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.

Athens

We had an amazing 2nd Anniversary/Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend trip to Athens. It was really cool walk around ruins of buildings that were standing in 600 B.C. Some of the scenery was absolutely beautiful. Not so nice were the smokey restaurants and crazy drivers, but what can you do? The sunshine and 50 degree weather was also a nice respite from the cold, snow, and gray.


Day 1: exploring town and climbing Lycabettus.

view of the Acropolis from a street near our hotel

cool church

view from the top of Lycabettus

By the time we got to the top, we were hot--no coats necessary here!

church at the top of Lycabettus

Soldiers marching outside of the Parliament Building

Olympic Stadium

Arch of Hadrian

Day 2--exploring the Acropolis

theatre of Dionysos

on the way in to the Acropolis

restoration work was ongoing

at the Acropolis site

cool frieze

view of Mt. Lycabettus (what we climbed the first day)

view from a distance of the Porch of Caryatids--part of the Acropolis site

The Parthenon

restoration work

Greek flag flying over the site

Porch of the Caryatids

View of the Acropolis from the Thission, in the Ancient Agora

it was Carneval weekend--the celebration won't compare to Port of Spain but we did see a lot of children running around in costume and a street fair. We enjoyed some dough balls with honey.

Temple of Olympian Zeus

being artsy

glad we weren't around when that column fell

the parliament building

London flashback

Cathedral of Athens

baklava

the Acropolis at night (view from in front of our restaurant)

Day 3--Kerameikos and the National Archaeological Museum

we weren't allowed to take a picture with the bull, but we were allowed to take one of the bull

at Kerameikos

while on our way to the museum we discovered a cool fish market

Ancient Athenian pottery

cool finds at the museum

resting in our hotel lobby (sideways) before heading to the airport.

All in all, a great weekend!