weekend fun

Friday night Bonnie showed us the cool wine bar she discovered in Prenzlauer Berg. Turns out it's right next to the Cupcake store (which wasn't open again :-( ) So the deal with the wine store is, you put down a two euro deposit, get a glass, and then drink as much wine as you want--they have several wine bottles open so you can try different ones, and then at the end of the night you just pay whatever you think you should. Fun atmosphere, too. Except the crazy flying statue of Mary above our table was a little odd.

Saturday was another strong showing for softball, although we were lacking home runs this time around. Still pulled off a 6-0 win, though, so nothing to be ashamed of, and the shut-out is tribute to David's all star pitching skills.

This evening it's Sex and the City (for Christy at least) and then hopefully some fun exploring tomorrow. 90 degrees Fahrenheit today but the apartment is staying pretty cool despite the lack of AC . So far so good. Now if the jack hammering would just stop....

Moving Day

On Saturday I got to watch the flag being raised over the new embassy for the first time. It was pretty cool.

Some press:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/26/europe/EU-GEN-Germany-US-Embassy.php

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/19/news/Germany-US-Embassy.php

I disagree with the one below but it gives a good sense of some of the issues we had to deal with, and there are pictures:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,555434,00.html

The fact of the matter is the building was specifically designed to blend in with the other architecture on Pariser Platz and when you walk inside you actually see that it is quite open and inviting....

Anyway, you can see what I was busy with this past weekend.

Elvis

Fran's birthday was last week and David found an excellent second hand store gift...



I was quite impressed with my giftwrapping job
we now have a new mascot for the Berlin Buckaroos

I don't think I'm ever going to have the whole apartment photo-ready so I decided to take random pictures of rooms and post them as I go. This is the guest bathroom, which hopefully some of you will be using soon when you come visit us!

The china cabinet which is in the foyer because the dining room is too small. Our Rosenthal is on the second shelf.

So speaking of the Berlin Buckaroos, we lost last weekend while David and I were in Frankfurt. But, we came back strong and beat the marine team 19-4. David took a lot of teasing last night in the lead up (we went to a farewell dinner for several marines) so it victory was sweet, but all in good fun.

Dinner last night was a taste of home. The place was called The Bird and it is owned by someone from Brooklyn. It specializes in steaks, burgers, and it even has chicken wings! Great to go when you are missing home. And the first really good, not home-made hamburgers we've had since we move here! We are happy for that find.

That's about it going on here. Moe got his first bath in the new bathtub today. He was actually pretty good--a few meows of protest but no claws. Next week will be a working weekend despite the holiday, since the embassy is moving to Pariser Platz!

Frankfurt/Rhein River Cruise

Last weekend we went to Frankfurt to spend some time with David's parents before they went back home. We lucked out with gorgeous spring weather. It was Pfingsten a German holiday, so Monday Christy had the day off and Frankfurt was celebrating with a festival in the woods.

At the main square in the old part of Frankfurt.

David and the Frankfurt skyline

David's parents in front of the Opera House

random couple at the Festival in the woods

OK so this sign made us laugh. Its a little hard to tell from the picture but those are giant boat swings. The sign basically says that the festival takes no responsibility for accidents and that drunks have no entry. Considering that on another ride we saw some woman take of her shirt and bra, I'm not surprised this sign is necessary. (Mind you this is a family festival where people take their children!)

An update on the grapefruit beer we mentioned in our last entry. We discovered it is made in Frankfurt and it was all over this festival. It is a grapefruit hefeweizen. I think we will be drinking a lot of that this summer.
While we were waiting for our Rhein River cruise to start, we wandered down to the banks of the Main River in Frankfurt.

The cruise package started with lunch at a German restaurant.

Then we took a cable car ride


View of the Assmannhausen vineyards

descending into the village

our cruise ship

sorry I don't know how to rotate this picture. But aren't we cute :-)?

David and his Dad on the boat
we saw lots of castles like this one
soaking up the sunshine
The Loreley. There is a famous song about this. As the story goes a mermaid would sing and the peak and the sailors would crash into the rocks (kind of like the Sirens).
after the cruise
then there was a wine tasting after the cruise back in the restaurant where we had lunch. No joke the girl dressed up as a mermaid.

First BBQ of the season

We outfitted the balcony with a mini grill, so it was time to test it out
view from our balcony
view facing the other direction--the park is still under construction. If you look closely you can see the purple hippopotamus... The Grill Master and our new table. The orange bottle is grapefruit beer. Very refreshing on a summer evening. Needless to say that was Christy's drink.

The Ohio Machaks visit Berlin

Long, cold, rainy winters do have a silver lining--you appreciate spring that much more when it finally arrives. We were blessed with another sunny weekend. The Ohio Machaks were in town, and in addition to an excursion to Potsdam with their tour group, we enjoyed showing them around Berlin. We visited the East Side Gallery, Gendarmenmarkt, Pariser Platz, and our favorite Brewery in Potsdamer Platz (pics below).

It was also a great weekend for softball, and the Berlin Buckaroos are 2-0 with a 15-4 win over the comissioner's team. Life is good. The league is considering a new rule limiting the number of home runs because of our team....

Sunday afternoon David's parents took off for Leipzig (we will meet up with them again at the end of their tour). We took advantage of the sunshine and went for a bike ride in the Tiergarten, ending up at the lawn in front of the Reichstag for a bit of catch. On the way home we discovered that we can ride along the river all the way from the Reichstag to our apartment--it only took 15 minutes or so.

Enjoy the pics:

Enjoying a meter of beer at the brewery in Potsdamer Platz

next to a piece of the Berlin Wall...

One of the gates in the wall along the East Side Gallery

inside the Peugot dealership

The Quadriga and the Brandenburg Gate on Pariser Platz

scene from Frankfurt, where David met his parents when they arrived last Wednesday
view from the backside of the church on Museum Island

In front of the Ancient History Museum


Bundesratufer--our apartment complex

Softball season has begun!

Our softball season began in wild fashion. The Berlin Buckaroos started off our season this past Saturday. David delivered two home runs and a double and even Christy got on base (no, it wasn't a walk!). With our all-star short stop to first base combo and the Colonel on second, our defense proved unbeatable as well. To top it off our 7 year-old catcher delivered at the bat with a double in the third inning! It was a sunny day, the grills were going, and it almost seemed like summer might actually arrive. We allowed a few mercy runs in the last inning but still ended up with a 17-5 win (most runs of any team all day, I might add). Now the smack talking can really begin.....



Update on the rest of our life:



David's parents are in Frankfurt as I write and we look forward to seeing them in Berlin on Friday. Then we'll enjoy our three-day weekend next week down in Frankfurt as they finish up their tour of Germany.



Tomorrow is May day--also a Germany holiday. I asked one of our local staff what Berliners do for May day, and the answer was "get drunk and riot". There are supposed to be some pretty major left-wing demonstrations, not to be outdone by the neo-Nazis, according to stories from last year, and Kreuzberg is notorious for car burning. So, after our New Year's experience we know to listen to the warnings and plan to lay low tomorrow. We did hear about some BBQ ribs out at the lake in the suburbs where we had our Easter brunch, so we might hit that up in the afternoon. Definitely avoiding downtown though.