Blitzing Berlin

  Berlin, Germany
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Greeted at the train station

Saturday 12th July

Alison: We were up and out of our Prague hotel at 7.45 to get to the train station in time. We paid the extra for the Czech part of the trip as that is not covered by Eurail and then hopped aboard the train to Berlin. The trip went smoothly but just as we arrived in Berlin the train was delayed for half an hour for some reason at the stop just before the main one where we got off. Finally it got going again though and we were met at the station by our wonderful Servas friends Heinrich, Monika, and their children Stina & Gustav who had grown quite a bit in the time since we had seen them in Australia. We drove back in their car plus a taxi, which meant the luggage could fit comfortably between the 2 cars.

Playing soccer in the yard

They live in a lovely part of Berlin called Zehlendorf which is towards Potsdam and is surrounded by lovely parks and lakes. Their stunning modern house immediately impressed us and we were interested to discover that it won many architectural prizes when it was built 8 years ago.

The kids were delighted to have the chance to play with other children and Tom & Gustav almost immediately started playing soccer in their lawned courtyard while Rachel & Stina went off happily to inspect the rabbit. We had a lovely chat and then at about 6.00 the boys all went to the final of the European American Football Competition between Berlin & Italy.

Hienrich & Gustav at the Football

Apparently this was great fun and they had an excellent time, especially as Berlin won! Heinrich had played American Football when he was younger and was very enthusiastic about the game so they had a great time.

Tom at the Football

Meanwhile we womenfolk had a peaceful time with a nice light meal and chatting until we turned in fairly early as I had been up late the night before packing. The boys didn't get in until about 10.30 or so, but woke me up excitedly to tell me the game result.

Sunday 13th July

Monika at work in the kitchen

Alison: After a lovely breakfast Mum and I looked at the many magazines the house had been published in and its various prizes while the kids rode bikes & scooters and played tennis & soccer. Having just closed the final magazine we wandered outside to check on the kids and by coincidence a family who had read about the house on the web turned up to look at it! It rather proved how groundbreaking the design is!

People turning up to look at the house

We decided to spend the day checking out Berlin so then we walked for 15 minutes to the nearby railway station & caught the train to Potsdammer Platz.

Alison & Mike by the wall

It had fragments of the old Berlin Wall still there, really just for tourists as the wall itself has been almost completely demolished. From here we were able to buy tickets for a 2 hour sightseeing bus tour of Berlin, with stops where you could get on and off as you wish. This was an excellent choice as we discovered Berlin is a really big city and it would have been exhausting trying to walk around it too much.
We passed the impressive looking Holocaust Memorial and Museum and got off at Checkpoint Charlie where we toured the museum.

Checkpoint Charlie

This was very interesting with its record of how people tried to escape over the wall and amazing displays of various hiding places in cars, suitcases and even attempts by hot air balloons! We had lunch at a nice Italian restaurant opposite but Tom was obviously tired after the previous night at the football and was fairly unco-operative about walking or doing anything else much. We decided to stay on the bus for the rest of the circuit and enjoy the sights without doing any more walking. The architecture around Berlin is quite an amazing mix of old and new.

Lovely iron & stone work by river

Apparently 70% of Berlin was destroyed by bombing in the war so naturally there has been an enormous amount of rebuilding, with many striking designs. We especially enjoyed the strip of embassies with their quite diverse architectural styles.

Eventually we caught the train back to Zehlendorf and walked home. Unfortunately Stina had developed a temperature of 40 which was a worry for them.

Dinner with everyone

We had an early meal & then headed off to bed as with work the next day everyone had to get up early in the morning.

Rachel by the lake

Monday 14th July

Alison: Monika was unable to go to work (she is a judge in Potsdam) as Stina was still sick so she dropped Gustav at school and then took Stina to the doctor. We decided against going back into Berlin but instead went to a lake only 2 stations further along the Wannsee line. This was lovely. The kids brought a scooter & tennis rackets and we walked along the lake which people were actually swimming in! It looked a bit too chilly for me... Mum went ahead bird watching in peace while we took our time but we met up at the end of the lake where we had a very nice lunch at a restaurant looking out over the lake.

View towards restaurant

Eventually we walked back to the station and then Rachel, Mum and I walked about town and bought ingredients to make dinner for everyone of chicken legs in balsamic vinegar - a great Maggie Beer recipe that I managed to roughly remember and which everyone enjoyed. We had a great meal and then went to bed, ready for an early start the next day.

Final sad farewells

Tuesday 15th July
Everyone left for work at 7.30 so after our fond farewells we packed & at 10.30 caught a taxi to the train station ready for our next stop: Plön.

Mike: Berlin was another place I had always wanted to get to. Staying with our friends we had hosted in Adelaide was supernice, and again the connection we felt with them was immediate, as has been the case everywhere we go, which has been fabulous. They live in a really beautiful architect designed house, which had not surprisingly won numerous awards, a superb modern home in a style we both loved, and with an interior also dripping with good taste..

Looking down on them from the roof garden

From the outset Tom hit it off with Gustav, who though slightly younger than him was a great kid, fuulll of energy and a lover of all things outdoors, which Tom was well and truly ready for after months on the road.. So eeeevery ball in the shed got a great workout on the front lawn.. soccer of course, handball, gridiron, baseball, tennis, and to top it off biiikes, much to both the kids delight. This was nirvana for kids, which of course meant nirvana for parents.. happy kids out of sight, and happy parents chatting , eating and drinking, in particular the wheat or weiss beers which I have grown to loove on this trip.

Of course remember to clink glasses right at the bottom when having cheers with a wheat beer, an important ritual I learnt well!. Heinrich, a towering man at 6 5 and built like a brick shithouse who could drink a keg easily, took me on a quick 'round the world' beer tasting, and suffice to say I greatly enjoyed the ride, and slept well!!

Going back a day though, when we arrived Heinrich told us there was a big football game on that night, which I assumed to be soccer, but in fact he meant American football. He had previously played for the local team the Adlers in the European competition, and for the first time they had made it all the way to the big grand final, which was being held locally. An eeeasy decision, Tom and I headed off with he and Gustav to see our first game of gridiron, while the girls all very happily bunkered down at home.

Enjoying the Germany - Italy final

This was quite a spectacle! A crowd of only about 3000, all on one side of the oval, nonetheless they made a loot of noise with horns et al, and we got right into the spirit, shouting loooooud and singing along with all the mainly US hitsongs from yesteryear, quiiite a lark! And we were not to be let down on the scoreboard.
I assured Heinrich that Tom and I were here as their lucky omen, and guaranteed we would keep our trip winning record intact (all that way back to the Seattle Mariners glorious baseball victory!).Having schooled up on the rules, of which I already had a basic understanding, the first half was scoreless, but the second half spraaaang into action with a huge throw caught spectacularly for a touchdown, then the flood gates opened and our mighty AAAAAdlers came home with a wet sail scoring 5 touchdowns in all.

Another amazing touchdown riiiight on the siren sending us all into raptures, as they duly collected the trophy for best in Europe, their first, and boooy we loved it all! Beer and wurstdogs to wash it down of course, on the way home Heinrich played his favourite hits CD up loooud and we all sang along to Boys Don't Cry etc, home to bed as very contented campers!

Riding bikes with the kids around their area was lots of fun too, with a beautiful park right across the way. Lots of decent walks too, so this was a really active few days, much needed after our food-dominated previous few weeks, though of course here the food was as good and plentiful as ever.. Oh my goood I am hopeless if you put a plate of cheeses, wursts and pickles in front of me (bad genepool thanks Dad!)!!!!

Remains of the Berlin Wall - Potsdammer Platz

Of course too it was great to finally see what was left of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie, with all of us fascinated by the incredible lengths people had gone to to escape. To name but a few, home made hot air balloons, bodies hidden in suitcases with concealed walls, tunnels handdug over years and years etc, there were some truly amaaazing photos to see and stories to read!

The city itself I found to be one of complete contrasts, more so than any I have seen in fact I think. Largely explained by the fact that 70% of it had been destroyed during the war and thus had had to be totally rebuilt, there were areas with beautiful/imposing old buildings, such as the Reichstag, right next to some of the best and most interesting modern architecture I have ever seen anywhere. The street where most of the foreign Embassies were housed, in particular, was like looking at a page from a cutting edge coffee table design book, wooow there were some truly mindblowing and beautiful buildings, we loooved it.

The Reichstag from afar

As ever we were veeery sad to say goodbye to these great friends, who had given us suuuch a great time and had been soo welcoming. Again though, we all hoped and felt we will probably see each other again somewhere in this big wide world of ours, on future travels...