The Parents

Well!!! What a crazy couple of weeks I've had! My parent's visit went well and I want to write a bit about it.

I was happy that the flights were on time. I got there at 12:52 and they landed at 12:57. Nice. I was a bit worried that customs would give them a hard time with my guitar they brought over (my 2001 red Fender Strat) but no problems and they were as happy to see me as I was to see them!

I have to admit that they were handling the whole "just-arrived-in-Germany-and -how-dare-you-cart-us-off-to-Berlin-the-next-day?" attitude quite well. I think landing in another country after a 12 hour trip and then having to wake up at 5 the next morning would kill me, but they did it!

We were able to book train tickets (fuck the Deutsche Bahn!) in 1st class. For whatever reason, 1st class was 100 dollars cheaper than 2nd class. So 1st class is how we travelled! We didn't sit in 1st class the whole time, we went into the dining car to have coffee and mom pretended to be on the Orient Express. Silly woman...



We arrived (gasp) on time and headed straight to the Reichstag, or more accurately, the souvenir shop next to it so dad could get the elusive Berlin baseball hat that mom wanted to get for him but didn't. the poor guy had to wait 2 years to get the hat he/she wanted.

So, after the souvenir shop, we went to the holocaust memorial. The memorial is a combination of an unmarked concrete pillars with an exhibit underneath talking about the nazi's atrocities. If you get to Berlin, this is highly recommended. A funny bit of trivia: the company that was responsible for making the zyklon B gas that killed the Jews is the same company that made the concrete pillars for the memorial (and they are having problems with the concrete crumbling already!)



So from there we went to our hotel and checked in. Not an interesting story, so I'll skip writing about it.

We then spent a good part of the evening looking for a fan for my parents. Now, my parents are really great and I love them to pieces, but the older they get the more like children they become! Seriously...we had to go to an electronics store to buy a fan for white noise. Of course, we then have to cart the thing back to Dresden. So, needless to say, I inherited a fan. Wonderful.

The next day we met up with my friend Friederike. It was a very short meeting, due to us having to get to our train on time (which was again on time!), but nevertheless, it was really nice to see her.

The next few days were filled with typical "touristy" stuff. I had to get used to my parents being "about a notch" slower than I am. I always started out with them and then managed to be about 50 feet ahead of them. So, if you had been here to see this, it would have been funny to see me slowly creeping ahead only to turn around, roll my eyes, and then wait for them. I wasn't mad—or maybe I was mad at myself for walking so quickly.

We went to Pillnitz, a Japanese style palace. The weather could not have been any better!

We then went to Luisenhof, a cute café place on a hill that offers a great view of the city. Dad had his cake and tea (something he quickly got used to and will probably try to continue it back in the States) and we were all quite happy.



The next day was rainy, so we did what any American does: shopping.

Moritzburg was on the schedule. It's a palace built simply for hunting and the king at the time used it for about 2 weekends a year. *sigh* It must be nice to be the king.



We went on a Steamboat ride on Saturday. It was really nice to finally do something that I was always curious about. I highly recommend anyone take a ride. It was really pleasant and they served beer! ;-)



The last night they had here, we went out through the city and I was able to take some pictures. It was really nice.



And the next day, it was off to the airport. It was bittersweet for me because I was sad to see them go but happy that I can have my normal life back again.