Robinson Club Fleesensee Ostseebad Göhren

... her two nieces (ages 3 and 5). We played a game of English-German memory. I think I learned more than the little kids with it...I added a few new words to my German vocabulary, such as dog, crown, tree, fairy, apple and house.

It was really nice spending some time with (someone's) family. It reminded me of how ready I am for Christmas. After leaving, we went back to the Krause's house and I spent a few hours helping Rebekka write an English ...

... school dress up days in the US...something that is unheard of in the more formal European system. After dinner, we went to a movie at the cinema. It was in German, but had English subtitles. The movie was sort of a chick flick/comedy type thing. I really enjoyed it.

Friday morning, we both slept in a little (okay, a lot) because of the early morning and late night the day prior. After a good breakfast, we ...

... handicraft and fashion stuff from all nations, and a lot of great food and beverage places. It does not give you the commercial feel at all. You can spend an hour in this place, or even four hours. Times just passes as if it were fluid.

I have taken pictures of many of the stalls to give an impression of what I would expect of a "good" christmas market.

... a little unusual though is the 500 sqm Ice World ramp. A more than 20 meter high and 50 meter long ramp was built right on the Potsdamer Platz Station, and iced over. People can then hire four "rides" in a tire down the iced ramp for about EUR 1.50. Great fun. Shot a short video of one of the rides.

... tanked up. Ironically, chatting to the Germans out on the street that night, they said that it felt like the Berlin wall had been resurrected, given the fact they weren't allowed to walk any where they wanted to. The security was intense to say the least. Chumbawuma wouldn't have been able to get anywhere near John Prescott tonight...

The hotel was great though. As was the food, booze, etc etc...

Continuing on, we headed on up to Germany through Austria and the mountains...covered in a light touch of snow. It looked like icing sugar!! It was really pretty. We had lunch in Innsbruck, and cutting a long drive short, we ended up in Lubeck to see Dieter and Christel. We spent a good day and half there or something, had a look around Travemunde again, and had some very yummy dinners!!

But all in all was a quick stop, just a hi and bye as we had to get down ...

... the Christmas markets set up all over Berlin we make our way to a quiet little part of town where we find a nice little German restaurant. I don’t go out to eat in Germany much, so it’s fun to try some of the stuff (and have someone there that understands what it is and can make recommendations/translate.) After dinner we head towards the Berlin TV tower (one of the tallest structures in the world) and take an elevator to the top after parting ...

... etwas überfordert und konnten nur auf 10€ rausgeben. Auch die anderen Badegäste konnte nicht wechseln (Nee, so viel Kohle ham we nitte). Ein reicher Jachtbesitzer hat uns dann aus Patsche geholfen :-) Lustigerweise haben wir am Abend dann noch einen Prof von Caroline getroffen, den Herrn Spinner. Der hat sich richtig gefreut! Videos: Unser Platz

Where to I begin when descibing the culture of the Fusion Festival? Well first of all, Germany has the largest population of all the European countries (8 million I think it was). Secondlz, about twenty thousand of this populace gathers in an old Russian airbase on the eastern side of the countrz for four or five dazs of fifteen stages of music, workshops, films, and cultural exchange. The ...

... we could amuse ourselves without any problems. We were living in Kreuzberg which is the gay quarter of Berlin. Just down the road from our hotel we had 4 gay bars and a jazz club. It wasn't too bad at all. Also across the road there was a cafe/bar that used to be a chocolate factory. They had the best hot chocolates!
I still have not eaten any chocolate for the last 2 and a half weeks however I must confess that I have had a hot ...