St. Martin's Day / Berlin

Thursday Haaken had his big St. Martin's Day celebration at school.  According to legend, St. Martin was a knight in Roman times who came across a beggar who was about to freeze to death.  Because he didn't have anything to share with this man other than his cloak, he cut it in two and gave the beggar half.  That night he dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away.  The dream confirmed Martin in his piety.  This memorable event is celebrated to this day on November 11th, mainly in Southern and Western Germany.

The celebration began at the little Catholic church in the town where Haaken goes to school (Hütten).  The kids went off with their teachers and we went and sat down inside the church.  The church was dark except for a cluster of candles in the front and appeared to have no heat because it was freezing.  After about 10 minutes the kids were led down the aisle, each carrying lanterns they had made in school and singing German songs.  In the past, the lanterns used to be made from hollowed out beets with a face carved in it, similar to jack-o-lanterns.  These were made from cloth and paper, with a little electric votive lighting each one.  Once the kids all were seated, a priest (who was so old he may have been St. Martin himself) began speaking.  We couldn't understand him because he was speaking German and because the kids were making a ton of noise (thankfully not Haaken), but I imagine he was telling the story of St. Martin.  A couple kids then acted out the story behind a white curtain that was illuminated by a spotlight from behind.  Following the performance, the kids were led out of their seats and then stood in a circle holding hands around the altar and sung a couple more songs.  From what we could tell Haaken was doing a great job participating.  The kids then filed out of the church with their lanterns and lined up outside.  

 Entering the church

 St. Martin

 Young St. Martin is on the right, left is the beggar

We followed after the kids, who were lined up behind a man on horseback representing St. Martin.  The procession walked through the town to Haaken's school where Gluhwein, hot cider, snacks, and a bonfire were waiting.  We ate some snacks, but quickly got cold as there were a ton of people and the bonfire was not big enough for everyone.  

The march begins

Haaken and his friends

It was about 6:30pm by now and as Thursday was also Veteran's Day there was a lot going on on post.  ESPN Sportscenter was doing a special broadcast from Grafenwoehr so we decided to go check it out and get dinner at the food tents they had set up for the day.  We stopped in at the Sportcenter broadcast first and were lucky to get some pretty decent seats right away.  The tent was filled with soldiers and kids and the crowd was very lively.  We watched a few segments and then decided to head over and get some food.  After dinner we went out on the parade grounds to watch the Warrior Games, which ESPN put together as a competition between some of the different units on post.  We watched the tug-o-war event and were pretty sure we got on TV so the kids liked that.  It was freezing and really windy so we didn't last long and headed home.

 Hannah Storm and Josh Elliot

Inside the tent

Friday Carissa worked but that night we drove to Berlin.  My cousin Siri and her family are living there for the  year, and coincidentally, her sister Lydie (and husband Chris) were also visiting.  We thought we'd make it in time to see them that night but got in too late so we just went to bed.

The next morning we got up and drove over to Siri and Jonathan's for breakfast.  From there we formulated a plan and took the metro to the Berlin aquarium since it was raining.  It's a great aquarium and our girls were in heaven hanging out with Siri's daughter Solveig (14).  Lydie made the mistake of showing Haaken her mini video camera so he latched on to her right away.

Outside the aquarium

Jellyfish

It looked like the rain was letting up so after an hour or two we took a double decker bus to the Brandenburg Gate.  It's the only remaining gate of a series through which Berlin was once entered and was built in the late 1700s.  Considering the time of the year and the weather there actually were quite a few people there.  The kids participated in a street performance by a percussion group who handed out drumsticks to the crowd and then we walked over to the Reichstag (German parliament) which sits along the river Spree.

Goofing at the gate

Pretzel bike

 Haaken with the percussion group

As we walked around Siri was singing German songs with Haaken which was fun to see.  By now it was nearing coffee time in Germany so we hopped on the metro to a busier neighborhood and then walked to a great coffee shop that Siri and Jonathan knew of for Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake).  Our group was so big we had to split up, and I was fortunate to sit with all grown ups (Siri, Jonathan, and Lydie) and have a few tastes of the plum kuchen they ordered.  It reminded me of being at Grandma Knight's house.

The Reichstag

That night Siri and Jonathon hosted a great pasta dinner and then we ended the night with a game of charades.  

Sunday morning we packed up our things and then had breakfast with the Olson's again.  We decided that a cruise on the Spree would be a good way to spend the morning.  The cruise was nice and as we made our way down the river the weather finally began to clear up.

Haaken making videos on the boat

Berliner Dom from the river

After the cruise we climbed to the top of the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) and got a view of the city from above.  We had some crepes for lunch, and then took a combination of a double decker bus and the metro back to their apartment.  Unfortunately at this point we had to head home.  We are definitely going to try hard to get back to Berlin before we leave.  In fact, we've only been home two days and the kids are already asking when we can go back.

Climbing to the top

Berlin from above

Eating crepes