After a grueling trip- which included a two hour bus ride from Portland, a 1+ hour delay on the tarmac in Boston (before the 6.5 hour flight), a fight over a $500 baggage fee in London (followed by an additional 30 minute delay on the tarmac there), the 1.5 hour flight to Berlin and then a lost bag in Berlin (which has yet to be recovered)- WE HAVE ARRIVED!  Thank God for hospitable Germans and their beer!

We have been trying to stay awake since our arrival with the hope of quickly getting accustom to “German Time”!  Tomorrow we’re going to try and get mobile phones, test out the U-Bahn system and grab a few more drinks at one of the famous Berlin biergartens- because even though the weather is beautiful, most close down for the season come October 1st.  Hopefully we’ll have more entertaining and intriguing posts to follow in the future, but wanted to get the first actual international post under out belts.  We’ll leave you with a few already noticed differences/adjustments we’ll need to be making in the next weeks, months and years….

1. Everyone in Berlin follows traffic signs.  They don’t walk when the light isn’t green even if no cars are present. For our fellow Bostonians- a huge culture shock!
2. Standards tipping etiquette calls for 5-10% of the total bill…should help to lessen the shock of being on the euro.
3. 24-Hour clock, AKA “Military Time”
4. No ice/no tapwater
5.  No more puritan liquor laws!!!  That’s right, we bought a beer from the vending machine in our hotel and I’ll bet we can do so before noon on Sundays if we please:)

Well, look for another update soon and hope everyone is well and life is fabulous! We miss you and love you!

Auf Wiedersehen, 

Daverian