I'm not sure where to start with this one. What follows is the story of how what initially was going to be a Thursday with a slightly bigger dinner for Neil and I became a multinational Thanksgiving weekend including a lot of food, a lot of booze, a lot of shopping (for me), and an evening at "the hottest club in Berlin."
Growing up, the Tarone Thanksgivings were always pretty low-key. We had all of the traditional elements: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie, the Macy's parade, etc. Other than that, it was usually just the four of us (Mom, Dad, James, me) with the occasional other guest(s) as the rest of the relatives were scattered around the country. Once I started working, I never had enough seniority anywhere to get the day before or after Thanksgiving off, so, save for the Delaware years, it was just another day which sometimes included Neil and a big meal and sometimes not. So when we moved to Berlin, I anticipated making some of the staples for Neil and I but figured we would probably have class and other goings on to contend with because in Germany it is just another Thursday in November. Shortly after we got here, my brother and my friend Colleen floated the idea of a Thanksgiving visit by the two of them which later came to include Amanda, a friend of my brother's from college. I had heard-tell of Fakesgivings/Friendsgivings, and they always sounded super-fun so I was totally on-board.
Everyone arrived safely on Wednesday, and in spite of James wearing basketball shorts, Germany and Colleen allowed him to enter the country. We didn't plan much for that day because I figured between jet lag and preparations for the next day, we would all want to conserve energy. We did venture out to the Bundestag because it requires very little effort and offers nice views of the entire city. What I did not account for was the effect of cold outside temperatures on a glass dome full of people. Think fogged-up car windows on a Fall morning. Nevertheless, I think everyone got to see some of the city's sites from above, and no one fell asleep. Afterwards, we picked up some Döners and rolled back home. The visitors went out for some German beer and I stayed home to put Annika to sleep and prep for the big meal the following day. I should backtrack at this point to explain that we had added a few more diners to our Thanksgiving feast. We had a babysitter for Annika for a few months last year named Alice. Alice was here from the UK during her gap year between high school and university. She would normally have been babysitting Annika on a Thursday while I was at class, so I decided to invite her to dinner. Speaking of my German class, Siggy is an American who has been living in Berlin for over 20 years. She is a jazz singer and actress, and has toured all over Europe and Germany. I asked her if she had plans, and she seemed excited to swing by for some home-cooked, American Thanksgiving staples. The last addition to our party was Caroline. Caroline is the granddaughter of the woman who babysat James and I when we were children. Her mother married a Swiss man and has been living in Switzerland since before any of us were born. The whole family would come to visit every summer for 6 weeks, and since we were close in age, Caroline, her brother Chris, her sister Lisa, James, and I became friends. Long story longer, Caroline lives back in Switzerland now but used to live in Berlin, and through the wonders of Facebook, we figured out that she would be here for a visit over Thanksgiving. It had been nearly 20 years (if I had to guess) since any of us had seen one another, and I was thrilled that she was able to stop by for a bit. That made a total of 8 adults and one monster for dinner.
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| A blur in an adorable turkey dress...thanks Ama! |
I could get into the trials of trying to cook a Thanksgiving meal for 8 adults in a Euro-sized kitchen, but that could take a while. I had figured out a way to get a turkey and some stuffing in the oven, two chickens on the grill, mashed potatoes & brussel sprouts on the stove, and pies made the night before...problem solved. On Thanksgiving day, our only plans were to do some sort of run/walk combo in Tiergarten and hit the grocery store for a few last-minute foodstuffs and a lot of booze. Tiergarten is Berlin's version of Central Park, littered with running/walking paths and a handful of historical monuments and buildings. James and I decided to run, and Colleen and Amanda opted to take Annika in the jogging stroller for a brisk walk.
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| CC and Annika at Brandenburger Tor. |
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| Mommy, Uncle James, and Annika pre-run. |
We miraculously all made it back to the apartment at around the same time allowing us to put Annika down for her nap before Neil got home from class so we could hit the grocery store. The beautiful thing about Thanksgiving at the grocery store in Berlin is that it's not Thanksgiving in Berlin and thus there are no crowds or clamoring for dwindling supplies on the shelves. Once we got back, I got to prepping all of the birds and Colleen went about concocting our signature cocktail for the evening...bourbon and some other stuff, it was delicious! Around this time, we decided that we could use some ice cubes for said signature beverage. This is no small task in Berlin, and James, armed with the phrase, "Haben Sie Eiswürfel?" headed out to the stores. Sie hatten keine Eiswürfel (no luck), but James found some plastic bag ice cube making things, and that did the job.
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You're only getting the before picture because I took
no after picture because I was drunk. |
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| Business end of the bird. |
A few hours, a few glasses of wine, a couple of trips to the wine store, and a few bourbon cocktails later, dinner was ready and all of the guests had arrived. In addition to the booze, Colleen took over appetizers and brussel sprouts and music (obvs) which kept everyone busy until Neil got back from class and all of the birds were cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. We took a couple of pictures to prove that it happened, and then we all ate and drank and talked and laughed and ate some more. It was perfect.
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| Neil, Alice, Amanda, Caroline, James, me, Annika, Colleen, and Siggy...and the food. |
The next day, James and Amanda headed to Prague for a quick trip. Colleen and I headed out to explore some of the shopping Berlin had to offer. When it comes to traveling and shopping, Colleen is a true professional: efficient, focused, lethal. I made a decision a few years ago that before I buy any article of clothing I ask myself, "What would Colleen think of this?" It has yet to lead me astray. Nevertheless, I had Annika in tow, so I could only hang for few hours. Colleen rocked Berlin all day, and for that reason, when Neil got back from swim practice that night, we decided that we would head out for a nice, casual dinner and get back early enough to be well-rested for a day of Flohmärkte (flea markets) and more shopping on Saturday. It started out as planned, and we decided on a restaurant that I had been wanting to try mainly because when we asked to see menus they brought us free drinks. After dining on polenta and wine, the place had pretty much cleared out save for a very drunk man in a suit, another man in black jeans and a leather jacket, and their friend who appeared to be slightly more drunk than the first man. The man in the suit was the proprietor of the Porsche boutique and acted as such. The man in the leather jacket didn't speak much, and the other friend spoke a lot in a mix of drunken German and English. After renaming us Kaleenka and Ginalisa, the Porsche clothing salesman told us he wanted to take us to the "hottest club in Berlin" which apparently was "gleich um die Eke" (right around the corner). We would be drinking White Russians. I should note here that Berlin is known for its club culture and that I live .5 miles from the restaurant and the hottest club in Berlin is definitely not anywhere in the vicinity. Curious, we hopped/were shoved into a cab and headed to Universum Lounge, a small bar attached to a shady casino. As our humble Porsche salesman friend punched a code into the door keypad, he told us the club was for Charlottenburg and Grunewald (nearby sections of Berlin)VIPs only. Once inside, there was a middle-aged white man with a Macbook playing some decent music. The club was full of a bunch of slightly older men with slightly younger blond women with lots of makeup in tight pants and 5" heels. In spite of Porsche man's outright disapproval, Colleen did not order a White Russian. Quiet man in leather continued to stand nearby and not speak, and I started to wonder if we were getting involved in some kind of underground escort market/sex slavery ring. It got weird when he took Kaleenka's hair out of its ponytail, rearranged it, and refused to let her smoke. We stayed for the rest of our drink and some more solid hip hop before calling it a night and heading back home. I don't get out much, so as far as I was concerned it was a pretty spectacular evening.
The next day, Kaleenka and I did some Annika-free shopping. I do not possess the endurance to hang with Colleen, but I marvel at her skill and eye for beautiful things. We scoured the Flohmarkt and headed to Primark which is kind of like H&M but awesomer. I survived the day, and James and Amanda survived Prague. That night, we all went to an adults-only dinner. After dinner James and Colleen went HAM on some Berlin bars and clubs while Amanda and I joined Neil in heading back home early. Neil had the excuse that he had a swim meet the next day. My only excuse was that shopping all day wore me out.
Sunday arrived, and everyone decided to sleep in. Uncle James managed to stay asleep on the couch even after Annika woke up and decided to play not-so-quietly on the floor next to him.
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| At least she shared her stuffed animals. |
We managed to get out the door in time to catch Neil at his swim meet. After that we did some of the standard sightseeing things in Berlin...Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin wall memorial on Bernauer Strasse, and Topography of Terror. Annika got lugged along and eventually fell asleep. We made it back to the apartment in time for the Pittsburgh Steelers game, and Colleen did a heroic job of not killing herself. She loves sports but is not a Steelers fan. We donned our freshly minted Berlin Thanksgiving t-shirts for a few more pictures, and then we brought the weekend to a close.
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| Colleen's favorite part of the football game. |
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| Yes, that is a turkey drinking a beer and holding the German flag. |
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| I've got nothing for this one. |
Everyone headed back home on Monday, and we got back to normal Berlin life for about a week before heading back to the southwest for Neil's flight physical and German Masters National Championship swim meet. I am almost as worn out from rehashing the weekend's shenanigans as I was at the end of the actual weekend, so it may be another 3 months before I get to telling the tale of that trip.
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| Now that's the sign of a good weekend. |
Coming up, when I recover:
- Weinachtsmärkte, a totem pole, and a swim meet.
- Christmas and an Olmsted-filled trip to Prague
- New Year's Eve AKA Silvester AKA Best. Foreworks. Ever.
- What happens when I ski for the second time ever and the first time in 16 years...you can guess how this one ends.
- There's this thing called the sun, and I think I might have seen it last week...then again...
