Sunday, September 26, 2010

Positive thoughts on a rainy day in Berlin......

There are so many things I love about living here. Here are a few I would like to share:

I love riding my bike to the market and returning with a shopping basket full of flowers and bread and cheese. The basket fits on the back rack of my bike..though it is a bit shaky going at times.







I also love school lunch!~no corn dogs or chicken nuggets in sight. This was my lunch last week. It consisted of brown rice, red peppers in a sauce and breaded feta cheese. For dessert..yogurt and berry sauce. Sparkling apple cider to drink. All for 2 euro. It is "bio" too, which means organic. My school is a German public school too.





  • I am loving the food here. There is a big variety of restaurants and I will save the curry wurst and doner experiences for another blog. What I really like are the cafes here and the fact that it seems like there is a cafe on every corner. I like how folks just sit for hours over a nice cup of coffee and a sweet kuchen. (though not as sweet as American desserts)

  • Tom and I always start our excursions with a stop to a cafe. I liket this ritural This cafe in the photo was in Brandenburg.It was our first stop and we made our plans for the day as we sipped on coffee and kuchen.


    Public transportation.. It makes life so easy..just jump on the bus or train and no worries about parking or traffic. Today we walked a few minutes to the bus stop..then took a bus a few miles, jumped on the U bahn (train) and then a few minutes later arrived at our destination..the Berlin marathon!




















The canals are pretty cool too. I must say that we did make a huge mistake taking a 3 hour canal tour the other night. It was all in German and seemed to go on forever!






















In Brandenburg I spotted this display in a store window. It was an "I'm not in Boise" moment.


No, I would never see that in Boise.. they would probably have a anti-gay rally and burn the store. (in the name of God)

OK..I think I will stop now. I could go on an on..but that will be another blog.

It has been raining for 3 days straight. That is the part I don't love..but I am thinking that if I am going to survive the dark, wet, and cold winter here in Berlin I had better just look at the bright side of things. Because there certainly isn't a lot of brightness going on outside my window today!





Gotta make my own sunshine...


Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Getting by with less..









On our first walk in our new neighborhood, I couldn't help but notice how small all the cars are. Not an SUV in sight!! Maybe the 6 euro a litre gas has something to do with this, but I think that isn't the whole story. Many folks here just get by with less. A good lesson. Recycle, walk, bike, take public transport, and if you must have a car..then it seems like little is the norm.
This green one is my favorite.