Walking the Wall

After visiting The Story of Berlin with Fiona in January, I thought about doing some more touristy things in Berlin, to get to know the city better. I picked up a couple of guides, and reread parts of The Lonely Planet's Guide to Berlin. 

After speaking with Ingrid, she found a website that maps out the entire Berlin Wall that surrounded West Berlin from 1961-1989. then I found a spiral bound book (in English), complete with maps and directions on where the Wall stood, and information about different buildings and interesting facts along the way.

I think it would be a great idea to try and walk the whole lot (not all at once)

Potsdamner Platz to Warschauer Strasse - 7 kilometres.

Part of the "Berliner Mauer" at Potsdamer Platz, outside the S Bahn

Through the middle of Berlin, runs about 8 kilometers of a double row of cobblestones At regular intervals there are metal plaques "Berliner Mauer 1961 -1989. The cobblestones and the plaques are a reminder of where the wall actually stood (I found this really helpful, when I didn't know how to read my map properly!Former Prussian Parliament Building - unsure what it is used for now, but it had a good police presence. Martin Gropius Bau, built in 1881 as a museum for arts and crafts. Today they were moving this large horse statue inside! The Topography of Terror. This is where the Gestapo, SS and the German Security Minister had their headquarters. It is also where the Gestapo had their torture chambers. The outer walls of the Topography of Terrors. Some of the broken wall, shows the metal reinforcements. You can go on tours of Berlin in these Trabi's! Parts of the Wall
The well known Checkpoint Charlie Museum. This large portrait is of an American soldier looking towards the east...

On the other side is a portrait of a Soviet soldier looking west.

The original guard tower was torn down. This is a copy of the American guard house. A memorial for Peter Fechter. 17th August 1962, he and a friend tried to escape over the Wall. They crossed the first fence, were seen, and were shot at. The friend managed to get over the final barrier, but Peter was shot and lay wounded on the eastern side of the Wall. The GDR border guards did not come to his assistance, and the West Berlin police and American soldiers could not come over and help. People on the western side called for someone to help him. an hour later his body was carried away. His slow public death was publicised throughout the world. Between Charlottenstrasse and Markgrafenstrasse is a row of these colourful buildings built between 1994 and 1996. These buildings have courtyards away from the street. This large dog sculpture is set up in the middle of an empty lot, with no signage. So I have no explanation for this one! Heinrich Heine Strasse. This marks a border crossing used by West Germans. On 18th April 1962, 3 men tried to crash a truck through the border barriers. They were shot at, the driver, Klaus Brueske, managed to get across to the Western side, but died later from his injuries. His 2 friends survived their injuries. After this episode, the guards erected barriers, which forced drivers to drive slowly around a slalom type formation. What happens when the double row of cobblestones disappear? Luckily there are signposts to guide the way Luisenstaedtischer Canal. This canal was built in 1848-1852. It provided a route to transport construction materials to build Luisenstadt. The sides of the canal were planted with trees. However the water in the canal flowed too slowly, and developed an awful stench. In 1926-27 the canal was filled in, and turned into a park. View of the Fernsehnturm in Alexanderplatz on the Schillingbruecke Bridge The East Side Gallery. The longest surviving stretch of the Wall. It was decorated by painters straight after the Wall fell. In 1991 it became a historic landmark. In 2000, some of the faded paintings were restored with privately donated funds. Painter Thierry Noir painted this one of people streaming through the Wall. It's a shame so many people feel the need to "tag" the wall with their scrawl. The Eastern Comfort Hostel, is on the Spree River...it's an old houseboat.

Bread thief

My German skills fail me again.

Cookeria.

This is the Cooking School we have booked Alexander's birthday party in a few weeks. I saw it advertised in the local newspaper, and we went in to see her to arrange the details for the party.

After organising the party details I asked about the Wednesday Lunch Special. This is how I translated the blurb in the paper. There are 4 meals to chose from, you cook it, and then you can eat it there, or take it home with you. I missed out a few important words. This was discussed later in the week with my German teacher, Inger with much laughter.

Here is what happened.

You don't cook the food, the staff cook the food. I missed the words that meant "we cook the food for you.  You order from the 4 meals, and the staff bring you a plate of it! It was delicious, and I will go back again. Sounds simple right?

Stammtisch, is a large communal table. It is a great set up. 

The Stammtisch here was a long narrow table, and chairs were set up on both sides.When I sat down there was a basket of bread in the middle of the table. Whilst I was eating my meal, I took a piece of bread. The lady opposite me looked at me strangely.  I don't take any notice of the strange looks anymore, because this happens regularly to me. I just ignored it.

After the main meal, and waiting for dessert, I looked around, and notice no other parts of the table have baskets of bread. I thought it was a bit weird, but then my dessert arrived and I didn't think anymore about it. 

When I finished, and went to pay for my meal, I notice on the menu that you can "buy a basket of bread" as an extra!

So, I had helped myself to this lady's bread.  Surprisingly she said nothing to me about stealing her bread! However, I can imagine later she was telling her family about this woman eating her lunch and not even batting an eye.

Every time I think about it, it makes me laugh. 

Phil is convinced I must have some convict blood in me, and it is just starting to show!

The food was great, and I will be going next Wednesday. If you want to join me, let me know! I will be getting there about 12.30 and I will buy the basket of bread and share t with you.

Final day at Salober

On Friday morning, we skied as a family. It was lovely to ski together on our final day. We followed a series on nice gentle runs over to a lake near Schroeken, where we stopped for a coffee, and then skied back to the hotel for lunch. It was busy there, so the boys went outside to build ice bridges with some other kids while we waited for lunch. 

In the afternoon, Nicole was too sore to continue skiing and Cameron was very tired. They returned their ski gear, grabbed the sleds and caught the bus back to the place where the Salober Jet ski lift starts and spent the afternoon sledding. Phil and Alexander went back up the mountain with a plan to meet later. Phil and Alexander skied all afternoon. They had a great time together! Alexander is getting quite proficient, and there was lots of skiing off the tracks, through the deep snow, down the moguls, over jumps, and along tracks in the bush.

We all met together later that day to say a sad farewell and a huge thank you to our wonderful hosts Klaus and Brigette.

Lech

Klaus suggested that we go across to Lech for the day. It is the next resort over from Warth Schroeken (and is a completely other world!). In the end, Nicole and the kids stayed in ski school and Phil, who is a little bit more competent on skis, took up Klaus' offer. Phil organised a private instructor from the ski school, Jurgen, to be his guide. They both took off to Lech to ski the Weiss Ring - a series of runs which circle the resort of Lech. Above is Phil on the return trip skiing through the deep powder snow (which is very different to skiing on the piste!) The only tracks here are his and Jurgen's!

Klaus arranged the 'transport' to the neighboring resort - in this case, a tow behind a skidoo (just like water skiing!) which was crazy and great fun! It saved about 2 hours of skiing through the deep powder and was a great experience in itself! Here is Phil behind the skidoo. Jurgen is a local, and was a fantastic tour guide. He pointed out heaps of things for Phil to see, and also spotted some of the wildlife, a snow hen wonderfully camouflaged in the snow, and some mountain goats on the outcropping above. There are 3 of them in this picture. Jurgen also gave Phil plenty of tips to improve his skiing. Klaus had organised a table at one of the restaurants on the slopes in Warth. Here is a view from the Rued Alpe down to Lech. It is a resort that can hold 7000 people. It is really the 'upper class' ski resort (very different from the family atmosphere at Schroeken) where lots of people wanted to be seen, and the ski outfits were unbelievable! You know the sort of resort it is when the ads on the ski lifts are for watches, diamonds and high end cars.

The ski runs were great, and after skiing the Weiss Ring, Phil and Jurgen skied the afternoon at the resort before getting the skidoo tow back to Schroeken.

This was a real highlight day for Phil, something he won't forget.

Hotel Jaegeralpe

We stayed in a lovely hotel at the base of a ski-lift,  the Family Hotel Jaeger Alpe. It was fantastic - we had an apartment for the family. This is really essential when skiing as the ski gear takes up so much space.

The staff were fantastic. There was a great swimming pool for after skiing and the breakfasts and dinners were delicious! There was also a 'spa' attached to the hotel, which Nicole and Phil used for Saunas after hard days of skiing. The biggest put-off, however, was the gentleman who chose to sit in the sauna, in the nude, in the 'lotus position'. Nothing wrong with naked saunas, but this was a little too much.   

We would all swim for an hour or so after getting back to the hotel, then head over to dinner. After dinner we would play some games in the lounge (cards, etc), have a coffee or hot chocolate, then head back to our apartment (exhausted), ready for bed. 

 We had a designated table in the dining room for breakfast and dinner.  We chatted to people on the surrounding tables over the course of the week. We shared stories of skiing adventures, tips and back stories. It was a great atmosphere and a super place to stay.

Alexander is growing fast, and consuming a lot of food, so a buffet breakfast is great for him! One of his favourite parts of  breakfast is a couple of boiled eggs. We didn't realise how challenging this task would be.  

The first day, Alexander brought back an egg to the table, and asked Phil to peel it for him. Phil cracked the egg and it was raw! We found out that you have to boil your own eggs! This was egg disaster number 1 - with raw egg all over the table! 

We found the cooker on one of the buffet tables and Alexander dropped a raw egg on the floor (disaster number 2) 

On the second day, we boiled an egg, but the water was not at full boil, and we didn't leave it in long enough, so the egg only just cooked. When Phil cracked it, the runny egg went all over the table again! (egg disaster number 3) Take note, Nicole was having nothing to do with these eggs, she just sat there and howled with laughter at every disaster.

On the third day, we left the egg in the cooker for at least ten minutes. When Alexander went back to get it, someone had taken it! (egg disaster number 4) Could it be any harder to boil an egg?

 

However, after attempt #4, Phil and Alexander perfected the art of boiling eggs in the cooker and Alexander enjoyed them as part of his big breakfast before skiing for every day after this.  

Alexander and Phil perfected a morning breakfast routine.. They would put the egg into the cooker, as we came into the restaurant for breakfast (right at the back of the cooker, in the hope that no one would take those eggs). Alexander would get his cereal, take it back to the table and eat his cereal. By the time he had polished off a large bowl of cereal, his egg would be ready! It only took us 3 days to get this routine right, and he was happy after that. Luckily the waiters were very good humoured about it, and told us it happens quite regularly!This is the view behind the boys that we had as we ate breakfast every morning. To the right  is one of the big ski lifts, and we could watch the staff prepare the lift seats every morning!

Klaus & Brigette

My colleague Marc said "Ring my dad when you go"... It turns out that (in Cameron's words..) he is the "Boss of the Mountain". Klaus and Brigitte were our hosts - we were fortunate to meet such friendly and open people, whose generosity to us and the kids was unbelievable. These two photos were taken by Cameron, and capture Klaus and Brigitte as we always found them - happy and smiling. Klaus arranged so many things for us, and the kids are already asking when can we go back and see Klaus and Brigitte and go skiing with them again. Klaus took the boys for a ride on the 'real' skidoo. The boys got to drive it around the lake, and Klaus would turn on the siren - which made it even more exciting for the boys! Nicole and Phil also got to have a drive, proving that they are big kids too. One late afternoon, after the lifts were closed, Klaus organised for the boys and Phil to ride in one of the 'snow beasts' - the snow ploughs that make the runs each night. 

Santa gave the kids these great snow boogie boards for Xmas, and they were great! At the end of the day the kids would use them to burn off a bit more energy outside, before going to the pool to swim for an hour or more before getting ready for dinner. Whilst we waited for the snow ploughs to get ready, the boys found a great hill and sled for half an hour. Cameron finds a more 'advanced' way to ride the snow-boogie... that led to the next picture..

Once the snow plough was ready, the kids handed the sleds to Nicole. For about 40 minutes the snow beast worked on a black (very steep) run - pushing snow, reshaping the surface and getting it ready for the next day. It was really high-tech - Alexander in particular was fascinated by the joystick controller and the groovy information screen. Cameron was most impressed when we knocked some small branches off a pine tree! The trucks work until 4-5am to ensure everything is ready for the next day's skiing. 

Phil skied down this run the next morning and retrieved the small piece of branch that was knocked off - If you look closely you will see Cameron wore it as a souvenir on his helmet for the rest of the holiday!

After the ride in the snow beasts, we decided to walk back to the hotel (about 2 km). It was getting late, and quite cold. There was a marked track which led from the Salober Jet lift (where the snow ploughs picked us up and dropped us off) back to the hotel - you just had to climb one blue piste hill first!

The kids had their sleds and used these down the hills on the tracks. It was great fun, until Cameron's sled slipped off the track and went about 50m down a hill of very deep snow. Phil set off after it, it was hard work. The stars were starting to come out, it was incredibly beautiful, quiet and peaceful. The sun had set, but there was still some light on one of the distant peaks. The air as really still and cold, and it was a good thing we were all still rugged up in our ski gear and snow boots! It was a wonderful walk - after all the activity and energy of skiing in these mountains during the day, it was great to see this  peaceful side to the mountain.

Our time at Warth and Schroeken was made so much better by meeting Klaus and Brigitte, and they did everything to make sure we had a brilliant time. We can say that they succeeded.