Kinderwagen

In German, a stroller is called a "kinderwagen". I got mine back in the US. Mostly because they're a lot cheaper in the US, and I didn't want to get over here and then have to figure out where/how to get a stroller in the middle of the winter with no car. I love my stroller, it's been really fabulous for us. The boys sit stacked on top of each other. I've gotten tons of comments about about the "double decker" aspect of it, both in the US and Germany. It's one of the smallest double strollers (with two actual seats) I've ever seen, which makes it great for loading in and out of elevators, riding the subway/train, and getting through small  door ways and shops.

Taking the stroller with me everywhere has many advantages. I have a place to store my groceries, the kids can nap anywhere, and I don't really have to edit myself when deciding what to bring on outings (why not bring that extra jacket? We've got the space!) There are however, a few drawbacks to the stroller. It really doesn't do well with stairs, and the subways are typically many flights of stairs underground. I've gotten fairly adept at taking escalators, but I prefer to use an elevator when possible.

Riding the elevator here can be quite a trick. If you hang around a little bit away from the elevator door, you will basically never get to ride it because people will just step right in front of you. Today I really didn't feel like taking the escalators, but I had so much trouble finding and using elevators! I waited three cycles to get on one elevator because it had such a long line of people with strollers all waiting. That doesn't really bother me though, I'm ok with waiting my turn and the kids were at least happy. When I went to get back on the U-bahn (subway), I found the elevator and patiently waited my turn. The elevator came up, the three strollers in front of me got on, and it went back down. I was now next in line to ride the elevator. I then realized the man next to me was planning to get on the elevator with 3 large rolling cases of bread (each one was as tall as him and maybe two or three feet square). I was pretty sure he and I could fit so long as no one else tried to cram their way on. Of course while we waited a number of middle aged German women came up and positioned themselves to attempt to squeeze their way onto the elevator (this is sort of what they do, I don't know why they don't just take the stairs or escalators, but they don't, and they don't like to wait their turn either). The bread guy looked at me as the elevator ascended, said something and made some motions which I'm pretty sure meant, "Let me put these three cases of bread in the elevator and then I'll hold the door for you." Against my better judgement, I nodded my agreement. No sooner had he gotten the third case unto elevator then one of the middle aged women started pushing her way into the elevator. The bread guy started yelling at her about the kinderwagen, pointing from the stroller sized spot in the elevator, and back at me, but it was no good, two more middle aged women were squeezing on to the elevator, and the bread guy was overruled. To his credit, he was pretty good at defending me, and I could still here him lecturing the women as the elevator descended. Finally with the next elevator I was able to get a spot. After all of that, I ended up taking an escalator from the mid-level of the station because the elevator from there to the subway was out of order!

Our stroller on the U-bahn:

All snuggled in for a walk!