Day 68: Water and Chocolate

I made up for yesterday! I took over 200 photos today! Whew, I'm back! So many photos... I'll break today into two posts!

The owners of the apartment have put a few books on our shelves. A few of them include coffee-table style books with a focus of Berlin. Cools spots to see. Restaurants to try. All accompanied by beautiful photos. Anyway, I began flipping through one of the books and found a few more places to add to our list of excursions. Seeing as we've mostly completed our own lists, we can add to the list (otherwise, the kids and I will just sit and stare at screens all day long).

So, for today, I have a list of 4 things to see (one of which is new from the book). I think we can fit them all in.

Side note: When in the U.S., our afternoons are often filled with extracurricular activities (Circus Arts, Book Clubs, Music lessons, Math, etc.) And if we want our brains to do any "academics", we must do them in the morning. So, usually, I want us up and ready to "do stuff" by 10am. And, after lunch, it's pretty hard to motivate any of us to do anything to strenuous.

Here, in Berlin, I may eat and walk with Chris in the mornings, but the kids either sleep or play on computer (you can probably guess which kid does what). So, by the time I'm back from walking, the morning's mostly gone. I tend to blog, shower, laundry, or something like this, and the kids will come out around 11am-12pm, looking for food. Sometimes, I still have to prod them to come out of their rooms.

Anyway, we don't normally "get going" until after lunch, maybe 1pm at the earliest.

And so it is like this today. It is after lunch and we're just getting out the door to begin my "4 Destinations" list.

Venice asked for this braid for today. My first try, not so bad!
Her colours continue to be beautiful.

First on my list, the Wasserturm (the Water Tower). It is no longer working, the pumps have long since been inactive, but this Water Tower is now a landmark. And it's so close to our farmers market, but on the other side. Just a block or two farther and yet we've never been. We could see it (and an information plaque) from the Fernsehturm (TV Tower). Now we get to see it up close.

Sharing an Autumn Hug.

The main reason I took so many photos today is that the autumn colours are just so beautiful. My eyes can't get enough of the leaves. I just want, and need, my iPhone to capture what I'm seeing. Photoshop helps, but it's still better in person, but I keep trying.

Not the Water Tower, but a raised area within the same park.

Leaf Art

Fall Selfies (Fallfies)

Even the statues are looking good with the fall leaves.

After exploring around, we finally get our first glimpse of the Wasserturm. Pretty cool.

Wasserturm

And bonus! There's a park at the bottom of the Water Tower. The kids stop to play for a while. I occupy myself by taking more photos.

After a stint of playing, it began to rain (sprinkle, really), which encouraged the kids to finish up. They were ready to go and head to Stop Number 2 on my list. With the rain, came a little bit of wind. The wind would blow through the trees and cause many leaves to tumble to the ground. The kids had fun trying to catch the leaves before they hit the ground. Unfortunately, Xander chased a leaf into some bushes... which turned out to be Stinging Nettles. Ye-ouch! Poor guy. He dealt with it bravely and marched on (the lure of Stop Number 2 was strong enough to encourage bravery).

"Lovebird Seats" (left), Stinging Nettles... now we know (right)

Photos I took while waiting.

And so we trudge on. We are headed to a chocolate-specialty store I read about in one of the books. It's an U-Bahn (remember, German's pronounce the "U" as "ooo" not "you", so it must be "an" before, not "a", in my opinion) ride away.

A cool "60s-ish" looking building (left) and an empty square (right)

We find our chocolate-specialty store, "Winterfeldt Schokoladen,"on the corner down the street in Shöneberg, Berlin. The store portion of the place has tons and tons of chocolate from all over the world (but it seems mostly from Europe, Asia, and Africa). The packaging on some of these items are so beautiful. But at €7-15 per bar/package, I must skip buying one of each.

The book instructed us to not get too lost in the visuals of the items in the store. It was recommended to sit and have some drinking chocolate. The book said the drinking chocolate would be served in a tiny espresso cup and would be enough (because it's so rich). However, ours came in large cappuccino cups, with lots of milk. Don't get me wrong, the beverage was very, very tasty. Just not quite the thick drinking chocolate we were expecting. We did like it a lot and did buy some to bring home, thinking we could experiment with less milk to make it thicker.

And, since none of us are scone fans, we got a slice of chocolate cake with fudge frosting, a gluten-free cheesecake, and a carrot cake (with regular frosting, instead of cream cheese frosting like we were hoping for).

The kids play checkers (on iPod) while they wait for their drinks and treats.

It was a most delicious afternoon.

Ritter Sport Interview (Xander)

What did you think when you walked into the Ritter Sport store?

It smells amazing!

Did you notice anything unique?

They had giant towers of 3 or so of every flavour they had.

What was your experience ordering a custom bar?

Interesting, they had a lot of ingredients that I would not think of putting in chocolate, it was also fun to get to pick what you put in your chocolate bar.

What did you think of your custom bar?

It was tasty! I put gummy bears, and marshmallows in mine.

What other sights do you remember seeing in the store?

A spiral tower of giant chocolate bars (they were not real).

If you go back, what would you get this time?

I don't know, there were a lot of choices

Anything else?

Nothing else :)

Day 11: Last Tourist Day

Last Tourist Day
Well, not really the last tourist day, but Chris goes back to work tomorrow, so we're ending our vacation.

Ticket machine (right)
and validator (left)

Another morning of rain. It is such a wonderful sound to hear and I really do wish we could send it to the PNW to help with the Washington and Oregon fires. I don't know how long in the night it has rained, but it stops by the end of breakfast, so perfect timing for us to go out and explore (note, today Chris is bringing umbrellas just in case and I don't argue this time!)

Now that we have the U-Bahn ticket system down (for now), we buy tickets successfully and the first time (the bill intake is now working, so that helps a lot). And we don't need to transfer, so it's straight away to Potsdamer Platz (another renovation created over rubble left behind from the Berlin Wall and the SED reign).

Reminders are all over. There are even representations in the center of the mall, as well
a few exhibits, including the photo on the right of the only way family members, separated
by thewall, were able to see each other by climbing ladders, lamp posts, etc.

Part of the Berlin Wall painted by Noir.

We walk around Potsdamer Arkaden, which is a three story shopping center, and just one of the buildings in Potsdamer Platz. Mostly window shopping and buying a few souvenirs, including items from the Amplemann store and the Thierry Noir store. The man running the shop today is from Virginia (I think that's what he said) and came to Berlin 35 years ago and decided to stay. He explained Noir is said to be the first person to paint the Berlin Wall. The artist chose simple designs (so he could paint fast, although he was arrested a few times) and a bright palette (to bring more colour) for his art. Out front of the building is a (relocated) section of the Berlin Wall to serve as an entrance.

We lunched in the "food court" and paid 50 cents to use the bathroom. So, if you want to ride the U-Bahn or use a bathroom, you MUST have small coins in your wallet! Keep those coins! I used to think it was important for parking at the library, but now... it's to make sure I can use a bathroom when needed! Thought: This sure seems like a way to punish those of us with small bladders. Unfair, I say.

At the Sony Center. Part of the fountain is "hovering" in the air, seems very futuristic (middle).

Embarrassing receptacles for the slushies (left)
Venice in a square (don't ask?)

Other thoughts: The Fanta orange drink here is more like sparkling orange juice. Xander is very unhappy about this problem, as he loves the Fanta from back home. But what do Europeans traveling to America think of our Fanta? Too syrupy? Too sweet? Nasty?

As we ponder these questions, we get a slushy from the local movie theatre, also taking note that Minions might be playing there now or soon, and perhaps we can actually see it there! The Sony center has a big movie theatre and most (if not all) are playing in English.

More of the Sony Center, including its ceiling.

Next on our walking tour is Checkpoint Charlie. Not the original, but a recreation of the original, complete with actors posing as guards asking for people's passports. Posing for pictures with you (for a fee) if you like. And of course, my favourite juxtaposition, McDonalds in the background. And P.S. I'm pretty sure those soldiers holding the U.S. Flag are NOT from the USA.

There is a "block-sized" exhibit across the street that we visit (much to the kids' impatience, it was hot in the sun). A quick look around for Chris and me, before moving on.

Next? Nespresso! Back to try more flavours and buy more capsules. We aren't out yet, but wanted to get more flavours. But we waited too long for our free shots, as the line got super long (I guess people know about the complimentary espressos and cappuccinos!)

So, we skipped it, after all, and just bought our capsules and headed down the street to our final destination of the day (the kids' dangling carrot finally achieved), Ritter Sport Bunte Schokowelt (colourful chocolate world?) Oh. My. God. The chocolate was overwhelming. Large. Lots. Crowds. Smells gooooood!

Ingredients for Chris and Diana's creations (left)
Our chocolatier getting the bubbles out (left-middle)
The many chocolate bars we got for less than 12 Euros and the chocolate spout (right-middle)
Meine Schoko Kreation (right)

Our first thing to do is to order our custom bars. You tell a chocolatier which chocolate to use and what three ingredients to add into your custom bar. Then, you have to wait 40 minutes for it to "chill" before picking it up. So we created our bars and then went into the shop area to see what damage we could do. We were a bit starry-eyed from the cheap prices. Having been to Ghiradelli and Tcho and we know how expensive chocolate can be. So at less than an Euro per bar, we went hog-crazy... I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach thinking about eating it all... but mostly just excited (we did wait until after dinner to try our bars, which were DELICIOUS, by the way).

The last thing of the day was to send the kids home (from the U-Bahn station) and Chris and I went to the Lidl market to get a few items. I am shopping a lot by picture. Thank goodness for pictures! So, I bought meat that had a picture of a cow and a pig on it, guessing it's either ground beef or a combination of beef and pork. Either way, it'll work!

Stop me, I've eaten half my custom bar!