From Raleigh to Berlin

To Kathy and I it seems like it's only been a day since I updated our blog; in fact, right now it is Wednesday night and the last update was on Sunday night. Here's what we've been doing since then.

Monday - Raleigh, North Carolina

On Monday morning we got up early and started packing. Hosanna came by between classes around 10:00 and gave us our final hug. By 11:00, we had checked out of the B&B and were on our way to the airport.

On the way, we stopped for lunch and gas. Lunch was at Bojangles; a pulled-pork sandwich for Kathy and a cajun-fried chicken sandwich for me. The food was surprisingly good.

The gas was also amazingly cheap (for someone from Southern California). Finally, we couldn't help but notice; there's no drought here in North Carolina.

Since our plane didn't leave until 8:00 pm, we didn't want to sit around the airport all afternoon so instead, we took the off-ramp for downtown Raleigh to visit the old historic North Carolina Capital.

The Capital has a statue of George Washington in the rotunda by the Italian artist Canova. Apparently he had no idea how American generals dressed, so he put him in the uniform of a Roman Centurion. If you didn't read the brochure, you wouldn't know it was George Washington.

Most of the official government work has moved to modern offices a few blocks away. The original legislature (House of Commons) and Senate chambers have been restored as well as the library and the geologist's office.

Across the street from the Capitol, there are the museums of History and Science. Between them are planters with different kinds of local plants. One of the most important, in North Carolina, of course, was tobacco.

We wandered through museums, glad for the air conditioning (although the weather was much more temperate than when we first arrived.) I was drawn to the extreme mammals exhibit, while Kathy found an affinity for an early Indian maiden.

Flying to Berlin

After leaving Raleigh, we got to the RDU airport around 4:30 and checked in our car. That was painless; we hopped on a shuttle and were at the airport by 5:30, when our plane didn't leave until 8:30 pm. I wanted to make sure that we had enough time for security, etc.

Guess what? For some reason, our tickets were marked TSA-Pre Screened. There were no pat-downs, shoes or belt removals. Our passports were scanned and we were sent through in less than 5 minutes. Way to go TSA!

We had a little food at the airport. Kathy read her book, but I was too nervous to read. We ate a pizza at the California Pizza Kitchen. I kept looking for some kind of misspelling, because the food was entirely tasteless. Someone needs to do some franchise-quality control.

Before boarding the plane, I took a Costco Sleep-aid pill, so I was nodding off before our plane even took off. The boarding on American Airlines wasn't as organized as that of United on our flight out to Raleigh. However, as everyone surged forward to get in the line, Kathy and I hung back. Just then, one of the flight attendants decided to open a second line just where we were standing!

The flight to Heathrow (where we had an hour layover before our flight to Berlin) was 7.5 hours long. The plane wasn't bad, or at least as not-bad as economy-class can be. Unlike the domestic flights we were fed dinner and breakfast and were shown a free movie. I slept almost the whole time (but fitfully; because of my size, I can't really lean back in the seat, so I have to sleep doubled-over.) Kathy wasn't able to sleep at all!

We got into Heathrow about 9:30 am, and our connecting flight was set to board at 11:00 am. Unfortunately, unlike the States, connecting flights have to go through security all over again. Also, unlike the States, they make you put all of your liquids in a single small sandwich bag. Kathy, like hundreds of other people in the airport, had to throw out half of her liquids. It was so disturbing that both of us vowed never to connect through Heathrow again (although we have to coming back on this trip). In the future, we'll make sure we fly non-stop.

Despite the delay, we still made our Berlin flight (15 minutes after the boarding time). By 3:30 pm we had landed at Tegel airport, purchased a 5-day public transit pass and picked up the TXL bus into the center of town. We got off on Unter den Linden and made our way to the Hotel Augustinenhof, which looks out on the courtyard of the old Imperial Post Office.

 After getting settled in our room, we went out looking for food, picked up a German iPhone chip, and replaced some of the items that Kathy had lost to the British Security Service. Both of us felt like zombies, going through the motions. We were successful, though, and finished up with a nice meal. The area we are in is so lively after dark, with a lot of clubs and art galleries. Really different from what we're used to.

Wednesday in Berlin

Tuesday night, both of us slept without moving until 9:00 in the morning. Those of you who know Kathy, know how unusual this is. We sure felt a lot better than the night before though. Our hotel stopped serving breakfast at 10, so we had a little rush to get downstairs, but we were glad we did. Sometimes, having breakfast in your hotel can be a surprise. This surprise was entirely pleasant.

At the end of our street is the old artist's collective Kunsthaus Tacheles. This was a condemned building taken over by a community of squatters in 1990 before it was scheduled for demolition. They secured landmark status for it and converted it into a living and studio space for artists. After a 5-year battle with the bank that wants to turn this into a hotel, the collective finally left in 2012. Still no hotel in 2015, though.

Our first stop was the Brandenburg Gate, the symbol of this now re-united city. Here's our required tourist snapshot in front of the gate. (If you don't take a picture like this, you can't say you've been to Berlin).

Next up was the restored Riechstag, where the last 1500 of Hitler's troops fought the Soviet Army, two days after WWII was officially over. Climbing the dome is another of the must-do sights, but Kathy and I were feeling a little rebellious, so we didn't make reservations; thus we were relegated to looking in from the outside.

Back behind the Brandenburg Gate and the Aldon Hotel, where Phillip Kerr's fictional detective Bernie Gunther plied his trade during the War, stands the Holocaust Memorial: a field of large symbolic undulating gravestones.

Across a different street is the memorial to the Roma (Gypsies) who were killed by the Nazis in the war as well.

From the Brandenburg Gate we walked up Unter den Linden, the main street in pre-war Germany and in the DDR East-German city. Now, some say it's coming back to its pre-war glory. One neat store is Drive, where all of the different VW brands are showcased. We don't have anything like this in the States. Here's a cool concept car; the VW of the future.

Further on we came to Bebelplatz, the square across from Humbolt University where, in 1933, the students and staff burned over 20,000 "forbidden" books, like those from Einstein. In the center of the square is a glass window (in the ground), looking down into an "empty" library.

Across the square is the former State Library where Lenin studied while he was in exile. On the second floor, the library has a stained-glass window depicting his life. (Remember that this is in the former East Germany, where Lenin was a "saint").

I stopped by to see the stained glass. They wouldn't let me check out any books on my OCC ID card. We really need to think about reciprocal privileges here. They did let us eat at Tim's on the first floor, though, where the sandwiches are "as good as they are back home in Canada." I don't know what that means.

After BebelPlatz comes the Museum Island. We're going to put that off seeing the museums until tomorrow or Friday. We did, though, stop at the Neue Wache (the emperor's new guardhouse) which is now the monument to the unknown soldier and the unknown concentration-camp victim. The statue in the middle of the empty room is Kathe Kollwitz' Mother with Her Dead Son.

Crossing the River Spree (a must boat ride one of these evenings), we saw a few "love locks" but nothing like Paris. Either the German police are more diligent removing the locks, or there are fewer sentimental lovers who want to return to Berlin. (I'd guess the former.)

Across the river, we looked around the Berlin Cathedral, a Lutheran, not Roman Catholic basilica. Kathy was especially taken with one of the ornamental mosaics on the entrance.

At Alexanderplatz, the end of our day's sightseeing, we did a little shopping (since I had forgotten to bring my sunscreen, and was now the color of Sebastian the crab in the Little Mermaid). We also looked into the Marien Church from 1270 which is just to the base of the 1,200 foot tall TV tower that dominated East Berlin for years. The organist was playing the giant pipe organ, so we sat and rested as we had an impromptu concert.

The smart thing to do at this point would be to head for home (3:45 pm) and have a little nap before dinner. We didn't do the smart thing, but got on the #100 bus to head over to the zoo. This public bus is known as the cheapskates tour bus because it hits all of the major tourist sights. As we passed through the Tiergarten, Kathy got a picture of the Victory Column (Seigessaule) which was moved by Hitler into its present position in the 1930s.

At the Berlin Zoo stop we walked through the remains of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, kept as a reminder (along with a cross from Coventry Cathedral in England) of the horrors of war.

Kathy also got a few pictures of the little East-German traffic signals that were adopted all over Berlin after reunification.

Finally, at 6:30, we caught the S-Bahn back to our hotel (with only one "oops-we're-going-the-wrong-way" moment). After cleaning up, we headed out for dinner a couple of blocks from the hotel. Here's what we had:

As you can tell, this put me in my "happy place".

A day of rest

A great day of rest. Started the day at St. Paul's for the 11 am service with Pat and Hosanna.

After church we had a great brunch at the Starlight Cafe. In the afternoon, Kathy and I laid around our room, reading.

At 6 pm we drove over to the kids place where Pat made carnitas for dinner, and Hosanna helped us scan our documents and print our boarding passes for tomorrow's flight to Berlin. After a FaceTime session with Phoenix and Finnley and mom and dad, we said goodby and headed to bed.

Bears and Farmers

Saturday morning arrived sunny and a little cooler; or, maybe we're getting a bit acclimated. We had breakfast at the B&B and the kids picked us up a little before noon for a trip to New Bern. (I had heard them saying the name for a year, but I always pictured Neuburn or something like that in my mind.)

Eastern Carolina has extensive tidelands back behind the Outer Banks, and New Bern is the closest on-the-water town to Greenville, about an hour away. Today was the 2015 New Bern ride for MS, so we saw several packs of cyclists on the highway. As soon as we got into town, there was a 10-minute torrential downpour. I just can't imagine riding my bike through that.

I know that Bern has something to do with bears, and they don't let you forget it. Here is the City Hall with a patriotic bear out front and bears escaping from the pediment above each of the entrances. Around town, you can meet more bears on almost every corner. (Greenville does the same thing with pirates.)

As soon as it stopped raining, we had a nice lunch and then went looking for what we had apparently come to New Bern for: the Flea Market.

Kathy and the kids spent quite a bit of time "antiquing", but I don't think anyone bought anything. Hosanna looked an anvils (which she wanted for her work, but all of the tools were restored for, essentially, decorative purposes.

Later that evening, though, Patrick expressed some regret that he didn't pick up this hat.

Back home, we don't have cable TV; several years ago for Christmas we hired someone to put up an antennae on the top of our house, so we watch the local broadcast stations and the two PBS stations we can get from Newport Beach: KCLS and KOCE. Since Hosanna moved back to North Carolina, one of the shows we enjoy is "A Chef's Life", the story of Vivian Howard and her husband, successful chefs in NYC, who were lured back to Kinston, NC, a town about 50 miles from Greenville, with her parent's offer to help them start their own restaurant. It's a sweet and addictive show. (No artificial battle of the chefs, or anything like that.)

Since we were so close, we offered to take the kids. Patrick, who is very interested in cooking, tells me he has never seen the show, but that Vivian and her Chef and the Farmer restaurant are famous in the area. Patrick had called in to get reservations when he first knew that we were coming.

The food was definitely different and delicious. We ordered several "share plates" (essentially tapas) and then a few entree's which we ate family style. For the sharing plates we had peaches wrapped in bacon, cheesy grits with shrimp and andoulie sausage and a pizza that included pickled peppers.

Since Kathy and I had watched the "Butterbean" episode a couple of times, we wanted to get something with butter beans (a baby Lima bean). We got pork shoulder with butter beans and a faro ragout, as well as the famous tomato pie, with grilled vegetables. All of us agreed each dish was absolutely delicious.

After dinner, we had home-made butter-pecan ice cream, with candied pecan pieces and a sweet-potato, caramel reduction, along with coffee.

We got finished with dinner about 9:00 pm and headed back home. Tomorrow is Sunday, and we're going to meet the kids for church. I'll be back. Thank you for bearing with me!

 

Here there be pirates!

For someone born and raised in Southern California, North Carolina, where we've stopped off to visit our daughter, Hosanna Rubio, who is finishing her MFA in metals and jewelry, seems a tad humid, even after a summer of endless "monsoonal flows" coming up from Mexico.

A full day of airline transfers, lines and cramped seats just isn't that interesting, and certainly doesn't deserve its own post. Since this was a domestic flight, there was no food and no movie unless you swiped your credit card. To make up for that, though, the in-flight screen ran five hours of promotions that you couldn't turn off. Here's a packing tip, if you are flying domestically: bring a 4x6 index card with a piece of tape so you can cover the monitor. You'll be glad you did.

We rented a car from Hertz though AAA and drove the seventy miles to Greenville from Raleigh, stopping to eat at Ruby Tuesday's along the way. We've both agreed that the diets can wait until we get back home. We got into Greenville about 9:30, found our lodging that happens the only B&B in town. And it happens to be right across the street from the main campus of East Carolina University.

The next day, Friday, we got a late start. While Kathy got ready, I walked around the campus looking for the Starbucks (naturally). I found it and was able to face the day (although my clothes were completely soaked at 8:30 in the morning; it wasn't raining, either). I also discovered that the ECU mascot is the Pirate, just like at OCC (Orange Coast College).

When I came back, our kids stopped by and picked us up for breakfast and a walk around town. We ate at a very popular place right in the center of downtown named The Scullery, in keeping with the pirate theme, which is evident everywhere you look.

After breakfast, we took a walk along the Tar River Greenway to Hosanna and Patrick's house, a beautiful 3-bedroom duplex about two blocks from the river, with a lovely back yard in a nice neighborhood. Of course, such luxury has its price; their landlord just raised the rent $50 a month; it now costs $650.

In the afternoon, the kids had to head over the the DMV which had inexplicably failed to cash the check they sent in for their registration. Everything got sorted out, but standing in line at the DMV isn't pleasant, no matter which state you're in.

After Kathy and I rested and the kids got their errands run, we all hopped in the car and drove out to the town of Aden, for the best BBQ in the region. That's saying something in a state that is the home of Smithfield pork. We all had pulled-pork sandwiches with slaw that were really out of this world.

My only regret is that the Collard Shack next door was closed. Maybe next time.

We got back to Greenville just at dusk and Hosanna took us for a walk around the campus so we could see where she works. The buildings and the campus at East Carolina University is interesting in a kind of East Coast/Southern University style that we don't see too much in California, except for maybe the Claremont colleges.

As part of her graduate assistant-ship, Hosanna has to maintain and help out in several of the labs, where she can also work on her own projects. We got to visit all of them, and she demonstrated some of the equipment, including the centrifugal sand caster.

Afterwards, we stopped by Coldstone for some ice cream, and didn't get back to bed until almost midnight. It was a really nice day.

Greenville North Carolina

Made it to Greenville NC, where our daughter, Hosanna, is completing her MFA in metals & jewelry. Here's our room across from the main campus.

Something to Aspire To

One more day now. More errands; bank, car rentals, train tickets, a few more hotel reservations.  Still waiting for some credit-card details. Started on the packing.

Looks like the iPad and Blogsy will be staying home, though. We didn't get a Surface either. Instead, I'm writing this on our new Acer Aspire 10 Switch, a Windows 10 2-in-1 tablet-computer. We took an early version, an Aspire One netbook, on our trips in 2011 and in 2013. When I went to dust it off, though, the Windows XP computer really showed its age.

Last week, I went to Costco and found that they had rolled out its successor (at the same price, too, $299). Unlike the Aspire One, the Switch 10 doesn't have a mechanical hard drive. It has a 32GB SSD drive, with a slot where I've stuck another 64GB Micro SD memory card. Since we used less storage than that on the Aspire One (even though it had a 300GB drive), I think this will be fine.

You can remove the "tablet" portion and work with that just like an iPad, or, you can plug it into the keyboard/dock. The keyboard seems really nice. I can type on it much easier than the keyboard we had for the iPad. All-in-all, it looks like a nice choice.

My First Blogsy Post

We have only a week and one day before we take off for two months. That's always stressful. Have we forgotten anything? Are we taking the right clothes; are the credit cards going to work?

Today I went to the doctor and made sure I had enough medication to get through the trip. I'm at work right now, finishing up a final problem for a textbook I'm helping out with. Now, we're trying to figure out what to take with us for blogging.

Should we buy a new Surface tablet? They're nice, but Kathy pointed out to me that our Netbook just sits on the shelf when we are not traveling. Should we take our old Windows XP Netbook? I turned it on over the weekend and waited while it downloaded 37 updates. I had to take a Xanax, so maybe not.

Then, we thought about taking Kathy's iPad. She has a nice Logitec blue-tooth keyboard. It's an older, iPad 2, so it doesn't have Airdrop. However, I've gone ahead and purchased a blogging app (Blogsy) for all of $4.99, which is a big difference between the $699 I'd pay for a new Surface 3 at Costco. If it works, (as you might have guessed, that's what this post is about), we'll see how it goes.

One of the things that Blogsy is supposed to be good at is inserting photos. So, I'm going to start by putting in a photo of Kathy doing announcements at Calvary Chapel last Sunday. She does the announcements once or twice each month. I think that she's great, and I'm pretty sure that everyone else agrees.

Kathy announcing at Calvary Chapel

The other thing that happened this week is that we got to go out to dinner with Kathy's folks, Ed and Eileen Gross, celebrating Ed's 86'th birthday at the Rusty Pelican.