Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Berlin Briefly by Coach


Two weeks ago, I went to Berlin with The Boy's eighth-grade class, for their middle-school "graduation" trip. I repeat, I went to Berlin with eighth-graders--thirty of them.



We left from the school parking lot on a bus, at midnight. We spent that whole night on the bus. I repeat, I spent all night riding a bus with eighth-graders. After stopping for breakfast outside Berlin at a McDonald's and letting the kids burn some energy, we headed into the city.


We met our guide and started on a two-hour bus tour--mind you, after having been up all night. Actually, I did sleep a fair amount, as I was able to curl up across two seats, like a cat. But still. I don't think The Boy and his buddies got much sleep. Until the city tour began.


It was a characteristically gray day, with showers from time to time, and it was also unfortunately rather chilly. The kids didn't really care about that, of course.


Our first stop on our city tour was at Checkpoint Charlie, which was cool, though I didn't pay the couple of euros to have our picture taken with the costumed re-enactors there. I preferred photographing these parts of the Wall. 


I also took pictures of random things, such as this circus-and-road scene, that somehow spoke to me. They said, "This is the real Berlin--almost."


I snapped this out the bus window. It's of a bahnhof (train station) entrance; I found these enchanting in Berlin.



True, isn't it? I'll be back soon with another post about our two-day adventure, which turned out to be quite fun after all--despite spending a night on a bus.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

A Ball, a Burn, a Bike


The sun came out for a few hours sometime last week. Then it went away again. Then it came back full-on for a whole Saturday, with temps in the 70s, just in time for an away-day of high school soccer at Ramstein. Many of our girls, unaccustomed as they were to all of this sunlight and warmth ("What is this giant heat-making yellow ball in the sky??"), later attempted to cover up sunburns while getting ready for Prom that evening at Kloster Machern. It was a busy, bright, fun day.


Sunday was partly-cloudy, and Husband took off in the early-a.m., before anyone else was awake, for a long bike ride.


He's very happy with his new German bike, a Bergamont. His friend made fun of him for getting a basket on the back, but hello--how else are you supposed to haul groceries or a small, not-entirely-thrilled-about-it Yorkie (not pictured this time)?


It's looking really green around here. Have I mentioned it's rained a lot?


Home from his ride, Husband also got a shot of the back of our rock garden. We're starting to see some color back there.

Here's hoping you have a pleasant weekend. I'll be hanging with a group of thirty eighth-graders in Berlin for two nights!
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