Easter in Rothenburg

We had an amazing time in Rothenburg. It was a quick trip--we drove down Saturday morning, arriving around lunch time, and left Sunday around 3 p.m., home by 8 p.m. But, this medieval walled city is definitely worth the trip.

the streets of Rothenburg

inside the Kaethe Wohlfahrt store before we saw the "no pictures" sign

in front of the Kaethe Wohlfahrt store and Christmas Museum

"Christmas Village"

our purchases.... the store was conveniently tourist-oriented, so we were finally able to get our window candle piece in 110 volts. We had held off at the Christmas markets in December since Port of Spain is 110 volts like the U.S. and all we could get there was 220, but the wait paid off. It fulfilled our second goal of finding a nice manger scene.

a Nutcracker--this one is a night Watchman, just like our tour....


cute Christmas ornament to remind us of our trip.

the town was decorated for Easter

the Rathaus (city hall) at Markt Platz (Market Square)

beautiful view from the wall looking out

there were many old houses

at dinner Saturday night

cool paintings on the wall

hanging out waiting for our Night Watchman tour to start

the much-awaited Night Watchman

8:00 pm chimes on the city clock building

Rothenburg at night--outside one of the 6 gates

view from one part of the wall to another part of the city

"Markusturm" Gate near our hotel

Easter morning

all dressed up

We attended service at St. Jacob's Church, with the famous Holy Blood Altar

roof top view of the city from our walk on the wall

a canon--inside the wall

pretty view of the city

walking inside the wall.... the slightest of baby bumps showing :-)

still walking around the city wall

Spargelzeit (asparagus season) has begun! We had the white asparagus for Sunday lunch

in the stocks outside the Criminal (and medieval torture) museum

the instruments of torture were a little much for Christy but she liked the shame masks

the Schneeball, or "snowball" is the dessert of choice

David enjoying his schneeball

there was a special Easter dance in the Markt Platz, complete with sheep

we took a video so you can get a taste

the flowers were in full bloom

in front of our hotel

That was it.... an easy drive back Sunday evening, and then we had all Monday to relax. We went to the Marine House for an afternoon BBQ to celebrate the Gunny's birthday, and Christy made pie in the afternoon (see previous blog). Now, time to get back to work!

Happy Easter and Going's on in the Kitchen

We had a wonderful, sunny, warm, four day weekend in Berlin. Saturday and Sunday we went to Rothenburg (pictures in a separate post) and Friday and Monday we just enjoyed Berlin. We took a long walk along the river to the Hauptbahnhof and just enjoyed being home.


photo evidence--Christy does occasionally make pie :-)

and we dyed our Easter eggs on Easter Monday. We had one casualty in the boiling process.

getting ready to put the pie in the oven

a wonderful gift from soon-to-be Grandma and Grandpa Machak

the diplo-cat being as cute as ever

this was dinner prep last weekend--steak with mushrooms and mashed potatoes, and cauliflower, which didn't make it into the pictures.

Obama visit and Bob Dylan

It's been a busy couple of weeks for us. Christy had to go to Strasbourg for work to support the NATO Summit as the Motorcade Officer for Obama's motorcade. This wasn't really a fun job--a lot of sitting in the parking lot and waiting. No rewards like in Munich--not so much as a glimpse of Obama. But, it's over now and Christy is very glad to be back in Berlin with David and Moe.

David kept busy in Berlin while Christy was gone--practicing a little softball in preparation for the season on Tuesday night, attending a Bob Dylan concert on Wednesday night, and seeing a neighbor's friend play guitar on Thursday night. Not to mention dominating his March Madness bracket!

The pictures aren't exactly in order but there are captions:


Sunday my flight back to Berlin wasn't until 8:15 that evening so I had some time to explore Strasbourg. This is a view of the Parliament building (I've been there before, about 5 years ago) from my boat tour.

View of Petite France neighborhood from the boat tour.

astronomical clock inside the famous Cathedral in Strasbourg

stained glass inside the same cathedral

square in Strasbourg

there weren't enough hotel rooms so I had to stay on a boat the whole week

AF-1 loading for take off

outside the main building where the NATO summit was held

the summit

more summit.... at least we had good weather

the motorcade-- from about half way back

the motorcade--from the last car (not counting the police escort)

the Friendship bridge where Obama, Merkel, and Sarkozy met up. I am standing in France. Kehl, Germany, is on the other side.

sunrise over Kehl (did I mention the long hours?)

Staff helicopter getting ready to take off for Baden-Baden as marine one passes overhead

outside the stadium where Obama was giving his town hall speech. That's me in front of the Presidential limo.

one of the events was at a building next to the cathedral, so I got some good outside pics too.

the cathedral

hanging out next to the Presidential limo again

Palais Rohan. The red carpet was laid out for all the VIP's

AF-1 arriving--view from my car.

the shops in Baden Baden were ready for Obama

this is how small my boat hotel cabin was--one camera frame captures the entire room. The beds pull down from the wall....

That's it. We hope everyone has a happy Easter and we will be posting more pics soon.... we are off to Rothenburg for a romantic weekend!

St. Patty's Day, Polish Pottery, etc.

It's been a while since we've written, but everything is going fine. We've enjoyed a couple of quiet weekends. One Thursday we went to a Carribean art exhibition in our neighborhood. Last Friday we had our first 3-D ultrasound and baby Machak is healthy and on schedule. The doctor's said there is an 80% chance we will have a boy. Friday evening we celebrated St. Patty's Day at the marine house, and then the following night we celebrated again at the McLennand's. Sunday we went to church and spent the afternoon relaxing and picking up around the apartment. Tuesday we celebrated the real deal, with fish and chips at the Lir, of course. Christy had to abstain from the Guinness but David enjoyed :-). Yesterday Christy went Polish Pottery shopping with some other women from the embassy, and David had a guy's poker night. This morning we took a long walk along the Spree and fed the ducks and swans. We wish it would really feel like spring--it's still pretty cold--but the sun did come out a few times this week and the crocuses and daffodils are blooming, so it's just around the corner.

Christy will get ready to head to Strasbourg next Sunday for a week to support the NATO Summit. Time is flying by and we can't believe we only have just over 4 months left in Berlin.

hanging out at Susan and Fran's

Susan was excited about her green flip flops.

At the Lir on St. Patty's day

a toastwe hung out with Christina and Jamaal

the diplo-cat is still as cute as ever--he likes to watch March Madness with David

the pieroghy restaurant in Poland

one of the pottery shops

shelves and shelves of pottery

Miscellaneous Happenings in Berlin

After so much traveling, we were happy to take it easy the past two weekends.



Last weekend, David enjoyed a guys' day at the Berlin car show, and Christy had some girl time, going out to lunch with Paula at Potsdamer Platz.

Sunday the Diplocat enjoyed having us both home.







This weekend we got a visit from Dr. Davis, Christy's professor and Senior Project Advisor at Denison, and her two children Valerie and Nick. It's gotten about 10 degrees warmer the past few days and both Saturday and Sunday morning the sun came out. So, off to the Zoo it was.

We got a combo ticket and saw the aquarium, too. This shark was swimming in circles.

The sunshine brought the animals out, they were pretty active while we were there.

This polar bear (not Knut, he wasn't out) was ready to eat--the zookeeper was throwing their snack (raw meat) to the bears from where we were standing.

This one was running laps

After the zoo, some lunch, and a quick trip to Gendamenmarkt and Fassbender and Rauch (the chocolate store), we went out to East Side Gallery to see the Wall.

Christy with Dr. Davis, Nick, and Valerie.

Saturday was a full day--Saturday night we went out with friends. We tried a new hamburger joint, Belushi's, which is an English chain restaurant. The price was right but the burgers had a bit too much onion seasoning, we think. Then we headed to a new place we discovered, the Kookaberra Comedy Club, for English Comedy night. It was improvisational comedy, so audience partication was necessary. We had a good time.

Sunday we attended a baby shower for friends of ours who are expecting, due at the end of the month. Now it's time to get ready for another busy work week, and a trip to the base next weekend.