Date Night

Friday night Patrick and I went on a date (I think I can count the number of date nights we've had since Cooper came along on one hand). One of Pat's coworkers, Tana, was kind enough to hang out with Cooper for the evening while Pat and I headed to dinner and dessert in the city.

The weather was beautiful and sunny so we walked around and explored the city. This is me next to a remaining section of the Berlin Wall. You can see the double brick path just in front of me that runs through the city showing where the wall once stood.
We then went to the Sony Center and passed by Legoland on the way. This is a giant giraffe made entirely out of Legos.
And this is the Sony Center. It is a really cool building with a movie theatre and a few restaurants. This is a picture of the ceiling or roof or covering (not sure what it qualifies as).
There is a little pond in the middle, but it was being covered up for some special event. I think they were turning it into a stage.
Since our arrival I have seen these giant white asparagus all over the city. They are apparently all the rage around here. I decided that I wanted to try some so when we saw a restaurant that had a special "Beelitzer Spargel" menu separate from their regular menu we knew that was where we'd be eating dinner.

Pat ordered the fish with white asparagus and potatoes.
And I ordered the small cutlet of pork with white asparagus and potatoes. It also came with a big pot of Hollandaise sauce. I'm still wondering what a regular or large cutlet of pork looks like because my small piece was huge.
For dessert we went to a little ice cream shop and shared a strawberry sundae.
While we were enjoying our sundae we saw some lightning and heard some thunder crashing. We decided we better call it a night before it started raining.

Unfortunately we were too late. By the time we got off the train it was pouring! We had to run all the way home and we were still soaked. This picture does not do the wetness justice.
We had a great night despite the rain and Cooper was fast asleep by the time we got home. Thanks Tana!!!

Zoo Berlin

On Friday, Cooper, Sabrina and I went to the zoo. It was really great. They have tons of animals and many of them have habitats not closed off with fences or netting. They are kept separate by a mote or large ravine so it feels like they're really close and you don't have anything blocking your view. Some of my favorites were the baby elephant and the baby deer. Cooper loved the sand dune cat (which I didn't get pictures of) and really enjoyed watching all the kids running around. Here are some pictures from our trip.


Baby elephant and mama

Baby deer learning to walk


Cooper fascinated by the monkeys


The ducks
Lots of birds

Lion and lioness
Lioness
Sign next to the she-lion.
We thought it might say something about no flash photography, but turns out it says something about the lion peeing on you if you get too close.

The leopard
The tiger. I tried to get video of this guys roar, but was unsuccessful. It was so loud and so deep. He would definitely bass if he were in a choir.
I forget what this is.
The rhino

The bison
The zebra

There were lots others, but I'll save those for the next visit's post. We got an annual pass zoo and aquarium so we'll be there many more times.

Light at the end of the tunnel!

Our new replacement loaner stroller finally arrived yesterday. It is definitely not as nice as our broken stroller, but it's not pink! And it is a pretty good improvement over the pink one. It is bigger and sturdier (but harder to carry up and down stairs), you can steer it with one hand, our rain cover fits over it (which I had to use today), and there is more storage. It still doesn't have a tray in the front, so I have to tie our broken one to it, but I'm not complaining.

Of course when I called to order the replacement parts for our broken stroller, the rear axle piece is on backorder! Urgh! They said it'll take two weeks. I hope it arrives sooner. They only ship to the U.S. so I was hoping it would make it to my parents before they left to come visit us here, but now I don't think so. :( O-well, at least we don't have use the pink stroller anymore.

Mmmmm

Why are the dairy products here sooooooooo great?!?!? I love them. So rich and creamy. Yummmm!

Since my arrival in Berlin I have been living off of milk, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, fresh bread, pizza, sausages and prosciutto. I really need to start eating some fruits and veggies.

Switzerland

We just booked our tickets to Switzerland for when my parents come in two weeks. We plan to stay in Interlaken for two days and then Basel for a day. So excited!

Photo via Tripadvisor.

Cooper's Ride

Now
Later?

Gotta Love the Church

Today was our first Sunday at church. We had planned to go last Sunday, got all ready, then our stroller showed up without a wheel so we were confined to the apartment.

We went to the Dahlem Ward which has English translation. They also have an English Sunday School class. We were immediately greeted as we walked up to the building and several people before and after Sacrament meeting came up and introduced themselves. Just about everyone spoke decent English and I noticed that a lot of the side conversations I heard in the foyer were in English. It kind of felt like home. There are a lot of Americans in the ward.

The Fellows family invited us over for dinner. They have a tradition of having popcorn and ice cream for dinner on Sundays. They are a super great family and we were glad to make new friends. They also let us borrow a high chair (the apartment has one but it is too small for Cooper...he gets stuck when we try to get him out) and they gave us a box of brown sugar. I can't tell you how excited I am about the brown sugar. I found some "brown sugar" at the grocery store here but it is more like sugar in the raw or natural cane sugar. So not gonna cut it for chocolate chip cookies! The kids loved Cooper and he loved them. He just gets so excited when he's around kids. It's such a funny thing to watch him yell with excitement.

It was so nice to go to church and just have that familiarity and be surrounded by a group of friends that share your same beliefs. The church is also in a beautiful neighborhood. The walk from the train station to the church building is beautiful and park-like with cobblestone roads. I'll have to take pictures next week. I'm looking forward to the Sundays that we spend here in Berlin.