It seems like a dream at this point, but I had the profound joy of spending a week on the Mediterranean (technically the Adriatic) at a week-long yoga retreat in Croatia with a group from the bay area. We soaked up the sun, rode on speedboats, hiked to beautiful vistas, basked in the glory of gushing waterfalls, and ate so much incredible fresh seafood that my nails had a sheen to boast their strength! There was a day when I ate 18 oysters– no joke– as we visited an oyster farm, and most of the group were not so much oyster fans. The oysters were enormous and literally harvested 10 feet from our table. And most days, I ate fresh sardines with cucumbers on baguettes for breakfast. Often there was fresh calamari for lunch. While my waistline may have budged, it was well worth it! Particularly given the largely inedible German cuisine here, my tummy was craving all of the fresh Mediterranean delights of olive oil, vegetables and seafood served at our family-style group feasts. And then there was the yoga. This was yoga with one of my all-time favorite instructors, and the venues each morning (and some evenings as well) either had views of a Japanese-inspired garden, or a seriously stunning ocean view. I mean, this was a surreal experience all around. It felt so nourishing to start each day with a yoga class. My fellow travelers were all so delightful and lovely, and we all had such a blast! I even made us some new friends (a lovely couple from San Carlos) who we look forward to seeing once we’re back home for the holidays. It was such a relief to be in the company of my fellow bay area people, and definitely healed the culture shock of Germany nearly instantaneously. So much of our points of reference and sub-culture felt so wonderfully familiar after meeting Americans here from far-flung places! Our guide was a total hoot– so knowledgeable and a true history buff with a wonderfully wry sense of humor. I’m hoping she takes me up on my offer to come to visit Berlin as she hasn’t yet been here, even though she is definitely the most well-traveled person I have ever met. Her suggestions for our spring break travels were off the hook! I’m investigating options now, which include Turkey and Portugal… meanwhile, here are just a few of my favorite shots from a truly magical week in Croatia:

What was most remarkable about Dubrovnik (with the red rooftops in the last several photos) was how recently war had devastated the city, and how beautifully it had been rebuilt just since the mid-90s. Our tour guide lived through the war, and spoke of collecting water during rainstorms in plastic buckets for cooking and drinking, and families moving in together to combine scarce resources and make soup from whatever onions and potatoes they could find. It made Covid lockdown seem like a picnic. And the Croatian people have been bending over backwards to help their Ukrainian neighbors, even driving to the border early in the war to look for anyone who needed a safe refuge or place to stay. It is humbling to see how the recent experience of war makes them so empathetic to their refugee neighbors.

I did visit the historic synagogue in Dubrovnik as well. It was Kol Nidre, and I had hoped there would be a service, which several of my fellow yogi travelers were interested in as well, but apparently the rabbi from Zagreb couldn’t make it to Dubrovnik. So the synagogue was completely empty, with just an attendant at the lower staircase to collect entrance fees to the small museum below the sanctuary. The exhibits indicated the fate of Dubrovnik’s Jewish community under Nazi occupation, and unlike Berlin’s relatively recent influx of new Russian Jews, the Croatian Jewish population (which numbers around maybe 300 people) has not seen any revival, and those remaining are now all in Zagreb.

Since my return to Berlin (which unfortunately started with my being locked out for several hours after walking back home from the airport bus– sigh!), I have been back in the fray of riding Forest through the woods to hop on the train & meet up with other moms from Julian’s school and the American Women’s Club of Berlin. I’ve met so many wonderful people, including a fabulous mom from New Zealand who invited me to an incredible photography exhibit and lunch downtown, and a delightful English teacher from Minnesota who showed me around downtown Potsdam. Fortunately, the weather has been very mild with little rain and the most stunning fall foliage, even in our backyard. The woods are spectacular to bike through, albeit a bit freaky given the large number of wild boars who are tearing up the sides of the paths and roaming the area at night. We just obnoxiously ring our bicycle bells constantly when biking through the woods at night to distract *us* from their presence– they probably don’t care about the bells! Apparently a city government-sponsored “culling” is happening at the end of this month. We have been told to expect gunshot sounds in the distance. Really creepy. Apologies to my vegetarian and vegan friends…

In other news, we took a fantastic weekend trip back to Hamburg as Jonathan had a conference to attend there. But this time, we saw much more of the city through a bike tour to all of the major neighborhoods with a guide who grew up in Hamburg and had lots of insights to share about the history of the place, and the way that the shipping industry and WWII have shaped its trajectory. We even biked through a tunnel under the Elbe River which involved a large 100-year old elevator on either side, and an awesome ride.

Jonathan insisted that we stay at a new hotel that had just opened in July on the site of a WWII bunker built by… you guessed it, forced labor. It was technically a Hard Rock, but didn’t really have the vibe of the other Hard Rock hotels we’ve seen. There was minimal signage, and most of the bunker is a dedicated public space with 360 degree views of the city. But it ended up being pretty cool. We all slept in bunk beds. In the bunker. Overkill?

We also went to a great jazz concert just a short walk from our hotel, followed by a late night dinner at an underground Korean place that hit the spot, even if we declined the invitation to choose a song for the midnight karaoke session.

The next day, Julian and I enjoyed a fabulous brunch in a schmanzy neighborhood called Eppenweg that is nicknamed the “Notting Hill” of Hamburg. It was lovely and the fall color was sublime. My breakfast rates among the best I’ve ever had, and I could never recreate it: a quinoa porridge with fresh fruits and a zillion other toppings. So delish! The restaurant was called Karl, Günter & Marie, on Erikastraße. It was perfection.

We also visited the enormous International Maritime Museum, which had tons of cool model ships, and went up to the viewing deck of the new Philharmonic, which was spectacular.

Hamburg is definitely a much cooler city than we realized on our first trip there, when we were primarily consumed by our visit to Miniature Wunderland. I see why Hamburg was recommended as another place for us to live in Germany, as they also have a well-regarded English-language high school, and the city has a lot to offer in terms of culture and an overall global vibe. There were wholesale Persian carpet warehouses all over the harbor district, a very diverse population, and a bustling music scene. Of course, Berlin has that too… and we are now more looped into the concert schedule to hit more venues and events coming up!

But now we are gearing up for Julian’s Fall Break– a full week off. I am headed to London to meet an old friend for the weekend before we begin our travels together. We’ll start in Leipzig for a tour of the Porsche factory there, and then will fly down to Marseille for a week in Provence with a side quest to Monaco for Julian to swoon over cars. The weather forecast is sunny and 70 degrees!