DAY 9: (Dec29) Sat : Holocaust Memorial, Alexanderplatz, etc.
We got up rather late, having been out so late. Yay! There was blue in the sky!

We had to wait to take a shower as the other people in Evelyn's apartment were taking their time, possibly washing each other in the bathtub for an hour.

We enjoyed a laid-back breakfast while waiting for the couple to finish up. We cussed them, watching the weather fade outside.

A LONG WALK IN BERLIN

By 12:30 pm, we were at Holocaust memorial, near the Brandenburg gate. We took some pictures. I sat and took in the site, while Jason found some cool angles.



A young German woman in front of me was especially annoying. Here this was a monument and she was screaming and laughing loudly to her beau:

"Oh my God, look at the picture. Oh!." She laughed hysterically, "Take another!" she screamed.

In retrospect, I should have approached her and reminded her that this was a monument, that, she, if anybody should be respectful to it. But, I kept to my own and sat and thought. People don't sit and be still and think enough.

Jason had eyes on going to the Jewish museum, but I suggested, instead, a walk across Berlin to Alexanderplatz, to a famous restaurant I knew that was under the TV (fernseh) tower.



This meant walking past the Spree, the Berliner Dom, the Palast der Republik (which is 3/4 demolished) and more...



We literally happened upon Gendarmenmarkt on accident, but didn't go into any of the edifices. We walked on past the Neptune fountaine.

At Alexanderplatz, we ate at "Alex" (restaurant.) My food was good but Jason's fish & chips were lacking.

We went to a couple of ths shops, including the Galleria Kaufhof, on Alexplatz. We both liked this store better than KaDeWe, although even sale items were laughably expensive, even if there had been a good exchange rate between Euro and Dollar. We looked, but did not buy.



THE TREK FOR DINNER - MORE WALKING

I suggested that we go to an Italian Restaurant in Wedding (by Evelyn's place) for dinner. After dropping off our stuff, we walked a couple of blocks to the restaurant. I found it! Unforunately, the lights were off. Closed for the holidays. Guido probably went back to Italy to defrost for a week.

So... Where to go? I thought the best idea would have been to go to Friedrichstraße--you know lots of shops = lots of places to eat. That's what you would think.
We got there and there were not so many options. We did see the Italian restaurant we ahd been to earlier in the week. (Ironically, this would have served our purposes fine!)

We walked on. And on. And on. Since we thought we were going to the nearby Italian place, we were not wearing gloves and hats and it was cold.

We finally settled on a Bistro across from Gendarmenmarkt, which was ok, but, in retrospect, overpriced. Anyway, it was a warm place to ear decent food and chug down a beer or two.

The idea was to go home and relax our feet and watch a movie.

We were absolutely exhausted. We tried to watch a bit of "Shrek 3" in the room, but we were both so very tired. We could not keep our eyes open and agreed to hit the sacks. (Technically, we have two beds that are side by side. Not the most ideal set up.)
- posted by Matt @ 6:17 AM 0 comments

 
DAY 8: (Dec28) Pergamon & West Berlin Stuff
After a relaxed breakfast, we started the day off with the Pergamon museum, on Berlin's Museuminsel.





It was just how I remembered it from 1988! (It took a bit of remembering to recall that I had been here with Julia and others during my one day pass to East Berlin in 1988. We only had a few hours and there were not many crowds in 1988.) I need to look to see what pictures I took that year.



We spend a couple of hours in the museum. It did have some neat elements, however, it was not my most favorite museum in the world. I think I liked the blue and gawdy Ishtar gates with the animals.



After being in the crowds, we were indeed ready for a change, so we hoofed it to the U-Bahn station and headed to Motzstraße.

Lunch was at "More," a classy gay restaurant on Motzstrasse. We relaxed there and took in the sights and the people. My theory is that there are "men for hire" hang out in this restaurant. Maybe it's what "More" has to over that is "more." To be clear: guys just don't look that hot, dress so provocatively without being "for hire."

We walked along this part of town and did the American thing: bought a couple of T-Shirts, including my new Beatle T-Shirt.

Berlin is definitely an open city, two guys or two gals holding hands in public would not cause people to bat an eye. Just like in Cincinnati.

We walked into KaDeWe, the largest department store in Europe. I love the houseware department. We bought a cool frame, with matching candles that were made in Germany.



We went back to Wedding and hit the Karstadt across from Evelyn's place. I thought it was funny how Jason had been carrying around the Bruno's bag all day.



Like a little child, I required a disco nap and took one at 8:00 pm, whilst Jason chowed down on some "China-nudels" from the nearby vendor and happily read through blogs on his laptop.

Having rested and showered, we were ready to go "auf die Piste," a rather trashy way of talking about going out, in German. (Last time I was in Berlin, an Austrian woman who was also staying in Evelyn's apartment taught me this expression. Evelyn later told me it was trashy, but well, I'm going to use it.)

We went to the bars on Motzstraße: Prinzknecht (very classy,) Scheune (very trashy, a la Cincinnati "On Broadway's,") Woof Berlin; ending at Tom's, as most self respecting Berliner gay would. At one point, I had looked at a clock once and saw that it was 11:30. A bit later, Jason reminded me that it was 3:30 am.

The train ride home was a breeze. It was fun being surrounded by so many drunk people in the U-Bahn.

At around 4:30 am, we finally laid down in bed.
- posted by Matt @ 6:15 AM 2 comments

 
DAY 7: (Dec27) Third Day of Christmas and leaving Peine
By the way, the Third day of Christmas does not exist. Two days plus Christmas Eve is more than sufficient for feasting!

The alarm went off at 8:00 - yes. Again, an alarm on vacation.

I suggested that Jason take a long bath and relax whilst I go shopping for certain food. I picked up picnic food for us both for the train ride for Berlin.

I got most of the stuff at PennyMarkt, including bread, ham, Pringles, cookies, etc. I got the rest, including a couple of tall beer cans, at Rewe. As

Julia was late. Again. She DOES get the excuse of having small kids.

We were supposed to leave at 11:24 am from Peine Bahnhof train station. Unfortunately, when we got to the train station, we found that there were no train seat reservations free for the desired time. She looked for the next train, an hour later, and there were some seats at 12:31. Fine. Done.

So we had a bit over an hour to walk around in the real cold. It was cold. But it was nice to walk and spend some last time with Julia and the two kids.

There were some pretty, old half timbered houses in Peine.

We made the 12:31 train on time. I watched Firefly and sucked down a couple of rather delicious Warsteiner beers.

ARRIVAL IN BERLIN

We arrived in late afternoon and snagged bus 120. The bus was a bit rough and Jason fell back on to the bag, then fell further, almost to the ground. It kind of reminded me of the "Mary Catherine Ghallager" skit on Saturday night live. A guy our age stared at him oddly and I giggled. Twas funny.

Evelyn met us at the apartment and gave me a big hug. We got settled. The room where we were to spend the next several nights was spacious and comfortable. The only bad thing were the beds: two in all.

EXPLORING THE CITY



We decided for an easy target on our first after our arrival, namely Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center. It was already dark. We took some pictures.





We found ourselves hungry and had a nice meal at an Italian place.

Afterward, we went to H&M where we each got a new hat and scarves. My old scarf was very fashionable, but not warm at all. I got a new grey one with fringe that I later found to be effective in getting caught into the teeth of my coat zipper. In any case, it was welcomingly warm.

Jason snapped a picture of the interestingly dress H&M cashier.



Afterwards, we walked from Friedrichstraße to the Hauptbahnhoff taking pictures along the way:



Walked to the top of the Reichstag. I had done this before several years back, but I especially enjoyed it this time with in the dark.



As you walk up the ramp, you see the large Parliament room, below. The idea is that you can look down at Parliament doing its thing and ensure they are doing the best thing for its citizens. Kind of like the US "C-SPAN." But completely different in every way.


- posted by Matt @ 6:14 AM 0 comments

 
DAY 6: CHRISTMAS DAY NUMBERO DOS - Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag
Jason made delicious scones for breakfast, which, after served, disappeared rather quickly. One of the biggest fans of them was 1 year old Bent, who eats anything that is not nailed down. I made a joke that it's fortunate that he is not a cannibal-kid, or we all would perhaps be goners.

Around 10 am, Peter needed to leave. He invited us to go to join he and Christine for supper, but we were to spend the day at Julia's.

We walked to Julia's house stopping briefly by the Ilseder Hütte. It was so cold and the weather was not the best made for picture taking.

Julia was pushing us both to do weight watchers. Indeed, I could use a whole bunch of weight loss action. So, he made a weight watchers meal of pan fried chicken, potatoes (cooked in margarine, spices and lemon) and fresh tomatoes (Jason's favorite!)

We hung out for the next 4 hours, talking.

Schmittel, Birgitt, Torsten and Jessika arrived and we talked. Around 7:30, Jason and I were getting a bit tired and it was time to leave.

We relaxed back at Peter's and begun to pack. The next day we were to travel to Berlin.
- posted by Matt @ 9:10 PM 0 comments

 
DAY 5: CHRISTMAS DAY NUMBERO UNO - Erster Weihnachtsfeiertag
We were up by 9:30, as regulated by my iPhone and met Peter for a formal breakfast in the kitchen.

We realized that we didn't have much time before Julia and the others were to come for lunch.

I prepared the chopped salad with the help of Jason.

F*CK, I forgot to buy salad dressing at Rewe the previous day. I called Julia up and by some miracle, she decided to answer the phone, for a change. Anyway, she found a recipe for a simple dressing, which worked out well (for 4 people.)

150 g Yogurt (6 oz)
2 Tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon sunflower oil
salt
pepper
herbs (dill, basil chives)

Dinner consisted of my salad, followed by a delicious meal of perch/pike, potatoes and creamy sauerkraut.

Gabi and Howie showed up for dessert, along with Christine and her niece from Hannover. We drank lots and had some animated discussion. Then, we did more of the same.
- posted by Matt @ 9:08 PM 0 comments

 
DAY 4: CHRISTMAS EVE (Ilsede)
Christmas Eve, as I've told many people, is very hectic. You do everything that day! Usually, on that day:
you do last minute shopping
you wrap presents
you put up the tree
you prepare for the evening feast
you do all of the baking

Peter was relieved at breakfast when we agreed to "divide and conquer" in a matter of words. Peter had to pick up the fish and do other things. And we needed some ingredients for the food items that we were preparing over the next couple of days.
SHOPPING

We went shopping in Ilsede at the local "Rewe." In Germany, you have to put a coin into the cart in order to get a cart. There were three rows of carts, I grabbed one at the left side. I always like going to supermarkets in other countries. Not sure why.

We had problems finding the baking soda, but found a small packet that stated, on the back that it was sodium hydrogen carbonate, NaHCO3, or also known as "baking soda." Score.

We left the store and I returned the cart to the left side and attached the thingy from the cart in front. The coin would not come out. A guy smiled at me and said "red to red" or something like that. WTF.

I thought the guy meant pressing the sides of the red cart. I pressed the sides. I felt like a freaking idiot. The coin did not budge. I got a bit frustrated

A woman approached me from behind and pointed to the row of RED shopping carts. She told me to "try there," in friendly German.

I nodded. As I pulled the cart out of the green row, she finished, in German: "Well, you'd probably know how to do this if you went shopping more often." She walked off.

When we got back, after noon, Peter was not around. Hmm.

ARRIVAL AT HOME

We had plenty to do. Calling Julia, she confirmed that Peter hadn't dropped by to get the kids. Not sure where he was at. Julia was not pleased as she had a long list of things to do.

Peter arrived and things got more hectic as he brought with him the kids.

Everyone was behind schedule, so I tended to Mats (4 years old) and Bent (1 years old) while the men handled the above tasks. Those young at heart (I'm including myself) played with small toys, colored, made a pirate hat out of origami (guess who did that one) and talked about what pirates like to do, all in German.

Babies (or "starter kits," as I like to call them) make me a bit nervous as they seem more breakable. I managed for an hour or two before we ended up in the living room, helping Peter with the tree.

Jason was a trooper in the "foreign" kitchen, making mice cookies and a really nice carrot cake with ingredients that we had imported from the United States of America.

Jason and I had brought wrapping paper with us from the states but we had not had any time to wrap presents, so I found a way to double task: Mats, the older boy, helped me wrap presents. We made it into kind of a game. The wrapped presents looked dismal.

Around 3:00, we realized that we needed to be at church by 4:00 for the children's service. Peter dropped us off at the church just a couple of minutes before the beginning of the children's service.

Peter was not able to attend as he needed to make the sauces for that night's feast of meat fondue.

Julia wanted us to get to their house by 4:30ish because she felt it was mean to have kids wait all day to open their Christmas presents.

THE CHRISTMASMAN COMETH

As we arrived at her place, the Weihnachtsmann came and Julia opened the doors and allowed the kids to open their gifts. Mats was extremely excited about getting his PlayMobil Dragon set. Bent, although a baby understood it was ok to rip off paper for presents.

After the kids presents, we had coffee and sweet stuff. I was very proud of Jason's confections. His mouse cookies and cake were perfect for the occasion. Everyone was impressed. (I'm not sure when it was during the holidays when people asked if he was a pastry chef. He did very well!)

My sugar level was pretty high after the cake, then it plunged and I got very tired. Jason and I relaxed in Julia's living room whilst the others put the final touches on the dinner.

Around 8:00, we were starving and we were finally invited to the table. Mats refused to sleep so he joined us in his first ever fondue. We all explained the dangers of hot grease and he actually did very well. (Julia used Jason's horror story of a friend burning her mouth to convey the idea of danger.)

The fondue was delicious! Julia served it with Turkish stuff, from all places--Aldi.

After a very extended and animated dinner, with wine and beer, we sat around and talked and gabbed about various things.

Sören noted that it was after midnight, so we opened presents. It just worked out that Julia got 3x more presents than everyone else. Per my design.

Peter is a big music fan of the 60's and 70's. Last year, I had asked if he knew Jimmy Buffet. He did not, so I decided to give him a CD this year. Julia put the CD in. I had forgotten it was a bit twangy. I don't think they really liked it. I translated some of the lyrics, which, in German, seemed a bit white trashy.

"Why don't we get drunk and screw," I said,in colloquial German, in Julia's direction.

She looked at me puzzled, thinking for a half moment that I was propositioning her. She starred back and I explained that I was translating the lyrics. We laughed.

Soon, it was time to leave. Having drank a bit, it was not a good idea for us to drive even though it was only a mile away. (It was a fresh beautiful starry night and the fresh air did us some good.) I was so excited about going over "Vergewaltigungsgasse" (what I like to call "rape alley,") which I have mentioned before.

It was such a pretty night, walking by the light "in dem Licht der Säufersonne" (by the light of the drunkards' sun.)

Back in bed, Jason and I reminised about the day, and about how wonderful the Balke family was. It was truly a classy day. We slept like rocks.
- posted by Matt @ 9:07 PM 0 comments

 
DAY 3: GOSLAR
Both of us slept badly. When the alarm went off, we were not ready to get up, it being the middle of the night in Cincinnati.

After a nice breakfast with strong coffee, we picked up Julia and Mats and Peter drove an hour or so to Goslar, a mediaeval city.

We got out of the car and the wind and rain hit us. It was totally "Arschkalt" (ass cold.) I contemplated a dreary and cold tour of the city. Fortunately Peter suggested that we duck into the Kaiserpfalz. The place had some interesting paintings and spaces. It is very cool how recently the area has wanted to preserve and promote local history. It was impressive.



By the time we left the building, the weather had improved and we walked around, eventually finding the town square, which had a Weihnachtsmarkt, or Christmas market.

We had a nice Glühwein (mulled wine) and took in the smells and sights. I was a tad hungry and got a short baguette with warm wild salmon filling. Yum. (Note: some readers would not find this very delicious. But, I did. So, there!)

Another stand had the most delicious smelling garlic break. Jason ordered what he thought would be a long piece of garlic bread with "pepperoni," as shown on a sign. Jason did it in English. The kind man registered the order and took the money. Jason was a bit surprised when the guy handed him bread with pepperocini peppers on top!

I felt a bit bad, as I knew this one. He took a bite and liked it. Indeed, it was very tasty, probably the best option.

We took pictures and walked around.

Peter suggested that we go up to the top of the church. So, we ascended exactly 218 steps to the top. The view was worth the tiring efforts. I especially liked the Christmas lights.

One annoying factor of the day was that I had almost no Euros. Earlier in the day, I had tried to get money out of an ATM in Ilsede (where the family lives,) but it declined my request as I had gotten out so much money in Paris. (Yes, we had blown through like $250 in Paris, in one day, on miscellaneous. It's not hard at all!)
So, at one point, although a fresh German beer from tap sounded good, I was low on cash and didn't have one. Drats!

We continued to walk around as it began to get dark. Peter and Julia were very good hosts and I have to admit that Mats, just 4, was a very patient kid.

We met Julia's godfather and another friend of the family at a local German restaurant (which fortunately took credit cards, or so I hoped.) I always like to try new things. I'm not too familiar with venison, so I tried venison soup. The miniature portion was quite palatable, especially with the tall glass of local beer (for which I had been waiting for the entire day.)

Jason and I both ate Schnitzel with fried potatoes (which included bits of bacon.) I washed it down with a rather tall second beer.

The conversation was very light and fun. I liked the two guests and hugged them as we said goodbye some time later, in the dark snowy streets of Goslar.

The snow had piled up. I'm sure that Mats had made snowballs before, but I reminded him at how fun it was to take highly packed balls of snow and throw them at walls and at "mama." Julia didn't find this as amusing as Mats and I did. We walked back to the deserted parking lot to the car.

Peter, always the excellent, prudent and driver got us home without even the hint of a complaint.

We slept like tired dogs.
- posted by Matt @ 9:05 PM 0 comments