Well, yikes. We're all so tired. The kids are zombie-like this morning. No conversations. Simple0-blank stares as they nod acknowledgement. Poor Venice had a bout of insomnia last night. So, we're all tired this morning.
But, the taxi will be called in a few minutes and we'll be off!
As a P.S. to yesterday's post (fighting with the machines), I forgot to add that Chris spent several attempts trying to change the stove's clock. On-line manual to rescue, again! But it was a funny-frustrating thing to have to figure out (it seemed to always end in lots and lots of beeping alarms.)
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Day 3: Sweat Boxes and Rain
OMG! I SLEPT IN!
First, I woke up around 4:30 and had some wicked insomnia. I was committed to getting back to sleep. I don't know how long it took me, but I did see the sky lightening and worried I was up for the day. However, next thing I know, I hear Chris around the corner and I ask what time it is... 10am! Wow. Nice to get all that sleep, and I definitely slept like a log once I fell back asleep. The bad news is I woke up on my back funny which led to my arms feeling numb and I definitely had an "off" feeling all morning, just feeling disorientated. I'm ready for jet lag to be over! Good news, we have to get up at 7 am tomorrow, so there's that. Not sure that information is pertinent, but just when we're sleeping in a little, we have to wake up to an alarm. More Murphy's Law.
Chris had gotten up and gone for a run. Great for him and his state of mind. Great for us as he did a lot of reconnaissance. He found the closer ATM, directions to some main areas, and just got a better feel for where we're located. He schooled me with a map in front to help pass along his discoveries.
TAXIs and THE 100 BUS
Breakfast was late. We sat around and chatted at the table. The we lunched and headed out after 2pm. We decided to ride the 100 Bus, a regular city bus that also doubles as a hop-on, hop-off tour of the city. You buy your bus ticket, get on the 100 bus, take it to a monument, hop-off, check it out, then hop back on and head to the next site.
Chris used a newly downloaded taxi.eu app to call a taxi. A taxi arrived in front of our apartment 6 minutes later. Nice! It was a "dry run" for tomorrow morning when we'll need at taxi at 7 am to take us to the airport. Chris asked the driver if it was easy to get a taxi and the driver said, "Oh yes, in Berlin, easy."
We got the starting point of the 100 Bus line (near the west end of the Tiergarten). Reminded me of Golden Gate Park in SF. I'm guessing it's similar to Central Park in NY, too. Lots of green space, lots of park areas to picnic, lots of walking paths, etc. Located at the other side of the Tiergarten is the aquarium and the zoo. And somewhere near there is where the 100 Bus line begins.
Of course, trying to hydrate, we are drinking a lot. Which means, as soon as the taxi drops us off, Venice and I need a restroom. We didn't see any public-pay toilets, to we went to McDonalds. Sigh. We hadn't set foot into one of these for over 5 years now, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. They had a bathroom with an attendant at the entrance. You tip her and she gives you a paper towel. Perhaps you'd get the towel anyway, but we'll tip, as it's the custom.
Feeling better (other than using McD's), we got tickets and jumped on the first bus (or Sweat Box, as I like to call it) to come by (they come every 5 minutes.) Yes, we climbed to the top of the double-decker bus to get a better view. Yes it was over 85 F. Yes, it was humid. No there wasn't any air conditioning on the bus. Yes, we melted. No, we did not have a map to understand the route. So, yes, we jumped off the bus was sooner than planned and walked a little farther than expected. But, we got to see more of the Tiergarten than we expected (and more of a sunbathing man than we expected to!)
SIEGESSÄULE
First tourist spot, Siegessäule, The Berliner Victory Column. Three Euros per person. To do it or not to do it? We did it. It was good. It was a LOT of stairs. We thought you could only go to the second floor (thus the ticket debate), but you can actually climb all the way to the top, to just underneath the golden woman at the top.
We went in and explored the exhibits on the main floor, then climbed to the second floor viewing area. We thought this was it. Nope! We then climbed the 285 steps to the top. The kids made it, but felt more comfortable heading back down to the second floor. Chris and I stayed at the top, circled it once, took a few photos, and then headed back down to meet the kids. Going down was much easier, but faster and more dizzifying.
REICHSTAG
Next stop was the Reichstag. But first, another sweat box ride on the 100 Bus. When we got to the bus stop, we realised Xander had misplaced his ticket. We let the first bus go by, it was too crowded. The second bus came and Chris asked the driver if he spoke English (he didn't), so we tried to say we lost the ticket, and wanted to buy another one. Chris showed him his receipt. Just blank stares or shoulder shrugs, so we got back off. Third bus, was right behind the second bus so it just drove by (darn it, maybe that bus driver spoke English!). But then we remembered our friends saying that they don't check tickets. You just want a ticket in case they check. So, we decided to just get on and pretend we had a fourth ticket. Boom. Done. No problem. And side note: Chris had showed his receipt to the Siegessäule and not his receipt from buying bus tickets. Perhaps that's why the bus driver was shrugging?
Anyway, phew, we made it to the Reichstag building. Just in time for some lightening to start! Still, it was a very crowded place, everyone taking photos. VERY tourist filled. Took our own pictures and selfies, then a few drinks to hydrate. Then, we headed down the street to the next spot.
BRANDENBURGER TOR
Next tourist spot was the Brandenburger Tor. Lots of photos here. More selfies (we saw many people with selfie sticks. maybe we were a little jealous.) The embassies are located here, on the East side. We found the USA embassy. I did have a fantasy of running up to the building and yelling for amnesty, or help, or whatever it is you yell when you're running from the enemy and want help from your consulate. I just took a photo instead.
DU DU
At long last, Du Du, the sushi restaurant we've been dreaming about since Chris came home and told us about it. Du Du did not disappoint. Great food. Not quite normal sushi, but mostly in presentation (lots of food on top of the sushi instead of all rolled up inside.) Very tasty. Everyone left happy.
I did make a language blunder (not too bad) with the server. She asked if we liked the food, and I said, "schlecht", which means poor, bad. We're saying it all day, "Mein deutsch is sehr schlecht." Doh! I paused after she reminded me that it means bad, and I said, "Oh, no... schmeckt gut!" which means to taste good. Sigh. Xander kindly reminded me that this is one of my Bingo squares (to make an embarrassing blunder in German and survive!) Done!
Until we got outside and it was pouring down rain. A short debate of run for it, or take a taxi. Run for it. Or taxi. Well, we ran for it, for about 50 feet and then said, "TAXI!" We were drenched in a matter of 100 ft it took to get into the taxi. Once home, we were treated to a lot more thunder and lightning. One clapped super loud behind our apartment and made us all jump. Yikes!
FIGHTING THE MACHINES
We are the first renters here, so we're getting to discover all the fun intricacies here in the apartment. For example, the first time we ran the dishwasher, we ran it on ECO mode. Sounds good. However, it's a 2.5 hr cycle. I'm not sure how eco friendly that is. And, at some point during the cycle, the machine stopped and gave an error, "open faucet". Poked around, fiddled under the sink, and checked an on-line manual. The manual said to open the faucet and rerun the cycle, if the error comes up again, call the manufacturer! So, we tried turning the cold water valve under the sink, the error went away and ran it again. This time it was a success!
However, after unloading the dishwasher, there was another error. This one said to, "add dish salt." What? Back to the on-line manual. I guess you add dish salt to soften hard water to avoid calcium deposits. So, the dishwasher is out of commission until we get buy some dish salt. And, as you know, stores are closed on Sundays, so we'll wait until next week to get this (we're heading out tomorrow for a week.) Hand washing for now!
We are trying the washer-dryer for the first time tonight. Washing seemed easy. We are late into the evening, so we're just doing a quick wash. We're not dirty, just sweaty, right? But when trying to do the dryer, the display kept saying those programs weren't possible. After Googling the translations to be better than our best guesses, we decided it said to turn off the machine and back on. Done. Now we can pick a dryer setting.
As our friends, who lived here for 6 months warned us, it was very confusing. What setting do you try? The translations were permanent press and fluff dry, but fluff dry turned out to be something like steam press, so we obviously translated wrong there. And the "warm air" kept translating into "hot", but we chose that anyway. Only 30 minutes. After 60 minutes on hot air (plus a side step for the accidental steam), and the clothes were still damp, I gave up. They are now hanging to dry throughout our room. Onto the second load and trying to dry for 60 hot minutes. We'll see. It doesn't just dry, it sounds different at different times and I don't know what it's doing...
So far, we like our refrigerator, it's small, but works well.
The new Nespresso machine works great, too. Maybe too well. It's so easy. Might over do it on caffeine now.
PACKED
We're packed and ready for tomorrow's early trip to Venice, Italy! We're going dark for the week. We're not taking any laptops, so no updates for a few days. We may figure something else out, but until we're back, Auf Wiedersehen!
First, I woke up around 4:30 and had some wicked insomnia. I was committed to getting back to sleep. I don't know how long it took me, but I did see the sky lightening and worried I was up for the day. However, next thing I know, I hear Chris around the corner and I ask what time it is... 10am! Wow. Nice to get all that sleep, and I definitely slept like a log once I fell back asleep. The bad news is I woke up on my back funny which led to my arms feeling numb and I definitely had an "off" feeling all morning, just feeling disorientated. I'm ready for jet lag to be over! Good news, we have to get up at 7 am tomorrow, so there's that. Not sure that information is pertinent, but just when we're sleeping in a little, we have to wake up to an alarm. More Murphy's Law.
Chris had gotten up and gone for a run. Great for him and his state of mind. Great for us as he did a lot of reconnaissance. He found the closer ATM, directions to some main areas, and just got a better feel for where we're located. He schooled me with a map in front to help pass along his discoveries.
TAXIs and THE 100 BUS
Breakfast was late. We sat around and chatted at the table. The we lunched and headed out after 2pm. We decided to ride the 100 Bus, a regular city bus that also doubles as a hop-on, hop-off tour of the city. You buy your bus ticket, get on the 100 bus, take it to a monument, hop-off, check it out, then hop back on and head to the next site.
Chris used a newly downloaded taxi.eu app to call a taxi. A taxi arrived in front of our apartment 6 minutes later. Nice! It was a "dry run" for tomorrow morning when we'll need at taxi at 7 am to take us to the airport. Chris asked the driver if it was easy to get a taxi and the driver said, "Oh yes, in Berlin, easy."
We got the starting point of the 100 Bus line (near the west end of the Tiergarten). Reminded me of Golden Gate Park in SF. I'm guessing it's similar to Central Park in NY, too. Lots of green space, lots of park areas to picnic, lots of walking paths, etc. Located at the other side of the Tiergarten is the aquarium and the zoo. And somewhere near there is where the 100 Bus line begins.
Of course, trying to hydrate, we are drinking a lot. Which means, as soon as the taxi drops us off, Venice and I need a restroom. We didn't see any public-pay toilets, to we went to McDonalds. Sigh. We hadn't set foot into one of these for over 5 years now, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. They had a bathroom with an attendant at the entrance. You tip her and she gives you a paper towel. Perhaps you'd get the towel anyway, but we'll tip, as it's the custom.
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| Buying bus tickets. (left) Ducking so I can snap the KFC. (right) |
SIEGESSÄULE
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| Xander photographing the Brandenburger Tor from the second floor (right). |
REICHSTAG
Next stop was the Reichstag. But first, another sweat box ride on the 100 Bus. When we got to the bus stop, we realised Xander had misplaced his ticket. We let the first bus go by, it was too crowded. The second bus came and Chris asked the driver if he spoke English (he didn't), so we tried to say we lost the ticket, and wanted to buy another one. Chris showed him his receipt. Just blank stares or shoulder shrugs, so we got back off. Third bus, was right behind the second bus so it just drove by (darn it, maybe that bus driver spoke English!). But then we remembered our friends saying that they don't check tickets. You just want a ticket in case they check. So, we decided to just get on and pretend we had a fourth ticket. Boom. Done. No problem. And side note: Chris had showed his receipt to the Siegessäule and not his receipt from buying bus tickets. Perhaps that's why the bus driver was shrugging?
BRANDENBURGER TOR
DU DU
At long last, Du Du, the sushi restaurant we've been dreaming about since Chris came home and told us about it. Du Du did not disappoint. Great food. Not quite normal sushi, but mostly in presentation (lots of food on top of the sushi instead of all rolled up inside.) Very tasty. Everyone left happy.
Until we got outside and it was pouring down rain. A short debate of run for it, or take a taxi. Run for it. Or taxi. Well, we ran for it, for about 50 feet and then said, "TAXI!" We were drenched in a matter of 100 ft it took to get into the taxi. Once home, we were treated to a lot more thunder and lightning. One clapped super loud behind our apartment and made us all jump. Yikes!
FIGHTING THE MACHINES
We are the first renters here, so we're getting to discover all the fun intricacies here in the apartment. For example, the first time we ran the dishwasher, we ran it on ECO mode. Sounds good. However, it's a 2.5 hr cycle. I'm not sure how eco friendly that is. And, at some point during the cycle, the machine stopped and gave an error, "open faucet". Poked around, fiddled under the sink, and checked an on-line manual. The manual said to open the faucet and rerun the cycle, if the error comes up again, call the manufacturer! So, we tried turning the cold water valve under the sink, the error went away and ran it again. This time it was a success!
However, after unloading the dishwasher, there was another error. This one said to, "add dish salt." What? Back to the on-line manual. I guess you add dish salt to soften hard water to avoid calcium deposits. So, the dishwasher is out of commission until we get buy some dish salt. And, as you know, stores are closed on Sundays, so we'll wait until next week to get this (we're heading out tomorrow for a week.) Hand washing for now!
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| The refrigerator is the largest door. Below it is the freezer |
As our friends, who lived here for 6 months warned us, it was very confusing. What setting do you try? The translations were permanent press and fluff dry, but fluff dry turned out to be something like steam press, so we obviously translated wrong there. And the "warm air" kept translating into "hot", but we chose that anyway. Only 30 minutes. After 60 minutes on hot air (plus a side step for the accidental steam), and the clothes were still damp, I gave up. They are now hanging to dry throughout our room. Onto the second load and trying to dry for 60 hot minutes. We'll see. It doesn't just dry, it sounds different at different times and I don't know what it's doing...
So far, we like our refrigerator, it's small, but works well.
The new Nespresso machine works great, too. Maybe too well. It's so easy. Might over do it on caffeine now.
PACKED
We're packed and ready for tomorrow's early trip to Venice, Italy! We're going dark for the week. We're not taking any laptops, so no updates for a few days. We may figure something else out, but until we're back, Auf Wiedersehen!
Day 3: Recap (Xander)
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| In one of the tunnels to the Siegessäule. There was an interactive-light display. By walking in front of the cameras (or putting your hand over it, you created a "white-light" shadow. |
"Being at the top was scary because it was hight up." (at the Siegessäule, the Berlin Victory Column)
"The name is DuDu, so it's kind of funny. The sushi there was very good. One of the rolls was named after the place, so it was the Crunchy DuDu Roll, so that was even funnier." (DuDu = Sushi-fusion restaurant)
"When we left, it was pouring. So we ran and got a taxi. When got home is when we heard a crazy lightning that was very close and scared the DuDu out of me! But really, it was scary. It sounded like somebody set off a bomb nearby." (experiencing a large thunder and lightning storm)
Day 3: First Run (Chris)
Woke up at 8am this morning, after a pretty solid sleep. Also, cooler temps this morning, even found that I pulled the duvet on at some point. Yea! Couldn't sleep longer, so got up to fire up the first shot on the new Nespresso machine, and then head out for a run!
On my 40 minute run, I learned a lot! I realized what a great location our apartment is in - very close to lots of things. I started running down Kastienenallee, immediately finding there was an ATM 50 feet from the apartment that we simply hadn't seen yet. Next up was a burrito place (can't wait to see what that'll be like!), and sushi. Also, what was great to see was all the cafes that were already open with people having breakfast or coffee and a pastry. We hear everything is closed on Sunday, but knew it wasn't truly everything, so interesting to see how much.
And then I was down to Torstraße and Rosenthaler Platz within 4-5 minutes! Instead of running down Torstraße towards the HotelTonight office, I kept on down Rosenthaler Str do the Hackescher Markt. This is area has a ton of shopping, including seeing a Nike store and some other gringo (what's the German term?) stores, a large outdoor set of big outdoor cafes, etc.
One somewhat surprise is just past the Hackescher Markt under a bridge I saw some bums sleeping. I've also noticed a couple folks begging or similar. My prior impression was that this simply didn't exist here, but obviously that's not true. It's nowhere near the level of most US cities, but it's not non-existant. From here I popped down to the Ampelmann Strand on the river.
The Berliner Dom was easily visible from the strand. Yet another surprise at how close this was (I was maybe 10-15 minutes into the run at this point). I ran towards the Dom and over a bridge. Passed by various museums, and right by the TV Tower (Fernsehturm). I wound my way and began back up Prenzlauer Allee. Definitely some touristy stuff here. Eventually I crossed Torstraße again, which gave me a bearing, and then found my way to Schönhauser Allee which I knew would take me back.
Up Schönhauser until I reached our market. I then went along Schwedter Str (our street!) to Choriner. Choriner eventually leads the beautiful Oderberger Str, but I skipped that and headed back down Kastanienalle and home, realizing the highly recommended Babel restaurant is about 50m from our house. I've heard this Mediterranean place is great, but a bit crazy on the service (they apparently very strongly steer you to the combo plate, and expect you be ready to order immediately :) We'll have to test it out and add our own review.
By this point I'd run/explored for 40 minutes (4 miles), and things were warming up again. I'm quite excited to see this work out and that, as I hoped, this is going to be a good way to explore the city. Today we'll probably walk over/past the HT office, hit Rosenthaler Platz, maybe eat at DuDu (kids top request :) and then pack, as we head to Venice early tomorrow morning! And now I shall have another Nespresso (this thing is going to be dangerous - I can still make a better shot on my home setup, but the convenience, simplicity, speed, and relatively decent espressos are an alluring combination).
Saturday, August 15, 2015
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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).
WALKING THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
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.
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| Doors painted with our street name and neighbourhood. (left) Ample Man alerting pedestrians to stop. (right) |
FARMERS MARKET
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| 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) |
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.
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| 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) |
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.
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.
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| Dung beetles. |
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.
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| Motorcade, as seenfrom our living room (left). Dinner time (right). |
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).
Day 2: Riding the U-Bahn (Venice)
Hi, Venice here!
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| U-Bahn tickets |
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| They look like eyeliner boxes! |
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| Dad setting up the machine. |
When we got home, we had dinner and then I was able to video chat one of my friends from back home! It was a nice way to end Day 2!
-venice :) <3 :)
Quotes from Xander
A few quotes said by Xander in the last 2 days:
"I'm happy to be here." (going to bed our first night in Berlin)
"I'm happy to be here." (going to bed our first night in Berlin)
"I'm feeling tired. I woke up at 1am and then 5:15am." (at breakfast on our first morning in Berlin)
"If you go to youtube.com, the little YouTube logo in the upper left as "De" next to it, but the URL is still www.youtube.com, which is interesting. I'm thinking the reason is that it's connecting to a German server, but your'e on the normal YouTube site." (breakfast conversation)
"I like that there is a bigger button for solids and a smaller button for liquids so you don't waste water." (answering about flushing toilets when asked what he's noticed so far)
"I do like how many trees there are. When we were getting close to landing, I saw a lot of trees, a big dark green of trees. It was kind of all I could see. The view from the front of our apartment is mostly of the city, the back view is more green with trees. " (more breakfast conversation)
"I want to try the bio butter, it sounds cool. We think it's their version of "organic" which is good, because it's good for you and it sounds cool." (discussing foods)
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