have always lived in a city and will likely continue to do so for Charles' job, but have also longed to be surrounded by the freedom and beauty that nature provides, I feel like this is what we have found here. Freiburg is not a big city though, with 230,000 inhabitants and surrounded by the Black Forest—and with the Mayor a member of the Green Party—it's not an impossible feat to make nature and city feel seamless, of course it takes a lot of planning and a strong will for it to succeed but it is possible—and it works so well here!

There are many more things to share about what life is like here, and I'm sure my opinions will continue to change as we spend more time in Freiburg. For now though, things are looking up! And, if you want to follow our journey in photos, I'm posting daily to my Instagram feed.

xo Bess