"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....

Jill's European Adventure: London

So she made it! Here is a camera-shy Jillian, turning away from a foto-happy Aaron wanting to document her arrival in Germanland.

Some of you know that I love to surprise people - although admittedly these surprises most often include walking behind someone and 'kneeing' them in the back of their knee so they'fall' a bit.....

But the same day that Jillian got in, we had a Family Home Evening together. I suggested we look at photos from my London blog. I then said 'click on the Windows Explorer page that says 'Hotmail'. Maybe it was the fact that she had just travelled around the world, but she just kind of sat there and was under-enthused as she read a travel itinerary with her name on it. 'Are we going...to London? Are we really going?' ;) (This is the part where I start to think maybe I shouldn't 'tease' people and be as 'silly' as I am, because then people never know when I am serious or not.... :(
It took 'travel-weary' Jillian a few minutes, but she finally 'got it' - we were indeed going to London the next day! Poor Jill, all tired and more travelling, but she was a trooper!


We got to London and you can read Jill's blog about how much she loves the English accent (why do American women LOVE it so much?! I find it VERY unpatriotic if you ask me - downright Benedict Arnold! ;), etc.

We had to stop by St. Pancras Railway Station. It was just up the road from where I lived in London and they were always building/restoring it. It was VERY cool to go in and see what a good job they had done! So now, if you want to come to London from Paris, this is where you'd get off - I think....


I thought 'how cute and how appropriate to have this statue in a train station'....Jill added her two bits: 'it's 'creepy', they don't have any pupils in their eyes.'

As we shall see, 'creepy' is a word Jill uses often ;)


So it was interesting that as Jill and I spoke over the months, I began to call her 'princess' and tell her what a 'princess' she was. However, I found it EVEN MORE interesting to find out from her relatives how true that 'diagnosis' was! ;) Admittedly though, I am the one that is 'directing' the 'model' for this photo. This was after we went and saw 'Lord of the Rings: the Musical' (some of you might know how much I detest Gollum, but nevertheless, one must make royalty happy... ;)

The show was pretty good and here is 'Princess Jillian' prancing down the stairs...



'Isn't she lovely.....isn't she beautiful?!' That's the song that came to my mind when I looked at the photo. This is Jill on the London Temple grounds with the 'David O. McKay' oak tree in the background (supposedly he planted it - but you know...'Mormon Folklore'....).









We walked around London and Hyde Park and visited my old chapel. This is a painting by the baptismal font - I always thought it was interesting....










A big shout-out to Maria, Imma and Nathan who let us stay with them - MILLE GRAZIE!! This tree was just outside their place and had carpeted the whole area with these beautiful pink blossoms - truly a magical place.








So I had never seen an official 'Changing of the Guard' at Buckingham Palace, and seeing as how Jill wanted her 'relatives' to come out of the Palace and welcome her, we needed to go....

Here are the, I think, 'Welsh' guards with the mugly-ugly hats waiting to be replaced by their...







Malayasian counterparts?!! That was REALLY cool I thought; to be able to see Malayasian troops. It seemed though to be more of a 'battle of the bands'. The Malayasians would play a piece (the music made me think of Colombian brass bands) and then the Welsh/Brits would 'answer'. This went on for a while and then they 'switched' - I guess....I am still a bit confused on who stayed...because 'everyone' left the front area of Buckingham Palace....hmm.....SAVE THE QUEEN!




The crowds watching the 'fun'.....















'Awwww....'











So afterwards we went for a walk through St. James park and Jill seemed to love these tulips - and she loved this one even more because there was a ladybug inside.


So this is JILL'S St. James Park tulip....

Here we are in St. James Prk with Buckingham Palace in the background. Jill had been crying earlier because the Queen had not invited her in, but she got herself under control and was able to smile for the photo....what a trooper!










I think it's interesting...if your parents weren't into the Beatles or Elvis (like mine) you don't know who these people are, their songs, etc. But then there are people like Jill, who are big-time into the Beatles. Long story short: I got VERY excited to take Jill to Abbey Road. And yes, she did the 'walk' across the crosswalk and yes, happiness ensued!

Then I told her NOT to destroy private property with her graffiti, but she went on and did as she pleased - what a princess! (I will be 'injured' for that, because I might have encouraged her to write on the front wall of Abbey Road Studio. ;)



Hey Caitlin! This one is for you! Here is a statue of Sherlock Holmes at Baker Street Tube station.

If you can't tell what I am doing, I am 'yelling' at Sherlock for smoking and for encouraging others to do so!

BAD SHERLOCK! BAD!!

(What also comes to mind is when my Mom would say 'Good job, Sherlock!' dripping with sarcasm :)

So everytime we were on, near or said 'London Bridge' Jillian started to sing 'the song' as you can well imagine. ;)

We were very blessed with great, wonderful weather - it was supposed to be 'rainy' for a big part of our stay, but being as how 'the Princess' was my travel companion, all was CA-Sunshine....

So we said 'adieu', I mean...,'goodbye' to London and hopefully, Jill, you enjoyed the Fish & Chips with mushy peas!

HAPPY MOMMA'S DAY to my MOMMA!

I would like to take this moment to dedicate this blog entry to MY MOMMA!

There are times when I think about my Mom and I am SO impressed! Living in Europe I have often seen young parents travelling with one child or maybe two. The kids are screaming, both the parents are worn out and it doesn't seem like the most positive of experiences. Then I think about my Mom and doing that OVER and OVER (moving to Italy with three little kids) again BY HERSELF! Kudos to my Momma!

My Mom taught me how to tie my tie; she helped me make my Pinewood Derby racers; she helped me get my Eagle Scout; she made us independent and able to take care of ourselves (which sometimes you don't see nowadays); and she'd sing to me when I was afraid at night.

I love you Momma!

As Jill and I were walking through St. James Park near Buckingham Palace, I thought to myself "I could send Mom a flower bouquet from London!" So here you go Mom, I hope you enjoy it!