Finally!

Well, with T -8 days to go we finally got ourselves some real Berliner Kultur.  In the form of Staatsoper Fuer Alle, an outdoor concert.  By the Berlin Staatskapelle. With Daniel Barenboim conducting.  Yeah, no biggie.

The pictures aren't so great, but it was far less chaotic than we expected.  It's a beautiful day, nearly perfect weather.  Unter den Linden, the main boulevard in Berlin, was closed off and we heard to expect 30,000-300,000 people (I assumed one of those must be a typo, but I couldn't figure out which one...).  We couldn't see the orchestra, but we could see the screen and we could hear perfectly, which is what really matters.  Besides the Bribing of the Children.  It didn't really take much, and at the end M even admitted to liking it "... kind of."

Tracy and family joined us

 The day ended decidedly more low-brow, with a last trip to the Flohmarkt am Mauerpark to pick up souvenirs and then more visiting with Tracy, Stefan, their boys and some of their friends at at the perfect combination-- a biergarten/spielplatz.  Himmel fuer Alle.