Germany
Celebrating Berlin
By Thomas on November 8, 2009 | No Comments »
Berlin is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Mauerfall, the fall of the Berlin Wall. During tomorrow’s Festival of Freedom at the Brandenburg Gate, over 1,000 oversized, artfully decorated domino pieces will be brought down by the flick of a finger to symbolize the end of the cold war, but also, the end of an artistic era.
What was an impenetrable barricade to Easterners, served as a political canvas to Westerners. Twenty years after the Mauerfall, however, little of the wall remains. During our four years in Berlin, we documented some of the constantly changing art on the longest remaining part of the wall, the East Side Gallery. Here’s to freedom!
Goodbye Deutschland
By Tony on July 8, 2007 | No Comments »
This is it – our last day in Germany. We’ve been staying at Thomas’ parents’ house for the last week. Sepp, Thomas’ stepfather is a real Bavarian as you can see from the picture of his stein collection. Thomas’ family fattened us up for the trip. I’m really going to miss the weisswurst and Franziskaner weissbier (veal sausage and my favorite kind of beer.)
We even spent our last moments in the country at the Airbrau, the beer garden in the Munich airport. Only in Bavaria would people see you off at 11 AM with beer and pretzels.
Go West!
By Thomas on June 30, 2007 | No Comments »
Moving day! We reserved a station wagon at Hertz but were upgraded to a small truck for the same price. This was great because I suddenly realized how much stuff we still had; anything smaller than a truck would have been useless.
During our six-hour trip south to Ulm, Tony was constantly complaining because I refused to take side trips up some mountain roads to see castles and old walled cities. For crying out loud, we were in a truck! Medieval towns were soon forgotten when my family welcomed us with a huge barbecue.
Leaving the Comforts of Home
By Thomas on June 28, 2007 | No Comments »
The last box is packed and I’m looking around the now empty apartment. I’m going to miss this place which has been our home for the last four years. But I’m not the only one who’s sad – Tony is staring teary-eyed at the empty space where the TV used to be. Wouldn’t it make you weep to leave this comfortable place?
Hunters and Gatherers
By Tony on June 24, 2007 | 1 Comment »
This morning the hunters and gatherers raided our apartment and pretty much cleaned us out. It’s amazing what people will buy if it’s piled in a heap (something my mother taught me.) It seems that people have a hunting instinct which is satisfied by discovering a hidden treasure. Who knew our old junk was so exciting?
