4th of July in Berlin?

Okay, so I am so behind on this thing that it's crazy.  We have been traveling gypsies and all computer time has been devoted to planning the next trip.  More on our trips in May and June to Provence, French Alps, Normandy, Bavaria, Munich, and Lake Constance later... probably much later!



On June 30th we welcomed Jay's colleague and his wife, Darrell and Sally Bock as they start their one year sabbatical here.  For a few weeks they will be our "across the hall neighbors" which will be fun.  It is great as we are passing along our accumulated worldly possessions to them including our car which makes things simpler for all of us.  This is their 4th sabbatical in Germany so they know more about life in Germany than we do!  But we've already initiated Sally to one of our spur of the moment outings (1 1/2 hr. train ride to Castle Sigmaringen).  In Germany, when the weather is good you go!!



On July 1 we took off on what we believe will be our last road trip of our year long adventure.  We headed diagonally across the nation of Germany toward Berlin.  Tübingen is in the southwest corner and Berlin is in the northeast corner so it would normally take around 6 1/2 hours without any major stops...bet you didn't think Germany was that big!  Anyway we stopped that day and night at Weimar, the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp and the Bauhaus School of design (think Knoll furniture - the company I used to work for).  After seeing Dachau in May we opted to let the girls sit this one out so the girls and I went to the Bauhaus Museum and some other historic sights in Weimar while Jay indulged his WW II interests.  What mostly interested the girls was the indoor pool waiting at the hotel (a rarity in Germany).  What they weren't expecting (nor Jay and I) was naked old people by the pool!!  Those East Germans love to hang out in the nude - guess they were repressed too long!

The next day we enjoyed a big breakfast buffet - German style.  Lots of cold meats, cheeses, cucumbers, liver spreads, fresh fruits, mueslix, sausages, soft boiled eggs, and the great bread.  Unlike an American buffet, no sweets except for jam!  They consume lots of fat (sausage, cream, all sorts of cheese) but go a little too light on the sugar for my taste!!  Afterwards we headed out only to get caught in some REALLY bad construction traffic jams (plural!!!)  We went 9 miles in an hour at one point.  We had heard nightmare stories but this one we lived!  Anyone who thinks the Autobahn is the ultimate freeway hasn't driven on one.  They really are congested and not all that smooth plus they are always under construction.  We'll take the French tollways any day!

Due to the delays we had to skip one of the towns we wanted to visit but managed to arrive at our friends, the Fricks, in time for dinner.  Jo was one of Jay's favorite students from DTS and is a native German.  Su, his wife is from Staten Island and they have 4 great kids between 5 and 13.  Needless to say, the girls were thrilled to have some kids who could speak Germenglish!!  They live at what used to be a Stasi secret police training camp!!  It has been turned into a Bible Institute and camp and was on a beautiful lake.  The place has been renovated (except for the network of bunkers built underneath - amazing) and we had two beautiful private rooms overlooking the lake (and more naked bathers!).  Although we wanted to see Berlin, the real reason we went was to see the Fricks - it was so great to see what God is doing through them in such a formerly dark part of the world.  They had amazing stories from the people who endured life in East Germany - it was a very repressive and depressing world.  Hard to imagine such little freedom.

The next day, the Fricks kindly invited the girls to stay and play so we headed into Berlin alone!!  It was the first time Jay and I got to do something alone since we arrived!  We took the train and headed straight into the middle of World Cup Soccer mania.  Germany was playing that day and it was pretty crazy.  One rarely sees the German flag except during World Cup, they don't even display their flag in the school!  People were dressed up in Red/Gold/Black everything and it was party city prior to the game.  Note the Beer Bike - a huge keg with 8 guys around it pedaling down the street - only in Germany!  During the game however we had the city to ourselves and it was hot - above 90!!  The streets were deserted but every time Germany scored you could hear it coming out of the bars and plazas where the screens were set up!



We enjoyed seeing where the Wall had been, Brandenburg Gate, the Pergamon Museum (incredible ancient history stuff), Berlin Dome (beautiful church) and the Checkpoint Charlie Museum (display of ways that people tried to escape East Germany).   It was such a treat to be able to actually read some signs in the museums and to walk quickly without having to worry about the girls!!  They had a lot more fun playing with the Frick kids on their zip line, lawn bowling, playing with Ed their bird and swimming in the lake. Of course painting their faces to cheer Germany on in the soccer match was also a main event!



The next day we convinced the Fricks to join us in Wittenberg where Martin Luther lived.  This was a big treat for all of us.  The kids were content to hang out with one another eating ice cream, Su and I had some time for some girl talk and Jay and Jo enjoyed seeing the Luther sites together.  The town was beautiful.  It was the only German town I have seen that had straight streets rather than angled every which way.  It was hard to say goodbye to the Fricks - we had such a wonderful time with them.  We hope to get back to visit them again.



In just  two weeks we'll be home!  Party is over, packing has begun although Jay left for a conference in Cambridge England for a few days!  Hope to see many of you soon!