Tripping Europa

So here we went. Took our trusty company car to the highways pointing North. Karl got to sit upfront some parts of the trip (we had to have a special airbag blocker installed, but now he"s all legit), which was met with great giggling excitement. I guess getting a driver"s view perspective of a German Autobahn is a truly thrilling experience for a three year old who tends to fill his dad with class warfare rage and sportscar envy by pointing out every single Porsche he sees (and on the streets of Munich there are an obsceneley lot around, actually a Porsche is already considered declassé, the new sportscar to have is a Tesla, just to give you a perspective on the kind of wealth swilling around that town).

First stop - Berlin. We stayed at Gabi and Martin's (I"ve known Gabi since the late 80s, Martin since the early 80s, served as Martin's best man when he wedded Gabi, who I introduced to him at Cipriani"s on West Broadway, so I guess this all qualifies as going "way back"). They recently got a really nice pad in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin. Huge balcony and garden included.



Karl got a kick out of the morning chores that come with an urban pastoral like this. Not that our backyard idyll is too shabby, but watering plants before breakfast hasn"t been part of our Munich routine yet.



This was topped by a bathrobed walk to the garden to harvest some homegrown carrots for an early morning snack. Followed by a first guitar lesson on a vintage 1960s Gretsch. So Karl wants to move to Berlin now (so do we after we heard the square meter price for a choice place like this).



The next morning it was back on the highway, further North to the sinister sounding town of Rostock, where we caught the ferry to Denmark. No need to elaborate on the thrills of driving your car into a big boat"s hull, just to discover that there"s a buffet with adjoining playground on the upper deck.



Henri in the meantime took all the travelling adventures in stride. He is getting sweeter by the minute, developing his very own brand of charm and humor. He was surprisingly mellow for a four and half month old on a multi-day car trip form the Southernmost to the Northernmost parts of Central Europe.

First impressions of Denmark beachtown life to follow...