The parents and our warm December

I arrived back in Berlin on the same day my parents got there!!! It was so good to see them. We got to do loads of things and relax and eat. It was great. We had a huge flat to ourselves for their two weeks here. It was great. I didn't take a ton of pictures but here is what I have. Love these fools. The one on my couch was the first night they were here. The second was when we went to a mall and ate chinese food. Merry Christmas. We saw Handel's Messiah (I only saw half...it's super long and I had an early appointment in the morning). We also made schnitzel. It was bomb. I'm so German now. New Years is CRAY in Berlin. Seriously. Everyone has firecrackers and fireworks and they shoot them at people and cars and everyone is out of control for days before and after new years. It's weird. I still hear people setting off firecrackers in my neighborhood occasionally. I went with some friends to a bridge and set some off (at the sky) and had fun watching the craziness. They don't go high but boy is it loud. I can't explain it well but trust me. It's an insane experience. I walked to my friends' house in fear. Genuine fear. But you should try it! We ran/walked through the Tiergarten. My parents also went to Wittenberg to see Luther's church, house, museum, blahblahblah. They brought me beer and a bottle opener. Boom! We went to Hamburg for a day. We saw water. Inlets rather than ocean but still...it's water that's salty so...pretty special. We just walked around a bunch. It was pretty cold. We made friends and drove and ate seafood. Such adventures. Look at that huge-O statue and those tiny parents. So cute. We had hamburgers in Hamburg (really delicious) and made a night stop at Brandenburg Gate. Not bad, eh? That's all the pictures I have. It was so good for me to have my parents here. I realized how much I've adjusted to life here by having a part of California in Berlin. We had fun. We fought a little. We walked a lot. And it was so good for me to share part of Berlin with my parents.