When the wheels fell off the proverbial bus...

Like many bloggers it seems (though I REALLY hesitate to put myself in that group), the wheels sort of fell off my blog bus at some point last year.  As we started to settle into life and school in Germany in 2012, sitting at the computer for more than a minute here or there became more challenging.  Because May is a month full of 4-day weekends/school holidays, I was sure that was when it happened, though in review, I found it was even earlier.  In February, we had two long weekends, one for the big German celebration of Carnival and another one a bit later in the month.  We decided to take a train over to Berlin (about 5 hours) for the latter long weekend.  It might have been one of the coldest weekend we have ever experienced.  Let me pick up there...

Berlin is such a cool city with a complicated history.   We walked about, at times in flurrying snow and blustery wind, checking out the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, remaining parts of the wall, the Jewish memorial, and the DDR museum, where by the way, we found the exact countertops found in our current flat, in the sample apartment from East Germany!  It was such an informative weekend from a historical standpoint.

The Checkpoint Charlie museum has an overwhelming amount of information about the wall, the famous checkpoint, and four "quadrants" of the city of Berlin post WWII, but the stories of how people
                   tried to get to the other side of the wall were at times, unbelievable and plentiful.

The Berlin Holocaust Memorial was incredibly thought provoking...the snow covered stones, cold and
                                      gray, seemed to touch those around, even in their stillness.

                                             Home/palace of the Chancellor of Germany:

The DDR museum showcases what it was like to live in Communist controlled East Germany, on the
                   "other side" of the Berlin wall.  There was only one kind of car, a Trabant...

                                Unique to the Berlin area...green crosswalk "men"...love them!

                          We'd love to visit this amazing city again...perhaps when it is a bit warmer!

German life on a bike

May 8, 2012
Feeling inspired, I decided to ride my bike to German class today so I thought I should dress (German) appropriately. Pegged my khakis on the chain/gear side and donned my springy yellow Chuck T's...within the first 2 miles of me peddling my heart out, I was passed by a man dressed in a full business suit (!!!) with his (apparent) sandwich packed in a bright blue Tupperware hinged on his rear bike rack. That was all that he had. I guess that was his springy accessory. I thought that was going to be one of the silliest things I would see today until about 5 minutes later, on the same bike ride, I was stopped at a traffic light opposite of an 80-something year old woman who had on the 3D glasses that she evidently got when she went to see "The Avengers" this past weekend. Seriously, I was cracking up audibly at that one (but not for her to see or hear). What else might I see today???

In July 2012, we had the opportunity to go to the Tour de France.  We went to the time trials on day one then were along the race course (in several locations) to watch the race itself.  It was an amazing experience.  The pack is lead by several cars, support vehicles, race coordinators, etc.  There are parade float-like vehicles that fly by throwing things to the spectators along the route.  Finally the leader pack comes into sight.  It was exhilarating!  When the peleton went by, the amount of wind they create is amazing.  I don't know why I never thought about that.  Chasing the race trying to beat them to certain points so we could keep seeing them was so much fun.  Hope to go to it every year that we are over here...perhaps Alps d'Huez next year! 

Sept. 4th, 2012
Wendy Full of Grace strikes again. In my continued attempts to embrace the German/European way of life, I decided to get a "city" bike. It allows one to ride in skirts, little heels, etc and typically has a basket or two, lights and the all-important bell. Until now, I have been riding my mountain bike with my messenger bag slung across me. Now I can sit up tall (like Mary Poppins) on the big, cushy seat in my skirt and cute wedge heels, and carry my book bag in my rear basket! The one thing I did not know about my new bike is that in addition to the hand breaks, there are also foot breaks (btw, when since 1940, have there been foot breaks on adult bikes?). Just a word of caution: when you are coasting up to an intersection on such a bike with foot/pedal breaks, one should NOT casually backpedal. This immediately brings the bike to a stop and the rider off the big, cushy seat on to her cute wedge heels, and not very gracefully! Just sayin'...