And you ask, how the University is going? Well, here's a picture of one of our classrooms. The facilities at Humboldt leave a bit to be desired at times. They've updated the faculty since it belonged to East Germany, but not the buildings, apparently. Our classes are going well, although the experience of being "the exchange student" in the class can be strange and uncomfortable at times. It's good for the soul though, and we're learning a lot.

At the flower shop down the street we found forget-me-nots in a little pot for only a Euro. (In German they're called the same thing - "Vergiss-mein-nicht.") They're my favorite flowers and Chance carried them home for me ...

Now they are sitting on our table next to the basil. They are so pretty and such a deep color of periwinkle - they make me happy.

Hello! Today we visited the grave of famous composer Felix Mendelssohn. Chance and Elyse posed beside his headstone...

... and here they are in Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Park, with the bust of the Man himself!

We took the girls to "Caffe Gelato" in Potsdamer Platz, where they make amazing ice cream creations, including "hamburgers and fries" (chocolate and vanilla)!

Yes, it was a sugar-filled day. But yesterday ...

Yesterday we got to go into the Marienkirche, one of the oldest churches in Berlin, built in the 13th century.

It was a very solemn experience ... ;) tee hee.

We finished off the evening by gong to the opera. We saw "Tosca" by Puccini - it was wonderful!

We've been trying to enjoy the balmy spring temperatures - Elyse and Gabi tested out our new badminton set at the park earlier this week.

It's a bit of a tight squeeze on those S-Bahn benches ... we only have 2 more days with the girls so we're going to try to enjoy the (partly) sunny weather and make sure they bring home lots of chocolate for you all!

Our week continues ... The kids really learned to love Doeners while they were here (Gabi ate Falafel).

We took them up in the TV Tower, which we'd never done before ... you can see all of Berlin - it was pretty cool!

Here we are on the boys' last night here, in front of the Brandenburg Gate. "Say Schinkel!" :)

We've been having tons of fun with the kids this week ...

Last night we went to buy Gabi a pillow. A trip to IKEA is never complete without a look at the monument to World War II in the parking lot!

"I love Schinkel!" We have been showing them all sorts of buildings designed by Carl Freidrich Schinkel, Berlin's first very important city architect. (If you recall, our professor in the fall was a Schinkel expert ... )

The dome inside makes for great acoustic effects ... if you stand inside this circle your own voice is reflected back at you in stereo! Here's Gabe testing it out!

Here they are at Friedrich Werder Kirche, designed by ... guess who?

They have been having lots of fun taking pictures of Schinkel buildings! Here's the theater that he designed. I'm sure they're expecting a quiz at the end of the week. :)

Hello! Spring is finally here - the flowers are blooming and the weather has been sunny and so warm! It's hard to believe that just three weeks ago there was still snow on the ground ...

Yesterday we went to the airport in the morning and picked up our next group of visitors - (from right to left) Chance's cousins Gabe and Chris, and his sister Elyse and her friend Gabi.

To insure that they didn't fall asleep, we walked them around Berlin all afternoon...

We took a ride on the double-decker Bus #100, which takes you past all the important sights. I think they were happy to be sitting down!

Here they are at the Sony Style Store in Potsdamer Platz, with just 3 hours to go before they get to go to bed! They slept well and we're ready for another day full of adventures today...