Last Chance for a Leberkas-Semme

Neal looks pretty authentic with his "Dreiespitz" Hat and a "Leberkas-Semme" with sweet Bavarian Mustard. Had to grab a few of those plus some "Brez'n" before we take off for Malta!

Happy Gronkel!

Once the grilling was done, Gronkel (short for Groß-Onkel) Ebo got to relax with a nice Hopf Weißbier.

Alien Wiley!

His hair actually dried that way.

More kids...!

On Tuesday, we enjoyed hanging out with Eva's old friends Judith, Christine, and Andi - all together that made 9 kids, too! Ebo and Erika graciously hosted the marauding hordes in their back yard for an evening of grilling and fun. How did we get them all to sit in a row for he photo? Easy! We fed them ice cream!

Backyard soccer!

Ironically, I have no photos of backyard soccer that include Graydon! We played - at his first insistence - almost every evening. Even Ebo joined in the fun! Thanks to Erika for making sure there was a (brand new!) soccer ball to enable the fun, as well as letting Graydon take it with him - strapped to his backpack, of course!

Selfie!

Ebo was always making fun of the tourists on Santorini (their last vacation destination) and their selfies. So of course we had to take a selfie!!

Hi Elisabeth!

Elisabeth joined us yesterday for a day in Weyarn and at the Schliersee. It was good to see you, Elisabeth!

Bye Ebo und Erika!

We had a wonderful almost-week in Weyarn - it was way too short! Thanks to Ebo and Erika for taking such good care of us. More posts about or week to follow shortly since we finally have both wifi and some time to kill at the gate.

Good bye Lingen!

We had a great time with Ian, Doreen, Jonathan and Elliott! Doreen was amazed at how their "little" house could handle such a crowd (it really was fine!) and we appreciated their hospitality and all the fun the little cousins had together.

Maggi

Maggi joined us for our day of tree climbing in Augsburg last week. It was wonderful to see you Maggi!

Lingen!

We arrived safely in Lingen and spent the day exploring town, eating Kaffee und Kuchen, and enjoying local play grounds. Not to mention backyard soccer!

Exploration of Lingen Playgrounds

We spend a few minutes at the market in Lingen followed by more playground fun. Graydon is so glad to have a fellow soccer enthusiast to play with.

Hello Berlin, Good-bye Berlin!

The first photo was right after our arrival in Berlin, the other from this morning when we left. It was really great moving through a city with such a great transit system. Lingen... here we come!

Loving train travel

Can't say enough good things about long-distance train travel in Germany. For a nominal amount, you can reserve seats and save yourself the headache of finding some when you get on. There are tables where kids can color, power for their various electronic devices, and even a dining car!! On the longer trains (like this one from Berlin to Amsterdam) you can also spend a good 20 minutes wandering from one end to the other and back. Plus the countryside is beautiful!

The awesome playground

So our hotel room had no AC and was the size of a closet. BUT it was right across the street from a wonderful city park (Kleiner Tiergarten) with a fantastic playground. The kids enjoyed several evenings there, they especially liked the double swing.

Ice cream

Why did we have ice cream almost every day we were in Berlin? Well, it was HOT (no AC in the hotel) and it works wonders to motivate tired kids and adults alike.

A Better Option

Instead of poutine, we had some delicious Austrian food, topped off with a wonderful shared Kaiserschmarrn for dessert. Wiley declared he wanted to come back for breakfast the next morning!

Really.

No, we didn't eat any... but it was funny nonetheless.

Acknowledging the premise of our trip

I (Mami) spent three days (ok, really two plus a dinner) at the IWA Reuse Conference here in Berlin. Between two podium presentations and an 80-minute panel discussion, I certainly had plenty on my plate. But there was also lots of fun interacting with international colleagues and drinking Europe's first reuse brew (courtesy of Xylem). I especially appreciated how Martin Jekel took all of us under his wing. It was good to see you, Martin!

Deutches Technikmuseum

We had a ton of fun at the "Science Center" that was part of the German museum of technology. It was four floors of hands-on activities for the kids (and Daddy).

The hall of mirrors was a big hit. Wiley was ver impressed with how long his arms were.

All the cards stacked against us

Berlin has been fun, but getting the kids to sleep enough here has been impossible for several reasons.

1) My weather app says it is light from 3:52 AM until 10:23 PM

2) There are five of us packed into a very small hotel room.

3) It was 93 degrees today and our room has no ac, no fan, and one window that opens slightly.

Spargelfest

There's not much more I can say.

Bundestag

Sitting in front of the seat of (one of) their federal governments.

The wall

We couldn't visit Berlin without taking a picture in front of part of the old wall.

Zoo map

The kids had so much fun retracing our sight seeing public transit adventure that they suggested doing something similar with the path that we took through the zoo yesterday. I think that we covered it pretty thoroughly.

Berlin sight seeing

After a long day riding 6 subways, 4 busses, 1 street car, 1 tram, and 1 boat, the kids and daddy sat down to recreate our adventure on the map. Efficiency of transit was obviously not our goal.