Run for the border!

We had a day off today so we made a run for the border! Not really, but we did get the day off to spend it in Poland. The border is only about 40 km from our farm. You can walk across a bridge and be in Poland, so that is what we did! We found an awesome pizza place that had banana, pineapple, and papaya pizza, and it was fabulous. Along with wicked cheap beer, they have free internet! We will post more about our farm experiences later, when we have more time. But hello from Poland for now!







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Happy Birthday Jay!

The 8th was Jay's 26th birthday! What better place to celebrate than the Swiss Alps? The weather did not cooperate, but we had a great day regardless.




First, we went to the top of the Schilthorn, the mountain peak on whih we're staying. It was completely enveloped in clouds, so there was no view. And yes, that's snow in the picture. There's a revolving restaurant at the top that was used in the James Bond movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". They offer a special James Bond breakfast, which was a perfect way to celebrate Jay's day. All the plates had "007" drawn on them, and the food was amazing. It was all locally produced, except for the Vermont maple syrup they offered! We had fresh baked bread, an assortment of deli meat all from local farmers and various cheeses, including Alp cheese that is made right on the mountain. Then they brought us out a huge plate of eggs, sausage, and bacon that was so so good. Everything tasted so good, we are not sure if it's because they don't inject all the animals with hormones, or if it's because all the animals live on and graze the steep mountains. There are some hiking trails that go through cow pastures that are so steep we can barely stand and the cows dont seem to mind :)



Next, we headed down to Murren, the closest "big" town to do some birthday present shopping. Being in Switzerland, I got Jay a Swiss made watch. I think he likes it more than he likes me.



While we were walking around Murren, we saw a sign for a local attraction, a series of glacial watefalls inside a cave. We decided to walk to them and check it out. They were beautiful. There are lots of waterfalls in this area, but seeing them illuminated from a cave was special.
We ended the day with dinner at our hostel. Since we're in Switzerland, it was fondue, of course!



Happy Birthday Jay!!



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Welcome to Switzerland!

We made it to Switzerland! We're staying at a hostel in the Alps, and the views are unreal. We had to take a train from Berlin, then a cable car, then a bus, and then another 2 cable cars to get here!















We can't wait to explore the area!

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Sachsenhausen

On Sunday we went to the concentration camp Sachsenhausen. It's just outside of Berlin, in what used to be East Germany. It was a very intense day, but well worth it. We went with a tour from a nonprofit called Mosaic Tours and it was outstanding. Our tourguide knew so much about the camp's history, both during the war and when the camp was a part of East Gemany. The East Germans made it a memorial to imprisoned communists, and there is still evidence of their memorial there.

The gate to the concentration camp was intense because it has the phrase "work makes freedom" in it, which only five camps had. Our tour guide told us that other camps had the phrase "to each his own" on the gate.





The other fascinating thing about this camp is that it was where the men who made counterfeit US dollars and British pounds were kept. If you havent seen the movie The Counterfeiters you need to do so now. This is where their work building was:




Overall it was a depressing visit, but absolutely worth it. One issue they're still struggling with is how to commemorate such a thing as a concentration or death camp, but seeing one in real life had a huge impact on both of us.

Tent City

Here we are in Berlin. I'm starting to get used to this being a constant traveler thing. There's a lot to see in Berlin, but our campground is so cool I don't think we'll need to leave the grounds! The first night here we stayed in a tent, and then moved into the QEK Junior, a small caravan.


This is a shot of the large field, filled with tents.




QEK Junior! It's big enough inside to sleep two people who "know each other well" according to the website, and that was no exaggeration!




The space used to be a public park with a pool; now the pool is emptied out and people can chill there. The building in the background is the bar, where we had mojitos with mint they grew here one night.

We heard Tentstation is closing after this season; it would be a shame for Berlin to lose such a unique spot!

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Last week in Pictures

Like we said in our last post, we were in Dettenhausen until yesterday with no way of uploading pictures to the blog. And what good is a blog post wit no pictures? To make it up, here's a recap of the past week in lots of pictures and a few words.



The Frankfurt train station.


Almost to Patrick and Saskia's.


We saw a rainbow! It was a full one, but so big we only got a part in the picture.


Traveling companions!


The cutest baby in Germany, Nova.





Two pictures of the same building in Tubingen.





More shots from Tubingen.


Patrick at the beer garden.


Jay was drinking out of the pitcher.


The kind of picture ou get when Jay has the camera.


Saskia and Nova (cont...)







The view in Dettenhausen.


An old World War 2 tank tunnel.


Chickens! In someones backyard.


We drank a lot of beer.


Pagan topiary.


The king of Dettenhausen (not really, I have no idea what this is)


They have snails in the woods! And they're huge!


We ate schnitzel.


And lastly, with all the amazing beer in Germany, they really sell Duff beer here.

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