Danke - Thank you!

We had a wonderful time. Because we had wonderful guests. Thank you so, so much for that. Please do send us pictures and stories ... and we will put up all the great pictures with Larissa's card in our living room when we return from Croatia in two weeks time!

Bring a raincoat!

The verdict on Saturday is still out, but if weather forecasts mean anything we have to be prepared to bike in the rain on Friday. So, if you plan to go biking, do bring a raincoat! The weather on Saturday is, for the moment, forecast to be quite cool (a high of 19 degrees C), so don't assume you will just need flip flops, please! We are looking forward to the fun anyway!

Locations, locations ...

Just in case you can't find them on the map, here are links to all locations we want to share with you:
Kiki Blofeld (Thursday night), Freischwimmer (Saturday noon), Oekowerk (Saturday 6pm), our flat (Sunday noon). For those of you who have Google Earth, you can also find our roof terrace there. Look out for the pink chairs ;-).

How to find the Saturday ceremony ...

The ceremony on Saturday will take place at another hidden gem. So don't be surprised if you have to pass through Berlin's oldest petrol station (Aral) to get there. Here is a map (click on it to enlarge it):

Visions of the future?

We are not even married yet, but projections of our future together are already flooding in. Here are two we received from good friends (or people we used to think of as such ... ;-) ). Which vision, we wonder, do you think is more likely?

Biking the Wall ...

"Look at Berlin, where the bullet holes in the buildings and the somber stones and pillars near the Brandenburg Gate insist that we never forget our common humanity. People of the world - look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one." - That's what Obama said when we 'met' him in Berlin a few days back. And it is true: Berlin remains special. The divided history of this city still boggles the mind. The U8, our local subway, for example, was one of the U-Bahn lines that went from West to West Berlin - via a bunch of closed "ghost stations" in East Berlin. Difficult to imagine now, especially for those of us who use it every day. - Sadly, Berlin has destroyed most of the outward signs of the divided history that makes Berlin unique. Western triumphalism, crass commercialism (much of the Wall was sold to rich Americans) and, of course, plans by developers were some of the things our city 'leaders' deemed more important than making the former Wall into a long, well preserved historic space for rememberence. In many places, you can only tell that you are walking on the former "death strip" because all the offices and housing is new (and expensive). Despite the best efforts of many idiotic Berlin politicians, though, the former Wall strip does remain unique - and it can be wonderfully explored by bike! For that, much thanks must go the Michael Cramer (now a Green MEP). He fought for - and then wrote an excellent guide to - the Wall cycle path. (There is also a pan-European one!). We will explore a very small part of this trail on the 15th of August. If you have told us you need a bike - or if you bring your own - show up at 11.45am at Pedalkraft, Skalitzer Str. 69, 10997 Berlin-Kreuzberg. We will head across the Oberbaumbruecke and along the East Side Gallery (Muehlenstr.). Then we will cut across the East (up on Lichtenberger Str. to the 'Stalinallee', up Muenzstr. and Brunnenstr) to the Bernauer Strasse Wall Memorial (the best of the lot in town. Forget Checkpoint Charlie!). We will have lunch on the way (probably a Falafel or something). It might be a good idea to bring some water (or whatever you like) with you for the ride! From the Bernauer Str., we will follow the wall back to Kreuzberg (via Gartenstr., Liesenstr., Boyenstr., then along the Berlin-Spandauer canal and the Alexanderufer and Schiffbauerdamm, along the Reichstag and the Holocaust Memorial to Potsdamer Platz. From there, via Stresemann-, Niederkirchner-, Zimmer- and Kommandantenstr. back to the Engelbecken and the Bethaniendamm (around the corner from where the No Cold Feet party will have ended just a few hours before ...). This trip will be our special wedding "Look at Berlin". No doubt, our running commentary will not be as rhetorically brilliant as one of Obama's speeches. But you will get to know some of our Berlin ....