Dec 16-17 - Munich

Last one folks...we are now home, and two tired puppies!! We left Fr. Michael's at 5pm on Monday and went to spend the night in Munich, and then took the train back to Berlin this afternoon.

Munich (the little we saw of it) is a very pretty city! It was already dark when we got in yesterday...and I didn't realize that the airport was 40 minutes from City Center! We went down to our hotel, and then headed out to find, yet another, Christmas Market. ha ha. I am still off the Gluhwein, but we found some plain old German beer to drink (Michael Sahm...Tony says it is what you would drink when you'd get your pell grant money). :) Well, as we wandered through the Market - we found a polish tent...we had to go there for my dad...we even ordered Perogis!

Then this morning we looked around the same area - but in the daylight. There is a beautiful catholic church - St. Paul's - where we went in and lit candles for all those we've lost. Then we had some coffee, relaxed, and headed to the train station for our 6 hour journey back.

It was a great weekend - saw a lot in a little time, and we're looking forward to getting back to the family and the holidays! See you all soon.

Good-night and God-bless,

from Berlin

Dec 13 - 16 -- Italy

The trip to Italy, and the visit with Father Michael was terrific!

On arrival night (after the Gluhwein) we had dinner with the head of the military police in Fr. Michael's town (Apiro) - Umberto and family. They are wonderful people, and despite the fact that we have limited ability to talk to each other - the teenage girls (and obviously Fr. Mike) translate and keep everything moving. The hospitality they showed us was second to none!

Then we spent three days with Fr. Michael...just doing daily things. We went for walks, went to mass in Italian, and then went to an oil mill. Our favorite little priest does think that he is going to put his name in for the Indy 500 in 2014..."speed limits in Italy are just a suggestion. I figure that, if we are going to go plunging over an Italian cliff, going out with a holy man has to be in our favor - right?

Italy is one of the most beautiful places I have been lucky enough to visit, so far - I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the time!

Dec 12 - Gluhwein with Rum (BAD)

Hello all! I'm playing catch up, but am still going to try to do it in a few separate posts.

Tony toured by himself during the day, and then we went out to dinner and exploring in the evening. We went to dinner at a German restaurant, and had some yummy food...but take a look at the picture of Tony with the bread...the "butter" on the bread is actually lard with pieces of bacon. We each had one, to say that we did...but that was NOT the high point - blech! The food was really good though.

Afterwards, we went to Potsdamer Platz. It is a really neat outside area, and it was putting on a Christmas show. Well, much to my ultimate demise, there was also a Christmas Market there. It was actually a LOT of fun, we had a great time...right until the two Gluhweins with Rum caught up to me. I am totally blaming the attached "Superstar" pic on that...but I figure I poke enough fun at Flat Tony...it's only fair that I take a little of my own medicine!

Part two...trip to Italy will be coming soon. :)

Dec 11 - The Travel Gods

Hello friends!!

The travel Gods were smiling well on us...and even though he had a few minor delays, and his wife put the wrong time in an email for his last flight (I said 8:15,! it was 8:45), so he hurried for no good reason - Unflat Tony has made it to Germany! That said - I may never get him back here, as 3 flights on his own was not overly appealing to him.

But I got him home and he got to take a nice nap while I worked. Then we went for a walk and had some great Indian food and now are settled in for the night! Even though it's not quite Noon in the US, I can't imagine that he will make it to 1PM EST - poor guy is beat (as you can tell from the photo - he actually wasn't glaring at me...ha ha).

We have tomorrow in Berlin and then a long weekend in Italy, so we will have updates next week.

Love to you all -

Good-night and God-bless,

from Berlin

Dec 7 - Tis The Season

Hello friends! I hope your Saturday is off to a good start!

I used today to get caught up on errands and some last minute shopping. I'm not a "city girl"...but I have to admit, I do like being able to walk everywhere. I walk about 4 blocks and I'm on the main street of my area, where there are people playing instruments and singing Christmas Carols. I even bought myself a little wooden Christmas tree for my small Christmas corner!

Then I took a little trip to the local mall and am attaching two pics of what I saw. First, was a man in a fur coat. Now, this isn't about "fur or no fur"...but IF there was ever a "right time" for a man to wear a fur coat it would be a pro boxing match...not a local Mall. And this may have been the ugliest coat I've ever seen in my life...it looked like three rows of road-kill, skinned and sewn together. Yikes. Then there were the funny folks on stilts running around the mall in white "outfits" and what looked like some type of wings. I have no clue what that was all about - maybe angels?

All in all, a good day, but now its time for The Wire and a big pot of tea.

Have a wonderful day...two weeks from today, really late at night, I should be HOME!!!!

See you all soon!

Good-night and God-bless,

from Berlin

Dec 4 - Pepto Train

Hello All!

I hope this finds you all well! I'm having some internet issues at the apartment, so I apologize for not responding to Words games or emails, etc. I haven't forgotten you all - just can't get to them! Hopefully this will all be fixed soon.

My funny for today doesn't involve a Flat Tony picture - because it would have been really obvious to take it in a packed train. I got on the train this morning, and my train-car was like walking into a Pepto-Bismol advertisement. Everything except the ceiling was in this pattern. The pink parts are actually pictures of various Berlin landmarks, but it was a LOT of pattern in one place. When I got out of the train, I walked by a few other cars, and the one I was in was the ONLY one "decorated" like this...probably for a really, good reason. :)

We also got a storm-warning email today. It says that they are predicting a "heavy storm for Thursday and intense snowfall for Friday" - so you should all be expecting Winter Wonderland pictures soon! Unless, of course, it is like US weather reports - in that case, I will post pictures of myself in flip flops!

Miss you all...I'm down to 17 days until I'm back on our side of the Pond!!

Have a great day/night and God Bless,

from Berlin

Dec1 - Dresden

Hello friends...just back from a quick trip to the Dresden Christmas markets...what a beautiful city!

We walked from Noon to 8:30 on Saturday, to three different Christmas markets, and by the time we finally got back to the hotel my feet ached! The markets consist of rides for the kids, booth after booth after booth of things made it different parts of Germany, some food booths, and a Gluhwein (mulled wine) booth every 20 feet. The even had Gluhbier booths...but I didn't try mulled beer. I still have Christmas markets in Munich and Berlin, so I'll have to think a little harder about that! I am pretty sure that I gained 5 pounds this weekend...even with all the walking...but it was worth every bit of it!

Today we found a little random market, much smaller scale (maybe because you had to pay to get into this one - or just had to know how to get there) and spent our whole day there. We met some neat people, watched a great musical group, and relaxed until our train at 3p.

I'm attaching a few pics...one of Flat Tony enjoying Christmas, one of us girls, and one of the views of a small part of Dresden. I will try to put more on Facebook later. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and had a wonderful start to your December.

Good-night and God-bless,

from Berlin