Berlin - Polish for 'Swampy'*

I had a great (if tiring) weekend in Berlin, starting last Wednesday when I spent a considerable amount of time driving across the country to my Dad's as it was closer to the airport we were flying from on Thursday morning.

Only, in typical Squirrely fashion, I'd got that wrong and we were flying on Thursday evening. Of course, this meant that rather than a rapid breakfast-dress-pack-strapintocar-flight morning with two toddlers, I actually had an entire day of hanging around playgrounds and pushing people on swings before flying back to Germany with my nieces.

I haven't hung around kiddies playgrounds since I was, ooooooh, 25 or something**

Anyway, while I feel I've now fulfilled my quota of conversations about babies for MY ENTIRE LIFE I'm duty bound to relay one brief exchange in the playground that summed up modern life for me:

*Two year old German niece being pushed back and forth on a swing and giggling*

Mother on the swing one along, to said niece: "My, what colourful shoes you have on!"

Niece, proudly: "Ja. Adidas."

Jesus wept.

Having said that, they were well behaved - especially on the plane - and I didn't feel the need to drown either of them.

Berlin itself is a pretty cool city. Not what I'd call a tourist city as the bits to see are spread out and the areas in between aren't exactly picturesque.

We got there mid-afternoon on Friday and after settling into the apartment we wandered over to the Reichstag (in the persistent drizzle), but after standing in an unmoving queue for a while we just went and ate a lovely meal in a little Italian restaurant near where we were staying. I was quite happy to be the only one waking up without a hangover :)

Saturday morning we went for a bagel breakfast in the little tiled courtyards that used to be the Jewish quarter, and then joined a walking tour in English which I would highly recommend. Our charming guide was an ex-East Berliner herself and it really gave her descriptions of life in the DDR some gravity.

Of course we saw the Brandenburg Gate:


complete with what looks like the world's tallest lamp-post....

Just off to the left of this picture is the US embassy. I thought it politik to not take a picture as it's probably a capital offence in septic-land. Once it was complete they tried to get the city to ban all people from this square in case of 'terrorism'. 'Or maybe not, you bunch of freaks' would've been my response. It's probably just as well I'm not a politician really :)

We also saw some wall:


one of the few surviving sections. It certainly is ironic that the current Israeli government is building a divisive wall based on theory and practice perfected by the East Germans.....

The tour also took in the so-called Holocaust Memorial (it's real name is rather long and I can't remember it off the top of my head). I was unimpressed. For me, 70 million euros should make something poignant and a stark reminder of one of the most horrific acts of the last century - rather than a set of concrete blocks that looked like someone had a deeply pretentious lego set. Each to their own I guess.

Saturday evening - after trying and failing to watch Spurs lose in the opening game of the Premiership season - we went to a truly fantastic Vietnamese restaurant - Monsieur Vuong's where the owner, now in at least his 80's greets every customer personally. Added to the fact that the food was uber-yummy, it was served in the coolest bowls I've seen. I have a new project for when pottery starts again next month! :)

Sunday we got up very early indeed to get to the Reichstag before the queue became too annoying. I can't recommend it enough - informative and interesting (and free). It also had a Norman Foster designed dome on top which was a breathtaking piece of architecture - and a cafe that did a breakfast to die for.

This here is the dome. The spiral walkway up and down was very clever:


We flew back on Sunday evening, but delays and customs being rubbish meant I got to bed at 4am on Monday morning and was at work for midday. It's been non-stop since and I have plenty to do for Holiday Two next week :)

I couldn't go without a photo of my highlight of the trip. Seeing one of these buggers in the flesh. 0-150mph in less than ten seconds. Hubba hubba.



*True
**That joke was brought to you by Gary Glitter, busy faking a heart attack in an airport near you now!