Yesterday afternoon I was not just exhausted but sick, truly sick. No idea what brought on this feeling of nausea, these terrible cramps in the bowels – – – No idea at all. Unless it had something to do with what I had been eating. This morning I still feel a bit weak and sleepy. At my age this can mean anything – – – I plan on taking a shower at one o’clock (pm) and then get dressed for our meeting at Ilse’s place. Peter wants to arrive at Ilse’s a bit before 3pm; that means we’ll leave the house at 2pm to go and catch the underground to Scharnweberstrasse.
I’m looking forward to meet Angie who arrived from Florida on Thursday already. Angie’s sister Monica unfortunately had to cancel her visit. Later on we’re going to have dinner at Daniel’s Restaurant with all of Ilse’s close family.
The Berlin Marathon is going to take place tomorrow. A lot of streets are cordoned off already. Will be difficult for Angie’s taxi to get through from Alexanderplatz.
Today just a few photos of our third week in Berlin.
We had the good fortune to meet Lily Brett at a book reading in Berlin. She signed one book for us too!
Peter in a nearby park, called the Tiergarten.
It’s good to have some refreshments
The underground takes us everywhere quick smart
Despite many people using public transport and going around on bikes, one can see lots of cars everywhere too.
10 o’clock Sunday Mass at a close by Catholic ChurchOne of our visitors during the past weekAnother dear visitor we know from AustraliaYesterday we met another dear friend
We left the gardens of the restaurant after an excellent lunch to have coffee and cake in our little apartment. We had been very lucky that it had still been warm enough to sit outside for our meal.
This looked like a pretty boring placeWe took the next tram back to Alexanderplatz Peter said: Let’s go to the KaufhofThere was lots to see in this Kaufhof Shopping Centre called GALERIA am Alexanderplatz
Best of all was, I could find some toilets there. On the fifth floor there was also the DINEA that Ilse had recommended to us.
We had some refreshing Mineral WaterAlso coffee and cake with fresh creamI liked the colourful displaysHe took off on his scooter before I could capture himWe negotiated our way back to the ground-floor via escalatorsOutside we liked to rest here for a bit
interesting decorations surrounded us
The huge ceiling was something to be admiredHere were a variety of espresso coffee cups with Berlin motives on them. We bought some!
Last Friday was the day when we strolled along the Kurfürstendamm. Since then we’ve been to quite a few other destinations. First of all we had family visiting us for afternoon coffee and cake. I’ll be writing about this some other time.
Sunday was a lovely, balmy, very sunny day as forecast. So we went to see our dear family friends Ingrid and Erhard. During the summer months they often stay in their little summer cottage which is surrounded by a beautiful garden area. They invited us to spend the day with them in their garden with plenty of homegrown cooked food, which was delicious. I’ll blog about this later on.
On Monday Ilse came to see us. We had delicious pizza at a close by Italian Restaurant sitting outside in lovely sunshine. For afternoon coffee and cake we went to baker Thürmann, also close by.
Yesterday, Tuesday, our destination was Bayrischer Platz. Just round the corner is Bozener Strasse, where I grew up. I felt quite nostalgic to see my old stomping ground again. We picked up a few large, shiny, rather big chestnuts from under the huge tree at the end of Bozener Strasse. I remember this tree very well from my childhood!
We had lunch at a baker’s shop close by. Next door was an Italian restaurant where lots of people were sitting outside enjoying the beautiful sunshine. We ordered gelato with fresh cream and soon were sitting outside too with these lovely ice-cream dishes which cost only three Euros each!
It was midday when we heard the freedom bells from the close by Rathaus at John-F-Kennedy-Platz. It was only a short walk for us to this place. In front of the Rathaus was a market. An Indian fellow sold jackets. I bought a warm jacket from him. He told us, he had relatives in Brisbane when we mentioned that we were from Australia.
Another spot from the past beckoned: Stadtpark Schöneberg. This place awakened heaps of memories in us. We took a seat close to the pond where we could watch the ducks. I remembered pictures of me standing close to the duck-pond as a toddler more than seventy-five years ago! I felt so tired by then I actually nodded off a bit sitting with Peter on a bench with the sun shining on us.
The Underground station Rathaus Schöneberg is right next to the duck-pond. So we took the underground to go back home to Hansaplatz. We took heaps of pictures every day. But here now is only a small sample of them:
Some pumpkins from Ingrid’s gardenTuesday night was a balmy night and we went to the Brandenburg Gate. I tried to catch Peter in front of the Gate.Uta and Ilse on Monday, 17th September 2012Uta loves the Berlin BearThe Chestnut tree is still there
Part of the Duck Pond with Rathaus Schöneberg Underground Station in the background
With our daughter just before we have to leaveYesterday with Klaudia on a rather cool day
I apologize for not being able to write much at present. Unfortunately I had frequent cold attacks during the past few days. Luckily there’s internet connection in our little Berlin apartment, but I think inserting pictures is going to be a slow process. This is why the bulk of the Berlin pictures I’ll safe for publication for when we’ll be back in Australia. So today I show just a small sample of the pictures we’ve taken so far.
Last Saturday, 8th September, Caroline and Matthew saw us off at Sydney airport. We had a good flight and arrived at Tegel airport in Berlin early on Sunday morning. where Klaudia was waiting for us and took us to the apartment of Peter’s sister Ilse. We stayed there for a lovely welcome. We knew our apartment wasn’t available till 2 pm. Ilse served us coffee and homemade cheesecake. She also provided a bag full of things to eat for when we would arrive at our apartment. We arrived early in the Hansa Viertel with Klaudia and all our luggage in Klaudia’a car. We passed the time walking with Klaudia through the Tiergarten towards the Teahouse of the English Garden. It was a balmy late summer day. We sat outside eating some of the beautiful food Ilse had packed for us: Slices of crusty ryebread, zwiebelwurst, Harzer cheese, butter, bananas etc. A bit later we had coffee in front of the Teahouse.
Strolling back to where Klaudia’s car was parked we arrived at the apartment at exactly 2 pm and were let in. The place turned out to be just right for us. We are going to stay in it for two months! After this we’ll stay 100 km north of Berlin in a small place called Neu Canow. For the 16th November we have booked our flight back to Australia.
On Saturday, the 1st of September, was Natasha’s 21st Birthday Party.
On Sunday, the 2nd, Peter and I had a lovely day with our youngest daughter. This was Fathers Day here in Australia!
We did collect the ashes on Tuesday and settled the payment for the funeral. We told them that they provided an excellent service and that we can highly recommend them. It is a family run establishment. We felt very well looked after and can’t thank them enough. They really did their very best with all the funeral arrangements.
We saw Baby Lucas with his Mum and Dad on Saturday. I was allowed to hold the little man for a bit. He is so lovely! Peter was at the back near the big garage where the party had already started. By the time Peter thought of taking pictures of little Lucas, his Mum had taken him home already. But we might get a chance for pics tomorrow night. Our daughter Monika and some of her family want to come to our place to farewell us before we leave for Sydney on Friday.
On Friday we’re going to stay overnight in Sydney at daughter Caroline’s place from where Caroline is going to drive us to the airport on Saturday. Our plane leaves Sydney at 14.00 hrs (2 pm).
The pictures start with Saturday’s party, then there are some pics from Fathers Day, followed by pics from our outing to the Western Suburbs of Sydney, where we picked up the ashes. After lunch at Merrylands we went to the Central Park at Merrylands West. By 2 pm we were at our late daughter Gaby’s place where we saw David and also four caring friends of our daughter’s. They had come because someone was expected to pick up all the equipment our daughter had been using. I think her iron lung is supposed to go to a museum.
Big 21 for Natasha this is the sweet Birthday GirlOne of the very welcome outside gas heaters
A peek at the birthday cake in the fridge.Natasha’s Mum baked the cake herself. Here she puts the finishing touches to it.Natasha and her boyfriend
Grandma is having a good timeMonika sees to it that people can try the cowboy hat on for a drink!Does it work all right?Fantastic!Wow!Peter is taking a rest after taking all these pics
There were people dancing to disco music in the spare garage but I am afraid I haven’t got any pictures of this. Amazingly Grandma had one dance with Grandpa and very much enjoyed it. It’s so good to still be able to enjoy a bit of dancing!
So this was Saturday night. Now come the Sunday pictures.
We took a walk to this lovely lake site.Peter took this picture of Caroline and me.
Along this footpath we walked back to where the car was parkedAt Forest Grove we were being served beautifully brewed tea which was being kept hot with tea-lights.
This is where we picked up the ashes and paid the bill on Tuesday.This is a view in Central Park, Merrylands West.They’re doing some up-grading of the animal enclosures. This is why at present one cannot see any animals.
There was no waterfall and the flood-way looked quite dry.
interesting decorations surrounded us
AuntyUta 