First, my friend Sam and I said goodbye, as she was headed off to Lichtenstein for Christmas and then home to Seattle. She had to get a visa photo taken, so we took the opportunity to also take silly photos together. (We're the ones on the right.)
I also had dinner with our friend Ulf, his wife Alexandra and their adorable son Gedeon. Ulf cooked us a lovely dinner and Gedeon entertained us by being really cute.
Sliding down the couch is one of his favorite activities. He also built a large Brio train track.
Later that week I attended a modern dance performance, courtesy of my landlord Christopher, who produces several different modern dance artists. In the lobby there were performances happening as well. One of them was this guy who looked like he was standing in thin air, leaning against a pillar! It really looked great.Then ... finally ... the moment we've all been waiting for for three long, dark months ...
The arrival of Chance!
We rode the U-Bahn ...
... we ate Chocolate Muesli ...
... we had gelato ...
... we checked out the brand new Bode Museum ...
...
...
...
... and we travelled to Stuttgart for Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my relatives there. On the first night my family treated us to a wonderful dinner at a tradiation Schwabian restaurant, which served the regional cuisine. I had "Maultaschen" ...
... basically little raviolis filled with sausage and yummy things, accompanied by potato salad.The entire cast of characters was present:
my Uncle Walter ...
... my cousin Daniel and their grandmother ...
... Daniel's wife Ewa and his mom Susan (who is my mom's cousin - that's how we're related) ...
... and my cousin Jeff (in the middle), whom you know already from previous adventures ...(My cousin Anne was under the weather, so there isn't a picture of her, unfortunately!)
Also, these two clowns were there ...
...
... and Molly, the bunny. She is so cute!
As is traditional on Christmas Eve, we decorated the tree,
and Aunt Susie made an amazing meal.
The boys even found it in their hears to do the dishes. Awww. Christmas Spirit.
Later there was cake stealing by you-know-who. (See the guilty look on his face.)
We took the train home to Berlin. It was a lovely ride, especially since we happened to get first class tickets.
We tried to make the most of our Berlin time by eating lots of Doeners. Here's Chance eating Berlin's best Chicken Doener, at the stand where the guy plays Johnny Cash 24-7.
Later our friends Nadja and Olli had us over for a night of really yummy food, and a game of "The Settlers of Catan," which is really really complicated.
I suck at it.
But Chance won.
Finally, we got to wrap up our time in Berlin with a visit from our good friend Liz, whom we know from years ago in German class at the UW. She happened to be passing through Berlin, so we got to do some catching up ...
And, as is traditional for us on leaving Berlin, it snowed.
We arrived home safe and sound after a very long series of flights, which were all luckily on time. On New Year's Day, my brother Kyall fixed us a delightfully sinful breakfast - french toast with all egg yolks! A heart attack on a plate, but so good ...
We also visited Chance's family. Here's Mom and Grandma busy in the kitchen, as the puppy (Sophie) looks on ...
This week it snowed in Seattle! It's been a really strange year for weather. It cooled down during and after the snowstorm, so we've been living in a slippery and white winter wonderland for the past few days! They say it's going to warm up, though, so next week we should be back to normal.It's good to be home to see everyone, but we miss Europe too! Too bad we can't magically transport all of our favorite people and things over there.
