Die Mutti -- Mom

Hello, all! Again, I'm still behind on my blog posting, but maybe by the time I leave Berlin I'll be caught up. Probably not : ) I think that's a good thing, though, because it means that I'm keeping busy and staying active!

As most of you know, Mom got to come visit me in Berlin for 10 days! It was so much fun to have her here and show her around!! It also gave me an excuse to do some more touristy things in Berlin and discover some new favorite parts!

I wasn't able to pick Mom up from the airport when she got here because I had class, so I gave her very detailed instructions on how to get to where I live. She managed to make it, as I knew she would, in spite of doubts from some of her friends. The first day here I tried to show her around Berlin a little bit, but she was very tired and jetlagged, as would be expected. We ate a very German dinner of Wurst (sausages) and Apple Streudel, and Mom called it a night.

The next day, we went with my friend Maureen to see Templehof, where Pappy was stationed in Berlin. A former airport, the city has converted it to an open park. It reminds me of when we were younger and played soccer and it would always be so windy at the soccer fields because it was so flat.

Then we went to Ikea, and I think this was mom's favorite part of Berlin!

We had lunch there, and then Maureen and I had to go to class, so we sent mom off to see Sachsenhausen, a former concentration camp just north of Berlin. That night we had a handful of friends from my program over for pizza and mom was proud to say that she was able to buy a keg for everyone without feeling at all like she was providing alcohol to minors.

On Wednesday we took a walking tour of the city and saw all of the "must-see" places in Berlin -- Brandenburger Tor, the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, Checkpoint Charlie, etc. Mom also experienced a Döner -- a turkish sandwich (a lot like a Gyro) that you can buy at stands all over Berlin. We went over to my host family's house for dinner, and it was so fun for them to meet each other after hearing so much about each other!

Thursday we flew to Croatia to meet up with our cousins (or "cousins"?) in Zagreb. It was so cool to see Zagreb, the small towns where mom's ancestors are from, the beach, and mainly to spend some time with our distant relatives in Croatia!

dinner with our croatian relatives

We ate amazing seafood right next to the sea, and we had a hilarious waiter preparing it for us!

Back in Berlin on Monday, mom and I ate some chocolate and went shopping.

I spent the night on Monday night in her hotel on Monday and we got up bright and early for a visit to the Reichstag, the parliament building (only after a trip to our new favorite Cafe, Caras. Which happens to be where I'm currently sitting and writing this blog). If you make an appointment, you can go into the big glass dome above the building, so we got a great view of Berlin from here.

It was definitely sad to say bye on Wednesday, because I had so much fun when mom was here!!

Liebe,

Emma