My Mom and Denny came to visit Europe for 5 weeks this fall! I almost immediately shuffled them into the car and headed up to Berlin for the weekend, picking up Alex on the way in Leipzig.
The Brandenburg Gate! (we were there just before the Berlin Marathon Rollerblade race finished - talk about excitement!)
We went on an exceptional tour of the bunkers built underground during WWII (http://berliner-unterwelten.de/guided-tours.3.1.html). The most intriguing part was the flourescent paint on the walls which glowed so brightly, if the electricity was cut, you could read a newspaper!
In the aftermath of the war, much of the debris of the crumbled city was piled into huge hills and covered with dirt (kind of like the land-fill-turned-ski-hills in Southern Michigan). This was also done around the back side of one of the flak towers (an anti-aircraft gun blockhouse). The front side is now an urban climbing wall. Some plastic holds have been added, but you use a lot of the natural features of the crumbled face of the tower. Sinister climbing - and what a view!
(Alyssa, me, Brittney, and Kimberly)
Alyssa also happened to be traveling through Berlin that weekend with her friend Brittney. They were staying at Brittney's cousin's, Kimberly, and so we all got together in the rain at the East Side Gallery and had some great Vietnamese food.
After Berlin, my mom and Denny headed south to Switzerland and I went back to work. But only for a week, until Fall Break, and then it was off to Portugal, to Katinka and Fabian's wedding party on the coast near Lisbon!
Congratulations Fabian and Katinka!
( Rainbows at Village Praia Grande
: Me, Christina, and Monica)
Fabian kicks off the guestbook footprint signing.
That the bride and groom had to translate addresses to their wedding guests into German, English, Portuguese, and Hungarian, demonstrates their richly multi-cultural lifestyle. It also lead to a wide variety of dance music :)
My mom and Denny came the day after the party. The had just returned from Switzerland where they had attempted to hike into a hut near Corbatsch. However, 40 cm of snow fell overnight and they were snowed out, the first snow of the season. To reconcile the grave situation, we rented a car, and drove down the Portuguese coastline, beach hopping!
Wow,
galão! A cafe latte by any other name...is just somehow different! (watching the surf at the beach in Carcavelos)
Off season is cheap in Portugal. We stayed at this nice little apartment, Quinta das Varandas, in Vila Nova da Milfontes, for two nights. Since our Portuguese is somewhat hit-or-miss (read: high school Spanish), we were not quite sure if the price was 45 euros/night or 45/person/night. (it was /night).
Breakfast at a popular little cafe in Vila Nova da Milfontes called Mabi - great galao, great croissants stuffed with cheese and ham, and excellent pastries.
My mom said, quite a few times, that the coastline of S. Portugal reminds her of coastline around San Diego, California, 40 years ago when she was growing up. Rugged, undeveloped, rocky in some places and long stretches of stand in others. We drove down the coastline, stopping at beaches, hiking along the cliffs. An outstanding spot for camping, an outstanding spot to hang out in your van and surf...
Lots of fishing...lots of fish...but not on Mondays, because the fishermen take the day off on Sunday so the fish on Mondays is old...and some shops are closed on Tuesdays...and between 2-4pm...and most also on Sundays...
Hiking along Praia de Odeceixe (we preferred the phonetical pronunciation, ode-to-sexy)
Floating the river at Praia da Amoreira!
Spent the night in a little room connected to Restaurante Oceana, perched on this hill overlooking Praia da Arrifana.
Birds and wild garlic...
Mom and Denny at the end of the world...Ponta de Sagres, the furthest SW point of Europe, considered to be the end of the world to many only a few centuries ago.
Fish stew. Wow. We had really exceptional food in Portugal - lots of fish, seafood, meat, great olives and bread, great pastries, not much fruit or vegetables.
The bane of Denny's European traveling experience...espresso. "Dois galao e dois pastel de nata" is relatively easy to communicate; "american-style-coffe, just black, no milk or sugar, in a regular mug with a handle, and lots of it," is somewhat more difficult. Every breakfast was a small surprise for Denny - what type of coffee will he get today? It was mostly espresso.
(Fuchstanz Friday: Lea, Denny, Mom, me, Bonnie, and Richie)
Once we returned from our long vacation (Denny and Mom continued on to France and Italy for another 2 weeks in the midst of the French country-wide transport strike) fall was upon us. Our weekly Fuchstanz Friday bikeride (= bike up hill directly after work to Fuchstanz, enjoy a nice, cold beer, and bike down a lot faster) required head lamps on our way home.
