Berlin, Germany

Since we got back from Berlin, we have done a few fun London/England things worth noting.

Thursday was our friend Phil’s 30th Birthday so we went to help him celebrate on a bar/restaurant on a boat on the Thames. It was right across the river from the London Eye and right down the river from Parliament and Big Ben. Great scenery, great atmosphere, great conversations with friends!

Friday night, we joined our friends Nick and Kath at the opening night of the Ealing Comedy Festival. It was set up in a tent in the park not too far from our flat that I like to go walking in. There were eight acts, all very different and all hilarious! We were very impressed.

Saturday, we decided to go back to Snowshill, a small town in the Cotswolds which we drove through when we were there in April. To our surprise, the town was having its Summer Fete that day (it was very quaint). We wandered the town and admired the adorable stone cottages with perfect gardens. Then we went walking on the surrounding public footpaths. Eventually we made it onto the Cotswold Way, a famous walking path. We followed it into another quaint town called Stanton, where we ate our picnic lunch before heading back. We lucked out with the sunny weather and thoroughly enjoyed the English countryside. Ok - on to Berlin!

Berlin, Germany: July 6-9

Last weekend we did our first trip to Germany, Berlin to be exact. We were looking forward to immersing ourselves in history and learning a lot, but we did not expect to like the city as much as we did. It was big and spread out, had so many different elements and such a variety of architecture. We were glad we had three days to explore it all. We were also glad to have two nights in a really nice hotel, a 30th birthday present for John from Suze and Stan; quite the contrast from the tent and outdoor bathrooms of Sardinia two weeks before.

I arrived late on Friday night at Schoenefeld and was greeted by John. He had arrived earlier in the day for a meeting. The crop smells and flat land around Schoenefeld (southeast of Berlin) reminded us of Winnipeg. We stayed near the airport that night and took the train into Berlin on Saturday morning. The train into town gave us a glimpse of all the neat buildings to visit. The Spree River runs through the city and man made beaches, beach volleyball courts and sand castles lined the shores. The weather that weekend did not warrant the beach; as soon as we got off the train we bought an umbrella to shield us from the pouring rain.

We dropped our bags off at the Palace Hotel, near the impressive/ominous Kaiser Wilhelm Church which has not been restored since it was bombed in WWII, grabbed a Starbucks and took the bus through Tiergarten (big central park) to the Reichstag (German Parliament). The line up to get in the Reichstag was just as we heard/read about, so we admired it from the outside. The wind was howling which enabled us to get some good shots of the German flags blowing. We walked to Brandenburg Gate and took note of the new US embassy being built next to it.

On Stan’s recommendation, we visited the Holocaust memorial. The memorial is the size of about a city block, beside the new US Embassy. It is covered in big, cement rectangular blocks (called stelae) of different sizes and heights in a grid pattern. Underneath (underground) the field of stelae is an information centre about the victims of the Holocaust. The exhibits brought the people and experiences to life for us.

From the memorial, we followed the Berlin wall, now marked with a double line of bricks in the cement, to Potsdammer Platz and then onto a segment of the wall still standing and housing the Topography of Terror, an exhibit about the history of the Nazis in Germany and located on the site of their old headquarters. The big umbrella we bought was coming in very handy as it was pouring rain while we walked. Potsdammer Platz is a square of very modern buildings and a mall. The location is part of what used to be the “death strip” (the empty space on the East Berlin side of the wall) and has only recently been built up. Given the rain, we decided to put off the outdoor Topography of Terror until Sunday.

Instead, we took shelter in a Balzac Coffee shop across from Checkpoint Charlie and ate some sweets (Balzac is a small town in Alberta where Stan was born so we got a kick out of the Balzac Coffee chain). Checkpoint Charlie was the famous US border crossing from East to West Berlin. We checked out the museum which documented all of the different kinds of daring escapes from East to West; tunneling under, driving across in inventive hiding places, ballooning over. We were pooped after so we went to our hotel to relax and enjoy some of its amenities.

On Sunday, we stuffed ourselves with the hotel’s breakfast before taking the bus back to the Topography of Terror. The sun was shining so we left the umbrella behind. We adorned our headphones for the next 1.5 hours and learned all about the history of the Nazi party. It took us through the chronology of events and focused on specific party leaders and people who opposed them (who then became prisoners/victims). One opposer, a pastor who helped several Jews and prayed for them, stood out for us as he had the same name as my Mom’s cousin’s husband, Helmut Hesse.

From the T of T we took the subway to the Berlin Wall Memorial in northeast Berlin. The train line ran from West through East and back into West Berlin, and during the time of the German Democratic Republic (GDR - East Germany) it didn’t stop at the East Berlin stations. They became ghost stations. From the Wall Memorial we walked back into central Berlin through a very nicely restored part of East Berlin, past two grand museums (which we didn’t go in), and then past the beautiful Berliner Dom (big church). We ate outside on a restaurant patio overlooking the Dom and the Spree River. It was lovely.

Next up, the GDR Museum. This museum was interactive and filled with various artifacts from the GDR; the Trabant (the only car that people had or could get), a road atlas for only communist countries, clothing, and a full scale apartment. We found the exhibit on the housing very interesting. They mass produced huge concrete apartment blocks, all the same, with same cookie cutter apartments inside. They could construct an 11 storey building in 100 days!

From the GDR Museum, we walked along East Berlin’s main street, the grand Unter Den Linden. It was a stretch of huge, impressive buildings; the university, government buildings, art galleries, and embassies, leading to the Brandenburg gate. We walked by the Reichstag again to see if the line up was any shorter. It wasn’t, so we stretched out on the Reichstag front lawn for a while and watched some guys doing freestyle Frisbee (the closest comparison I can think of is like hackey sack but with a spinning Frisbee). With sore feet and backs from all the standing and walking, we bussed back to Kaiser Wilhelm Church/square and enjoyed a very large sundae at La Fontana, beside a big fountain, as recommended by Suze and Stan.

After a brief relax at the hotel, we went to Potsdammer Platz on the bus. We drove by the Reichstag enroute; it was 9:00 pm and there was still a line up at the Reichstag! We ate dinner in a big pedestrian square, which enabled us to people watch and check out the surrounding modern buildings.

We slept in on Monday and had another big breakfast. We had done all of the museums that we wanted and felt like we had gained a good knowledge of Berlin’s history over the past 80 years. So we went for a bus ride through the former East Berlin. I wanted to see some of the old GDR cement apartment blocks and boy did we ever! In some parts of town they are becoming quite trendy to live in. To cap off our Berlin experience, we went into the Berliner Dom and climbed up the many stairs to the top viewing area. We got a great 360 degree view of the city.

We stopped off for a quick lunch of Berlin currywurst, which capped off a weekend of surprisingly good food, and caught the train to the airport.

We would highly recommend Berlin to anyone - we found it a fascinating city. Thank you Mom and Stan for the nice hotel treat!

Sardinia, Italy

I’m back to the blog after our four week travel hiatus. The weekend after our wonderful week in Spain, we had Sarah, Kevin and Cole back with us in London after their cruise through the Med. They were exhausted and it was cold and rainy here so we were all happy to hang out in the flat playing games and playing with Cole the whole time. We did venture out to browse the shops in Ealing and we drove to Windsor Castle. Sarah and I didn’t think it was possible but we managed to lose every cribbage game we played against the guys.

We were very sad to see them go at the end of May; they were the last of our steady string of visitors until September. It took me a few weeks to get over it.

Over the past three weeks, John has been playing hockey, including a tournament in the Isle of Wight, we started our summer league of Ultimate Frisbee and our team is doing well so far, I ran a 5km for Cancer (slowly, but I did it!), with the help and hard work of John’s Dad we found new tenants for our basement suite in Vancouver, we visited Hampton Court Palace, and hit up several pubs throughout London with our friends. Pics of our recent London activities are on the website in the London 2006/07 set...

Last year, when we were doing research on moving to London and possible traveling opportunities, we came across a water sports all inclusive getaway in Sardinia, Italy on http://www.activitybreaks.com/. It looked like the perfect trip for us; fun in the sun (and water). Back in April, together with Andrew and Jess, we tried to get into a beach Ultimate tournament in Portugal for the weekend of June 23rd and 24th. We didn’t get in so instead we booked the Sardinia activity break. We took the Friday and Monday off to make it a nice long weekend.

We left our place at 3:00a.m. last Friday morning to pick up A&J and head to Stansted airport for our 6:15 departure. It had been (and still is) cold and rainy in London so we were all looking forward to the sun and heat of Sardinia. Sardinia is an Italian island in the Mediterranean, just south of the French island of Corsica. The island is hot, rugged and dry with beautiful beaches and rocky coastlines. We flew into Alghero, on the west side of the island and then drove our rental car two hours to the east side of the island where we were staying. (John had a much easier time driving compared to Sorrento, Italy).

We stayed just outside the small coastal town of Santa Lucia in a big group campground, called Amfibi Treks, owned and run by a Dutch family. Our accommodation consisted of a tent and mattress (we brought sleeping bags), toilets and showers were outside, as was the big group dining area. There was a bar and games area, and a place to snooze in hammocks known as “chill hill”. About a 5 minute walk away was the beach with snorkel gear, windsurfers, kayaks and beach umbrellas included for our use. Our friend Denise said it sounded like Club Med but with Canadian National Parks bathrooms – that’s about right.

We had just missed lunch when we arrived so after moving into our tents we found a little restaurant and had some good Italian fare in Santa Lucia. We were all moving very slowly, partly due to the lack of sleep and partly due to the heat. It was over 30 degrees and sunny every day! Then we headed straight to the beach. John and I don’t always shy away from the sun as we should so it was good to have some Aussie influence to make sure we had plenty of shade and plenty of sunscreen. The Amfibi gear hut on the beach supplied us with umbrellas, and as we set up our little lounging area, Jess and I started singing Rihanna’s new song, Umbrella (pronounced in the song as umbarella). That became our song of the weekend. I don’t think it ever left our brains. I’m still singing it now back in London but for different reasons; to quote the song “now that it’s raining more than ever”.

The boys went straight out on the windsurfers while Jess and I lounged and read. Jess devours books and has given me many good recommendations. For John’s birthday she gave him Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I read it during the trip and loved it. Thanks Jess! It was an awesome read. I highly recommend. We all went for a long, late afternoon swim in the Med. I LOVE swimming the Mediterranean. It was so warm and blue and clear. I was in heaven.

Back at the camp, we met up at the bar for Happy Hour and free drinks. We befriended a fun Brit named Andy who was there on his own. He was having a “rediscover windsurfing” weekend away from his wife and three kids.

Given that it was the end of the school year, the camp was filled with a bunch of 16 year olds on a school trip. We had a great time observing them; the suave Italian boys with perfect hair and stylish clothes, and the girls with their outfit coordination, one night seemed to be frilly skirt night, the other short shorts night. Man, those girls sure could move their hips on the dance floor! Their teacher was a huge, solid, bald, tanned former professional rugby player, who wore blue Crocks. Jess and I thought he looked like a pirate.

Friday night was limbo competition night at the bar, organized by one of the Dutch windsurfing employees with dreadlocks. John, Andrew and I entered. I guess John was a bit of a limbo pro back in the day. He was focused but had some stiff competition, including a few young boys who had a definite height advantage (they were short), and the school girls who seemed to have been born without spines (they were bendy). John made it the top ten but in the end a girl with very big hair took the victory and all John got was a sore back. We were all reassured to know that John is not built like a 16 year old Italian school girl – a fact we celebrated with several beers.

We were all in rough shape Saturday morning but we made it up for the 8:00 breakfast call. Then we went straight to the beach and under our umbarellas for a nap. We spent the day there; reading, windsurfing, snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, throwing the disc, chatting, backgammoning, snoozing. We didn’t even have to walk back to camp for lunch; it came to us. We knew that there was a lot to see and explore on the island but we were content just to relax and enjoy the heat and the beach.

We had happy hour at the outdoor bar again and John and Andrew played some darts. After dinner we set up at a table in the bar area and played diminishing whist. We taught Andy the Brit how to play and he did very well. Saturday night was Disco night at the bar so, in addition to playing cards, we were further entertained by the dynamics of the 16 year olds dancing and mingling on the dance floor.

Sunday was more of the same at the beach but it was much windier. By the afternoon they had to bring the windsurfers and sailboats in and our umbarella kept blowing away. We cut the beach day short as a result. A&J went back to camp for some hammock time and John and I walked into town for some very delicious gelato. We then set up at Chill Hill for some reading and snooze time.

I guess the Italian school kids partied a bit too hard on Saturday night so they were under strict orders from the Pirate to be well behaved on Sunday night. That made it a lot easier for us to access the beer boat at happy hour. Jess and I read while the boys began the Sardinian Heptathlon. It consisted of ping pong, darts, pool, backgammon, cribbage, pentago, and foosball. The heptathlon turned into a quadathlon because Andrew went undefeated in the first four matches. Too bad limbo wasn’t one of the sports. We ended our last night in Sardinia with a few rounds of diminishing whist and a rousing discussion of time travel theory.

We all wanted a few more days of relaxing beach time so it was tough to get packed up on Monday morning. We decided to leave in good time so we could see more of the island before going to the airport. Andrew scoured the guide book and found us an amazing historical site to visit which was on our route, Nuraghe Santu Antine. It was a stone complex built in 16th century BC (3500 years ago!), consisting of a central palace/fortress and remnants of a surrounding village. We saw several conical stone fortress things across the island but this was much larger. We had so much fun exploring all of the well preserved passageways. Inside the main tower were two domed rooms on top of each other and a stair case spiraled around the outside leading to the top where another domed room used to be. It was so impressive! The site was in the interior of the island and it was very hot and dry. I loved the feeling of the hot wind on my face.

The drive from there back to Alghero was picturesque. We would have liked more time to explore the sites of Alghero; it has Spanish, Catalan and Italian influences. Unfortunately, all we had time to do was devour an amazing Italian lunch before heading to the airport. We frantically managed to fill the car with gas; all of the stations were closed for siesta so we had to make out the Italian auto pay instructions at the pump. It would have been funnier if we weren’t so tight on time.

We made it back to London with no problems, we just missed some severe London traffic jams on the drive home, and then A&J treated us to our first dinner of Portuguese chicken.

Our weekends away are usually go go go, so it was nice to have one that was slower paced. The highlight was being outside all of the time, in the fresh warm air. Another excellent trip. Thanks for the great company A&J!

It’s now been a year since we moved out of our house, finished work in Vancouver and left for Manitoba for our summer at the lake. Wow, how time flies! Last night (Friday, June 29th) we went to Canada Day in London at Trafalgar square. We had some Moosehead beer, took in some Canadian music, and scanned the crowds for familiar faces. The highlight for me was meeting Tanya Kim from CTV’s E Talk! She was emceeing the event and in town for the Princess Diana concert tomorrow. Today, John is away at a hockey tournament in Swindon and I’m at home, free to blog away.