Almonds

I think I am going to start exporting California Almonds from Germany into California. I bought this bag of Trader Joe's Almonds for .79 euros! That's just over a buck for almost half a pound of California almonds. Why are they so expensive in the motherland???

P.S. I have no idea why this picture is sideways.

I Due Forni

I have a favorite restaurant here in Berlin. It is called I Due Forni and they have delicious pizza. It is located right off one of the underground lines and it's got tons of seating outside. The weather always seems to be perfect when we go. I really wanted to take my parents there while they were in town. Finally last night, their last night here, we were able to go.

My dad got a salad which came out in a bowl on a plate with huge chunks of vegetables and a whole tomato.
The pizzas are huge and dirt cheap! They are waaaay larger than the plate that they are served on. A margherita pizza is only about $7.

I got the prosciutto, mushroom, parmesan and arugula pizza. It's got a nice chewy crust and the pizza sauce is just right.

Cooper also loves this place because there is a playground with toys and lots of kids running around.

And he also loves the pizza. (He had leftovers for breakfast this morning as well.)

I've heard and have read several reviews that the service is terrible, but the times that have been there the service has been fine. The waiters have been friendly and helpful and the food has come out fast. If you're ever in Berlin you have to check this place out. My favorite pizza is still from Pizzeria 712, but I Due Forni is a close second.

Crazy Weather

An hour ago it felt like it was 90 degrees out. Now it is pouring down rain, cold and dark out. Weird!

Greetings from Switzerland

I'm not really in Switzerland, but we did just get back. We flew into Basel and then drove through Bern to Beatenberg which is in the mountains near Interlaken. We followed the directions that the GPS unit gave us and apparently it didn't know that there was a main road that lead up to Beatenberg. Instead it lead us through a mainly one lane road that wound about the mountain with blind corners on one side and cliffs that dropped virtually straight down on the other. I think I developed an ulcer from the spikes of anxiety I felt each time we had to pass a car coming the opposite direction. So scary. The bright side of the drive was that it was absolutely beautiful. Amazing views at every turn. Thankfully we discovered there was another route so we didn't have to drive it again, though.

Switzerland is exactly liked I pictured it...beautiful, lush green mountain scapes with cute chalets and cows grazing all about.
This was down by the lake.We also went to the Beatus Caves. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but this is from the walk up to the caves.
This was the palace grounds that we visited.
Cooper making himself at home a the palace's nursery.
This was a painting from 1700-something...and you thought sideburns and faux-hawks were only popular in the 21st century?

Enjoying fondue. So delicious.
Have you ever heard of raclette? It's a big plate of melted cheese served with potatoes, bread, and pickled vegetables. Does life get any better? I think not.
We visited a cheese factory where they make the official Emmenthaler cheese.
These are happy cows. Is that why the cheese is so darn good?
Did I mention that Switzerland is really expensive? I mean, really expensive? Check out this value meal at McDonald's. Sidenote: The Swiss Frank is just about equal to the U.S. Dollar right now so the prices you see are about what you would pay in dollars.

And that is for a small Coke and small fries. You have to pay extra to upgrade to a medium Coke and fries. Holy moly! We went to a grocery store and chicken breast equaled out to $17/lb.! For chicken!!! Good thing I didn't listen to Pat when he said his ideal vacation after the program is over is spending 7-10 days in Switzerland. I think we both would have gone out of our minds having to pay $20/person for each meal we consumed for 3 meals a day for 7-10 days.

This is us in front of the old Rathaus (City Hall) in Basel.
All over Switzerland they have these fancy drinking fountains. I was scared to drink out of them because fountains back home are definitely not potable.

This is Cooper hanging out in front of Muenster Church.
This was a fun trip. Very beautiful. Perfect weather. Pretty expensive, so I was glad to be back home where we could get Doner kebabs and drinks for the whole family (my parents, Pat and me) for under $15. Gotta love Berlin!

Photos from Prague

We had a lovely trip to Prague last week. Pat had to work so me, Cooper and my parents headed off to the Czech Republic to check out the sights. It's about a 4-hour drive from Berlin. Cooper was a perfect kid on the way there and did okay on the way home, but kind of freaked out the last hour or so. Probably because it was past his bed time.

The drive was absolutely beautiful. Puts highway 101 to shame. Also people drive sooo fast! I was driving about 90 mph and people were flying by me. Crazy!
Charles Bridge

Church of Our Lady Before Tyn

Our view from dinner...Charles Bridge in the background and the food in Cooper's mouth.
Old Town Hall
The Astronomical Clock
I can't actually remember what building this was...
Ever wonder how the do street cleaning on cobblestone roads? Well, wonder no more...
Little door below the Astronomical Clock. Isn't Cooper looking so grown up?
Sculpture of Franz Kafka
University

View from the Prague Castle
The castleThe city is amazing! I can't wait to go back when Pat's parents come for a visit.

Greetings from Prague

A few more...

Boy, this is slow!

Potsdam Picture...it worked!!!

Here's one photo...hopefully more to come. This is Neue Palais in Potsdam.

Potsdam - Pictures from the other camera

Hmmm...guess blogger doesn't like my pictures. Anyone know why it keeps saying "bed request" when I try to upload pictures?


***Update*** It really says "Bad request" but I'm gonna go ahead and leave it as "bed request" just for Marissa.

Potsdam

On Saturday we went to Potsdam, a cute little city right outside of Berlin. It's about a 45 minute train ride. This is Sabrina, Adam, Cooper and Patrick waiting for the train.
This is Pat checking to make sure we're about to get on the right train.
We made it! This street is full of great little shops and places to eat.
This is a replica of the Brandenburg Gate.
You wouldn't believe how many times I've seen an accordian street performer since I've been in Germany. At least 10...not exaggerating! Here's one right here:
Classic Berlin eats: Doner Kebab!
I should have taken a picture of it before I smashed it together and starting eating it. These things are massive and dirt cheap. You can get them for around 3 bucks and it's plenty of food to share with your spouse.

After lunch and shopping we headed to Sanssouci Palace.
The kings of Prussia lived here in the early 1900s.
(It was Cooper's nap time)
These are the terraced gardens.


The other photographer.(I wanted to put some of Pat's pictures up, but I keep getting a "Bad request" warning when I try to upload them. Maybe I'll put it on a separate post.)

The grounds are huge...it seems like they go on forever. We did so much walking that we felt we deserved one of these...also classic Berlin eats - rostbratwurst. Also a steal at around 2 bucks.
While we were enjoying our rostbratwurst, we noticed a couple pushing their dogs in a doll stroller. Nice... Later we saw the man pushing the dogs in the doll stroller. All I have to say is I never want to hear men complain about carrying a girly diaper bag because at least we don't make you push dogs in a doll stroller.
Our trip to Potsdam was so fun. The weather was great, Cooper was an angel and we were exhausted but not dead when we got home.

And check out this awesome souvenir I found on the street when we got off the bus.

It even has the city of Potsdam seal. What a great find! An old crazy guy saw it hanging out of the stroller and started yelling something at us. I thought he was gonna say we stole it from him or something, but he just thought we should put it on the front of our stroller like a license plate. We kind of laughed and humored him by placing it below Cooper's feet, but when he was out of sight we threw it back in the storage bin under the stroller. About five minutes later the crazy guy was pushing his way through the crowd toward us so he could "check" to make sure our license plate was still there. We told him it kept falling off, but if he had some tape we could secure it. He said he had something to fix it and reached in his pockets and handed us a single screw. Thanks dude.