We are writing this from our new digs in Warsaw, Poland. We’ve had a long day driving from Berlin and have just put Hamish to bed. He is on the sofa bed one meter away from us. Our dinner consisted of a mish-mash of ingredients: chicken, carrots, cauliflower and pasta, with apple sauce on the side for Hamish. It’s dark in Poland at about 4pm, so the night has crept up on us; it’s just past 930pm.

 

Our last few days in Berlin were great. Here is a small recap of Friday thru Sunday:

 

Friday: As with most days in Berlin, we start with a trip on the M10 tram – we have been lucky that our landlords have left us their annual public transport cards. The M10 is 100m from our apartment building and links us to all other public transport routes in Berlin. We have only had to change lines a couple of times, catching the M2 to Alexander Platz (city centre) and the M1 to Mattia’s apartment.

 

On Friday we headed for the Berlin Wall Memorial and Museum. We didn’t really know what to expect and were a bit cautious, as our trip to Mauer Park had been a bit, well, odd really due to a distinct lack of anything.

 

The first thing you notice about the Berlin Wall Memorial is a huge picture of Conrad Schumann on the side of a building, close to where he jumped over the barbed wire; you cannot miss it and of course, as he is now Hamish’s hero, we did not. The Memorial is a long, linear park with a range of displays which describe life behind the walls. The ‘inner’ wall is still intact in parts, the outer wall, is portrayed by metal rods – it looks amazing. Along the manicured lawns (the only ones we’ve seen in Berlin) are steps to show tunnels running from the East to the West. Hamish re-enacts escaping via one of these tunnels, however, we don’t tell him he has managed to escape to the East.

 

At the end of the park is a reconstructed section of the wall, which shows all parts of the Eastern defence; inner and outer walls, watch tower, lighting and anti-vehicle trenches. The impact of this is not apparent until you climb 100 or so stairs above the museum across the road to a viewing platform. It is obvious the DDR went to quite a lot of effort to keep their people in the East, 156km of effort to be precise. It is both amazing and sad at the same time.

 

We spend a bit of time in the museum where Hamish draws an interpretive picture of the wall and has this hung up with other pictures and messages.

 

Our next stop is Brandenburg Gate. We get back on the trusty M10 and exit at the very large, multi-purpose train/metro/subway stop (S & U Hauptbahnhof). After some brief instructions from the tourist information booth, we walk to the Brandenburg Gate, via the Reichstag. A traffic accident, courtesy of a driver who stopped for pedestrians and a cyclist who wasn’t paying attention, keeps everyone on edge, especially when the cyclist opens the passenger door to yell abuse at the driver. It’s awesome.

Saturday: We meet Mattia and his girlfriend Eva at their favourite café for brunch. Whilst there it starts snowing, which is very exciting for us Aussies. However, it is not so exciting when we exit the café and head to the Christmas Markets. It’s cold, it’s miserable, the snowflakes are bloody huge – it’s like walking in very, very soft freezing rain (which, I guess is what it is). The markets are closed and we make the decision to ditch our plans due to the weather and not being appropriately dressed. We plan to meet Mattia and Eva back at the markets that night for food and Gluwein. Eva says it is essential to drink Gluwein in order to survive the markets.

 

 

This is our first taste of a European Christmas market and really, it’s not that different to markets at home: inflated prices for things you don’t need, crowds and cranky kids. There is a story in here about fairy floss and a huge lolly pop; if you use the words: Hamish, difficult, devious, bad mood, disappointed in any order, this basically covers the story.

 

Sunday bloody Sunday: Once again, we have been caught out by the lack of Sunday trading in Europe. Thank God for Dads: Rod goes to the service station for bread, so we can have some breakfast. The service station is a place of bounty: he brings back bread, milk AND orange juice, a feast! After two late nights, we manage to get organised for a trip into the city centre (Mitte) by midday. Our plan is to see Check Point Charlie and the GDR Museum. However, at the M10 stop, there is a sign that says something about a demonstration and the tram will not be going to the S & U Hauptbahnhof.  Whilst on the tram, we spend the next few minutes frantically scanning the route map to work out how we are going to get to our destination. As luck would have it, we get on the M2 and end up exactly where we want to be in Alexanderplatz. The Christmas markets are in full swing and we head over to the action. There is food aplenty, carousel rides and market stalls as far as the eye can see. We purchase some hot, sweet, deep fried pastry treats dusted with icing sugar and devour them as we walk around – Hamish calls them ‘sugar biscuits’. They are amazing and trump the service station feast we have had for breakfast. We follow this up with an array of pork specialities for lunch: sausage (25cm long), meatball (200gm) and steak (generous).

With full bellies and umbrellas up, we head to the GDR museum. It’s busy and the queue is long. Still, we persist and are rewarded with a great display of life in East Germany, resplendent with polyester evening gowns, stretch Volvos and nude holidays.

 

Dinner with Eva and Mattia top off our Sunday and we head home with a tired boy – actually, the three of us are leg-weary and sleep well. So well infact, we have a late departure, which means, we arrive in Warsaw at about 530pm. We leave Warsaw Thursday for Krakow and then will be heading to Prague. We will be home in 6 weeks – how quickly the time has gone!