Wishful Wednesday

Everyone is sleeping a lot here. We’ve been on the go quite a bit. But I kind of think the cooler weather sans humidity and no air conditioning is proving to be better for our sleep.

Whatever the reason, we all slept in today.

{little chef cooked everyone eggs for breakfast}

After breakfast, we took the U2 (train line) for nine stops to Stadtmitte for an 11:00 appointment with DeutschBank to open up our bank account. Finally! Hopefully we’ll get our account set up, transfer the money over from Bank of America and be able to get a local cell phone plan and number afterwards. Oh, and also our annual train passes.

When we got there, we were warmly greeted and offered drinks (coffee for us and Apfelsaft – apple juice – for the boys). We then signed a form and the child care for bank customers watched the boys for us while we met with our bank rep.

After two hours and a lot of explanations, we had signed up for one checking account and FIVE cards (two debit, two credit/debit and one travel credit). Whew. But, it would all take a day before the account is set up and we could transfer money into it. So, now we must wait another day before getting local cell numbers and train passes.

Feeling a bit defeated, we went to a burrito place down the street the bank rep had recommended. Hopefully, some chips and salsa would work it’s magic.

{Chupenga for lunch – quite stuffy with no A/C}

We then stumbled across Gendarmenmarkt, a public square which included the Berlin concert hall and the twin French and German churches.

At that point, I was reminded why we chose this city — because it’s really a world class place to be. Filled with beauty, culture and history. It was an amazingly moment.

We were strolling in the warm summer breeze, people were outside at cafes, and there was a feeling that anything was possible.

{French church}

{bubbles with Berlin Concert Hall in the background}

The kids played with the giant bubbles while Dave and I relaxed on the steps of the concert hall while several hop on hop off double decker buses stopped at the square.

We next went to the Ritter Sport chocolate shop next to Galleries Lafayette. We were lured by the idea of designing custom chocolate bars (white, milk or dark chocolate base with three add ins), but with a 45 minute wait between order and pick up time, we opted to go upstairs instead and had a chocolate tort and a passion fruit cake instead.

{rambunctious at the Ritter Sport Café}

After that, we took the train to our stop. I went to DM for a few more odds and ends and hung up laundry on our terrace…

…while Dave went to our playground with the boys.

That night, we went to some more new Berlin friends’ apartment, Sarah and Tim, for dinner. Sarah’s ex-coworker is the father to one of Isaac’s former pre-K classmates in Decatur. She also worked at the same organization as Ben’s best friend’s dad back in Decatur. Super small world. Her husband, Tim, and Dave knew a lot of the same people and Sarah and I hit it off right away when we started emailing months ago. Our boys both got alone well with their 8 year old daughter, Harper. It was a big love-fest all around!

{Harper and our boys playing in her courtyard}

Again, another big day in Berlin!