B.B.'s Monthly from Bucharest
January/February/and June Issue '07 Issue #3

Updated 24 June 2007

It has taken me a while to find the words to describe my amazing Christmas visit in Berlin. I feel so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be given a taste of life in Berlin. My hostess, Annie, her husband and son opened their home to me and showed me their Berlin.

The picture above, to the left was taken across the street from their house. The photo to the right is a close up of their amazing front door. To the right of their front door is a restaurant that never seems to close Both it's service and food are great. I had a few meals in there sitting next to a window that over looked the garden and walk leading to the section of the house Annie lives in. For my first visit to this wondrous city I could not of had a better location to stay in.

When I walked off the plane in Berlin Annie was waiting for me. We had not seen each other before. I was enjoying the anticipation of wondering if I would be able to figure out who she was. Annie had made a sign with my name on it, which helped.

I was extremely impressed with the efficiency of the Berlin airport. When you walk through the off the plane into the airport you only have a few feet to walk before you are meet by the person greeting you. Then all you have to do is turn to your left and walk a few more feet to find you luggage. The parking lot is right in front of the building and seemed just a few more feet. The drive to Annie's home took under thirty minutes.

Annie surprised me with a bicycle tour of Berlin . What a thrill. It was a fun challenge to keep up with Annie as we rode down the busy street of downtown Berlin. This ride is still bright and clear in my memory after three months. We went down a wonderful alley that was lined with shops full of such items as rare books, plastic measuring cups, hats, records, a wondrous array of junk and antics. Needless to say Annie had picked a place where I could have spent my whole stay.

I was overwhelmed with the wondrous sights of that first afternoon. We even did some food shopping. That night I meet Delvet, Annie's husband, her teenage son Philip and two close family friends. We all went out for a wonderful dinner. Annie and her family live in the hart of the city so we were able to walk just a block or two to a great restaurant.

The next day Annie took me on a day long tour of this grand City. We road the train and walked all over.

What stands out foremost in my memories of this day is our visit to the Jewish Memorial. It was an overwhelming experience filled with emotion and respect. Respect both for the people who lost their lives and for the artist who was able to capture and then share this cold, sad, scary, and strong piece of history through his art. The pictures below might help you understand what I am talking about. I had no idea what I was about to see when we walked up to the memorial. It starts out looking like a variety of cement blocks of different shapes and sizes that slowly become taller until they tower over your head. Within minutes I realized that I was walking among unmarked graves. My breath was taken away as my eyes filled with tears. As we were walking in this memorial we heard a man speaking. Both Annie and I began to follow the voice. I was about to find out that Annie also thought he might be leading a tour. It turned out that he was talking to himself or to someone I didn't see. When we met up with the man who voice we had followed, Annie told him that she thought he might be leading a tour. He said he wasn't. He said he was just commenting on how this artist, like the Oklahoma City memorial artist , had forgotten the human aspect. He was looking for faces or something that resemble a human. I told him that I felt that was the point the artist was making. He did not seem to hear or understand what I was saying. Annie and I continued our, mostly silent walk through the memorial. When we reached the street outside the memorial I told Annie that I thought it was appropriate that we would meet up with a person who was missing the point of this amazing memorial. It is sad and scary to realize that there are people who, today, still do not understand that what happen to the Jews and others during that time was not humane.

This powerful day was filled with wondrous sites. I have posted pictures from the day below.

Brandenburg Gate

The first of many bears.

Berliners have found a fun way to block construction sites.

This wonderful music an played the glass with a beautiful grace and style. Both Annie and I enjoyed his talent and charm. I even bought one of his CD's. I wish I had the ability to tack on some of his music for you to hear. The sound is between a Xylophone and Harpsichord. He came from Russia to perform on the street in front of a museum. Below is the museum.

As we were walking through a street market I found this hat sale man. His hats reminded me of the great hats Martha found in Budapest The market backs up to the channel below. We walked across the bridge and then down through the market. There were many wonderful booths with all types of art. One of the artist does wondrous things with cutter. Annie bought one of his pieces that was a pelican made from spoons.



Below are two of the many building from that day in Berlin along with a fun sculpture.

Berlin is full of Christmas markets/fairs during the Christmas holidays. Below are pictures of two them. The picture to the right I took from the bus. The next two pictures are of the Christmas Market just down the street from Annie's house. If you look close at the picture with the candle windmill you will see a old church in the back ground where they still hold services.

While on my own in the city I enjoyed finding a display of fiary tales characters in a shopping center and loved the free night entertainment I found on the streets.
Annie made a wonderful Italian Sausage Lasagna for our New Years Eve Dinner. She topped it off with a 'to die for' dessert. After dinner we went out to a small park on their street. Delvet and Annie had bought a bunch of great fire works for us to set off. They where big Roman candles and rockets. Setting off fire works id a very big thing in Berlin on New Years Eve. I loved watching non stop fireworks in every direction for over 40 minutes. We finished our celebrations at their favorite bar toasting in 2007. I still can't believe that I was in Berlin toasting in the New Year. I think the picture below in the middle captures the feel of the bar's celebration well.


On my last day in Berlin Annie took me to great resale shops that were on the East Side of the city. We walked along the wall on that trip. With this step into history, I found it hard for me to truly grasp the depth of pain and accomplishments that had taken place on and around the wall. We ended our tour with a stop at the Music museum. Another overwhelming experience. It was full of beautiful and fun machines man has made to create music with. I sent many post cards from that grand place. I could have spent all day there. We were treated to a demonstration of a movie organ. The only one to survive the war in the city. It is two stories tall and a wondrous machine which can produce sounds that range from a train to a marching band. The picture below to the far left is the Music museum. A must if your ever in Berlin. The two photos on the right are of the wall.
My visit to Berlin ended with a night at the movies. Delvert, Annie and I watched the New Bond movie while Philip and his friends watched the Night at the Museum. I love the theaters there. We have huge comfortable chairs to rock in while we shipped champagne. A very civilized way to watch a movie I'd say. I can't wait until I can visit again.

I have barely touched the surface of my experience in Berlin. If you ever have the opportunity to visit this city, I think you will find it well worth your time.

My next adventure was a trip to Helsinki with our middle school math team. We went to Math Counts at the American International School of Helsinki. We were there for three days. It was a whirl wind of a trip. What fun it was to spend time with these four great boys and their math coach. It was good to see another international school and meet teachers who work in schools throughout Eastern Europe and Europe. I found Helsinki to be beautiful and very clean. It has been an unusually warm winter throughout Europe this year. Lucky for me our trip to Our days in Helsinki proved to be beautifully clear and warm. I have posted a few pictures below from this trip.

This is the National Art Museum. The boys and I were taken on a quick tour by the school's art teacher.

This is the American International School of Helsinki

The boys had fun with this ice tigar which shows you how cold it was there.

I really like this building. It shows the mixture of modern and the old that is through out this city.

There is art throughout the city. This is a great example of the smooth clean lines found in a lot of the more modern pieces.
Lucky for us the cold weather did not keep the street performers away.

One of the Math coaches could not resist posing as a Swiss gard. This was the gaurd in front of the the national guard house. The gaurd was whispering to the teacher that he really should not be there.

I thought this was a beautiful view of Helsinki's water front.

Over our Februray break I took a day trip to Sinai with two other teachers. Sinai is where the King of Romania built a beautiful castel in the early 1900's. It took 40 years to complete the building. The last king to live there is still living. He lives in Bucharest now. The castel is now a museum. At some time in the future it will be returned to the Kings family.

Martine is on my right. She is form Belgium and teaches French at AISB. Vicki is on my left she is a second grade teacher from Kansas. We ran into two other teachers from AISB in Sinai who took this picture for us. We are on our way up the hill to tour the Castel.

This is the most modern castel I have been in Romania. They charged you to take pictures inside. Vicki bought a photo pass and is going to share her pictures with us. It was beatiful with with an amazing collection of armor and weapons.

This is one of the two guard dogs at the front door of the castle

Sinai is about two hours north of Bucharest in the mountains. We road a tram car up to one of the sky runs. It was a clear day and the view was beautiful.
During the first week of March I spent 5 days in Vienna doing a Job-a-Like at the Vienna International School and the American International School of Vienna. A Job-a-Like is when you visit teachers who are teaching in your area. I visited the Learning Skills and counseling departments of these schools.

The teachers were very genrous with their time and matterials. I came back with great ideas and losts of new matterials to share with the teachers at AISB. It was great to talk with other Learning Skills teachers. There were two who are teaching internationally for the first time. I talking with them and finding out that they were having some of the same experiences I am as a first timer.

I left Bucharest on Friday afternoon so that I would have the weekend to sight see. Vienna is a beautiful city with great public transportation. I had no trouble getting to all of the places I wanted to see and to both the school, which were on opposit ends of the city. Saturday was my first full day in Vienna. It happen to be the one day of the week that the street market is open. Ginny had told me this was a must and she was right. Come with me on a photo tour of this wounderous market. It is full of rich colors, delicious smells, and all sorts of treats for the all of our the senses.

I bought egg cups form this vendor. I also bought olives, pate and bread to take to my backhotel room.

The Kunsthistorisehes Museum was another one of my stops.

While there I was able to take a piture of this artist as he worked on a copy of one of museum paintings.Traveling around Vienna is a visual treat. Below is one of the creative buildings that dress up a walkway between a train and bus stop. I found it on my way across the city to visit the American International School of Vienna.

The street performers where wonderful. This young man is a actor from a area north of Vienna. He supplements his income quite well doing his fun street show.

Cafe Central was where I found wonderful coffee and great treats. It is a must if you want a taste of locals mixed in with us toursits while enjoying your morning coffee.
In order to keep my trip to Vienna within my very tight buget I staid a "Vienna style" Motel 6. This was the half of the lobby where they served us our buffet breakfast.

I had my last dinner in this small resturatnt just off the main city square. I can not wait until I have an opprotunity to visit Vienna again. I will spend more time at the Saturday market and visiting all the amazing museums.