The VP visits Munich

We got word that Vice President Biden planned to attend the annual Munich Security Conference, and Mission Germany mobilized, sending officers from Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg over to Munich to help out. Christy ended up supporting the visit as the Motorcade Officer for the VP's motorcade. It's a tiring job (starting at least 2 hours before the first scheduled event, remaining with the motorcade the entire day between movements, and at the end of the day sorting things out for the next day). But, I did get to see the VP's arrival and departure as well as take part in the Consulate meet and greet. Munich was swarming with VP's--we had 3 Congresswomen, Henry Kissinger, Ambassador Holbrooke, the Deputy Secretary of State, and the National Security Advisor, among others. Also scheduled to attend were 9 senators including Kerry, McCain, and Lieberman, but they cancelled at the last minute in order to be in Washington for the vote on the stimulus package.


The Arrival-- at 2 a.m.! It was cold, and foggy.
waiting for the plane to arrive

Air Force 2

Vice President Biden exiting the plane

zoom

about to get into his car (then I had to race back to my vehicle as the motorcade takes off rather quickly)

entrance to the Bayrische Hof, where the Security Conference took place

at the Consulate Meet and Greet-- our Charge introducing the Vice President

Vice President Biden giving remarks

Our CG, Charge, the VP, and Ambassador Holbrooke

Christy did get to shake the VP's hand, although unfortunately didn't have a picture opportunity.



The Departure

The departure was during the day at least, and while it was cold and gray, it had stopped snowing by the afternoon.

We heard traditional Bavarian music.

Two children freezing in their traditional Bavarian outfits

But they got their picture with the VP....


The Vice President bidding Munich farewell from the steps of AF 2

It was a good experience, but Christy was very happy to be back home on Monday night with David and the Moe cat. The diplocat was happy to cuddle on the couch with Christy and watch 24 on Tuesday night (we get it a day late on AFN).

The suitcase isn't going back to the storage unit yet.... Friday we depart for Athens!

Garmisch

Friday morning bright and early we loaded up the car and headed 6 hours south to Bavaria-- a small town called Garmisch near Munich. We went with another couple, Paula and John. The girls skiied on Saturday and the guys played in an indoor softball tournament on Sunday, so there was something for everyone.



cool buildings in Garmisch


getting our skis and boots

out to dinner at Zuggy's, one of the restaurants at the Edelweiss (military) lodge

on the slopes

view from the Alpspitze

view overlooking the town of Garmisch

Ski conditions were a bit icey, but as you can see we had a beautiful sunny day. Both Christy and Paula were a little bit sore on Sunday though as we headed to Grafenwoehr to do some shopping at the base on the way home.

Saturday evening, after a long day of skiing, the four of us went on the Partnach Gorge night tour--complete with tunnels and torches.

we saw lots of cool ice formations

the tour group heading into the tunnels

On Sunday the guys headed to another town near Munich for some indoor softball--now they are equally sore! I, David was upset, that you couldn't hit homeruns so I had to show off my wizardry with my glove at third base. It was a lot of fun, met a bunch of military guys and joined a pretty competitive traveling softball team.

Things are busy for both of us at work, and we are looking forward to relaxing and watching the super bowl next weekend!

MLK Weekend

Since we decided to create our own three day weekend next weekend (we'll both be taking Friday off) to head to Garmisch, MLK/Inauguration weekend was a quiet one for the Machak family.



Friday night we dropped by the Marine House to relax a bit after a week of hard work. The week went quickly though, for Christy at least, since she spent Monday and Tuesday night in Frankfurt. A productive trip, and the CSA hotel brought back memories of Am Hegewinkel.....



Wednesday night Christy got home late and our German friend from Denison, Roman, was passing through Berlin on his way to visit some family. So, he crashed at our place for the night and we enjoyed catching up at Brewbaker Wednesday evening.



Saturday morning we went to the antique district in Berlin (near Sophie-Charlottenburg Strasse) with our neighbors and scoped out the German antique shops. Our neighbor is very knowledgable about German porcelein and we saw some interesting pieces, including what I think was a Meissen eagle. For lunch we ate at a great Italian restaurant, where we ran into one of the LES from the embassy (always a good sign when you run into locals you know). Saturday night we attended a birthday party for another LES we know, who also played on our softball team.



Sunday Christy broke down and decided the apartment really did need to be cleaned and vacuumed; meanwhile David organized the storage unit since we had just shoved all the Christmas stuff in there a few weeks ago. We know, exciting stuff. Then our neighbor John came over to watch the Cardinals-Eagles game.



Unfortunately the Steelers had the late game so we only made it through the first quarter, but Christy at least was excited when David checked the final score Monday morning. The Steeler's are going to the Superbowl!!!! It's Monday morning now-- that means more organizing and cleaning, but in the afternoon our friends Paula and John are coming over and there will be some serious Wii playing going on.



So, a pretty average weekend all in all. But, only three work days this week, and we also booked our hotel room for Athens for our Anniversary/Valentine's day weekend. I neglected to mention in our previous blogs that we did get to experience some of the Berlin culture scene, heading to the opera to see La Boheme just before New Year's. We were very multi-culti: Americans in Germany, watching an opera sung in Italian that takes place in France. So, we got the spring schedule and hope to make it back for another opera before we leave. We are also eyeing Reel Big Fish concert tickets, since we had so much fun when they came to Denison and now they're doing a German tour.



Unfortunately we were both neglectful and didn't remember the camera at all this weekend, so no pictures to share, but we will be sure to bring it next weekend! Inbetween we've got 24 on AFN on Tuesday evenings now and of course we'll be watching the Inauguration and thinking of all our friends in DC who are in the middle of the craziness.

Greetings from cold and snowy Berlin!

It's been a cold start to 2009 here in Berlin--I don't think it's been more than a degree or two above freezing yet! We put the feather bed on our bed--the Diplo-cat approves. We find it comfy, too.



Monday night/Tuesday morning we stayed up to watch Ohio State play in the Fiesta bowl, and our neighbors came over. It was a great game, but the last couple of minutes didn't go so well for us, and we were disappointed.

David watching the Bucks score a touchdown.

It's been very cold here, and there are chunks of ice floating in the river, as you can see in the picture. We took all our Christmas stuff down last weekend, except our snowflake lights since we figured those could stay out all winter. This is a view of our apartment from a nearby bridge--our baloncy is the lower of the two with blue lights.

Things have been busy for both of us at work, now that everyone is back from vacation. Friday night we attended a Happy Hour for the First and Second Tour Officer group at the Lir, our favorite Irish pub. Saturday Christy went to see Stasi-Die Austellung, which is an exhibit about the Stasi area East Berlin. Saturday night we tried out a new burger joint, called the Meat-burger. With a name like that we were expecting a hole-in-the-wall burger, fries and beer kind of place, but instead we got a fancy-cocktail bar atmosphere, with a burger menu. The cocktails are good, and the burgers were actually decent too, but the service was not so great and the two aspects of the restaurant just didn't blend together that well. We don't think that it will be replacing The Bird, our current favorite place to get hamburgers. However, on the way to the restaurant we did discover an English Comedy Club, so that has great potential for a future evening out.

It will be another busy week with Christy taking a quick trip to Frankfurt for work, and David attending a hockey game Tuesday night.

Welcome 2009!

Happy New Year's to everyone! We enjoyed the quiet between Christmas and New Year's, and welcomed 2009 in style on the balcony of the embassy overlooking the big Berlin New Year's bash at the Brandenburg Gate.

The Saturday after Christmas we headed to the Ku'damm. We took a tour of the burned out church.

At the embassy, hanging out in the cafeteria waiting for the fireworks. We were worried about getting through the crowds and chaos to get to and from the embassy, but it wasn't nearly has bad as we expected.

Paula and I getting ready to head upstairs--mini bottles of champagne in pocket! It's actually "Sekt" in Germany.

This is how close we were to the Quadriga and the Reichstag.

It was so much nicer to be above the crowd instead of in the crowd this year.

David and John enjoying the view.

it was very cool

I like this picture because you can see the fireworks in the sky and the Reichstag Christmas tree in the background.

David with Christina and another David--they all helped organize the event.

it's hard to capture fireworks on camera

in love on New Year's

Christy and Susan in front of the Quadriga

On New Year's Day we invited Susan and Fran and John over for dinner. We made ham (since we didn't eat it on Christmas) and pieroghies and green beans with pine nuts. Christy pulled out the wedding china.

Thank you to Casey and Greg for the new vegetable dish and salt and pepper shakers!

We displayed our stockings and all of our Christmas cards on the corner china cabinets this year--thanks to everyone for the kind words and Christmas wishes!


We didn't get snow on Christmas or New Year's, although it was quite cold. But on January 2nd we woke up to a light sprinkling... just in time to commute to work.


wintery view from our balcony

Christy's snowy walk to work. The Spree hadn't frozen over on Friday but this morning (Saturday) we woke up to a mostly frozen river.

We are looking forward to an exciting 2009.... we'll be ending the Berlin chapter of our lives and getting ready to head to the Carribean! We wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous year!