You may wonder if we are ever just back in Berlin leading our everyday lives. And we are! But given the mild autumn weather and the opportunities to travel on weekends and breaks, our trips have been the more poignant memories to record in recent weeks. We’ll be slowing down on the travel soon as we settle into November/December here, finding out just what winter will be like, and if the bikes & buses will be sufficient for getting around and such. The jury’s still out on that one!

But back to the travel, as there is much to report. I have now had a once in a lifetime experience of driving a Porsche on a racetrack. I never would have expected to do this at all, but the boys surprised me, and I was shocked by how exhilarating it was. We had booked a tour at the Porsche factory in Leipzig (just an hour away by train) for Julian to see the production process first-hand, and got up early in the morning to visit the factory outside of town. After hopping off the bus with a slew of factory workers and our luggage, we walked up to the main gates, and that’s when the red carpet was rolled out for us. I assumed this was just part of the tour, but as it turned out, the gourmet breakfast overlooking the racetrack is only for people who have booked the “driving experience” before the tour. Suffice to say, my face fell when the nice guy from Fresno behind the front desk broke the news. My cheeks quickly morphed to the color of a ripe tomato and my initial reaction was… is this for real? Am I up for this? The boys are the ones who are the big car fans. I just ogle over my favorite paint colors. Fortunately, there were two caveats that made the process less intimidating: 1) I was driving an electric SUV; 2) the instructor couldn’t have been nicer and didn’t push me to go faster than my comfort level. It also helped that the first SUV I drove was my favorite shade of orange. The orange SUV was for the off-road track (that preceded the race track). I had no idea what said track would entail as it was out of view from the main building, but it turns out that the off-road area is a place to test out the car’s features like driving up & over steep hills on dirt roads and such. I was more interested in the bee hives they set up to make local honey (apparently for sale in the gift shop) and the wild ox they brought in for aesthetics (and apparently the lunch menu). The car did handle very well, and clearly I am not well-versed enough in car speak to say anything more substantive about that other than it all felt very safe. Anyway, we switched to a white SUV for part two of the driving experience, on the race track. This time, I drove behind the instructor, who talked me through how to approach each of the turns through a one-way walkie talkie, and on the straightaway part of the track, my speedometer did reach 176 kilometers (roughly 120 mph), which I thought was fast… but Julian was not so impressed. He of course went much faster on the racing simulator inside, which he thought was the coolest thing ever. Overall, the experience was a thrill for all of us, and I was shocked by how I eased into the whole endeavor. The factory tour was fascinating too, and our guide couldn’t have been more personable. But that was just on Monday. We still had a full itinerary for the rest of the week!

Instead of a Thanksgiving Break, students here have a week off at the end of October for Fall Break, which is pretty awesome as the weather is still mild. We packed in something for everyone during the break, including a girls’ getaway weekend for me, two car destinations for Julian (the Porsche factory was only the first!), and great food, wine, historic sights and refreshingly familiar landscapes and weather for all of us. I’ve taken to calling this past week the LLP: London, Leipzig and Provence.

Firstly, getting away to England (for me) and France (for all of us) was enormously comforting, as we were able to enjoy much less of a language barrier (well, no barrier in London!). The British accents are so charming and cheery, and I loved being back in London after having such fond memories of my awesome study abroad experience there in college. I may have even teared up a little upon pulling into Heathrow and seeing an American Airlines jet on the tarmac. But that sentiment quickly shifted to glee as I relished in every readily comprehensible airport and tube announcement and overheard conversation in the most delightful British accents.

Julian had ample opportunity to practice his burgeoning French skills as our official family communication ambassador in Provence. Even for Jonathan and me, French is so much less daunting than German, and much easier to navigate in terms of both an accent that is more familiar, and some elementary competency with everyday vocabulary. Being in the south of France with a sunny, warm Mediterranean climate, we felt right at home, as everyone smiles and is decidedly more cheerful, much like California. It felt so familiar, and was a perfect place in which to enjoy a holiday before winter officially begins back in Germany. It is also clear to us that the harshness of German culture, the lack of smiles and plethora of Soviet relics remain both unsettling and foreign for now. Hopefully we will continue to ease into it and the culture shock will eventually wear off. But for now, a family getaway was just what the doctor ordered!

My London trip was planned awhile back as a two-night escapade to spend time with an old friend. She & I stayed at a cute hotel in her old neighborhood of Notting Hill, which was quite elegant, and not a place I had spent much time when I lived in London as a student 30+ years ago (yikes!), so I really experienced the city through fresh eyes. I will add that the OG Notting Hill did look a lot like the nicknamed area of Hamburg we had enjoyed last month! We had a blast, ate yummy Persian food and had so much fun perusing the wares at the Liberty store, vintage shops and Portobello Market the following morning. It was so great to have time with such a dear friend who knows me so well, and a reminder that while going to events in Berlin to meet new people is fun, there is so much comfort in deep connections with old friends.

I also got a fabulous haircut while there, as my attempt to wait until our visit home in December clearly wasn’t going to work. I wanted to have someone cut my hair who both specialized in curly hair and spoke fluent English! Mission accomplished– this was a top-notch haircut, and I learned all sorts of of the latest styling tips including using a mister to spray water on my hair to refresh the curls, and using a new type of brush just for curly hair. Who knew? On my way to the haircut, I caught a glimpse of Tower Bridge, which I had walked across daily to get to the London School of Economics from my dorm across the Thames River in Butler’s Wharf, and I was amazed by how much the city has changed since I was last there.

From London, I flew to Leipzig to join up with Jonathan and Julian (they arrived by train), where we enjoyed the best traditional German cuisine we’ve had to date (and more fabulous beer) at a restaurant that has been in Leipzig since the 15th century.

After being largely decimated during WWII, Leipzig now has a vibrant downtown area that was fun to explore on our first day there. We ended up at a somewhat bizarre organ concert in a historic church, which was followed by a lengthy explanation of the organ’s features– in German. But the interior of the church was stunning, so we did a lot of staring at the ceiling.

The main reason for our being in Leipzig, of course, was visiting the Porsche factory, which was highlighted by not just the bold diamond-shaped HQ building, but the bright autumn splendor on the path leading us there. After the factory tour, we enjoyed a very elegant lunch that featured local ox tartare (oy!) as the appetizer. We rolled ourselves with full bellies back to the train station for our short ride back to Berlin.

After a whirlwind of unpacking, doing laundry and re-packing, we headed to the airport the next afternoon for a quick direct flight to Marseille, the gateway to exploring Provence, which was our main destination for fall break! This was our first experience with the budget airline, Ryan Air, which was no frills as advertised. Our first jolt of surprise was that Ryan Air operates out of the “other terminal” at the Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, which was built specifically for the low-budget airlines. True to form, there is no tile on the floors (just bare concrete) and no ceiling covering the pipes and such– it’s more like a Costco. There wasn’t much in the way of food available on-site, and all of the gates there were set up in what seemed like a throwback to the 1970s, with a small room to stand in before doors opened for a mass exodus out to the tarmac to board the planes. Clearly the budget price impacts the whole experience, from arrival to security and boarding, unlike Southwest which at least has mainstream gates and such. The flight itself was unremarkable, aside from a very bumpy landing that Julian caught on video. Our second budget experience was the bargain car rental I had booked through Ryan Air. I won’t be doing that again! We walked the length of the airport and around in circles before finding our way to the right spot for a shuttle to the off-airport site to pick up our car, which looked like an abandoned parking lot with a shabby desk and out-of-order bathrooms. But we got our manual shift Skoda, Jonathan got used to the clutch, and we set off for our AirBnB an hour away in Saint-Remy de Provence. The contrast between this and the Porsche factory experience was not lost on any of us, and was nothing short of comical.

We woke up in Saint-Remy to discover the weekly market being set up right outside our lovely second-story apartment, and spent much of the day exploring the market and eating delectable treats from the local patisserie.

I also really enjoyed looking through the book on Van Gogh at our AirBnB, which revealed that he lived in Saint-Remy for a year from 1889-1890, during which time he painted Starry Night in the nearby town of Arles. As we drove around the area, the inspiration for Van Gogh’s landscapes was abundantly clear, and we loved the warm air, sunshine and very familiar wine country terrain that felt just like Sonoma County! We also explored the beautiful nearby towns of Roussillon with it’s stunning red cliffs that reminded us of the national parks in Utah, and hilltop Gordes with incredible underground Roman ruins. We were all mesmerized by the picturesque and bold scenery.

Our stay in Provence was capped off by a fun cooking class together with a lovely family from Utah. We had so much to talk about, with shared interests in flying small planes and traveling, of course. Our cooking instructor from Northern Virginia has lived in Provence for over 30 years. She has a son named Julien too, and taught us all lots of tips about French cooking– but particularly doted on Julian, and put him in charge of preparing our fresh fish. By the end of our stay, we were filled up on scrumptious and beautifully presented food. Afterwards, we drove to visit the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct built under Emperor Augustus. The famed site blew us away, and was particularly spectacular at sunset.

It was quite a scene. Julian’s only regret was that we couldn’t stay longer. But it was well worth the journey to get there. We did have a little trouble getting our rental Skoda to start up at a traffic light on a steep hill heading out of town, but the experience was duly humbling. It was a moment that could have turned out badly, and didn’t seem funny then, but is definitely laughable now. 🤪

After our departure the next day on a 6am flight, we were greeted back in Berlin by temperatures in the 30s, and this afternoon, sunset at 4:30pm. And it’s only early November! It seems like we’ll be using the buses more often instead of our bikes, but we’ll see how our California skin adapts to this environment, and how we do biking in the dark. A monthly car rental is definitely something we’ll be exploring further for January… or maybe sooner! But for now, we are basking in afterglow from the blissful warmth, charm and beauty of Provence.

For the coming week, Jonathan is away on business travel in southern Germany before we all meet up in Paris (I know, this is beyond ridiculous at this point!) as Julian has his last long weekend of the calendar year for optional teacher conferences. Suffice to say, we are taking full advantage of the chance to squeeze in one last Euro getaway before succumbing to full-fledged German winter. The Paris getaway is largely made possible by the fact that my lovely former colleague has offered us her apartment there for the weekend, which is beyond incredible. The flights are also crazy cheap. This last Euro jaunt of 2024 is a welcome distraction from watching the news coverage with baited breath like everyone else. Fortunately, the bright fall color here still makes a walk in the woods absolutely mesmerizing, and I am signed up for a walk in the Tiergarten near Brandenburg Gate on the morning of election day with the American Women’s Club of Berlin to distract ourselves for at least an hour or two from the news cycle.