After showers at home we packed up and hit the road to drive down to his parents house, about 1 1/2 hours south. It was so much fun to cruise along the autobahn at over 100 mph!
July 30, 2008
Düsseldorf: An overdue visit!
After showers at home we packed up and hit the road to drive down to his parents house, about 1 1/2 hours south. It was so much fun to cruise along the autobahn at over 100 mph!
July 25, 2008
Berlin: Obama-rama!
The past two weeks have been crazy busy! I attribute it to no more school and tons of free time. Last weekend Debbie, Clover’s best friend, came to visit. We had a little dinner party and then went out dancing. :o)
The next night we all went out to a bar called “Zu
Mir Oder Zu Dir” which basically means: “Your place or mine?” ;o) There we met up with two of my british friends, Dicky and Julian, who are hilarious. Everybody started getting tired around 1 or 2, so people were dropping like flies, and Dicky, Julian, Jordan and I ended up drinking beer in a little park afterwards. It was “good fun”, as my scottish friend Kelly would say.
The next night I went out to dinner with Clover and Debbie. We took a long walk which took us along the berlin wall, which was neat to see up close.
Jordan came to live with me for 10 days, after leaving the student dorms. We had so
many adventures! We visited a town called Spandau, which is medieval and has a citadel (which we didn’t pay to tour, but was impressed -nichtsdestotrotz- nonetheless). We also saw the site of the ’32 Olympic Games- um, which we also didn’t pay to tour. ;o) But the next day we went with our friend Kyle to Potsdam- and it was beautiful! There is a palace called Sanssouci surrounded by a giant park- with more palaces hidden around it! There was an old windmill, an orangerie (which, I’ve come to d
iscover, is quite a popular thing with the royals), a “summer” palace, and a chinese tea house. It was all so beautiful, and all so spaced out! When we got back into “town” we discovered the dutch quarter- very dutch indeed :o) My highlight of Potsdam was a restaurant we discovered called - seriously - “Der Butt”. Classic!
The morning Jordan was going to leave, I had set the alarm for 9, so that we could go to the store and she could get some chocolate before catching her ride to the airport. Getting up at 9 was harder that day than ever before, but we managed to get up and go catch a bus to the store by 9:30. I looked at my cell phone to see when the bus was coming, and was confused to see it said 7:30- so I shook it because I thought maybe it was broken. Anyways, the bus came and we noticed it was mostly older people on the bus- and when we got to the grocery store, we looked at the big clock on the Pankow city hall and burst out laughing- it WAS only 7:30!!! My cell wasn’t broken at all- my alarm clock was! We’d gotten up 2 hours too early! So we went back home to sleep before “actually” getting up.
This last week I’ve also discovered a new passion: cemeteries! I really really like cemeteries. I’ve visited 3 so far and seen the graves of many famous people (ok ok famous to me) - The Brothers Grimm, Hedwig Dohm (by accident, ha!), ETA Hoffmann,
Bertolt Brecht, usw. I even went to the place at Wannsee where Kleist shot himself and Henriette Vogel. Crazy!
The last few nights were big movie nights for me. Tuesday night Joanna and I saw “Get Smart”- which was hilarious! I was quite literally rolling around laughing. Wednesday I went to
see Checkpoint Charlie and at night I met up with Jenny and Kelly to see Mama Mia- and am still singing in my head- “mama mia, here I go
again, my my, how could I forget you”. :o) The german man next to me kept dancing in his seat- snapping his fingers and bouncing his knees. I kept waiting for him to burst out of his seat and into song. But don't worry Sal, I'm still going with you when I get back! (and buying it as soon as it comes out!)
Last night Joanna and I met up for Obama's speech in Tiergarten.
While I was waiting for her at Potsdamer Platz I noticed tons of people crowding the doors to the Ritz Carlton, and before I know it, Obama walked out! Well, surrounded by gaurds, but still! Exciting moment.
Anyway, Jo and I made our way to the Siegessäule, where 300,000 people were expected to hear him talk! We got a good spot near one of the big screens where we could see and hear pretty well. He gave a great speech- which, although cheesy in a few places, also pretty uplifting. Good stuff!
Today it's over 90 in Berlin- and I have a cold!! I litterally laid in bed all day and dragged myself out to go to an internet cafe. Tonight I'm going over to Dicky's for a drink- maybe it'll help! Tomorrow I'm taking the train to visit my friend Andi in Düsseldorf. Hope my cold doesn't kill me before then!
July 05, 2008
Verliebt in Berlin
First of all, I just want everyone to know what a good mood I'm in!!! Berlin is beautiful. I can take the trains without looking at a map now and earlier I got asked directions and was able to give them! Now I'm siting in my favorite cafe drinking ice tea and getting ready to work on my paper for class. The guy next to me is drinking a latte and reading a Calvin & Hobbes anthology, and, like usual, there is fantastic music (this time it's Air) :o). [that's me at Potsdamer Platz- out to dinner with Valerie]