Out of the woods and into the City

We emerged from the woods, blinked twice, repacked our bags and jumped on the train for the 5 hour ride to Berlin. The old mouldy archives with books about colonies and a German Governor in Samoa with tattoos drew Herr F to Berlin and we all joined in for the adventure to keep him company and as  the Bear, Monkey and Mouse had never been to the capital before it was a perfect opportunity. We spent four days trouping around and seeing the sights, reading the U-Bahn map, working out how to avoid the S-Bahn when the train strike was on, processing major 20th historical facts. There was however always time to visit a playground and generally maraud around. 

 The Bear, as he is his fathers son had been reading up on the history of Berlin and was constantly asking if we were in the east or the west which lead to a lot of holding up maps and discussions about what was on what side of the wall.

On arrival we decided to head straight for the "Story of Berlin" museum which included a civilian bunker as Herr F didn't have to hit the archives till the next day. As they provided a treasure hunt map for the Mouse and a more difficult search for the Bear and the Monkey it was perfect for us all. Lots was learnt which set us up for the next few days going around the city. The tour of the bunker at the end. while not the highlight, as the museum itself was the feature, was a good bonus. It was set up during the cold war and could house 3000 people for 2 weeks. Of course we all know that atomic fallout is gone after 2 weeks and all is fine again right? The funny thing was that they pointed out that the precautions taken by other countries eg "duck and cover" were even more pathetic. 

No towers were climbed as the TV tower looks impressive enough from the ground (or so we kept telling the kids) and we didn't realise in the last 10 years they had introduced a registration system to walk up the glass dome of the Reichstag so it was a ground level tour of Berlin mostly on the 100 bus.

Little legs did get tired but the hunt for Berlin Bears, a chocolate shop and a make shift slippery dip near the TV Tower helped us on our way. 

Oh, and then there was the Legoland Discovery Centre Bunker...ok, I added the word bunker but it really was a bunker and after 6 hours I had could empathise with people emerging from the atomic bunker after two weeks of insufficient air and only baked beans to eat. The mini city version of Berlin was amazing and the kids got to actually see where the wall went around the Brandenberg Gate and the wall actually fell down to great lego cheers. They even had the Monkey's favourite landmark the Denkmallkirche, the unrestored church near Zoo station.

R2D2 and C3PO while not local Berliners pop in every now and then to soak up a bit of culture.

The Bear was the first to put his hand up and got to help run the machines on the factory tour.

After a day in the bunker we went exploring again at the Technical Museum. It used to be an iceworks and, whilst there were amazing printing presses, boats, trains and planes on display I think the highlight for us all was the Pferdertreppe (the horse staircase). We were so impressed that horses could live on the 1st and 2nd floors we went up and down several times. That folks is technology!

This year is the 25th anniversary of the Berlin wall coming down. 

Were were you 25 years ago on the 9th of November? 

There is a line on the ground where the wall was so were were constantly stopping to look around and at Potsdamer Platz we found some of the wall they left standing.

As an added bonus, Die Sendung mit der Maus, the cult german kids show that has been going for forever did a great explanation of the border between east and west Germany, hopefully answering all the kids questions I answered badly.

http://www.wdrmaus.de/aktuelle-sendung/wdr.php5

The kids and I got chauffeur driven from Berlin to Leipzig by the wonderful Frau K and Herr F had to find his own way there a day later with the train. Speaking of trains, As the German train drivers are grumpy at the moment they are going on strike quite often, so we got to stay in Leipzig with our Leipzig crew an extra, wonderful day.

Yes 2 out of 5 were terrified but we did climb to the top of the memorial celebrating the defeat of Napoleon in 1813. Luckily the weather was magnificent and the view, which I glimpsed out at briefly a few times was wonderful. There is no way I took this photo!

She has no fear which is why I have enough fear for 5.

Ice cream was well deserved and I think the highlight for the Monkey and the Mouse was pushing the toy stroller with the guinea pigs in it.

I never tire of east German floor tiles, I have so many photos from over the years I could have my very own retrospective.

A bit of street art.

A holiday with a touch of fairytale Part 1

What does a good fairy tale have? 

A great setting: woods, a river, possibily an edible house. 

A tower to lock someone in.

An unknown mysterious path to follow.

A chance encounter with a  helpful magical beast.
A royal ball.

The lure of food. 

Then, that said, our first week of the autumn holidays had a touch of the fairy tales about it. Together with 2 of our favourite German families were packed up 3 cars and headed over the border into... The Netherlands. As far as journeys go it wasn't the longest ever at and hour and a half but that took us to a holiday house in an amazing camping ground in the middle of a huge national park area. The house, whilst not made of gingerbread had the pre-recquisite sloping roof and European fairy tale form and, as the camping ground was closed for the winter season we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves. Hansel, I mean Herr Fitz had to work so we locked him away in the tower, ok, an upstairs bedroom and let him out for the feasts that were every meal and on Friday afternoon for the big hike. We had great weather. We had packed clothes for all weather conditions (I hopefully packed swimmers but left out the snow jackets) and we only had to wear full rain gear out once and it didn't even rain so we had the lovely sound dry rain gear makes as our soundtrack.

 There were no less than 5 windmills in the little town that was nearby.

The kids folded hundreds of boats and they floated (I was skeptical). A few even made it to the second jetty. Herr G saved some from the reeds. The Bear's is on it's way to the North Sea.

The weather the first day was marvelous. I thought briefly we might get a swim.

The plot thickens. 

Herr Fitz was safely locked in his tower. 

 Herr N was banished to his homeland and office even though he had performed the heroic deed of rescuing two princesses from the tower (or the bathroom after the lock broke).

So it was up to Herr G our brave knight to lead us for a ride into the woods...

and after 8kms we found the bakery. Luckily there was no witch so we bought lots of bread. That is our bread all bagged up...it only lasted 2 days. and of course we bought some sweet things.

We let Herr F out sometimes and Herr N was allowed to return after a couple of days hard labour. That meant that Herr G had time to make pancakes for all under the watchful eye for the two other knights while the 3 fair ladies took their trusty Drahtesel (steeds) for a trip back into the town for afternoon tea.. 

There is a swan in every good story.

As the kids provided the on board entertainment programme which included a disco, where the standard of dancing by the fair ladies was unique to say the least, and a royal gala concert it was only fair they got time to relax. Frau N was the story teller. Every night the kids all got into their pyjamas and 4 Bazi stories were read. She tried to stop at 3 but the audience would have no fewer than 4.

Herr Fitz took on the story teller role sometimes much to the Mouse's delight as he read her favourite book.

Everyone had a role in producing the feasts that we had at every meal. A huge table with 14 people at it meant that the butter, or the potatoes or the apple juice was often "auf der Reise' to the other end.

As the kids found their way home from the 16km roundtrip bike ride we took them out again, this time into the heather field.

Then again into the woods for a Schatzsuche/ Treasure Hunt.

Then one last time into the hills (or as hilly as the Netherlands get). Frau G who had lead us bravely on the treasure hunt took the wheel and the convoy set out. Again it was covered in heather, only a few had their flowers still so now we have an excuse to go back as it must be amazing in the late summer / autumn. This time we packed a picnic. We had just found a great vantage point to stop for our snack when we spotted little white clouds floating on the other hill. As we ate our biscuits the little white clouds got closer and closer. Some in the party got a bit nervous but then we all just stayed still as the shepherdess and her sheep dog drove the flock right to us.

 Even though they didn't speak it was pretty amazing.

In Part 2 we head to the City.