Author Archives: daverian

World Tour USA 2012- Part I

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The first leg of my USA World Tour stopped in Milwaukee Wisconsin.  I got to spend an amazing couple of weeks visiting family there and hanging out with my parents and Maddie who flew out for the trip- a perfect welcome back to the good old US of A!

I had a long trip from Berlin, of course because of the distance, but also due to the fact that I had to make two transfers on my way to Milwaukee. Luckily everything was on time and I made it in one piece. My parents and Maddie flew in from LA the same day and our flights were only about 20 minutes apart- so we met at baggage claim, surprising my grandfather, who had no idea I was coming! It was so good to see my family after so many months and we spent the next two weeks catching up, watching TONS of baseball (Brewers, Chinooks, high school and little league!), eating delicious American food and exploring a bit of Milwaukee. Highlights of the trip included tailgating at the Brewer’s game, visiting the Harley Davidson museum, a food tour of Brattle Street and our day at Summerfest. Of course just relaxing and spending time with my whole family, particularly my grandma and grandpa, was the best part and I’m so happy I was able to spend as much time as I did in Wisconsin.

Dave wasn’t able to join me in the Midwest given the fact that his finals went into the first few weeks of July, but we met up on July 10th at Boston Logan. His flight was delayed by 5 hours due to a fire in the control tower at Newark, but thankfully Logan has free WIFI- why every airport doesn’t offer free internet is beyond me!  We spent the next couple days hanging out with family and friends, speeding around Casco Bay in the Spensington and getting ready to head down to Massachusetts for Paul and Robin’s wedding. We went down to Sudbury on Friday for the rehearsal dinner was tons of fun and incredibly delicious. Then since Dave was in the wedding party he spent the day Saturday hanging out with the other groomsmen and the Paul while I had cocktails and gossip with other girlfriends in our hotel room. The wedding ceremony was my favorite part of the day and both Paul and Robin looked great and so in love. The reception that followed was also wonderful and the after party continued back at the hotel bar long into the night. Congrats guys and thanks for inviting us to be a part of your day!

After the wedding we headed back to Boston with friends, Dan and Alix- who were nice enough to let us crash with them for a few days. We took advantage of the weather on Sunday and spent most of the day at the beach before heading up to one of our favorite Boston spots for dinner at Red Bones BBQ. Monday morning I headed over to visit Northeastern and check out the new Visitor Center. It was great to see some of my wonderful old students and catch up with former co-workers and I wish I could have spent longer catching up with everyone!  Beer was calling though and I hopped the T over to meet Dave and Dan for a tour of Harpoon Brewery. After Alix got off work we all headed over to Fenway with the intent of scalping Red Sox tickets. Unfortunately prices were a little high so we opted for beers and the view at Bleacher Bar (the bar looks out into Fenway through a panel in centerfield). The red sox are a terrible team and all their players should be traded immediately. And the Sox actually won one!

The next morning we woke up we woke up early and headed out to Sierra Madre after an absolutely stellar week in Maine and Massachusetts. The minute we landed we went into full wedding planning mode. We’re estimating that we won’t be back in the area until just a month or two before the big day, so our goal was to accomplish as much as possible in the two week period we had! And I’d say we were pretty successful!  We picked a date, found a ceremony and reception venue, picked a caterer and sampled tons of cupcakes. Additionally we have some great leads on a photographer, DJ and flowers and I was also able to find a dress! It was a jam-packed couple of weeks, but really fun to finally get to do some planning!

In addition to all the planning we had plenty of time for fun. We caught both an Angel’s game and a Dodger’s game, made it to the beach, had a big bbq with friends in LA, watched TONS of Olympic events, saw the LA Philharmonic at the Santa Anita Racetrack and enjoyed a great overnight trip with the fam up at Lake Arrowhead. Dave also had the opportunity to travel up to San Francisco for a few days to hang out with friends from college and while he was gone my mom, Maddie and I went to Disneyland (which I hadn’t visited since 2005). And when you go to Disneyland with us- you REALLY go to Disneyland. We were up at dawn to make it to the park for the opening and we stayed past the official close- to almost 1:00am- trying to get on every ride possible…an exhausting, but awesome day!

At the end of our time in California Dave and I drove with Maddie up to Davis. She’s going into her senior year and I couldn’t miss the chance to see Davis and have her show me around the campus and the city before she graduated. We had a lot of fun checking out the local farmer’s market, grubbing on burgers and brew at Burgers and Brew and hanging out with her friends our first night. The next day we biked around the greenbelt and all over campus- stopping to eat a picnic lunch in the arboretum. Our flight left for Maine that night, so we had one last (delicious) Davis meal of pizza and wings at Vito’s before heading to the airport. It was tough to say bye to Maddie since I’m not sure when we’ll see her next, but I know we’ll be talking a lot this year as the wedding approaches…yay for the best Maid of Honor ever!!

This concludes Part I of our World Tour USA 2012 post! Since we did so much on our trip I decided to break our post down into two parts. I’m putting it out here (so I hold myself to it!)- look for part II tomorrow!

Thanks for reading! – Daverian

Heading Back to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave

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As I prepared to leave for the U.S. I began to think about the possibility of reverse culture shock. I am flying back for my trip to the U.S. exactly 9 months to the day that I left Boston for Berlin (Dave is flying back about 10 days after me because of his exams). Of course, upon our arrival in Germany there were a few things that struck me as slightly odd or just a bit different. Obviously the biggest shock to my system was the language barrier formed between myself and my fellow Berliners. I know enough now to get by (on the basics), but if someone mistakes me for a native speaker and our conversation steers from anything other than common plesantries I’m immediately lost. This happened most recently at the pharmacy when the pharmascist attempted to give me, what I can only assume to be, directions and warnings related to my medication. Other “shocks” included small things like all stores and shops being closed on Sundays, no hostesses in restaurants and the fact that smoking is allowed almost anywhere. I don’t think I’ll experience too much of a transition period upon my return to the States, but I know there are a few things I am SO looking forward to…

1. The food! I can’t wait for buffalo wings, cheddar cheese, butterfingers, IPAs and all the other hard to find food items in Germany. I also can’t wait to revisit some of our old favorite places–mmm…bbq brisket, fried pickles and mac n cheese at Red Bones.

2. The people- of course,! I can’t wait to be surrounded by family and friends.  And we have the added bonus of being able to attend 3 weddings of wonderful friends and family during our time home…very excited!

3. Driving. Dave loves not having a car and being able to rely solely on public transit, but I’m a Southern California girl and we LOVE our cars. I can’t wait to borrow my parents car and cruise along the CA highways with the windows down…which we’ll be doing of a lot of considering we have a lot of wedding planning to pack in while we’re in CA.

We have a jam packed couple months ahead of us as we’ll be traveling all through New England, to parts of the Mid-West and then heading out to Southern California for a couple of weeks. I think we’ve nailed down a dates and plans with most people, but if you’ll be around the Maine or So. Cal area this summer let us know and we’ll see if we can set something up!! Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland, Hallo USA!

P.S. Go Germany–Euro Cup 2012!!!

Barcelona Birthday

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Last Wednesday Dave and I finally got a couch for our apartment! Even though we had to move the thing down four flights of stairs and then up another flight to our apartment it’s totally worth it–so nice to be able to finally sit back and relax in our place.  As we were enjoying our first “sitting” Dave got up and surprised me with an early birthday present: two tickets to Barcelona!  We were leaving following day at 3:00 and would be spending four glorious days in a much anticipated travel destination of mine: Spain! He had even purchased a bottle of Spanish wine to start the celebration early…such a thoughtful guy:)

Even though we flew into Barcelona we were actually only going to be spending one day in the city- the other three we spent in a beach town a little south of the city called Castelldefels. When we arrived on Thursday night we were starving, so we dropped our things at the hotel and headed out for dinner.  As we were walking we noticed most restaurants were closed, which we thought a little weird for 7:00 at night.  I knew the Spanish typically dine late, but had no idea that restaurants and kitchens don’t often even open until 8:00 or 9:00 at night?!  Luckily there were a few bars open and we found a place that served food all day. We split nachos and a cheeseburger- not quite the Spanish cuisine we might have imagined we’d find, but delicious none the less.  After dinner we grabbed a bottle of wine and some dessert and headed out to the beach. We spent a couple hours dipping our toes in the Mediterranean, sipping some Spanish wine and watching the sunset- perfect start to a vacation.

The next day we got up early and walked the quick three block walk to the beach.  The day was perfect and we spent all morning lying in the sand and playing in the surf. Come lunchtime we headed into the city to pick up some Spanish meats, cheeses and a loaf of bread. We ate by the pool and spent the rest of the afternoon reading and pool lounging before heading upstairs for a little siesta.

After our siesta we decided to head back to the beach, but this time to one of the many beach bars posted up every few hundred meters along the shore. After drinks we headed into the town for some tapas and to catch some of the Euro Cup action. For those of you who don’t follow soccer (“football”) the Euro Cup is currently underway and people are MAD for it. The competition is fierce between certain nations and everywhere you look people are tuning in for the big match-ups…a fun time to be in Europe as a sports fan. We sampled some Spanish tortilla and Berberechos (cockles) as we watched the Czechs unfortunate loss to the Russians. After the game we stopped for some gelato before making our way back to the hotel.

We woke up Saturday to another bright and sunny day and my birthday!!  We ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel and headed back out to the beach. Since our (well mostly my) pasty white skin hadn’t seen a good amount of sun in quite awhile we were both suffering from sunburns from the previous day. We decided for a birthday splurge and rented chairs and an umbrella right at the water’s edge. It turned out to be a fabulous buy and we hung out on the beach from 9:30-about 3:30.

Following our beach excursion we headed back to the hotel for a bit more pool time and some downtime.  After resting up we decided that we’d had such a good time at the beach bar the previous night we ought to go back. This time we had the good fortune to catch some live music. The band was made up of 3 Spanish musicians and the lead singer was an older ex-pat from Florida. They played old school rock, including some Elvis and all in all were pretty talented. For dinner later that night we found a spot at a place called Can Moyas.  Even though we tried to be “Spanish” about the time of our meal, when we showed up a little after 9:00 there were only about 5 other tables occupied…oh well.  We ordered a pitcher of sangria to start and then another round of the yummy Berberechos.  Then we split an order of palella and a steak- both absolutely delicious. Since it was my birthday our waiter brought over extra shots and Dave bought me a rose from one of the vendors walking through the area. At the hotel after dinner we popped some champagne and shared a big piece of chocolate cake.  I really couldn’t have asked for a more relaxing (or delicious!) start to my 27th year. Thanks baby for planning everything!!

The next morning we forced ourselves out of bed early so that we could make sure to see as much of Barcelona as we could in a day…and we saw A LOT (I have a couple ugly blisters to prove it!). We quickly dropped our bags off at the hostel and hustled downtown to catch the start of a walking tour around the Old Town of the city. Our tour guide, Gorka, was awesome and showed knew a ton about the ancient and medieval history of Barcelona. He walked us through a big portion of the gothic quarter stopping at number of different stops along the way. We learned about a few interesting Catalonian traditions and even got to see one: the dancing egg!  Every year during Corpus Christi a number of sites along the city display “dancing eggs”- these eggs are supported by water fountains and they look as though they are dancing atop the water (see picture below if you don’t believe me).  Another tradition we learned about takes place during Christmas. It’s common for every Catalonian home to have a statue of the “Caganer“, which you’ll see in the photo below, is a man taking a dump. It’s placed as part of the traditional nativity scene. There are many thoughts behind why he’s part of the Christmas tradition, but our guide believed the man to symbolize the circle of life and putting back into the earth what you take out. Whatever the reason, it’s a fun tradition but probably not one I’ll be implementing in our home in the future. The last part of our tour lead us to Plaça del Rei. Being a bit of a history buff this was one of my favorite stops because of it’s connections to King Ferdinand, Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Inquisition. Even though it’s long been proven false the steps in the square were rumored to be the place Columbus met King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella after his return from the Americas…pretty cool!

Following our tour we stopped for a quick bite before heading over to Parc de la Ciutadella.  Before finding out that we were going to Barcelona last week I really didn’t know much about the city. I’m a little embarrassed to say that my only knowledge of the city came from an episode of the Bachelorette a few years ago when Jillian had a date there.  The big thing I remember from her date is that she met the guy by this gorgeous fountain…so naturally I had to find this fountain and see it too! The fountain is not actually known as “the fountain from Jillian’s season of the Bachelorette”, but the Cascada. It’s absolutely stunning and I took a million photos as we wandering around it.

We continued our stroll through the park checking out a small lake with row boats, a number statues and small plazas and getting in a little people watching. It was Sunday and the park was crowded with groups having picnics and parties. The whole area was beautiful.

From the park we decided to head back into the Gothic Quarter in an attempt to get into the Picasso Museum (which was free after 3:00pm).  Unfortunately the line just to get in the museum was probably 300 people deep. We opted to skip the wait in an attempt to see some more of the city, so we hopped on the metro and headed up to the Antoni Gaudi designed cathedral, the Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada Familia is a beautiful church in the center of the city. Construction on the building began in 1882 and amazingly enough continues to this day. Some sources put the expected date of completion to be 2025/2026, but who knows?!  Again, we opted not to go inside due to time constraints, but we walked the entire length of the church’s exterior and were so impressed with everything about it.

Next we made our made our way over to Casa Batlló and La Pedrera to check out some more of the famous Gaudi architecture of the city. Gaudi is Catalan’s most famous architect and considered the “figurehead of Catalan Modernism”.  His style is unique and immediately recognizable, plus it’s everywhere in the city. 

We hadn’t quite had our Gaudi fix so we hopped back on the metro and headed up to our final “big stop” of the day: Park Guell.  The park is located a little farther north in the city and isn’t the most accessible. From the map it looked a good 10-15 minute walk, but the map didn’t show the fact that it’s basically located atop a giant hill.  Fortunately the path was well marked and there were even some escalators to help with the climb, but we definitely got a workout in as we made our way to the top. It was all worth it though and the park turned out to be my favorite site of the day. There were long winding trails leading visitors around to the many important sites within the park- many created by Gaudi himself. We spent a couple hours trying to catch everything.  We also visited the park during the Spain v. Italy match of the Euro Cup and could hear cheering and horns throughout the surrounding area the whole time…it was great!

As we descended back into the thick of the city the sun started to go down. We found a nice outdoor table near the University and grubbed on some sandwiches and a couple tapas. After dinner we tried to experience a little bit of the Barcelona nightlife by headed to a bar Maddie recommended called Chupitos that opened at 10:30, however when we arrived around 10:45 they still looked to be setting up and one of the staff told us they weren’t opening for another 20 minutes. At this point we’d been walking around for 12+ hours and it was raining…needless to say we decided to be old foggies and started back towards the hostel, which actually turned out to be a smart choice given that the metro system shuts down at midnight on weeknights. We were wondering how a city that starts their nights so late could close transport so early, but we got our answer the next morning when we saw huge groups of people piling out of clubs at 8:30/9:00am!

Our flight left pretty early on Monday so the only thing left to do was find me some churros con chocolate (something my friend Becky has been telling me about for more than 6 years now)! It was a little harder to find than anticipated, but we eventually spotted a place, chowed them down and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.  It was a perfect birthday trip and I’m already planning our return trip to Spain:)

The 8-month Mark…

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Today marks 8 months since we packed up our belongings into 3 large suitcases and left Boston for Berlin. I still can’t quite believe that I get to say, “Oh, I live in Europe.”- pretty surreal. It’s been a wonderful yet challenging experience and I think it’s only going to get better!

The biggest challenge for me initially was having to worry about how exactly I was going to legally stay in the country after my initial 90 days in the Schengen Zone. As my 90 days came to a close in December and I was still without a job I was getting pretty stressed out. Didn’t really help that in Berlin it would get dark at 3:45 in the afternoon literally making me feel like I was “in the dark” all the time. Luckily my problem was solved (or rather postponed) when I decided that to sign up for intensive German classes that would allow me to remain on a student visa. In the meantime I was able to secure a free-lance position with an international company and was provided with the paperwork I needed to secure a free-lance visa. Unfortunately the job fell through when not enough people signed up for the English courses, but at least I’d been able to acquire my much desired visa.

I’m no stranger to job searching, as I had taken the plunge twice before when we moved to DC jobless and then Boston. And let me tell you- job searching in 2007 as a fresh-faced college grad with no experience was a walk in the park compared to the Boston job search in 2009 and the Berlin experience in 2011/2012. Luckily things always have a way of working out in the end. In Boston I searched in vain for 5 months, but then landed my dream job at Northeastern (a job I still miss all the time). And here in Berlin I finally received the offer I’d be praying for when in late April I was offered a position as a Kindergarden teacher at an international school in Berlin!  I won’t start work full-time until September 1st due to our lengthy trip back to the States this Summer, but I’ve been working a couple days a week pro-bono to get a feel for the school, meet some of my colleagues and get to know the kids. So far everything is wonderful! Each class has between 15-20 kids and 3 teachers (pretty amazing S:T ratio!). Of the three teachers, two are native German speakers and one is a native English speaker. The idea is that the kids are exposed constantly to both languages and learn to understand and speak both through immersion. It’s a really interesting place to work and my colleagues seem great. I’m so thankful to 1. have a job! 2. be still in a school environment and 3. be at a place that will expose me to some great people!

Though the past 8 months did bring some stress with the visa situation and the job search so much more our time here has been stress-free and fabulous!  We’ve traveled to 6 different countries, celebrated our first Christmas together, explored so much of Berlin, met some great people and of course, got engaged!!!  My highlights thus far include the TEFL program I completed in Prague back in Oct/Nov, traveling with Maddie in Belgium, Prague and Berlin, our Christmas in the Black Forest, our engagement in March and our trip to Ireland for Saint Patricks day. Dave too has enjoyed the traveling, but has been much busier than me on the work-front. He’s finishing up his second semester in just over a month, working part-time at a non-profit and will soon begin his search for an internship come Fall.  Good thing he loves his program and economics so much- with all that’s happening with the Euro Crisis it’s an interesting time to be studying finance anywhere, but especially Berlin. When asked about his Euro highlights he mentioned his ski trip to Austria, his birthday trip to Ireland and drinking glühwein at the Christmas markets.

All in all I’d say we’ve been pretty happy here in Berlin and are excited for the next 8 months and beyond!

Dem Deutschen Volk

 

Springtime in Berlin and Germany

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The weather in Berlin is fickle, to say the least. Hot, humid and 85 degrees one day; cold, rainy and 48 degrees the next…it’s kind of like Boston, but worse!  Luckily we’ve been able capitalize on some of the beautiful days and do some inside exploration on the not so pretty ones. We live right next to Kollwitzplatz and have enjoyed many an afternoon or evening relaxing in the little park there. We’re also within walking distance from Mauer Park and Friedrichshein Park- both great places to spend an afternoon reading and lounging. We’re both really into the Game of Thrones books right now- Adrian’s on the last book- Dances with Dragons and I’m impatiently waiting for her to finish so I can get at it.

I have been very busy with work and school as well, not that that is anything too interesting to read about… This semester at HWR is very short, only about 4 months in total, far shorter than last semester. Unfortunately, my professors are forced to get the same amount of material out in a shorter time frame, so the weeks and months are pretty packed for me with coursework. I have an interesting slate of classes though, including Risk Management and International Asset Portfolios so I don’t mind. We have been assigned a lot of group work this semester, which can be annoying but also rewarding in its own way.

My internship has been busy as well. I am working at Global2015, a non-profit research organization quantifying the world’s most pressing humanitarian issues. Currently we are putting together a compendium of all the most relevant climate change statistics for the upcoming Rio2012 Summit in Brazil. Our deadline is approaching fast but the work is interesting. I also really enjoy my co-workers, whom are from all over the world, including Spain, the UK, the Ivory Coast, Kenya and of course Germany. I have also been able to put a fair amount of my skills from HWR to use, as I have been working hard on helping to resolve some of the statistical issues with our research.

Adrian and I have been working hard at settling in to our new place in Prenzlauer Berg as well which has proved at times challenging but also pretty fun, P-Berg is by far the most beautiful neighborhood in Berlin; I am now convinced. It really is nice to leave the apartment everyday and be surrounded by beautiful trees and architecture with nice looking people wandering around everywhere. But we are in an old building and noticed just the other day that a large portion of the wall is falling out, just below the window sill. Not good!

The months seem to go by so quickly and we both are really looking forward to our long trip back to the USA this summer, though I know I will miss Berlin while we are gone. Still, we can’t wait to see all our friends and family soon!

Szczecin, Poland

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Last weekend Dave and I took an quick trip over to Poland. It had been a few months since we’d done any travel and we were itching to see some more of Europe. We decided to head to Poland’s 7th largest city, Szczecin- which is just across the Germany/Poland line. We were able to find a transport on essentially the equivalent of a commuter rail for only 10 Euros each way (Szczecin is only about a 2 hour drive/train ride from Berlin).

We left Berlin on Thursday afternoon for our two night stay.  Upon arriving in Szczecin we promptly got lost and took about an hour to find our hotel (another great deal at only 25 Euros/night!).  Luckily we found some friendly cabbies who were nice enough to give us directions in a mix of German, Polish and English.  After checking in and relaxing for a few minutes we headed out to find some traditional Polish food.  I’d done a little restaurant research on TripAdvisor the night before and we easily found Pod Kogutem.  We were a little nervous about the food because we were the only customers, but pretty much everywhere in the city was dead- a total 180 from what Berlin is like any night of week.Though the dinner atmosphere was slightly odd the food was fantastic! We started with some traditional Polish perogies followed by steak medallions with Polish dumplings for me and a pork loin for Dave. Of course, there was Polish beer to be had as well.  After dinner we decided to head back to rest and get ready for some sightseeing in the morning.

We awoke early the next morning and were pleased to see that rain was holding off. We headed toward the downtown area for coffe and breakfast and then began our walk along the “Golden Route”. The Golden Route takes one down the “main street” in Szczecin- highlighting different monuments and important features along the way. We saw monuments dedicated to “Polish Great Deeds”, sailors, dancing fountains and even the world oldest movie theater (we stopped by to see about tickets but all the films were in Polish..as one would imagine). The highlight of the walk came when we reached the Jana Pawla II square- a huge green square with a large statue commemorating Poland’s own Pope John Paul II.  From there it lead into a large park with ample walkways, an outdoor concert venue, a rose garden and a beer garden. After wandering through the park for a bit we made our way back to the beer garden for some Kielbasa and beer. From there we continued back down the route stopping at some additional sites before heading back to the hotel to rest.

World's Oldest Movie Theater

After a bit of a rest we made our way back out into the city. We’d spent the morning exploring the Golden Route and decided to enjoy the evening on the Red Route- a red dotted line near the riverfront with numbered stops delineating an important site. More than 60% of Szczecin was destroyed during allied air raids in the Second World War, but we were still able to check out a number of old churches, government buildings, a stone gate dating back to the mid-1700’s and the Pomeranian Duke’s Castle. As we walked towards the castle we were able to hear music- upon heading into the one of the castle’s courtyards we saw a stage set up with a live band playing country tunes!  The 5 person band was actually really great and we stayed for about half an hour.  Though it didn’t seem like any of the other audience members knew the words to the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain tunes being performed everyone was really into the show.  One man even lifted up his girlfriend, carried her up in front of the stage and they started dancing. Two very drunk older gentlemen soon joined in–a very festive atmosphere in deed.

After the concert and a few more stops along the Red Route we found a delicious and cheap Italian restaurant near the castle for dinner. We shared a plate of pasta and a pizza before making our way back through the city and to our hotel.

The next morning we woke up to dreary weather, but were determined to see some more of the city before our 6:00pm ride back to Berlin. We hadn’t yet walked along the river and we made our way down to the boardwalk. We spent the morning taking a few more sights from the Red Route we’d missed the day before.  The river in Szczecin leads out to the Baltic Sea and we walked along a very pretty tree lined road with a great view of it. We were also able to see a bit of the Maritime Museum and another huge city park.

The rain started to pick up a bit in the afternoon so we decided to spend our last few hours in the city with some perogies and beer. We found a spot that over looked the river called Colorado. The interior was slightly politically incorrect, but they had some tasty food and pitchers of beer for 18 złoty (about 4.5 Euros).  We were happy to have found a spot out of the rain and enjoyed a few hours in “Colorado” before heading back to Berlin.

Interior of Colorado

We had a great time exploring Szczecin.  The city was very walkable and easy to navigate. It’s changed hands a number of time over the years- being ruled by the Swedish, the Soviets and the Germans. The city though is home to more than 400,000 people now and from our view it looks they’re working hard to improve and modernize. Overall the people we met were friendly and helpful. Also something interesting was the immediately noticeable national pride.  Polish flags were absolutely everywhere! And it was easy to find shops with Polish gear and memorabilia. Since arriving in Europe we’ve both been questioned about national pride and our thoughts on patriotism- something that’s always an interesting topic in Germany given their past. It was interesting to see such a bold display of it in Szczecin and I’m sure will provide exciting fodder for conversation in the future.

We’re headed back to the US for a good chunk of time this summer but are hoping to get at least one more trip in before we fly back.  We’ll keep you posted!

♥- Dave & Adrian

April Angst to New Apartment Bliss

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It’s been a crazy couple of weeks.  It all started the last week in March when we were searching desperately for a new apartment we could move into come April 1. After looking a number of places and dealing with the struggles of being ex-pats in a country that loves paperwork we finally found a place.  Unfortunately, we had a little drama that resulted in our move-in date being pushed back from the 1st to the 16th.   We ened up moving three times in during the first two weeks of April and finally landed in our beautiful, albeit, internet-free flat. Luckily Dave’s a smarty and picked up a USB stick that allows us one of our computers to have access to the internet until we can get everything sorted with the actual set-up of wireless.  You think dealing with Comcast in the US was hard- try these German companies when you don’t speak German!  Pain in the ass…

Luckily all the hassle has been well worth it. We are now living in (what we consider to be) the most beautiful area of Berlin.  Our apartment is located right off of Kollwitzplatz on a street that is actual listed as an attraction in our Berlin guidebook!  The building is altbau- meaning it was built pre-WWII.  It has huge ceilings and our windows look out over a small courtyard.  It also has a bedroom separate from the living area- which is not something that’s always easy to find in Berlin.  Additionally, it comes with a built-in kitchen…oddly enough Germans tend to take their kitchen appliances with them when they move (everything: stove, fridge, sink, counters etc…).  Often new tenants will have to buy a whole new kitchen set.  Thankfully not us!

Entrance to our new apartment

In addition to having a kitchen the apartment came only partial furnished, so we did have to pick up a few things…a bed being the big one.  Luckily Ikea is just a train ride away.  Additionally we now live only a few blocks from the famous Mauerpark.  Every Sunday a huge flea market is set up in the park and it always feels like the every one of the almost 4 million people who live in Berlin come to check it out every week. Neither Dave nor I are adept at bargaining, but we were able to pick up a few deals last Sunday.  We got a couple of mugs, plates and vases, but our big pick up was two old Ammo Boxes made in 1940.  They’re wooden and probably weight more than 20 lbs each. We decided to try our hand at being decorators and we re-purposed them as night stands. I love them- historical and chic.

We’re slowly collecting necessities- lots of trips to IKEA and the 1 Euro Shop- but it’s starting to feel more like home.  The one big thing we’re missing is a couch- so once we’re in possession of that we’ll be sitting pretty (pun intended!). We feel so lucky to have found this place.  They’re are parks, restaurants, shops and landmarks right outside our front door. Dave said just the other day that he can’t help but smile every time he steps onto our street.  Hopefully we’ll be able to welcome some visitors in the future:)

Our New Apartment and Neighborhood

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The Emerald Isle

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We got back on Wednesday from an AMAZING trip to Ireland.  We spent 8 nights on the Emerald Island and saw some of the most beautiful sites we’ve ever witnessed.  Bear with  me on this post- because it’s gonnna be long!

Day 1- March 13

We flew from Berlin to Dublin on Tuesday afternoon.  The flight was direct and just over 2 hours.  Upon landing we easily located a bus to the center of the city and made the trip downtown.  We checked into our hostel (Generator) and headed out to see the city.  Though the sun was setting the Temple Bar area of the city was just heating up.  Temple Bar is the name of one of the most famous Dublin establishments and also the area dedicated to numerous bars and restaurants.  We spent a little while walking around the area and taking in some sites before heading up to a pub called Messers Maguires.  We chose Messers because we’d read a review about their home-brews back at home and we weren’t disappointed!  I was happiest because their newest draft was a “California Style Pale Ale”- Pale Ales and IPAs are my favorite variety of beer.  And while German beer is generally outstanding, they do suffer a bit when it comes to variety.  I was in heaven with my “hoppy” ale and Dave was a fan of the “Rusty Red”.  After dinner and drinks at Messers we headed back into the Temple Bar area where we enjoyed some live music and got friendly with some locals.  The people in Dublin (and Ireland in general) were incredibly friendly.  Both at Messers and the following bar we had locals buy us drinks and talk to us about their city.  It was a bit of a late night and we didn’t get home until after 1:00am, but it was a lot of fun as well.

Temple Bar

Day 2- March 14

We woke up early as it was our only full day in Dublin and we had a lot on the agenda.  After breakfast we immediately headed down to Kilmainham Gaol for a tour of the facility.  Kilmainham Gaol is one of the largest unoccupied prisons in Europe and the tour covers the history of the institution.  The prison was opened in the late 18th century and operated until the early 1920s.  It housed mainly petty criminals and political dissentients, and has quite an interesting history.  In fact all the leaders of the Irish Easter Rising were imprisoned and then executed on the grounds. For anyone unfamiliar with the gaol you may recognize the largest holding chamber from movies such as In the Name of the Father and Michael Clayton.

Kilmainham Gaol

After our tour of Kilmainham Gaol we walked though the ground of Dublin’s modern art museum and headed over to the Guinness Storehouse.  The tour of the Storehouse is self-guided, but incredibly informative (and the free samples and pint of Guinness don’t hurt!).  We learned about Arthur Guinness and his creation of the brand.  Not only did he play a major role in crafting the beer, but signed a 9,000 year lease on the Storehouse location. The tour included more than 5 floors of information surrounding the history of Guinness, the making of the beer and the brand today.  The most interesting area may have been the section of the tour dedicated to the coopers (the designers of the old style barrels used to ferment the beer), but we were also pretty impressed with the sky-high Gravity Bar. We grabbed our beers, were lucky enough to find seats near one of the windows, just sat back and relaxed for a bit, enjoying the views of Dublin.

Following our stint at the Gravity Bar we made our way back to the Smithfield area Dublin so we could hop on a late afternoon tour of the Jameson Distillery. The tour guide walked us through the process of triple distillation and showed how Jameson gets it’s unique taste and smoothness.  The highlights of the tour included a look at 5 different barrels of Jameson all at different distillation periods- 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 12 years and 18 years and the final tasting at the end.  In addition to the basic tasting Dave was selected to be a “special taster”.  As a “special taster” he got additional tastes of Jameson, Johnny Walker Black Label and Jack Daniels.  He and the other tasters had to sit at a front table and share their favorite of the varieties, following that they each got an Official Whiskey Taster certificate for their troubles- it was very cute.

That evening we took it a little easier by wandering about Dublin a bit before enjoying a couple of pints at The Old Stand pub.  It’s more than 300 years old and reputed to have been a favorite haunt of Michael Collins. After our beers we grabbed some street food before making our way back to the hostel and crashing.

Day 3- March 15

We got an early start on Thursday, because we needed to pick up our car and start the 4+ hour drive our to the northwest of Ireland. The car pick up went smooth and Dave was an old pro and driving on the wrong side of the road.  We kept commenting that the scenery throughout the drive just kept getting better and better…but we had no idea what waited ahead in Malinbeg. Malinbeg is a tiny little town, located in the western-most part of Donegal country, miles from any large city.  In fact the population of Malinbeg is a mere 75 people, but they make up for it with the thousands of sheep roaming around.  When we arrived we were greeted by the hostel owner, Frank, who is also the proprietor of the general food store.  He showed us around the hostel and directed us to the beach, just a 5 minute walk down the road. We’d seen the green rolling hills and some distant coast line, but were absolutely amazed at the beautiful site that greeted us at the end of the street.  The beach consisted of a beautiful carved out bay completed with green hillside, impressive rock cliffs and a distant waterfall. We hoofed it down the long staircase and spent a good hour wading into the freezing ocean, searching for sea life and shells in the rocks and just enjoying the view. After cooking up some dinner in one of the hostels 2 fully-equipped kitchens we relaxed with some tea in front of the fire Frank set up before heading off to bed.

Day 4- March 16

Of all the things we were looking forward to about our trip to Ireland hiking Slieve League was number 1 on the list. We got an early start out of Malinbeg and took Frank’s advice on a scenic route out to Slieve League. The bit of extra driving was absolutely worth-it and we were so excited to see the main event when we reached our destination. Slieve League is basically a coastal mountain with magnificent sea cliffs. It’s among the tallest cliffs in the country and boasts some of the most amazing scenery.  We were lucky that the weather was relatively clear and that we were some of the only people out at the cliffs that morning. In addition to the excitement over the cliffs for the first time in my life I was thrilled about the fact that we hit a traffic jam.  The thrill being that it was a jam of sheep!!!  It was seriously cool. The cliffs were seriously cool as well.  We were the only visitors at the time who opted to hike up from the car park and we got some pretty spectacular views all to ourselves.  Really my words can’t do it justice and to be honest the pictures don’t either, but they do a better job than I could:

Sheep Jam

After the cliffs we headed up and inland to Glenveagh National Park.  We hiked the Castle Trail- which was lead provided great views of the lake and surrounding mountains. Upon arriving at the castle we stopped for a picnic lunch in one of the gardens and then explored the grounds a bit. It was beautiful, but the weather was starting to look a little rainy- so we headed back to the car and began the journey to our next destination: Derry.

Day 5- March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day!!!)

We lucked out with our accommodations at the International Hostel in Derry. Though we booked an 8-bed dorm there were only two other occupants the first night and none the second! In addition to the decent sleeping arrangement the hostel provided fresh baked bread every morning and a comfy lounging room with a great variety of movies and books…it had a very homey feel. We awoke on St. Patrick’s Day, enjoyed some coffee and fresh baked bread and then headed into the city to explore a bit before our 11:00 “Free Derry Tour”.  We knew absolutely nothing about the city before arriving, but it has quite a tumultuous history. Built in the early 1600’s there were constructed in an effort to control the “Irish Rebels” and the trouble kept growing. Though Derry is located in Northern Ireland and is technically part of the United Kingdom it has very nationalistic sentiments. There’s even a debate over whether the city’s real name is (as the nationalists call it) Derry or (as the loyalists call it) Londonderry. To avoid the drama many shops and businesses in the area go by Foyle, the name of the river, rather than “choose sides”. We walked around the city center, which was gearing up for the day’s festivities and around the still-intact walls before meeting our guide.  The “Free Derry Tours” are all conducted by former political prisoners and IRA advocates. Our guide Gerry was adamantly pro-IRA and he warned us from the get-go that his tour would be from his perspective. He began the tour by saying that they’re are three sides to every story- “my side, your side and somewhere in the middle what actually happened”. Well Gerry definitely gave his side. He painted the IRA solely as a victims in the conflict, only talking about the atrocities done by the British never and he ended his tour by saying he hopes that Margaret Thatcher dies a slow and painful death.  Though he gave us a very biased view of the troubles, he was remarkably interesting and his personal connection to the conflict made it all the more intriguing (his brother was one of the men who participated in the first hunger strike).

Following our tour we were ready to get the drinking started. We began with a few pints at the most popular pub in the city, Peadar O Donnels. After those headed back to hostel for some car bombs (whole new meaning now) on the cheap before making our way to the parade route. We only stayed on the route for half an hour or so because it was time to head back to a bar for the big Ireland vs. England match in the 6-Nations Rugby Tournament. We decided it was only appropriate to pay a visit to the pub “Bound for Boston” and fought our way through the crowds to see the Irish get creamed.  Luckily most people remained in good spirits following the loss and we made our way back to Peaders to grab some more pints and listen to some live Irish music. All in all a festive and fun Saint Patrick’s Day in a very authentically Irish local.

Day 6- March 18

Considering the amount of Guinness we thew back the day before we were feeling pretty good come Sunday morning. We hopped in the car and made our way along the northern coast.  We spent the entire day stopping at spots along the causeway coastal route and enjoying the gorgeous scenery. Highlights included walking around the Mussenden Temple, hiking down to the Giant’s Causeway and taking in the view at Carrick-a-Rede. Again words (nor pictures) can really do the sites justice.

That evening we splurged a little for a comfortable B&B where we were greeted by our wonderful host, Olive, ready with a fresh pot of tea and homemade bread. It was a great ending to a beautiful day.

Day 7- March 19

After a good nights sleep we awoke to another one of our anticipated trip events: a full Irish Breakfast. Our host Olive cooked up sausage, bacon, fresh bread, soda bread, fried eggs, yogurt, fruit, fresh OJ and coffee. It was by far the best meal of our trip…I’m literally salivating now as I write about it.  In order to work a little bit of it off we headed to the Glenariff Forest Park and set off down the waterfall trail. After spending a few hours taking in even more beautiful scenery we headed back down the coast towards Belfast (making one more stop for another hike to a waterfall along the way).

We arrived in Belfast just after 3:00 and after dropping our bags at the hotel we walked down into the city. I wasn’t sure what to expect of Belfast, really only knowing about it from the violence associated with the nationalist vs. loyalist conflict.  I have to say that I was greatly impressed. The city center is very modern, young and friendly. After taking in some sites we made stops at Bittles Bar, Fibber Magees and Crown Bar- when in Ireland right?!

Day 8- March 20

Our last day on the Emerald Isle. We picked a hotel near Queen’s University which turned out great because we were easily able to find a great, cheap dinner for breakfast. After the morning meal we headed through the campus and onto Belfast’s Botanical Gardens. The campus was absolutely gorgeous as were the gardens.

After our stroll there we walked over to the Ulster Museum to learn a little more about Ireland’s history. The museum was not only free, but fantastic. They have six floors dedicated to history, natural history and art; we definitely learned a lot. Probably the most interesting part about our visit was getting to compare and contrast the information we’d learned from Gerry in Derry and the information we discovered here. Gerry conveniently left out all mention of the bombs and attacks on civilians by the IRA. In addition to a good deal of information on the “troubles” the Ulster museum had exhibits on the history of Ireland from ancient times. Most interesting were the displays on population growth, the potato famine and the fight for Irish independence. Also displayed were the findings from a sunken ship discovered off the coast of Ireland a few years back– gold doubloons and all!

After the museum we headed into the city center for our final tourist excursion- a bus tour of Belfast. We hopped on the double decker bus and enjoyed a fascinating (and very funny) tour of the city. One of the things Belfast is most famous for (and most proud of) is the fact that the Titanic was built in their city. The tour started out by driving by the “Titanic’s final footprint” and the docks. Opening at the end of this month is a new museum and tourism center dedicated to the ship and we were able to see the almost finished product. The building is designed to the same height as the ship and the different wings resemble the bow of the Titanic. Also pointed out was the oldest intact ship from WWI- still floating in the harbor.

From the docks we headed into the posher area of the city over to Stormont, the Parliament in Belfast.  We then drove by our first of many murals- most done by the Irish loyalists.

The second half of the tour took us through the center of the city, into the area we had stayed the night before: The Queen’s Quarter and over to the Shankill area (where many of the violent attacks by the IRA were carried out).

All in all the tour was fascinating and the city lively. Belfast was a favorite city of Queen Victoria and official given the title of “city” by her in the 1888 (the year UPS was founded!). It’s had a troubled past, but is now a thriving and modern center.  Dave and I agreed that it was our favorite of the cities we visited this trip and we wished we’d had more time to explore…next time!

After our bus trip we grabbed a quick lunch and a final pint at Bittles before jumping in the car and heading back towards Dublin. We enjoyed one last beautiful drive down the east coast as the sun set.  We flew back to Berlin the next morning.

It was a wonderful week, made even more magical by the beautiful weather. We put over 900 kilometers on the car by the time it was all said and done and enjoyed every bit of the trip. It was a perfect way to celebrate our engagement and we can’t wait until our next adventure!

We’re Getting Hitched!

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If you haven’t heard: Dave and I are engaged!!!  We are incredibly excited and enjoying being “affianced”.  We’ve done absolutely no planning thus far, but are thinking we will probably set a date for sometime next year.

Dave officially proposed on Saturday, March 3rd.  The night before I had a girls night out with my friends Katinka, Ana and Miriam in Kreuzberg.  We went out for dinner and cocktails and by the time I arrived back home Dave was already asleep.  The next morning he awoke before me to make breakfast.  I woke up to a delicious plate of eggs, sausage and toast and a steaming cup of coffee.  We had a lazy, relaxing Saturday morning before heading out into the city.  The weather on Saturday was the sunniest and warmest it’s been in Berlin for months!  Though it only hit a high of about 50° that day- it felt wonderful in the sun.  We took the metro up to one of my favorite area’s of Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg, and walked through the street market and park before heading down to the Tiergarten.  Tiergarten is my absolute favorite place in Berlin.  It’s the big central park of the city and has wonderful walking trails, grassy fields, gardens and memorials.  We started at the English Garden and then meandered over toward the Rose Garden (where Dave had been hinting we visit all day).  Unfortunately when we arrived it turns out it was undergoing renovations and is closed until April 1st. Dave wanted to propose within the garden because we’d visited it the week we arrived in Berlin and recently I told him I thought it was the most beautiful place in the city (what a listener!). As you can see from the photo below- it really is a lovely spot. Rosegarten- Tiergarten Berlin

After discovering that garden was closed we continued our walk through the park.  Dave had been acting a little odd all day and I could tell he was getting a little more anxious at this point. We kept walking and talk though eventually cutting through a big, empty, open field.  As we neared a large tree he let out a big sigh and I asked what he was thinking about.  He took my hands, led me to the tree and said he’d been thinking about how much he loved me and how much he’d love if I would marry him.  He pulled out the most beautiful ring, got down on one knee and asked me if I’d marry him.  I have to admit that had kind of guessed it was coming- when you know each other as well as we do (it’s been 5 1/2 years) it’s kind of hard to surprise one another!  Still I was absolutely overwhelmed, but managed an enthusiastic YES!!! Happily we jumped on the bus and headed to Schleusenkrug (our favorite open air beer garden) for a celebratory drink!  We continued the celebration at home with chilled champagne and appetizers before heading out to a nice dinner in our neighborhood (and calling to share the exciting news with our families!).

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We’ve had a been a pretty spectacular past few weeks- I got my visa, Dave finished finals (passing them all!), he went on an awesome week-long ski trip to Austria with friends, WE GOT ENGAGED!, we celebrated Dave’s 27th on Monday and next week we’re headed to Ireland for a week-long tour (including the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day!).  I’d say we’re extremely blessed and wonderfully lucky…and this is just the beginning!  We can’t wait to see what comes next!

***The slideshow has pictures from the actual day and then a few from today.  I was on such a high when the actual proposal happened I couldn’t even remember exactly where we were in the garden- so we went back to find “our” tree today and I snapped a few extra shots for memory’s sake.