A long time coming....

It has been 2 weeks since our last blog entry(longer now), just goes to show that I am no better at writing a blog than an ordinary diary. It seems that though Germany is a super techy, and slick country, getting DSL and phone for that matter can take a while.

We are in our new apartment and it is beautiful! Our apartment is on the top floor and we have a glorious view of the city from our bedroom and even better from the rooftop. Sadly, we don't have a balcony, but I think this is better given Jonas is pretty daring these days. It does limit July 1st (4th of July) BBQ options though...

Our first weekend here we decided to give up on unpacking and head to the Matjes Festival in Glückstadt (Glückstädter Matjeswochen). This festival is all about celebrating one of Jakub's and my favourite foods, matjes. I had hoped for matjes prepared in all forms, but it mainly seemed to be matjes brotchen (matjes on bread) and matjes plates (served with a mayo, apple, onion sauce and dark bread). I am not complaining, I love matjes in all forms so I happily ate...and ate.....
We walked off the matjes on a beautiful bike path with sheep all around and then headed for the mandatory kaffee and kuchen (coffee and cake) - this will explain much when you see the pictures of our waistlines;-). It was here in the restaurant that we found the diverse matjes dishes we had hoped for. The food looked incredible and there seemed to be no end to the fishy options. Sadly, we had to settle for a cappuccino and a small apple cake as our bellies were stuffed.

It has begun

The World Cup has started and the atmosphere is fantastic. It is truly a global holiday – fans from all nations are celebrating together, the games are shown in all cafes, restaurants and public places and the fan attractions around the city are very civilized. To be honest I expected rowdy fans, animosity and a lot of drunks urinating in public, but it seems like FIFA screened all the undesirables and only the well behaved fans were allowed to travel to Germany.

So far the games are mostly pretty exciting. Nicole had the good fortune to go to the perhaps most exciting game so far, which was Argentina –Ivory Coast here in Hamburg. I am sure Nicole will add her own impressions but I must report that she came home around midnight, very energized and exuberant about the game. I think watching 22 men in shorts running around has something to do with it.

A day before the start of the tournament the weather shifted from bitterly cold to a heat wave and we are spending most of our time outside. We are much more north compared to San Francisco and the days are long with the sun finally setting down around 10:30. Last night we were enjoying the World Cup festivities at 9 o’clock still thinking it was a late afternoon. So as a result the boys are going to bed very late and take long siesta naps. Oh, the Mediterranean lifestyle.

Last but not least the Czechs won their first game last night over the US 3:0. We were cheering them wrapped in Czech flags at the old Fish Market. The joy of victory was overshadowed by an apparently serious injury to Jan Koller, the giant offensive player on the team, but fortunately the latest news is that he will be able to play again. I think we might be OK without him for the rest of the group games but he will be needed in the round of 16. The final group game is against Italy here in Hamburg and I will be there! It’s truly a once in a lifetime opportunity and the anticipation is overwhelming. Look for a first hand report after the June 22^nd game.

Of Mice and Men

So on Saturday we finally made it to Berlin to visit the Biennale before it shut down as well as check out the city. The art show was very interesting, although the exploration of anxieties and universal fears might not be the best suited for four and two year old children.


The exhibit consisted of 12 venues all along Auguststrasse in central Berlin. We only managed to visit the two biggest: an art exhibit space and an old derelict school. The school setting was very powerful: formerly the School for Jewish Girls it was used as a DDR elementary school and appeared to have stood vacant since the fall of the Wall. It felt like a time capsule from a dark past filled with disturbing imagery. The art was as I remember the art scene in the old West Berlin quarter Kreuzberg - dark, gritty, intelectual, but also heavy and not necessarily beautiful.

After the exhibit we wandered into the pouring rain and found a shelter in a small cookie bakery/job counceling agency/cafe on Oranienburgstrasse. While Jonas slept in the stroller, Nicole and Sasha played dominos and I checked out the demonstration going on outside. The participants were from a wide gamut of leftist organizations ranging from the unions to the anarchists and they were all very pissed off about the eroding welfare, low minimal wage, health reform and pretty much anything else associated with the current right-of-center government. But despite the anger in the air and a light police presents they were all very well behaved with children in strollers sleeping through the slogans and shouting.



After the intermezzo we walked by the Neue Wache memorial along Unter den Linden to Brandenburg Tor. The memorial was very moving with light rain falling on the statue of a mother holding in her arms her dead son.



At the Brandenburg Tor Nicole got reaquainted with the long lost relative King Friedrich. She and Sasha previously saw him on travel TV but a live encounter was trully grand.

Finally we fullfilled Sasha's dream and took a velo taxi back to the train station. The train station opened just a week ago and it is more a shopping center and a glass palace of light with trains leaving into the four corners of the World.

It was a short trip and if it wasn't for the rain, we would have covered much more. Berlin gives out much more interesting first impression than Hamburg - it seems much edgier, more grungy and cosmopolitan, where as Hamburg at first sight recalls a Ralph Lauren commercial with beautiful people sailing in front of perfectly maintained homes. But that has a lot to do with the part of town we are staying.

Our things arrived....

Our much anticipated early drop-off shipment finally arrived today and we were all over-joyed! Is that even a word???hhhmmmm Anyway, we managed to unpack everything with my new bike being the very last item. Everything was in great shape, except of course my new bike:-( The movers forced the drop bars under the frame and there is some damage to the bike...I need to have a bike shop take a look at it so we can determine if it is just superficial damage or something more serious. I am so bummed...and think it is so classic, so me. Oh well....other than that, we are having a nice day. We took a super long nap today so the boys can still be up when Jakub gets home. Really, the rain kept us indoors for most of the day anyway. I did manage to get us all out this morning at 7:00 for a trip to the bakery before I headed for my first German lesson at Goethe-Hamburg. All in all, a great day.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I met a woman from New York in the park yesterday. She lives just down the street from our temp housing, has a daughter just over 1yr old and she seemed really great. She actually reminded me a lot of my friend Lori in Mill Valley. Same great long curly hair and warm smile, smart as a whip too....made me a little sad to be so far from our friends. We went to our "new pizza" spot for dinner tonight and that made me think even more of Lori, Greg and Bella.....till Paris.