Bowling

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.

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

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

goings on in Berlin

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-01-22-voa61.cfm

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRqjZV1Meppj40hTs8IBOv4DdsQwD8UB2VG01

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.

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 :-).

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)