Our Recent Adventures

With us in countdown mode (well, countdown is a loose term...we still do not know when we will be leaving Scotland...other than that it is probably within the next two months), and a little time to escape to see more of Europe, we traveled over to Berlin, Germany, where Cody's parents are working right now, and explored Berlin. Cody and I escaped to Venice, Italy for 2 days while we left our little munchkin with his grandparents. Here are the highlights from our adventures!

Friday, 24 July: We arrived in Berlin after catching a 6:30am flight from Edinburgh. We relaxed the remainder of the day and visited with Cody's parents at their Berlin apartment while Jackson napped.

Saturday, 25 July: Today we ventured out to see one of the things we knew we wanted to see, Checkpoint Charlie (the former border crossing between the Soviet and American sectors) and the Brandenburg Gate.


We also saw the outside of the Berliner Dom and the Telespargel ("toothpick") from a distance (which, by the way, is the second tallest structure in Europe according to the travel book!).



Sunday, 26 July: Church in Berlin. Cody's dad has been preaching there as an interim pastor for the past 4 weeks. That evening, we visited a local park for Jackson to play in.


Monday, 27 July: Charlottenburg Castle Grounds and the avenue called Kurfurstendamm where we saw the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche Church, which is the remains of a beautiful church that was bombed in WWII. Jackson enjoyed some ice cream that warm afternoon!




Tuesday, 28 July: Cody and I caught our flight to Venice, Italy for our 8th Anniversary trip (our anniversary is not until August, but we thought this would be our one opportunity to take an anniversary trip!)

We stayed in Venice two nights and left on Thursday, 30 July morning. While there, we saw St. Marks Square and Basilica, the Rialto Bridge, the Grand Canal (we actually stayed at the Hotel Rialto on the Grand Canal), the famous tower in Venice (don't know the name...we did no research before leaving, but just let the vacation happen!), a Gondola Ride, an anniversary dinner on the Grand Canal, and tried out some fabulous Italian wines! It was a memorable time!









Thursday, 30 July: Cody and I flew back to Berlin, and in the afternoon, we went to the Berlin Airlift Museum with his parents and Jackson. On the way back to the train station, we came across a German-American Festival! It was a true American Fair in the middle of Germany...right across from the American Embassy. Jackson rode many rides...and I realized that he continues to grow up, for he rode the rides on his own and did not need Mom or Dad with him.




Friday, 31 July: We saw the most beautiful zoo I've ever been to...the Berlin Zoological Garten. We spent hours there. We went into Potsdam and saw, as we did many places, pieces of the Berlin Wall still standing. It was amazing to see this. After walking around and taking some pictures, we went to the Sony Center in Potsdam for dinner.




Saturday, 1 August: We made a trip out to the Luftwaffe Museum. Jackson just loved seeing all of the airplanes and correctly identified many of them!! (I must continue to brush up on the names of them...he's surpassing me in my "airplane knowledge!")


Sunday, 2 August: Church in Berlin to hear Cody's Dad preach again. It is so wonderful to hear him preach!

Monday, 3 August: Flight back to Edinburgh, Scotland with a stop at Frankie and Benny's Restaurant on the way home!

Now, we are counting the days (although, again, don't know the exact number of days, as no dates yet) until we arrive back in the US. We are hoping to get another trip in before we leave...maybe to Paris?!? That's still our hope...we'll see.

All in all, we've decided that we have made the most of our time here, even if we don't get that Paris trip in. After counting, we have discovered that in Jackson's short little life, he has been to 9 different countries so far! Not bad for a 2-year old!