Naples Beach, Florida

I love the moment when, right after parking the car and dragging our umbrellas, towels and bottles of water onto the boardwalk, I catch the first glimpse of the ocean.  

Berlin II

Breakfast at Oxymoron, Nofretete at the "Neue Museum", total admiration for David Chipperfield, "Museumsinsel", late lunch at Cha Cha's, Checkpoint Charly, tired but very happy on the last plane home.

The Sunday Shift

"I always work the Sunday shift," my mother tends to say when I ask her which days she is working that week. She is an older lady now and to keep occupied, takes care of an even older lady a few days a week. She is good at it, having worked as a nurse in Berlin in the late 50's and early 60's.

Living in the Eastern part of Berlin, she took the tram to the Western part whenever she was working.

Which is exactly what she did 50 years ago on August 13th, 1961, very early in the morning. She had, like so often, the Sunday shift.

Little did she know, that there would be no getting back that day, or any time later because by the time most Berliners had woken up, there was a huge barrier right through their city.

When husband and I took daughter to Berlin last weekend, exactly 50 years after the Wall was errected, it hit me.

I have to be very, very thankful for that particular Sunday shift.

Oma's Day

I knew she would love the Eselsmuehle in Musberg.

Hike In The Vineyards

Godmother found quite an exciting hike for us. We started in the middle of vineyards, passed lakes and apple trees and made our way through a forest. (Just a tiny bit scary thanks to an older hunter with a shotgun. We are still not sure how well his vision was.)

We saw rare butterflies and were amazed by ancient ruins of a convent. By the time we got back to the vineyards and our car, we had walked 8 miles.

Tegernsee - Bavaria

Upper Bavaria is such a beautiful place. It is always hard to leave again.

Yup, lots of fun till I slipped and my hiking boot got all wet...

...wouldn't happen to husband...

But by the end of the day, my foot was almost dry again.

Farm

And the anual visit to the one and only farm in our neigborhood...

after finding our way out of a maze, daughter got to ride the donkey. It looked to be about 25 years old and wasn't very tall either...

...but she loved it anyway...