Tschüß

The next morning, Matthias drives us to the airport in Hamburg and says goodbye... in his way.

Tschüss, Matthias. Tschao. Bis bald. Bis nächsten Mal.

...

Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland.

The Last Night

Leider ist die Reise nach Deutschland fast vorbei. The trip to Deutschland is almost over! :(
One last roundtable discussion over schnapps, about the state of German education. Max and Bärbel came over. Uncle Matthias attempted to recreate the Sanddorn soup from Rügen, without cream for mom.

One last hangout in Oma's living room upstairs, to play Rummy and look at pictures. 

Here is what my grandmother and grandfather looked like when they fell in love.

Lutz & Tini

Martin, Mama, and I visited an old friend, Lutz, who lives in an historic farmhouse up in Schleswig with his wife Tini, kid, and brother. He makes half a living (his wife works too) taking apart and putting together metal artwork. He has built himself a gallery upstairs, a workshop out back, and a reputation. We took a walk around the old village and talked politics over tea.

The Top of St. Marien's

This detail of Tim, Nele, and Uncle Matthias is part of a full 360 panorama I took from the top of the St.-Marien-Kirche in Stralsund.

Farewell to Glowe

One last look at the sea, and then it is time to leave our Ferienwohnung (vacation house), and the island.

Sanddorn Suppe

After the bikeride, Matthias Martin and I stopped by this über-posh restaurant on the cliffs called Panorama, and had some Sanddorn soup and some Kaffee and Kuchen. The island of Rügen is somewhat known for the wild Sanddorn (lit. Sand-Thorn) berry bushes. If I had just come across these berries, I would have guessed they were poisonous. Not so! That was the best soup I have ever had.

Zicker Lunch

Lunchtime at Taun Hövt in Groß Zicker after a morning of touring the coastal cities.
We have gone almost as far south as one can go in this corner of the island.
Here, if you're interested, is what it's like to drive through the lovely country village
of Groß Zicker to some classical guitar (someone else's video).

Ma is happy to have found something vegan! Off-menu, apparently. The specials are fish. 

I had a breaded Dorschfilet (cod).

On the Seebrücke

A nice photo of Mom, Matthias, me and Jule snapped by Martin on the Binz pier.

Burggarten, Schwerin

On the way to Rügen, we stopped in Schwerin to stretch the legs, take in the sight of this beautiful Schloß and take on another passenger: cousin Nele's boyfriend, Tim.

Tim, Nele, and Mama 'round in the back garden area of Schloß Schwerin.

Woop! Someone else was back there too.

The Kids Say Goodbye

Alas, it is time for Tyler, Maia, Nina & Rami to go back to America and back to work. One last schnapps, a few more stories and pictures, and then the girls kiss their Oma goodbye... probably for five more years.

Wiedersehen!

Andreas' Boat

An old friend of Martin's, Andreas, invited us out to his old sailboat on Kieler Hafen. It was quite beautiful to look at... and breathe in. The hull is original wood from the 1880's, which makes his one of the oldest boats still afloat in Kiel. Andreas takes it out 2-3 times a year, for short pleasure trips with a lady-friend, or for festivals. Andreas has all sorts of weird hobbies, but mainly he's an audiophile. Here we are talking about Zappa in the boat's mahogany cabin...

Disco!

Disco pre-game. What a couple of badasses. Maia, me, Pacino, Tyler and cousin Aaron before heading out to Kiel's nightlife district. No one shows up to the clubs until about 1 am. It's a long pre-game. We are drinking jack and cokes in Aaron's flat.

Ease, Kiel's best place for house music. They could have just plugged in Tyler's phone!

My brother is up on his house music.

Dinner at Bärbel's

Max's wife Bärbel was kind enough to invite us all over to Fresendorf again for dinner. No doubt inspired by discussions with my mom, she cooked all-vegan for 12 people. Gut gemacht Bärbel, now have a drink!

Her son, Aaron (far left), has come in from Kiel to drive us to disco after dinner!

Kaffee und Kuchen with Dad's Old Flame

Martin's old girlfriend brought a cake and her husband to tea.
They met on an exchange year when they were both 16.

Lunch... more fish!

For lunch one day Matthias and Anne brought home two special fish sauces. The yellow one is shrimp in a mild curry with dill, the purple one is herring in beet juice and vinegar. On a fresh sesame roll from across the street. Just seeing this photo makes my mouth water again. I got really into fish. Tyler is on board too.

Happy Martin

Berlin Wall

The next rainy morning, we started our tour of Berlin with Checkpoint Charlie and Die Mauer (the Wall).

Officer Pepperspray

Maia livememes in Berlin.

Urban Spree Art Show

After dinner, Helen took us to a dirty underground art show in what appeared to be an old Socialist warehouse. The artists had taken over the premises, grafitti'd it up, and made a livable commune out of it. We saw some interesting line drawings, met some interesting people, inhaled some interesting smoke, and stared at a giant nite-brite mural that seemed to dance to the house music.

Helen Choi

That night in Berlin, we met my old friend from New York, Helen Choi. She happened to be working at Polynoid, so I got to take a look at one of my favorite CG studios while I was at it. Here we are at a Vietnamese restaurant in überhip Kreuzberg neighborhood.

Photo by Tyler