Wow, what an intro to 2008 we had.
A few years ago we were out in Idaho for the Fourth of July where normally it is illegal to light off fireworks privately, but for just that one night, anything goes. For about a week before, there were stands set up in just about every parking lot around selling anything and everything that you can blow up. It was kind of like Christmas Tree Lots. And then on the 4th everyone blew it all up. There were explosions everywhere and the heavy cover of smoke was overwhelming. It was like nothing else I had seen before ... until now.
During my last few trips to the grocery store I had noticed people checking out with some nice packages of fireworks, of course everything being in German I had no idea what they were. I figured it was your usual US styled bottle rockets and noise makers. I was very wrong. When midnight hit last night the entire hill we live on came alive with explosions and the resulting show was amazing. There were fireworks like you would find at a professional show. All kinds of colors, changing colors, sparkly things that twirled. And the haze, well actually smoke, was amazing. It was a very heavy thick fog that enveloped the air. This went on for about 30 minutes straight.
I guess it makes sense, to me fireworks are a 4th of July thing and although in the US we use them for other events, that is the big one. Here, although there is a 4th of July, it just doesn't have the same meaning. Of all of the celebratory holidays New Years makes the most sense of any to blow things up. Christmas and Easter just wouldn't be right.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Monday, December 31, 2007
The next two years
Ok, so I skipped the post about Finland... it was cold, very nice, but cold. I should be going back in March and get a chance to see a little more and post a little better about it.
The big news in case you haven't heard is we are staying in Germany another two years. I have been offered a job with another department which is going to give me a great amount of experience and the family decided it isn't all that bad here, so why not.
We will be moving to a new place, a house instead of an apartment. Officially it is the same size as this place, but the floor plan is much better. There isn't a lot of wasted space and the rooms are shaped a little better. There is also a basement for storage and the most important part, a yard to let the kids loose in.
We have also decided that I have done a great job taking public transit for two years and since I sold the motorcycle with the thought of returning to the US, it only makes sense that I should get a set of wheels, in this case a set of 4.
It was a really easy decision for me, since our first trip here I have fallen for the BMW 1-Series, not the sedan that they are now selling in the US, a better one. Fortunately the dealer had a 120i that they had been using as a demo, so it was a done deal really quick. Now the hard part is going to be figuring out how to get it imported to the US in two years!
The big news in case you haven't heard is we are staying in Germany another two years. I have been offered a job with another department which is going to give me a great amount of experience and the family decided it isn't all that bad here, so why not.
We will be moving to a new place, a house instead of an apartment. Officially it is the same size as this place, but the floor plan is much better. There isn't a lot of wasted space and the rooms are shaped a little better. There is also a basement for storage and the most important part, a yard to let the kids loose in.
We have also decided that I have done a great job taking public transit for two years and since I sold the motorcycle with the thought of returning to the US, it only makes sense that I should get a set of wheels, in this case a set of 4.
It was a really easy decision for me, since our first trip here I have fallen for the BMW 1-Series, not the sedan that they are now selling in the US, a better one. Fortunately the dealer had a 120i that they had been using as a demo, so it was a done deal really quick. Now the hard part is going to be figuring out how to get it imported to the US in two years!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Coming Soon...
Ok, it has been a while since the last posting, but I did say it would happen...
Anyway, to put out a teaser, in addition to the new posting regarding the trip to Berlin (below), I will be getting two more up in the next few days, one about Finland (it is absolutely freezing here) and about the next two years. Then, right around Christmas, I will get one up summarizing the Christmas Market extravaganza we will have next week.
Enjoy!
Anyway, to put out a teaser, in addition to the new posting regarding the trip to Berlin (below), I will be getting two more up in the next few days, one about Finland (it is absolutely freezing here) and about the next two years. Then, right around Christmas, I will get one up summarizing the Christmas Market extravaganza we will have next week.
Enjoy!
The Wall that once was...
For those of you that read my wife's blog, she covers the topic of the trip to Berlin a lot better and you might want to just go there for the Berlin update, I completely agree with all she says!
But if you are still here, Wow! what a trip. I really did not know what to expect. I had read that there were bits of the wall still around to see, which I really wanted to, but knowing how my colleagues in Western Germany react when you bring up the war, I did not know if it would be easy to find or if it was a "hidden" thing that you had to search out. I was very surprised to see how much Berlin has memorialized it. Although I know it was a horrible time and a lot of people lost their lives, it would be just as bad to not recognize the Holocaust or the existence of the wall and what it meant in the lives of the residents of Berlin. The city has done a great job of marking out where the wall was and in some areas including plaques which talk about the impact of the wall to the residents and the lives that were lost when people would try to get to the other side.
In addition to the wall, the city itself is just great. You have the Reichstag (basically the equivalent of the capital building) with it's neo-classical architecture and right across the river is the ultra modern central train station. Speaking of the train station, a visit to it is a must! There are 16 tracks, however unlike older train stations (like Köln) the tracks aren't lined up side by side, instead they are on 3 different levels, two of which are above ground level. One level goes North/South and the other two go East/West. Throughout the rest of the city you have structures from the post war - pre reunification era, one of which is the TV Tower which made me think of Sputnik, as well as others that have been built within the last few years.
The area around Potsdamer Platz was really cool. They had a Christmas market going on and a few Lego displays as well. In addition, there was a sledding hill set up in the middle of the Platz! Little man and I took a ride down the hill. I will try to get a video of it up in the next few days. It was great. The hill was rather steep and it went really fast and bumpy. After we got going I looked over at him and he looked like he was totally freaked out, then as soon as we got to the bottom and stopped he had a smile from ear to ear and yelled "THAT WAS SO FUN!!!" It was really cool.
Finally, there is so much history here and so much to be learned from the history, I can not wait to get back and learn more.
But if you are still here, Wow! what a trip. I really did not know what to expect. I had read that there were bits of the wall still around to see, which I really wanted to, but knowing how my colleagues in Western Germany react when you bring up the war, I did not know if it would be easy to find or if it was a "hidden" thing that you had to search out. I was very surprised to see how much Berlin has memorialized it. Although I know it was a horrible time and a lot of people lost their lives, it would be just as bad to not recognize the Holocaust or the existence of the wall and what it meant in the lives of the residents of Berlin. The city has done a great job of marking out where the wall was and in some areas including plaques which talk about the impact of the wall to the residents and the lives that were lost when people would try to get to the other side.
In addition to the wall, the city itself is just great. You have the Reichstag (basically the equivalent of the capital building) with it's neo-classical architecture and right across the river is the ultra modern central train station. Speaking of the train station, a visit to it is a must! There are 16 tracks, however unlike older train stations (like Köln) the tracks aren't lined up side by side, instead they are on 3 different levels, two of which are above ground level. One level goes North/South and the other two go East/West. Throughout the rest of the city you have structures from the post war - pre reunification era, one of which is the TV Tower which made me think of Sputnik, as well as others that have been built within the last few years.
The area around Potsdamer Platz was really cool. They had a Christmas market going on and a few Lego displays as well. In addition, there was a sledding hill set up in the middle of the Platz! Little man and I took a ride down the hill. I will try to get a video of it up in the next few days. It was great. The hill was rather steep and it went really fast and bumpy. After we got going I looked over at him and he looked like he was totally freaked out, then as soon as we got to the bottom and stopped he had a smile from ear to ear and yelled "THAT WAS SO FUN!!!" It was really cool.
Finally, there is so much history here and so much to be learned from the history, I can not wait to get back and learn more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
