And just like that we already arrived in September.
As we got up the next day we had a lovely breakfast with Manjas Grandparents before packing everything I needed for cake-baking and heading over to Hagens place. The deal was that Corinna and I would look after baby Clemens and bake cake while Manja, her mother and siblings would head over and do an escape room.
It was a sound plan, but Murphy decided to visit that day. As everyone headed off, Corinna looked after Clemens and I started making a marzipan torte. I baked the sponge layer and prepared a base for another cake which would come later.
Then I got a call from Manja: They were at the escape room and there was nobody there. They tried calling, but no one answered. They were literally locked out of the room. They decided to wait for 20 minutes and then go for ice-cream and conversation instead.
As this happened, I started working on the Marzipan torte. The central layer was to be a whipped cream and, for the first time in my life, I over-whipped the cream. 😳 I tried all I remembered from cookery school, adding teaspoons of fresh cream and manually whipping, with absolutely no success. I made the nicest sweet vanilla and almond flavoured butter though, if you need a recipe give me a shout 😅
Keep in mind that it was Sunday: which means that all shops in Germany are generally closed. Disaster! I couldn’t even head down to the supermarket to get more! As I confided in Manja, Hagen immediately came to the rescue: The local drug store Rossman at the train station would be open and they would have cream. The group would drop by and bring me what I needed once they finished their ice cream.
Relieved but feeling stupid, I continued to make the plum cake, which turned out to work out well and Corinna even had some decorative silver balls we could add into it to make it look fancy. When the group returned they were very understanding of my plight and all chipped in to finish off the cake. The cream was whipped carefully, and turned out perfect this time. It was layered in between the almond sponge, and a layer of marzipan was carefully wrapped around it. We marked the slices and Sophia showed off her artistic skills by adding little spots of cream all around the outside of the cake, onto which Hagen carefully placed almonds. Not to be outdone Sophia added a few dots in the middle and placed a marzipan rose and leaf combo onto those. By the time it was done, the damn thing looked proper professional!
We all headed back to Manjas grandparents place for coffee and Simon-made cakes. No pressure  😅
But the cake was good. Not great, but definitely good. I guess this just means I should practice my marzipan torte making skills, right?
We stayed around and chatted for a while before having dinner with the family and eventually driving back. A car return later and we dropped into bed.
The next day Manja and I had a day off and enjoyed a day outside chatting and exploring all around the Tempelhofer Feld – which used to be an airport and is now an open park for people to enjoy. We had lunch at an Indian place before we made it into the park, where we even saw some skylarks who breed in this area. One of the highlights was being able to (very very slowly) sneak up on one as it surveyed the field, getting this awesome close-up from about 30cm away.
That weekend we were off to Wiesbaden to celebrate Doris’ 80th birthday with her and the family. To be fit on the day we flew out after work on Friday, grabbed a mini-bus for the weekend and slept in a nice Airbnb nearby. We got there late and most places were already closed, so we settled for a nice pizza at a nearby Italian restaurant.
On Saturday we got up early and did some last-minute shopping, picking up flower and traditional dumplings. The dumplings were a joke from my grandparents in Germany who had jokingly said that they will send some for her birthday 😂
We dropped by for breakfast with Doris and my parents who had arrived a few days early, before jumping into the minibus and picking up Helga and Ditmar. At Helgas place we toasted to Doris with a lovely local champagne. A short drive later we arrived at our first destination, a traditional palace of still living German royalty. Rather than sell the place to pay for upkeep, they had decided to make a museum of it, which you could visit and tour for a small entry fee.
The only problem was a 5 minute walk, including a small hill, to get to the palace. Ditmar was not able to make this challenge, so they had decided to head over into a cafe and wait for us to return. Being the inclusive guy I am, I negotiated with the staff and got permission to drive the bus in to drop them off at the doorstep. By the time I got back though, they had already ordered and didn’t want to move again. *sigh* but fine. 🙄
So I walked back again and we toured the palace together with a very knowledgeable guide. Rather than staying for lunch though, we decided to pick up Helga and Ditmar and move on to the Hotel which Doris had booked for us. A little under an hours drive later, we arrived. Manja and I helped everyone settle in and carry bags before getting to our room… Which definitely was relaxing luxury! The place was super comfortable, quite and tranquil. I would love to come back here for a weekend away in summer sometime. After a bit of recovery time and some coffee and cake, we went for a short walk along a creek and found ourselves at an old church. By the time we got back we had another short break before meeting in the restaurant for a really fantastic dinner. While we feasted we discussed what else we could still do tonight, and decided that we would got and play some “Kegeln”, wich is basically an old school 9-ping bowling with wooden balls. It was fun, and it was nice to find something active that Doris and her friends could still do with 80. We played a few different game styles, from high house numbers (try and make the highest number from 3 sets, you pick the order after each shot) to low house numbers (make the lowest number with three sets, you pick the order after each shot) to fox (one person has a set of 2 shots, one of the hunters gets a shot, the fox again, the hunter again, until the fox is caught or all hunters have failed to catch him). As we decided to pack up I wanted to have a few more practice shots, getting quite focussed on improving my game. Manja wanted to snap me out of it and went to grab a ball before I could, but got her fingers caught between a returning and a sitting ball. Yikes! I could’ve sworn I heard a crunch, but she could (painfully) move all her fingers. My family jumped into first aid action, wrapping her fingers in ice. I stubbornly finished my two shots, which she was (retrospectively, understandably) a little cross about. A short time later we drove back to the hotel and dropped into bed.
The following day we all met for breakfast, which was delicious with a great variety. They also had these awesome little napkins with this quote: “Don’t try to be anyone else, there is no one better than you”. How sweet!
Not long after we drove back and dropped everyone off. A Final glass of champagne later we were on our way back home too, happy but tired.
The very next day we celebrated Kais birthday, meeting up with him to do an escape room – which we again managed to escape from. We started Saturday with a nice breakfast at a local cafe, visiting a street market and a local herb store. In the evening we headed back to Lübben for the Museumnacht, which was quite the awesome event last year. This year was a bit more muted, as the local council didn’t participate as much. When we got there we started by wandering along the river, and just as Manja lamented the lack of interesting Wildlife in germany, a Beaver swam by…  We followed him and found a whole family having a break at a nearby island! We eventually returned to the museum and the event was fun. Hagen and the committee mixed some nice drinks and provided snacks, while Corinna gave regular tours of the whole museum, including the Attic, which was a nice view behind the scenes. Eventually we had to head back home via a late train. Sunday we relaxed and finished the last few “bits and bobs” in the kitchen.
The next weekend we were invited by Tina and Stefan for a birthday BBQ. Stefan cooked it for us using his almost brand new 800 degree steak grill. It cooked meat in moments, and I have to say it was utterly delicious. As we sat outside I couldn’t help but try to capture the bubbles in the champagne! With dinner done we settled inside and played some music for a few hours, before we had to head home eventually.
On September 27 my stuff finally left Australia, thanks to the awesome Kempy who stored it and dealt with the delivery crew in arranging a pickup.
On Saturday my parents stopped by as they were currently in Berlin again on their tour back. They’d be here for a couple of weeks, so we would get a few chances to catch up. We started by heading to Alans Breakfast Club, or ABC, which is an awesome little Australian Breakfast place. From there we headed to a street market, I showed them my workplace, we wandered down the east side gallery, we had some early dinner and we visited the DDR Museum.
The next day we met up again, this time grabbing a carshare car and driving to Steffis Parents in Neuruppin. It wasn’t the perfect time to visit, as it was a bit cold, but the company and hospitality more made up for the weather. Mum even had to dip her toes in the water 😀
On the way home we approached Berlin from the perfect angle to drive past the flat we used to live in. We could not let this opportunity go to waste of course, so we stopped for a photo and toured some of the local sights. Eventually we had to get back before the day-hire rate on the car expired 🙂
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