I had determined a couple of weeks ago that I would run the Berlin Amish Country Half Marathon on Thanksgiving Saturday, which meant I needed to run down to Berlin to pick up my race packet on Black Friday. Since Berlin is in the heart of Amish Country in Ohio, Mer and I decided to make a day of it, and we invited our friends and coworkers Liz and Dubbs. Liz teaches English at CVCA, and Dubbs teaches Latin, and they are both funny and entertaining people.

We started our tour of Amish Country by stopping for lunch at the huge Amish restaurant Der Dutchman. The were featuring a soup-and-sandwich bar that included chili, so I was sold on that, as were Mer and Dubbs. I think Liz got fish. It was an excellent meal.

Not to waste any chance of getting food in Amish Country, we headed over to the nearby chocolate store, where we picked up chocolates. We finished our food gathering with a stop in Der Dutchman’s fine bakery, where we got yet more food. Amish Country has a way of doing that to me and Mer.

We then drove the short distance to Berlin’s high school to pick up my race packet, where I picked up a packet for a former student of mine who was running with me. That went very smoothly, and I was in and out in under five minutes.

We headed home to watch parts one and two of The Hollow Crown, a British production of a film version of Shakespeare’s Richard II, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. Liz had family commitments and could not stay, but Dubbs made it through both Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1, although I think she may have drifted a bit toward the end. None of us had ever seen Richard II before, and it was really well done. This Richard was an effeminate and moody king, and was often heavily portrayed as a Christ figure. It was a thought-provoking production. Henry IV was very good, with my only complaint being that the combat scene at the end felt much longer than it needed to be – lots of fighting with no dialogue. We are planning on eventually getting back together to finish the last two movies in the series, and hopefully Liz can join us for those.