'Ya'all come back now, ya hear?!'

Jillian then went and saw Nebuchadnezzar's Ishtar Gate of Babylon and the Pergamon altar (in photo)....

Notice how time seems to have 'slowed' around her....

Oh Jillian, I hope you enjoyed your time here, I did.

Then Jillian 'got on a jet plane'...and I 'don't know when she'll be back again'....

'WHY YOU WANT TO LEAVE ME?!!' (The Dad in 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' says that to Tula(?) when she wants to go study)

COME BACK!! COME BACK!! (Flick says that on 'The Christmas Story' to Ralphie after his tongue gets stuck to the flag pole)

In other words, Jillian, thanks for coming to Berlin and hope to see you around these parts sooner rather than later...

Two Days in Potsdam...

Welcome to Potsdam everybody! I hope you like it, because I certainly do. The best way to explain what Potsdam was is to do the (old) SAT relationship questions:

Versailles is to Paris as _______ was to Berlin.

The answer is Potsdam! Potsdam is where the royals used to truly hang out. The place is full of palaces and all wanna-be princesses are guaranteed a wunderbar day! ;)



This is called the 'Dutch Quarter'. They brought Dutch workers to Potsdam back in the....1700's I think. This goes as a shout-out to Jeff and Allies who both served their missions in Dutchland. (Jill wrote me an email and mentioned her brother, Jeff, and his wife, Allie, but forgot an apostrophe before the 's'. So I read 'Jeff and Allies' - I thought Jill was just being funny because Jeff's wife and his kids are definitely allies....of sorts... but I liked it and so the name stuck. So now when I refer to Jill's AZ Fambly, I say 'Jeff and Allies...(does anyone else think this is funny? ;)



This is called Alexandrovka. It is a Russian 'village' in the middle of Potsdam built in the 1820's. It's unique because apparently you can't find this type of Russian architecture in Russia anymore - ONLY in Potsdam!









The Russian Orthodox Church - during Soviet occupation the officers' wives would go to church here....

I truly felt peaceful inside...





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I was excited to see this, Pentecost Hill, because I hadn't seen it yet.

Princess Jillian communing with her realm....

If you squint you'll be able to see the Funkturm where I live off in the distance.....oohh....oops, it's just a photo - but doesn't it 'seem' SO real that you're truly there?!!! ;)

Views of Potsdam from the top of Pentecost Hill...

The horse chestnut tree blooms look like little Christmas trees!

Again, from the top....

I loved playing along with 'Princess Jillian' too....I would hold my arm out and have Jill place her hand on mine and then in my most arrogant 'snooty' tone, we'd talk about 'the commoners' and what they were doing and how much we loved our palace, etc.

PRIDE = BAD!! ;)

Right next to Pentecost Hill was the old Jewish graveyard! What is with me? I LOVE graveyards! They're so beautiful and peaceful....

Ok, so one of my favorite things about Europe is sitting at a cafe and having a bit of something while you rest your weary, summery feet....

I thought this was cool! Look in the water of the glass....

So we made our way to Sanssouci (without cares) and Jill kept on jumping in front of the camera! I had to say 'Jill, it's NOT ALWAYS about you!'

Then she started pouting and getting teary-eyed, so I relented....

What a beautiful Jillian she is....

This is just off to the side - it just seemed totally 'Sacred Grove'ish to me....

'I AM 'WITHOUT CARES'! WHO ARE YOU?!!'

From the side....

'But Aaron, that view makes me look 'fat'!'

I hate it when my pictures 'talk back'.... ;)

The Orangerie - back in the day you were quite the 'fat cat' if you had oranges....oh what people do to show off their wealth....(where are my Gucci/RayBan/D&G sunglasses? ;)

On our way to see the other things to behold, we came across this.....this.....'CHESTER COPPERPOTT!' That's all I could think of....

Here I am applying my near-genius Mathematikal skillz in order to find out where the buried treasure is....

(Jill was laughing and laughing - I kept on saying 'see! this is what I hate! It's like in a movie! It's SO obvious that this tells us where buried treasure is, but I am too stupid to figure out where and what it is saying!!! ARGHH!!)

So, this was probably Jill's favorite part of the day....dancing on a pavillion.....

We did the waltz....I taught her a bit of a 'German' dance....and then we dipped!

...but the 'lady of the house' was none too impressed and was more like 'PUHLEEZ leave this place NOW! I'd rather read me book!'

Hmmph! Can't please everybody I guess...

And there in the distance, one of our targets for the next day: Neues Palais! This will be my THIRD attempt to get in, will it work?....hmm....

Jillian as happy as can be.... 'Yep, I could live there, Aaron. Please!'

Jill and I then spent FOREVER trying to find the 'Chinese Tea House' built by Frederick the Great....umm...I'd only been there FOUR OTHER TIMES, you'd think I'd know where I was going....but no! OH well....eventually, right?

I still like this thing....it's interesting to see what people thought China was like and what Chinese people looked like....

Ignorance is funny! Hahah....oops....sorry....

We then ended the day by seeing these 'African' statues from back in the day.....FREAKY!!

So the next day Jill bought us tickets to get into all the palaces we could go through in one day! So we went streaming through Sanssouci, Neue Kammern, the historical Windmill, and ALSO NEUES PALAIS! It was definitely cool to be there and 'odd' to know that the last German emperor also lived there! Hmm....

Here I stand guard protecting Princess Jillian's new real estate acquisition.....until I got hungry and then....

Poor Jill, what a trooper though! I think she was palaced-out by this point, but she kept on truckin' for me! This one is called Cecilienhof and this is where Truman, Stalin and Churchill/Atlee signed the Potsdam Agreement that split Germany into four zones of occupation after WWII. It was COOL to see where they had sat at the table/where it was signed! (I had been wanting to see this one for almost 2 years! Thanks Jill!)

Cecilienhof is where the German royal family lived after WWI and Germany became a republic.

Here is the inside courtyard complete with Stalin's 'star' of red flowers that he had especially put in for the Potsdam conference (I bet Churchill loved that one! :)

Au revoir, Potsdam! And thanks Jillian for being such a trooper!

"Chawwwk-lut....chawwww-klut....hee! hee!"

That was of course to be read with my amazing impersonation of Sloth from 'The Goonies', otherwise, it makes no sense. ;)

I dedicate the following post to one, 'Father of Bucketheads', J.Y. In reading his blog I have come to appreciate the comradery we have in relation to the following subject matter: chocolate.

On one of the corners of Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin, there is a chocolate store, that I shall not name, because I will probably be breaking somekind of copyright dealee.



I decided that Jill must see these exquisite, very chocolately works of art. Here we have the Brandenburg Gate, symbol of Berlin of the past, Cold War 'divided' Berlin and now a united Berlin.... ohhh, soooo chocolatey......

Jill had some confusion with the sign that was written in English by the 'Titanic in Schokolade'. Jill takes things VERY literally, so 'Do not touch' is apparently different from 'Do not eat'....go figure ;)

STOP JILL! NOOOO.....

The German Parliament building, the Reichstag in chocolate....ewwph! No Jill in sight! ;)













This is the famous West Berlin 'Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church'. When I was in 5th grade my teacher, Mrs. Witkowski, told us about a church in Germany that they left after WWII as a memorial to the horrors of war, etc. I find the idea 'cool, wonderful', etc.

Jill insists on calling it 'the creepy Church'.....hmm....

Here is a pic of the 'real life' 'creepy' church....










Will someone get her under control?! Truffles are tempting, yes, but, WE ARE IN PUBLIC! ;)











And then, once again, Jill and the frogs...what up?! She found a frog in Arizona when I visited her and she found one again in Berlin.....what's so attractive about frogs anyway? Do they have English accents? ;)

Here I am doing my best 'kid' impression from 'The Kid', telling the froggy-prince-chocolatey-guy that he'd better back off!

Jealousy and anger are not good, unless you're a woman and involved with a guy. Because after a fit of jealous rage the ladyfriend looks at the guy and says 'you REALLY do like me!'

Hmph! ;)






Kyoot! I hope that wasn't a real cherub dipped in chocolate! I saw Vincent Price in the 'real' "Wax Museum"....I know how things 'go down'....




'Cock-a-diddle-doodle!' (Quote from 'Lt. Robinson Crusoe' with Dick van Dyke.)

Volcanoes erupting chocolate? Where existeth this land? And how might I exist in that landeth?

Jill in Berlin!

After arriving safe and sound in Berlin, a few days of R&R were in order....

Here is a pic of Jill Skyping with my brother David and his wife, Mel....













Jill and I both began to notice certain 'princess-y' things, such as Jill's wishes being fulfilled left and right (it's like 'The Secret', only with Jill, it REALLY works!) So here are her tulips that she loved in London that just happened to be planted in front of the new American embassy in Berlin! What are the chances?....when you're Princess Jillian...pretty good apparently ;)


What comes to my mind here is Betty-Boop's 'boo-boo-bee-doo, boo! ;)




As we were walking along, singing our song, we came upon a crowd in Gendarmenmarkt, an old famous square in Berlin. I personally was confused, but then suddenly the flags gave it away.....




'Oh! It's Israel's birthday!...' Me inteligente, ouis ;)

The guy at the piano is famous in Germany, alas I do not know his name....but he's the leader of a swing band in Berlin.



Happy Birthday to you, Israel! I wish things could have been done differently, but...whatever...











This is the baddest ride around, THE TRABI! This was the East German answer to West German Volkswagen and Audi. ;)
And the crazy thing is....you had to wait for 18 years to get one! (Pretty much you put your kid on the waiting list when they were born!)








This is the 'Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe'. We were there earlier and they said later on that day they'd have a 'concert' in the memorial itself.

The idea was interesting.....the music...I don't know...kind of 'experimental' in my opinion....

So back when Jill and I were first writing each other I told her that I found something that, if she ever came to Berlin, I really wanted to show her. This was it! GINORMOUS Teeder-todders! (is that how you spell that?)

I don't know why, I just thought she'd have fun and enjoy them....

Oh.....

and....me too! ;)

'I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille...' ;)

Here Jill poses in Nikolaiviertel (Nikolai Quarter) where it all began back in the day....Berlin that is....

So then I took Jill for a walk through Tiergarten (the old royal hunting grounds). This is the 'Victory Column'....I just liked how the trees framed it....