Forster's Adventures in Europe: April 2013

It has been the longest coldest winter in 30 years, and the coldest March in Berlin since 1929. The cold and the grey had only created tiny fractures in the city psyche that I created so that I could spend 2 years away from the mountains.

Those cracks got a little bit wider when we jumped on a plane to sun, sand, and salvation in Malta. For those of you that don’t know where Malta is please click here. It was truly a fantastic escape from city life. The water was clear, the weather was warm, the people smiled at you when you passed them on the streets, and the spoken language is English. I don’t intend to come across as negative about our time in Berlin, as we are still doing great over here, and enjoying our Berlin life, but it was nice to take a break for a week.

March was filled with visitors, and these visitors are in a way a bit like a “pit stop” for us, they help us break from our Berlin routines, and make us go experience the culturally rich city that we live in. Our first visitors were our good friends Cameron and his son Dryden. It means the world to us that they would spend their hard earned money to come hang out with us over here, and it’s our deepest hope that they think the sights and sounds of Berlin are worth it, I think they are.

Now on to Malta.

Malta is a chunk of limestone rock that has been carved by the people as much as the ocean that surrounds it. The Maltese people are a bit like Polish people, in that they have been attacked by everyone, and are still around to tell about it; except Malta has a few thousand more years of history and conquerors to brag about. A Maltese person is quick to tell you that they have structures that predate the pyramids in Egypt.
There are bunkers around most every corner that were created to weather to rain of bombs that fell on them in World War 2. In fact one day I went out for a run and ended up soloing about 30 feet of easy rock to an old bunker, it was a surreal experience to walk around the dugout cave that undoubtedly sheltered Maltese families from German and Italian bombs. Every where you looked on this island you could see the man made scars of bomb shelters that were often carved by hand.

My brother and his wife flew into Berlin to join us for this little Maltese adventure. We were particularly excited to show Kelsi, my brother’s better half, around Europe as she had never been across the pond. It was a fantastic experience to be able to spend time with family in such a unique place.
Some highlights from our trip:
The fantastic view from our apartment
Swimming every day (in the heated pool)
Scuba diving with my brother
Going to the island of Camino (the bluest water I have ever seen)
A 6 or 7 mile run, with hills (Berlin lacks hills)
The silent city
The Azure window
Quality time with family
A maid to make our beds and vacuum every day
Addie eating ice cream every day
Easter egg hunting in the town square
Going for a swim in the ocean (the water was about 56 degrees)
The SUN

If you ever get the chance I would highly recommend Malta in the off season, especially if you need a break from long, cold, European winters!
We are in town for the next month or so, then it's off to the Alps to start kayaking season, then back to work, then back to the Alps in early July. After that it's Norway for some more kayaking, and we will wrap it all up in August with two weeks on the beach in Spain; life sure is hard sometimes!