As many of you know by now, we joined the Au pair program a few years ago when I went back to clinical rotations in medical school. (Curious about the au pair program?? Message me and I'll send you a referral!)

We had our first au pair, Lovis, for 1.5 years and she became such an integral part of our family! It was so hard to say goodbye, but we planned to meet up in Germany before I started residency!  From Iceland we flew to Hamburg, Germany. Lovis was waiting for us outside of the baggage claim and we were reunited!! We immediately picked up right where left off and started exploring the city! The boys jumped into her arms (Matt with only mild hesitation), and off we went!

She was prepared for the chaos of our family travel and braced herself for the adventures ahead. We were grateful to have a local tour guide and our own personal translator. She taught us the rules of the market, grocery stories, and most importantly the autobahn! The first night we had dinner by the river and explore the city center! It was so nice to be with Lovis in a German city by her home. She was explaining all the customs she had told us about, saying "see tipping and service is different here!" "Water at restaurants is so expensive!"

We went to the city center our first day in Hamburg and then bought some groceries for our hotel apartment. It was so nicely prepared with a crib, large refrigerator, full kitchen equip with dishes!  The apartment even had two bathrooms, and we didn't have to go the Air B&B route!  We talked until it was too late and then after Lovis' train ride and our plane ride we called it a night to prepare ourselves for a day of sightseeing.

The next morning we put on our walking shoes (or should have) and walked through the Botanical Gardens, down the city center and through the back streets up to the boat docks. We stopped to get German cinnamon rolls at the shop right outside the central train station and the boys were in LOVE! There wasn't any to spare for the pigeons, the boys loved them!

After our day of walking and exploring we loaded the car to get to Lovis' parents house for dinner!  We arrived on a holiday, so we were nervous about the holiday weekend traffic, but it went perfectly. Before long we were on the autobahn and Lovis was interpreting all the signs and rules of the road. Nothing like driving on the autobahn with a Nissan full of carseats!  (not the same experience as the many Porsche's that passed us - ahaha!)

Now it was off to seeing Lovis's home and community in Minden, Germany!

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