There’s nothing better than waking up the morning after daylight savings and realizing it’s not 10:00 am, it’s only 9:00!  However, that great feeling is short lived as the day winds down with the sun setting before 5:00 and then continues to go downhill for the next 8 weeks (tonight scheduled sunset is 4:14pm)!  Luckily Christmas season begins early in Berlin and we’ve been keeping busy with plenty of cozy, indoor activities and a few well bundled outdoor excursions!

The weekend after we trekked out to Dresden we joined up with a group of friends at the Parov Stelar concert down in Kreuzberg. The concert was great and we had a lot of fun dancing to the opening acts and Parov Stelar was amazing. For those who don’t know their music check out some videos from their website!

We also had a chance to check out some of the buildings around Berlin participating in the Berlin Festival of Lights. More than 40 sites feature illuminations and light projections for two weeks each October. Dave got to check them out last year, but I missed the festival while I was in Prague so I was happy to see it this year. Some really awesome displays!

The next weekend we hosted a party at our apartment in celebration of Halloween. We were able to fit about 15 people into our place and had a great time checking out costumes, consuming festive drinks and snacks and playing a couple rousing games of Cards Against Humanity!  It was a great way to celebrate the holiday:)

Phorms Crew!

Dave as a Democrat

Omon, Thomas and Ira 

Jenny and Daniel- Day of the Dead “calacas” & Grapes

Since Halloween day fell on a Wednesday we didn’t go too crazy- made a delicious dinner at home, watched a couple frightening movies and passed out candy to trick or treaters, who in Germany say, “Süßes oder Saures”!  We only had three, but that’s three more than we ever had in D.C. or Boston so I’m considering it a victory!

The last few weeks have been pretty low-key. We met up a few times with friends for drinks, one time at a pretty swanky bar called Muschi Obermaier. The bar is a play on the name of Uschi Obermaier- a German sex symbol and a leader in the sexual revolution. She lived in Kommune 1 in Berlin- a famous politically motivated commune in the 60’s and reportedly had affairs with Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix.

We also celebrated our 6 year anniversary this past weekend- November 11th to be exact. When I got home from work on Friday Dave surprised me with a sweet set up of flowers, champagne and a bunch of homemade treats. Later that night we joined our friends Mathieu and Fred (visiting from Denmark) for a few drinks out. We spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company. On Sunday we took a long walk around Berlin and made our way to the Christmas Market at Potsdamer Platz (yay for the long Christmas season in Germany!) for a glass of Glühwein. That night Dave took me out to dinner at a fondue restaurant near our place that we’ve been wanting to try for ages- delicious!  Plus we both won our fantasy match-ups in our “Title IX” league…perfect ending to our anniversary weekend!

Anniversary Surprise from Dave! 

Anniversary Car Bombs- we are super classy!

So happy to celebrate the best six years anyone could hope for!

Berlin

First Glühwein of the Season

We’ve both been working hard in addition to all the fun and are especially excited for the next few weeks- we have visitors coming! This upcoming weekend Dave’s cousin Catherine is visiting from London, where she is studying abroad, and our friend Anthony is coming over from Bremen. Then the following week brings Thanksgiving and Cara and Will’s visit. We’re very excited to welcome family and friends to our city and show them around! Can’t wait to see everyone! ❤❤❤