Author: auntyuta

Auntie, Sister. Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Mother and Wife of German Descent I've lived in Australia since 1959 together with my husband Peter. We have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I started blogging because I wanted to publish some of my childhood memories. I am blogging now also some of my other memories. I like to publish some photos too as well as a little bit of a diary from the present time. Occasionally I publish a story with a bit of fiction in it. Peter, my husband, is publishing some of his stories under berlioz1935.wordpress.com

Resting at Kuala Lumpur Airport

After my brother had dropped us off at Berlin Tegel Airport we checked in and then had plenty of time to have a drink with the six family members who had come to see us off:
Peter’s cousin, Peter’s nephew, Peter’s sister and all their partners. They were all there, to see us one last time.

The flight to Amsterdam was delayed. Because of this we had less than one hour to get to hour connecting flight. When I pointed this out to a cabin crew member he inquired about my age and whether I could walk all right. I told him I couldn’t walk as fast as younger people. Voila, a drive on a buggy was arranged for Peter and me. Being driven through the immense airport with passengers roaming about and making way for the buggy, we felt like in a movie. It was a long, long drive to the departure point for our connecting flight. I doubt I could have made it in time by walking. We were extremely grateful for the lift and were able to board on time on the long stretch to Kuala Lumpur.

At Kuala Lumpur Airport we had a seven hour rest. From there we took off on a seven hour flight to Sydney. The longest non-stop stretch was from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, namely eleven hours! During this long flight Peter got sick. After that he had hardly anything to eat anymore.

RIMG0007 — This is the family who saw us off at Berlin Tegel Airport

RIMG0010 — This is the family who saw us off at Berlin Tegel Airport

We were grateful for the long break at Kuala Lumpur Airport. It gave us ample time to recover a bit from the previous eleven hour non-stop flight. In Kuala Lumpur Peter even enjoyed the coffee and cake we had at one of the airport’s coffee-shops. At some other establishment we had a large glass of iced Chi tea. This tasted very good and was very refreshing. On the next seven hour stretch to Sydney Peter refused food again. However he had lots of drinks all the time: Mainly water, but also some juice and coffee. He just didn’t feel like eating.

Back in Australia

Peter and I landed safely back in Australia.Yesterday morning our daughter picked us up from Sydney airport and drove us to our home (100 km south of Sydney). So we’ve been back home now for nearly thirty hours and are gradually getting rid of our jet legs. Everything is fine at our place. Our lovely daughter is going to stay with us till tomorrow (Tuesday).

Six people had come to Berlin Tegel airport on Friday to see us off. We found the perfect place to have a drink with them. This time was very relaxing for us. We knew already that our plane to Amsterdam was going to leave somewhat later than originally planned. My brother had driven us to the airport from his place in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. He had only dropped us off so he could be back home before it got too dark.

In Amsterdam we had scarce time to catch the connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur. We made sure we’d get some help by the airport people. Just as well! It turned out we had to go right to the other end of the airport. This would have meant a tremendous walk for us. We were very grateful for being driven to our departure point. I doubt that we could have made it by walking.

In Kuala Lumpur we had close to seven hours to catch our Malaysian connecting flight to Sydney. This meant we had no problem with being on time for boarding at the departure gate. It also gave us the opportunity to stretch our legs a bit and then take a break in a beautifully furnished cafe with French songs playing in the background. The toilet facilities were also very welcome. We couldn’t take a walk though through the airport’s beautiful open air jungle walk since it was closed for renovations. What a pity!

Near our departure gate we found some stretch-out chairs. Believe me, we made good use of them! Some pics of them some other time.

Leipzig

From Leipzig Hauptbahnhof we took a tram to Südfriedhof, the cemetery where my grandfather was buried in 1947. My brother had found out from one of our cousins, where the grave site was supposed to be, that is I had the correct plot number and asked at the entrance for directions. The Südfriedhof is right next to the Leipzig Völkerschlacht Denkmal. We saw it straight away when we got off the tram.

The Völkerschlachtdenkmal exists since 1913 commemorating a battle from 1813. Some restorations are being done at present for next year’s 200 year commemoration.

To find Grandfather’s grave turned out to be extremely difficult. It took us many, many hours. Yet we were successful in the end and very, very happy that our search hadn’t been in vain. I’ll write about it in some more detail some other time.

In the afternoon we had time to stroll through the city center of Leipzig. Leipzig has a lot of beautifully restored old buildings and the modern buildings seem to blend in quite well. We were very impressed.

DSCN5227 — A view of the Leipzig Hauptbahnhot, the main railway station

Peter’s Facebook Comment

Yesterday we went to the underground station at ‘Platz der Luftbrücke’.

The following is what Peter wrote in a Facebook note.

‘This station was originally called “Kreuzberg”. When they built the “Tempelhof Airport” it was called “Flughafen”.

After the Blokade and the Airlift of 1948 / 49 they renamed it again. This time it became “Platz der Luftbrueke” in memory of the Airlift

It is the only station without ceiling support. When I was a little boy, during the war, we children went their every evening to pick up our mother after she came back from work.’

This underground station is in the area where Peter grew up. He has so many memories about this place.

DSCN5160 — Close by is a memorial for the Luftbrücke

You can read all about the Airlift here.

First of November

Beginning of a new month.

We travelled again by U-Bahn (underground) yesterday. This is an excellent connection for going anywhere in Berlin. A friend of ours, who was recently in Berlin, says ‘her heart sings’ when she goes by U-Bahn. The trains come in at great speed and leave at a very fast pace. At peak hour the trains are often very crowded even though they come in every three to four minutes and are quite long trains on top of it. Yesterday we caught a train where we had one section of it to ourselves. What luxury! We took pictures. We thought of the stranded New Yorkers who have to cope without their underground at present. Lots of them are without power and some even without water. What an awful situation. They are a resilient people and determined to do what ever is necessary to bring everything back to normal. I wish them all the best that their suffering wont last too long.

Twelve more Days

Today is Friday. In exactly three more weeks we’ll depart Germany to go back to Australia. So in Berlin we have only

TWELVE MORE DAYS.

Why are we kind of panicky about what to do with the last few days in Berlin? There’s no simple answer. I tell myself, don’t worry, play it by ear. Still, writing about it may help a bit to see a bit more clearly. Actually I think I am pretty laid back concerning the planning we have to do on a daily basis. Maybe too laid back. For instance I didn’t do anything yet about finding my ‘lost’ brother B. Nobody cares where he is. Do I care? Well, I do and I don’t. If only I knew what I should be doing. Is it right to do nothing? I just don’t know.

The relationship with brother B. has always been a bit strained and a bit confusing. The relationship with brother P. on the other hand was always easy going. Of course we don’t see eye to eye in everything. But I think we tend not to hold grudges against each other. As I said, easy going. This is what it mostly is.

Hubby’s sister and brother-in-law arrived from Austria just a couple of days ago. We saw them yesterday at the other sister’s place. We spent six lovely hours with them. Peter’s sister Ilse provided a home-cooked lunch. Later on we had coffee and cake. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. The five of us plus Ilse’s partner had much to talk about, since we have quite a few memories to share. The visitors are going to stay in Berlin till next Thursday. Of course they want to see us again. Only so far we have no clue when this is going to be. We tell ourselves we’ll wait and see. In the meantime there are quite a few other people who’d love to see us again before we leave Berlin.

I have childhood memories about Leipzig. It would be great to go there for a day. Going by train it’s only about two hours away from Berlin. At the moment we still think we might be able to spend one day in Leipzig. Indeed, we do think there’s still a chance we can do this as planned. There are other places in Germany we’d like to visit. Only it seems to be out of our reach at this time. I wonder whether there’s going to be another time. I guess, it all depends on our priorities, doesn’t it?

After a number of overcast days the sun is out today It’s not freezing yet but there’s a chill in the air. Since there’s no wind, we don’t feel the cold very much. A lot of trees have lost nearly all their leaves. Around the houses here in the Hansa Viertel big piles of autumn leaves are building up every day. Workers busily pack them up into huge bags and cart them away. Once another load of leaves is taken away, the lawns under the huge trees look still beautiful green.

By the way, I’m very much looking forward to spend the last few days of our stay in Germany at P’s and A’s place 100 km north of Berlin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which is a quiet, relaxing place. Actually very few people live in this area. It is full of natural beauty and altogether very different from Berlin. Come to think of it, there are lots of quiet, relaxing places in Berlin too. But it’s also a city with millions and millions of very busy people. One thing is for sure: It’s never boring in Berlin!

We visited the Bode Museum the other day. I was very impressed by the beauty of the building and the quality of the displays. We also saw an excellent movie, called AMOUR (Liebe). This was a very slow moving film about an elderly couple (right up our alley!). It won the PALME D’OR at the FESTIVAL DE CANNES.

Marzahn, Berlin, Part III

THE BALINESE GARDEN

I like all the pictures I took in the Balinese Garden. Here are just a few of them

All the plants thrived well in the hot, moist air of the Balinese Garden.

And last but not least, here are a few pictures taken in the Oriental Section.

Marzahn, Berlin, Part II

We visited ‘The Gardens of the World’ in Marzahn yesterday, on Wednesday the 17th October. To have tea in the Chinese Tea-House was a very relaxing experience. The tea had warmed me up sufficiently. When we continued to stroll through the gardens, the sun had warmed the air. It felt great to walk in the crisp, fresh air. There was still a little breeze from time to time but it didn’t feel as cold anymore.

We had brought some sandwiches from home. It was good to eat them in a secluded spot, protected from the wind.

So on we went to view some more of the beautiful gardens Our destination was the Italian Renaissance Garden. I did get into the mood to take lots and lots of pictures. (The previous pictures, which I published in Part I, were all taken by Peter.)

On the way to some more gardens we saw trees starting to have colorful displays of autumn leaves, here and there we could still see some beautiful flowers. Remarkable were a huge number of fountains. I kept taking pictures of a great many fountains. Today I’m only inserting a few sample pictures.