Slim Buddha wrote:

More snow. And snow forecast for next week. Some people like it. I'm not a fan. Looking forward to next weekend however. Spending a long weekend in Berlin. Bouletten, Glühwein and Weihnachtsmäkte! Can't wait.

Lucky you - I love Berlin. Have you been to the Juedisches Museum?

The hailstones are rattling off the windows here. I'd take snow...

Kate P wrote:

Slim Buddha wrote:

More snow. And snow forecast for next week. Some people like it. I'm not a fan. Looking forward to next weekend however. Spending a long weekend in Berlin. Bouletten, Glühwein and Weihnachtsmäkte! Can't wait.

Lucky you - I love Berlin. Have you been to the Juedisches Museum?

The hailstones are rattling off the windows here. I'd take snow...

Not yet but it's on my "to do" list. It will be my son's first teen birthday next Saturday and I sense that we will be spending the day in Potsdam. But Sunday will be the day for the Weihnachtsmarkt.

I love Potsdam, particularly the Holländisches Viertal and the Sans Souci Park. They are amazing.

Sans Souci is gorgeous - as is the Hollaendisches Viertel. I don't blame the royals for getting out of Berlin to Potsdam.

I think you'd like the museum - it's a very emotional place to visit, but not for the reasons you'd expect.

I've just come back to Ireland from the south of Spain, where the oranges are ripening nicely, and am huddled under a mohair blanket.

I studied in Berlin for a year, some time back, and had a wonderful time. I would be thinking this time of year of toboganning down at speed onto the frozen lakes and general Berlin craziness at night, followed by a gargantuan cafe breakfast - where is good for breakfast now?

Kate P wrote:

Sans Souci is gorgeous - as is the Hollaendisches Viertel. I don't blame the royals for getting out of Berlin to Potsdam.

I think you'd like the museum - it's a very emotional place to visit, but not for the reasons you'd expect.

I used Potsdam as a place to escape to when things in Berlin would get a bit out of hand during the time I lived there. I love that park. Also Schloss Babelsberg and its surrounding park are worth visiting. And dont forget the Pumpwerk. Another example, like McKee Barracks, of architectural plans getting mixed up and the wrong structure being built

Quote :

I've just come back to Ireland from the south of Spain, where the oranges are ripening nicely, and am huddled under a mohair blanket.

I've discovered ridiculously affordable cashmere at TK Maxx and life has been markedly more cosy ever since.

Kate P wrote:

Quote :

I've just come back to Ireland from the south of Spain, where the oranges are ripening nicely, and am huddled under a mohair blanket.

I've discovered ridiculously affordable cashmere at TK Maxx and life has been markedly more cosy ever since.

It would have to be free to cause me to venture into that hell hole.

Early in the morning CM is the only time to go. It's quite sane and civilised first thing. Otherwise it's crazy-making.

Potsdam is a world of its own, isn't it Slim Buddha, a different planet almost compared to Berlin. I'm not surprised you found it a haven.

Does your son like it? And more importantly, how are you feeling about having a teenage son? My niece is eleven and already my sister is traumatised about being the mother of a teenager, even though she's a terrific kid.

Kate P wrote:

Early in the morning CM is the only time to go. It's quite sane and civilised first thing. Otherwise it's crazy-making.

Potsdam is a world of its own, isn't it Slim Buddha, a different planet almost compared to Berlin. I'm not surprised you found it a haven.

Does your son like it? And more importantly, how are you feeling about having a teenage son? My niece is eleven and already my sister is traumatised about being the mother of a teenager, even though she's a terrific kid.

Potsdam is very special. They've turned Schloss Cecelienhof into a hotel so we'll probably go there for something to eat by way of a birthday treat. I just don't want him to want to spend the day on the laptop I got him. So Potsdam it is.

How do I feel about him being 13? Well, going on the basis that there is no going backwards, I just have to accept it and realise that we are entering a new phase. It will be interesting and, as he is already very much a product of the city where he lives, I am prepared to be amazed in the next few years.

Argh!! More snow! I am really getting to dislike this stuff big-time. I just hope that, on the coming weekend, the weather in Berlin is cold and dry. There is nothing like a couple of lungfuls of Berliner Luft to wake you up on a crisp, cold November morning.

Or you could take a couple of days in the Midlands where, as I write the weather is just as you desire in Berlin...

Kate P wrote:

Or you could take a couple of days in the Midlands where, as I write the weather is just as you desire in Berlin...

Sounds good, Kate. How do I sell the idea to my son? "This, son, is where the BUFFALO roam!", comes to mind.

Slim Buddha wrote:

Kate P wrote:

Or you could take a couple of days in the Midlands where, as I write the weather is just as you desire in Berlin...

Sounds good, Kate. How do I sell the idea to my son? "This, son, is where the BUFFALO roam!", comes to mind.

Tell him you'll bring him for a jar in The Brewery Tap and the leader of the land will sing him a song for his birthday. Then he'll know he's a real man.

Bitterly cold here tonight with a sky full of stars.

I was out earlier on sheep rescue duty, one got stuck in the fence, and it's close to freezing out there. It's bone dry though and the journey though the long grass has me all sneezy. Such is the life of the lord of the mannor.

My granny's barometer is moving back to dry also (having predicted rain earlier today which proved correct) so I expect the cold snap to last tomorrow at least (and i have taken my thermals out to combat this).

What need thermals when you have your cookiemonster blue fur to keep you warm? Really what you need is a bonnet and a sheep-crook...

Kate P wrote:

What need thermals when you have your cookiemonster blue fur to keep you warm? Really what you need is a bonnet and a sheep-crook...

You think the German milk maid outfit was the wrong look for sheep rescue?

That Kate P can be very naughty

Another freezing frosty morning here, but at 9 o'clock the ducks were copulating vigorously in the middle of the river. A new muscovy duck has arrived that seems to have set them all in a tizz.

My husband has gone to get the chickens from the market. I'll have to see about getting that web cam in the Co-op set up.

Bloody freezing in Berlin. Minus 5 most of the time and that on top of snow on Saturday. Luckily plenty of Glühwein and Bouletten to keep me warm. Schlosspark Sans Souci looked wonderful with the coating of frost spread like castor sugar over it. Schlosspark Babelsberg too. Lovely weekend! If you go, wrap up well!

Slim Buddha wrote:

Bloody freezing in Berlin. Minus 5 most of the time and that on top of snow on Saturday. Luckily plenty of Glühwein and Bouletten to keep me warm. Schlosspark Sans Souci looked wonderful with the coating of frost spread like castor sugar over it. Schlosspark Babelsberg too. Lovely weekend! If you go, wrap up well!

Raining here. No chance of some nice white snowy photos of the Berlin Wall ?

Auditor #9 wrote:

Slim Buddha wrote:

Bloody freezing in Berlin. Minus 5 most of the time and that on top of snow on Saturday. Luckily plenty of Glühwein and Bouletten to keep me warm. Schlosspark Sans Souci looked wonderful with the coating of frost spread like castor sugar over it. Schlosspark Babelsberg too. Lovely weekend! If you go, wrap up well!

Raining here. No chance of some nice white snowy photos of the Berlin Wall ?

I was nowhere near what is left of the Wall (it's in Friedrichshain) but in Pankow and Potsdam. Photos are family stuff, I'm afraid. I think this will be a tough winter in Berlin, like 1995-96, so I will get another opportunity in February to get some snowy ones then. Great weekend, though. It does the soul good to go back to a city which is not just a big place with a lot of buildings but part of one's spiritual home.

Dont think I'm getting away with it down here in Alicante. It was 3 degrees yesterday morning. And the it maxed at 12-13!
Cactus, if you are ever going to spain, unless this mini ice age stops, you are as well skip the european part and go down to the canaries.

And thats where are Gulf stream is gone!

I might add that the houses here are made of cardboard. If you get freezing at least you are well insulated and can cuddle up in front of the fire. Here it sometimes feels more comfortable outside!

Cold, dark, lashing rain.

And I have the worst head cold I've had in years. I can hardly see the monitor.

I have a bottle of red wine. Will that do ? I could drink it all like ?