We had a bunch of friends visit us this Spring. Several in April and then a couple in May. We had no idea how incredibly beautiful our spring weather would be but Berlin really sparkled, at least weather wise, for all of our out of town guests.
Many years ago I met Michelle through my friends Marjie and
Stina. Then when I started teaching Spanish at Shorecrest I realized that she also knew (and went to high school) with my friends and teaching partner Siri. What a small world. I always liked Michelle but like many friends we drifted apart after I got married and had kids.
A few months ago she said she was going to be in Berlin for a couple of days and was hoping to meet up.
It is always a fun excuse to just jump the train and hang out in the city center which is what I did to meet Michelle on Thursday night. I even looked into and asked around about cool, hip restaurants.
We rarely ever leave Zehlendorf and although we have many great restaurants here I wouldn't say any of them are necessarily hip. One restaurant/bar was recommended several times so I tried to make a reservation but there wasn't even 2 seats available. We never make reservations anywhere we go which proves my point that we obviously don't go to the hip places. Apparently right next door and in the same building as the highly recommended restaurant was also a hip bar, no
reservations required. We decided to meet there. It was called the Monkey Bar and I have to say, it was cool. The view was spectacular and the drinks pricey!! We met up with another one of her high school friends, Brian, who happens to be living in Amsterdam and just so happened to have done his own House Hunters International episode with his wife and two dogs just 6 months before we filmed ours. I have yet to meet another person that has been on HHI. So crazy! We shared our very similar stories. The view was gorgeous and the conversation fun. Really, just fun to be out and in the big city on a school night on a beautiful night in May.
The next day Marty and I hopped a train just after school drop off and Marty did his tour guide showing Michelle the sights around Brandenburg Gate, Jewish Holocaust Memorial, Hitler's Bunker, etc. And to end her stay we headed to Hackescher Markt for lunch before we had to race back to school to pick up Benjamin and she had to head to the airport to fly back to Seattle.
Thanks for visiting, Michelle.
The next day, Kathi Wiley, my brother-in-law, Fred's, older sister and her partner (also named Fred) were visiting Berlin and were kind enough to meet up with us in boring, old Zehlendorf and our hippest restaurant in town called Good Time.
After a quick tour of our digs, we all walked up to the nearby restaurant and had a great time talking through the cultural differences and all the places they had seen during their several days in Berlin. One of the reasons we love this restaurant aside from their awesome food and the close proximity to our house is that there is a large, grassy patch where the kids love to play while we eat, talk and drink. Fun for everyone.
Thanks for the visit, Kathi and Fred!!
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