After a slight road bump because of an alarm that I did not hear, my family and I were able to get to Berlin-Tegel Airport in enough time for them to board their flight to Munich to fly back to Seattle tomorrow.
More than a week after I met them down in Munich to spend our holidays together in Germany, I waved goodbye to my family as they walked through the security at Tegel.
It was really very nice to see my parents and my sisters here in Germany, especially since I had the chance to show them a glimpse of the places where I've been spending my last few summers.
But in our few days in Berlin since arriving on Christmas morning were filled with loads of fun adventures. On the day after Christmas, we headed out to check out some of central Berlin—namely, the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, and Unter den Linden. I'm glad we took so many pictures. I've got lots to choose from on my laptop now.
After pigging out on some currywurst by the Staatsoper, we checked out my university across the street. Still hard to believe I am matriculated at this place. It's so awesome.
We spent our afternoon at the Pergamon Museum, where we had fun checking out some of Berlin's finest collections of ancient artifacts. May and I had a little AP Art History nerd fest, which was also fun.
In the afternoon, we spent some time with some family friends and learned more about German Christmas traditions. Splendid. For dinner, we made a big pot of pasta with bolognese sauce. Delicious.
One of my Dream Project friends, Ben, also happened to be in Berlin for a few days, so we met up for a beer, which we had never been able to do in the States. It was quite fun, and we wore our DP shirts for good measure.
The next day, we trekked around the Topographies of Terror and Checkpoint Charlie before going to the Ritter Sport store. I think they all enjoyed the chocolates Ritter Sport had to offer. I had to duck out early to go pick up my friend, Olivia, from the airport, so my family wandered around the area and made it to the Christmas market at Gendarmenmarkt, which is supposedly the most historical one in Berlin.
There is a 1€ per person entrance fee, so they didn't go in that day. Instead, they went up the Französische Dom (French Cathedral/Dome), which was built for or by French Huguenots who had escaped religious persecution in France in the 16th and 17th centuries. I have actually never been up before (nor even thought it was possible), so that was neat that they were able to see the city from up high.
We all met up back at my apartment for dinner, where my buddy, Brandon, joined us. My mom took us to the Asian Supermarket to help us figure out what to buy. Brandon and I cook together regularly, so it was nice to have my mom show us around the store.
Our menu for the night was a long one—we had eggs with onions, corn with ground pork, ginger chicken, pickled radish with pork strips, and stir fried veggies. We had the whole gang cooking in the kitchen! Good dinner and good company for sure.
Tuesday was my family's last full day in Berlin, so I wanted to make sure to hit up enough of the major spots they had not yet seen. We started off near Pariser Platz though, because Joanna wanted to visit the European Commission office to pick up a little Fundamental Human Rights booklet that you can get in one of the 23 languages spoken in the EU.
After that, we headed toward the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. I have to admit: it looks pretty dang nice in the snow.
We then headed to Gendarmenmarkt to visit the Christmas market. The 1€ entrance fee was certainly worth it for the food, I think. A bit of a rip-off, but still. Fun to do.
We ate Thüringer bratwursts with Glühwein (my mom kept the cup too since it was nice and said "WeihnachsZauber Gendarmenmarkt Berlin 2010" which is basically "Christmas Magic Gendarmenmarkt Berlin 2010) and tried other good stuff too—I bought a small packet of Marzipan "potato" balls, we tried a Hungarian dessert called Langos with wild forest berry sauce, and Rahmbrot which is basically a mix of pizza and bread that has a nice cheese sauce, bacon, and green onions on top. All of that was excellent.
Once we had our fill, we headed down Unter den Linden and checked out the Radisson Hotel.
One of the former Fulbrighters had told me about it this summer. There is a huge 1 million liter fish tank/aquarium in the hotel lobby. The coolest part is that you can ride an elevator that goes right through the fish tank!
We finished our afternoon with a short trek through Nikolai Quarter and then an S-Bahn ride to Ku'damm. We saw the Christmas market there and picked up some postcards.
At home, we made a delicious dinner. I cooked Brandon's white wine pasta sauce, but used Fusilli instead of Spaghetti this time. It turned out great! Also, Joanna suggested adding mushrooms which were actually quite good, and Grace suggested sprinkling dried red chili pepper on top, which was also very good. All in all, we had another feast. I have enough leftovers for the rest of this week.
So, that brings us back to this morning. I woke up an hour after my alarm was supposed to go off, and thankfully I had our parents' hotel number. We figured it out, and the taxi came to my place to pick us all up. We made it all just in time.
Their flight made it to Munich just fine, unlike our horrendous trip from Munich to Berlin. Glad to see the planes are moving again. I have a flight to Ireland on Sunday, so I would like to see everything work out as normal.
I am actually going to Ireland with my friend, Olivia, another Dream Project member, who is studying this year in Spain. She came to Berlin a few days early to spend New Year's Eve here, which is supposed to be one of the best in all of Europe.
Today, after I came home and took care of my laundry and caught up on emails, we were quite productive. I sent out some letters, recharged my phone, and Olivia bought new boots. We then spent two and a half hours at the Christmas market at Gendarmenmarkt, where my family and I had been only the day before.
The reason we stayed so much longer this time is that we watched some of the shows on the stage in the middle of the market. Grace had wanted to watch yesterday, but we didn't have as much time. I know it doesn't make up for being there in person, but I took videos today for her. It was fairly entertaining, though I was freezing my head off today. Even had a Glühwein (I kept the cup for myself this time) and bratwurst to try and stay warm.
Midway through the shows, a giant bear costume walked next to Olivia, so I took a picture of it next to Olivia taking a picture. Hilarious really.
After the shows, we walked around, and we both ended up buying Christmas candle carousels, which are a typical German Christmas decoration. It's usually made of wood, but we got little modern metal ones. They were 5€ each instead of the normal 6,90€. I can only assume that, with the Christmas market closing in a day or two, the lady wanted to sell as many as she could.
We also saw a Bavarian woodcarver from the town of Oberamergau, where my family and I had just visited last week on our royal castles tour. Grace bought a small ornament there yesterday, so I took Olivia there to get one too. The woodcarver had been working on a giant elephant yesterday, and today he was back at it. I am still in awe of his mad skills.
Nearby, there was a stand with origami that reminded me of my college roommate, Rob. He always had origami when we roomed together freshman and sophomore year. So I took a picture to show him.
We finished our eating with the Hungarian dessert, which was again so delicious. I wish I could have another.
The cold was starting to get a bit unbearable, so we headed home. The lights were quite pretty against the darkening sky.
At home, we just had leftovers for dinner. Truly delicious. We also watched the Bourne Identity (while I drank tea out of my new cup), since I couldn't remember which of the Bourne movies featured a part shot in Berlin. We walked through the station Matt Damon runs through in the movie today, so we thought we'd just make our way through all three films. First one down tonight, tomorrow the second, and maybe the third later this week. Matt Damon runs through Berlin in the Bourne Supremacy, by the way.
Tomorrow, my family flies back to the U.S., so we won't be in the same country again for another few months. Sad. But I look forward to doing my best on this project and then returning home in the summer. I have my ticket officially booked now, so I'll be home before August, which is earlier than I had originally planned. Turns out, I could only book the round-trip ticket for up to one year, so I could not stay past July 25th without purchasing my own ticket, even though my visa is valid until August 15th. Oh well. Whatever.
Sadly, this will probably be my final blog post for 2010, and it was both a joyous and somewhat bittersweet one. Nevertheless, new adventures will begin in a matter of days as I fly to Ireland for a week of exploring Dublin and Galway with Olivia. Should be a fun trip.
So to my family, safe travels, and to all my patient blog readers, Happy New Year!
Until next year,
Sam
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