How to Make a Snow Fort....

This snow in our garden is so much fun!!!!!
We want to build all sorts of things.....this weekend we wanted to build a fort!!!
Lynes came over after school, we started the first level of snow blocks
We got 2 levels of blocks built and then it was getting too dark...
So we continued the following morning
Build the snow blocks...
Then fill in the gaps with snow
and keep going...
Max came to help...here are the 3 of them having an executive meeting about the construction
Once we had 3 levels complete, it was time for hot chocolate and pizza in the fort..
It was great fun to build, and Lynes says he has never had a picnic in the snow before!
That was great fun....now what's next????

Alexander, Junior Master Chef....

Alexander is really keen to help in the kitchen, so he has been helping a lot in the past week.
First was hamburgers,
Then making pizza,


Today Anzac Cookies.



I could get used to having this helper in the kitchen!

Of course, there are plenty of volunteers for taste testing!!!!

Exterminate...Exterminate...

Inspired by my knitting obsessed/Dr Who obsessed friend Atalanti, we got out into the garden this afternoon and made a Dalek out of snow. The snow still isn't great to make big rolling snowballs, but we had fun anyway!



First we made the Dalek.....we need to drink more coffee to use the Nespresso capsules for decorations....

Next we made a small man, directly in front of the Dalek.....The Dalek is currently exterminating the man....he is melting.....

Then it was time to put the camera away and have a massive snowball fight! Our neighbour, Thorsten joined in....Thorsten's 2 year old daughter stood at the window to watch, so we throw some snowballs at the windows, which she really enjoyed, (especially as she wasn't getting cold like the rest of us). Then it was back inside to warm up and get dinner ready and prepare to watch the final episode of David Tennant as the Doctor!

Icicles.....

Cameron loves to break off any icicles he finds...

When I dropped Alexander off at Theatre Club this morning, we found these icicles...




When I showed Cameron the photos, he has decided to come with me when we drop Alexander off at Theatre Club next week.

Somehow I am wondering if we need to take the Esky with us to collect his icicles...

Alexander's Birdhouse and Fish Food

Part of Alexander's homework this week was to feed some birds, and see what birds came to visit the bird feeder.


While we were watching, this little bird visited. After Google searching, we found out that he was a "Kohlmeise" or in English, Great Tit.

While we were at the pet shop, we boought some extra fish......so now we are back to 10 fish again.


We wait to see if the 2 killer goldfish will eat the 8 new ones.....it's an expensive way to buy fish food!

How to get rid of the old Christmas tree when you live 3 floors up...

Open up the window,

Check no one is coming along the path, and then give it a push! Drag the tree to the gutter, and the council comes along and gets rid of it for you.

Vacuum up all the old pine needles, and room is back to normal!

From +25 degrees to -5 degrees in 5 hours....

It was quite a change - 28 degrees and sunny, to minus 5 degrees and heavy snow! On the weekend we arrived back in Berlin, there was at least 15 cm of fresh snow, deepening an already thick blanket of snow that lay over Berlin.
we had to clear a small path to get to the edge of the terrace, and sweep off the satellite dish to get reception on the TV.

Alexander's ugg boots...sweeping up the terrace
Just enough to get a signal....

Then we did an experiment with some tea candles in the snow on our terrace.

In 1/2 hour, they had melted to the terrace flooring.

Over 30cm of snow had to be cleaned off the car, and I had to shovel snow from under the tyres so I could drive out.
View from the terrace, our car is the silvery colour, covered in snow
A neighbour's car, which hasn't moved for 4 weeks, and not likely to move for quite sometime!

Alan and Phil took BJ and Cameron sledding (or as the English say "sledging")on Teufelsberg - really the only hill for miles around. It was packed, and in true German form, there were queues for each of the sled runs. They all had a turn, including the 'big boys', and it was a great few hours out in the fresh air.





lots of fun...even for the "big kids"



It makes quite a contrast from sunlounges and diveboats, to deep snow and sledding!

Sandcastles and tunnels and beach fun....

The kids played happily on the beach for hours..... collecting shells, looking for starfish and crabs

Trying to catch fish

Building cities in the sand...

Building lots of cities in the sand!

Speaking German to 3 girls who were fascinated with their city....


Building the pyramids and the Sphinx
and having a great time!

Fun around the resort....

Just some happy snaps taken around the resort...
Our family
All of us!
The Scots...
Cameron found this crab on the beach...he brought it back to show us, and wanted a photo...he said "I'll put it on Mum's knee to take a photo, she's used to crabs"...I am not so sure about that!
Our "crepe man", Wahid, knew exactly who we liked out crepes, as we had at least one every day.....then the big boys decided they would have a turn...
Cameron loved his hot chocolates...more chocolate than milk in most cups!
Playing Chinese Whispers before dinner was always a laugh...
Somehow we never got it right...I am blaming the "beer cordial"

Cameron made this bouquet for his Mum
Alice the Camel was very patient


Someone stole Alan's thong......(surely it wouldn't have been Nicole)... James got blamed and it was stacks on....

Everything is for sale..

Lying on a sun lounge on the beach was pleasant, but was often interrupted by individuals trying to sell you something. On one morning, I had 11 interruptions before I had finished 4 pages of my book. There would be everything from Diving lessons, Spa treatments, camel rides, safaris, 4 wheel bike tours, trips to Luxor, Snorkelling, Glass Bottomed boat tours... Most of the salespeople were polite and reasonably pleasant, however a few were quite pushy. It seemed that the beach (as opposed to the pool) was public space, so they could operate freely there. Of course, nothing had a ‘fixed price’, and everything could be ‘discussed’. As all of these guys were on commission, it was easy to understand their point of view. Eventually some of them were known to us on a first name basis, we had spoken so many times!

The Resort had a Spa/Wellness complex, Nicole arranged for a series of massages across the 2 weeks we were at the resort. She opted for a couple of Turkish Baths and a couple of Cleopatras. As if she wasn’t relaxed enough already...


Just before we left, Nicole couldn't resist a few henna Tattoos...
they should last about a month!

New Years Eve

The Tent from Christmas had been reformed for New Years Eve –into a Disneyland theme. Some of the attempts to ‘copy’ some of the characters were a little bit frightening, but the overall theme was ‘Close enough’ (I'm sure Walt Disney would have turned over in his grave..).

We reserved a table for all of us, up near the back of the tent....so the music wasn't blaring right in our ears from the stage. Each table had "party bags" with hats, blowers, balloons, sparklers and clickers.


The bags soon ended up as hats, and we ate and danced the night away!
A Can-Can with some of our favourite Chefs!
Ninja warriors...using the ties from the chairs...
Koala impersonations...
Happy 2010 from us!

Snorkelling with the kids.

Just off the resort were some great reef pinnacles, in about 3-5m of water. These were within easy reach of the pier, and when Phil wasn’t out diving, he would take the kids out for a snorkel on these reefs. The ones closest to the pier were dead, with a few fish inhabitants.


The ones further away had not been stepped on or treated as badly, and had heaps of live coral and fish stocks. The boys loved going out when it was calm, but when the wind blew in and it got a bit choppy, it was left to the dads and the bigger kids to snorkel by themselves.

The boys really enjoyed seeing the coral and fish. There were Moray Eels, lion fish, trumpetfish and lots of others that the boys were able to see just by snorkelling over the surface.

After about 20 minutes they were usually cold and a bit tired, and it was time to head back in. Our guess is that when they are about 14 or 15 they will join Phil on a scuba course, and then Nicole really will be a diving widow...

Phil learns to dive

Being on the Red Sea, Phil decided it would be crazy to come all this way and not learn to dive. Given that the Ramsays love diving (with their eldest son, Stuart, a professional dive instructor), it was an easy choice! Phil studied all of the books before flying to Egypt, and enrolled in an open water course.

After time in the pool, Phil had 2 days (4 dives) out on the reefs in ‘school’. Here he learned all the basic skills and safety to allow him to dive. He passed the test with flying colors, and promptly enrolled in 3 extra days of diving.


The feeling of being 15-20m under the water, with unlimited visibility, and massive amounts of fish, coral and other sea life was amazing. Seeing the likes of Moray eels, Crocodile fish, more angel fish than you can count, Clown fish, seas snakes, trumpet fish, barracuda, lion fish, scorpion fish, tuna, wonderful coral gardens and pinnacles teeming with life and so much more was an amazing treat. Diving with the Ramsays Phil had a great time, and continued to learn.



As Stuart was an instructor, Phil also was able to do a wreck dive, a drift dive and some deeper diving that he wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. All brilliant experiences.



Phil is now hooked, and has plans to dive in many other locations, such as the Great Barrier Reef, the Pacific, Maladives......and thinking about an underwater camera...

The Dana Beach Resort

The resort where we stayed was ideal for families. We went on an all inclusive package, so it was easy for any of us to get a drink or snack when the mood struck. The resort was massive, with a big reception complex, 2 heated pools, a spa centre, 2other pools, a huge seawater lagoon, many restaurants and bars and a large beach area.

Once we had seen the lay of the land, the kids were given the freedom to roam and play as they wanted, as long as they stayed together.

The minigolf and the paddleboats on the lagoon were favourites, and they also spent a lot of time building and playing on the beach. All interspersed with crepes, ice-creams, plates of chips and soft drinks.


A perfect holiday for the kids! There were lots of sun lounges by the pools and the beach, and the hardest decision each day was where to base the families, beach or pool? The resort had a great Spa complex, a diving centre and lots of other activities if you chose to enjoy them, or just lie back on a sun lounge, read a book and sleep...

Our room faced onto the beach, and had enough room for us all.

When we felt too lazy to walk up to breakfast, a motorboat taxi ran the length of the lagoon, from the beach to the reception.

This made getting up and down the complex very easy (and was a great way to cruise around the complex to check in on the kids!)

Christmas Day

Santa found us at the Red Sea.....he brought new bathers, and snorkels!!!

Christmas in Egypt

In December, we were trying to plan our Christmas holiday. Where to go? We had several ideas, but really hadn’t settled on any of them. Our good friends, the Ramsays, had organised 2 weeks in Egypt, at Hurghada on the Red Sea. This was not on our original list, but we were easily convinced. 2 weeks in the sun, on the beach, relaxing? Sounded great.

We boarded an early flight, and had a short stopover in Luxor. It turned out to be a long stopover – there were no landing slots in Hurghada, so we had to wait on the tarmac in Luxor for a few hours until one became free. Finally we made it, and we checked into the resort. It was Christmas Eve, and a large Christmas party was planned. Seemed like a great way to start our holiday! We booked a table, got ourselves settled in our rooms and made our way to the party tent – which was set up on tennis courts, as a massive marquee with the floor covered in oriental rugs, a massive dancefloor and stage and miles of buffet.
Interesting use of food colouring in all the desserts!

A tree made from strawberries

Sonia and Alan
James, Stuart and us

We had a brilliant night, partied until late, had a few beers and wines. The kids really enjoyed the show, the food, and the freedom to explore and be a bit independent.

KaDeWe Decorations

Cameron and I stopped off at KaDeWe for a couple of things, and we wandered into the main hall to have a look at their Xmas trees. We had a Santa photo here a few years ago, and the Santa was so scary, the boys were put off KaDeWe forever!!!






If only we had 20 foot ceilings to have trees that would fill the room, and decorate them with all these fantastic decorations (Can you hear Phil groaning already??)

Alexander's Theatre Club

Every Saturday morning we head off to Kruezberg to the English Theatre company where Alexander does a kids theatre club. This Saturday afternoon we went to watch the end of year performances where each of the kids did a monologue from a play.

Alexander had a monologue from a piece called "4 Square Blocks" by Michelle A. Hamilton. He was Gabe, a "down and out writer, and a kind of philosopher".


He did a terrific job! All the kids involved did a terrific job with their monologues. It was an enjoyable performance!

Christmas Gingerbread...

School finished at 12 noon today, and Felix came over afterwards.

Time to make Gingerbread cookies. We had stars, trees, men and women, and amplemen. Amplemen are the old East German traffic light figures used on traffic lights. Cameron found these cookie cutters and really wanted to use them this year.

We made the dough, and it was supposed to sit in the fridge for 1 hour. In -12 degree tempreture, we put them outside on the window ledge, and the dough was ready in 10 minutes.





Decorating them was interesting...I have no idea what Felix's parents thought of them ones he took home! They had a lot of fun!

Cameron's Squirrels

Cameron would love a dog, but this is not possible in an apartment in Berlin. However, there are a family of squirrels that live in the trees around our place that Cameron declared as 'his pets' when he was about 4 years old, and they have remained with us ever since.

Cameron's room provides a tree-top level viewing platform, and in the days leading up to the first snowfall, the squirrels have been very active. Here are a few photos of the squirrels from Cameron's windows. They can sit so still then ZIP! they have exploded away at great speed. They were playing chase, gathering some of the branches for their nests, and eating the small pinecones.





We must have watched them for a good 20 minutes, but it was quite chilly with the windows open!!

Brother's Grimm fairytale - in German

The company organised its German language class Christmas trip - this year a boat trip with Glühwein and cookies, and then a theatre performance of Brothers Grimm fairytales at the Die Märchenhütte Theatre

The boat trip was lovely, and we got to see much of Berln from the waterline. It started to snow, and as the boat fogged up, it really cold on deck with big wet snowflakes falling (guess where the kids were?)

After the boat trip, we went to a little theatre that was like an old hut, with a small stage at one end. The first fairytale was the fisherman's wife. It was performed by two actors, and was really well done. The boys had a great time, enjoyed the show, and only asked once for what a particular word meant (they understood the rest in German!). Papst...."The Pope"

We were settling in for the second fairytale when one of the staff approached us and told us it was not suitable for kids under 14. With scary masks, explicit nudity and sex references/acts, Rapunzel sounded like it was going to quite some show! We took the kids out of the theatre and headed for home (the adults a little disappointed and intrigued by what they had missed!)

However, seeing one fairytale was great - the kids got to experience this type of theatre and the show was excellent.

A great day all round.

Christmas Tree 2009

Phil came home from work, and we gave him 3 minutes to get changed, so we could head off down to the Bauhaus to buy our Christmas tree before the shop closed.

We were also after some Christmas lights that we had seen in Paris. No luck with that, so we will have to look around at some other places.

We picked a tree, and the man gave me the ticket to take inside to pay for the tree, while he prepared the stumb for us. As the man went to bring it to the grinder, the top snapped off the tree. Phil said to him, if you hurry and grab another one before she comes out, she won't know the difference and she won't be angry. Not sure if he realised that Phil was joking, and he quickly raced off to get another one, and told Phil this one was a better tree.
We got the tree into the car and headed back home. After dinner we got the kids decorations out and they decorated the tree. Only a small tree this year, so not all the decorations have come out of the boxes. The kids put all the decorations up, and only needed help for the higher ones.




Now to find what we did with the star for the top of the tree. Must be in another box in the cellar!

A weekend trip to Paris #5. Notre Dame Cathedral and Musee D'Orsey

From our apartment window, we could see the Eiffel Tower in one direction, and to the left the Seine River and the Statue of Liberty. The boys were confused about this statue, as they know it is in New York. This statue is the first bronze model made on a much smaller scale. So we went down to the River to have a better view of it!


Sunday morning in Paris. A small bakery with Croissants fresh out of the oven (trays of them!). After getting ourselves checked out of the hotel and storing our bags, we found this little bakery for breakfast. We sent Alexander up to practice his French, (he has started French in school this year) and he did a magnificent job of ordering 6 croissants, a hot chocolate, juices and a couple of cafe au laits. Delicious!


We caught the Metro into town again, and visited Notre Dame Cathedral. It rained a little whilst we lined up, but with umberellas and jackets, we were fine. It is amazing how quick the hawkers change from selling Eiffel Tower key rings (3 to the Euro this morning) to selling umbrellas (5 Euros each!).


We entered the cathedral during Mass, and when the soloist or the choir sings, it is an amazing sound and an incredible experience. We were fortunate to hear this during our visit, and to spend time looking around inside.

Our next planned stop was St Chapelle, however two things got in our way. The first was a street market selling animals. The boys (especially Cameron, who adores animals) looked at every goldfish, bird and other small animal on display. A Cockatoo in a cage was really screeching, and there were plenty of cockatiels, budgies and lots of different types of finches. On other stalls there were chickens, ducks and all manner of small rodents. It was noisy, but really interesting.
There were lots of Christmas trees on sale, and we loved the stands that came with every tree!

The second problem was the strike. No one was going in to St Chapelle, and a stationary queue stretched back to the Seine. We decided that it was not worth it, and decided to walk along the Seine River (in hope) to Musee D'Orsey.

The Museum was open, and even better it was the first Sunday of the month, which is free entry. There was a long queue, and just as we were getting set for a long wait, a museum employee ushered us over to a different entrance because we had children. Straight in, no waiting!! Fantastic!! We went straight to the Cafe for a delicious lunch, and then set about exploring the collection.

Musee D'Orsey is is an old railway station, and perhaps not the best space for art collections - however, the work that they have is spectacular! Many of the key impressionists are represented, and some of the works that you have seen in books as images are so much better when seen for real, Van Gough is a perfect example of this. We particularly loved Van Gogh, Cezanne, Degas, Manet, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin and Monet. Here is Alxander in front of Monet's, Lily Pond, a painting both Alexander and Cameron knew quite well from art lessons at school.

Spending 3 hours in a Museum is tough on little legs, and Cameron would stop and do his leg stretches that he learned in PE to keep him going. Some of the sections were closed for refurbishment, but we saw a lot, and were incredibly impressed.


After such a great effort by the kids, we took them for an afternoon tea at a cafe where we had delicious tortes and ice creams, and hot chocolates. we then walked the 3 km back to the hotel, stopping for some photos of Invaliden dome. The colour of the sky in the evening was amazing. We collected our gear from the hotel, walked to the metro and caught the train to Orly airport for our flight home.

A brilliant, full and fun weekend.

This was such a great weekend, we want to take an extra Friday off and visit Barcelona, then Rome, then Athens........then...

A weekend trip to Paris #4 - Montmartre

After the Louvre, we walked along the Seine River to the Musee D'Orsey, but it was closed due to the strike action.

Looking at our maps, we decided to catch the Metro to a suburb of Paris renowned for its link to artistic culture, Montmatre.

Montmartre sits on a hill, but the underground Metro does not match the surface terrain, so we had 181 stairs to climb from the platform to the street (that fact is courtesy of Alexander and Cameron!).

We then had another big hill to climb to reach the Sacre Ceur Church, with about another 150 steps. From here you could get another really good view over Paris, back to the Eiffel tower and the Arc de Triomphe.

The rains had cleared off and it was overcase but fine. Being a trendy, arty part of Paris it attracted 3 specific types - the arty Parisians, the tourists looking for arty Parisians, and all the 'hangers on' selling stuff or trying to be 'arty'.
There was an excellent guitarist playing on the stairs of the church, and street performers working in the courtyard below. There were a few of those 'human statues' and lots of tourists soaking up the atmosphere. We ventured around to Place du Tetre, the local square where artists sell their wares in a small market.

We walked around admiring some of the excellent paintings, as well as the prices they were charging. We had many offers by vendors to do portraits of the boys. One guy went from 70 EUR per boy down to 40 EUR for the two of them! We wandered down the local streets, bought a few souvenirs and post cards, and stopped for delicious Cafe au laits and crepes.
It is a really interesting corner of Paris, particularly on a Saturday afternoon. We then caught the Metro (after all of those steps) back down to Central Paris, found a restaurant in the Latin Quarter again for dinner, and then walked back to the apartment, past the Eiffel Tower again. Another fantastic day touring in Paris.

A weekend trip to Paris #3 - Louvre

The sky was a little more threatening as we woke up on Saturday morning, so we packed some umbrellas and headed down to a local cafe for breakfast. Croissants, coffee and orange juice, a great way to start the morning. We then caught the Metro back up into the heart of town and walked from Odeon station to the Louvre. Our timing was a little off - as we left the Metro, the skies opened and it bucketed down. Even with jackets and umbrellas, we were soaked through to the skin.

We ran for the entrance to the Louvre - only to find it also affected by the strike, and not open! We headed to a cafe next to the Louvre entrance, and whilst I ordered and got the heaters on the terrace turned on full blast, Nicole took the boys into the toilets and rung out their socks, and put these and their shoes under the hand dryers. They were better when they returned, but certainly not dry!
From our vantage point on the terrace over a coffee, we could see when the Louvre opened, and strolled over to join the line when it had finished raining, and we were finished with our coffees. After wringing out the sleeves on the boys jackets, we made our way into the Louvre and passed all of our wet stuff over the cloakroom attendants - who could hang it up for a few hours so it could dry!

We took the boys up into Denon wing, and looked at a lot of interesting Renaissance art. We finally reached the Mona Lisa, and we discussed this with the boys.


We then spent the next few hours working our way around sections of the gallery (much was closed) and the boys were fantastically behaved, and really interested in a lot of what we were showing them.

We ate lunch in the Louvre cafe, visited the inverted pyramid (famous from Dan Brown's DaVinci Code novel) and then picked up our (still damp) outer gear. At least the controlled environment in the Louvre meant that we were a bit dryer!

A weekend trip to Paris #2 Champs Elysses

After a late lunch, we walked to the Arc De Triomphe. Due to a national monuments and museum strike, it was not possible to climb up or enter. We enjoyed walking around the outside, looking at the embellishments and statuary.





We then walked down Champs Elysses and discovered Christmas markets. They were pretty much like all other Christmas markets, and we stopped for some chocolate covered fruit (yummy strawberries coated in chocolate on a skewer, for example) Cameron enjoyed a chocolate coated apple.

We had a Santa photo taken with the whole family and enjoyed the Christmas lights. One of our strangest Santa photos yet, where Santa spoke only French, and our French is limited to "my name is...". please thank-you, hello and goodbye. So, we are not sure what this Santa will tell the real Santa in the North Pole what we would like for Christmas.
Nicole is inspired by all the Xmas lights, and we are off to BauHaus this weekend to light up our apartment like the Griswalds in Family vacation Christmas.
We walked down to the big ferris wheel, which sits at the end of Champs Elysses in Place de la Concorde, next to the Obelisque. It was warm in the cabins, and we enjoyed the view over Paris as dusk fell.

We decided to get some dinner - we found a fantastic little restaurant in the Latin Quarter, then walked another 4km back to our apartment. We all enjoyed a hot shower and settled into the very comfortable apartment with views out over the Eiffel Tower, which was spectacularly lit to celebrate its 120 year aniversary.

A weekend trip to Paris #1 Eiffel Tower

We have been wanting to take the kids to Paris for quite awhile, and we found the perfect opportunity to take a Friday off, and have a 3 day weekend touring Paris.
We were up early Friday morning and in Paris by 9.30, bags checked into the hotel and ready to walk to the "Tour Eiffel" (as they say in French). We were expecting rain, but the day was cold with clear blue skies. It was the perfect day to take the kids to the top.
Our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, the building to the right is the Australian Embassy...not a bad view for the staff there!! The flag above the kids is the Australian Flag, but now windy enough to see it properly.
We lined up for a while and eventually got our tickets. We were offered Eiffel tower key rings every minute or so for the half an hour we lined up. Prices varied from 2 per Euro down to 6 per Euro! We finally got our tickets, and had 45 minutes before we were to go up the tower. We went for a walk in Parc du Champ de Mars, directly behind the Eiffel tower. We stopped for the kids to have a run around, and to take a few photos.

We lined up again to go through at 12:30 to line up for security so we could line up for the first elevator to the second level. When we got there, we lined up for the lift to the 'sommit'. It was cold and clear, and at the second level the wind blew in cold and chilled us all (even with many layers). Eventually we entered the tiny lift and made it to the top.

The views from the observation deck were stunning. We spent some time looking around Paris, and Cameron was really impressed that he could go to the toilet and everything would fall 324m to ground level. We then queued up to catch the elevator back down. It was a good thing it was 'low season' - in summer the lines and the waiting are at least twice as long! As we were in the various lines, the boys were regailing us with facts and figures, like how high it was, how old it was, and lots of intersting facts about how and why it was built. (It has 1665 stairs and is 324m tall, for example).


I think we were really fortunate to be able to share the Eiffel tower with the boys on such a great day - they (and we) had a fantastic time!


We next walked through the Palais de Chaillot and found a small baguetterie for a late lunch.

A wedding to remember - Maren and Gavin

Friends of Phils from work were geting married, and after arranging sleep-overs for both of the boys (this took some effort, as Alexander's arrangements were thrown into chaos when swine flu struck his potential host. A good thing some other friends were on hand to have him over!), Nicole and Phil headed into Gerndamermarkt, for 12:00 noon ceremony.

The wedding was held in Französischer Dom, in Gendarmenmarkt. After meeting in the foyer at the base of the Belltower, we then climbed a couple of hundred stairs up to the level of the bells, where the ceremony took place.

We were up where the circular windows are.

It was lovely - Maren looked beautiful, Gavin was beaming and the service was in such an interesting (and unexpected) place. Gavin put his ring on his left hand (Anglo tradition) and Maren on her right (German tradition).


A Cello played, and the resonant notes echoed up the belltower.

We descended halfway and had champagne and laugenbretzels (bread pretzels) at the first reception. We were also able to walk around the viewing balcony, getting a brilliant view over Berlin.

The 'party' was not until 6pm, so Nicole and I cruised the Christmas markets, bought some lunch, then found a cafe for a nice cuppa.

We then headed up to a wool shop that Nicole had been looking for, and then wandered down to Hackeschen Höfe.

It was great just to spend some time together, mooching around, looking in shop windows and chatting. We stopped for another coffee, and had to end up buying a couple of cheap Rossmann umbrellas as the skies opened up, just as night fell (about 4:30pm).

We reached the restaurant, and promptly set about meeting lots of intersting and wonderful people. We were lucky to be sat at a fantastic table, with Dominic, Colin, Brad and Chris. The food was outstanding, and with such an interesting group of people we shared lots of great stories and laughs.

With speeches in German and English (well, Northern Irish...), a lovely bridal waltz and the groom playing a few songs on the guitar, the party really got going. We drank a few whiskeys with Gavin and his brothers, we eventually headed home at about 2am.

We had a great time, the spirit and atmosphere was wonderful, and we wish the newlyweds happiness always.

Mauerfall part II

The weekend after the Berlin Wall 20th Anniversary, we were invited to a Bayer 'language class' day out. For those expats who are (attempting) to learn German through the language department at Bayer, the company organises infrequent trips out on the weekends to 'engage with the culture'. With the 20 years celebration of the wall just passed, a program around the Wall was offered - first stop to the Bernauerstrasse Documentation Centre. The Documentation Centre was lots of historical information and photos of the area when the wall was erected until the fall of the Berlin Wall.

We met the group at Bernauerstrasse, where a section of the wall still remains. From a viewing tower across the street, it is possible to see the wall, the 30 metres of cleared 'death strip' (with guard tower, lights etc) and the rear wall. We looked at it both from the tower, and also took a walk around to the Eastern side. It is clear why it was so difficult to cross!

This section of Bernauerstrasse is interesting because at one stage, the wall directly touched the wall, and people would leap out of the windows of the buildings on the Eastern side and be caught by crowds waiting below on the Western side. In the end, these buildings were walled up, and then destroyed.
Here is Cameron trying to climb over...not an easy thing to do!

A little further along a church was located in the death strip. For a while it stood and was used by the congregation from the East. However, the congregation members from the West could not cross and enter the church, so they set up a service in a building opposite (which is now a document and record centre on the wall). This church was also blown up, after the bells were removed. After the wall came down, a small chapel was erected on the site and opened 11 years after the wall came down. The document centre has a video which shows the view from a helecopter as it flies along the length of the wall, just after it opened. It is amazing to see how much it all has changed.
After lunch we headed to the StadtMuseum Berlin to view the FallMauerFall Exhibition. The art exhibition displayed artists views and feeling towards the fall of the Wall from both East and West Berlin artists.

We spent most of the morning with Dave, Danielle and their son Cameron. The boys entertained themselves, and Dave and Danielle were great company. We headed together to Alexanderplatz, to Delores, a Burrito Cafe they recommended, for the best burritos in Berlin (they were right!). We then walked to the Nicolaivorteil and enjoyed a tour of the art collection. One of our favourite pieces was the video of an artist, Stephen Elsners, who would knock out sections of the wall, insert clear plastic sheet segments, and then paint them. The response of the guards when they see it, and when they investigate it, is one of confusion. The sections are then replaced.



The rest of the works were mixed, some excellent pieces capturing the spirit of the wall from both sides and its impact on life for those living with the wall in their midst.


Afterwards we strolled to Unter Den Linden, then to Brandenberg Tor S Bahn. We said goodbye to Danielle, Dave and Cameron at Potsdamerplatz, after spending a relaxed and fun day with them touring some wall history. It was a great day out, and we say 'thanks' to the language department for making the effort to organise such an interesting day out.

2009 Berlin Mauerfall!

9th November 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of the end of the Berlin Wall.

Lots of interesting exhibitions and things to see and do in the next few weeks! We have a few exhibitions to see ,which we will blog about when we see them!

Over the past 6 months a huge undertaking of large dominos have been painted by different schools, organisations and community groups and they have been placed from Potsdamer Platz to the Reichstag, where the Berlin Wall once stood. There are over 1000 dominos erected.

Sadly, the weather was rainy, but it didn't ruin the spirit of everyone coming together to celebrate the fall of the wall.





We hoped to meet Phil near the Gate to help celebrate the day. The kids and I got out at Potsdamer Platz and walked towards the Brandenburg Gate. Phil got out at Friedrichstrasse and walked towards the Brandenburg Gate. It was so crowded, and we couldn't meet up, and the barriers of the dominos kept us from meeting up. We were only 50 mteres apart! So we both turned around and met up at Zoo Garten. So in a way we had our own reenactment of the East/West division.






The stones in the road that show where the original wall actually stood.

Before we went to the train, we grabbed a bratwurst in brotchen, and this massive chicken on a stick, in a roll! Hilarious, but delicious! Cameron can't believe how enormous this chicken stick is!!

Video link of some of the dominos falling

(Alexander thought it would have been appropriate if someone had have driven into the first domino in a Trabi! What a great idea!!!!)

Cameron's Space Mobile

Cameron is learning about Space and Planets in school at the moment. He came home from school all excited about making a mobile with the planets.

We had bought a bookmark from the Belfast Museum with all the planets and facts and figures on it. So, with bookmark in hand, we headed to Idee to buy some spheres. Cameron has been in a really creative frame of mind recently, and he applied this to his project. Originally he wanted to buy the wooden balls, but they were quilte heavy (and expensive), so we settled on the styrofoam balls instead. A bonus, they even had the rings so Saturn was complete, and stars as well.

He set himself up with a book on the solar system and his bookmark, foam balls and paint, and began to paint the balls in fantastic representations of the planets. With a bit of help, each globe was threaded with cord (always on exactly the right angle as dictated by the designer, constantly consulting his Solar System chart).


The planets were attached to a crossbar, with a few extra stars added for effect. It simply looked fantastic!

The class was impressed with his effort, and it was hanging right above the middle of the classroom when we were there the next night for parent teacher conferences.

First snow for the season

A little bit early for snow, but it was cold this morning.

Sadly, it rained not long after and all disappeared again!

Almost time to go down to the cellar and bring out all the Winter gear again!

Monasterboice

After Brú Na Bóinne we drove the short distance to Monasterboice. This was the site of an old circular tower and abbey, which also had some giant celtic crosses. The site now sits in a modern graveyard, and there are headstones littered about, even inside the ruins of the old abbey. The circular tower was used by the abbey to protect themselves and their possessions from bandits, and the marauding vikings. The site was interesting, but being in the middle of a current graveyard did not really do it justice.




Our trip was ending. One more good pub meal, a Guinness for Phil, a night in a great B&B and an early flight home. Overall, a great visit. The sun shone when we needed it to, and it rained when it didnt matter. We saw some fantastic sites (the causeway coast was just, simply, awesome) and had a great family holiday.

Brú Na Bóinne

After leaving Sligo we had a pleasant overnight stay in Westport, on the western coast of Ireland. The B&B that we stayed in was called 'Augusta Lodge', and was very much into golf. So much so that the front lawn was converted into a giant putting green, with fake grass, cups and flags set out for putting practice. Whilst Nicole continued to finalise her studies for the semester, Phil and the boys played golf. The boys got the hang of putting, and by the end Alexander was sinking 10 footers with (scary) regularity! Cameron loved the long 'hail mary's', and dropped a few of these as well.

On Sunday, we had hoped to stop at a few museums and see a few sites on our way to our overnighter - however, everything was closed. We ended up having a lovely afternoon stroll and afternoon tea in Carrick-on-Shannon, before staying at a B&B which we found out later translates to 'the dump', but was anything but!

On our final full day, we struck out for the East coast, and Brú Na Bóinne. This was a historic site that was highly regarded, and we drove two hours in the rain to get there. As soon as we arrived the skies cleared!


We went on a tour to a fascinating site - what they call a passage tomb. It is massive, and is built on the top of a hill. A guide took us up to the site, and explained the history of the site and some of the thoughts as to why it was here, and what role it served. After this we entered the chamber inside the tomb. The place is 5000 years old, and is magnificently constructed and preserved. The roof of the chamber rises overhead, and the stones were placed in such a way that all water runs away from the chamber, and inside was perfectly dry. There were three alcoves, each containing a large basin stone. In these, remains of cremated bones were found when they first discovered the site.




The entry passage has a small 'window' built above it - and its purpose is revealed only every winter solstice. Because of surrounding hills, sunlight does not pass through the door. At dawn, when the sun rises over the surrounding hills, it shines through this window box, into the passage, and due to the gentle rise of the passage, the sunlight at the solstice lights up the floor of the central chamber. Absolutely awesome design.




The interesting thing is that the light of the equinox has moved to the right over time with the wobble of the earth. Alexander asked the guide when it would be back in the middle. The cycle is 27000 years long, so in 22000 years it will be back in the middle again!

The site was incredibly impressive, and the visitors centre was top notch as well. We spent several hours there, and it was really worth the visit (the coffee in the cafe was also excellent!)

A life size model of how experts think the people of the stone age lived. There were no photos allowed in the tomb, but the visitor cetnre had models of the inside of the passge tomb!

Knocknarea Cairn

Just outside of Sligo is this large limestone hill, about 350 metres high. A great place to climb up to on a nice day. On top of the plateau is a huge stone heap. The stone heap is known as a cairn. It is believed that the cairn is the grave of Queen Maeve (also known as Queen Mab in English folklore). The cairn is 10 metres high and 55 metres across. For some strange reason, we have no photos of the cairn?? not sure what happened about that. So to see this amazing cairn, click on this link!