More Fun in Berlin

We've done so much these past couple of days that i can't type it all. I'll just tell about the pictures.The first is of a waterfall in a park that we went to two days ago, which has just about the only hill in Berlin. There's a blue tower that you can see in the background, which is on top of the small hill.
The next is a picture I took of a piece of the Berlin Wall. My dad and I went downtown yesterday, and went to this touristy place that told all about it. I still don't completely understand it all but i think it's pretty interesting. The third one is of Elena on this super fun see-saw type thing, which we found in one of the many,many cool playgrouds around the city. It makes you go really high. The huge building in the next picture is this

enourmous palace that the king of Prussia gave to his girlfriend to show his affection. The picture shows about half of it. The gardens are about a third of the size of the Tier Garden, with a lake, fountains, forests, and endless pathways. I'd like to live there.
The last picture is of one of the many U-bahns throughout the city. It was really hard to catch it in motion. Today we're going to check out one of the schools. I really miss all of you, and can't wait to see you soon.


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Day Three: What we've learned so far

1. Currywurst is a traditional Berlin favorite. Maybe not traditional in the same way that Jello is a Utah tradition, though. Maybe more like Rocky Mountain Oysters are a ranching-country tradition. Or whatever. Anyway, if you want to make currywurst at home: Take a cooked sausage, slice it up, douse it in curry powder and a red kinda barbecuey sauce, add chili pepper flakes, eat it standing up.

2. Ordering tap water is verboten in Germany. Why? I don't know. It tastes fine. We're not dead yet. But the waitress was disgusted when we asked for it.

3. Peonies are a big favorite at the outdoor markets. This is funny to us because we moved here from Paonia, which is named after the peony. Now wishing we would have smuggled a couple thousand on the plane so we could sell them in the markets instead of finding work.

4. You ARE supposed to tip waiters/waitresses, but not that much. To the waitress at the Cafe am Neusee: Das tut mir leid. Next time we'll give you double.

5. Carry small bills and change. Germans hate giving change. Try paying with a 100 Euro bill, even for something costing 30 or 40 Euros, and they shake their head: Zu gross. Today's Sunday, so we can't cash in our big bills for something smaller at the bank, meaning we have a bunch of money, but basically can't spend it.

6. There is one hill in Berlin. It's not very big, but it provides a bit of a view.

7. This is not a litigious society. We rented a little boat in the park, just gave the cash and went. No signed release, etc. Little kids were cruising around in their own boats, totally unsupervised. Refreshing.

8. Due to #5, we were unable to purchase tickets for the subway. It didn't really matter. There appears to be no system to keep anyone from riding the subway without a ticket.

9. A bald guy with a guitar got on the subway and started singing John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" in Germglish. I later learned that Germans are obsessed with John Denver. Thinking of creating a John Denver tribute act, myself, with the idea that I have added cred, being a Colorado native. Yeah?

Our first full day in Berlin

Today, I woke up at 10 a.m. in the room Lydia and me are sharing and ate a croissant from one of many bakeries one block down. Me and Lydia and my dad went to the store and got some stuff called Musli. You can eat it cooked and uncooked. It will be for breakfast.

Then we ate lunch.

It was a salad, nothing big. Then we brought Princess to the vet, which took forever. We got out of the vet at about dinnertime so we went to a stand and ate currywurst, which are sausages with curry on them. Then we came home and ate smoked fish, bread and salad.

Our First 2 Days in Berlin

Two nights ago, we got onto a big plane in Denver, lugging our enormous bags, not really sure if we wanted to or not. It was a long plane ride to London, but British Airways made us comfortable and we just watched movies most of the time. the rest of the time we slept and ate the very...interesting airplane food they served. But soon, we were flying over the red roofs of London and arriving at Heathrow airport.

After flying the short flight to Berlin, we retrieved our many bags and bike just to have to carry them all to the taxi. We drove through the city, the whole time staring at the forest like park and many bikers along the highway. Wow. Berlin isn't exactly what we expected.

We were soon at the apartment, and got settled in, took a look around the neighborhood, and I got to Skype a few friends. That was nice. I love Skype!!!! I got to talk to my friends in Colorado, and it's all for free! I'll probably be doing that a lot. We then fell asleep and ten, and i woke up in the room Elena and I are sharing at ten. We all have a little bit of Jetlag. Here's a picture of the room. And that's our apartment refrigerator (it's not REALLY on it's side like that).



These are some of the things I did today:

- Ate a croissant for breakfast
- Saw Princess (our dog) for the first time since the day before yesterday, because she had been on a different plane from Colorado. She was traumatized.
- Walked to the supermarket and got cheese, organic lettuce, apricots, musli and bread from the bakery for 10 euros.
- Walked to the park and played on the really cool zip line and rope course.
- Went to a "Currywurst" stand and got good sausages to eat there.
- Saw alot of graffiti.
- Went into this huge store that had smoked fish (alot), olives, alot of cheese, alot of
meat and sausages, wine, a deli where you ate standing up, and alot of other stuff too.















Some Cool Grafitti
The Currywurst

Layover in Boulder

Stopping on the Front Range to visit Russel and Iris and Ansel. And drink a few margs.


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Greenbriar Blvd,Boulder,United States

it is actually happening

So we're actually going to Europe. It's pretty funny. It feels like my mom's been planning it my whole life. It was hard to say goodbye to family & friends but we did. I got their emails and left for boulder and now I am sitting in front of the computer thinking about how many new things are going to happen.

We are moving

So...we are moving to Berlin. Actually doing it! My parents always fantasize about moving to somewhere in some foreign country, always looking at apartments in France, Mexico or Italy. But now...we really are moving to Germany, and nothing will stop us.
When i think about it, waves of different emotions crash down on me. First of all, there's exitement. I get to live in a big city, where things are constantly opening up to explore! I will miss my friends dearly. I'm already missing Julia, who had to leave for Italy/summer camp and won't return until after we have departed. I am dreading saying goodbye to all my friends and family, but I'm sure we'll keep in touch via Facebook, e-mail and Skype. But I'm also nervous, and scared. Berlin's a big city, filled with strangers speaking a language I don't even have a clue about! I'll be going to some school were there's all sorts of kids, speaking different languages and learning different things. Well actually, I don't know what school I'm going to yet. It could be some nice bilinguel school where half the day is taught in German, the other half in English or, I might not get into one of those and have to go to a traditional, German-speaking school. Who really knows? That's what this is all about. We don't know where we're gonna live, who we're going to be, what we're gonna do or how we're going to do it! It's an adventure, and I am ready for it! (I think)