In the forests of Bavaria...

For many months, the Year One's and Two's have been preparing for the 'Key Stage 1' production of Hansel and Gretel. 

Alexander had a role as a narrator, and many of his friends had other key roles in the production. Cameron, being in Year 1, was in the chorus. Alexander had the luxury of wearing jeans and a special T-Shirt. Nicole was quite relieved he wasn't a woodland animal like a bear, lion, or other creature.

Whilst Cameron in the chorus had to dress up as a lolly or biscuit! 

Nicole and Sonia shopped together and managed to get a stripey red and white hat and t-shirt and a pair of red leggings, so both Cameron and Bradley looked like candy canes. A great and easy idea - no elaborate costumes to make!  

The show was a great success, running on Tuesday and Thursday night. Alexander's friend Yasmina played the part of the witch, and really stole the show! Alexander could take his script on stage and just read his lines, but he didn't! As per his 'performance' in the 'Stars of the Future' last year, he took to the stage with his usual flair - knew all his lines off by heart and embellished with impromptu actions to support his lines! He had a great time, he loves performing. He and Emily were great narrators.

Cameron and Bradley sang their hearts out (and giggled and talked to each other, sometimes it can be boring in the chorus!). 

After each performance it was off to our favourite ice cream shop, Mauritius, for a celebratory ice-cream then home to bed!

Phil in Sofia

I flew straight from Barcelona to Sofia (via Milan). and the contrast was clear. 

From Gaudi to beaten-up soviet style apartment blocks, and roads with enormous pot holes after the harsh winter. In fact, one of my colleagues had to rush away from a dinner because his mother-in-law had flipped his wife's car (with his baby daughter luckily in a proper restraint in the back seat) after clipping a huge pot-hole. When I asked him afterwards he said "My daughter is fine, the car needs work, and I don't give a F&&% about the mother in law!" 

 Had a great trip, and finished up all the work in time to fly home and see the boys in the school production of Hansel and Gretel.

Phil in Barcelona

We ran a scientific symposium in Barcelona over the weekend. It was really hard work, but the results were fantastic. Luckily, at the end of the program we had a city tour for the speakers. The Schering team and 5 of the top specialists went on a minibus for a tour of the city.  All of the speakers were really great, and the local professor acted as our tour guide - and it was fantastic. 

One of the advantages was that we had a tour of the historic "Hospital de la Santa Creu I Sant Pau" hospital, the second oldest working hospital in the world and a World Heritage location, which is normally closed to 'tourists'. The buildings are spectacular (a series of pavilions) and it is interesting to see how you can put a modern hospital into such a setting, that dates back to 1401. 

Barcelona was really interesting, and the Gaudi work really impressed me. Before I went to Barcelona, I thought Gaudi was some guy who had lost his ruler. After seeing his work, I am now really impressed by what he achieved. The apartment building he created, the 'La Pedrera', has a small museum to his work and when I walked through the apartments and visited the museum, my opinion and understanding of his work improved dramatically. 

 After a long (very long) winter in Berlin, the weather was great. I had a wonderful visit and would love to return to really discover the place.

Wattle in Berlin

I went to the market today, and the flower stall where I get the tulips from every week had branches of wattle! 

We had a chat about how these grow all over the place where I grew up. I bought a couple of branches, and she gave me 2 extra ones for free (as well as lollies for the boys). So we have a bit of Australia in our lounge room at the moment, it is really nice!

Coffee Cups & Tulips

A blog prompt this week is to take a photo of the coffee cups that are your favourites.  My Sydney 2000 Olympics mug, I use in the evening when I make myself a chocolate milk. During the day I drink out of a plain white Maxwell and Williams Mug. 

I am collecting these Polish mugs from Boleslawiec. You can buy the same coffee mug shape but with different patterns, using the same blue and white glazes. My aim to collect different patterns in the same size mug. So far I have 2. 

The tulips here at the markets are divine, and oh so cheap! This time of the year they are everywhere, and you can buy 10 for 2 euro. I love the different colours. I buy my tulips every week from the same lady at the market. During school holidays, the boys come with me and smile nicely at the lady. Every week, she gives me a packet of lollies each for the kids after school. She is very kind.

Brocken on the Brockenbahn

Anything to do with transport trains, buses, planes, boats, we are there. 

Alexander can tell you the stations on our train line in Berlin close to our home and which stations to get off for the connecting trains! So, the steam train to the top of the mountain was a highlight of the trip for the boys. 

It takes an hour and 1/2 to get to the top. The scenery along the way was amazing! It looked fabulous with all the snow still on the trees. There were another 4-5 families on the same train as us. Some families missed the first train, but came up on the second train. 

The snow got thicker the higher we climbed. At the top the snow was about 3 metres high. It was incredible. You could see a street lamp post buried, and all you could see way the top of the light, with the post totally covered in snow! At the top, the trees were buried, and the tops were totally covered in snow. It reminded me of pictures in a Dr Seuss book. 

These snow covered trees took on a life of their own, and they looked like large snowmen. I think at dusk they could look quite spooky!  The view from the top of Brocken was amazing. The trees were totally covered in snow and bent over from the weight. From a distance they looked like people. 

We had forgotten to take the sleds, (still in Michelle and Gordon's car), but we had a few plastic bags with us in our backpacks. So the kids (and dads) went down the slope on the bags. They had a great time, and we all had a lot of fun. When the kids had to wait for a bag, they decided to go down the slope without the bag....penguin style, head first, on your tummy, and hands by your side.

Harz Mountains

Our walking/train expert guru, Phoebe, organised an overnight stay in the Harz Mountains. We got up early on Saturday morning caught the train south, 3 hours from Berlin to the Harz mountains. We stayed in a village called Wernigerode. 

A quaint little village with lots of Tudor style buildings. After lunch we did a horse and cart trip up to the Schloss (castle). The Schloss is over 900 years old. It still blows our minds to see such old buildings in such amazing conditions! Heaps of snow around, and still heaps on top of the trees. 

Lots of snowball throwing. I got dumped on really well, when Phil and Alan threw a few snowballs above the tree I was standing under and the snow just kept falling and falling, I was a real life snowman! Very funny, until it goes down your back and is really really cold, actually it still is quite funny! There was a lot of laughter from all of us.

We were a total of 12 families.. We all did our own thing and met up at the Youth Hostel in the afternoon. The hostel was still being renovated. The room we were in was very clean, and had comfortable beds and a decent shower. 

On the bottom level they have 2 bowling lanes. We booked it for 2 hours and the kids (ranging from 3 to 14) took turns. They played in teams and had a terrific time. The kids all play really well together, and the older ones help the younger ones. While the adults sat upstairs in the common area and drank lots of beer and wine! I think altogether there were 23 adults and 28 children. 

Alexander's Ten Pin Bowling Party

We took Alexander, Cameron and 7 friends ten pin bowling for Alexander's 7th birthday party. I booked the lanes over the phone..(a brave thing for me, I am not confident speaking Deutsch on the phone). I failed to mention that the lanes were for children. Not all lanes have the ability to put up the gutter rails (the rails come up, so the kids don't end up getting gutter balls for the whole time). 

Unfortunately all kid lanes were booked, and we had to tough it out on the "adult lanes". Surprisingly, the kids did pretty well. Isaiah gets the award for the slowest bowling ever. Twice the ball stopped in the middle of the lane and we had to ask the guy working there to get it for us. The kids were terrific. I loved the way when someone was bowling, the others got behind them and cheered when a pin was knocked down, and were sympathetic when the ball went into the gutter!

After bowling we took the kids to the ice cream shop for ice cream and cake. I had booked a couple of tables...(again on the telephone). I decided to go in a few days before, just to make sure I had actually booked the tables. I asked if they would be able to make an ice cream cake, or normal cake......no chance. So, I made cupcakes for everyone . They didn't look very attractive sitting on top of each other....but they were tasty. 

After cake and ice cream, we still had another 1/2 hour before parents were coming to pick the children up. Alexander opened his presents from his friends and we all had another drink. 

The kids sang lots of songs from their music classes and the school production they are all practicing for. 

 

BINGO!

Tonight we had a Bingo night at school to raise money for the PTA fund! What a hoot! I think we would have been kicked out of any "proper" Bingo hall. We were all a bit noisy, but we had fun. 

Bingo is not a popular "sport" in Germany, so the rules had to be explained. I guess it may have been a bit difficult to, when the call was in English. When you say numbers in German you say the unit first...eg 34...four and thirty. Sometimes this can confuse me, and I think the person has said 43. So I am sure it must be a confusing the other way around.

 

Nana would have been proud! The last game for the night I bought a few extra tickets and played 14 games at once! That required a bit of concentration, but lots of fun! 

 It paid off....I managed to win the last game of Bingo. My prize? 25 Euro voucher for an Easy Jet flight! ENGLAND, here I come!!

March snow

For the past 48 hours it has not stopped snowing! It is  unusual for March (so the German's tell us). It is quite thick, and great for snowball making. 

After seeing Maureen's children, Bobby and Katie's igloo in their garden in our last big fall of snow, the boys have asked that we make an igloo in our garden! We have the first 6 large snowballs in a semi circle, and will do more later this afternoon. We will do 2 large snowballs on top of each other, then use a quilt to cover the top of the igloo...more photos later! 

The novelty of snow has not worn out on us..we still love it. Perhaps this is because we are not driving a car in Berlin. Maybe I would feel different if we were driving a car in this weather, I do not think that would be a pleasant experience! Here is Alexander waiting for the bus (Cameron didn't want his photo taken today), and a photo of the garden!

An hour in Poland

What shall we do today? Let's get on a train and go to Poland for a quick visit to the market! 

Well, why not. About 12 of us got on the train and headed over to Poland, after the kids were dropped off at school. Strange looks from the border police when they see an Australian Passport, and it takes a bit longer than the rest of the group. 

The river we crossed was frozen over. If you look really closely you can see guys on the river with their little ice holes dug out (careful how you say that), trying to catch fish. 

Markets were interesting, lots of bargains, if you are after cigarettes, or lingerie that leave nothing to the imagination.

We did find a small stand with some Polish pottery, and I bought a few pieces for the collection.  Bottles  of Polish Vodka were bought and then consumed on the return train.

As for those "Roll Mops" garlic or peppers wrapped in pickled herrings , they were eaten on the train, but not by me! I have not acquired a taste for these, and I can't see it happening at any stage in the future, regardless of how much vodka is consumed. 

A fun day!

Happy 7th Birthday Alexander

Happy 7th Birthday to Alexander.

Phil and I cannot believe how quickly 7 years have passed! 

We still remember how little he was when he was born...6 pound, 6 ounces! He has been sick this week with a middle ear infection. The antibiotics have kicked in now, he probably could have gone to school today. 

He had a lovely day with me, playing with some of his new toys and helping me make this cake. Chocolate Cloud Cake from Nigella Lawson.  It is supposed to have that "sat on" look. The cake has no flour, delicious! He loved all the presents and lovely cards he received from family and friends. 

We will have his party next weekend. The Ten Pin bowling lanes have been booked...well, I hope so, I had to do it in German over the phone, so I hope they understood what I was asking! 

This evening we made cupcakes for Alexander to take to school tomorrow for his friends! 

Happy 37th Birthday Phil!

Happy Birthday to Phil today. 

I made the cake, the boys chose the icing and decorated it with lollies! 

After dinner we sang Happy Birthday, with sparklers and candles...and had a slice of cake each. Phil will take the rest of the cake to work tomorrow (seeing as though I have another cake to make tomorrow for Alexander's birthday!) It will be interesting to see what they think of the blue icing! You cannot buy food colouring here...I bought it when I was in Australia last July. 

The boys German tutor, Simona, was here this afternoon and very intrigued with the blue icing! The first time I made scones for Phil to take to work, he had to do a demonstration of how to put the jam and cream on the scones...they had never heard of scones before! Will be interested to see what they think of this cake tomorrow!!!!!