Ireland

The Houseboat Family

(we got to be Enid Blyton characters)

There are cousins in Ireland and we have visited everytime we are in Europe. We tried to meet up in the summer but holiday plans, distances didn't coincide so a quick long weekend trip at the end of the Herbstferien was the solution. 

When the kids were little I found an Enid Blyton book called "The Family Collection" and it has been a bit of an ongoing theme over the years. It is post WW2 and the family buy horse drawn caravans to live in and have all sorts of wonderful adventure that involve the English summer, robbers, circus performers, tea and bread and honey. What more does an adventure need. Note, the story about a trip to Morocco has some pretty dated perceptions. One summer they swap the caravans for a houseboat called the Saucy Jane and this has always been my favourite story. So with a trip to Ireland and its canal system in mind I developed a cunning plan, rallied the kids to endorse it then got the Herr on board too (pardon the pun).

That is how we became the Houseboat Family for 2 fabulous days in the tiny town of Sallins. Thanks to google I found a houseboat you could get to from Dublin airport by bus and train that was big enough and still available. So the plan was to fly from Duesseldorf to Dublin, then down to Sallins on the train. Luckily Herr F checked the train station location and we were able to prepare ourselves and be patient as we needed to include a bus ride across Dublin. As the traffic wasn't bad this ride only took 40 minutes and we got to see some of the most important sites so it was a win win situation. We got train tickets then waited for our platform to be announced then did the mad rush with the peak hour commuters to platform 6a which is right at the back of the station. We got seats as the train pulled out and after reading the station indicator concealed our fear of being on the wrong train from the kids. We were on the right train it was just displaying a totally different schedule so we sat back and enjoyed listening to the man in the seat across from us set up a business meeting on the 3rd of the month which was magical. His accent was so lovely to listen to.

After a short trip we arrived in Sallins and found the Roisin Dubh our home for the next two nights. The plan was just to enjoy some quiet relaxing time so even if it rained being on the houseboat (which stayed docked) was the adventure. Luckily Sallins has at least 4 pubs, a couple of supermarkets and a chip shop so all our needs were met.

Life jackets weren't needed but the lovely owner got them out to help keep them warm if they fell in.

The weather was cold and getting colder but bright and sunny. So of course there was a little walking involved but also much relaxing too with the help of books and nooks to read them in, games, the fireplace, the sound system and various CDs on board and watching the other boats pass by as it turns out we lucked upon the one weekend in the year this part of the canal is heavily used as they hold a regatta in Naas.

Yes there was bread and honey, lashings of it. Oh, I just realised I didn't get my fill of excellent Irish Soda bread.

Then the second morning our cousin arrived in his campervan with beans and sweet potato mash for lunch. He accompanied us on a wander along the lock and then we warmed up and tasted some more local beer and the kids tried the other flavours of the free cordial. After a warm and cosy nights sleep we head off to see the rest of the cousins via a side trip to Nenagh, including its restored castle, a food and wine festival and the necessary stocking up on Halloween carving pumpkins as Ireland takes Halloween seriously. This is our second trip in Ireland in the camper and it is a hoot.

It was freezing and we found a great little book shop and stocked up on English language books had a fabulous lunch whilst talking to the rest of the cousins and family in Australia and sampled the food festival. Then it was home to be spoilt with home made pizza made outdoors in sub zero temperatures, great conversation, computer games and English language TV for the kids and the next morning pumpkin carving.

Then there was a walk in the woods the next day before we headed back to Dublin and made the trip back home to Germany arriving home at 3am the next morning. I then had to make the dreaded first day after the holidays absence call to the kid's schools which involved 20 questions and the necessity of a doctor's certificate if they were sick. Ok, so they weren't sick but incredibly tired and as we don't get to Europe very often seeing Irish family is important so, how about that explanation and yes we will provide a written explanation the following day. I may have called but I hand balled the written part to Herr F. Luckily notes were accepted and no further school board follow up action was taken. 

 Thanks Ireland and Irish family, looking forward to spending summer with you in Australia. And we can confirm you can't take Hurling sticks as carry on luggage luckily we hadn't purchased any.

To the capital!

BERLIN!!!!! BERLIN!!!

The week leading up to the Herbstferien (Autumn holidays) was hectic. Herr F was in Berlin in the depths of the archives, the Bear had his potential analysed and results returned as part of his year 8 programme, the Mouse and I cooked waffles and served luke warm coffee at the Open Door afternoon at her school and the Monkey as usual had a million activities. For the record the fact that the Bear got to have his potential analyse was a miracle, not due to any lack of potential of course but due to parental ineptitude. The poor chap, I took him to the wrong Handwerkskammer building (who knew there were 2) which was followed by some brave repeated question asking by me (my least favourite thing), the fastest 3 km bike ride in history, then then  navigating of the maze of closed doors in a giant building where eventually I stuck my head in the door, apologied for being late and the Bear walked in. To me that is full potential marks regardless of how the day progressed as he hates being late and everyone hates being embarrassed by their mum. For further historical documentation I walked out feeling horrible and hoping the Bear would be ok and then I realised he may not know the way home and I had no idea when it finished. Not one of my stellar parenting moments but survival situations do make you grow. Turns out he did know the way home (the lake helps you navigate) and a few days later I had the pleasure of sitting with him as his results were discussed (strengths, likes, etc) and hearing my Bear interact and speak beautifully about himself. After that and cooking waffles I didn't get to eat we needed a break so as soon as school finished on Friday we jumped on an ICE train to Berlin to meet up with the Herr.

I love the seat reservation and connection timetable print out system of Deutsche Bahn. I know Germans complain about the train system but coming from a country with one north/south train line on the east coast and long waits in between trains due to lower population density and reliance on cars I find DB and the adventure of pulling out of a station the same way you went in and racing for the best connection while still having time to buy a bread roll a thrill...ok, not when I miss the train and it is late in the evening but still mostly it is more fun than not. Basically I just really like not having a car.

Berlin was a blast and I'll let the photos do most of the talking. I have been a few times before. We took the kids up last time we were in Germany but this time was the best so far and makes us keen to head back. I think it was a combination of things. Great weather, much improved language skills, older kids who have ideas of their own about what to do and catching up with friends on 2 occassions where the kids really got on well. Generally we were pretty relaxed and we had a ball with the Herr on the weekend and when he went back to the archives on Monday we hung out having  U and S Bahn adventures and one accidential RE Bahn adventure then met up with him in the evenings to explore a bit more.

The colours in neighbourhood were beautiful and the walk to the S Bahn was always lovely. 

We meet up with friends and went to the Spy Museum. The kids didn't really remember each other but by the end of the evening having been sent to touch the doors of the Bode Museum as a gang so that we could chat they were firm friends and asking when we'd catch up again.

The Spy Museum was fabulous and where we realised our kids had no idea how to use a dial phone. In the above exhibit they had to use the phone and dial 0 to find out the mission. It was hilarious to explain as I assumed they understood concepts like releasing the dial after turning it. Why should they as they have never had a phone like this in the house.

And there were dress ups!!!!!!

and mazes!

and afterwards the best afternoon sitting on the Spree watching the dance class and drinking a quiet drink with mates seldom seen in person but always like you had seen them yesterday...though we were anything but quiet. 

This was a weekend which luckily gave us a lot more than 48 hours or so it seemed. Sunday equaled the Computer Spiel Museum. This was a highlight for the Bear and we all loved it as there was so much to do even though it was relatively small. You could play almost everything but we avoided the Painstation variation of Playstation.

Shh, proceed quietly!  and you will see the Bear in his natural habitat...

Hanging out 1980s style

Pacman East German style = Hase und Fuchs

After being in the fugue induced state of the Computer Game Museum we headed out for some fresh air and took a turn around Treptow Park including the Soviet War Memorial. 

Monday arrived Herr F returned to his natural habitat in the archives and the rest of us took a day trip to Potsdam. It is dirty work but someone has to do it. A bit of a touchy touch screen ticket buying meant I had to replace a ticket when we changed stations. This lucky mistake yielded excellent group ticket buying advice for the coming 3 days and a good chat about the ticket collector's son who was in New Zealand and the chance to see Wannsee and buy a bakery treat. 

After a slight side trip past Potsdam as my dodgy eyesight meant I didn't see that the small line went up and not down meaning the train didn't stop at Sanssouci we made it to Sanssouci via a bus and the scenic route. Luckily bakery treats helped us survive. We lunched on a bench looking at the castle and wandered around the beautiful garden then headed back to the centre in search of ice cream.

I like to window shop, building appreciate and find the best ice cream situation...the kids want instant ice cream gratification. There were moments, that's all I'll say but then they found the method to my madness and these ice cream delights were purchased and enjoyed whilst resting our legs.

         

The week flew by as we did the traditional sight seeing that is the history and today of Berlin. There were many trains and really, navigating and experiencing this amazing city was the adventure.

They didn't remember coming here before but there were things that they suddenly remembered.

Tired legs was one of them but again all can be fixed with ice cream or chocolate.

The 100 bus took us past the main attractions including some nude sunbathers in a not so secluded corner of the Botanic Gardens then an attempt to find a museum that was successful but to late to go in saw us explore another corner of the city and by chance find the Australian Embassy.

The poor Bear did the last couple of days with an ear infection but slow mornings in the apartment were good for everyone after a term of school and we still managed to see and experience lots and think about how it will be when we come back in the future.