The arrival in Jena

Chris and Karen arrived here almost two weeks ago now, after a flight during which my perfect nephew slept almost continuously (taking short breaks to charm some people on the plane), and after a train trip during which he slept again (after charming some more people on the train). Taking the train from Frankfurt requires a transfer in the city of Weimar, which is quite close to Jena, and Jeremi and I hopped a train to go meet them there to make the transfer a bit easier. (And maybe also because we were too excited to wait any longer.) Here's a picture of me meeting them on the platform.
That night we had lots of fun. Jeremi began his charming of Owen...
Owen had his first encounter with a walker (which are still legal here)...
...and his first encounter with a cat. For the record, she was fantastic. Even when he grabbed her fur with both hands as hard as he could, the most she did was walk away.
We had a meal of several salads, Zwiebelkuchen (onion cake traditionally made in the autumn) and Feder Weisser (wine which is not fully fermented, sold only in the autumn) ready for them, after which we played the first of many games of euchre. Here's Owen helping me and Karen win.
Unfortunately the weather the next couple of days in Jena was truly horrible, raining more than I've seen it rain here since I arrived. Still, they persevered and made the best of it, and appreciated the opportunity to recover from the jetlag a bit. Here are Owen and Jeremi all decked out in rain gear and ready to check out the city.
And on Wednesday they came by my work, and had cake with my colleagues right after the seminar I unfortunately had to give the day right after they arrived. On the upside, they got to try the weekly seminar cake, as well as their first bratwurst as the graduate student/postdoc organization chose that afternoon to grill the excess sausages left from their party back in July. And of course they visited my office. Here's Owen trying out my desk.
After the bratwurst (and my presentation) we were all really thirsty for some beer, so we headed out to Wagnergasse, the cafe-filled street in Jena, for some drinks and food. Our friends Calin and Susanne came along too, and got to try their hands at Owen-bouncing.
Thursday it rained so much that none of us really went anywhere (including me not going to work, which was okay as I'd been working like a crazy person before they arrived), but on Friday they stopped by the lovely fall market, as well as the city museum.
Stay tuned for the next update from our trips to Freyburg and Bamberg.