Saturday Day Dates

photo I sent to Josie to let her know we were safely
on the train.  She didn't care!!

We have gotten pretty used to our "Saturday Day Dates"  I've let go more and more on the screen time and trusting that they will be fine home without us.  Josie has her phone so we check in often....probably too often as she told me to "please stop texting. It is annoying" So then Marty asked her to call us every 30 minutes.  Which, of course, she did nearly right on the minute.
 This time we had to actually leave our town of Zehlendorf and head more into the center to buy our train tickets for our Sunday trip to the Baltic Sea.  Marty and I hopped on our bikes and made it to the Sbhan in no time.  It is amazing how much quicker you can get somewhere on a bike.  Especially since it is all so flat here.  We lock up our bikes at the train station just like hundreds of others have done that day and hope on the Sbahn.
We walk hand in hand through much of the city reminding each other that we are pretty happy with our life partner choices.  It is pretty incredible for us to remember that it was a long (or short) 13 years ago that we first travel through Europe together.  We were newly dating and we spent 2 weeks on what was mostly a road trip hitting Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy.  It was a whirlwind but so much easier to travel that quickly without kids.  At that time we both talked about our dream to live abroad for a year or two.  We talked of doing it individually because at the time we didn't know we would actually end up together... but I think even then we had a pretty good idea.  Looking back, it is likely that it was during this trip and talking about this very dream that confirmed our love and our desire to be married and partnered in life.  And now, to be realizing this shared dream is pretty spectacular.

OK... enough with the mushy stuff.  We find the place to buy the train tickets but it is closed on a Saturday.  Still shocking how many places close on the weekends.   I'm getting used to the fact that nearly everything is closed on Sundays but a lot are closed on Saturdays, too.  Anyway, we buy the tickets from the automated kiosk and set off to find lunch.  We come across this little falafel place called an imbiss, which is basically translated to a snack bar... but it is often so much more than that.  It turned out to be the VERY best falafel and chicken shawarma either of us have ever had.  And 9 € total. Jasmin, we will be back!!

When we get off the Sbahn in Zehlendorf we run right into the Saturday street market.  We are feeling footloose and fancy free on our Saturday day date so we even get ourselves a little treat.  A fresh lemon tart to share and currant flavored quark to take home for later. SO SO good.  They use currants here far more than we do and they are delish. Reminds me a lot of cranberries which I have always loved. The guy who sold us this told us that normally he would take a deposit for the glass container but that is too complicated so if we could please bring it back to him next Saturday, he would appreciate it.  I love our neighborhood.  We are really feeling a part of it lately.
That night Benjamin and Josie have another joy filled hour of playing Minecraft and talking (mostly yelling) with each other via Xbox.  To bed early on Saturday in preparation for our 5:30AM alarm clock to get us to the train station for our trip to the sea tomorrow.