Wednesday in Berlin

Today we planned on taking a bike tour.  It was easily the highlight of our days spent in berlin.  Our guide, Randall, was the funniest aussie I’ve ever met.  He travels to Berlin every other year to work for the bike company, and in the off year, he goes to Bolivia to work with underprivileged children.  They run the bike tours to raise money for the kids.  He was so funny and taught the history of the city in a way that humorous, entertaining and easily understandable.   We started out by picking out our bikes.  He said we should take our time and find one that we really loved.  He said we should use our squeaky toys and bells!  They were all very nice geared California beach cruiser bikes.  We all picked a bike and gathered around for his final instructions before we were on our way.  He asked for a volunteer.  Said it needed to be someone responsible, strong, caring and easy to spot.  David raised his hand.  He thanked him for volunteering when he didn’t even know what he was volunteering for.  Then he said, David would be our “ASS-MAN”.  The one to stay at the end of the pack and watch all of our “asses” and make sure no one got lost.  He said he’d rather be doing that then leading the group, but David probably didn’t know where to go.  He would look behind and make sure he could see his “Y” baseball hat.  If he couldn’t find his assman, then he would know something was wrong and he would go looking for the lost people.  More than once, our faithful assman David saved the day by helping the girls who crashed their bikes or who stopped to take a picture and then got left behind.  I was so proud of him!

The concept of the bike tour was amazing.  We were so tired from walking and this way we could get from sight to sight in no time at all.  The best part was the city was completely shut down because of Obama.  Today there was NO car traffic which actually worked out nice, because it wasn’t nearly as scary to ride on the roads.  The amount of polezi  was crazy!  Armoured tanks at every street and the parks were lined with armed agents.  I kept thinking, is this really all necessary?  We were able to get through most security stops with our guide and saw most of the big stops.  We couldn’t get close to Brandenburg gate because that is where Obama was actually speaking.  They had also closed down check point Charlie and the Reichstadt building while we were there to prepare for the first family to visit.  But, we still did and saw lots!  We will definitely plan a return trip in two years.

Because of the security issues we had to take a different path through the Tiergarten.  It is an amazing park in the middle of Berlin that used to be the royal hunting ground.  Unfortunately the only path available to take went right past the Nudst Meadow.  Yep, Dorthy, you are not in Kansas anymore.  Now this is not the kind of nudity you want to see……as a matter of fact, you don’t ever want to see this kind.  PEOPLE, have you looked in a mirror?  The guide said, try and keep your eye to the left, but it is just like a train wreck, you really can’t help but look at it.”  I’m glad he gave us some warning.  We were riding along and out of nowhere, a bunch of rolly polly old men were sprawled all over the grass on blankets and dozens of them were dancing around in the fountains.  Oh my!  I’m surprised that no one wrecked their bike.  He did say if you like what you see, then give them a little squeak with your horn to let them know.  UM, some of our group did.  Mmmmmm, I think they did it because they just wanted a reaction and they got what they asked for. 

CJ mentioned that they wandered down the beach one day to find themselves in an area where people should look in the mirror before prancing around in their birthday suit.  I guess we not big into the nude scene in America.

**********WARNING TANGENT*******

You have been officially notified that the following section is emotionally charged and possibly blown out of proportion.

Ok, seriously!  REALLY!  You close down a major museum for three days, so the first family can visit for one hour?  Are they really that important?  How many visitors do think there were in Berlin this week that missed that opportunity because the government feels justified for “security reasons” to completely take over a city?  Did I mention I’ve had my trip planned for more than 1 year!  Not only that, I didn’t know Obama was in Berlin until I got here.  Maybe the government could keep us more informed of where NOT to vacation if we wanted a break from American politics for a week.  I kept seeing $$$$$ as they welded every man hole cover shut, swept every park with thousands of officers, put up security fencing for miles and miles and miles.  Brought in huge tanks and armored vehicles to place on every single street!  Is it necessary to shut down a museum two days prior to a visit of the president?  They can’t do a security check in less than 48 hours?  If his life is in that much danger, maybe he should just stay home!  After the third day of the OBAMA CHAOS, the Berliners who were excited for his visit were now just mumbling about the ridiculous level of security and inconvenience this has caused.  They said over and over, it wasn’t like this the last time he came.  But ahhhhh, he wasn’t the President of the United States then.  The street restaurants and venders all had to close and lose business, there wasn’t a trash can to be found anywhere!  They were the unhappiest of all.  Who would cover their expense for a week without any customers? 

All this effort and expended resources to speak out in the open, which in the end didn’t happen, he ended up speaking behind a bullet proof shield anyway.  There were only 4,000 special guests who were cleared to attend.  Needless to say, the tone definitely changed over the few days we were here, and the other Americans visiting expressed feelings much like ours.  When I was asked why I didn’t like him, I mentioned a few things about the “big brother spy attitude” of his government and what I think is obvious dishonesty and deception.  Man, did that set the German people off.  I guess I should have figured that out ahead of time, but I was just being honest.  Don’t they read the paper?  Don’t they know what is really going on in the USA?  Excuse after excuse for illegal behavior that is “necessary” to protect us?  Sounds like something from German history.

************************TANGENT OVER******************************

So the bike tour was amazing like I was saying, and we enjoyed every bit of it.  We ended up back at the TV tower where we started.  David was congratulated for being a great Ass-man and was told he could have a free beer, but since Randall figured out along the way we don’t drink, he offered him nice cold bubble free water.  (actually more expensive than the beer!) and gave him a free piece of the berlin wall. 

We walked back to the station and headed back to the hotel.  We were  hot and sticky!  We took an afternoon shower to cool off and took a short nap before getting dressed to go and meet with the mission president. 

We figured out the trains to make it to the mission home.  After getting to the closest station we had a short walk (about 1.6 Km).  The neighborhood was beautiful, and it had cooled off just enough to be bearable.  We arrived at their home just as they were pulling in the drive way…..perfect timing. 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE is all I can say.  They were wonderful!  I’m so glad we had the opportunity to meet them and spend just a short time visiting with them.  I think Sister Kosak is a lot like me…..poor CJ.  She is matter of fact, but in the sweetest way.  She said she pleads with the elders to keep their apartments clean because the spirit couldn’t possibly live in that kind of a mess.  They answered all of our questions, shared lots of great information about what would be best for CJ, and were delightful in every way.  President Kosak said he believes in principles, not rules; because if you only have rules, you will not know where to go next, except to look for the next set of rules.   It was evident that telling someone how to live their life is not something he will ever be a part of.  I’m not sure I’ve got the quote right, but he said every missionary who complains about his companion will hear this, “Elder, you can choose your wife, but not your companion.  You need to learn how to get along with your companion because you don’t choose your children.”  How true!

President Kosak kindly drove us back to the train station and just as I was getting out of the car he said, “Sweet Mother Mullen, your boy will be in good hands.  You need not worry so much.”  I replied “But if mothers didn’t worry, the number of prayers offered for the missionaries and all that labor with them might decrease.”   He gave me a sweet smile and a warm hand “hug” and we were off to the train. 

I felt so much better!  I have had more peace than anxiety, but after meeting them the anxiety was mostly gone.  We have a good plan of what he really needed, what the mission was going to be like, how money, bikes, traveling, personal shopping and everything else was handled.  I wish every mother could have had the experience I just had.  It was such a blessing.  

Tuesday in Berlin

On Tuesday morning we woke up to the bright Germany sunshine.  It’s bright here around 0430!  We enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel, complete with both American and Germany cuisine.  The yogurt was amazing, as was the bread selection.  Nutella is served everywhere here and I’ve enjoyed lots of it.  We walked to the station and headed back to the Berliner Dom to meet to kids.  Our tour guide gave the tour in German (I think Stephan requested that), but Erin, one of the chaperones, interpreted for David and I.  It was a very impressive building.  He did a great job explaining the history of the building.  We got to behind the ropes to the alter, and also up to the balcony where the emperor would sit.  The ceiling art is actually mosaics art with little tiny colored stones.  It was recently renovated and was gorgeous.  Many of the sections for murals were never finished.  The last part we visited was down into the crypt.  Yes, there are really dead bodies in the caskets, or vaults or whatever you want to call them.  It was clean, but musty with a hint of the smell of death.  I wonder how they seal those big stone crypts?  They were so ornate it was incredible.  I guess back in the day, if you were royalty you commissioned the design of your crypt long before you anticipated being dead.  There were many for the children of the royals, mostly boys, and I’m assuming they were hemophiliacs based on the information given about bleeding disorders.  The little boys’ crypts were also very ornate, always adorned with a crown on top, while the girls were a simple box, sometimes with absolutely nothing on them; not even their name. 

After the Berliner Dom, David and I went on a bus tour.  It was a hop on-hop off tour so you could stop anywhere along the way.  We stopped at the Brandenburg gate and tried to get closer than the day before.  The plans for Obama were well underway and taking over the entire city.  I have to be honest, I was really annoyed.  Most of the city was buzzing over his visit and I kept asking why they all love him so much.  I never heard anything solid, just that he made lots of promises last time he was here.  We got off the tour close to our hotel to take a quick nap and cool off.  We also grabbed some laundry soap for CJ.  We tried to get back to the NEUS museum to meet the group but ended up missing them.  This museum was amazing!  Full of Egyptian artifacts.  I couldn’t help but think, how DID the germans get their hands on all this stuff?  Kiersten would have been in heaven at this museum.  If we ever come back with the girls, then we will be sure to plan a long stop here.  We met up with the kids at the Norbanhof station and headed over to Kurfürstendamm street for the kids to shop. 

We went back to our favorite café Schwartz for dinner and I tasted white asparagus.  It was awesome.  It is only available for a few weeks this time of year.  It was cooked in butter and served with boiled potatoes topped with hollandaise sauce and basil.  Does anyone know if you can get white asparagus in the states?  Dave had a whopping serving of Weiner schnitzel and house potatoes.  It was amazing too!  They also have the best Coca-Cola light at Schwartz.  Indego knows to bring in a big cup of ice and pours it over fresh lemons.  They serve it out of glass bottles and it’s amazing.  The perfect end to a long, hot, muggy berlin day.  We went back to the hotel where we had left the AC on high and our room was wonderfully cold.  CJ taught me a new German word, “hülaheis” or hot as hell.  That sums up the weather.  

Museum Island and Other Thoughts

MUSEUM ISLAND

We learned that Hackasher Market was our favorite stop in the city.  It was close to Museum Island and also a popular cross stop for other trains.  We got off the S7 and followed the signs to the Museums.  I wondered if museum island was REALLY an island, and it is.  It is surrounded by the river on all sides.  It was obvious there was lots of construction going on, and that made things a little bit tricky sometimes.  But we always found where we needed to go.  The Pergamon museum was where we were supposed to meet CJ.  As we walked through the tall pillars I could see a group of kids off in the distance.  YEP, they were ours.  We chatted with CJ, well, he talked non-stop and I was so excited to hear all of his adventures and see some of the pictures on the camera.  He did a great job taking pictures and had over 700 of them…..YEAH!  We enjoyed the museum and then split from to group to go on a river cruise Monday evening.  We walked back by the Berliner Dom and found the entrance to the river cruise.  It was very hot in the afternoon, but had started to cool off.  I’m so glad we decided to buy the insulated water bottles, which really paid off.  Not only is “still” water hard to find, but ours stayed cold for the whole day.  We declined drinks from the bar on the cruise and enjoyed our water and some candy that we had bought with us.  The architecture was impressive.  I think my favorite part were the bridges.  Each one was unique and had a story.  There was only one bridge that survived the war intact.  It was so low that when going underneath it you had to watch your head.  There was one bridge that had a giant bust of the architect on it.  It was creepy as you floated underneath because the eyes just starred at you.  The tour guide explained all the major buildings and the old routine of passing from East to West Germany before the wall came down.  There was a kindergarten (grades 0-4) built for the children of the government employees that cost more than 250 million Euros to build.  The original class had 12 students in it and there were 24 full time teachers.  The native Berliners don’t like that building very much.  Of course now its enrollment is larger, but it is still only for the elite.  You could see rows of top-of-the-line toys and bikes lined up outside the doors to the coolest playground I’ve ever seen.  Not to bad for a government perk!

After the cruise we walked back to the station and headed back to the hotel.  We stopped for a walk down the shopping street and decided to get a bite to eat at one of the outdoor Italian restaurants.  It is a little strange, because you just sit down and wait for someone to take your order.  I really just wanted water to drink, but didn’t realize what he would bring.  He spoke very little English, but I can point really effectively at the menu.  He came back to the table with a very expensive looking bottle of Perrier water.  He served it into two crystal wine glasses and it tasted great.  My comment to David was, “enjoy this water….I have no idea how much it is costing usJ”  I ordered stuffed mushrooms in a white wine cream sauce and David had lasagna.  His had green noodles in it, and what I learned later is a béchamel sauce as well as a Bolognese sauce.  It was quite good and I may start making it that way at home.  My mushrooms were to die for, and I was wondering if it would be acceptable to pick up the dish and lick it clean…..I had plenty of bread left over to clean it pretty good, so I felt ok walking away without licking my dish.  We enjoyed the evening night life of Berlin on our walk back to the hotel.  

We were hot tired and sore, so a long shower (something forbidden here) felt great!  We crawled into a comfy bed and slept well.

WATER and POWER

When we first entered our room we couldn’t get the lights to turn on.  Then we discovered that you must insert your key card in a slot at the door and then all of the switches work.  When you leave your room, you take your key card with you…..and everything turns off.  How cool is that.  It was very hot and muggy the last few days and we were thrilled that we had air in our hotel.  We tried to turn on the air conditioner in our room, but couldn’t get it to work.  We called the front desk and they explained that if the windows are not closed then it won’t turn on.  We fiddled with the door and then ……..voila it was like magic.  As soon as it sensed that the door was closed tightly, then the air turned on.  Imagine if we took that much effort to save energy.

The water here is very expensive.  They pay to bring it into the house and for it to go into the sewer.  I haven’t seen a drinking fountain since we’ve been here.  Everyone drinks bottled water.  We pay about 1 € per bottle.  But back in Frankfurt we bought it bat the store for about 0.19 €. 

Many people here speak some English; some better than others.  You are fine in most touristy areas, but you can get into trouble at some restaurants, or shops that are off the beaten path.  Overall, our ability to communicate has been just fine.  I did order a Diet Coke the first time, even though CJ told me not to say that.  The very nice waiter reminded me that it is Coca-Cola LIGHT here.  Diet Coke is the slang for cocaine.  OOPS!  I guess that screams tourist. 

On the tours the guides speak pretty good English.  Sometimes we are the only ones in the group who need it, and sometimes the entire group needs its.  On the trains and in the train stations, they say everything important in German and then in English.  I have just learned how to ignore anything they don’t repeat, because it’s not urgent.  If we are standing at the platform and they start talking in German, and then everybody leaves and starts heading somewhere else, we have learned how to follow them……if you wait for the English, you may miss the train. 

Berlin Cont......

I may have blogged some of this before, but I don’t have wifi right now, so if I repeat myself…..forgive me.

We are traveling back to Frankfurt by train today.  BERLIN WAS AWESOME!  We were hoping to spend the day in Dresden on our way back to Frankfurt, but the trains are not running on schedule because of the flooding, and multiple stops are canceled.  So after all things considered, we are just going to skip Dresden and head back to David and Eva’s.

Monday in Berlin – after arriving we headed out to find the Hard Rock Café.  It should have been simple.  Did you catch the should?  There are no landmarks here like the mountains we have in Utah, which makes keeping your compass quite difficult.  We realized we headed the wrong way down the big street kurfürstendamm.  This is the equivalent of the Magnificent Mile in Chicago.  It is a lovely street full of every kind of store, shop, street vendor etc.  Our hotel is just off of this main road on a side road.  The main street that runs on the other side, Kastrassa, is the other shopping street. 

We found the Hard Rock Café and picked up our Berlin City Passes.  This was the greatest thing that we could have planned for.  After doing much research, I decided to purchase these ahead of time and eventually found a great deal on them.  Our passes gave us unlimited access to the public transportation, unlimited entrance into the museums and access to the main attractions. 

We eventually found our hotel and I was relieved to see that it looked very much like the hotels we are used too…….AND had air conditioning.  Something we would learn was rare for Berlin.  We approached the desk and the cute girl there was very nice to help us.  We were earlier than we thought so we had not arranged for an early check in.  I also didn’t have David’s Hilton number with me when I made the reservation so I asked if we could at least leave our bags for a few hours and get the check in process started.  She looked up his Hilton number and then said, “Ooooh, Mr. Moollan this changes everything, you have silver status!”  Then she typed away at her computer and made a few phone calls.  She apologized because she could not get us into a room straight away; but assured us that a “perfect” room would be ready when we returned.  They tagged our bags and locked them up.  Off we went to meet the kids. 

We stopped in a SCHWARTZ café on the way to the station.  It was recommended by the concierge at the hotel.  We met our favorite waiter in the whole city there; “Indego” took very good care of us.  We figured out his work schedule and stopped back by several times to grab a bite to eat.  It was delicious food and reasonably priced.  After eating, we found the train station, Savingyplatz.  It was closer than the one we originally got off on when we arrived.

When we arrived at the station, I knew we needed to validate our passes, but couldn’t figure out where.  Eventually we found someone who could explain it to us, and we had been trying to do it in the wrong machine.  The validation machine isn’t by the ticket kiosk.  Hmmmm  Does that really make sense?  Anyhow we figured it out and were on our way.