We left New York on August 23, 2016, and flew from Syracuse, NY to Newark, NJ.  In Newark, as we were boarding our plane to Berlin, Germany, the woman checking our tickets said our seats had changed.  As we were walking on the plane, we realized United had bumped all five of us up to First Class. Not a bad way to start out our year abroad.

After landing in Berlin on the morning of August 24rd, we took a big taxi to Nat's cousin's house. They live in lovely neighborhood.

Laura, Nat's cousin, her husband, Ramiro, and their son, Xavi, were great hosts and showed us the sites of Berlin.