Day in the life

So as most everyone probably knows by now, my parents flew in Friday evening, I skipped part of class to go meet them at the airport (ssshhh!) and then met up with them later in the day after class.

Friday night we all went to the Eisbären Berlin hockey game and had a great time. They were pretty tired, as I knew they would be, but the arena is so loud all the time that I knew it would keep them awake. They love their Eisbären here! They did win 3-0 and it was a very action packed game, full of excitement.

Yesterday (Saturday), after a confusing morning of trying to find my parents/waiting around the hotel until they returned from their morning adventure, we set out for a day of shopping and sight seeing.

We started in Alexanderplatz, where their hotel was, and hit up a few stores there and took a stroll into the huge mall over there. I mean huge. From there I brought them over to my studio and showed them where I work and spend 90% of my time in Berlin, it's not very impressive, but there was internet and we needed to check out museum times online. Then! I took the 'rents across the street to a little slice of heaven called "Iss Was." We are not really sure what it means, it translates to "Eat What" so I think it means you can eat whatever you want because they have everything from Döners to Burgers to Pizza... wide selection.

So over to Iss Was, I introduced my father to the world of Döner Kebabs, but mom wasn't very interested, so she stuck to her familiar cheeseburger. So I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this before, but its worth explaining again. Döner Kebabs, other than being a marvelous food, is a Turkish fast food, equivalent to BK and McD's in the states. But it's better than BK, cause the food isn't frozen. Döners are made up of 3 things; some kind of bread/pocket thing, meat, and mixed veggies, all topped with a choice of sauces. The meat is the variable, it can be many different kinds of meats, but the traditional meat is lamb, and it is so good. So the mean rotates as a heat source cooks it evenly. When you order one, they cut the meat off fresh and prepare your Döner. I like mine with lamb meat, garlic sauce, and all mixed veggies. Anyway, dad seemed to really like it, but mom wouldn't even try a piece of the meat... she's not very adventurous when it comes to food. I'll get to try one before she leaves...

So after that great experience, I took them to see Check Point Charlie and to the CPC Museum and showed them some of the escape techniques used, there are a lot of cool things there and I highly recommend going if you ever visit Berlin. It was my second time at the museum and I loved it just as much as the first. There is so much to see and the stories are so interesting, they are hard to imagine, let alone believe they actually occurred. I got a great picture of Mom and Dad in front of Check Point Charlie so I will post that as soon as I get it... it was on Dads camera.

After that we did some more shopping in the CPC area souvenir shops and looking for stuff for friends and family. I think mom and/or dad might have gotten something, but I'm not sure, I found a few things but I'm gonna keep looking, I can always go back if I don't find anything else. From there I took them to a major shopping strip in town (for those die-hard readers, this is the same strip that I saw all the super high-end cars on). Dad wanted to check out KaDeWe, which was the start of the shopping street. I don't know if you've ever heard of this place, but dad said it was kind of a tourist attraction because it is so high end. I was looking at watches for 3,000€, dress shirts for 100€, I could go on forever. It actually kind of became a game to see who could find the most expensive article of clothing! Anyway, we experienced the store and left due to the realization that we were never going to buy anything!

We ended a great day of exploring at the Hard Rock Cafe and had a great meal and a very nice waitress. I believe my parents enjoyed the day, they both really enjoyed just walked down the street at night with all the shops and cars and buildings lit up, mom said it was nice to see the real city and not just all the tourist attractions. I would have to agree with here, I had walked down that street a few times, but never at night, and it was really nice to see the city as it is, and not through the eyes or a tourist.

So I guess that is it for now. The folks are out adventuring the rest of Germany right now, they will be back Tuesday night or Wednesday, then we set sail for Athens on Thursday morning! Woo0hoo0! Stay posted for pics and such. Catch ya soon.

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