The Last Hurrah

On September 18th, Gabi, Sandra and I headed off to Berlin for a long girls-only weekend. We took the train from Frankfurt, making sure we carried on some great red wine, bread, cheeses and fruit. There's nothing like just hanging with your friends and enjoying great wine! We arrived at our hotel around 8:30, with enough energy to head out to a local bar/restaurant (Drei) for dinner. We liked the place so much, that we had drinks there on Friday and Saturday night.

We spent our first full day walking around Berlin. We visited the Berlin Dom, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the government buildings, Reichstag, the Berlin Radio tower. I think I walked more on this trip than most any other since I've been in Germany!

































































































Even though it's definitely fall weather here, and chilly at night, all the establishments had outdoor seating with heaters (affectionately called heating mushrooms), which made it quite cozy. Many places also provided blankets, seen here wrapped around Gabi and Sandra.
















The food choices were quite broad, not like the smaller villages in Germany. We enjoyed chinese, seafood and italian while we were there. And there are coffee shops on every corner, with the most excellent coffee, which we also sampled often.

On Saturday, we went back into Berlin and did some shopping and visited some more historical sites.


































































On Sunday, we took the train to Potsdam, a beautiful neighboring city. There we took a trolley bus tour of Sans Souci (which has to be the largest castle in Germany, if not Europe), Schloss Cecilienhof (where talks were held to end WWII) and the Dutch Quarter. We ended our time in Berlin by touring the Olympic Stadium.



























































































Unfortunately for us, some sad soul decided to end his life on the same train track we were on, which left us stuck at a railroad station for over an hour. Thanks to Frank, who drove an hour out of his way to come get us, we made it home by 2am in the morning. Kudos to Sandra and Gabi who had to work the next day!

October 3rd is a German holiday, Reunification Day, celebrating the reuniting of East Germany and West Germany. To celebrate in the Rheingau area, there is a Pure Nature Vineyard walk. You start at the bottom of the vineyard hill in a town called Hallgarten and you walk your way up to the top, stopping every few meters to have a glass of wine from a local vintner and eat various foods (brats, soups, pretzels, spundelkase, etc). The group included Edna, Lisa, Gabi & Peter & Johannes & Paulina, Sandra & Frank, Moni & Christian & Melina & Tim, Ali & Steven & Emily & Anna and Richard (who was family free and apparently quite loving it). Lisa's husband David and Edna's husband Chuck met us around 4pm. We started at noon and I think we got home around 5pm. It was gorgeous Fall day, made only better by the fact that I was officially separated as of 9:15am!! I leave for home in one week. Bittersweet, to say the least.

On Sunday, October 5th, Edna and Chuck hosted a going away party for me. The guests included Lisa, Gabi & Johannes & Paulina, Sandra & Frank, Carla & Norman and Deborah. Of course, there was plenty of great food and wine, along with some tears. A few pics...

This is probably my last post into this blog. It's been fun, so perhaps I'll start another one about the adventures of being single (again) and bearing down on 50!!

Love to all!!

Frau Pam