Danke Lufthansa!

I received a check from Lufthansa today! Not just a partial payment for the laptop that was plundered from my suitcase on our trip to Berlin, but a complete - to the penny - reimbursement! This was more than I had expected but exactly what is deserved!

Easter Celebrations!

I hope everyone had a pleasant Easter Sunday. Katie made the trip from Chicago for a weekend visit - it was great to see her! We had dinner at my parents' house on Sunday. It was a delicious ham dinner and for dessert I brought carrot cupcakes that were topped with candied carrots. I am very proud of my candied curls and I now wish I had taken some pictures on Sunday from a non-phone camera (the quality stinks).


Bailey had an especially good Easter because it was her 2 year birthday! They grow up so fast, don't they? She got some gifts and had a fair share of human food to celebrate.

Berlin Bears.

The bear is a symbol we saw alot of around Berlin. Not only on their flag, but also on random statues about the city:

Brrr it's cold in here!

Over the past few days, our house has been getting progressively colder: 67... 63... and now 57! Our HVAC obviously is not working and we have someone coming to look at it tomorrow. However, in the meantime, we've started a fire, had some tea and are cuddling under blankets. At least it isn't the middle of winter...

Weekend update.

After a long week at work, catching up on things we missed during our Berlin vacation, Joe and I had a very relaxing weekend. It was nice to have a slow weekend without much planned.

On Friday we grabbed some dinner with my little sister and played some competitive ping pong games. Saturday was rainy and a perfect day to stay in. Although we did venture out for a Starbucks coffee when there was a break in the clouds.

On Sunday, Joe would usually play poker. However, the Department of Justice has shutdown most of the online poker sites; leaving Joe without his favorite hobby. Joe's dad also was an avid Sunday poker player and was left twiddling his thumbs. To fill his idle time, he took Mrs. Patrick to see the plant in Wickliffe and then they came over for an early dinner. They are both hoping to get their hobby back soon but it isn't looking very promising...guess Joe will just have to spend more time with me! Now isn't that lucky!

Berlin Photos.

Our first day in Berlin we saw the Reichstag (Parliament Building) as well as the Brandenburg Gate:

While Joe and his Dad played poker at the Spielbank Casino...

Mrs. Patrick and I toured the Charlottenburg Palace and the beautiful gardens behind it:

Otherwise we strolled the streets of Berlin. We went through the Nikolai Quarter, the reconstructed "Old Berlin."

Museum Isle:

Headed home...

After a great week in Berlin, we are headed home tomorrow morning. It will be a long day of travel but it will be good to get home and go back to our routine and see our dog! Everytime I saw a dog it made me think of Bailey and how much she would have loved all the walks we went on.

Anyway, see everyone soon!

Dresden Photos

I had a little bit of time to upload the highlights from our trip to Dresden yesterday:

Dresden.

Yesterday was Day 1 of the EPT and unfortunately for them, they did not make it through the day. I figure it is a good thing because now they get to spend more of their time experiencing Germany.

For example, today, we took a two hour train ride to Dresden. It is south of Berlin and gave us some nice time to relax and see the country side. Dresden has a lot of history and the architecture was beautiful. We had a nice time strolling around, having lunch and taking in the sights. We were happy for the train ride back to rest.

East Berlin Wall.

Not Wunderbar.

We had a safe and relatively hassle-free trip to Berlin after our cancelled flight yesterday morning. We were forced to check our luggage on our flight from Charlotte to Munich and they said they would check it all the way to our final destination of Berlin. However, they did not get our luggage on our connecting flight (there were 3 hours between the flights - plenty of time for transferring luggage in my opinion).

This was disappointing but we went to our hotel to freshen up and then went exploring. We saw the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag as we wandered near our hotel. We had our first beer and german sausage at a cafe by the river. Here comes the not so good part. We got back to our hotel to find our luggage had been delivered but that my MacBook Pro laptop had been stolen. They left the apple charger (not very worthwhile to me without the laptop) and my Canon camera.

Not the best start to the trip but I am trying to not let it get me down. The beer will help!

USeless Airways

We are leaving for Germany today! Joe and his dad are playing in the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Berlin this week. We're very excited for the trip!

This morning we received a scare when I woke up to an email saying our US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Frankfurt had been cancelled! What? They only give you 12 hours warning before an international flight? Luckily customer service got us on another flight through Charlotte so the trip may go on! Wunderbar!

Preston Prius!

I went to Preston Toyota in New Castle to pick up my new Prius! I'll be vrooming whirring past gas stations in the hybrid. Thanks to Bobby Preston himself for the great service and making the car buying experience so amazing.


Disclosure: Preston Motors did not compensate me for this review. Seriously, not even a little discount for all this praise!