I knew that Chika was off on a business trip to Paris, but what I didn’t realize was that Kai’s school was going to be closed on Monday.  Oh, and in addition we were having sub-freezing temperatures reducing the options for entertaining our two boys even further.  I was in the last days of my German class, but since I wasn’t getting as much out of it as I would have liked I decided to have a mini-adventure instead.  About 70km from Berlin is Tropical Islands, the largest free standing dome in the world with an indoor beach resort operating 24 hours a day, 364 days a year.

I suggested to my friend Joerg (his son also goes to the same school as Kai) since he is quite the adventurer, and also invited Maki our au pair to join.  Joerg had just bought a new 7-seater car, so we managed to all pile in together for the journey.  When you first arrive, it is almost out of a science fiction movie — a giant dome in the middle of nowhere.  But as soon as you walk inside, you feel like you are in the tropics.  It was a great day for the family and much better than staying home in the cold.  Big thanks to Joerg for the excellent transportation and food services.