(i.e. together - not separate)-- This is the beginning of the joint blog:
(Naomi): Yes, I happily made it without problems! So far, we've walked around a bit (yesterday and today were a bit rainy, though), seen some of the city and done a bunch of people watching and eating. For instance, tonight for dessert we had karmalisiert spargel (caramelized asparagus, with strawberries) -- much more delicious than it might sound, in fact. I also got to try something else that sounds un-tasty -- the famous licorice ice cream. I just had a taste, but it was much less gross than i imagined (although not something i would eat regularly), and oddly tasted somewhat like coffee...
Some first observations: It is very weird to see people walking around with beer bottles on the street, at all times of day, very normally. In NY that's something you'd get arrested for, but here it is sanctioned! crazy! (I'm still curious what kind of social effect public drinking has -- so far it doesn't seem like much, except for a woman on the train missing her stop, which she didn't end up being that upset about).
Also, the city is interesting and different from a lot of other European cities I've been to in that the buildings are mostly new (i.e. post-1950-ish, I'm guessing), at least so far, I haven't seen really any "old" buildings. At the same time, they are also very colorful which just makes the city seem fresher and more youthful than, for instance someplace like NYC, even though every surface is highly graffitied...
(Colin) I don't have much to add, because I'm very full of asparagus (we also had some asparagus cream soup - tasty). Naomi got to see the old apartment today, and watch as the last piece of furniture left. I feel validated by her not thinking the lakritz ice-cream was completely disgusting.
