Sorgers in Berlin: A Midlife Adventure

On second passports and Parisian cafés

Still in the throes of post-election despair? So are we. We are trying our best to distract ourselves here in-between reading news updates on the crumbling of American democracy. But wasn’t this the reason we got our German passports to begin with? The whole process was triggered by the results of the 2016 election and…
Sports cars and a place like home

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…
Endless summer into bursting fall foliage

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…
Traditions, Roots and Historical Twists

This past week has been a deep dive into our family’s German history, with my Dad’s visit prompting new opportunities to retrace our family’s past. I learned that my Dad’s side of the family lived in Germany from the mid-1600s up until 1937, and we were able to visit several places of note in my…
The global is local.

The past few days have been full of geopolitical a-ha moments. So the Brandenburg state election results are in, and the AfD (the right-wing fascist party) made huge gains here. Yes, that’s the state in which we are living. Yikes. I mean, Berlin is just a stone’s throw from here through the woods, but we…
Planes, Trains, Automobiles and a milestone birthday…

Well, it happened. My big birthday came and went, with celebratory meals and a roadtrip, plus wonderful calls, delightful messages over text and What’sApp, and candles blown out on a slice of tiramisu. Since I’ve been stretching out my milestone celebrations ALL YEAR, the day itself was less of a production, as my heart is…
Bavaria and a danish to remember

Greetings from Copenhagen! All four of us were here for the weekend, and Noah and I still have two more days to enjoy all that this city has to offer. We have all been relieved to relish in the cool air (low-mid 60s) and a city that is compact, tidy and easy to navigate with…
Aryan peacocks and a pilgrimage

What a week it has been! It began with these friendly peacocks pictured above. We decided to have a very German Sunday (when everything except for restaurants are closed) and biked to a bus through the woods to a ferry to visit a place called Peacock Island that used to be a private zoo for…
Familiarity and newness: from algae to yoga

At last, we officially conquered biking through the woods. We were able to make just two turns at right angles to end up on the road to the S-Bahn, and avoid both the quicksand part and bumpy tree roots dirt paths of our first days, giving us more time on the blissed out woodsy part.…
German women bike in dresses and other observations

So today I decided to try out biking to the train in a dress, given how many locals seem to do that. We are having a heat wave, and my last suitcase finally made its appearance at our front door yesterday (sans two handles & a cute orange butterfly luggage tag), so I had more…

Sorgers in Berlin

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