Berlin

Rob had business in Berlin this weekend, so he let me tag along. He was basically in meetings all day, but I ran around the town soaking in everything. It was fascinating to me because I last visited Berlin in 1986 when the wall was still up. At that time, we drove into East Berlin after visiting the Soviet Union, so the entire experience was totally different. East Berlin was dark and grey and West Berlin was the chic place. Now, all the nouveau-chic is in East Berlin. Plus, most of the historic and cultural sites are there too. (When they divided up Berlin, the Soviets got the best part -- but, hey, they shed the blood to conquer Berlin.) Anyhow, Berlin is an intriguing city because it contains the triumphs and horrors of Prussian history, Nazi history and Communist history -- all in one small place. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. But I did take some iphone photos.

We saw the Brandenburg Gate (below) from afar because it was in the "Death Zone" between the Outer and Inner Berlin Walls so you couldn't get close to it. Now the place is full of tourists and actors trying to make a few euros.

Here are the actors dressed as American and Soviet soldiers. A reminder to the history of a divided Berlin.

A democratic protest outside the Brandenburg Gate. So nice to see democracy flourishing now.

The Memorial to Jews killed in the Second World War. Quite interesting architecture. It looks like thousands of tombs. But as you walk deeper into it, you begin to feel small and disoriented -- similar feelings were probably felt by the Jews as the Nazis turned their lives upside down.

Here I am in the middle of the Memorial. Small and insignificant.

The German flag waving above the Reichstag Building. The old German Reichstag, burned in 1933, an act which Hitler blamed on the communists and which allowed the Nazis to usurp more power. It is now the site of the current German parliament (Bundestag). The dome has been replaced with a beautiful glass one, indicating transparency in government. I visited the building -- and was impressed that they allow everyone to come see the Parliament in session. What a change from Germany's past!

Here I am at Checkpoint Charlie. This was the only way for foreigners to enter/exit East Berlin. It is now completely open, with a small re-built "checkpoint" marking the place. When I was here in 1986, this was a huge six-lane checkpoint. But they searched everything.

Notice the sign at Checkpoint Charlie. This was a reminder to all that you were now on "Soviet" territory.

The remains of the Berlin Wall. It's amazing that this is all that remains of that symbolic monstrosity. Not far from here is the place where Hitler had his bunker. There is nothing left now -- the Communists dynamited it to make way for an apartment building. It's just marked with a plain marker with a little bit of historic information. As you can see, the pictures and events of the day (Nazi history, East Berliner repression) were very sobering to me.

The Berlin Wall is now marked by a red brick trail running around West Berlin. What a change from when I was here 24 years ago!

Okay, so Rob made me take a picture of this Bugati. I guess it's his dream car? This dealership would never have been in East Berlin 24 years ago.

Yay! The Zoo is open again!

Rob was out of town this weekend so we took the kids to the Rapperswil Zoo. This is the first time that Tyler truly was able to enjoy it. He loved watching the goats and ponies.

The girls got to feed the elephants this time. The elephants just grab whole carrots and apples right out of their hands with their trunks. Usually they just suck them up. Weird.

Our zoo trip is not complete without a pony ride!

Doesn't Mariah look content?

Tyler didn't get a pony ride, so we gave him a doggie ride.

Happy St. Pattie's Everyone!

Today is St. Patrick's Day. Not celebrated much here. But our kids love the green theme. So, we made green, green cupcakes to celebrate. The entire neighborhood posse ended up coming over to help, which made it even more fun! Check out Tyler below. He's clearly trying to get the frosting if possible. Ever since his first birthday, he knows very well how good frosting is!

Jump, jump, jump

Our friend Camille and her 3 kids from EDH came through town for a couple days. It was so much fun to see them. They slept on our blow up bed. After they left, I let the kids jump around on it for awhile (which was a mistake because now its probably leaky). But they had a great time with our own little bouncy castle.

Egypt: Sharm El Sheikh

Here we are on our dream winter vacation. We have spent too many cold winters in Switzerland, so this year we decided to book a warm-weather trip during Anna Claire's school holidays. Sharm El Sheikh is a huge resort town on the Red Sea (Sinai Peninsula), which was easy to get to and relatively cheap from Switzerland. It is a perfect combination of relaxation with the kids and some ancient history for the adults.

When we arrived, we decided to check out the beach. It was evening and a bit windy as you can see.

Anna didn't mind the wind. It didn't stop her from making a sand castle.

Daddy and Tyler checking out the Red Sea surf.

Nothing beats relaxing on a hammock on the beach.

Egypt: Climbing Mount Sinai

One of the best things about Egypt was getting to see St. Catherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Sharm and we were glad we didn't take our kids. We were probably stopped by internal border patrol guards about 6 times. If they asked us where we were from, we tried to avoid saying we were American -- that just brings trouble in this part of the world (our driver warned us of this). We usually just told people we were from Switzerland. I mean, that's where we live, right?

St. Catherine's Monastery is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world, dating back to the 4th century. The reason why it has been preserved, even through Islam is that the prophet Muhammed himself protected it by personal edict. It has an amazing collection of ancient Biblical texts -- one of the gospels dates back to the 5th century!

Here we are standing outside the monastery, at the foot of Mt. Sinai.

This is supposedly the place of the "Burning Bush". Hmmm. That bush has lasted quite awhile.

We hired a guide to take us up Mt. Sinai. Rob said that we were really fast hikers, so the guide started out really fast, taking us up the steep, staired route.

As you can see, I got winded pretty quickly. My body just doesn't work quite the same when I'm pregnant!

Really? That much further to go?

A picturesque "door to the heavens."

Yeah, here I am. On top of Mt. Sinai. It really makes me understand Moses better. It makes sense that, after a vigorous climb and a long talk with God, he was, of course, upset to come down from the mountain and find the children of Israel worshipping a golden calf! The other interesting part of the scenery is how barren it is. I mean, the burning bush was probably the only bush around. There was virtually no vegetation at all on the mountain.

Rob and I with our camera-timer photo. We were the only people at the top, which was nice because it gave us some time to meditate upon it's grandeur and religious significance.

A look at the barren valley below. Is this really where the children of Israel wandered for 40 years? No wonder the Promised Land was such a reward!

Back down the easy trail to the monastery.

Egypt: A Daytrip to Luxor

Another highlight of Egypt was the daytrip to Luxor. I've been to Cairo, but never to Luxor and Rob wasn't really interested in braving the crowds and dirt of Cairo -- so we headed to Luxor. We left our kids back at the hotel and spent a LONG but fascinating day in this ancient Egyptian capital. It was incredible. I learned so much and was absolutely mesmerized by the grandeur and sophistication of the pharoahs of ancient Egypt.

Rob and I overlooking the Nile.

The modern and the ancient. This bridge carried lots of modern toursit buses, but horse-drawn carts are also still in use.

The Colossi of Memnon. These two whole pieces of stone (at least they used to be one piece until they were destroyed by an earthquake) were dragged hundreds of kilometers to finally rest here. They still don't know exactly how the Egyptians did it.

My husband. Isn't he sexy?

One of the many temples built into the stone mountain above.

Workers at the "Alabaster Institute". Basically, this was a stop on the tour to try to get you to buy alabaster. Fortunately, they weren't as pushy as I thought they would be. It was fun to watch the artisans work. We ended up buying little cats of green glow-in-the-dark alabaster as night lights for the kids.

An example of some of the beautiful images carved into the walls of the temples we saw. The Valley of the Kings was even more impressive than this, but we were not allowed to photograph it. The Valley is full of tombs of most of the ancient kings -- it's where King Tut's tomb was found. The pictoral stories on the walls of the tombs is beautiful and incredibly well-preserved. In the Valley, the authorities didn't allow street sellers. However, a few somehow slipped past them. As we were leaving, suddenly we saw a street seller in front of us sprint past an Egyptian policeman (to avoid being caught). The policeman had his AK47 but didn't shoot. Instead he half-heartedly ran after the guy, then gave up quickly and radioed a policeman further down. The streetseller managed to run past him too and out the door before he was caught, fined or jailed. It was hilarious to watch the chase. Especially because the streetseller had a smirk on his face as he slipped past.

I had to take a picture of this because it is a picture of Queen Hatshepsut's mother pregnant. I identify.

Gigantic female images at the Temple of Hatshepsut. Wow, she was quite the powerful queen -- but not loved by her son, who tried to destroy this temple after she died. I hope my children don't try to destroy my creations after I die!

In front of the Temple of Hatshepsut.

So lots of people offered to take photos with us, but really wanted money for it. This policeman offered to take a photo with us and we thought he wouldn't expect anything because he is a policeman. But, we were wrong, he wanted money too!

Back across the Nile for lunch. It was nice to be in the shade. I can't imagine this place in the summer!

A view across the Nile.

Luxor Temple. It doesn't look so grand here -- but once you enter you get lost in the gigantic columns. This was my favorite temple by far. The sheer grandeur of the place is overwhelming.

Just a few of the columns.

See the people in the background. This gives a sense of the size.

Rob decided to take a snooze on one of the columns, after a long day of touring. He can ride a bike forever, but he tires out when it comes to sightseeing.

The giant row of lions outside the temple.