We landed in Berlin around 12pm local time. Berlin is 1 hour ahead of London. Our Airbnb host Aino welcomed us to her building. We are staying in a block of flats with a garden in the center. Aino, her husband and her 3 year old son live in the building too. Our flat has very high ceilings, an eat in kitchen, lots of windows, a reading couch 'nook' and a bed with a loft storage / bed above it. Ruby has her own cot, highchair and toys to play with that Aino gave to us to use. We are staying in the area of Kreuzberg in the South East of Berlin. Berlin is divided into districts as NYC is divided into boroughs... and it's just massive. On our arrival afternoon, we walked to a lovely area of cafes, yoga centres and shops near the river. We THOUGHT this walk would take 20 minutes.. it took 45! I just thought to myself - wow! I think I will be using the Ubahn quite a lot. We stopped by the river for some pizza at a nice Italian spot and some ice cream. The ice cream shop was buzzing and had kids chairs all outside of it. Ruby had a kiddie cone - we all did too - for only .50E - about .85 cents. Ruby finished her kiddie cone, pointed to the door of the ice cream shop and said 'more'? - the girl knows what she likes. Our evenings are quiet ones.
I have vowed NOT to go nuts on the computer (I know I write this ON the computer) however, my interaction is low. I am determined to finish at least one book while I'm here so in the evenings, I've been listening to classical music and reading.. can't remember the last time I did that.
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| More ice cream? |
We met up with our Glasgow friends Tom and Sarah who are here in Berlin for the art show. They also have a 6 month old daughter Martha. They are renting a flat in Mitte - the city center. They are on the top floor and have virtually a 360 degree view of the city. It's amazing. The weather was hot and sunny so Sarah packed a picnic and we headed to the Tiergarten. The Tiergarten is massive.. more like Central Park North than the landscaped parks of the UK. It then started to rain a bit so we strolled back home dried our things and did a bit of food shopping. We are close to a massive market so shopping is very easy.. that said, there are amazing cafes all around us - thai, indian, vietnamese, american, turkish, mexican.. this food budget is going to be tricky. That evening I headed to a Jivamukti Berlin Yoga Class in English. It was blissful. Walking in a tank top and flip flops on a hot night after finishing an evening yoga class must be one of the most satisfying feelings. Ever.
Day 3:
90 degrees. We decided to get some tourist stuff in so we headed to Bernauer StraBe - a point of the Berlin Wall - remember that the wall was demolished only in 1990 and therefore, is a very important recent part of history to view. This walk gave a a look at some of the remnants and gave you an impression of how is brutally divided the city, forcing people from their homes, separating families and even passed through a graveyard in which headstones were removed as not to impair the sightlines of the boarder guards.
Day 3:
95 degrees. Ruby and I found a pool and took a dip in the morning. She LOVES swimming - no suprise there. She walks by the pool saying 'pool', 'pool' and pointing. The pool also had a playground and kiddie area.
Stopped at the Berlinische Galerie - a comprehensive contemporary collection with a Berlin focus from 1870 to today. It reopened in 2004 in a beautiful building. I liked their section on Dada - to which I have slowly grown an appreciation for... then as it was boiling hot, we had another dip in the pool.
Day 5:
We headed out to the big shopping district of Charlottenburg. We started off at the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtnis Kirche (Church). One of Berlin's best known sights built in 1891 and destroyed in 1943. They are still rebuilding it. There are cracks in the walls and it serves as a reminder of what the war did to this city. The renovation work is set to be finished next year. We did stop in the chapel which is covered 360 degrees in stained glass.
