Berlin - Day 6

Day 6 - Snowy Berlin

It has snowed constantly since I arrived in Berlin.  Never
that hard but always something coming down.  The odd part
is that I don't know where it is all going.  There doesn't
seem to be any more on the ground now than when I got here.
Maybe they come vacuum it up while we all sleep, I don't know.

Last night gave me a new appreciation for the bus drivers
here.  I have always been impressed with the skill they
exhibit in maneuvering the narrow lanes and threading the
double-deckers and bendy-busses through tight
spots - sometimes with only a couple of inches to spare. 
Last night I decided to go down to Potsdammer-Platz
where all the new state-of-the-art buildings are being
built because there is always something new and
interesting going on there.  It was worth the trip as
they have put in a new LegoLand store and have some very
large lego sculptures that were really great.  After
wandering around the Arcaden (mall) and eating a little
something for supper I decided to take the bus part way
back to the hotel and then the underground the rest of
the way.  The bus ride was really quite interesting. 
It was a double-decker and the driver was obviously
having trouble getting the rear wheels to hook up
because the roads were't cleared of snow.  After each
stop you could feel the rear wheels spinning as the bus
slowly left the stop and gently fishtailed into traffic. 
He wasn't shy about going his normal speed between stops
either and was somehow able to gently slide it into each
stop with narry a scratch on it.  Incredible driving.

So today I plan to go down to a place called Meilenwerk. 
This is a museum of sorts for old cars.  It is really
a place where guys with lots of money can store and work
on their old cars and also has some rather unique
auto dealerships including Ferrari.  The inventory is
always changing so it is different every time I come.

Berlin (Days 3-5)

Day 3 & 4 - Berlin

The workaday drudgery is here.  Thursday and Friday were just
long work days with nothing special in between to write about.
I get up at 6am to eat breakfast at 6:30, then off to catch
the bus at 7:05 which deposits me a couple of blocks from
work at 7:30.  Then it's a trudge through the cold and snow
and dark to the office/lab building.  After fighting with the
ultra-slow network connection to the US and frustration with
testing washers that don't want to perform as well as I think
they should it's back to the hotel in the evening to drop off
my stuff and go find something to eat.  That last bit is
usually pretty good so no complaints there. I don't have a
car this time around - my choice due to the relatively short
stay and limited utility in the city - so I am quickly
learning the bus and train routes to find the places I like
to go when I'm here.  It takes longer using public
transportation but I don't have to worry about driving
on slick roads and trying to find a parking place when I 
get where I'm going.  Like most cities you end up parking
3 or 4 blocks from where you want to be and then walking
and then having the same thing all over again
when I get back to the hotel.  With public transportation
I end up walking a couple of blocks or so but don't have
to deal directly with the traffic and roads.  The hotel
I am staying at is 1 block from one of the major train
and bus stations so it is pretty easy to get to just
about anywhere from here.

Day 5 - still Berlin

I keep seeing guys carrying newly-purchased sleds past
the hotel so there must be someplace close by where
you can buy them.  They were predicting on all the
news channels a huge snow storm last night and today
with up to 50cm of new snow and high winds as well. 
Somehow neither one has materialized yet - maybe a
couple cm of snow fell during the night and it
is lightly snowing right now but this is what it's
been doing since I got here.  I guess they aren't
any better at predicting the weather here than we are.

Snow-Sorta

It was predicted to snow 2-6 inches on Thursday so I drove up to my parents house a day early to avoid having to drive in it.

My parents bought sleds so that the kids could play in the snow. We didn't get more than a skiff, but since the grass was frozen and the hills were steep it worked really well.Caitlin didn't actually slide anywhere. But we wanted a picture of her in the sled. She was NOT impressed.

The entire time we were out there she kept looking at everything. My dad is building an apartment at the bottom of the hill (they live at the top). And we went inside so she could get warm. She kept asking to go back outside (in sign language-she's not talking). Guess she didn't want to miss out on anything.My dad slid into the woods. This is about when we decided to head a bit farther down the hill. You can see the pond through the woods.

The pond is frozen. So Daddy took the kids down to "ice skate" on their shoes. When he walked onto it he heard a crack. The pond isn't more than 3 feet deep so he just stayed on the edge and watched them. We decided to leave when Dominic fell on his bum and we heard another crack. They wouldn't drown, but it would have been a very cold run up the hill to the house.

Making a snow angel. There wasn't enough snow any where else.

Kami and Lexi (my sister and niece for those of you who don't know)

KamiMe. It was fun being a child again. I couldn't believe how fast that sled went.Even my mom took a turn.Self-portrait

My mom and Caitlin heading back up to the house while we all stayed to sled some more.I LOVE this picture! The looks on everyone's faces is priceless.

Christmas in January

When I got to my parents on Wed we had another Christmas. Dominic was so excited and could hardly wait until my dad got home to get started.He loves match box cars and my mom got him some with a race track. He was pretty excited.Caitlin pulled the first item out of her stocking and then got interested in the decorations, the wrapping paper and a balloon that someone had blown up.My mom had gotten a regular tree for the "real" Christmas earlier, but wanted my kids to have a tree also. She thought the 1st tree would be too dry if she kept it so she picked out a tree near where she parked her car in the driveway. I guess it had grown quite a bit in the past few years and kept poking her when she got out of the car. So she had my dad cut it down and that was the 2nd tree for my kids.My mom took this picture while waiting on my dad to get home from work so Dominic could start opening his presents. The snow man that Caitlin is holding sang "Frosty" while it danced. She LOVED it. She also liked to chew on the star that was attached to his hat. =)

Women

"Mom, God took a rib from my side and made a WOMAN! Her name is Sara, but she isn't my wife. She's just my girlfriend."

Germany Update

I posted Jon's blog about Germany for him and then have had several people ask for clarification. Jon had to go to Germany for about 2 wks for work. He used to go a lot before the kids were born and sometimes I would go with him. But this is the first time he's had to go since they were born. I had always said we'd go with him next time he went. But Germany is really cold in the winter and it's dark for so much of the day. So I decided to take the time to go visit family instead. Hopefully it will be easier on the kids. Although the cold front that came through is making the weather almost the same here as where Jon is. =)
I am posting blogs with pictures of the kids so Jon could see what we were doing. I had asked him, if he was able, to do the same for us so we and friends and other family could see him and his life as well. So that is why he is blogging for the first time.

Berlin

Day 1 - Berlin
I arrived in Berlin at around noon local time - 6am according to my body - but actually felt pretty good. I normally can't sleep on planes but was able to cat nap a little on the flight over, which had been delayed by 4 hours due to some "security issue" that delayed all flights to the US and therefore made all planes departing the US late to pick us up. I was greeted by about 6 inches of snow on the ground with the promise of more to come. Here is the view from my office window taken as the sun was trying to set.
Knowing that I had to stay awake as long as possible I left work at around 5pm and went downtown to an area known as Ku-damm, which is famous for its shopping. I don't get into shopping much but was looking for a restaurant that I like that's close to there. It was quite cold and I didn't have my long-johns on so I didn't make it to the restaurant and settled for a nice little Italian restaurant that was closer where I had one of my favorite real Italian pizzas called "pizza fungi", otherwise known as mushroom pizza.
There was still a lot of Christmas lights up in this area so I decided to come back the next night with the camera as I could see them removing the lights and trees.
Finally went to bed at 8:30pm after being awake for more than 30 hours.
Day 2 - Berlin
Woke up bright and early this morning - at 3am. Well, maybe not so bright but certainly early. Jet lag is so much fun. Thankfully I was able to go back to sleep until 6:30. That last bit of sleep seems to have finished the jet lag off.
More snow fell all day but it was really slow so not much accumulated. It is forecast to snow every day while I'm here with the temperature not to be above freezing at all. The locals say this is how winters used to be but they have had about 10 mild years up until now. Everyone is laughing at how well this whole global warming thing is working out for all of us.
Worked a long day and left the office at around 6pm, then went directly down to Ku-damm to shoot some pics.


They have taken most everything down now so these are what's left. Unfortunately I don't have the good camera with me so night photos leave a little bit to be desired. I was really dissappointed at how poorly the pics I took of the bombed-out church came out. It looks really cool at night as it is floodlit and contrasts dramatically with the overcast sky and snow coming down around it. This is one of my favorite landmarks and has a lot of cool places around it including the Europa Center, KaDeWe (a multistory department building), and many great restaurants.
I am now experiencing the innevitable reverse swing of jet lag where I'm not tired till late. I forced myself to go to bed at 11 and got a good night's rest with 6am coming way too early.