In case you are wondering I am a terriffic bowler:HAHA: 164, 129, and 85.We bowled three games and as the Budweiser set in I got progressivly worse, but I looked good none the less.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Wine and Chocolate
Friday night I added a new experience to my wine tasting portfolio: wine and chocolate. I'm not talking about a chocolate chip or two with the raspberry wine. This was several different wines paired with a different bite-size gourmet dessert. I have to say I'm a big fan of Gewurztraminer. And the most amazing one was a white chocolate mousse with herbs de province. Very unusual, amazing taste. A very fun girls' night.
top floor of the center of Galeries Lafayette, the French department store where the tasting took place
in the back, the very stylish French woman who led the tasting, translated from German to English by the husband of our CLO (community liaison officer)
enjoying the tasting
top floor of the center of Galeries Lafayette, the French department store where the tasting took place
in the back, the very stylish French woman who led the tasting, translated from German to English by the husband of our CLO (community liaison officer)
enjoying the tastingWednesday, January 23, 2008
visits and such
Well, as you saw from the news articles in yesterday's post, Secretary Rice was in town, so that made for a busy few days (and no 3 day weekend) for us. I was the motorcade officer, which had the disadvantage of a lot of sitting around while the delegation was in meetings, but the advantage of getting to ride in the motorcade everywhere, which I thought was pretty cool. All in all, a successful first S visit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/world/middleeast/23iran.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Rice+Berlin&st=nyt&oref=slogin
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/world/middleeast/23iran.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Rice+Berlin&st=nyt&oref=slogin
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Park Cafe
Saturday we bummed around Berlin, exploring our new neighborhood in Bundestratufer. We discovered a Community Center nearby with indoor soccer and basketball and a bar :-) -- definitely a worthwhile find.
Saturday night we went to Park Cafe for dinner with some friends. Not terribly impressed by the food or the service, but now we've had the experience. Notice large window behind us. Right behind that, literally 6 inches from the wall of the restaurant, is the way you get out of the parking lot. Which means that as one is passing by in the car one can look into the windows and check out what everyone in the restaurant is eating...highly amusing.
Yes, Fenway gets to join us in the restaurant. This is typical in Germany--restaurants often even have doggy water and treat bowls to welcome their four-legged guests. Poor Moe had to stay home, though.
Sunday night is poker night with David's new Budweiser Clydesdale horses poker chips. Fun stuff.
Saturday night we went to Park Cafe for dinner with some friends. Not terribly impressed by the food or the service, but now we've had the experience. Notice large window behind us. Right behind that, literally 6 inches from the wall of the restaurant, is the way you get out of the parking lot. Which means that as one is passing by in the car one can look into the windows and check out what everyone in the restaurant is eating...highly amusing.
Yes, Fenway gets to join us in the restaurant. This is typical in Germany--restaurants often even have doggy water and treat bowls to welcome their four-legged guests. Poor Moe had to stay home, though.Sunday night is poker night with David's new Budweiser Clydesdale horses poker chips. Fun stuff.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Berlin Wine Festival
Sunday afternoon we went to the Berlin wine festival. It was inside a Rathaus, or courthouse, with about 300 vendors. (Berlin has lots of courthouses--one for each district.) We discovered that Europeans get rather dressed up for these things. With a 5 euro Pfand for our wine glass we could taste as much as we wanted (and get the 5 euros back at the end!) Additionally, all of the booths had baguette slices (good bye oyster crackers!) and many had fancy olive oil as well as other small snacks to try. The best part is that most of the wines for sale were only 5 or 6 euros a bottle (although this is actually expensive compared to the grocery store 2 euros a bottle). We exercised restraint and didn't buy any this round, but we got lots of brochures, websites, and store addresses. All in all a satisfying afternoon. We're gearing up for the Berlin Film Festival in February--maybe we'll even have a few star sightings :-).
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Cool Views
that empty lot is supposedly where Hitler's bunker stood
view of Holocaust Memorial from above
Christy with a few members of the GSO team
Christy on the roof of the new building with the Reichstag and Quadriga behind her
about as close as you can get to the Quadriga (which is on top of the Bandenburg Gate)Sunday, January 6, 2008
We made pieroghi
Dough Dough Dough lots of tasty dough
I am the Pieroghi King
a first timer...didn't do too bad
whooohoooo all for me.......and the Moe CatA Day at the Museum
Saturday we decided to visit Museum Insel (Island), a cluster of three different museums bordered by the Spree River in downtown Berlin. We visited the Pergamon Museum, and the Altes Museum. Quite an afternoon with lots of statues, tapestry, and hot chocalte and quiche.
Christy by the biggest tapestry ever...
a pretty cool lion
a statue of me...i have great abs
the necklace Chrsity wants for Valentines day
Me scoping out the view
A room reconstructed to look like an ampitheater, it was huge and taken from Turkey in the 1800's
Me next to a big wall indoors
a cool gold statue of Nefertiti
a glass case full of sarcofagi.
Christy next to a sexy lion statue
Me next to Zeus and an eagle
Tons of Helmets
Christy by the biggest tapestry ever...
a pretty cool lion
a statue of me...i have great abs
the necklace Chrsity wants for Valentines day
Me scoping out the view
A room reconstructed to look like an ampitheater, it was huge and taken from Turkey in the 1800's
Me next to a big wall indoors
a cool gold statue of Nefertiti
a glass case full of sarcofagi.
Christy next to a sexy lion statue
Me next to Zeus and an eagle
Tons of Helmetsa day in the life of a diplocat
Moe enjoys looking out the window and watching the birds on the balcony....they have yellow bellies like LSU
Two for one sale
Birdie up close...
Two for one sale
Birdie up close...Wednesday, January 2, 2008
New Year's Eve
Been there, done that, never again.
So we had a really scary experience New Year's Eve. We should have gotten an inkling of the craziness that was to come when our friend who lives downtown called and said that she couldn't have us over for dinner because the grocery stores were out of food....
We met for snacks and Balderdash instead, and then around 9 pm we were off to the "Biggest Party in Europe" at the Brandenburg Gate. On the way over, people were setting off fireworks on the side of the road. A little disconcerting, but it didn't dissuade us from reaching our destination: the Brandenburg Gate at Pariser Platz.
The party ran from the Gate to the "Chick on a Stick" monument (pictured in our snow post), along the 17. Juni Strasse through the Tiergarten--a few kilometers packed with people. There was a large stage set up in front of the Gate, and food/beer stands all around. Unfortunately, the bands were not so great--better music would have significantly improved that portion of the evening. Never the less, we braved the cold and the bad music and three hours later it was count down time, complete with fireworks.
So far, so good. We were tired and ready to head home, so after the fireworks ended we proceeded with about a million other people out of the gate and towards the U-Bahn station.
It was then that we realized our mistake. There were equally as many people outside the party as inside, and these people had something that the people inside the party did not--lots and lots of fireworks. We're not talking about firecrackers or sparklers, but huge, high in the air fireworks and bottle rockets. And there was no sense of safety or caution among the Berliners that night. It was pure craziness. People were shooting the rockets off in the middle of throngs of people, at buildings, under cars, across the street... it was really terrifying.
It felt like we were in a war zone with loud booms going off all around us. The last straw was when someone fired a bottle rocket sideways into the crowd instead of up, and barely missed David, skimming over his head. Had he not ducked it would have hit him square in the forehead.
After that we made a run for it, and fortunately we made it out without losing the other two couples we were with (for more than a few minutes anyway).
The celebrating seemed to continue all night, and sleepy little Zehlendorf was no exception. Thankfully, Moe didn't seem to be phased by all the noise and greeted us with a yawn when we finally got home.
We decided that next year New Year's will be spent either at home or on vacation. Fortunately, New Year's Day brought the first snow fall of the year and a nice, relaxing day. Wednesday, it was back to the grind--work and the gym.
after midnight, outside the Pariser Platz area-- those fireworks in the air are not organized, but rather the random ones people were setting off.
David at the New Year's party with the stage in the background
fireworks
The Brandenburg gate
at the New Year's Party
unfortunately, the video in the previous post was the only one we could get to upload--but it gives you a good sense of what the night was like (pre-war zone)
So we had a really scary experience New Year's Eve. We should have gotten an inkling of the craziness that was to come when our friend who lives downtown called and said that she couldn't have us over for dinner because the grocery stores were out of food....
We met for snacks and Balderdash instead, and then around 9 pm we were off to the "Biggest Party in Europe" at the Brandenburg Gate. On the way over, people were setting off fireworks on the side of the road. A little disconcerting, but it didn't dissuade us from reaching our destination: the Brandenburg Gate at Pariser Platz.
The party ran from the Gate to the "Chick on a Stick" monument (pictured in our snow post), along the 17. Juni Strasse through the Tiergarten--a few kilometers packed with people. There was a large stage set up in front of the Gate, and food/beer stands all around. Unfortunately, the bands were not so great--better music would have significantly improved that portion of the evening. Never the less, we braved the cold and the bad music and three hours later it was count down time, complete with fireworks.
So far, so good. We were tired and ready to head home, so after the fireworks ended we proceeded with about a million other people out of the gate and towards the U-Bahn station.
It was then that we realized our mistake. There were equally as many people outside the party as inside, and these people had something that the people inside the party did not--lots and lots of fireworks. We're not talking about firecrackers or sparklers, but huge, high in the air fireworks and bottle rockets. And there was no sense of safety or caution among the Berliners that night. It was pure craziness. People were shooting the rockets off in the middle of throngs of people, at buildings, under cars, across the street... it was really terrifying.
It felt like we were in a war zone with loud booms going off all around us. The last straw was when someone fired a bottle rocket sideways into the crowd instead of up, and barely missed David, skimming over his head. Had he not ducked it would have hit him square in the forehead.
After that we made a run for it, and fortunately we made it out without losing the other two couples we were with (for more than a few minutes anyway).
The celebrating seemed to continue all night, and sleepy little Zehlendorf was no exception. Thankfully, Moe didn't seem to be phased by all the noise and greeted us with a yawn when we finally got home.
We decided that next year New Year's will be spent either at home or on vacation. Fortunately, New Year's Day brought the first snow fall of the year and a nice, relaxing day. Wednesday, it was back to the grind--work and the gym.
after midnight, outside the Pariser Platz area-- those fireworks in the air are not organized, but rather the random ones people were setting off.
David at the New Year's party with the stage in the background
fireworks
The Brandenburg gate
at the New Year's Partyunfortunately, the video in the previous post was the only one we could get to upload--but it gives you a good sense of what the night was like (pre-war zone)
New Year's Day--first snow of the year
We're having some trouble posting pictures--some come up, others don't--the mysteries of technology. So, here are a few that worked.
view from our back porch
view from a side window
out the guest bedroom window
"Chick on a stick" memorial
David on Kurfurstendamm (big shopping strip, very decorated for Christmas)
Christy--same place
same street, other direction
driving through the neighborhoods near Clayallee in the snow
our make-shift sled
Christy in the sled
we made a snow family
in front of the Reichstag
in front of the Reichstag
view from our back porch
view from a side window
out the guest bedroom window
"Chick on a stick" memorial
David on Kurfurstendamm (big shopping strip, very decorated for Christmas)
Christy--same place
same street, other direction
driving through the neighborhoods near Clayallee in the snow
our make-shift sled
Christy in the sled
we made a snow family
in front of the Reichstag
in front of the Reichstag
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