Ich bin ein Berliner!

Nothing is ever boring around here. I got home from Indiana on Monday afternoon and felt awful. By Tuesday morning it was almost unbearable. Jackson had a flight at like 5 a.m. that morning and I could not even get out of bed to take him to the airport so he took an Uber. He had to be in Asheville, North Carolina for work for a few days. He really likes it up there and I wish I could join him on trips more often, but I have work and a puppy so that is not always possible.

Anyway, I gave up the fight on Tuesday and called in sick to work to go to the doctor. I hit a CVS Minute Clinic and tested negative for strep, but had a major ear infection. To be honest I had no idea that adults got ear infections. I always hear about people's kids having them. I got some medicine and had high hopes that this illness would be gone before we got on an 8+ hour flight to Germany. (Spoiler alert: modern medicine sucks and I was still sick.)

Wednesday afternoon I took MacKenzie to Aunt Kathy's about an hour up the road and then headed for Orlando. Jackson would be flying into Orlando that evening from Asheville and would meet me at the hotel. Jackson's new schedule of having to be at the Orlando airport every other Thursday has proven to be kind of a treat when it comes to traveling. I got to the hotel at around 10 that evening and Jackson arrived at around midnight. 

MacKenzie will be hanging with Aunt Kathy
in North Ft. Myers

Jackson had to work early in the morning so while he did that I got my nails done. What? I was already on vacation. HA! When he got off work we had intended to head straight to our flight, but our quick connections from Orlando to New York had been delayed. This meant we had time to eat at the Chuy's near the hotel and airport. SCORE!! The idea of getting to have an insanely delicious meal before a long night of flying was just amazing and Chuy's did not disappoint.

Chuy's? YES, PLEASE! 

We parked our car at the long-term lot and headed to catch our flight. The delay wasn't all the bad and soon enough we were in NYC for a quick run through the airport to catch our international flight. We made it with just a few minutes to spare and found that we had the seats on the plane with just two in a row. This made me so happy because I planned to sleep and kick this ear infection to the curb!

And we're off! 

My idea of sleeping didn't work out so well, but the flight was still super easy and soon enough we were in Berlin. We grabbed an Uber and headed to the Intercontinental Berlin to check in for a few nights. I'd only ever heard about Berlin being a huge city, but the quick ride from the airport made it feel kind of small. It felt very typically European and we were excited to explore.

YES.

Jackson has high status at Intercontinental hotels so we got to check in quite early. We were so excited for a quick nap. By this time Jackson had caught my little bug and was losing steam, too. Upon check in they noticed that Jackson had just had a birthday and they made a big spectacle of celebrating him. It was very sweet and much appreciated.

Quite the warm greeting!

We crashed for a good three hours before decided that we had to get out and explore Berlin for at least a little bit. First we stopped in the club room that we got access to due to Jackson's status for some snacks.

Cappuccino and cookies? Sure.

Trying their tower of snacks

Jackson braved another menu
that I didn't have the stomach for

Once we'd had our fill of free food and bottled water (free cold water? YES!!!), we headed out to find the local Hard Rock Cafe to get my mom her guitar pin that she collects from our travels.

The "city pissoir" was illustrative- ha! 

A cathedral in town

We grabbed mom's pin, did a little window shopping and some additional exploring before giving up and deciding to just go back to the hotel to relax. We seriously went through the box of tissues in our room in one evening with our running noses. It was probably the sickest we'd ever been on a trip. What a bummer!

Our hotel was known for its sauna facilities and that is something we can get behind whether or not we are ill. It was awesome. They had cold, wet and dry saunas. We were the only ones utilizing them at the time so I didn't even have to deal with the typical European nudes!

I tried to get money from this.
It is a cigarette machine, not an ATM. Whoops!

We woke up the next morning resolved to push through these massive man colds (ha!) and see the city. We got breakfast at the hotel's buffet which was actually quite nice before heading out to see some sights.

As we prepared for this trip, I'd often quote JFK and say "Ich bin ein Berliner" to Jackson. This annoyed him and delighted me. As you'll recall, "Ich bin ein Berliner" is the well-known quote from a speech by President John F. Kennedy given on June 26, 1963, in West Berlin. It is widely regarded as the best-known speech of the Cold War and the most famous anti-communist speech. This was pretty much all I knew about Berlin's history going into our visit. I kept meaning to brush up on things and just didn't get to it before we traveled. Luckily, the city had a ton of plaques and things to help me learn just what happened.

We walked down to the river

Checked out parliament 

Went to see the Brandenburg Gate

Jackson and the Gate

Me and the Gate

The Brandenburg Gate is Berlin's most famous landmark. A symbol of Berlin and German division during the Cold War, it is now a national symbol of peace and unity. It was here that on June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan issued his stern command to his cold war adversary admonishing him with the words: "Mr. Gorbachov – tear down this wall!" Jackson remembers this all happening as he was 10. Since I would turn 3 just a few days later, I do not recall. Regardless, it was really cool to see such an important landmark.

The U.S. Embassy just inside the gate

We stopped in at a mall to use the restroom and found that it had a free slide in it. Listen, I'm all for fun but the idea that the slide was free and I had to pay to pee was a bit annoying! I honestly think the idea of making someone pay to use the restroom should be criminal across the globe. It is a bodily function!!! (Can you tell that I had to scramble to find Euro coins in order to pee? I'm still annoyed.)

A slide in the mall
Naturally, Jackson went down it 3 times

We walked across town to the remainder of the Berlin Wall. Again, because I was quite young when all of the East versus West Berlin stuff was going on, I found this all fascinating. The fact that this was pretty recent history and such a sharp divide was just shocking to me.

We learned (or were reminded as Jackson would swear he knew all of this already) that the Berlin Wall was built in order to prevent people from fleeing East Berlin. In many ways it was the perfect symbol of the "Iron Curtain" that separated the democratic western countries and the communist countries of Eastern Europe throughout the Cold War. It stood from 1961 until 1989.

Remnants of the Wall

The brick is crumbling today

We walked down to see the famous Checkpoint Charlie (or checkpoint "c") which was the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. Today there are locals dressed up like soldiers willing to take tourist's money for posing with them. I found this super annoying as you could not get close to the buildings without these guys hassling you.

Checkpoint Charlie

The Soviet soldier staring you down was creepy

We wandered around the area for a bit before deciding that we were too tired and too sick to walk all the way back across town to the hotel. We called another Uber (you can tell Jackson was sick as he doesn't usually spend money so freely on calling for rides) and headed back for a nap.

We had tickets to enter Reichstag Building (Germany's parliament) for a tour of its dome, but we were just feeling terrible so we missed our entry time. We took naps and felt a little better so we grabbed yet another Uber (so spoiled!) and headed back to the area to see if we could get later entry tickets. It turns out that the Germans, known for their dedication to rules and timeliness, took pity on us and let us in later with our original tickets. I was shocked. Jackson could sell ice to an Eskimo at this point.

Can you imagine a tour of a U.S. government building including
a trip to the roof? Neither can I.

The views over the city were awesome

Jackson soaking in Germany!

Petefish.
Or is it Peterfrisch? ;)

Jackson is never one to leave well enough alone so we naturally had to climb to the top of the dome.

"I love heights!"

The dome has a hole in it! Random!

A first: Jackson reading while I mess
around on my phone

A view of the building as we exited

Looking back at the dome from the riverfront

It was a little chilly, but not terrible so we decided to walk to the restaurant where we had dinner reservations. The riverfront was absolutely gorgeous and it was definitely a worthy stroll.

Views from the riverfront

We made it a schnitzel restaurant that we'd read positive reviews of and were able to be seated ahead of our reserved time. Again with the Germans being flexible with timing. It was wild!

"Beer is cheaper than water here. I'm
doing the family a financial favor."

SCHNITZEL!

We finished our dinner which was just OK and not worth the fuss it had received online. We got yet another Uber back to our hotel and headed back down to the sauna. We relaxed down there for about an hour before calling it a night again. 

This morning we stuffed ourselves at the hotel's buffet before heading to the train station. We loved the Intercontinental Berlin. Their staff was beyond helpful and super friendly. The hotel was huge and luxurious. I'd come to town again just to stay there and hit the saunas! Berlin ended up being nicer than I had expected it would be based on reviews from other travelers. It is just a big city, but one with a ton of history and a lot of lessons to offer if we'd pay attention. 

Seeing the VP in God's Country

My Mom got tickets to see Vice President Pence give the commencement address at Taylor University and wanted some company so she flew me up for a quick weekend in God's Country.

The timing was actually kind of crazy because early Friday afternoon Jackson landed back in Ft. Myers from his work trip in New Jersey only for me to pick him up, take him to lunch and then him drop me off at the Punta Gorda airport up the road to catch my flight. Since this was a super last-minute trip, I flew Allegiant. Ugh. My flight was delayed which is no surprise with Allegiant. You truly get what you pay for with them which isn't much. Once I finally got on the plane I was seated next to two people who had been over-served to put it lightly. Before we took off two people were removed for being intoxicated, neither or which were the wild folks next to me. As the flight went on the two folks next to me (a mother-in-law and son-in-law) started getting to know each other in the biblical sense. I was at the window so I eventually became so annoyed that I demanded they get off each other and let me go to the restroom. I let the flight attendants know what was going on and they let me move seats. Once we landed my sicko former seatmates tried to start a fight with me, but the airline crew made sure I was safe. Maybe Allegiant isn't the absolute worst after all.

Anyway, since we don't have a regular sitter for MacKenzie and he'd been gone for over a week for work anyway, Jackson stayed back in Naples while I went back to Upland. MacKenzie tries to keep things in order while I'm gone, but she can only do so much. ;)

Jackson stayed back and roughed it here in Naples ;)

MacKenzie is threatening to tell on him for
eating in the living room if he doesn't share! 

My flight ended up landing really late so I grabbed my rental car and headed straight for Upland. I was pretty tired at this point and almost drove to our old townhouse in Fishers before remembering that the new owners probably wouldn't welcome me at this hour. I got to Upland and the whole crew was up waiting for me. I was so happy to see Ella!!

Playing ball with Ella

There is no rest for the weary so I was up bright and early on Saturday to head to the Taylor graduation with Mom. I was most interested in seeing the Secret Service protection at a place like Taylor. It was pretty fascinating to see just how much went into securing a location for a sitting Vice President. I did not realize until we arrived that many students and some faculty members at Taylor (a Christian, super conservative institution) were not pleased with VP Pence being the commencement speaker. They had little stickers on the graduation robes and even staged a walk-out before he took the stage. It was nowhere near as dramatic as it was at Notre Dame's graduation when he spoke last year, but it was still certainly noticeable and a little surprising. 

VP Pence

We didn't get close seats

I was interested to hear if he'd slip any campaigning into his speech and he did a pretty good job of steering clear of that. That's important because exempt organizations like Taylor cannot be seen as politically affiliated or they could lose their exempt status. This kind of thing is very important to tax nerds like me. We ended up leaving after the VP spoke because Taylor graduation is not quick. Also, bleachers are not comfortable! We went to lunch at the new Mexican restaurant in downtown Marion, Los Amores, which was quite excellent and very fairly priced. I fear they'll struggle due to the obscure location, but wish them the best as they were super friendly. No trip to this side of town is complete without a malt at Myers Drive-In (the world's best). Yes, all I did was eat the entire trip.

We went back to Upland to catch a nap since we'd all been up late and had early mornings. Then it was time for dinner! See? We ate. A lot!

Homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes and
Darci bread with fresh lemonade? YES, please!

It was nice to get to hang out with Mom and Guy and especially Ella! They had a little birthday dinner for me on Sunday and my brother even came into town to join us. That was super sweet! Otherwise things were pretty quiet. The pace of life in Upland is even slower than it is in Naples somehow.

Monday morning I headed back to the airport to grab my flight back to Florida.

Letting Ella show me her handshaking trick!

Luckily, there were no delays with this flight and no weirdos sitting next to me. It was an almost enjoyable Allegiant flight. Shocking! Jackson had a work call to present on when I was due to arrive so he drove up to Punta Gorda (about an hour from our place in Naples) early and presented from the parking lot (God bless technology) so that he could pick me up. Our crazy schedules of travel worked pretty well considering how many variable we had.

MacKenzie smelled the Upland schnauzers!

I woke up in Upland not feeling the best so when I got back to Naples I showered and headed right for an early bedtime hoping that I wasn't coming down with anything as we head for Orlando on Wednesday afternoon to catch our flights to Europe.

NYC & Jackson turns 42!

Jackson had to work in NYC so we went a few days early to celebrate his birthday. The big 4-2! I made birthday brownies at home so MacKenzie could join the celebration.

Birthday brownies!

We interviewed a new person to watch MacKenzie that we met on the website Rover.com. It is like Uber for dog-sitting. Brandi did a nice job and watched MacK in her home for us for only $30/night. We dropped MacK off and headed to the airport. We caught an easy flight to Newark and grabbed an Uber into our hotel in the Financial District. It was a gorgeous day so we dropped our things and went out to explore. We were staying right by the World Trade Center which is always kind of cool to see.

WTC looking gorgeous as we headed
out for a day of exploring

I follow quite a few people who live in New York on Instagram so I'd seen this new sculpture- park-neighborhood area called Hudson Yards and decided we had to go see it for ourselves. We rented CitiBikes to get to the High Line (an elevated walking path) and then eventually got to "Vessel" as the sculpture is presently known. It is actually free to climb, but you must have a ticket and they were sold out by the time I learned about this requirement. Bummer! It was still cool to see it!

"This is weird"

TOURIST!

We walked around the shopping area behind the Vessel just long enough to realize that this neighborhood was out of our price range and we continued on with our day! I decided that biking and walking a million miles meant that we should obviously go to Levain Bakery for dessert! We got in what may have been the most terrifying Uber ever (simply due to the driving style in NYC to which I'll never grow accustom). Praise God we made it for cookies safe and sound.

New Yorkers willingness to line up
for EVERYTHING is always amazing to me

No trip to NYC is complete without a trip to
Levain Bakery, though, so the line was worth it!

Heavenly cookies.

You get cookies there for $4 each (they're HUGE), but there is no seating in the area so you have to walk to Central Park to enjoy them. It really is an experience. I love it! We finished our cookies and realized an early flight and sightseeing had worn us out and we were now a really long way from our hotel so we opted to use the subway to get back to our side of town for the evening.

Like real New Yorkers--taking the subway
around town!

We got mildly turned around on the subway and missed our stop. It was no biggie, we just got off at the next station and headed back the other way, but we were so annoyed that we ride subways all over the world without issue and it is in NYC that we get confused! We got to exit at the World Trade Center-Cortlandt Street which just reopened in September of 2018 after being destroyed on 9/11.

The new station is pretty magnificent and this is
the entrance/exit 

We called it a night at that point. On Sunday we got up and went out exploring in the pouring rain. Boo!

The birthday boy and the Bull*

*Not pictured the hoards of foreign tourists that we had to fend off to get a photo of Jackson alone. 

We went to Leo's Bagels (so good!) to get breakfast
then ate at a Starbucks like true locals!

It was seriously pouring rain so we kind of gave up on turning the day into much and went back to our hotel room and caught a "Wicked Tuna" marathon. Yep. What a wild birthday! That evening we had reservation at a place I'd heard about on Instagram (where else?!) so we walked the roughly a mile in the misting rain to get there from the hotel. Walking to dinner is one of my favorite things in the world. I don't know why.

Max's was a cute little place

Like a fine wine!

Authentic bruschetta

Some of the best pasta this side of Italy!

Dinner turned out to be just wonderful and salvaged the otherwise washout of a day. We wandered back in the rain which wasn't as fun as it could have been, but just soaking in the energy of NYC is always great.

La Colombe coffee

Monday was a workday for Jackson and a vacation day for me (what?! this never happens!) so we went for coffee at a place I'd seen great reviews about on Instagram (are you noticing how I planned this trip yet?!) then grabbed bagels at Leo's again. It was still raining cats and dogs so while Jackson was on work calls I just read a book in the room. The weather really stunk during our trip! :(

A rare sight: Jackson working when Jenna ins't! ;)

We moved across the river to New Jersey for the rest of our stay because that is where Jackson's meetings were so it just made sense. We'd never stayed across from the City and looked over at it. It was pretty cool, too. We braved the cold and wind to go down to the waterfront to get some epic views. Then we grabbed dinner and snuggled in the room while it rained. We watched the Martian for the 90th time and were still hooked like we always are.

NYC from Jersey City

We tried to get a cute photo of us but the wind had other ideas

Maybe if I am on this side? No...

Maybe if I hold my hair back?!

Ok! I give up!!! Jackson looks handsome, though! 

Tuesday Jackson had to work nearby so I slept in and then went to the nearby mall to shop all by myself. I love doing almost everything with Jackson, but he loses interest in Sephora so I spent a ton of time there just sampling every single beauty item ever made. When Jackson returned we decided it was a waste to be so close to NYC and let a little (or a lot) of rain keep you inside. We figured out how to get the commuter train near our hotel and soon enough we were in Midtown Manhattan. Listen, the trains in NYC are not super intuitive so this was a real accomplishment in my mind. We made a connection and got back up to another Levain Bakery location as I wanted to take some cookies back to my Mom and I'd be visiting her on Friday. We made it about 30 minutes before they closed and got some additional goodies. (I'm proud to report that I had willpower and the cookies made it back to my Mom! Whew!)

We decided to walk to dinner at a pizza place Jackson found called B Side and ended up wandering by areas of the city that I'd not seen in prior trips somehow. It was raining and the walk was about 1.5 miles, but we eventually made it.

Lincoln Center!

I'd love to see a show here one day!

B Side Pizza

Jackson loves NYC-style pizza. It is not my favorite, but this was still pretty good. Really it was just nice to be warm and dry for a bit! Once we finished dinner it was another 1.25 miles to get back to our commuter line to Jersey City. This meant we walked through Times Square and got to see its bright lights. We almost never go to that area when we're in town so it was kind of fun to see it. A Broadway show was getting out as we were crossing through so it was packed at like 10pm on a Tuesday night. The City truly never sleeps.

Jackson captured an artsy shot

We got the train back to Jersey City and then realized that the weather was finally clearing and we'd have a better view from the waterfront so we walked down there instead of back to the hotel. It was cold and windy, but it was worth it.

NYC showing off

We finally made it back to the hotel to dry off and warm up. Wednesday morning we shared an Uber to Newark Airport where I hopped a flight back to Ft. Myers and Jackson picked up a rental car to head into rural New Jersey for a few more days of work. I'm glad I was able to join him for some of the trip even if the weather didn't cooperate.

Reunited.

I landed and went to get my tiny bestie. She did really well with her Rover and I was very proud of her!