Berlin

John-The Meeting:

We were looking forward to our Berlin Sit because our hosts have two cats, Oskar and Lucy, and our host, Ellie, seemed very nice during the Skype interview and in all communications. We did spend a night in Berlin while traveling from Gdansk to Munich. While we only saw the train station and our hotel, it was all impressive and Ellie said their home was in the “cool” section.

Lucy

We flew into the Berlin Schonefeld Airport in the afternoon and walked out into a beautiful sunny day. The signage indicated the train we needed was close, just down a pathway. We passed the “Mama Burrito” food truck and stopped for a beer at a beer garden. The train took us to the tram that dropped us off just in front of our hotel Ellie had suggested. Barb told Ellie we arrived and the hotel was nice. Ellie said she and Ben would meet us in front of the hotel at 7 for a short walking tour of their neighborhood and back to their home for a review of our responsibilities and to meet Oskar and Lucy.

At about 10 minutes to seven we went down to the lobby. It was busy with guests checking in and out and waiting for the remaining members of their group to go out to see Berlin. After a few minutes I went outside to look for our hosts. I was entertaining myself by balancing on the curb looking for a car with two young people thinking they should recognize me because I was certain to look just like the person Barb would be married to. Across the street from the trams and further down our street toward Alexanderplatz I saw people, sitting, standing and walking through and around the chairs and tables in the lights from the businesses and street lamps. If I didn’t have plans I would have ventured to either street to see what the people were doing. Within minutes I noticed two people approaching slowly and felt they were looking at me. My first thought was, “Don’t make eye contact for fear of provoking an altercation!” so I avoided eye contact, it is a city of over 3.5 million. Luckily, they had more sense than me because the woman asked if I was John and then I realized it was Ellie and Ben. Not a good first impression on my part. I partially regrouped, greeted them both with only a handshake and said, “I will get Barb.”

Barb came out with her huge warm smile and outstretched arms providing each of our hosts with a comforting hug. Ben and Ellie must have been relieved Barb was accompanying me. They walked us across the street explaining their home was on the other side of the busy street divided by the Tram tracks. The street we were walking on was wide with trees and people enjoying the gorgeous night. Ben and Ellie explained they didn’t frequent this side because there are so many places to enjoy in the area around their home. The roads were not busy with cars as I’d expected in an area at the heart of a city of that size but we saw later that the trams, trains and buses were very popular. Berlin is also been ranked tenth most friendly bike city in the world, another reason for the noticeable absence of vehicles. Ellie had just explained the distinction of bike lane paths from the pedestrian walkways as we started walking toward the street. I looked at the sidewalk and saw the bike lanes were red pavers, a clear demarcation from the sidewalk. At that moment I felt a polite tug on my arm prompting me to move quickly in that direction. It was Ellie directing me out of the path of an oncoming cyclist. Slick second impression, oblivious.

Great neighborhood food!

After crossing the street, we walked up and down several blocks with Ellie and Ben pointing out places of interest. The streets were wide with tall trees toward the street and tall clean buildings with attractive architecture and some color differentiating one from the other. There were restaurants, bars, late night convenient stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, a cake decorating shop, “Cake Ville -- Bake, Rattle and Roll”, with ample people and good energy. At one point, Ben said he hoped we will enjoy our stay in Berlin. At that moment Ben motioned toward a wine shop. He talked to the clerk and they selected a bottle of wine.



We then thought it was a good time to meet Oskar and Lucy. They live in a two story home. Both cats were friendly and playful. We knew they were going to be good hosts while Ben and Ellie were on holiday. I say hosts because we knew if we abided by Oskar and Lucy’s rules everything would go smoothly. Ben and Ellie showed us their place pointing out the automatic cat food feeder and watering bowl, along with other items to make our stay more pleasant. Since none of us had eaten Ellie had a Nepalese restaurant deliver some food. We said they could order anything because we will eat any food. We talked over a glass of wine about Berlin, politics, cats and we coaxed Ben to show us the video he made of their year of house sitting in and around Australia. He said when they returned home many people asked them what they did for a year so they thought it would be easiest to describe it through a video. They paused the video when the food was delivered. There was antipasto, a calzone type food, and two small pizza like foods with a light airy crust with cheese, sauce and, one had whole olives. I enjoyed it all but loved the antipasto probably because I had seen that on menus all my life and never knew what it was. After watching the video, Barb and I were ready to look for Sit opportunities in Australia.

The conversation tripped and flowed from subject to subject while drinking a couple additional glasses of wine. Barb and I wanted to open the next bottle of wine but, begrudgingly, suggested we go because we expected they had to prepare for their trip. I have been told it is a good practice to leave the dinner table slightly hungry. I suppose that allows you to feel you’ve earned the right to your next meal. Well, we left that night wanting to spend more time with our hosts and maybe we will see them before we leave Berlin or during another adventure we may be on.
My response to Ben’s hope we enjoyed our stay should have been, “I don’t see how we couldn’t!”, because we loved it!

Barb – The Stay:

Ben and Ellie’s neighborhood was great! We found great restaurants, a nice pub, a grocery store nearby as well as the tram being very convenient.

We took a tour of the city one day by taking 2 different public buses that pretty much circled the city.

We went to the Berlin Wall. There are many areas of the Wall left and we choose the East Side Gallery area. Many artists have left their mark on the wall and this section spans about a mile.

You can see more of my photos of the Berlin Wall. Just CLICK HERE.

Ben and Ellie had an amazing Espresso machine and John took full advantage of it (with a little help from Lucy)

Ellie had told us about the Festival of Lights that would be happening during our stay. It sounded nice but we had no idea how amazing it would be! Every year, Berlin turns into a world full of light art. International artists present glowing light projections, 3D video mappings and light installations, transporting their messages, themes and contents. These artistic projections on landmarks, monuments, buildings, streets and neighborhoods. We had never seen anything like it! Live music accompanied some of the light shows and I captured part of one.

You can view the video of the light show. CLICK HERE.

You can see more photos from the light show. Just CLICK HERE.

Oskar

And of course there was Lucy and Oskar, our “hosts”. They were entertaining, adorable and loads of fun! It was a great Sit and we were so happy to be able to have lunch with Ben and Ellie when they returned home.








If you would like to see more of my photos of Berlin, just CLICK HERE.

Cheers!
Barb and John

Brasov Romania

"So we have 5 days before we have to be in Berlin. What do you wanna do?" This is how the conversations start when we have a gap between Sits. When the gap is more than a day or 2, we look for somewhere cool and cheap to visit. In Europe they have what is called the Schengen Area. There are 26 European countries that have abolished their internal borders so people can move about freely without going through customs. Sounds great doesn't it? Well for Americans, we get a whole 90 days (in a 180 day period) to stay in the Schengen Area. 90 days for 26 countries. When you are in Europe for an extended period of time like we are, it becomes tricky. We have to keep track of our days in the Schengen Area. Luckily, the UK, Ireland and several eastern European countries are not in the Schengen Area so we can break up our time by leaving the Schengen Area and going to these countries. The UK has provided us with the most Sits so its worked out well.

When we were looking at what to do before Berlin, we realized we are running low on Schengen days and wanted to save some for the end of November before we temporary leave Europe. Our first thought was to go to the UK. I started looking at flights and hotels and costs. Since we were in Amsterdam we thought why not look at some of the eastern European countries. Coincidentally I had been messaging a friend in Asheville who stated we should check out Brasov Romania. So we did. So we went.


Romania is a country known for Dracula.  I myself had no idea what Romania was all about and other than knowing they produce some pretty incredible gymnasts had never given Romania a thought. Well Romania is much more than Dracula and gymnasts. It is beautiful!  The people are friendly and a lot speak English. The mountains, the architecture, the countryside is breathtaking.

Brasov is in the Transylvania region of Romania. Bran Castle, commonly known as Dracula's Castle, is right outside Brasov. We did not encounter any vampires during our stay. 😊 I did get to sit with a lovely lady who saw me watching her as she fed the pigeons. She happily gave me bread to feed them and would "converse" with me through hand signals and hugs. It was the highlight of my day.

Above Brasov is a Hollywood type sign stating that you are indeed in Brasov.

We took a tram up the mountain one day to get a view of Brasov from above. The tram goes up right by the "Brasov" sign.

Mostly what John and I did in Brasov is what we do in most cities. Find local establishments and just hang out to get a feel for the city. We found a little bar down the street from our hotel with good beer and friendly staff. A great coffee shop that also served some amazing cocktails. Good restaurants with plenty of Romanian food.
By the way, Romania is also an inexpensive country by European standards. John and I ordered a dish our last night in Brasov that consisted of 3 types of sausages, potatoes and a salad. We also had soup and 2 draft beers. The total came to $16.00 and we took half of it "home" with us!

We loved Romania and it's people. In deciding on what we wanted to do on the second half of this adventure, we decided to return to Europe. I LOVE EUROPE! The cultures, the people, the places.  It is just so exciting. We have rented an apartment in Oradea Romania for 3 months starting in mid December. We are excited about being able to "nest" in a new city and really be able to take in the local culture. After that we haven't decided but we are looking at some of the other eastern European countries as Romania has been so impressive. We'll have approximately 45 days left before we head back home so all of Europe is open to us!

To see more of my pictures of Brasov, you can just CLICK HERE.

Cheers!
Barb

New Friends

John: The idea of this trip was very appealing to us but as Barb and I discussed the required tasks before we would be able to get on the plane to anywhere, there was some work and research to do. But, as usual, whenever I discuss things with Barb things seem manageable and I know they will get done. While trip logistics consumed its fair share of our effort and conversations, I enjoyed discussing the positive things we each hoped the adventure would provide us, positive attitude and behavior changes, new and exciting places to experience, hanging out in English pubs, drinking German beer, tasting different foods and meeting people with different perspectives. I especially enjoyed Barb’s hope, “I want to meet people and develop a bond of friendship so that they visit us in our home town.” While I liked the idea I had my doubts of its probability of happening.

I enjoyed thinking of the idea of visiting Europe, talking with people and seeing their city through their filters. We would meet their friends, learn some of their customs, create an international web of friendship. In turn, when appropriate, we would tell them about our home. After we learned about some of their preferences we could match those up with comparable activities or things our home town offers, enticing them to visit Weaverville. We would take them to music shows, breweries, have an international party and invite our neighbors and friends to show them how wonderful our town is and the people are.

Barb: I loved the idea of meeting new friends abroad but loving the idea of it and actually going out and meeting new people? Well, for introverts that is not always an easy thing to do.

John: But how and where would we meet our new foreign friends?

Back home in Asheville we met almost all of our friends, since moving there, as a direct result of our time spent at the Root Bar. So, why not meet new international friends at a local pub? Maybe, since we would be staying in someone’s house or apartment we could meet the neighbors, while I was mowing the yard. We could meet them in the produce section of the grocery store, we wouldn’t be dining out for every meal.

Maybe I would take a glass of lemonade out to my neighbor when I heard him mowing his lawn. After I said something clumsy in French he and I would laugh and I would work up the courage to invite him and “la monque”, the misses, for dinner sometime. We would either attempt escargot with chard, a local dish, or, if they preferred, an American staple, 22 ounces of prime cut USDA steak and a pounder-pound baked potato with all the toppings. After they thoroughly enjoyed their meal they would make us promise to let them give us a tour of their city to see the sites and visit their favorite pubs and meeting places. Then, after the tour and several fun outings together we would befriend each other on Facebook. When the time arrives and we have to move to our next Sit our new friends would have a mini-party where we all promised to stay in touch through social media. As time passed and we were following them, not to be misconstrued as creeping, we notice they are planning a trip to the States and it corresponds with our return! They accept our invitation and then you are all invited to meet Pierre and Amandine Macron from Banniers-Charente France at our house party. It could happen!

What about the village square? You know, the center of those European towns. The ones with the 500 year old functioning fountain, with granite steps on four sides where all the people of the area go every night to drink wine, eat local tapas and talk about current events. I would love doing that and the prospect of meeting a future transatlantic friend would be possible. The only problem is we haven’t seen such a place.

Barb: Yep, I had some of those ideas too. I wasn’t sure how we would make new friends, I just knew I wanted to. I wanted to introduce my new European friends to my Asheville friends. I wanted to stay in touch. I wanted to meet new people and then see them again down the road.

John: While almost every friend Barb and I have met since moving to Asheville could be directly linked to the Root Bar we also realize it didn’t happen in the first month from when we started going there. So, going to a local version of the Root Bar in Munich Germany meeting a couple with similar dispositions and attitudes was a low probability option. We did, however, meet a couple at a beer garden in Munich.

The beer garden was set up in a way that was conducive to meeting people. It was outside under a huge chestnut tree surrounded by outdoor vendors selling cheese, charcuterie, beer and prepared food. There were picnic tables lined up in 25 rows of 20 tables with the benches touching each other, to maximize the seating per square foot. We had been there mid-week and on the weekend and it was always busy with people and seats were at a premium. We walked around and saw a table that definitely wasn’t full and asked if we could squeeze in to sit. I would venture out to decide on the food and get a couple of pints of beer. The picnic tables were full of people eating from plastic containers, enjoying a pretzel or had trays of food from one of the vendors and most of the people had a pint or liter of beer. It had great energy and people were talking and laughing. The beer garden in Munich we frequented was in the Marienplatz and called Viktualienmarkt, One night we met a couple,a little older than us, sitting next to us. Barb struck up a conversation with them and before you know it the four of us were chatting away. After a couple of hours they invited us to visit a wine party across the Marienplatz. We made our way there but there wasn’t much energy so they suggested we all take a bus to another drinking place on a river. There was a local band playing mostly German songs. We opted for the first table with four seats and it was just in front of the stage next to group of young people thoroughly enjoying the music, food and beer. They were having a fun time singing raucously to all the tunes they knew. We stayed there until about 11p and the couple rode with us on the bus and walked us to our train to be sure we make it back safely. They were a nice couple and we enjoyed ourselves. But I don’t anticipate we will every hear from them again, mainly because we didn’t exchange digits and they did not give any indication they were social media types.

When I considered what our interaction with our hosts would involve, I didn’t think it presented much opportunity to bond into a friendship. Since we were strangers and would only be together for a few hours it didn’t seem like we could bond to the level of friendship that takes months or years to cultivate. Before our first Sit I assumed it would be a business type meeting. We would meet our hosts, discuss their expectations of us for the animals and the house and we would learn whatever we needed to know that was not included in the welcome kit provided during the hiring process. They would go off on their trip and we may or may not meet them when they returned. But the actual process was a little different for some of our hosts. They usually picked us up from a bus, train or airport terminal. After arriving at their home we and they did discuss responsibilities and ask questions and we got a quick tour of the house and property. The level of detail was different for each set of hosts. After that it was different for some of our Sits. Some hosts asked us to arrive the day before their departure and stay overnight. At first, I felt a little uncomfortable at the thought of staying in a house with strangers and accepting their undeserved hospitality. But, I wanted to challenge some of my unnecessary hang-ups and it did save us a hotel expense, so we stayed.

Barb: That was an uneasy feeling for me too. So we go to a stranger’s house and we have to spend a whole evening with them. What do we talk about? What do we do? Should we go to bed early? Stay out of their way? What if it gets awkward because we just don’t hit it off with them? To say I was nervous about that part of the Sits is an understatement.

John: More than half our sits asked us to arrive the day before they departed. In each situation, our hosts either took us out to dinner or prepared a meal for us, each picked us up when we arrived in town. Each of the dinners included liberal drinking and the conversation flowed effortlessly, talking about the weather, American and English politics, and almost any other topic. Each of the dinner celebrations lasted for a couple of hours and carried on into late night drinks at their homes and in each case Barb and I felt a connection with them. We were intrigued by some of our conversations about our country and they told us they found Americans to be friendly, which we were pleasantly surprised to hear.

Barb: We made friends! All our hosts have been so welcoming and accommodating. Whether it was leaving us train cards, flowers, wine, coffee and jams, we always felt appreciated. But the hosts that we got to spend time with, whether it was staying overnight or meeting beforehand and seeing them after they got back from their trip, have kept in touch with us. With them we shared drinks and conversations, had dinners and breakfasts and walks together. Memories we will treasure. We have met new friends, friends of our hosts, that were so friendly and sweet to the American pet sitters who like sparkling wine or wanted to see an English garden. And of course there is Mou, the one who fed us and introduced us to the best Bangladesh cuisine.

Of all the experiences we have had here in Europe, meeting our new friends are the best.

John: While I wasn’t confident we would make transatlantic friends on this adventure and believed the limited time with our hosts precluded that possibility, I admit I was wrong. Considering the people we’ve met I would not be surprised if we maintain a distant relationship or, possibly, another face to face visit. Of course, we will invite all of you to meet them.


Cheers!
John and Barb