My Weekend in Pictures

Yes, very belated, but this past extra long Easter weekend was just too good not to share.

It didn't start off on the best foot, as Liz's flight from Rome was delayed for over three hours on Friday and we didn't get to pick her up until 12:30am, thanks to EasyJet. (Have I mentioned how much I despise that airline? I tweet about it enough but I honestly can't fully articulate it yet - one day I'll be less embittered and ready to tell the Paris and Rome stories that brought about this animosity.)

Short-lived fluke hailstorm

Nevertheless, we soldiered on through what should have been horrid - rainy, gray, and cold - weather but turned out to be sunny and not too terrible, despite fluke hailstorms. I thank Liz for that one; the minute she left it went back to blah. (Come back, friend! And bring the sunshine with you.)

Easter egg making

Liz's first DriveNow experience

 

Easter appropriate flowers from our local Saturday market

The Eisbären were in the semifinals this weekend so we watched the Saturday away game in the most ridiculous pub in Friedrichshain that Kai miraculously managed to find and convince that they should show hockey and not soccer. If you know anything about Germany (or really Europe as a whole), you'll know this is nothing short of a miracle, as the top 3 sports in these parts are soccer, soccer, and soccer (to quote Micha :). 

The pub was wonderfully named The Happy Pigs (yes, plural) and consisted of one teenage Turkish bartender who had never seen hockey before but had no problem telling other people who came in requesting to watch soccer that he had promised us he'd play hockey today and that's what he'd do. Since that may not have been his cleverest business move (but we sured loved him for it), we politlely made up for it by ordering way too much beer. And I blame Micha entirely for the five beers I drank (it was a bet with him that made me do it. Just because I won though, doesn't mean it was a good idea...) that led to me, in my rather inebriated state, contradicting Liz as shetold  Kai her favorite color was blue and instead admantly claiming her favorite color was actually sparkles. Yup. Sparkles. (Her clothing really helped my plight, though.)

Micha needed to concentrate and sat apart from us to watch the game...

We celebrated Easter with Micha & Kai's family - got our Easter baskets at their momma's house, where Liz was greeted as "part of the family," had brunch at a terrible and overpriced German restaurant in the 'burbs (win some, lose some), and then meandered around an old monastery - build in the 1200s! - at a cute little Easter festival.

Micha's personalized Easter egg and Liz showing off all of our (mostly pretty and) artsy creations!

Easter eggs and overflowing baskets

Liz playing in in sexy garden clogs | The menfolk

Liz wore the perfect shoes for a forest hike (to the Oster Kloster fest)

Monday was still a holiday and we had brunch with a group of friends (thanks for coming, Kerstin, Hendryk, and Tobi!) before heading to the next hockey game, this time a home one. All was going smoothly until, as we were finishing up our beers in front of the stadium about 30 minutes before start, Micha asks me, "so do you have your ticket?" And I respond with a wide-eyed stare and a couple of curse words. I have remembered my season ticket for EVERY game this year and this one time, when I had the entire morning to think of it, I forget it! (He also didn't grab mine when he grabbed his, which I maintain was just plain cruel.) So Liz and I raced back to the car, I drove our asses home as fast as Berlin would allow - through a police checkpoint nonetheless - then we raced back and only made it to the game 9 minutes late. I blame their loss on my stupidity, though. They really could have used our cheering in those missed 9 minutes.

Pre-hockey brunch at Schneeweiß

Could we BE more excited for hockey? (That must be read Chandler-style, by the way)

I took Tuesday off to spend with Liz and we had a faaaaaantasic Berlin exploration day (complete with beach bar and currywurst), which I'll share sometime next week. I miss you, Liz! Come back and move here forever!