Last Saturday Peter and I were at Sydney Airport at 9,30 am to pick up our son Martin who had arrived from Melbourne. Martin stayed overnight at our place. Then, 24 hours later, he was picked up by Monika and Mark for a drive to Sydney. Martin went along with them to go to the Grand Final Football game: Cronulla Sharks versus Melbourne Storms. It turned out to be a very exciting game. Cronulla earned their first Premiership crown in 50 seasons, defeating the Storm 14-12!
Monika’s twin sons, Troy and Ryan, are great fans of the Sharks. Several months ago they had purchased ten tickets for the Gran Final. So Martin, Monika and Mark were in good company with the twins and family and friends. Ryan’s two little boys were included in the party, wearing Cronulla shirts like most of the other supporters. In one of the pictures that they published we noticed Martin wearing a Sharks’ cap.
For 24 hours – less sleeping time of course – we had Martin to ourselves. On Saturday Martin watched on television at our place how the Melbourne Bulldogs did beat the Sydney Swans at the AFL Grand Final in Melbourne.
We had some nice meals together with Martin. Before we went to bed we played a few games of Rummy with him. During the night we went on daylight saving time, that means we lost one hour! But, anyway the sun was up already at about 6 am. It turned 0ut to be a a wonderful day with no wind
After breakfast we drove down to the lake to enjoy the scenery on a wonderful bright day.
Monika and Mark are ready to drive with Martin to Sydney.
Above is the video that was taken in the Volkspark am Weinberg.
We had arrived on Saturday, the 4th of June. Ilse’s sons had come to Tegel-Airport to pick us up and drive us with all our luggage to our apartment in Rubensstrasse. It was so good to have the two cars waiting for us. Klaudia as well as Ilse and Finn had also come along and we took off on the Autobahn that took us from the airport to our apartment in just a few minutes! Once we were settled in our apartment, we were given huge amounts of food, especially Ilse and Finn had brought a lot of food along. So all of us stayed together for quite a while, talking about lots of things and having a nice meal.
Strangely enough we did not feel too tired to go out to the Brandenburg Gate after our Berlin family had left us. So it was the five of us from Australia, namely Martin, Caroline, Matthew, Peter and me, exploring Berlin on our own on our first day in Berlin after we had only just arrived on our very long trip all the way from Australia.
The following morning we went out for breakfast. Die “Wolke” was just around the corner. They were doing pretty good business on a Sunday morning. We noticed a constant stream of customers. So we had a good breakfast sitting down in the Wolke Cafe.
PETER LOVED THIS BUN
Steak tartare is a meat dish made from finely chopped or minced rawbeef.
This is what I hadStreusel-Schnecke is what we liked too.I did not take pictures of all the food, but here is some more of the food that was on offer.
I seem not to have taken any pictures from that afternoon we spent near Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) and where we had gone to by public transport.
But on Sunday the five of us did – also by public transport – go to Alexander Platz and from there on the U-Bahn to Rosenthaler Platz to meet my niece Corinna and her son Carlos for lunch.
Am Alexander PlatzMartin, Caroline, Peter and Matthew
The above picture I still took at Alexander Platz. After Alexander Platz we took off to ROSENTHALER PLATZ.
Peter with my niece Corinna and her son CarlosI with Caroline, Matthew and CorinnaThis lunch was to my liking
After lunch we went to this place.
When we left this interesting place we were heading for the park where – as Corinna promised – there would be some dancing on display together with great swing music from the 1940s. Carlos had made his good-buys in the meantime. (After all, it is only a certain amount of time a fifteen year old is willing to spend with the ‘oldies’!)
Corinna had been right, there was some dancing going on here.
Peter and I found the music quite electrifying. It reminded us of old times and the swing music that we used to like. During the 1950s, when we would often go dancing, swing was still quite popular.On that Sunday afternoon in the park inspired by the music Peter and I actually tried a little bit of dancing of our own. To our amusement, somebody videoed us while we were doing this! (See video at the beginning of page) We found this absolutely hilarious. Later on we watched for quite some time the dancing of the very young people. They seemed quite familiar with this type of dance music and danced very well indeed. A lot of these young people had dressed up in the 1940s style. There was even one young guy who had dressed in something that reminded us of the post WWII period when the young Americans of our occupation forces looked in their uniforms a bit like this guy did. Quite amazing!
I took a picture of our little group before we were sitting down for some drinks.
It was a balmy early summer afternoon. We enjoyed our drinks, listening to the music and watching the young people dancing. The place is called “Volkspark am Weinberg”.
This Berlin visit was a true family event for Peter and me. I would like to tell about the 26 days in Berlin in three different parts. First there were 8 days with Martin, Caroline and Matthew, then 9 days spent just with Martin and the last 9 days in Berlin we saw a lot of Monika and her family who came to visit Berlin from the 21st to the 30th of June.
When we arrived in Berlin on Saturday, the 4th of June, we were five adults from Australia, and we were renting a three bedroom apartment in Rubensstrasse, Berlin-Friedenau. Our rented apartment was just great, very spacious and well equipped.
The other family group from Australia had booked an apartment in Prenzlauer Berg which is a bit North-East from the centre of Berlin, whereas Friedenau is South of Berlin’s centre. Monika’s group stayed in Berlin for 9 days after already having visited London, Paris and Zuerich. On Thursday, the 30th of June, they travelled back to London to stay there for another four nights and then to fly back to Sydney, Australia.
Thursday, the 9th of June was my brother Bodo’s 78th birthday. Peter, Martin, Matthew and Caroline went on that day to Kreuzberg (Cross-Mountain). Peter wanted to show them the place where he had grown up. My brother Peter Uwe came to go with me to visit Bodo.
Bodo is being looked after in a home for the Aged.
We walked along here to get to the home where Bodo lives.
This place, a Memorial for the Berlin Wall, is not far from where Bodo lives.Peter Uwe and BodoUta and BodoMum with Bodo, Uta and Peter Uwe in 1948
Below a few pictures I took one morning in our apartment. Matthew is in the background, Martin is on the left, and Caroline and Peter on the right.
Today we went to the German Club for lunch. Since Peter’s birthday is tomorrow, which is a working day in Australia, we celebrated with the family already today. Peter took some photos of some of the family. We were a dozen people and had booked a table for our lunch. Every one was very happy with their Mittagessen, meaning we could all order whatever we liked. There was some dance music from the 1950s that Peter and I liked very much. We even had a little dance! Lucas and Alex, our great-grandchildren, enjoyed themselves too. It is great that children are so welcome at this club.
Many months ago we booked our trip. It is exciting that our departure time is getting very close: We’re going to leave for Berlin on Friday, the 3rd of June. So, only three more weeks to go!
Today, Peter, Caroline and I are going to Wollongong. I have an appointment with Dr. Pearson for 9 o’clock. Friday mornings there are always markets in Wollongong. We plan to go to these markets after I’ve seen my doctor. We might be able to buy some fresh vegetables at the markets. In the afternoon I meet my lady friends for our games of Scrabble and Rummy Cub.
On this coming Sunday we’re going to meet the family for Peter’s birthday lunch, and on Monday Peter takes our old car to Warrawong to get it inspected for re-newel of registration. Caroline and I want to go with him to Warrawong to visit a nice cafe there where we’ve been before.
It seems we are busy all the time. I am sure the next three weeks will be gone in a flash. And then it is going to be only four more weeks and we will be back in Australia. We arrive back on the Saturday, the 2nd of July, which is going to be Election Day in Australia!
We talked to Peter’s sister Ilse the other day. She reckons for our family re-union we are going to be some 25 people! We also talked to my brother Peter Uwe recently. He wants to come to Berlin to see all of us. But we can also visit him and Astrid at their place in the country.
This is a picture I took soon after M and D arrived with the hired truck on Thursday, the 11th of February. We were expecting a small truck, but it turned out to be a huge truck! One of the first things they unloaded was some garden furniture, which I think is going to be lovely to have in the backyard.
These are some of the boxes they unloaded apart from the above garden furniture and lots and lots of other things.
Before that Thursday, the 11th, we sorted out hundreds and hundreds of books. Several hundred books were given away or recycled. But still quite a few books remained for ‘safe’ keeping. We had to rearrange a lot of bookshelves!
Last Sunday was the 14th of February. We took a break from sorting out things and met the family for lunch in the park. Afterwards we went to the Port Kembla Saltwater Pools. There were heaps of people in the pool area, for it was a very warm beautiful summer’s day. Our whole family enjoyed the water, including our darling little great-grandsons.
Here now are some pictures from the park by the lake, were we met the family for lunch. Monika did bring along fish and chips for all of us from a nearby shop.
Alexander is happy after his big meal and some drink.
Ryan can be seen in the distance keeping an eye on Lucas who is roaming along the shore of the lake.
This is quite an adventure for Lucas!
My shoes!
It was so good to see all the family on that Sunday. We are looking forward to seeing them all again at Easter. We probably can see quite a few more family members since not everyone was able to make it last Sunday.
During the last few weeks, we discarded some of our furniture that we do not need any more and to make room for a new set-up. Here is one piece of furniture that is to stay, for now!
We have three bedrooms in our house. Bedroom 1 is the master bedroom, bedroom 2 the study, and bedroom 3 the guest bedroom. We have had quite a few guests staying in that room over the years, usually single people, who came to visit us for longer periods and stayed in that room which used to have a single bed and lots of book-shelves in it as well as a built-in wardrobe. For instance, Peter’s sister Ilse, who lives in Berlin (Germany), came to visit us several times for extended periods. Also my ex-sister-in-law Klaudia, who also lives in Berlin, came to visit us once and loved her stay in Australia. Several times Hertha, a friend from Melbourne, stayed with us as well, and we had lovely holidays with her, showing her our beautiful area.
Next year my brother Peter Uwe and Astrid (his second wife) want to visit us here in Australia. So we are now in the process of renovating the guest bedroom! With all this our daughter Caroline and her partner Matthew turned out to be a great help. They have already painted the guest bedroom. On the 10th of February they are going to bring a double bed over from Sydney. That means, they can stay in that guest bedroom for the coming months. On weekends they intend to continue painting all the rooms in our house! At the same time they help us to get rid of unnecessary accumulated stuff!
Recently we found out that the big tree, which can partly be seen on the right of this picture, has to go: It is poisonous!
Early in the morning of December 24th our son Martin had arrived in Moss Vale by train from Melbourne. His connecting railway coach to take him down MacQuarie Pass had not waited because his train was one hour late in Moss Vale. However there was another railway bus a bit later which went through several highland towns to pick up passengers to Albion Park Rail, Dapto and Wollongong. So Martin arrived in Dapto a bit later than expected. It was good to have Martin here for breakfast. A bit later Caroline and Matthew arrived from Sydney to spend the Christmas days with us.
On Christmas Eve we had also all our local family at our place for our Christmas Eve celebrations. I think we were 16 people in all, our two little darling great-grandsons included. Martin, Caroline and Matthew were with us at our house till Monday, the 28th of December. Martin, Peter and I left early on that Monday morning to travel in our car to Martin’s place in Essendon (Melbourne). Martin and Peter could take turns in driving the car. That meant we had some smooth travelling. After having had Christmas Day on Friday, and after that Saturday and Sunday, the Monday when we left for Melbourne was actually a public holiday, the so called ‘Boxing Day’.
Here I mentioned our stop at YACKANDANDAH on our way to Melbourne:
This is the place where grandson Ryan and Ebony stopped with their children on the same day on their way to Adelaide. We knew that they would stop there, but we were not sure what time they would be there. So we did not see them. However Peter received pictures of them on Facebook later on. During their whole trip to Adelaide Ebony sent some lovely pictures of the boys. These pictures told us, that the little ones were enjoying the trip very much.
While we stayed with Martin in Essendon for the last few days of the year, Caroline and Matthew stayed at our house in Dapto. On New Year’s Eve we had a very good dinner at an Indian restaurant near where Martin lives.
Martin, Uta and Peter at an Indian Restaurant on New Year’s Eve 2015,
On Wednesdy, 30th of December, we had visited grandson Tristan and Stephanie and their daughters Kia and Jakie:
This visit was last year’s highlight! We also did get to know Stephanie’s brother on that day.
We had planned on resting on Friday, which was New Year’s Day. We thought if we started driving back on Saturday, we would be arriving back home on Sunday. But before year’s end we had decided changed our mind about leaving on Saturday. We wanted to leave instead already on Friday. We were planning on staying overnight somewhere on the way home.
After Martin had made us again a lovely breakfast and helped us to pack our things in the car, we departed already Friday morning. I must say, it had been great to stay with Martin for a few days. He always looks after us beautifully. We very much like visiting him. But we knew, he had to go back to work soon. So it was just as well that he had a bit of time without his parents before going back to work.
We had packed a powerful drink for our trip with some caffeine in it. Martin had also packed us some hot coffee in a thermos. Peter was the sole driver since I do not have a driver’s license any more. Soon Peter’s homing instinct took over. He did not get tired during the whole trip back home. He decided we did not need to stay overnight somewhere. He wanted to drive straight back home instead. So it happened we arrived home already Friday night and Caroline and Matthew were still at our place. Matthew stood outside when we arrived. He was quite a sight in his comfortable sarong from Bali. They had prepared dinner Both Caroline and Matthew were very happy to see us. There was lots to talk about. It looks they are planning to help us quite a bit in the New Year. More about this later.
Our Christmas Tree has not been packed away yet. We usually leave it up till the 6th of January. I always think of the song: Twelve days of Christmas! I found today Pam’s blog about the Epiphany:
” . . . . . For western Christians, Christmas carries on until Epiphany, which is when we remember the arrival of the magi at the nativity. . . . . .”
I also spent some time with what Gerard Oosterman had written He is about to publish all his writing in a book and is looking for a title. So far his decision is to call the book: Vignettes. I tried to find out a bit more about it by googling the word ‘vignette’.
Autobiography and Truth
“All autobiographies are lies. I do not mean unconscious, unintentional lies; I mean deliberate lies. No man is bad enough to tell the truth about himself during his lifetime, involving, as it must, the truth about his family and friends and colleagues. And no man is good enough to tell the truth in a document which he suppresses until there is nobody left alive to contradict him.”
(George Bernard Shaw, Sixteen Self Sketches, 1898)
We often find vignettes in creative writing, as it provides description to achieve an artistic effect. However, we also see its usage in prose and poetry. Writers use this device to explore a character, and describe the setting of a scene, etc. Vignettes give deeper understanding of texts, as writers densely pack them with imagery and symbolism. Besides, it increases writers’ language proficiency, as they use their language to its fullest by employing imagery to get a certain color and mood. Hence, the nature of vignettes is evocative and put an impact on the senses of readers
december 20 our place We had arrived at our son’s place o
The bridegroom’s parents sitting at the front with the newly married couple.
Here is the bridegroom’s twin-brother.The bride’s father with little Alexander.Little LucasLucas with his Mum and Great-Aunt CarolineTroy with Ebony and Twin-brother RyanTroy with his date, Nina.The twin-Brothers with their four sisters.Uta and Peter in the picture with their grandchildren.Ebony and Ryan with Krystal, Roxy and little Alexander.Ryan with his Uncle Martin.Martin’s Daughter Lauren with Friend Kye. The Photographer is Tiana’s Friend.Tiana is a good photographer too. A great video of the wedding is in the making.People could entertain themselves choosing a Halloween hat and getting some instant pictures taken.There were 92 invited guests including the two little ones.There were ten round tables for the wedding guests.
During the course of the evening there were four courses served. Guests could get as many drinks as they liked. Later there was cake-cutting, a waltz for the bridal couple, and then started disco dancing. By 11 pm some people had left already, but others stayed till midnight! I think Peter and I. as well as Caroline and Matthew, were home a bit before midnight. Martin and Lauren and Kye stayed in a hotel in Wollongong. They indicated that they want to visit us at Christmastime. We are looking forward to this!
The wedding was a truly splendid occasion. Now the whole family is looking forward to next year’s planned overseas trip: About one dozen Australian family members are going to meet up with lots and lots of family members in Berlin!
Krystal with her brother Troy. I think she was the one who caught the bridal bouquet.
AuntyUta 