Tag Archives: Alex

Indian Summer in Berlin

It’s a bit sad to see that my last post was all the way back in August (what happened to September). I even have an iPhone now, so it’s pretty poor track record which I will need to fix. In the meantime, we have the exciting news of our new nephew/cousin William Logan Wolfson, whom I am hoping to see (and post about) soon.

But back to our story, it was a “million dollar day” (as WW#1 used to say) here in Berlin, so we needed to take advantage. While we had originally planned a short roadtrip to the west lakes of Wansee, we hit a snag at our favorite bagel place (Fine Bagel) as all the sweet bagels were still in the oven. We decided that there were plenty of lakes around close by, but not so many good bagels and thus camped at a local playground for the next 30 minutes until our goods were ready. Now fully prepared for our picnic, we headed to Treptow Park and Berlin Inslet (a small island in the middle of the river, accessible by a bridge). We enjoyed a nice picnic (with a few too many end of season bees) with our fresh bagels, and then decided on a paddleboat adventure on the spree. We were not sure how Teo would last, but he managed to stay inside the boat thanks to Chika’s watchful supervision.

Next time, maybe we will go for the motorboat 🙂

Salzburg and Munich

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Wow. Things have been busy. But a few minutes to catch up on the family adventures. Work in Munich started at the beginning of June right after a long weekend for the boys. So we decided to head south en mass and do some extended Bavarian exploring. One city which had popped up on our radar was Salzburg, home to Mozart and just over the border from Germany. What a great city it was, especially for the kids. We stayed at a hotel about 20 km outside of town set in a beautiful country lake area. Even though the weather was rainy/overcast, we had been given fantastic big rooms at the hotel and enjoyed the indoor pool. The city was really nice as well, with a great toy museum for the boys. Munich was unfortunately impacted by some fever for Teo, but we did get to the famous Englisher Garten for some beer and fresh roasted mackerel. Overall a fantastic trip which is likely to be repeated.

Lunch at Carpe Diem Finger Food

Salzburg Old Town

Salzburg Toy Museum

Englisher Garten

Lunch at Carpe Diem Finger Food

Japan Visit: Short, but so sweet

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So it seemed like the major work I needed to do to get my job situation and other things were taken care of, a long Easter weekend was coming up, and British Airways was having a fare sale. So there seems little reason not to jump over to see the family in Japan for a week. I think it was one of the better decisions of recent times, as we all had a great time and got to all relax outside the pressures of day to day life. And of course, there was lots and lots of eating great food. I am already looking forward to the next trip.

Chika’s grandparents house/office

Isakaya

Chika’s grandparents house

Sushi

Tasty Yuba Maki

Sashimi

Making Mochi

Curio Expresso

Fluffy Pancake Cafe

Kanazawa

Sashimi

Squid

Enjoying Lunch with the Mrs.

Breakfast Soba

Hanami in Berlin

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You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect early spring Sunday. The morning was a bit crisp, but the afternoon was perfect for enjoying the sun without being baked. A Japanese friend had organized a Hanami (flower blooming) party and we had a fantastic picnic under the cherry blossom trees. It was paradise.

Tel Aviv and More

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It was an unexpected holiday. There was a flash 48 hour Internet sale and there happened to be a hotel on the beach in Tel Aviv for $87 per night. And then there also happened to be some frequent flyer tickets available. So without much investigation we were suddenly off to Tel Aviv for 4 nights. We started doing our homework, checking in with friends and contacts, and researching the Internet. We read the news reports that it snowed in Jerusalem just the week before (wondering if our beach front hotel was now an out of the way destination). Even as we were taking off, we didn’t know what really to expect.

We were more than pleasantly surprised. Our fears of intense airport security policies were completely wrong (in fact when Kai fell asleep during check-in on the way home they never asked us to take him out of the stroller). Weather was sunny in the 60’s the whole time. The city and the people were incredibly child friendly — the candy hawker in the market was more upset with us than with Kai when he kept sampling the candy — “let him enjoy, he’s a kid”.

We ate well through the trip. Our friend Babak took us to a great local hummus place built in an old synagogue. We dined with our friend Matan a local chef’s place which could have rivaled any joint in Soho. When we sat down at the Old Man and the Sea at the Jaffa Port, with two minutes we were presented with the obligatory 20 salads (yes 20). And they were fantastic. And we even managed to indulge in some fine patisserie delights at a beautiful restaurant/bakery.

We decided to take a day trip to Jerusalem even though we couldn’t find a babysitter for Kai. We rented a car which worked out fine — the traffic however was intense both ways. Both boys cooperated for the most part during our explorations in old city Jerusalem. Kai slept shortly after arriving. Needless to day, the old city was not the ideal place for a stroller. Overall, it was a bit heavy on the tourist souvenirs (the entire inner city is a middle eastern marketplace) but it was good to connect with the past. When we were flying in, the Israeli next to me commented on my first trip to Israel, “you are closing the loop that is over 2000 years old”.

It was a great trip, and certainly on the radar for a revisit.

Our Hotel — Crowne Plaza Tel Aviv Beach

The Family at the Jaffa Gate

The Western Wall

The Church of the Sepulchre

Dining as Kai Sleeps

Patisserie at Dallal

Outdoors at Dallal

Market

Great Hummus

Hummus Restaurant

Creme Fraiche Pizza at Abraxas

Fresh Tomatoes at Abraxas

Kai loving the beach

Pilgrimage Completed

Enjoying our penthouse in Noto

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Papa and his boys

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Day 1, Solo Papa

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At 7:00am the family was on the plane and there I was on my own. I grabbed a chocolate croissant from the bakery in the airport and a coffee from Starbucks and jumped on the bus home. Back at home, I finished a bunch of little projects — getting pictures copied onto the PC, a few posts, started doing insurance reimbursements, getting ready for terrace cleaning project with our cleaning person, etc.

I met another local papa who had come back from an overnight camping party by a lake and needed “hangover help”. While it wasn’t my plan, we ended up going to the Bird for massive burgers. It was well executed — snagging outside seats without much hassle. And I ate the whole burger, which I usually share with Chika. A mistake, as I ended up going home and lying in bed for a while to recover. I think I heard “moo” every time I opened my mouth. Finally I did make it for a short gym workout until my colleague Mark pinged me for our planned dinner (which I was not vaguely hungry for). I proposed we bike down to the canal in Kreuzberg to an asian restaurant, and with the long summer days in Berlin we had a pleasant ride down to Chan. Decent food, not amazing, but pleasant place to sit outside on a summer evening. We decided to do a bit more exploring on the way home riding down the canal searching for one more drink. We didn’t succeed (the sake bar was closed), but ended up stumbling on a pool hall (a serendipitous event, since Mark had just asked 10 minutes earlier if I shot pool). We couldn’t ignore the omen, so went to check it out. My rusty skills magically came back to some extent, and even won the first game. Finally it was time to head home — we decided to be safe papa’s and bring the bikes back on the tram.

A heavy mouthful

Nice evening sky over Berlin

But held together well

“Dirty Harry” Burger at the Bird

Adventurland

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We were off for a bike ride with the kids into Treptow Park and took an interesting detour to the Spreepark Berlin, an old amusement park from the DDR days. A classic bit of history for sure.

Teo Day 1

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They say the second child is easier, but Teo lived up to his “Gift of God” naming. He was so kind to mama — the delivery was so fast, we were all in awe. And for the first day he slept or nuzzled against Chika. Barely a peep. He still has the intensity of his older brother Kai, but somehow a bit more relaxed. At least that is papa’s wishful thinking. Like with Kai, we were so lucky to have Yukie and Meg with us to be part of the amazing event, and helping to manage all the things.