Lego's 50th Birthday

Today is the 50th anniversary of Lego. To celebrate, I cooked a chicken and ham pie, and decorated the top with circles of pastry to look like a Lego board! We have tons of Lego in our house....and as the boys say "A boy can never have too much Lego", nw they can eat it for dinner

Gruene Woche 2008

Inside activities here this weekend, due to a lot of rain   Our normal Ice Skating Sunday Morning didn't happen as it is far too dangerous to be skating when the ice is wet.

Gruene Woche is on this week, a large exhibition on all things agricultural, and displays from many countries, makes for an interesting outing.

The favourite thing by far was the Flight Simulator. The kids loved having a go at this, and now I think we have to look at this for the Playstation or the computer!

There was an Australian Stand where they were serving Kangaroo and Crocodile Salami, Kangaroo, Crocodile and Emu Currywurst and Bratwurst. Not the type of dood we can buy at the local suermarket in Sydney. I was hoping for Mint Slices, Caramello Koalas, Freddo Frogs, vegemite sandwich, or a simple Bunnings sausage in bread.

It was a fun day out, and we got some good ideas for some weekends away around Germany.

Annette, Phil & Fiona

It's not often we get visitors, because we are so far away. 

This week we had some friends come and stay with us. It was great to have them stay with us. They came bearing gifts of Caramello Koalas and Tim Tams. 

Fiona has been in Norway for 6 months studying at University and her parents Annette and Phil came over to do some touring with Fiona. 

Fiona and I went to the Story of Berlin Museum, which I had never done before. The bunker tour was really interesting.  It is an original nuclear bomb shelter from the Cold War, under the Ku'Damm, built in the 1970's. The conditions you would be living in for 2 weeks are pretty grim...there are 25 other bunkers like it around Berlin. This one is the largest, capable of holding 3600 people. If ever it needs to be used, it will be on a first come, first served basis. But you would need 2 weeks warning to get all food, water, other supplies etc to cater for all those people. Fiona and I agreed, if you had 2 weeks notice, it might be better to just leave the country pretty damn quick! 

The beds were laid out in aisles and you would be able to reach out and touch the person on the next bed easily. Below is a picture of some of the beds. There are 4 beds above each other, and they go on and on and on. Annette, Phil and Fiona did lots and lots of walking and visiting, and I managed to go one day with them  (Phil was able to be home to get the kids off the bus). I love this photo of us at the Brandenburg Gate! In front of the Red Town Hall Phil flies planes (so Alexander thought that was terrific). The Luftwaffe Museum was recommended to us by a few of the mums from school. Phil and Phil took the boys to Gatow to see all the different planes. (This could be the highlight of Phil's European trip, he got to see lots of different planes.) On Sunday, we took Fiona ice skating outside, and she didn't fall once. Alexander and Cameron were too fast for us. Ice skating outdoors is a great Sunday morning activity we do during the Winter, even if they do serve very average coffee! Annette and Phil sat upstairs in the cafe and watched us skate around, they were a lot warmer than us. I think Phil might have been using the video part of his camera, I am too scared to ask to see that footage! It was sad to see them leave, as they now head off to Salzburg, Prague, and quite a few other towns. We hope they had as much fun as we did! It was great for us to have a 'full house', and it was a really relaxed, easy visit that we miss them now they are gone! (other visitors are always welcome.)

Vienna

From Prague we caught a train to Vienna, where we would spend 4 days, including New Years Eve.

We arrived in Vienna and stayed near Westbahnhof - about 2.5 km from the centre of the old town (St Stephens, above, is pretty much the centre.) It was a city that we loved visiting!

Here we are outside St Stephen's after visiting the Catacombs beneath the Church (and the square). Lots of bones and tombs for the boys to look at, they were fascinated.
Here are the boys on the famous 'giant wheel' of Vienna. Look closely at Cameron's hands, it's Dad's camera again! The Giant wheel was destroyed in the war and rebuilt, and is one of the iconic 'things to do' in Vienna. Working on the age-old formula of buy-a-photo and exit-through-the-gift-shop, it seems quite successful! We had a great ride, looking all around, and the boys were a bit sad that the neighboring fun-park in the Volkspraeter was closed for the Winter. The weather was reasonably clear, and we could see from the mountains to the new centre and the old town. Here was a spinning globe outside the planetarium. To see Europe, head up on the platform behind. To see down under, you had to head, well, down under! One of our many tours by foot took us to this park - lots of fun dashing about in the snow, chasing the poor ducks and pigeons, running on the iced over lake (only after we saw lots of others doing it)Johann Strauss monument.  From the Volkspraeter Wheel, we wandered through the Volkspark and crossed the canal heading back into town. A couple of happy boys after dashing around the park, jumping on the big chunks of snow left on the sides of the paths from the snow-sweeping trucks. This is the 'HundertwasserWein' - a building designed by the famous artist/architect Hundertwasser. The boys thought it was fabulous and wanted to go and see the Hundertwasser museum nearby. Here they are below on the stairs in the courtyard of the museum, with a few typical Hundertwasser features. The boys loved the exhibition, and think they can draw some pictures in 'Hundertwasser style'! Here are the boys at the Shoenbrunn Schloss. They were amazed at the size of the gardens, and were really interested little tourists inside. They asked lots of 'interesting' questions and discovered some interesting facts. For example "If there were 15 children, why are there only 11 in that picture?" and "Why do they all have the same face?", and by the end, the whole tour group had adopted them, and asked them lots of question about where they lived and other things. We set ourselves the task of using public transport to get to an attraction in the Vienna woods that we thought the boys would love, The SeeGrotte, the biggest underground lake in Europe. It was a gypsum mine until 20 million litres of water flooded it, and it is now a lake! In WWII, the fusilage of the Hienkel 162 (one of the first jet planes) was assembled in here. It was deep underground and the Allies couldn't bomb that deep. The fuselages were shipped to Wien airport and put together there. Below is a sign showing the dimensions of the Seegrotte.

One of the many dark caves on the huge underground lake. We walked into the mine, and had a boat tour. Really interesting stuff! It was only us, and a young Italian couple on the tour. It was warmer underground (constant 9 degrees) than the -5 above ground! Here are the boys in the entrance tunnel - everything went in and out through here - the mine trucks and also the plane fuselages! The kids were about the right height to work in here. We also visited the Butterfly House at the Hofburg Schloss - the kids loved it! It was a great place to remove hats gloves jackets and scarves and get warm after walking in the snow! Once again, I had no control over the camera, with both boys having a turn to tour the Butterfly house and capture things from their point of view. Overall Vienna was great. We were there for New Years Eve, but the boys were so tired from all the walking and touring that they 'crashed' by 9pm. At midnight, all of the fireworks sounded like a mixture of small arms fire and larger mortars and rockets.  Some colourful fireworks in the sky, but the Viennese seemed to favour throwing crackers at each other, similar to last years experience with the Germans at the Ostsee.  We caught the plane back from Vienna and are now planning our next trips. Happy New Year.

Prague

Prague - a beautiful and expensive city. 

Just after Christmas we caught the train from Berlin to Prague for 3 days.

The weather was cold - but without snow or rain. The Old town is not very big, but there are lots of interesting and beautiful things to see!

St Vitus' cathedral.
Cameron really showed a flair for digital photography - he would only hand the camera back when his hands got so cold that he would have to put gloves on! He certainly has an eye for it,some very interesting shots. The good thing with digital cameras is he can take as many photos as he likes, they can be quietly edited/deleted later. The stained glass inside the St Vitus' cathedral - inside the castle. Spectacular! We saw this both on a bus tour, and also when we covered the city by foot. We guess that we walked 12-15km, each day. A lot more if you count all the side tours into souvenir shops. As Cameron asked "Why is baby Jesus wearing a propeller hat???" - anyone have an answer? This is one of the statues on the Charles Bridge. A view to the castle, with the Charles bridge in the foreground. Enjoying a sausage in bread for lunch in one of the town squares. There was still a bit of a Christmas market going and the sausages smelt and tasted delicious! Here is a tip for Theo and any other builders. If you stuff it up, get a good painter! Note that 4 of the windows are painted on (not real) to achieve symmetry. This was up near the palace -really interesting relief in the stone-work created by etching. Did I say cold? The water wheel was having a little trouble because it was iced over. This is one of Alexander's photos. In a groovy cafe that we stopped for morning tea (and to slightly defrost!) Alexander found this 'Rudolph' on the back wall. Great coffee, and nice to feel my fingers and nose again...(wish we could say the same thing for Rudolph) Not quite Buckingham Palace.. At the palace, the ceremonial guards were on duty, and Alexander and Cameron thought this would be a great photo - standing at attention with him! We met some fellow travellers (with 2 girls) who told us about the Barbie exhibition. Cameron and Alexander's response was "no way - you won't get us in there!" We happened to find the exhibition, and we offered the boys all sorts of bribery to go in, but there having none of it. From the castle looking back towards the old town. Here is an example of Cameron's photography from within the castle. It is the St George's basilica with Christmas tree in the foreground. Alexander and Cameron in St Wenceslas Square, on the horse statue. We did a 3 hour bus tour of Prague the first day we arrived. We were amazed to find out that all the statues around Prague (and there are many), are all replicas. The originals are in the museum for preservation purposes from the acid rain from Communism times. The 'famous' Astronomical clock on the front of the town hall (Alexander's photo, I think!). Notice the two small doors on the front? We were told that there was a display on the hour - so we duly got a table in the coffee shop opposite, got the boys hot chocolates and waited 5-10 minutes for the top of the hour. Tip to future Prague visitors - don't blink or you will miss it! Some 'Saints' whiz by behind the doors for a few seconds, the show ends, and the bill comes for the most expensive coffees in Prague! Ever wanted time to run backward? Here is a synagogue (Prague has a very interesting Jewish history) with two clocks - the top clock runs clockwise. The lower clock has Jewish numerals and runs anti clockwise. Prague has the oldest Synagogue in Europe. It has the largest collection of Jewish archive material in all of Europe. During WW2, many Jewish items were brought here for the purpose of turning the Synagogue into the "Museum of an Extinct Race" once the war was over. Scary stuff! Here are two excellent tourists on Charles Bridge with the castle on the hill in the background. We had a wonderful time in Prague, and it is well worth a visit.

Xmas Lunch

Too busy with a drink in my hand to take photos, eating, drinking and sharing stories and much laughter!

    

We had a terrific lunch. Sonia organised main course, Terry the Turkey was cooked perfectly, and the veggies, stuffing and extras were great. We organised the desserts, pavlova, Nigella Lawson's chocolate pudding and chocolate cake, and lots of gingerbread and chocolate balls. 

 

We all ate and drank lots and had a great day together. It's hard being away from family on Xmas day, but the Ramsay's have become our family in Berlin, and it is highly entertaining. The Karaoke machine didn't make an appearance this year! This is the "supermodel" pose After lunch we settled on the couches Alan tries his new scarf