Europe Has A Smell

The things I think about when I'm in the tub.  I swear, it's like a mental vacation to some strange land where things occur to me.  Things that must be written down immediately upon exiting the tub, or they're lost forever, like a dream you're woken from that fades into nothingness.

Where was I?  Ah yes, Europe and how it smells.  I love Europe.  I've been there many times either for work or vacation.  I love the food.  I love the different ways things are done there.  I like the nice, solid windows they have.  I like their castles—even if they're cold and musty.

But there's something that makes Europe have a particular smell.  If you were to blindfold me, hit me over the head and transport me to Europe and then ask me where I was.  I just might know.  It's like Manhattan.  I love the smell of Manhattan.  There is nothing like the taxi ride in from the airport as you go over the bridge and then ride through the city.  You can't have the windows up.  Your nose will resent you.

Each country in Europe is unique though.  Germany has a different smell than England.   Both Austria and Switzerland each have their own smells.  France has a very French smell—but that's to be expected with the French, I suppose. 

There's something underlying that says, "you're in Europe" to me though.  Perhaps it's the climate, I can't say.  What I can tell you is I miss traveling for work.  It's fun being all alone doing international work and getting to go out to dinner or shopping or sightseeing to experience the culture.

Europe does have it's own distinct smell though.  It's a good smell.  I like Europe.

The Big Boy Update:  The days are getting packed with things to report on this end.  He is suddenly making the connection between words and things while at the same time being interested in trying to pronounce words.  He knows what you're saying, but he won't respond when you want him to with an answer, that is until a few days ago.  He is suddenly saying, "daddy" and even knows the picture of daddy on his license is, "daddy."  He can point to the moon in a book or in the sky and say, "moon."  He learned the word, "belly" tonight and tried to say it several times.  He just seems interested in trying to speak individual words of late.  He babbles all the time.  He'll tell you all about something and you have no idea what he's saying, but it appears there may be real words to follow soon.  This may turn into the, "Big Boy Words Of The Day" column soon.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   Crawling.  She crawled yesterday.  She's been wanting to move, but so far she's only slid backwards slowly.  Yesterday she wouldn't nap and every time I went upstairs she was almost up on her hands and knees in the crib.  So I brought her downstairs and put her on the floor while I worked on the computer.  I turned around and she was two feet forward.  So I stopped working on the computer and got the camera.  Babies don't perform.  I must remember this.  I got nothing on video.  Eventually she did show me what she'd been doing and she was indeed crawling, although she was doing some face dragging in the process.  She kept getting mad.  Mad and crying.  But more mad if I picked her up and stopped her from trying to crawl.