Christy's Geburtstag and more

Christy had a very full birthday week. Wednesday night we celebrated afterword at our neighborhood Irish pub, the Lir (getting ready for next weekend, too!) with some friends. Then we headed back to the apartment for some cupcakes.

Thursday Christy headed to the Spreewald (Spree (river) forest) for a GSO offsite with her staff. It's about an hour east of Berlin

on the boat ride
river winding through the forest
they had lots of pumpkins and had already carved their jack-o-lanterns!
the pickle museum

Luebbenau, where we started

inside a museum of an old settlement in the Spreewald

I like the flowers in the boat

at lunch

Friday (German reunification day--i.e. no work!) David and Christy went on separate bikerides with our neighbors John and Donna. David and John rode 21 miles (David had the camera). Christy and Donna enjoyed a shorter bikeride to Schloss (castle) Charlottenburg.
tower that David found
ducks (and a lake) on David's bikeride

Saturday we snuck out for a romantic get-away to Bad Saarow, also about an hour east of Berlin. This is the back of Hotel Palais, where we stayed.

and here's the front
view from our room's balcony
and from the back courtyard on to the Schaermlesee

the thermal spa where we spend the day on Saturday (courtesy of Bad Saarow Therme website, www.bad-saarow.de/therme.)

All in all, quite a full weekend. And Mike arrives on Tuesday for a week so there will be more adventures coming soon!

OKTOBERFEST!!!!!!

OK, so wow, lets talk about beerfest.....it was A-Mazing. From the 5 hour train ride to Munich, to the great food, to the liters of beer, Oktoberfest was all it was cracked up to be and more. We arrived Friday night and got some much needed sleep in anticipation of Saturday's debauchery. As we arose Saturday there was the feel of beerfest in the air, and the 9 of us set out for breakfast/lunch to lay down a solid foundation. Christy had a delicious bowl of lentil soup and weiners(and a couple pretzels). I had roasted pork slices in a beer sauce with a potato ball and a few pretzels. We were full and happy and back to our apartment to change into our garb. The fairgrounds where Oktoberfest are held are massive. People everywhere. We made our way slowly to our tent, the Lowenbrau tent, and made our way (painfully) to our table. We met lots of random people from Italy, Germany, and Australia. Drank a few beers, and ate a half of a chicken and sang some good songs. All in all it was a great night. Sunday had a good German breakfast and got on the train to make our way back to Berlin....A+ Birthday Present!!!!!!


We started with a few beers on the train


Cheers on the ICE train

Susan and I had our beer bling!!!


The Hofbrauhaus was amazing


We started Saturday with a hardy meal

Me in my suspenders and German jacket

Christy in her dirndl


There were so many people

EVERYWHERE

The three best dressed people in Munich

They were dancing on the table :)
Christy drank a whole beer.....kinda
West Coast love
My new friend Oliver
So many people in our tent

The night begins.......
Look at all that foam...
David's favorite picture EVER!!!
I had a beer and a beer hat....needless to say I was happy

Munich was a beautiful town

Gorgeous Double Dome Church
Flowers Everywhere
Life size Glockenspiel

I had a beer and Weisswurst for breakfast on Sunday, included in price of the breakfast.....wow i love this town

Happy Birthday to David!

Thursday was David's birthday. It was a busy day at work but we were able to sneak away for a birthday lunch at the Adlon, and Christy made breakfast for dinner Thursday night. Ohio State was the common theme in the presents. Then we headed upstairs to watch the Cubs game with our neighbors. Down by three in the bottom of the ninth, the Cubbies tie it up and we're into extra innings. The Cubbies finally won in like the 14th inning-- Christy was ready for bed.

Friday night we had a hail and farewell for some of the marines at the marine house. Saturday night, though, that was the night. We celebrated David's birthday in style, hosting a second hand party. The idea was that everyone had to come in something they got at a second hand store (or just something crazy). The pictures tell all:

the winner of the best dressed won a porky pine

but then he had to give it up....
Elvis paid us a visit

All in a good night of fun.

Museum time

A friend gave us a valuable tip--all the museums are free on Thursday nights. So, I (Christy) ventured out with a few friends in an attempt to see the Bode sculpture museum on Musuem Island. It ended up being closed for an event but we went to the National Galerie instead and saw a few Monets and a really cool Van Gogh of the wind mill that was on Montmarte in Paris before Moulin Rouge.


Friday night was the CLO sponsored- Pup Crawl. The tour guide was a little lame, but we enjoyed the company, and when we decided to split off and head for an Irish pub, about 20 people came with us. Good times had by all.


first bar... the name reminded us of Clarendon Ballroom


(Christy's Stammtisch)


Saturday we headed to the market for some raviolis to serve at dinner... we had Christy's boss and her family over that evening. The market served us well.

Sunday we went to church and then had a quiet afternoon. Inspired by Thursday night, I headed to another museum, the German History Museum, which is #3 on Eye Witness's top 10 musuems in Berlin. Turns out, it was a day in Berlin commemorating memorials, and entrance was free again! Pleased to save 5 euros, I ventured in. The 100 BC to 1918 section was a little dry overall with a few interesting things, pictured below. The museum was really well done, though, with a mix of artwork, posters, videos, interactive computer items, and actual artifacts. The second half, 1918-1994, was really interesting.



the outside of the museum

one of four calendar paintings--Oktober, November, December
one of the first depictions of the world being round--they left out North and South America!
early conception of a gas mask--worn by doctors to avoid catching the plague

drawings by Kaethe Kollwitz, a famous Berliner

The weather turned cold on us (in the 50's all weekend), and I'm sad to say I'm being forced to switch over to my fall wardrobe before either of our birthdays :-(. It's got us thinking about Oktoberfest and pumpkin carving though...