After sharing in the wonderful occasion of Miss Sarah’s wedding, and letting Richard grab a couple of hours shuteye as he’d only just arrived back in the country, we packed the car and headed for Germany. Our destination was Berlin, but as it’s such a long drive from Antwerp we stopped for the night in the city of Bielefeld. Here we ate yummy Middle Eastern food (in honour of the fact that Richard’s favourite fact about Berlin is that the most eaten food item there is the doner kebab!), and stumbled across a fair. As we are getting close to summer fairs are starting to pop up all over the place – big one in Antwerp this weekend. It was the usual sort of thing – loud music, lots of neon, overpriced rides and lots of sausages for sale at the food stalls. The girls had a pony ride which they loved – sorry no photos – left the camera in the car.
In the morning we made our way to Berlin via a quick stop in the city of Magdeburg. In Magdeburg I stocked up on a few Reisenthel goodies and we discovered a men’s clothing store where 50% of the clothing on sale was branded with all sorts of kiwiana – NZ flags on sleeves and “Auckland” emblazoned across the front of tshirts! Since the rest of the clothing in the store all bore Karl Lagerfeld’s label, one can only conclude that there is some cachet in Magdeburg wearing a tshirt with the name of a New Zealand city on it! Definitely one of the weirdest things we’ve encountered. Perhaps one wears them whilst decorating one’s garden with these.
We were a bit late arriving in Berlin owing to the enormous traffic jam we got stuck in just after leaving Magdeburg. A huge truck had somehow overheated and burst into flames – quite a dramatic scene once we were able to drive past. The girls were very impressed!
Berlin was sunny and warm when we arrived late Saturday afternoon. Our hotel was in the Tiergarten – an area of central Berlin dominated by a large park. As soon as we’d checked in and stowed our gear we headed out to do some exploring.
Waiting at the Tiergarten stop for the S-Bahn or city train.
Our first stop was the Brandenburg gate, perhaps the most well-known landmark of Berlin. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which Berlin was once entered.
From the Brandenberg Gate it was a short stroll to the Riechstag and the Holocaust Memorial.
The Reichstag building was built to house the parliament of the German Empire but fell into disuse after the partition of Berlin. After the reunification of Berlin it was renovated and once again is home to the German parliament.
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a roughly 5 acre square site covered in 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field.
The slabs vary in height and are designed to produce an uneasy and confusing atmosphere.
I definitely had feelings of unease and confusion. The evening was so beautiful. Dotted around on top of the slabs were people – reading, sunbathing, chatting, Olive and Edie loved seeing which slabs they could scale and then used them like giant stepping stones. In one corner a small groups of monks were chanting – all in all it was quiet, serene and beautiful.  And yet here we were in a place that marked so much death and despair. My initial reaction was to tell the girls to stop climbing, be quiet and show some respect. But of course I couldn’t expect that of them and in retrospect seeing the memorial covered in “life” is probably the best way to honour those who were murdered.  The construction of this memorial was not without controversy which I guess is only to be expected when dealing with such a sensitive subject.
As we only had one full day in Berlin I asked the concierge at the hotel what his recommendations were and he suggested the zoo and the wall. Because we live within a stone’s throw of the Antwerp Zoo we tend not to make zoo visits on our travels, but Berlin’s zoo is one of the most popular zoos in the world and is the most visited zoo in Europe, plus it was such a beautiful day, so we were happy to spend half our day in Berlin amongst 17,500 animals.
Hippos basking in the sun. During the second world war the zoo was completely destroyed and only 91 out of 3,715 animals survived.
We all had a wee giggle when we learned the name of the standing polar bear – Nancy!
Along with watching the polar bears feed, seeing this panda up close was a real highlight.
A very glum looking ape 😦
We loved the mountain goats little alpine hut.
After leaving the zoo we caught the S-Bahn and headed to one of the remaining sections of the Berlin Wall. We’d been advised to visit the section known as the East Side Gallery. This is a 1.3km long section which was decorated with murals by international artists in 1990. Unfortunately many of the paintings have been damaged by erosion, graffiti and vandalism.
Checking out the remains of the Berlin Wall.
It had a real wasteland feel to it – lots of rubbish on the ground, people milling around – not quite what I was expecting.
The East Side Gallery.
Answering Olive’s questions about why the wall was there and what happened when people tried to get over it was proving a bit challenging too! So we retreated back to the cool of our hotel for a wee rest before dinner.
Once again we’d been given great tips from friends about places to go in Berlin, so after freshening up we made a beeline for Hackesche Hofe – Germany’s largest enclosed courtyard area. Here we ate schnitzel and apple strudel and then explored the 8 interconnected courtyards which were designed in the Jugendstil or Art Nouveau style.
Art Nouveau courtyard.
Checking out the beautiful blue tiling.
It was really beautiful and inside some of the courtyards were stores selling products designed and made in Berlin. My favourite was the Ampelmann shop where you could buy a whole range of things inspired by the little red and green figures that were used on the traffic lights in East Berlin.
The Ampelmann.
Apartment building inside one of the courtyards.
Olive and Edie were thrilled to discover this see saw when we ventured into another courtyard.
From there we headed for the river front, enjoying the first real warm weather we’d experienced for months. There were people everywhere enjoying the late evening sun and we were thrilled to stumble upon a very cool outdoor cafe and dance floor…
Beautiful buildings down by the river.
And some Ampelmann traffic lights in action.
Dancing al fresco – very cool. The girls would have watched for hours.
Soon it was time to catch the train home. Â The following morning we began the long drive back to Antwerp. Because we are leaving Europe soon and want to see as much as possible in our remaining few months, we took a detour to the city of Leipzig where Bach worked for many years and where Wagner was born. Schumann, Mahler and Mendelssohn all worked in the city too, giving it a very illustrious musical pedigree.
Messing around in Leipzig.
Cathedral where Bach worked.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Germany – Berlin in particular was a great city – I enjoyed it much more than I had expected.
Richard went back to the States this morning and after popping home for a very quick two days he’s then off to New Zealand for two weeks. We’re all looking forward to the end of all that travelling once we get to the States!
I’m hoping to visit and write about a few Antwerp landmarks that I’ve sorely neglected and now that time is running out I really need to get to them! Take care everyone. Sending lots of love from a scorching Antwerp – whilst crossing my fingers that the stunning weather lasts 🙂
hetbelgischekoekje 