Berlin Zoo

There were a few of these signs. Not sure what the connection with the L.A. Zoo is, but it is very far away.



They had a HUGE assortment of Apes (? Primates?). They were all so cool, and again, super active. The old orangutan looked like a giant walking rug. I wish I got a better picture of it. It was like something out of a Tolkien book.



Ben sat and watched these crazy guys. One of them would just sit and when you got close and thought he was asleep, he'd flip off the wall, swing on some branch and fly around his pen. It was hilarious. The others in his area just sat, totally still, like, "really Larry, you've gotta lay off the speed."



I call them monkeys for a reason.

more of Berlin-day 1

Just grabbed these from my phone.

Silly kids on the way back from dinner.



The crew at the Italian restaurant in Berlin



On the train. Taken by Lily, Instagrammed by Mom.



Pizza, same design team :)

Berlin

We got up early on Sunday, 9/18 and took the tram to the Bonn main train station. We met the students and Arianne (minus Callie, who overslept) and took a train to Cologne. (Callie's host mom drove her to the Cologne station just in time). There, we got on our train to Berlin. It was a nice 5 hour ride with beautiful scenery. The kids watched movies & played games on the iPad. Ben and I walked to the dining car and the waiter gave Ben a free Popsicle with pop-rocks on the top of it. I had him eat it there so that Lily wouldn't get jealous. Guess what he did immediately upon our return to our seats......... So then Lily and I took a walk to the dining car. She got Fanta instead. When we got to Berlin, we took a tram to our hotel and dropped off our luggage. Arianne got us an apartment which was great. It had a little kitchenette and a separate room with a door for the kids. We headed back toward the main train station in Alexanderplatz. There, we got our bikes and met our guide. Lily rode on one of those bikes that was an extension of Matt's. Ben rode in a seat on the back of my bike. We also bought them rain ponchos and tied them up because they were adult sized. It was sprinkling at this point. We took off and got a little history of the area. We then moved on to the statue of Marx and Patricia wiped out on the wet slippery path. I rode past her, afraid to stop and fall with Ben, and shouted, "I HAVE BAND-AIDS!" She was ok. We then rode on through Berlin, stopping at historical places and learning more about the amazing, yet very troubled city. Battles and wars started & ended in Berlin....only to start another conflict or political standoff. It was mostly destroyed and is now an eclectic mix of old, new and an attempt at a refurbished old-ish style. I loved it. I wish it wasn't raining so that I could have taken pictures. Lily was SUCH a trooper. She loved that bike and never complained about Matt's muddy "back spackle" (snigglet, look it up) flying at her. Ben was so tired and eventually fell asleep. He looked super safe with his helmet almost covering his face and covered in a blanket of plastic. Poor guy woke up when we decided to leave the group and head back. One of the students got a flat, so Arianne switched bikes with him and headed back. She showed us the way, then took the broken bike on a bus. We had and exciting ride in the rain, dodging giant double-decker buses, puddles & seeing some more sights. We made it back, took some hot showers & revived ourselves before dinner. We walked to an Italian pizza place. Seriously, Italians making pizza in Germany. Delicious! The kids devoured their pizza and we had a fun walk back under umbrellas. Needless to say, we were wiped out and went to bed.
The hotel had a great breakfast in the morning, so we filled up, kissed Matt goodbye (they went on a tour of the German Parliament building and the Jewish museum) and headed out to the zoo. It was a trek to get there, we took a bus to the end of the line & walked around to find the entrance, but we made it. We were amazed at the animals. There weren't really any exotic animals or ones we hadn't seen before, but they were so active. None of the animals were just laying around, they were all playing or running or just being awesome. It was really fun to see. It also felt like we were really close to the animals. The barriers between us are not like those in the States.
The pictures are all out of order, but they're uploaded!
I loved this guy!







Really excited to be on the top of the double-decker bus!



Lily & her favorite animal - flamingos!

hoping this works

So, I finally got pictures to load. .....And they're in opposite order. Matt figured that another browser might work, but it still took a really long time & several tries.
Anyway.....

Matt & I got to go out WITHOUT KIDS! Two of Matt's students, Callie & Rachel watched the kids While we went out. The Beethoven festival was still going on and there was a laser water show going on in Bonn. We decided to check it out and get dinner there. We knew of a restaurant with outdoor tables right next to the Beethoven statue, which is also where the show would be. Alas, all the tables were full. We decided to eat inside. We got our beers and the show began. The water shot out and acted as a screen for colored lasers to play different commercials, and shows on, while Beethoven's music was played. From where we were sitting, we could only see water spraying directly at the outdoor tables where we had tried to sit. Watching people run, drenched & screaming, away from their dinners was better than any laser spectacle I could imagine. Water was flowing past us like a river as we sat, mouths hanging open, wondering if this was really happening or if the beer was just that good.
After dinner, we decided to go (very far back) and see what the show looked like from a safe distance.
It was really cool.





Matt woke up to this fog one day. He couldn't even see the castle.



When I got up this morning, the fog was even thicker than in this photo. The kids tried to fan it away. It did lift about 20 minutes later, then it got foggy again. Now it's sunny and totally clear. The mountain is beautiful!

Well, Crap.

Now we have wireless & I can't upload pictures to the blog. I have tons from our Berlin/Dresden trip and can't get them to upload!

I'll keep trying............

WIRELESS!!!!YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

We are finally up & running on wireless internet. No more sticks. No more waiting 20 minutes for one email to load. So, will try to catch up today!!

Visa

On Tuesday, we woke up early for an appointment at the visa office. We went in & filled out paperwork & got our passports back. We're free to travel now! Matt went into the office & the kids & I stopped for a croissant & coffee before heading home for school.

pals

Matt & the kids worked for a while on this Lego creation.

Little engineers at work.

Beethoven House

On Monday, the kids & I headed into Bonn to meet Matt & his students & tour the house where Beethoven was born. On the way, our tram stopped and everyone got off. I didn't understand the announcement, but just followed suit. As we were following the crowd, we saw that another tram was stopped in front of ours, as was an ambulance. We really had no choice but to walk between the tram & ambulance to cross the street. As we did this, we walked very close to the medics working on a man. They were trying to revive him and didn't seem to be successful. It was pretty shocking and, of course, my little birds were staring with their eyes bugging out. When we got across the street, I stopped and was met with a barrage of questions. I just told the kids, I don't know what happened, but it looks like that man needs help. Let's take a moment to think good thoughts for him and for the people trying to help him. That's all we can do. Both kids closed their eyes and whispered and then shared what they thought. They were really sweet and surprisingly strong and matter of fact. Luckily, we were close to a stop that I am familiar with. We skipped meeting Matt at AIB and went straight to Beethoven Haus. We were a bit shaken, but moved on.

The house was remarkable! It is the only house still standing of the 9 houses Beethoven lived in during his lifetime. There is only one painting of a member of his family, his Grandfather, also Ludwig Van Beethoven. He was also his Godfather, hence the same name and he was the first in the family to move from baking to music. We got to see Beethoven's first composition. It said he was 10 when he wrote it, but he was really 11. (His father lied to make him seem more like Mozart). I was surprised at how open to people (& the elements) the artifacts were. They'd be behind thick glass & lasers in the U.S. We also saw the first "piano" that he learned on and hearing aides that he used when his hearing worsened and eventually failed. We also saw the room where he was actually born.

When we got home, Matt asked the kids to draw something that they saw that day. They both went to town drawing pictures of things in Beethoven's house. Even when we think they're not paying attention, they're soaking it in.

At dinner, there was a lot of talk about illness, death & dying. I went to bed thinking about how life is so out of our control, even though we like to think otherwise. While I wish we could help our kids stay innocent and little forever, it can't be so. They're going to learn some hard lessons whether we like it or not. Just glad we can be there to help them figure it out.

Sorry for the bummer post! On to happier things!

Lily & Ben & Beethoven's house (no pictures inside)

The annual Beethoven festival is this weekend & Ludwig statues are everywhere! One is dressed like Elvis. Not sure what this one is about.

Lazy Sunday

Last Sunday was super rainy. We felt like we were camping, stuck in the tent and looking for things to do. The kids loved watching the rain storm start, stop & come towards us across the mountain. The lightning was kind of scary, but they got to see & hear it (up close) and realized that it's not so bad.

We also made forts & painted nails. :)

Gummy Paradise

First, this is a fish smoker place. Matt loves locks (lachs?) or smoked salmon. When he was in kindergarten, he would come home every day and tell his mom that for snack, he had smoked salmon and kool-aid. :) He used to have them with his Grandpa and Great Grandpa in Minnesota. Matt, please don't build this in our backyard. K, thanks.

The candy company, Haribo, is located in Bonn. The gummy bears are everywhere. At the fair, we saw the Haribo bags everywhere & hit the tent on the way out. They had gummy everything and a crazy assortment of other candy. Matt's mom loves these gummy bears. (Grandma, we'll have to go to the factory when you get here!)

Dr. Deepa would not be pleased.

The Ultimate Beer Garden

This place was huge. We ate giant, warm soft pretzels & french fries with mayo (well, the kids had ketchup). And the beer, oh the BEER! Lily had her beloved Fanta & poor Ben had bubbly apple juice (He hates anything carbonated & even the water has bubbles here). The music was disappointing. We waited for a while to see the band, which played American covers. (Donny Osmand? barf. The Germans LOVE it). The tent was so cool though

There were drawings of saints or kings on the side wall. The one above & to the right of the Lucky Strike sign was Aloisious. (what what?!)

THIS is a small?!!?

That was a large. Ouch.

Hey, there's no drinking age in Germany, right? Ben, help me finish this! (Just kidding! And the drinking age is 18).

This was our waiter Daniel. He told us that he wanted to be a waiter forever & then we realized his English wasn't that great & he had bigger dreams :)

Putzchen's Market

On Saturday, 9/10/11, we had great weather and went to a HUGE fair. There were crazy rides there that we would only see at an amusement park, like a roller coaster with 2 loops! We had fun going on rides & people watching.

Lily took this picture of a beverage stop. We paid a E3 deposit for that glass & considered keeping it. Ended up using the E3 for more rides.

This was a HUGE Ferris wheel. (Not nearly as big as the first Ferris wheel, which was unveiled at the World's Fair of 1893 in Chicago. Each car carried 60 people and a lunch counter & it held over 2000 people total! See? Having no internet DOES make me smarter!)

Those swings were really high up. Crazy!

The roller coaster & the caravans (Pikeys!). The blue ride on the bottom left gave me nightmares. You could not pay me enough to get on that thing because it would be instant barfing. It went in 3 different circles and the seats went upside down.......oh no......gulp

white knuckles!

Internet

We are having some internet issues, so if we are not posting/emailing/keeping in touch, please excuse us. Our wireless wasn't working when we got here & AIB is trying to straighten it out. The owners of the apartment live in South Africa, so it's been difficult to reach them and have them set up a new password for the whole system. We've been working on internet sticks, which are pretty cool, but not so reliable. Matt and I have been watching Madmen on Netflix at night. (Laurie, you were right. We're hooked!) Without internet, it's either watching the pool playing channel (just like National Lampoon's European Vacation, the channel exists), CNN or more reading. So, Matt finished The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho & is now reading, Eggs to Lay, Chickens to Hatch, by Chris Van Wyk. I finished Water for Elephants (loved it) and am now reading The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. This book is fascinating. I don't think it is just because I grew up in and adore Chicago. The World's Fair of 1893 was such a gigantic event that really did change the world view of Chicago and the U.S. Plus, there was a murder on the loose and that always spices things up.

I would be so much smarter if I didn't have the internet to keep me busy.

Oh yeah, the strangest thing I've heard myself say (so far):

While discussing my lack of a clothes dryer (whining to an unsympathetic German), I said, "no, we're not worried at all about our clothes shrinking in the dryer. They have little tags on them that tell us if they're already pre-shrunk." Wow, spoiled American.

A few things

We had Matt's students over on Thursday night. I was so excited that I found this mini-keg for 50 cents. Matt went back to get a second one & it turned out it was 50 cents per beer, making the mini-keg $5. Ooops! I was like the lady in the Ikea commercial ("Start the car!!")

It was so nice to hang out with the students. They're a great group & the speak German as badly as we do! (so we don't feel as bad)

Ben is becoming quite the European Hipster :)

And a little old man

Books

I have read more in the past month that I have in the past six years. Since becoming a mom, I have either been reading for school, to get my kids to sleep or sleeping myself. I had forgotten how great it feels to be completely immersed in a good book. So far, I've read:

When You're Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris (Hilarious, as always)

The Help by Kathry Stockett (full disclosure, I actually STOLE this book from the blue cottage. I picked it up because no one else was reading it and I had just finished the Sedaris book. I was hooked by page one. I HAD to finish it. I think I was done on the car ride from Michigan to Chicago. I gave it to my mom to read in Hilton Head & she is returning it to Aunt Mary Ellen)

Bossypants by Tina Fey

And I'm now half way through Water For Elephants.

Lily and I are also half way through Romona Quimby, Age 8 (one of my childhood favorites)

Finally caught up!

I have been feverishly blogging, trying to catch up with myself. Finally, these photos are from yesterday!

First day of school!

Lily and I started on our school work yesterday. We are trying to get in a routine, but still have fun. Thankfully, Ms. Sitrick had everything organized for me, so we just do the work for each day. We also do some writing each day & silent reading. We are going on so many adventures & using maps, counting and learning German (both kids can count to 10, say please, thank you, good morning, day, evening & night, and I'm sorry) (also, Lily can say, "the next stop is") so there's plenty of knowledge for these little sponges to absorb!

Yesterday afternoon, we went out in search of more pants (see, no dryer, pants take days to dry) and umbrellas.

Just like our TJ version, I found zilch.

A stop for a rest & a brezel with Beethoven

"6! just like me!"

I did find a store selling scarf/pashminas for 2.99E. I got one in many colors. My black one was purchased in Paris many years ago for 20E and is one of my favorite things I own. I've always wished I had more colors for formal events. So, if anyone is in need, let me know and I'll pick one (or 6) up for you!

Sunday

On the way to the fest, we realized that most everything is closed on Sundays. On the way back home, we stopped at 50 cent (a shop where pizza slices are .50E) knowing everything in our neighborhood was closed. We ate near this train and played for a little while.

This girl played for a while and when she left, we realized that her mom had been sitting nearby the whole time.

We were already wet, so why not play in the fountain?