Ok. I know I’ve done this before. Moved internationally. So I know these first few days aren’t easy. Like…not at all. Jet lag, living in a temporary apartment, not having our stuff, trying to eat..food. Oy. But it’s a different kind of hard this time.

For one…I’ll have to DRIVE. I’m putting it off as long as I can. We went out yesterday and oh my word. It will take some getting used to. Which better happen soon because I have to drive the girls to school on Wednesday. And then find my way home. And then back to school again! Oh man. I can’t wait to post about that…

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And did I mention it has pretty much rained non-stop since we got here? Yeah. Good times.

Oh…and NOTHING is open on Sundays. I like it. I do. Time to spend with family. But it will take some getting used to. As in..we’ll have to figure out dinners ahead of time. The “nothing” that is open includes grocery stores.

Our plane landed at 9:30am on Friday and we got to our apartment by about 11:00. Thankfully customs was a breeze. That meant we had the rest of the day to try to stay awake. Andy went to get the car from 3M and make a cursory run to the grocery store. Eggs, milk, cheese, fruit, bread. The makings of a perfect breakfast for the Piepel girls. (Honey Nut Cheerios were no where to be found. Yikes.)

But first…we had dinner to deal with.

Yes. We had to go out.

Side note…(we can juuusst see the Rhine River from our window!) So. Cool. And this Ferris Wheel will be here until January 27. Littlest hasn’t stopped asking when we can go ride it.

So out we must go. We walked down the Rhine towards Altstadt (Old Town). I hear that during the peak season, it is hopping on Friday Nights. Thankfully we didn’t have huge crowds to deal with, but it was super cool seeing the Germans drinking beer at the standing tables outside the pub. I look forward to trying that out.

It’s about a 5 minute walk or so to the cluster of restaurants in Altstadt. We chose an Italian one and said a Hail Mary.

This could have gone one of two ways. Need I go on? The girls ordered pizzas and they can be super picky about their food. Long story short, it was – hands down – the best pizza they ever had. (Ours was pretty good too!) I couldn’t believe it. They are ready to go back.

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Littlest is literally begging for ice cream. After a few ‘no’s’ She lays down to pout and it was lights out.

Remember how I said it was a quick 5 minute walk from the apartment. Carrying a 5 year old home felt more like 5 hours. Man she’s heavy. And of course woke up just as we got home.

So I guess you could say Day 1 was a success.

Lots of emotions coming up. Things aren’t exactly like we pictured, so that will take some getting used to.

Thanks for all the well wishes. That was cool to read all the comments on Facebook. Love you guys.