Berlin Photos

We arrived in Berlin on thursday evening staying through to Tuesday morning. Here are some photos of the apartment we rented and wonderful friends!

Main living area

Bedrooom

Kitchen

Bathroom

This is now the non-marathon photo

Havin' our first beer in a little pub down the street from the apartment

On Friday night, we had dinner at the home of Elke's daughter and son-in-law, Karin and Barnard and their two boys Leonard and Friedrich.

Queen Elke and our Royal Translator, Mikel

Princess Karin

Becky with Friedrich (left) and Leonard, Karin and Barnards' boys

On Saturday we visited the Village of Rosenwinkel where I, of course, am King!

Becky at the train depot in Rosenwinkel on Saturday morning

My friend, Bruce, who lives in Flrorida, and his friend, Janice, who lives in New York were in Berlin on Monday to start an Eastern European trip on Tuesday so we did some sightseeing together

Oktoberfest Photos

On to Munich!

Our new "best friends" Silvia & Sebastian

Silvia and I

Our other new best friends. They ordered different food than us so by my way of thinking; since we were all at the same big table "family" style, I figured they should share....and they did!

Nice guys.

Friday Night Friends & Family

On to Frankfurt for Manuel's wedding!

As mentioned, Becky and I arrived at Manuel and Jacquelines' mid-afternoon on Friday. From there, we checked into our hotel, napped and freshened-up to then return for a friends and family gathering.

Friday night's festivities and Saturday's ceremony and luncheon were attended by 25 or so of us with Saturday evening's reception increasing to 65 or so.

Now, while the ceremony and luncheon were "normal", the reception had a Bavarian theme even though neither Manuel or Jacqueline are Bavarian; however, he proposed to her in Bavaria so their freinds used Manuel and Jacquelines' lack of Bavarian insight as a source of amusement creating a Bavarain themed game quizzing them on all things Bavarian. Funny! A great, funny group of people. They also created the artwork you'll see encouraging (more like pressuring) them to start a family.

Oh, and the food. The food was phenomenal. What you don't see in the photos are meatballs, salads, other cheeses, etc...etc...etc...

The bride preparing food for friday night's festivities!

Methinks I smell a party comin' awn!

You don't have to call me twice!

Yum yum...yellow peppers with cheese & herbs!

It's baby time!

Testing the bride & grooms' Bavarian knowledge

The Wedding Ceremony and Luncheon

Manuel and Jacqueline were married by a local Justice of the Peace with 25 or so friends and family members in attendance. It was a beautiful ceremony translated for me by Alexandria, a friend and co-worker of Manuel's. Both she and her husband, Cristos, not to mention all of Manuel's friends and family, were so welcoming, genuine, kind and helpful to both Becky and I and took great care of us.

While Alexandria could not translate every, single word, she was definitely able to pass along the energy and theme of how Manuel and Jacqueline were headed on a new journey of togetherness and how it would be up to them to work together and share in one another's lives working as a team. It was very moving. I couldn't look over at Manuel's mother as she was crying and then I'd start to cry....OY!

Afterward, just like in the U.S., there was rice throwing and bubble blowing along with a local, log-cutting tradition.

At the luncheon, held at a little, Italian restaurant following the ceremony, I introduced Germans to one of our rituals; that being every time we had clinked a glass with a knife or fork, the bride & groom had to kiss and, of course, I had to teach them the best time to do this was when they had a mouth full of food!

The still single bride & groom!

A civil ceremony officiated by the local magistrate.

Notice there are two groomsmen but no bridesmaids. That's because Manuel and his friends, Christain and Joerg, while standing at urinals together during a night of partying made a pact that they would only have groomsmen when they got married.

Log-cutting ritual signifying their ability to work together as a team

One of Manuels, good friends, Helger, and his girlfriend, Kristin, getting all lovey dovey during lunch

Bubble wars with Kristin and Helger during lunch.

If you look close, you can see a couple floating in the air.

Alexandria, my translator, is of German and Greek heritage; she speaks German, Greek and English

Wedding Reception Photos!

On Monday, while waiting at Frankfurt airport, I called Manuel to say goodbye. To understand why I would travel so far for his wedding is very easy. During the conversation, he apologized for not having had enough time to spend with me. I said, "but, Manuel, it was your wedding". He is a very, dear soul.

Prior to the wedding ceremony, I was talking to his aunt and uncle, who live in Milwaukee; I told them about how Manuel and I met here in the U.S. while he was working for Enterprise Rent A Car. That was over six years ago. The odds of a then 42-year-old gay guy, making friends with a 25-year-old straight guy from Germany, would seem pretty slim; however, we have managed to be part of one another's lives and share great experiences together in not only Long Beach but in Paris and multiple cities in Germany as well.

Again, during the course of our conversation, he mentioned how his friend Christian's girlfriend had been the official wedding photographer and how they had already heard from her and in the over 200 photos taken, people were always smiling. Although I could not see his face, I could sense his joy.

I am grateful for his friendship and honored and proud to have him in my life.

The bride & groom arrive at the reception held in the basement of a castle.

The reception hall. Notice the ceiling.

Close friends making a presentation (more like fun of) the bride & groom. It was all in
German sooooo....

Alexandria and her husband, Cristos

Hangin' out with the bride havin', surprise, a beer!

This is Stefan who said, "Larry, you're not like other Americans"
(Yeah, well...)

Straight, German men love me!

Helllllloooooo Autobahn!

We left Munich on Friday morning having obtained a Ford Focus wagon from Sixt rental car so we could make our way to the Frankfurt area for Manuel's wedding. Number one, even in the rain and slight fog, we had no trouble getting ourselves out of the city to the Autobahn and boy, do I love that Autobahn!

Upon arrival at Manuel's I asked him to calculate 180 Kilometers in to MPH; he said this would be approximately 110-12o MPH! Woo woo then that Focus hauled ass!

When he saw the car, he informed me it was not a German registered auto, but a Denmark registered vehicle so here I am an American, driving a Dutch auto in Germany....very multi-cultural I'd say.

With only a few bumps and grinds, we found our way to Manuel's home in Worfelden, Germany (a rural suburb, so to speak, of Frankfurt) around 3:30 Friday afternoon where Jacqueline, his bride to be, gave us directions to our hotel. After a short nap, we headed back to their apartment for a friends and family gathering including some of the most incredibly presented as well as tasting food! Jacqueline and her friend, Peggy, made everything, and you would have thought the food had been catered. Beautiful...just beautiful and oh, of course, there was beer!

All in all, there were about 25 people in attendance with each one just as nice; if not nicer, than the last.

While I don't know the name of the village, we stayed at a great little hotel about 15 minutes from Manuel's home. On Saturday morning around 7:30, I did go for a short run past bakeries, butcher shops and a farmer's market all getting ready to greet their customers. Charming....very charming.

Well, time to move on. Not sure when I'll be able to post next, but it'll be all about the wedding festivities and fun!

Munich starts with M and so does Martini!

Oktoberfest may be all about beer, but I was also able to snag a coupla martinis at a bar that had, count it, one martini glass! The bartender needed a few instructions but for the most part, he was able to pull it off on his own. I did, however, 0ffer the most instruction when it came to keeping it dry!

And while the dollar is at an all-time low against the Euro, I was able to barter one UCLA baseball cap for two belonging to the bartender so I consider that not to be all that bad of a deal!

Beer. I did drink quite a bit of beer while in Munich, and we did learn Augustiner is the beer of choice of those with whom we spent our time at Oktoberfest.

Ultimately, Munich is a very easy city to figure out and get around by way of either the UBahn or SBahn. UBahn would be underground trains and SBahn surface? street? Anyway, not a problem.

In comparison to Berlin, Munich is a lighter city. Hard to describe but Berlin just has a darker feel to it; not dark as in sinister or depressing really, I don't know, maybe more intense...less happy so to speak.

Munich is definitely very bicycle friendly. Running along side every cobblestone style sidewalk is a paved area used as a bike lane and if there is not room on the sidwalk, the there always seems to be one along the traffic lances. I was able to get a couple of runs in along the Isar River due to the wide, tree-lined, black-top path that goes for miles. One afternoon I got in a 5 mile run; the other was a 3 miler.

In addition to the beer, there's little or no chance of getting away from carbo loading while in Germany. Bread, bread and more bread everywhere you go but lucky for me, I'm not opposed to bread in any form.

"Berlin real Marathon or Bust".....bust

Okay, here's the scoop right off the bat and straight from the horse's mouth; I, in the end, was unable to run the "real Berlin Marathon". There you have it...I ADMIT IT!

But first, "real" is not a lack of capping the "r" typo; nor, is it something unpure in nature, because "real", ultimately, is the brand name and logo of what I believe to be some sort of German food distributor and, in the end, marathon sponsor.

But, I degress. Prior to leaving the U.S., I was not feeling well. To the point, I purchased international health insurance in the event I required emergency surgery.

Yes, I did have three seats to sleep across on the Air India flight (see previous post); however, I did so in great pain believing I may need to have my appendix or sections of my intestine removed upon arrival in Germany.

After sleeping near 8 hours during the intercontinental flight, and then taking it easy upon arrival in Berlin; not getting-up and going until 1 in the afternoon on Friday, I, between 3:30 Saturday afternoon and 3:30 Sunday afternoon (marathon started at 9 on Sunday) slept 17 out of 24 hours. The bitch of it all is that come 4:30 Sunday afternoon I so could have kicked marathon ass! And then come Monday morning, gay or not, I so coulduh kicked Hitler's ************************************* ass!

Walking around Berlin on Monday, I did feel a bit melancholy when viewing medals around the necks of others; however, knowing my appendix and any of a multitude of other body parts were still in tact, said to myself, "What the fuck; I'm still in Berlin, surrounded by friends, on the way to Oktoberfest in Munich as well as a Manuel's wedding near Frankfurt so who gives a rat, batard's ass where I was 24 hours ago!

And then now, Tuesday evening, here I am in Munich having spent the afternoon at Oktoberfest learning from my new best friends, Sebastean and Silvia, where to go and what to do tomorrow instead of going to Oktoberfest, because Wednesday is the German re-unification holiday (the uiltimate East meets West event!) believe in my heart just as much as any other day, all is well and all will be well because the thing about it is deep in the dark recesses of anxiety and fear, I truly believe ALL WILL BE WELL!

Enjoy enjoy, and I hope that in some weird, freaky, ridiculous kinda way, I, somehow am able to inspire you to reach beyond what you now know to be true to create for yourself an opportunity to arrive at some new level of awareness...........or not.........whatever.........you'll get there.........just breathe.