The Bonn Flea Market- Locals Only

What can I say... we've hit the big time! Nothing quite signals to the world "I've arrived" like patio furniture and that is exactly what Em and I invested in yesterday. I know what you're thinking, "Whoa Nate, did you win the lottery or something?" Well, truth be told, we bought our chairs at a flea market and technically we don't have a patio (the strict Webster's dictionary suggests that we have a balcony). Nonetheless, we are very excited about our new purchase.

The story of how we bought these chairs (aaand detachable footrests) is actually a funny one. Once a month on the third Saturday, from April to October, a very large park in Bonn hosts the largest flea market in all of Germany. (At least someone told us it is the largest and since there is no United Flea Marketers of Europe Association with whom to verify these types of facts, we are going with it.) 

This park, the Rhineaue, about a 10 minute bike ride from our house, and yesterday was: the third Saturday of the month! People set up tables full of things they are trying to sell. It is a sight to behold! I really wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it, so you can check out our pictures to see for yourself. There are some amazing deals. Walking around and seeing everything people had to sell, I realized that one man's garbage is, for the most part, also another man's garbage. But for those few diamonds in the rough, it's definitely worth it. We were on a modern day treasure hunt.

So, when we spotted the chairs we knew they were winners - reclinable back support, foot rests, foldable, faded Anasazi print... everything a person would want in high-end patio furniture. As we began negotiations it became apparent that Karim, the man running the furniture section, was not going to let these beauties go for a song. He started at € 30 and I'm a little embarrassed to say that I only got him down to € 25. Nonetheless, it has been 29 hours since our purchase, and we have not the slightest hint of buyer's remorse. I guess that just leaves us with one more thing to do: Barbecue... We'll bring the meat... and our new chairs!

The art of the haggle: first, show some interest, but not too much!
"Yeah, it's a nice looking chair, but not any nicer than what your buddy down the path is selling." 

Second, build a relationship on common ground. For example, the enjoyment of sitting in chairs.

Third, close the deal. Side note: our friend Karim is from Morocco!
One of the cool aspects of living here is meeting people from all over the world. 

Can you believe what we found?!

I was just contemplating buying this fencing sword...
because you never seem to have one right when you need it!

Our beautiful park!
(Look closely: on the left, you can see two sections of this flea market set up on the existing paths in the park; on the other side in the distance, below the Post Tower, you can see how far it continues!) 

And then the other direction- this gives you an idea of the miles and miles of people selling their stuff.

Returning victorious...

...still victorious...

... almost home, without paying for a taxi!

God Bless the USA

I just found this picture on ze internet and really liked it. Instead of just sharing it with my smart, hip, fashionable, and funny sister Alex, I thought "Oh yeah! I have a blog- I'll go post it there!"

I love the United States of America, and I love Love. I'm not an especially deep writer, and I have typed out a few different thoughts and then deleted them, so I'll leave it at that :)

Comical - Pun Intended ;)

One of Nate's colleagues sent this to him, and Nate forwarded it on to me. I laughed and thought "I should put that on the blog!" 

So, in an effort to post about our lives, and not just our travels, here it is:

Berlin

{Post by Nate, photo captions by Em}

For all of the visitors who saw our status on Facebook, we are not having a baby. We just thought it was a creative way to continue the alliteration of "blog" and "Berlin" and get more people to read the our most recent post :) 

We are sitting in the Köln/Bonn Airport after returning from an awesome trip to Berlin. I guess all travel has its fair share of close calls and exciting experiences but this trip seemed to have a little more than usual. As I am developing as a blogger something that Emily said really rings true, "People mostly just want to see pictures." I agree. So I'll tell you about 2 things from the trip that can't be told with pictures and then let the pictures tell the rest.

First story, this weekend's trip almost didn't happen. It all started Thursday night when we were getting ready for bed. I took Friday off work for the trip so we had started the weekend early ("Thursday...it's the new Friday") when we got a text informing us that security personnel at the airport were striking and our flight the next day was canceled. We decided to go out to the airport the next morning anyways to see if we could get on another flight. After some confusion and negotiating at the ticket counter we were able to talk our way into some train tickets instead. Sure glad it worked out because it turned out to be an amazing trip.

Second story requires a little background information: when I flew from Seattle to Germany in August, I sat on the plane next to an amazing person named Pascal. We spoke for much of the flight and I was very impressed by how intelligent and compassionate he was. When we arrived in Frankfurt we parted ways but not before exchanging email addresses. He told me if I ever make it to Berlin to give him a call and he would show me around. I was touched by his kindness and went on my way. 20 minutes later, I was lost trying to find my train and he showed up again, got me on the right train, and gave me €30 for a taxi ride when I arrived in Bonn. He really was an answer to prayers and many times since that day I have expressed my gratitude in prayer to a loving Heavenly Father who places people on our path at different times to help us.

Fast forward to last week. I emailed Pascal to let him know that we were coming to Berlin and would love to get together with him for lunch or something. I had done my homework and found out that Pascal is a member of the German Parliment and has done a lot of impressive work in the area of human rights. When he wrote me back he told me that I was lucky because he would be in town for a party convention and would love to show us around the Reichstag. Think about it this way: your state's Senator just said that he would love to show you around Washington, DC. It was awesome! Saturday morning he picked up Emily and me, and took us to 5 government buildings ranging from the office where he and his staff work all the way to the main chamber where the Chancellor and all of the government representatives meet. The sights would have been amazing if Em and I had wandering around ourselves trying to learn about everything, but the experience was on a whole different level because Pascal explained interesting details about the sites and how the whole process works. For me, the highlight was seeing the walls of the Reichstag where, after taking over Berlin at the end of World War II, Russian soldiers grafittied on Germany's highest government building. It was fun to use my Russian to read "Sasha was here!" or "We won." Reading a million history books about World War II wouldn't have had the same effect on me as that one visit.

Well, after about 48 hours, 15 miles of walking, 4 museums, 1 church tour, and lots of pictures (which is all you want to see anyways!) I'd say it was a pretty memorable trip. And we definitely recommend putting it at the top of your "European Cities To Visit" list- we learned so much and ate a lot of great food! 

At the airport train station, waiting for our train.
We took pictures, strolled around the airport, and bought some lunch to take with us on the train.

Our seats for the first hour of the train ride- we had to move 4 times. Yet another learning experience about public transportation! The train ride took 5.5 hours to get from the Cologne/Bonn Airport to the Berlin HBF.

 

We downloaded an app called Games42 and love to play one of the games called Tiling. It is pretty much like two person Tetris and the first person to get 50 points wins the game. 

We each lost one time!

At a famous uBahn stop.

The car that Pascal picked us up in! With a driver!

The first building that we went in- offices for members of Parliament.

A view from the 5th floor. The canoes are red, yellow, and black for the colors of Germany's flag, and blue for the European Union. They are a piece of modern art which represents teamwork and the need for others to make progress.

Pascal explaining some buildings as we walked across a sky bridge from the first building to the building where his office is. Nate and I were loving the old European architecture combined with modern glass and metal! 

In one of the largest and coolest conference rooms in the building- it's on the top corner  of the building, so two of the walls are completely glass. It would be easy to attend any meeting here!
The building in the background is the Reichstag (the German equivalent of The Capitol Building).

This is a piece of art in the basement of the Reichstag: each metal box has a label of a person's name, and every single person who has ever been elected is included. 

 

Although very controversial, Adolf Hitler is listed because part of his rise to power was being elected to Parliament. 

This is the first floor of the Reichstag, and Nate is translating the Russian graffiti for Pascal :) 

A really cool building, right?! We didn't go in it, but I thought it was worth taking a picture of.

The Seats of the Bundestag (that's German for Parliament)! 

Pascal is a member of the Free Democratic Party, which has 93 of the 620 seats in Parliament. Wikipedia tells us:
"The FDP, which strongly supports human rights, civil liberties, and internationalism,
has shifted from the centre to the centre-right over time." 

Sitting in the party's private conference room, where they meet before and after sessions to discuss their "game plans"

I got to sit in the #1 chair, and the microphone there has a button that can mute everyone else's!

Walking up in the glass and metal dome
(I called it the beehive when we saw it and referred to it from other parts of the city)

The mirrors reflect light downward and that is how the room where Parliament meets is lit!

A view from the highest level- I think it was about 3 stories tall.

Cheeeeese :) 

A panorama with the iPhone camera!

This is the Reichstag and the "beehive" in the background- the basement of this building is where the boxes are of each Parliament member's name, the first floor is where the Russian graffiti is and the large meeting area of the Parliament floor and chairs, and the top floor is where the individual parties have their conference rooms.
Then, clearly, the top level is where the dome is.

Just a quick picture as we left- the blue flag is The European Union.

Brandenburger Tor! Although it is very tall and majestic looking, that's pretty much all there is (no museum or plaques sharing it's significance). Nate studied up and explained that many things have happened on this street through the years, and that the many parades either began or ended here, and many speeches were also given here.

picture of the picture taker, in front of the Berliner Dom.

It was so ornate and beautiful! iPhone photos don't do it justice. 

A beautiful organ that we got to hear at the daily concert!

Nate loved this building :)

We found California burritos at a place called Dolores! Lots of salsa, lime rice, real black beans- we were loving life!

Look what we found- nudie beauties!

Just fitting in.

Sorry for the overkill on the Berliner Dom. It was just so picturesque!

It. was. freezing. cold. So I wore my scarf like this, and I didn't want to take it off for the picture.

We loved the old copper roofs that have been oxidized- part of the €7 admission fee per person includes walking around the tallest center dome, probably 15 stories up.

Here I am, in all my glory at the Pergamon Museum.
Nate just shook his head as I wheeled up to him.
My feet and legs legitimately ached, and the wheelchair rental was free!
On a more historical note, the room that we are in is where the Pergamon Altar has been re-constructed.
It was amazingly large and detailed, and I was so impressed with how detailed the carvings were.
People, their clothing, weapons, animals, etc. all looked very accurate. It was amazing to stand (sit) there and look at this art that was 2,000 years old!

Studying the map and rocking my wheelchair.

This is called the Ishtar Gate and it is very old as well. This one wasn't quite as impressive because much of it has been rebuilt with concrete, stone, and plaster so it was hard to tell what was original and what was a recent addition.

With my favorite German from Temple Square- Inga Binte! She is one of the few missionaries that I'm used to calling by her first name. 

At the Ritter Sport store, where you can make your own candy bar! We didn't because it takes 30+ minutes after you have chosen your chocolate and ingredients, so we just bought one.

After Inga took this picture, we realized that we look like midgets!

Checkpoint Charlie! This was one of several entrances from East Berlin to West Berlin, but this one is famous because of the nickname it was given by the soldiers in the West-
the checkpoints were titled alphabetically Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc. 

At the East Side Gallery, the longest still-existent portion of the Wall that is still standing: 1.4 kilometers. While the GDR -German Democratic Republic- was ruling East Germany (including the east half of Berlin), there was absolutely no graffiti or painting on the wall. Soon after the Wall came down, artists gathered to paint the wall and express their feelings about the divide and the recent changes. 

This is one of the most famous paintings at the East Side Gallery, of East German leader Erich Honecker and his Soviet counterpart Leonid Brezhnev kissing. Nate and I recreated it perfectly, no?

Fresh, delish hamburgers and fries at a restaurant in Prenzlaurberg called Kruezburger. Our first hamburgers since we moved to Germany!

Breakfast at Anne Blume (also in Prenzlauerberg), an eclectic and popular restaurant that is famous for their brunch. We got the Frome Blume, which was a variety of cheeses, fruits, spreads, served with a few different kinds of bread. 

And we also got a Nutella crepe to balance out the savory food! 

In the background behind Nate, you can see an original portion of the wall as well as a guard tower. At the top of the wall, there was a round cylinder of cement so that it was practically impossible to climb or attach a rope. I took this picture from inside the Berlin Wall Memorial Museum, and we learned SO much from it. Plus it was free!

This picture was taken on the same street that the museum is on: Bernaur Straße. The tall metal poles stand in place of the Wall, and it was somewhere on this stretch where the famous picture was taken of the soldier jumping the barbed wire. The solider was German and serving in the GDR, but deserted to West Germany in August 1961, just days before the last portions of the Wall were put up. 

On Saturday night and all day Sunday, we were graced with a storm and several inches of snow. Nate valiantly pulled our suitcase through the covered sidewalks, creating a miniature snowplow! In closing, I'd like to quote my handsome husband: "I don't think that there is anywhere else in Europe that has more history from the last 100 years than Berlin!"