All things bright and beautiful

Overlooking the pond

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a rare sunny afternoon. Jeff and I made plans to go to the botanical gardens not far from our apartment. Of course, by the time early evening came it was already cloudy again, but the temperature was still comfortable. So we took the S Bahn one stop up and walked to the Berlin Botanischer Garten.

I have been to several botanical gardens in my life, but I've never seen one so large and so thorough! We were there for several hours and barely scratched the surface. We didn't even make it into all the greenhouses, let alone the rest of the grounds. We were very impressed by the collection, categorization, and display of the myriad of plant species. But more importantly, we were awed by the amazing variety, array, and beauty that God had created.

Cooking Quandaries

Making meals in this tiny kitchen:

is quite a bit different from food preparation in my spacious culinary dream at home in Alabama:

There is no dishwasher, the sink has one small, shallow bowl and one small built-in drainboard, the refrigerator is an under-the-counter mini variety, and the tiny stove is all electric! As far as Berlin apartment kitchens go, I think mine is fairly well-sized, so I certainly can't complain.

I have to be very efficient and streamlined here. I shop at the market every other day generally, since I have limited cabinet and fridge storage. It takes longer to prepare meals overall because I can't really multitask; there isn't enough counter space, burner space, sink space... I'm making simpler meals and using a few "convenience" items I wouldn't usually turn to. But it's a fun experience to get the full taste of living in Berlin, and that means shopping, cooking, and making do like a real metro Deutschlander.

Two skillets take up all the room on the small stove, so I have to plan dishes carefully (but the kitchen is well stocked; you probably can't tell, but the front red skillet is a Le Creuset, something I would love to have at home!)

Wednesday night dinner; Chicken and mushrooms in a cream sauce, rosemary garlic mashed potatoes, sauteed zucchini with Italian herbs, and breadsticks on the side.

Die Niederlande

Please forgive the long absence. We've had a full long weekend! Friday morning we were up quite early again to take public transportation to the Berlin central train station. We hadn't been to the Hauptbahnhof before; it's like a gigantic mall with train tracks running through at multiple levels.

We found our train to Amersfoort, the Netherlands. As is was a holiday weekend in Germany (again!), the long train was very full. We had purchased seat reservations, but as the assigned seats were facing backward, we managed to switch to another pair so we could enjoy the six hour ride. It was an easy, relaxing journey across the countryside into the neighboring nation. We even befriended a fellow passenger and enjoyed a long conversation with her, a German graduate student with many interesting insights and comments.

We had a fantastic time in the Netherlands. When we arrived on Friday, we walked around Nunspeet, shared some ice cream, climbed a look-out tower to view the forest, and enjoyed the rare sunny, warm afternoon. In fact, the whole weekend had fabulous weather. We saw old friends, renewed acquaintances, and introduced ourselves to new faces.

Welcome to the land of bicycles! With 13 million bikes and 16 million people, it's no wonder there is more parking for bikes around town than cars!

View from the tower in Nunspeet

We even met a lovely older woman who has had a pet turtle for 53 years! Jeff and I were fascinated by that. We got to meet and touch Peter the (girl) turtle and watch her enjoy a hand-fed banana.

Peter enjoying a snack; she's been spoiled and won't eat any other way.
It gives new meaning to "hand-to-mouth existence"

Shaking hands and making introductions with Peter, the
more-than-half-century-old turtle (I don't think she looks a day over 40 ;-)

All in all, a wonderful, refreshing trip. I only wish we had time to return for another visit before our European stay is over.

Gone to the dogs

Berliners love their animals, especially their dogs. And the dogs go everywhere with their masters and mistresses. We see dogs on the sidewalks, dogs in the park, dogs on the subway, dogs in the mall, dogs on the square...I think you get the idea!

They are apparently allowed everywhere except grocery stores and restaurants. Being animal lovers, Jeff and I enjoy seeing the happy companions out and about. They are extremely well-behaved, and I haven't see a problem pet yet (the same cannot be said for some of the children and teenagers we've encountered). Perhaps because the dogs are so well exercised and socialized, they are better adjusted than their American counterparts. Note to self: take DaVinci on more errands when we get back to the States!

There are even dogs on the red carpet in Berlin!
(Homer the dog with royalty)

Berlin Walking Tour

On Sunday, we took our first proper walking tour of Berlin. We had a three hour guided journey through many of the most significant places in Berlin, starting at the Brandenburg Gate and ending at Museum Island and the Soviet-era radio tower in Alexanderplatz. We saw too many significant places to name them all, but some of the most interesting to us were Checkpoint Charlie (gate C in the Berlin Wall), the twin churches facing Gendarmenmarkt square (one for the French Huguenots recruited in the 1700's and a matching one for the Germans), Humboldt University and the square where 20,000 “un-German” books (including those by authors Helen Keller and Albert Einstein) were burned during the 1933 Nazi takeover, and the campus building where Max Plank taught physics for over 30 years.

The Cold War microcosm; here communism and democracy
came face to face on a daily basis for several decades.

The concert hall and the French Cathedral (the identical German cathedral
faces in as a mirror image, giving the square almost perfect symmetry).

A professional photo of the memorial in the square where the book burning
occurred. It is a glass window showing empty underground bookshelves,
representative of the 20,000 volumes burned on that one occasion alone.

A haunting plague nearby carries the German inscription
penned over 100 years before the Nazis came to power:
"When one begins with burning books, one will end with burning men."

The Max Planck plaque

Did you know...

...the Germans drink beer at breakfast? Okay, not all Germans, but particularly Bavarians I'm told. Our host at BAM explained that a 9:00 am second breakfast or “between meals” meal is traditional, particularly among the working class. Since they often start their work day at 6:30 or 7 am and may have left their houses at 5 or 6 to catch the train, it's not unreasonable to expect they would be hungry (and apparently thirsty). So many people in Germany take a break mid-morning for eggs, bacon, and, in Bavaria, beer. In the words of Winnie the Pooh, “time for a little something”!

Potsdam

There are many holidays in May here, so we are the beneficiaries of the German system. Thursday was a holiday, so Friday is a “bridge day”, also given as a day off. Neither Jeff nor I had class or work, and so began a long four day weekend. Jeff's host at Bam, Pedro, and his wife Chris, offered to take us to Potsdam to tour some of the sites. Potsdam was the heart of the Prussian empire and there are castles galore there. It is currently the capital of Brandenburg, so it has lots going on, even though it is much smaller than Berlin.

We toured the Neues Palais, built by Frederick the II (also known as Frederick the Great) in the 1760's. It is quite a sight; and remember, it's only one of several within a few miles!

The Neu Palais

How's this for a kitchen?! The service buildings for the castle are across the courtyard so as to limit unpleasant sights and sounds, as well as to prevent fire.

I'd love to waltz in this dance hall!

The Groto room is completely covered with shells and decorative minerals.

After a lively day of coffee drinking, sight-seeing, walking, lunching, and conversing with our hosts, we return home by 5:30. Since it was still early, we decided to squeeze in some opera, as we had seen a poster the day before advertizing La Traviata that evening. We had very little info as to time or place, but our landlady did a quick search and found which opera house (Berlin has three!) and directions. We hopped on the train, commuted to downtown, and found the Komische Oper just in time to stand in line and buy tickets minutes before the lights went down. The opera was performed with modern costumes and sets and was sung in German. There were little electronic translation screens on the backs of the seats, and after the intermission we moved to some seats that had working screens and were able to enjoy the performance much more!

The Komische Oper house (we sat directly above the sconce seen
in the top left corner of the photograph, in the second balcony)

Little boys and big trains

Little boys the world over seem fascinated with planes, trains, and automobiles. This is no less the case in Germany. Jeff and I watched the cutest little boy on the S-Bahn platform with his father the other day. He couldn't have been more than two or three years old, but he was so small and earnest with stocky little legs and big wide eyes. He got right up to the edge of the station and bent over at the waist so he could see down the track. As soon as the train could be seen in the distance, he said very eagerly (in clear German) “Hier kommt die S-Bahn! Hier kommt die S-Bahn!”. The father and Jeff and I got a real kick out of his excitement for such a regular, everyday occurrence.

Did you know...

...that almost no one in Germany uses (or owns) a clothes dryer? It didn't occur to me that the folding drying rack in our small bathroom was for anything other than delicates. But when I dried off with the clean white bath-towel the first morning, the feel immediately harkened back to my youth when my mom used to hang all the laundry on the clothesline. And then the stiff, rather scratchy sheets on the bed made sense, too (I had thought the fitted sheet felt like some sort of terrycloth, but erroneously decided it couldn't be because it was far too rough). Jeff and I agreed that the brisk towel rubdown Mr. Armstrong recommends in his autobiography for improved circulation could also provide deep exfoliation in Germany! But not only is their method more energy efficient, they feel it preserves the fabrics and prevents wear and tear. And, as one older German woman assured me, it usually only takes half a day in a warm bathroom to dry (almost no one has outdoor clotheslines either)!

The Daily Grind

As I type, the smell of roasted garlic is in the air. This is a good sign, as it means I was successful in preheating and using the oven for the first time here in our little efficiency apartment! The dials and symbols on the oven are a bit confusing, but I think it has several settings for bake, convection, broil, and additional combinations of the above. I want to make garlic bread to accompany our pasta dinner tonight, and I always try to keep some roasted garlic heads in the fridge back home, so this seemed like a good, low-risk first attempt. There's nothing like the smell of familiar foods cooking in the kitchen to make you feel at home.

Jeff and I each had our first day of “work” here. His went well with lots of introductions, hand-shaking, and settling in. He will give a technical presentation Tuesday so the lab can see his research areas and how his work will dovetail with theirs. My day started on the morning trains, like millions of commuters everywhere. I found my German class just fine and had an excellent session with students from Serbia, Norway, London, Spain, and the US. What a very international group we are here in Berlin!

Afternoon in Berlin

Sunday was a good day to sleep in and rest up from all our travels (international and domestic). We spend the afternoon in Berlin again and went down to the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate to us Americans). Given that is it such a tourist attraction, we heard much spoken English, both from tour guides and travelers. It was nice to hear familiar sounds without straining to catch the meaning! I can start to see why immigrants to a foreign country might really stick together and form cultural neighborhoods and districts. There is something instantly bonding about a shared nationality when you are the alien.

We viewed the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the remnants of the Berlin Wall, and also went to the art museum for a brand new Frida Kahlo exhibit. This is apparently the largest collection of and about her ever put together and it just opened a little over a week ago, so we stood in line for probably an hour before getting into the gallery. People of Berlin must really appreciate fine art and culture!

Train Travel

Here we are, flying over the German countryside on the Deutsche Bahn (German regional train). In fact, we just passed a striking pasture of wildflowers playing host to fields of solar panels and a wind farm in the background. It was quite unique, and so unexpected I didn't have time for a photo! But I have plenty of the other shots to choose from.

We are attempting our first “cross-country” trip to visit some brethren outside of Hannover. It's been an early start with lots of excitement already. We couldn't get the details worked out yesterday after many complications, so we thought we would have to abandon our plans for the trip this weekend. But this morning, we awoke very early (more thanks to jet lag then admirable personal habit) and decided we would give it a shot anyway. We took the S Bahn to the railway station at 6:50 am, and stood in front of a ticket kiosk for about 20 minutes trying to work out different connections. I think we managed, but I'll let you know after we make it back to Lichterfelde (hopefully sometime tonight)!

Later that evening...

Just updating to let everyone know we made it home Saturday night. We had several connections via bus and train, but it worked out well after a few nervous moments at each platform. Now that we know the system, it won't be too bad. But we'll be sure it buy our tickets in advance, as it was super expensive to purchase last minute.

Out and about in Berlin

We have ventured into Berlin on our own this morning. Jeff's contact at BAM, Pedro, met us last evening and give us a quick tour of the Lichterfelde square. It's adorably European with lots of small shops and all the amenities we need within a few minutes walk. I'll take some pictures to post next week, but the above photo is the Lichterfelde West station.

This morning we went to the station, bought monthly passes, and hopped on board the light rail (S Bahn) to downtown. After a connection on the subway (U Bahn), we arrived in Potsdamer Platz. So here we sit in a bright modern mall at a bagel shop enjoying the hummus platter and free wi fi. After this, we will venture out to locate my language school (so I'm prepared for Monday morning) and find the regional train station to buy tickets to Hanover for tomorrow.

Hallo von Deutschland!

We made it! I'm typing from our new Berlin home at this very moment. There are far more trees here than I expected, and it is quite cool and rainy for the time being. I could see my breath in the air when we got off the plane, but we're told it is an unusual cold snap. Spring is in full bloom here, so it's almost as though we get to enjoy two identical seasons back to back (Alabama has already gone from pleasant to a bit too hot, since it was 90 degrees the day we left).

Our trip went quite well with only the few minor travel hassles normally endured (smoky cab to the airport, sitting on the tarmac for 35 minutes, sprinting what felt like miles in the Detroit airport through tunnels and up escalators to make our international connection, etc.). Nothing out of the ordinary! We had good seats, pleasant stewardesses, quiet flights, tasty meals, and enjoyable on-board entertainment. The good feeling was capped off by receiving our checked luggage at the other end. Oddly, there was no passport inspection, goods declaration, immigration questions, or anything of the sort in Berlin. We just collected our bags and walked out to our waiting driver. So beings our journey.

New nesting neighbors

Knock, knock, anyone home?

Jeff noticed our newest neighbors this weekend while he was out enjoying the morning on the back sunporch. A sweet pair of mourning doves is building a nest in the shady nook formed by the L of the porch and the dining room. The tree they have selected is just feet from the large dining room picture window and the screened porch windows, so we have a great viewing spot from which to observe their progress. I'm only sorry we'll be away when they lay eggs and hatch their young. Perhaps if we are good landlords, they will stay on for another season!