Chocolate and Other Adventures

All Roads Lead to Chocolate...


We are, of course, surrounded by chocolate over here. And, it seems, everywhere we travel. I don't think it is a subconscious homing instinct leading us to chocolate, I think it is just pervasive here!

One recent morning I walked into the grocery store as is my usual routine after dropping the kids at school, daily grocery shopping being the routine because, as you no doubt recall from my previous posts, our fridge can hold about a day's worth of food and some staples. Anyway, I was met with a life-size Milka cow! Milka is a popular chocolate brand and this purple cow was not only life size but was shaking its head and winking at me! Bear in mind that grocery stores are quite small here and not prone to many "in-store advertising" displays - but, this display looked to me to be sized for a Super Target or other American-sized grocery, not my little, stock one or two varieties, grocery store! You can see the photographic evidence, taken on my cell phone, that I was not hallucinating.



Last week was Fall Break and we took two long-weekend trips so that Gary could still fit in nearly a full week of work in between. The first weekend, we headed up to Berlin. Berlin is our favorite city in Germany, primarily because it is chock full of interesting history and has become the most cosmopolitan city in the country since the wall came down in 1989 but, also not least because it has a one-of-a-kind Ritter Sport store called "Chocoworld."

Now, we did see the sights of Berlin as the kids hadn't been here since 2003 when we stayed a month during a sabbatical Gary spent at a German think-tank. They were too small then to do much more than the zoo and lots of city playgrounds. We took a four hour walking tour of Berlin which was a great way to see the sights while learning much of the WWII and more recent history of the city. We ended at the Brandenburg Gate which was the site that evening of a big outdoor party celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Reunification of Germany.


But, I imagine what the kids may remember most was Chocoworld! And, what's not to love? Many of you are familiar with Ritter Sport bars as the most popular flavors are available at Trader Joe's grocery stores and Targets everywhere. Chocoworld is the one place in the world where you can not only buy all the standard and seasonal flavors but, you can make your own custom bars. Picture an assembly station like any frozen yogurt or make-your-own sundae ice cream bar - about a dozen different choices of "add-ins." Mini-marshmellows, gummy bears, jelly beans, red pepper, chilis, toffee chips, roasted almonds - you get the idea.


Lest anyone think we ate our way through Berlin, there were other things that made an impression on us. One of the more memorable memorials we saw was actually underground. On a square in the center of Humboldt University campus, there is a plexiglass window looking beneath the square to a room walled with empty white bookcases - floor to ceiling. This marks the spot of the first Nazi book burning where 20,000 books were burned. The bookshelves represent the space that 20,000 volumes would fill -- an excellent way to visualize just how many books that is. The place is marked with a quote of a German poet, Heinrich Heine who died in 1856, not knowing just how prophetic his poem, which included this line, would be: "Where they burn books, at the end they will also burn people."

Audrey was particularly taken with the Checkpoint Charlie museum which, though amatuerishly displayed (due to the actual amateur nature of the effort - a labor of commitment and love but not much money by eastern Bloc immigrants since 1961!) is a remarkable testament to the wildly creative and sometimes successful efforts made by East Germans determined to escape the tyranny of the Stasi (the East German Secret Police) and East German life: musicians smuggling their girlfriends through the checkpoints hidden in speakers (not possible in today's era of micro-sized speakers!), people hidden in VW beetles under the trunk floor or even inside the front seat, modified so that the escapee replaces most the cushion material. Even escapes using primitive, home-built hot air balloons and underwater escapes with scuba gear made from everyday materials available in hardware stores. The desperation motivating these people was brought home by seeing the actual modified cars and scuba gear there on display.

...Except When They Don't!

Our second long weekend was spent in County Kerry and Dublin Ireland. I will write more on that soon. One day deserves mention here. We spent a day driving the beautiful "Ring of Kerry" which is on one of the three peninsulas that make up the most western edge of Europe. This is very wild, rugged country and the roads are wide enough for two cars only if one drives with left wheels in the ditch while passing each other! Few directional signs and, as we learned, this is a location that even the GPS system does not know well.


We were not only viewing the scenary but on the trail of what we thought would be an interesting stop -- the Skellig Chocolate Company, the most westerly European chocolate factory, noted for gourmet chocolate. We couldn't imagine why a chocolate factory would be located in this remote, although beautiful, location. Well, we never found it! Between maps and the GPS, we still must have taken a wrong road - hard to believe as there are few roads in this area. But, we had to admit defeat although the scenary - even on a cloudy day- made up for the disappointment! We do know the place exists as we found some Skellig chocolate for sale in a town in the more populous area of the peninsula. It is probably the only way the sell enough chocloate to survive -- that and their website: http://www.skelligschocolate.com/ . This will no doubt be the one and only time during our stay over here that chocolate has eluded us!

Adventures in Virtual Reality

Gary and I are regularly confronted in many ways by the difference in view point between those born in the 1960's and those born in the 1990's! Specifically, what our kids take for granted, we could never have imagined at the time they were born. Now that Molly is off at college in Minnesota, our family dinners and birthday celebrations have taken on a new look. Here is our recent family celebration of Ethan's birthday. As you can see, Molly joined us for dinner (which conveniently happens to be lunch-time in Minnesota) as she does now on a weekly basis!

We are adapting easily to this techno-change in our lives because it is so nice to have more than just a phone call to keep in touch. There is something so much more gratifying to seeing each other's faces as we talk. And - it's free! Who knew that video-chatting across the ocean could be so easy and free to boot?! Seems the one person in the family who did is our youngest, Audrey. She has used video-chatting since we moved to stay in touch with one of her best friends back in Indiana, Lindsey.


Never forget that it is often a 10 or 11 year-old who has the most to teach you!