Weekend in Berlin

Bobby and I spent last weekend in the amazing city of Berlin. Our early Friday morning flight allowed us to get in a nearly full day of exploring. We started at the Brandenburg Gate. Constructed in 1788, the Brandenburg Gate was built as a symbol of peace by King Frederick II. This symbol of peace became a symbol of Nazism during WWII, then a symbol of the communist state of Eastern Germany. In fact, the Berlin Wall stood just behind the gate, separating East Berlin from West Berlin.

On the other side of the Brandenburg Gate, in what was West Berlin before 1989, stands the Reichstag building. Commissioned in 1871, the building housed the German Parliament. The building was greatly damaged by WWII. It ceased to be used from 1933 until German reunification in 1990.

Near the Reichstag building is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which consists of 2,711 concrete slabs covering an area of 19,000 sq. meters. Commissioned in 2003, there is also an underground 'Place of Information', which provides information of the number of people imprisoned and killed by Nazis. There were also many photographs, letters, and maps outlining the destruction of the Holocaust. Needless to say, it was incredibly moving and terribly sad.

We next headed to Gendarmenmarkt, where we saw the French Cathedral. Constructed in 1672 for the Huguenots (French Calvinists), the former church now houses the Huguenots Museum.

Across from the French Cathedral is Humboldt University, Berlin's oldest university. Famous alumni include Marx and Engels. Famous former faculty include the Brothers Grimm and Albert Einstein!

We concluded our evening with a little shopping. We happened across a music store, which had an entire floor dedicated to classical music! Bobby and I were in hog heaven. We nearly spent 500 euros of DVDs of the Ring Cycle and Bernstein and CDs of our favorite composers (there was an entire area dedicated to modern composers!!). We were somehow able to reign ourselves in and we left the store with only (haha) a DVD collection of Leonard Bernstein conducting all of the Mahler symphonies.

Saturday was museum day (luckily both Bobby and I love museums). There is an entire island in Berlin dedicated to museums. It is conveniently called Museumsinsel. Of the 5 museums on the island, we visited 3: Alte Nationalgalerie, Neues Museum, and Pergamonmuseum. The Alte Nationalgalerie, photoed here, houses a nice collection or 19th century European art.

One piece inside the Alte Nationalgalerie is a portrait of Wagner, photoed here with me.The Neues Museum houses a great collection of Egyptian works, including the famous bust of Nefertiti (sadly, no photos were allowed of Nefertiti, but trust me when I say she was beautiful).

Before heading to the third museum, we stopped for a quick bite to eat at a wurst (sausage/hotdog) stand. Invented in Berlin, Currywurst is the iconic fast-food of Berlin. It is a sausage covered with tomato sauce and curry powder. It was tasty, but not something I'd go out of my way to eat outside of Germany.

Filled with Currywurst, we headed to the Pergamonmuseum. The museum houses a truly incredible collection of classical antiquities. There were many HUGE pieces, including the Pergamon Altar (it was too big to capture our on camera, so check out the link), the Ishtar Gate (again, too big to capture, so check out the link), and the Market Gate of Miletus, which we were able to capture in this photo.

After many hours in the museums, we went to see a friend of our from UCSB. Tim is a composer and musician who lives in Berlin and is making a living busking (legally) in the subways. He has an amazing set-up: he plays accordion, drums, and sing all at the same time! As you can see in this photo, he gets quite a crowd. After hearing him play, we all went out to dinner, where Tim told us all about his life in Berlin.

On Sunday, we visited one of the few remaining sections of the Berlin Wall. Berlin has an incredible amount of history, both grand and tragic. It's amazing that nearly 180 people lost their lives trying to cross this wall to escape East Germany.

We also saw Checkpoint Charlie. Bobby's father crossed from East Berlin into West Berlin at this checkpoint when he was in the Air Force. Between 1961 and 1990, the checkpoint could only be used by Allies, non-Germans, and diplomats.

We were fortunate enough to see yet another friend from the States performing in Berlin, though the venue was a bit different from the subway. Concert organist Cherry Rhodes (who teaches at USC and is married to Ladd Thomas, who played the organ at our wedding) gave a fantastic organ concert at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall.

While the outside of the hall may not be much to look at, the inside was really quite beautiful. Cherry's gorgeous playing filled the hall. It was such a treat to hear her perform.

After Cherry's concert, we headed to the Musical Instrument Museum, which is next door to the Philharmonic hall. We were able to hear recording of many of the instruments. We heard recordings of a 16th century harpsichord, 17th century oboes, 18th century, violins, 19th century flutes, and 20th century Wurlitzer theater organ. There were also many unusual instruments, like the ones pictured.

While walking around the Scheunenviertel (literally the 'barn quarter'), we saw some buildings which were not restored after WWII. The building pictured has bullet holes and gashes from shrapnel. It is hard to imagine what Berlin looked like in the 1940s, but if you look hard, you can find bits of evidence of the damage the city suffered.

For our final meal in Berlin, we ate at a traditional corner restaurant. We shared an onion tart and Bobby had Schnitzel (sausage) with potato salad. I ordered one of my favorite German dishes, Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle). Accompanied by sauerkraut and boiled potatoes, and washed down with Riesling, it was a perfect end to a perfect weekend.

My food pic

Carla often posts pictures of her food here. So much so that some family members refer to this blog as a food blog before a family blog. Well, now I am posting a food pic of my own food creation. I made those delicious cakes; and I made that delicious egg. It is part of our Saturday morning breakfast meal. I call it, Tour de Gateaux Qui Met Chapeau d'Oeuf (Tower of cake that wears a hat of egg). C'est super chouette!

A Very Belated Holiday Update - Sorry!

It's hard to believe we haven't posted an update since early December! Our only excuse is that real life has taken over and we are settling into work mode. Unlike our year in Paris, our lives in Copenhagen are filled with two full time jobs, regular schedules, and other mundane, normal activities. Unless we make a weekly post on what we've eaten during the week, there often isn't much to report!
That said, we did have a wonderful holiday season, which we should have reported on months ago. Better late than never! So here is our holiday 2010 post, complete with Christmas-y photo of us.

Christmas is a big holiday in Denmark. There are many shared traditions (Christmas tree, work parties, Christmas cookies), but there are also a lot of Danish traditions that were new to us. In Denmark, you put real candles on the Christmas tree! Sounds like a fire hazard to us (in fact, everyone keeps a bucket of water next to the tree for just such a mishap). There is Pakkespil (a fun gift exchange game), nisse (mischievous elves that live in your attic and play practical jokes on you around the holidays), risalamande (a rice pudding with one almond in it, and whoever gets the almond receives a gift), and traditional songs which you sing while holding hands and dancing around the Christmas tree. Bobby and I were especially fond of all the Christmas parties (we attended 4!). At one party, there was a competition to make the best table setting. Bobby, along with others at his table, created this amazing reindeer. Needless to say, his table won!

A friend of mine from work came over to teach me how to cook traditional Danish Christmas cookies. We had a fun time making two different cookies, which we shared at the office. I taught my friend how to make spiced zucchini bread.

After we attended all the great Danish Christmas parties, we headed off to the States to visit our families and partake in some American Christmas traditions. We spent some time in Colorado, where we visited Bobby's family. We also go to briefly see our good friend Wes and Andrea. Bobby stayed in Colorado a few days longer than me, during which Wes taught him to weld. Above is the super-hero photo of Bob the Heroic Welder! Below is Bob (right) with his Colorado family.




After spending time in Colorado, we headed off to California to spend time with my family. We spend New Year's Eve with my Mom and Joseph wine tasting at Bridlewood Winery in Santa Ynez. We had a great time on our first wine tasting! The wines were great and the estate was beautiful.


After our fun times with my Mom, we stayed with my Father and Gloria, where we also had a lot of fun. Gloria lives near a great surf spot in the Los Angeles area, so we finally got some surfing in! However, it soon became obvious that we are really, really out of surfing shape. The 6 foot waves were just too big for us, so we stayed on the inside and splashed around like newbie kooks. We had fun though, and it was really nice to get back in the water.
We had a wonderful holiday season, both in Denmark and in the USA. Our fun doesn't stop there, though! We have several long weekend trips planned for the next 6 months, including one that is happening very soon! So stay tuned to read more about our adventures.

A Visit from our BFFFs

Our Best French Friends Forever (BFFFs) paid us a visit right in time for our big snow!

That is sissy Katie, lille bébé Iris, and proud papa Olivier! On that day we all went downtown to have shawerma, and see the Strøget and the holiday markets. Lille Iris was warm as a bed bug, and bravely dodged the snow missiles I hurled at her mother's head.

Carla and I bought a very Danish hat to prepare Iris for the cold. She loved it on her somewhat oversized head. What a cutie!

On the Strøget, which is the main shopping street downtown, we saw a shop that had a Christmastime display full of the dark Danish humor we love. At right we see Farfar (Grandfather), who apparently won an award for becoming a fine sausage.

Their visit was much too short, but in our time together we had an extreme amount of hygge (cozy familial feelings) with traditional Danish cooking, candles, games, laughing, and borderline-aggressive play fighting in the snow. And now they are convinced to someday be our neighbors in Denmark! Carla and I sure hope that comes to pass. :)

Cologne, Germany, or How We Ate Seven Different Animals in a 40 Hour Period

Bobby and I had a wonderful weekend in Cologne, Germany. Our weekend away included ancient Roman ruins, Gothic cathedrals, awesome German food, and, of course, German beer! Cologne is home to the beautiful Cologne Cathedral, or the Kölner Dom. Begun in 1248, the cathedral wasn't completed until 1880.

Bobby and I were both particularly fond of this stained glass window, which looked like color pixels.

The cathedral houses the Shrine of the Three Kings (the same ones from the Christmas song "We Three Kings"). Dating from the 13th century, it supposedly holds the remains of the Three Kings. The cathedral has a very rich treasury. I especially liked the pieces with emeralds!

I think this is a neat photo.

Here is a photo of us with the Rhine River behind us. It was cold in Cologne, but no where near as cold as Copenhagen is now!

Here are some photos of a few of the other churches in the Old Town.

We went to the Roman-Germanic Museum on Sunday morning, which houses a huge collection of indigenous archeological finds. Here Bobby poses with a large gate, which he says proves evolution Ray Comfort style since the carved creatures are half ancient sea serpent, half goat. He's the scientist, so I trust his judgment!

We saw this bicycling bar on the street. The people bicycle while a guy in the middle pours everyone beers. This particular grouped looked like they had been bicycling/drink for a while... the moved very, very slowly.

Christmas is nearly upon us! Since Europeans can't use Thanksgiving as the marker for when you can put up Christmas decoration, they begin a bit early. Sadly, the Cologne Christmas Markets opened up the day after we left, but they were setup and decorated with lovely Christmas trees.

The other highlight of our trip was the food and drinks we consumed with gusto. Bobby drank beer with every meal except for breakfast. I made it a point to consume as much animal protein as I could.

I arrived in Cologne on Friday evening. After meeting Bobby at our hotel, we took the tram into the center of town. On the tram ride, Bobby noticed a small but nice looking restaurant. We decided to take out chances and hopped of the tram. Good thing we did! Ox und Klee was very small, with only 6 or 8 tables. The waitress translated the small menu for us. I picked the 'Chef's Surprise', a 3 course menu created by the chef. My first course, pictured here, was a rabbit terrine (animal number 1).

My second course was ox cheek (animal number 2) on mashed purple potatoes and haricots verts with a cranberry sauce.

Bobby ordered the evening's special, roasted goose (animal number 3) with red cabbage and potato dumplings.

The third course, which I kindly shared with Bobby, was a blueberry cheesecake, nouget 'air', and stewed quince.

On Saturday afternoon, we found a little cottage restaurant for a good, hearty lunch. I had the bratwurst (which I think is made of either beef or pork, either way, animal number 4) and roasted potatoes, which was delicious with spicy mustard.

Bobby had venison goulash (animal number 5) with maggots... just kidding, those are potato noodles, and apple and pear sauce.

With a lunch as hearty as the one we ate, you'd think Bobby and I were set for the rest of the afternoon, if not the rest of the day. But you should know us better... we like to eat a lot (especially when the food is so cheap compared to food in Denmark!), and we love sweets. While walking around in the late afternoon, we came across the Cologne Chocolate Museum. We looked inside the gift shop the saw the cafe. We just want 'a look', which turned into tea with a piece of chocolate-layered cake. Chocolate heaven...

We lucked out once again Saturday night with our restaurant selection. We saw a big crowd outside of a restaurant door in the Old Town area near the cathedral. We went in and discovered a giant traditional beer hall! The Brauhaus Sion has been a beer house in the same location since 1318! We sat down and ordered another fantastic meal. Bobby had the house bratwurst with potato salad.

I had pork knuckle (animal number 6) with stewed cabbage and potatoes. As we were eating, we noticed that the size of the restaurant was the only giant thing. Nearly every person who walked by our table was well over 6 feet tall, including the women! It turns out that the Germany 'Tall Person Club' was in town. I felt like a real munchkin around these people!

On Sunday, we ate our final meal in Cologne. While walking around the previous night, we saw this restaurant and wanted to have dinner there. However, the wait was too long so we moved on. We walked by again on Sunday and decided to try our luck one last time. Our good luck persisted and we had a wonderful lunch of mussels (animal number 7) from the specialty mussel restaurant.

Fall is here, and so is conditional probability

Colors have definitely changed over the past month, and the trees at the university are barren. The grass is covered in all shades of yellow and red, which makes orange. Our front court is now nicely framed by a warm-colored shrub. Our two bicycles are at the lower right.

To celebrate the changing colors we made an Ethiopean dish called "doro wat," which is like a cinnamon chicken stew with a hard boiled egg added to spite the hen. Our injera (the bread used to eat the food) turned out more like a crepe than anything else! But it still was tasty! Next time we will have to prepare the injera batter days in advance so that it can have the proper fermentation.

Tonight I schooled Carla in conditional probability. We played a game called Monty Hall. Ten cards are face down, one of them is an ace. Carla picks a card at random and I uncover eight of the other cards that are not aces. She can then keep her choice or pick instead what is hidden under the unflipped card. Carla said that in that case it will be a 50-50 chance she wins, so she will always keep her choice. My eyes bugged out of course because the best strategy in this game is to always switch. With this strategy one will win 9 out of 10 times (in this particular scenario). So Carla played this game five times and won none of them. Then it was my turn. I could literally hear her begin to respect conditional probability.