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.
AuntyUta 
Hi Uta, I’m really glad to see you have arrived safely at the start of your Big Trip!! What a lovely thing Klaudia did giving you a bag of goodies to enjoy while you were waiting for your apartment to be ready. She is very thoughtful and kind. I hope you have a great day today! Best wishes, Pam
Hi Pam, I like your comment and thank you so much for it. Actually it was Ilse who packed the goodies for us. It was great we could share them with Klaudia while we were waiting to be let into our apartment. Klaudia showed us where we could eat the goodies near the tea-house in the English gardens. We liked the English gardens very much. It’s a beautiful place. We’re going to show more pictures of it later on.
We went to Friedrichstrasse today and had a great time.
Just now I’m trying to get over the nasty cold that made its appearance again. Peter’s cold is already much better.
It’s hard to read when the eyes feel so watery from the cold! But I’ll catch up on some more reading once I’m back to normal. Thanks again for commenting, dear Pam. Hope you feel o.k. Love, Uta
Hi Uta. I’m happy to hear from you and to know that you arrived safely in Berlin. I hope you and Peter have a lovely, restful visit with family and friends.
Thank you Pat. It seems to us, Berlin people are always on the go and moving fast all the time. We usually do not see many old people around. It’s just that the place seems to be full of very energetic, young people. But they’re always considerate when they see us oldies moving about on public transport and offering to help when they think we might need a bit of help. When we feel tired we have a choice to stay away from city activities and just relax in the beautiful Tiergarten right in front of our living quarters. We’re lucky to have found such a beautiful, restful place to stay within walking distance to public transport and all the city activities. So far we’ve seen Ilse twice and Klaudia twice. On Monday we went to a birthday garden party with family and friends, which was great only I had still been too tired from the long trip.
Two weeks from now my brother Peter and his wife Astrid take me to see some cousins in the Western part of Germany. These are cousins I last saw in 1986! One of the cousins turns 70 and has a big family party. On the same day Peter is expecting some of his family to arrive in Berlin especially to see him. So this means he can’t go to Western Germany with me. Unfortunately there’s sometimes a clashing of dates. This can’t be helped. We just try to make the best of it. It’s wonderful to be able to see some family again.
Since Peter and I are quite advanced in age we make it a point to put in sufficient rest periods. I truly think we need this. And people always try to accommodate us. I feel old age has its advantages since people tend to be rather understanding about what our needs are. Isn’t this great?
It will be nice to hear from you along the way, and judging by the date of the return ticket, you have a nice long time for your family visit. So glad you’ve arrived safely, now enjoy! 🙂 Debra
You’re right, Debra, we’re here to enjoy. Once our cold’s gone, it will be even better. Thanks for your comment. Uta
Good to know you had a great start to your holiday Auntyuta,I can understand the time involved in downloading and posting pics as it was the same for me when I was in Chile, good idea to keep them till you are home apart from a few. The food you described sounded scrumptious, especially the bread.
Cheers and hope you are over the flu
Ian aka Emu
Hi Ian,
thanks for your comment. These b….. cold attacks still keep coming. We’ve been in Berlin for nearly a week now. Peter is pretty much clear of any cold symptoms already. Won’t be long now and I’ll be o.k. too. I wasn’t as bad as having to stay in bed. Also food still tastes good! The worst part is that my eyes get very watery. This makes it difficult to read. I so much want to read lots of things! I hope my eyes are going to be back to normal soon.
The weather here is almost exactly the same as it is back home in Australia right now. This gives us a bit of time to adjust to cooler wintry conditions. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had some snow later on in November at my brother’s place. I think we’re going to enjoy the seclusion of Neu Canow after two months in Berlin!
Cheers, Uta
Enjoy your trip ♥ and I’ll look forward to your photos.
Keep warm and shoo the colds away.
Internet connection for bloggers is very very crucial 😀
Thanks, dear Yor. Yes, we’re glad we have some internet connection here in Berlin, however we don’t want to use it all that much.
Aunty Uta, keep those photos rolling in – love it!
How amazing, you so far away…. I really hope you have a brilliant time 🙂
Peter and I enjoyed quite a few things already despite frequent cold symptoms. Some of the food here is just delicious. We love it! We are going to end up with heaps of photos to take to Australia. At the moment we can only publish some samples of all the photos.
It’s always a joy and a gift to be with family no matter how short the time is or how far we have to travel. Thanks for sharing you family with us and your adventures. I wish you all the best my friend.
Thank you so much, dear IT.
glad to see you arrived safely in Germany. by the time i write this, you must almost be getting ready to return back to Australia. looking forward to seeing some of your travel posts!
You’re right, we’re almost ready now to return to Australia. We’re staying for the last few days with my brother and his wife, having a wonderful relaxing time here.