Winter shows signs of weakening

Over the weekend we got out to the old Berlin Airlift airport at Tempelhof and did a family bike ride/picnic.

Here's a map visualization of the trip:

https://www.relive.cc/view/895872058

Also on Sunday we had direct sunlight coming in the kitchen window, which was a first for this year. There is something about having direct sun that is vital when you come through a long winter like you get here! Sunlight on apartment details is one of the things I will remember about this place:

Also on Sunday we had many events planned. The kids stayed over at friends on Saturday night (mommy and daddy went down to Kreuzberg to an old gothic church to see a silent film (Nosferatu) and a live piano and choir accompaniment.

So Sunday morning in the sunshine we stopped by a small bakery shop to pick up some goodies for breakfast on our way over to getting the kids.

Breakfast #1 with capuccinos and Franzbrötchen, croissants and apricot pockets at Janek & Silvia's with the kids.

Then back to Gleditschstrasse to prep for hosting pancake breakfast with Jacobia and MacCartan, (she's German, he's Irish, their kid Finbar is in school with Cody). Big pancake breakfast follows and great chatting while the kids play in the front room. We go to a park to enjoy the day. Suddenly, it is 2:30pm and we are due over at ANOTHER friend's house for classic Berlin coffee and cake. The Kaffee und Kuchen thing is huge here.

We say bye to Finbar and parents, then bike through the Volkspark to meet up with Georg and Ju and their kids Zecc, Samuel and Joshua at another playground. Sit down at their place 4:30 for apple walnut crumble and banana chocolate cake. And coffee. I've not drunk this much coffee in a very long time.

At 5:30 we head home. It is still light out. Everyone is out in the Volkspark, dragging the summer forward by sheer force of will. It is an amazing thing to experience. Here the sense of a communal event like a sudden spring day that banishes winter makes you sense you are part of some larger narrative in the life of a city. I suppose this happens in every city in Springtime, but here it is something worth remarking about.

Anyway, so we are excited about crawling out of the cave and stretching our legs. Good moods all around.

Jay shaved his beard. When I had it Cody would refer to me as "that spiky boy."

No more, now it is back to the sandpaper thing, but this is also a sign of Spring. No need for beards in the summer!

More Spring coming this week, it is supposed to also be nice tomorrow with sun. Yeah!