Day 58: East Side Gallery

It's back to "regularly" scheduled weekends! So, today, we head to the farmers market once again. It's another blue-sky day, and the market is busy.

Farmers Market

Venice comes with us and we go with the intent of finding fresh pasta and ""spreads". There are several carts with different kinds of "spreads". We find one such cart (maybe Turkish?). After deciding which ones we want, and it's our turn, the offer us a taste of one we didn't think of getting. Dang their tactics. That one was super yummy, so of course we buy that one too. And some bread, a few different kinds that all taste so wonderful. Not your typical style of bread, more buttery, airy, and soft. Delicious. And... we even went to another cart (maybe Greek?) and got several more, including tzatziki and hummus (which must include some cream in it because it's super creamy, smooth, and savoury).

At these stalls, we buy enough (maybe €15-20 at each stall, which doesn't seem like that much to us), that the sellers give us extra "freebees". Or maybe it's just their way of trying to get us to come back to their stall over a competitors. Either way, we get extra dolmas (which is nice, but actually we may not eat, not anyone's favourite) and at the other stall, we got an extra spread.

So, Venice likes my boots and wants to try for a pair of her own. I'm so in love with my new boots and the store is right across the street, so, we take her over there to try some on. A different woman is running the store today, she's young and laughs at everything we say, all the while working so hard to get boot, after boot, after boot down for us. I tried on a few others as well... and well... both Venice and I got a pair of boots. So, now I have two pairs to be in love with!

Venice took our boots home while Chris and I went next door to the Patagonia store. It's cold and we're looking for more layers. Chris gets a jacket and I get one that matches my new boots! Hallo!

Shopping this morning took us a lot longer than we thought and lunch was a bit late (around 2pm). Timing is a bit of a bummer as we'll need to eat dinner early so we can see the Festival of Lights on the earlier side. But, perhaps it'll be ok as the kids are always hungry and Chris and I can eat a light lunch.

KREUTZBERG
First thing on the afternoon list is to visit the East Side Gallery. We are doing all things "Kreutzberg" today. We thought about living in this district, but after seeing how far it was from Chris' work, we ended up in Prenzlauer Berg, which, having lived here for a while now, is the better lifestyle fit for us. The East Side Gallery is in Kreutzberg and we're off to see the art on the Wall there.

The beginning (or the end?) of the gallery (left)
Standing in the middle of the Wall. East is on the left, West is on the right. (middle)
Gorbachev... haven't seen him in a while (right)

The East Side Gallery was painted in 1990, but wasn't done "right" (no primer, and other problems) and the art eroded quickly. Refurbishments were done later (with some surrounding controversy). And of course, dumb dumbs put graffiti back onto the pieces of artwork again. So, it's a bummer to have iconic paintings covered in graffiti, but it is what it is.

The top painting, during the remediations, was redone by the artist in a new painting, not
the original (very controversial).
A rose for each casualty of the wall (left)
The wave of people going through the wall in 1989 (middle)
Partial painting from an artist from Denver, CO (right)

Of course, the East side is in the shade and we just about froze. Keep walking. Take quick photos. Keep walking. Take a break on the West side to sit in the sun. Keep walking! The coldest part was probably taking the photos which meant you had to expose your hands. Brrrr. Good thing I have a new jacket and lined boots to help me out!

Some iconic images.
Test the Rest (used to be Test the Best) (left) and artist Noir (top and right)

We didn't even capture all the art of this one, it was long.
This is probably my favourite of the day.

We skipped the very end (or the beginning) of the gallery. Instead, we bought water and headed towards the bridge. I'm thinking we missed out on seeing another iconic painting of the Soviet and German leaders embraced in a kiss. Kind of bummed. But, I see it depicted on my walks in the morning, so I'll take a photo of that to make up for missing it at the gallery.

Next, we cross the Oberbaumbrücke bridge. I read (at the Fernsehtrum) that on this bridge (I don't know when), they hold an annual, symbolic, water fight. "Although the demonstration is run along peaceful lines, the fighting is intense with water bombs, flour bombs and rotten eggs being happily tossed around. In the messy aftermath, both sides naturally claim victory and local pride is regained."

Oberbaumbrücke

We pass by a bear, not a Buddy Bear, but another bear. The kids will take a photo with it anyway.

Next on our journey is a store, Original Unverpackt, I heard about from Tori. A store that uses little to no packaging in attempts to reduce waste. We almost walked right by it, the store front is very small and non-flashy. The store, inside, was also small. We invisioned no packaging, however, they sold drinks (in bottles) and some prepackaged items. But, in-line with their mission, most of their inventory is sold in bulk. You can buy their bottles, tupperware, etc. and then fill these containers with the food (and refill another day) you want to buy. Below you can see their Sweet and Sour section (this would be a favourite area, for sure) and the plastic glove you use to grab food so that you don't touch it all while getting the amount you want. And, of course, Spaghetti Hell! Sometimes we think so too (but really, hell is "light", which isn't as funny).

No packaging store.

Next, to warm up, we stop for a good cappuccino.

And when adults get a cup of coffee. We know it's boring for the kids. What to do to keep them from getting bored? Try being a model? There was a giant magazine on our table, so we flipped through it and Venice, from the comfort of her place on the couch, emulated each model to prove anyone can do it. We were pretty discrete, I don't know that anyone knew what we were doing. Sneaky fun!

Venice's Black and White series.

Color

Even Xander got in on the action, by the end.

Thus ends part 1 of our day.

Day 23: Shopping

Making a new record of 98
hits in a row.

This last week seemed to tire us out. We ALL slept in today, had a late breakfast and left for the farmers market around lunchtime.

The farmers market continues to surprise us with how inexpensive items are. I have a favourite fruit and vegetable stand (the one where Chris got in trouble for touching the beans on his own). The woman there speaks a little English and seems to always be in an upbeat mood. Today, she seemed to enjoy pronouncing items clearly for us (having us repeat after her) and telling us to have a good weekend. While she's trying to help us learn, which we do, she also speaks very fast, so it's not super easy, but I try, as she's trying to help. So, now we have a favourite meat counter, noodle dispensary, and produce stand. We have yet to buy fish. We've seen one stand that sells fish, but it always seems to come after we've purchased other items and are wanting to hustle home, so we haven't bought any yet.

On the way home, I ran into the larger market to get a few items (chips and tortillas) and Chris ran into the beer to get a few items (beer). We had quite the haul coming home. Two backpacks and three bags full. About what we can carry. The kids are getting good and being helpful carrying food back from the markets!

Our loot from today's food excursion:
cheese, tortillas, chips, 2 breads, steaks, sliced ham and salami, beans, cauliflower,
gnocchi, noodles with meat, a dozen eggs, broccoli,  4 beers ($1 each), potatoes
and perhaps something I'm forgetting!

Again, to take prepare for Sunday (closed stores), we decided to head to a new-to-us part of town to see what shops they had there (first stop, the Apple Store). The kids didn't complain at the Apple Store because they could park themselves and play the games on the sample iPhones. Chris and I were able to browse accessories and such (yay, I have new headphones!)

We visited the Tesla showroom, located next to the Apple Store,
to see the electric-customisable floor model.

I'm looking for comfortable knee-high boots (something I think doesn't exist). I tried a few on and failed. Chris tried on some new casual shoes and succeeded. Venice tried on some sandals and failed. But, not to get too discouraged, because across the street is a fancy chocolate store and the kids were able to find something tasty to appease their moods.

It rained a little while we were out. The kids played with their umbrellas, but they weren't really necessary. Jackets, however, were needed, as it was a bit chilly. So, the cozy warmth of the noodle restaurant (a coworker told Chris this was a good noodle place), was welcomed. The food... sehr lecker (so yummy!)


We were a little late getting home (7:45pm). Xander was supposed to Skype with a friend, but they never got on. So, it didn't matter we were late. And the kids found a cousin online, so fun times were had by all.

Chris and Venice walking to dinner (left)
Venice waiting for the train (middle)
Sunset, also waiting for the train (right)

Day 16: Picnic

After breakfast, we (Chris, Venice, and myself) went to the farmers market. It didn't take as long this time, as we had experience under our belts! However, that doesn't mean we didn't make mistakes or learn anything new.

For example, Chris got slightly chastised for taking green beans on his own (they usually do it for you). I realise that Venice and I grabbed basket of berries on our own, at a different stand, but the women filled a "cone" with cherries for us. I think it's ok that we grabbed the berries on our own, since they were in baskets, but I also saw people asking for them and the person behind the counter picking the baskets themselves. Venice and I didn't get in trouble, like Chris, but we'll have to keep your eyes on this to see if we're doing the right thing or not.

We bought more fresh noodles. The family liked it so much, so more super long fettuccine. And a few others to try (spinach ravioli and some sort of "meat pockets", who knows what it really is, we just picked by looks). The woman we had serving us our pasta, today, did not speak any English. But she gave us a brochure for their pasta that tells us how long to cook each item. Which is good, because the "meat pockets" need to cook for 20 minutes! Not like some of the other pasta which is only 4-6 minutes. Needless to say, we're excited to try the new noodles.

A few days ago, our neighbours from the fourth floor put an invitation on our door. Being the introvert that I am, I was hesitant to go. But, I know it's something we really need to do. We are here for a long time and we should know our neighbours (for friends, for emergencies, for questions, for whatever).

The kids were a little reluctant to go, as well. Both are a little shy around new people, and in addition, Venice tends to always be the oldest there. She decided to take her drawing materials down with her, just in case she needed to entertain herself while the "little kids" played.

Chris was ok going, I'm thinking the biggest thing is that we were thinking of doing some items on our "list" over the weekend, and now we might not get to do them.

But, turns out, it was a great afternoon. Idyllic, really. The weather wasn't hot, just perfect. The kids all played together, including the shy and the "old". Two of the kids didn't speak any English, but that didn't seem to matter. Everyone seemed to be included and find something to do or someone to play with.

The backyard behind our building (private area).

As for the adults... similar. The best thing is that everyone spoke English. So, yay for us! It was great to have easy conversation and understand it all. At one point, one of the friends slipped into German and I guess I was staring. He apologised and switched back into English, repeating what he was saying. I thanked him, but I really enjoyed listening to his German and trying to get a feel for what he was saying. But, it was also nice to actually know what he was saying.

As Chris mentioned, the conversation was all over the place, including so many subjects. Sometimes, it was a bit crazy how "worldly" these people are. Living here and then there, traveling all the time. It seems like they have all been everywhere! Chris and I are the least traveled in the bunch, that's for sure. I do think they are mostly all wealthy (at least doing well) and a lot of their travels seem job related, so a very educated bunch as well, I think.

As a count, there were about 10 or more adults (at any one time) and at least 8-10 kids. Random side note, it was a bit distracting, to me, as one of the friends looked like Woody Harrelson and one looked like Crispin Glover. I can pretend I was meeting the stars.

Chris also mentioned, "brot, bread." Yes, there was a discussion about who makes the best bread in the world. According to the German, there is no discussion, German bread is the best. She did say that some people are starting to manufacture the bread in off-site plants, freezing it, sending it to markets who then bake it. Crap, she says. But all other German bread... is the best. No discussion.

After the picnic, we took a break upstairs. Xander wanted to fix the Bailey server for Minecraft so he could invite a new friend from the picnic to play on it with him. So, Chris and Xander worked on that while Venice and I took some quiet time to rejuvenate.

Apparently, we took a little too long, as we were all hungry (and cranky) as we left to go find dinner. It didn't help that the restaurant we set out to patronise... wasn't there when we got to the address. Not sure if there is a mixup, or if it's gone. Not sure why Yelp wouldn't be updated. Whatever the reason, we couldn't find it where it was supposed to be, so we walked (and walked and walked) to find a different ramen restaurant.

So, a very nice day, feeling happy with the neighbour connections.

Day 9: IKEA

Old Routines
Back in Berlin, means back to home, means back to "old routines". Xander gets up and goes on computer. Venice sleeps in. I read updates in bed. Chris goes for a morning run. Breakfast is late. A nice lazy (for most of us) morning.

After breakfast, the kids weren't interested in accompanying us to the farmer's market (no surprise). Chris and I head out with our backpacks, bags, and cash. I ask Chris to allow me to lead the way, as I'm still trying to get the lay of the land here. For some reason, without an ocean, or mountain range, or something as my "marker", I'm having a hard time figuring out north, south, east, and west in my head.

Side story: When we were on the top of the Victory Column (located in the west), I overheard a funny conversation. As far as I could tell, it was a German couple taking an American couple around the city. The man from the American couple asked, "Is that east?", pointing to one direction. I was interested, since I had just wondered about directions myself. The German man replied with a knowing chuckle, "Of course. We Germans always know what direction the east is." Yes, implication received. One who lives in West Germany would always know that The Wall is to the east (and visa versa, I suppose).

Farmer's Market (or is it Farmers Market? or Farmers' Market?)
We arrived at the farmer's market and decided our best course would be to walk the entire length of it, and then buy items on the way back. So we perused the stands, figuring out which ones had better produce and what we'd buy for the week and tonight's dinner. At the end, we came across a meat stall with good looking sausages. We approached the woman behind the counter, Chris asking if she spoke English, she replied just a little. She motioned that between our German and her English, we'd be good.

Chris asked about the difference in the sausages. She searched for the words to explain and then just said, "here, fresh made this morning." The woman took a sausage out of the case, ripped the end off of it and pulled out some of the insides. She then put it towards us and motioned for us to take some and feel the insides. THEN she motioned to eat it... this is one of those cutlture times, right? When in Rome... but all of my instincts are telling me it's raw-white meat. Not only is it going to kill me, but I'm going to gag when eating raw meat. But, I can't be rude and say no. And you only have a split second to decide what to do and before you know it, you're eating raw sausage at a farmer's market. And actually, it tasted good (even if I'm going to die). This meat-woman also had us try the German ham (basically German prosciutto) and roast beef (that's what I'm calling it) and we bought it all. Danke!

Then onto homemade jams, fresh-made pasta, vegetables, fruit, baskets for our bathrooms (there are no cupboards in there) and all that we could carry home. I don't know the exact amount we paid for everything, but it was so much cheaper than our farmers market back home. Yummy for our tummies and our wallets.

IKEA Trip
After lunching on prosciutto, cheese, and bread (and a short cat-nap by me), we headed to Ikea. The kids' favourite place to go (sarcasm!) We promised our list was short and would only take an hour (foreshadowing again!)

We planned to take the U-Bahn there and either take it back again (if we could carry it all) or a taxi (if we bought bigger items or too many items).  We walked towards the U-Bahn station and had about 2 minutes to spare before our train would come. So we hastily attempted to buy tickets in time. Unfortunately, it would be over 10 Euros and the machine only took coins. We did not have enough coins. So we ran to the length of the platform, to the other end, and used the machine that took bills. BUT, there was a red light on the bill-intake part, and it wouldn't take our money. Doh! There went our train and we had no tickets.

We had to go back up to the street, to the big market, ask for change, and then head back down. Now that we had a few minutes to try again, we were more relaxed. As we were trying the coins we just acquired, I started to wonder if the machines were double-sided and if on one side it was coins only and the other bills and coins? Venice looked. Yes. Doh, again! We didn't have to run the length of the platform to try the other machine, and perhaps that first machine WOULD have taken our bills. Too late now, we have our coins, we have our tickets, we are set for the next train.

Your transportation ticket is good for all of the city's public transportations (U-Bahn, S-Bahn, M-trains, and Buses). After two stops on our U-Bahn, we get off and look for the M-train stop we needed. We think we get onto the correct M-train, go a few stops, and then think we might not be on the right one, so we get off, regroup and another train comes on a second track, which is the train we really want. Only it's tough to get to it, because there is a barrier between us and we'd either have to go way around the back or the front. But we see another man running across to make the train, we decide to try for it, we run, we make it on, it's the right train. We're good. And this train is slightly cooler (weak air conditioning) and up to date with digital displays, so it's easy to watch our progress along the stops.

And we finally make it. IKEA!

We begin our shopping with our short list, trying for one hour. Well, Venice decided she'd like a desk in her room (she was going back and forth with this idea), so we looked for the right (cheap) solution. Then we needed to figure out chairs. Then, we had to find the kitchenwares. Then the kids got hungry for a snack at the cafe. Then we had to find the items we chose within the warehouse. Then we had to get the frozen yogurt to use the coupons we got from ordering from the upstairs cafe.

Then we had to call a taxi (oh, yeah, too much stuff, too heavy, too big). Chris' first call (via phone app) for a taxi got canceled. The second one ended with lunch (Chris asked an arriving taxi if we could jump in, but the taxi driver said no, that he was hungry and going to eat). The third attempt (via phone app again) ended in a mix-up. We were about to put our items into the back of the taxi when a woman comes running up saying, "I think that's my taxi!" She showed her app (same as ours) with a license number and it was, indeed, her taxi. So, fourth taxi is a charm. Another 25 Eruo taxi ride (I guess we can consider this the "shipping fee" for our Ikea items) and we're home. I think we need to be done with taxis (it's adding up!)

Interesting fact: from door to door, it was a 4 hour excursion. I think about 1 hour of travel and 3 hours at Ikea. The kids' were right... somehow we always get sucked into a time warp within Ikea. Another interesting fact: Ikea, here, only takes cash. No Visa, no nadda. So, good thing we had enough cash!

End of the Day

For dinner, we cooked the fresh fettuccini from the Farmer's Market. The noodles were crazy long, which entertained us for a long time (saying, "May I have 1 more noodle, please?" because 1 noodle was a LOT of food).

Super duper long noodles

shower mitts

Well, something else had us laughing. At Ikea, one of the things we looked for were washcloths. Our family likes to use these as reusable napkins during meals. The thing is, it's hard to find washcloths here (at least for us). It seems there are big hand towels, but not really any washcloths that we could see. We finally found some at Ikea that are about twice the length of a washcloth we're used to, so we decided to buy some of those. There were sets of really bright colours, either blue, green, pink, etc. A few bins down, I picked up a pretty dark grey, which we figure would hide more mess! So, we got those. Perfect, right? Well, back at home, I take the tags off and start laughing. They are NOT washcloths that we know. They are shower-mitts, or I don't really know what else to call them They are sewn up the sides and fit like a puppet So, we had fun using these for our napkins while eating our extremely long noodles.

Something else funny? We don't have any tools and Ikea sells many items you have to build yourself! So, we tried to build the chairs we bought, but you need a phillips-head screwdriver and a wrench. We hand tightened what we could, but that can only do so much. And forget Venice's desk, that's still in its wrapper waiting until we can get to the hardware store to get a few simple tools!

Good-night!

Day Two: Essentials

Day Two. A lot happened today. Here are today's highlights. Either read straight through, or just read the headlines and view pictures (like I do the news.)

WALKING THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

We were treated to a beautiful sunrise on our first full day in Berlin. I guess that's our treat for waking up so darn early. It was lovely to eat breakfast while watching the sun peak through the clouds. As soon as the sun did come out, however, it was a race to close the shades to keep it out, as it was another hot, hot day. Side note: the shades are electric-outdoor blinds. Pretty snazzy. We're wondering how much it would cost for us to get these for our house back home.

Above, you'll see a photo of the front of our building. On the left, a pinkish-beige building, on the right, an olive-green building. We're sandwiched in the middle. If you look closely, the door to our building is on the left. The larger opening in the middle is wide enough for a car to drive through (maybe to pick up the trash bins?), and then on the right, is a store front. We're not sure if it's a cafe, an office, or a furniture store, but this is where our contact was waiting to greet us. It's part of the building, for sure, just not sure of it's purpose. Anyway, those areas are all on the ground floor. Then above that is floor 1 and above that is floor 2, where we live. Now would you say we're on floor 2? Or floor 3? I say, technically we're on floor 3, but the elevator calls the ground floor "0", so we end up on 2. Either way, you can figure out where our apartment is.

Doors painted with our street name and neighbourhood. (left)
Ample Man alerting pedestrians to stop. (right)

We spent much of the day walking (Chris and I both clocked over sixteen thousand steps) around the neighbourhood. I am completely mixed up as to what is North, South, East, and West. I typically have a good feel for where I am if I have an ocean to keep to the west, or a mountain range to keep to the east. But here, it's very flat and I haven't gotten it figured out yet. So, as we're walking all over, I haven't gotten a feel for if we're headed south or north, east or west. I'll get there, but for now, it's very disorienting.



FARMERS MARKET

At the Farmers Market: Venice ate raspberries (left)
Chris and Xander got sausages (Chris got currywurst from "Restaurant Zander"
Chris and Diana shared a falaffel sandwhich ((right)

We decided to check out the Farmers Market today. We figure we'll probably be going here once a week. We also thought that if we walked in a zig-zag fashion, we'd see more of the neighbourhood and would possibly find stores for the future, or stores that we need now. It was perfect. We walked past several parks, markets, and we found a housewares store. where we bought ice-cube trays, glass bottles to hold water in the refrigerator (the kids are more likely to drink the water if it's cold, and we, also, enjoy the water being crsipy-cold on hot days like today), a few bowls (the apartment only came with two cereal size bowls), and a few other items.

The worst part of the Farmers Market is our discovery of bees. It is bee season here and they follow us everywhere. They smell American blood and love us. So, eating outside is hard, eating inside is hard (no screens anywhere so bees everywhere) and the kids are afraid, the younger one more. So, it has been tricky to eat in peace.


ANOTHER MARKET and HOME DEPOT
While on our way to the farmers market, we came across another market. Not surprising, Chris had see this market when he visited on his own weeks ago. But surprising to be discovered so close to our apartment. Side note: we stumbled across two more markets within a few blocks from our apartment, so we'll have many choices on where to get food depending on what we want or where we are when we want something. We looked around this market on the way to the Farmers Market, and then on the way home, we actually shopped there.

Venice photographing Xander on the merry-go-round. (left)
Xander turning the hand crank to make the merry-go-round go around. (middle)
Venice photographing the "stair-less" escalator we used about 10 times today. (right)

This market, is particularly large, bright, open, fresh, and clean. It had everything you could need (except salt, we spent a lot of time looking for salt and couldn't find it!) We bought a lot of groceries here today. Waters (to taste test at home, so the kids will actually drink some), snacks, cheese, other drinks, apples, tomatoes, and more. On the top floor, there is a small area for kids to play while the parents shop. It overlooks the escalators. There is a net beyond the tall window, I figure, it's to catch any child deciding to climb over and jump or fall.

After a brief rest, we were deciding what to do before the stores closed. We didn't think the family had energy to do the last two errands of the day (obtain fans and an espresso maker). Triage time. I was sweltering in the heat, so I begged for fans. Chris found OBI was a hardware store within walking distance, so we opted to go there. Is it international for hardware stores to be orange? Can't help but think of Home Depot. And when we lived in CA, there was OSH. Anyway, OBI's website had several fans to choose from, but when we got there, they only had the 13" fans available. Very tiny. But I was desperate. We also got a few other items (hangers, trash bags, but we decided to wait on a broom or mop). We had to keep in mind that we were walking home. So far my backpack has come in handy and is working well.


FUNNY LABELS AND SNACKS
We're on the lookout for funny food names. At the big market, we found BioLust (The company name), which Venice thinks sounds like a name for a perfume. And Xander saw "Finger Noodles".

The kids have also been wondering what kind of snacks from home will they miss and what will be available here. We were on our way home, when we had to stop for more drinks, to keep us hydrated, and we stumbled across a few tasty snacks. Venice was super delighted to find OREOs here. Phew! We did buy some. They taste the same. We also found some chips (which we did not buy this time) called "Western Style Sweet and Spicy" (which looks an awful lot like BBQ flavour from the picture), and an entire case of Ben and Jerry's ice cream! We didn't have time to look at all the flavours of ice cream, and to be honest, I didn't think to look until we were home. I do wonder if they have any flavours different than the U.S.?

PARKS
So, on all our excursions today, we saw many, many parks for kids. Some seemed to be locked, as far as we can tell, some are only open certain hours, others were possibly schools. But there were many that were open and the kids tried as many as they could. It's fantastic to have so much within walking distance.

The best park, which we'll have to visit again, had a water feature with a water pump and natural surroundings to create water ways in the sand. At this same park, live two rabbits, whose names I'm forgetting. They are fed on Tuesdays and Fridays, so perhaps we'll go back to see them fed. They are giant rabbits... maybe 30 pounds each? There was also a section that was currently closed, but had open hours we'll try another day. It was a large area to be explored by kids. The sign, as far as we could translate, said kids 3-16 and specifically said no parents were allowed in. Kids don't have to announce their entry, they just go in and out without telling anyone. Our kids really want to go back to explore this area, it looks great with tall wooden structures to climb and more.


RESTING, MOTORCADE AND DINNER
In the afternoon, we all rested. I went into the backroom to "read"... but fell asleep instead and took a nice nap. When I woke up, I found out that Chris had gone back to our local little store to buy a few things we needed (laundry detergent, kleenex, and more). Nice for things to be taken care of and nice to catch a few Z's.

Later, Chris decided last minute to make a mad dash to the espresso store, since they wouldn't be open on Sunday (as most stores aren't). It was after 6 and the store closed at 7. It is a 15 minute U-Bahn ride (the underground train) to the Gendarmenmarkt (high end shopping area). Venice decided to go with him. Xander wanted to stay home (he was melting hot). I stayed with Xander. The kids aren't quite ready to stay home alone. Understandable.

Dung beetles.

So, Xander and I watched a little TV, trying out all the TV stations we could find. We found that many stations repeated, some up to around 15 times! They really want us to watch that cooking show! But I finally found Comedy Central (and watched a few minutes of That 70's Show, an episode I just happened to have seen recently. I understood one line, "Ich bin sehr kalt." (I am so cold.) Yay, me! Ha. But then we kept changing channels, I was convinced there had to be cartoons somewhere. Not sure if I'm right in thinking the vocabulary and language will be easier to understand or if I'm wrong because cartoon mouths don't make the right "mouth movements". Anyway, we stumbled across The Simpsons. Couldn't understand a bit of it.

Turned one more channel and found a kid's channel. The show was Maja and the cast is a bunch of insects (bees, beetles, flies). After a few minutes of watching the current episode, we realised one of the bees farted. Did we really just hear that? As far as we could understand, this bee had a farting problem and everyone was offended by the smell. He was sad to be stinky. So he sought help in finding someone who made him a tincture to drink and he was all better. Then he could have ice cream. So maybe he really was lactose intolerant. The next episode, was even funnier. We realised it was about their friend, a dung beetle, preparing for a feast. So he was rolling dung balls from a giant heap of poop. His friends thought it was disgusting and a few flies landed on top of the big pile to have their own picnic. Xander and I thought it was disgusting! It definitely had us laughing and feeling grossed out at the same time.

Motorcade, as seenfrom our living room (left). Dinner time (right).

During one of these episodes, we heard a lot of car horns beeping. We went to the window and there was a motorcade of sorts. Lots of cars with flags on their cars, motorcycle escorts, more flags. The most prominent one was yellow with a black hand showing "four". I Googled and found that two years ago, on August 14, there was a massacre in Egypt by the police against protesters. No one is certain of the true origin of the hand symbol, but it was used by the protesters and supporters of the victims and protesters involved, as a peace symbol and solidarity. So, I guess the motorcade was a "parade" of sorts to commemorate this event.

After a quick shower, it was time to start dinner. Our first home cooked meal in Berlin. Chris and Venice returned, successful from their espresso endeavour. Chris helped finish dinner and we had a nice evening at home. Phew, it was a nice long day of shopping, walking, and exploring (and sweating).