Berlin: Einsteigen, bitte!

Berlin with my girls, what a way to end the month of travel! We arrived on Monday night, took a taxi to Anne's flat and crashed (it was late, after all). On Tuesday morning we hit the pavement early. We took the train/underground to the city centre to collect our "Welcome Pass" which gave us tons of awesome discounts and freebies. We walked to the Holocaust memorial and then through the park to the Berlin Zoo. Fun fact: the Berlin Zoo is the zoo with the most number of species in the whole world! Awesome. We were planning on just stopping by for a quick visit but ended up spending nearly the entire day there. Close ups with lions, pandas, polar bears, and strange beavers -- awesome. We even got to see the big cats get fed!

 After the zoo we headed towards Museum Island and the famous Berliner Dom. We paid to go inside the church, and rested for a while, tired from all of the walking. After that we went to the longest still-standing piece of the Berlin Wall. This chunk of the wall is 1200 meters long, which really helps to get the impression of what it must have been like during the Cold War. This piece of the wall has been preserved and repainted by different artists commissioned to paint murals, all of which are quite impressive. After our trip to the wall, we found some dinner and then headed back to the flat.

Wednesday we returned to Museum Island to visit the Pergamon Museum which houses lots of Greek artefacts, sculptures, etc., as well as Islamic artwork, and art from the Byzantine empire. It was interesting and well done. After the Pergamon we headed to Checkpoint Charlie. We went into the Checkpoint Charlie museum, where we learned about life in Berlin during the Cold War. It was really interesting to learn about all of the clever ways that people escaped Soviet-occupied Berlin to freedom. After Checkpoint Charlie we visited the Dali museum. Berlin has recently acquired a collection of Dali paintings, sculptures, sketches, and silent films. They didn't have many of Dali's most famous works, but it was still a really nice collection of his work. After Dali, we went to dinner at a potato cellar for some delicious potato-based German food. (German food is delicious!)

 Thursday we went to Berlin's famous shopping malls and shopping street. We went to their version of Harrods, not quite as massive but still huge. We had some yummy sweets on the top floor of this store before heading out to do more shopping. We stopped by the recently built Sony Center, where we were able to participate in H&M's Fashion Against Aids campaign. We got our 30 seconds of fame when our photo was posted up on a large screen in the Sony Center for all to see. We visited Berlin's parliament building, which was also very pretty.

We were planning on visiting a synagogue when Anne's wallet was stolen while we were shopping. We rushed to the police station, where, after the police officer insinuated that we were prostitutes, Anne was finally able to get some help. We took a taxi back to the flat where we met the police who wanted to check the flat for signs of an intrusion. Unfortunately Anne's European travel card was in her wallet, so we scrambled to figure out how to get Anne back to England the following day. After a lot of stress and panic, handled with great poise by Anne, we had a delicious dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Friday morning we did the laundry and headed to the airport early where we waited for a decision to be made about Anne's situation. She was finally granted a temporary travel document in leu of her passport and EU ID card and we were allowed to board the plane. Once in London we all traveled through the boarder check without a hitch. We sighed big sighs of relief and headed home. On the bus back home from Victoria we were serenaded by a typical British looney. We were all practically rolling around on the bus with silent(ish) laughter. 

We had so much fun in Berlin! (Of course, with the exception of the stolen-wallet situation. Although, even that was sort of fun in retrospect.) I'd like to see the rest of Germany now! Thanks, Anne for being a wonderful hostess and tour guide!  

My new favourite German phrase: Einsteigen bitte!

7 Days in Holland

Patrick and I left for Holland on Monday, April 9. We were picked up by Patrick's dad from the airport and headed to Houten, the town where Patrick lives. It's not far from the airport by my standard, but to the Dutch it's not exactly convenient. It was raining in Holland when we arrived and continued to rain for the rest of the day. We relaxed at home, ate dinner with Patrick's dad and his dad's girlfriend, Marzena, and made a plan for Tuesday. It is now, as I'm writing this blog, that I realise that I didn't take many digital photos of our trip in Holland. I'll have to wait for the film to come back from the lab to show you the beauty of Holland.

Tuesday we went to Nemo, a really awesome science museum in Amsterdam. We took the train from Utrecht, the closest "big" city to Houten, to Amsterdam and from Central Station in Amsterdam it's just a short walk to Nemo. This museum was 4 floors of hands-on science for kids and adults alike. It was a lot of fun. We spent a few hours in Nemo, then left to find some lunch. We decided to buy some food form a grocery store and lunch in the Amsterdam's Vondelpark. Vondelpark is really pretty, but for some reason I didn't take any digital photos of it. We took the train back to Utrecht and the bus back to Houten for dinner with Patrick's dad and Marzena.

Wednesday I stepped out of my comfort zone and went with Patrick to meet his grandparents, adorably referred to as "Opa and Oma". It was a unique experience because they don't really speak English. In fact I think it's fair to say that their English is about as good as my Dutch. I was really nervous but they were extremely sweet and welcoming. It didn't take long for me to relax. I tried my best to follow their conversations in Dutch and learned a lot of new Dutch words. Actually, throughout the whole week I really improved my Dutch vocabulary. After lunch and visiting with Opa and Oma, we headed to Utrecht to meet with Patrick's friends from University. I was a bit relieved to hear English again, and to be able to participate more fully in conversation. We had a nice dinner in Utrecht, then went back to Frederick's house to play a game and eat dessert.

Thursday we went to Keukenhof, a sort of amusement park for flower lovers. Near the west coast of Holland, the place is only open  few weeks of the year and we just happened to make it! The sun came out and stayed out for the first day of the trip. It was warm, sunny, and beautiful. We ate our packed lunch in the park and enjoyed the weather and all of the different kinds of flowers. After a few hours we headed to Patrick's mother's house for dinner. I met his mother, Pascal, his brother, and Pascal's girlfriend, Karen. We had Dutch Chinese food for dinner and cake for dessert.

Friday we woke up semi-early and headed to Leeuwarden, a city in the North of Holland near where Pepijn lives. Patrick's mom was nice enough to let us borrow her car so we could save a lot of money on what would have been a really expensive train trip. The two hour drive to Leeuwarden from Houten was really beautiful. The countryside of Holland is postcard beautiful, especially when the sky is blue and dotted with fluffy clouds. We arrived in Leeuwarden and explored a Friday market while we waited to meet up with Pepijn. From Leeuwarden we went to Harlingen, a small town that was once a fishing village. Now it's a harbour for the ferries that take vacationers to one of the islands that dot the sea to the North of Holland. In Harlingen, we snacked on poffertjes, my favourite Dutch snack, while we watched the ships sail in and out of the harbour.

We spent the night with Pepijn and his parents. His mother made a lovely Italian dinner and we played a game. Saturday morning we rode bikes to Pepijn's dad's chocolate shop. We learned how the chocolate was made and we were even allowed to make our own cake. It turned out delicious! See me icing that cake like a pro? Ok more like a newbie with pro aspirations. We rode bikes around Pepijn's town before heading back to Houten. On the way back home, we stopped to pet some cows, naturally. To be honest, it was one of the only things I really wanted to accomplish during the trip. Mission accomplished. We had Turkish Kebabs for dinner with Patrick's dad before we went off to watch some basketball games.

Sunday we relaxed at the house and took a tour of the greenhouse where Patrick's dad works. The place was incredibly massive. Who knew growing food in Holland was so complex? After the greenhouse tour, we rode bikes to Houten's train station to meet more of Patrick's friends for dinner. We took the train to Utrecht and had tapas for dinner. I enjoyed meeting Patrick's friends and the yummy Spanish tapas. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Monday I slept in, finished the laundry, and packed. We took a short trip to Houten's centre to shop for some souvenirs and yummy cheese to bring back to London. At 4 Patrick took me back to the airport. I had a lot of fun in Holland and I can't wait to go back again. I met so many really nice people, and felt really at home in both Patrick's and Pepijn's homes. Thanks a lot to Patrick's family for helping me feel welcome and at home in a foreign land. I hope to see Holland again very soon. It's still my favourite country in Europe.

Paris, je t'aime

Continuing the saga of the April, the month of travel...

As I already said, we missed our train to Paris, but were able to catch the next one out and arrive only an hour behind schedule. After arriving at Gare du Nord train station, we wandered through the city, dragging our luggage along, trying to find the apartment Mom had rented for the week and praying that it actually existed. We managed to find the apartment, a lovely little place on the 3rd floor of a walk-up building on one of Paris's many canals. We unpacked some stuff and proceeded to conquer public transport in Paris to make it to the Eiffel Tower, where our 24 hour bus tour started. We only lost Carol once, on the first Paris Underground we jumped on. Luckily, we found her on the next stop. We managed to stick together for the rest of the trip.

We oooed-and-ahhed at the Eiffel Tower and found our tour bus without much trouble. We boarded and climbed up top to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air while we saw the Parisian sights. I actually took a few pictures of this process.

After the bus tour, we contemplated waiting in line for the Eiffel Tower to see the sun set and the city by night. We were put off by the line, though, we we went in search of food. After finding something to eat, we headed back to the apartment.

Tuesday morning we hit the Eiffel Tower again to wait in a 2 hour long line for our tickets to the top. One of the elevators was broken, which doubled typical waiting times. It was well worth the wait, though because we got a fantastic view of the city and were able to cross something off our bucket lists.

 

We walked from the Eiffel Tower towards L'arc de Triomphe. It was kind of a long walk, but the weather was wonderful so I don't think we really  minded. We snapped some photos of the arc, then wandered down Le Champs Elysees for a snack at Haagan-Daz. We wanted to hit up the Musee D'Orsay, but didn't make it before it closed. Instead we took some picture of the outside and then went looking for dinner. 

Wednesday, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Pont Neuf, and Sainte Chapelle. We enjoyed good weather until the late afternoon, when it started to drizzle. We waited in line for Sainte Chapelle (a less known but really pretty church near Notre Dame) for a long time and didn't make it to Les Catacombes before they closed. We ate dinner in the apartment and relaxed for the evening.

Thursday we had to catch our train home in the afternoon so we got up kind of early to see the last "must-sees" of Paris. We found our way to Moulin Rouge and Le Sacre-Coeur. The weather was overcast, drizzly, and cold which dampened our spirits a bit. We climbed the massive hill to the Sacre-Coeur and went inside. This was something I hadn't done the last time I was in Paris so I was quite impressed. This basilica is really quite beautiful. We had lunch and made our way back to the apartment to gather our things and head to the train station.

Our 3 day tour of Paris went by in a flash. At times it felt like we were running around without any real direction, rushing to see all we could see. My experiences with Parisians was better this time than the previous visit in 2007. The trip to Paris made me feeling exhausted and under the weather, but luckily I was feeling much better by the time I left for Holland on Monday, April 9.