Hello again from sunny Berlin...er, rainy Berlin...or snow, or hail, or wind. We've had four seasons' worth of weather, and that was just in one morning. Maybe I should just stick with happy Berlin. Anyway, yes, it has been a number of weeks since my last update. We've been traveling, and I wanted to wait until after our Scotland trip before posting the latest updates. So, this time around we'll focus on travel outside Berlin.
Our first trip was down to Griesheim, near Frankfurt, to visit my cousin, Steve, and his family:
For this trip we decided to take the high-speed train. Aidan is a HUGE fan of the train systems here. Kids his age start to develop their categorization skills, and his have been applied to the Berlin public transit system. He has various different subway and elevated train routes memorized, has favorite colors and styles of trains, and generally gets very excited about the whole thing. One day I was quite proud of myself for running 4.4 miles from our apartment to the big TV tower, but all he wanted to know was which trains I took to get home. Ah, nothing like a kid to leave your pride deflated.
So anyway, we decided the train would be a cool experience for Aidan. It was, both for him and for us. We went first class (by quirk of a fare sale, it was cheaper than second), and had plenty of room to spread out and relax.
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That 246km/h was about our peak speed, equal to 153mph. At that point I was enjoying a cold draft beer as we sped through the German night back toward Berlin in a quiet little private compartment. Man, that is the way to travel.
We had a good time in Griesheim. We ate well, spent quality family time with Steve, Louise, Jasmine and Amber, went to an indoor play hour at a gym, and to the local pool. Two notes about the pool - there were several men there wearing Speedos, men who really had no business doing so. And, right outside this esteemed fitness facility was a cigarette machine. Ah, Germany, sometimes the stereotypes aren't all that wrong...
Our next major trip was to Scotland, to attend the wedding of a friend we'd met when we were in Berlin ten years ago:
(Yes, this is a crappy picture; I forgot the real camera and this was the best the phone camera would do)
Despite the best efforts of Google Maps to the contrary (never, ever trust Google Maps in old British cities), we did make it to Aberdeen and the wedding was delightful. It was like a down-to-earth version of those British weddings on "Four Weddings and a Funeral", very Scottish in feel and with a cool combination of relaxed formality. We had a great time, and Aidan was very well behaved.
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Aidan and the expansive grounds of the Pittodrie House Hotel, site of the reception |
The newlyweds rode to the reception in exactly the kind of classic style that Jen and I skipped |
It'd been a few years since we last attended a wedding, and this one got us to thinking about our own. For instance, above is the classic Rolls Royce that transported the newly married Lesley and Keith to their reception site. That got us laughing at the memory of our wedding, when we drove ourselves from Barnwell Chapel to the reception hall in Jen's 1986 Firedbird, Jen in her wedding dress deftly climbing in the passenger side. Ah, good times!
In the days leading up to the wedding we stayed in an apartment in Alva, the town where I spent the first decade of my life. Alva is a small town, a mile or so from one end to the other. Superficially it hasn't changed much from when I was a kid. The surrounding countryside is beautiful, and we enjoyed a few unseasonably springlike days there when we arrived.
Composite view from the living room window of our flat on a beautiful day (scroll right, it's wide)
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Jen captured this nice shot of the daffodils at the Alva park |
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Aidan enjoyed picking daisies and following them down this little channeled stream |
Of course, the weather is not always so pretty in Scotland in March. Here's the view from our windows the next day:
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Above: All those chimney pots give the Alva skyline a bit of an old Dickensian feel Left: Fog shrouds the hill |
We had a pleasant, relaxing time in Alva. Aidan spent lots of time at the park, we walked the length of the town with him, and had a mostly quiet time. The area is pretty cool for showing Aidan wildlife - plenty of fields with horses, sheep, and cows and the like.
I say above that the town is superficially similar to when I was a kid, but of course it is a lot more complex when one looks deeper. By day the streets are occupied by senior citizens and young mothers. By night teenagers take over the streets, many drunk and bored out of their minds. Just to survey the street you'd conclude that nobody between the ages of 30 and 50 even lives there. It's a strange vibe.This is a town where as a child I frequently walked to my grandparents' place, to school, or to the store by myself. But now it has more crime and, like much of the UK, is under surveillance from CCTV cameras
Given
the
financial state of RBS, perhaps the camera should have been looking for
crooks inside the bank...
Regardless of what the current state of Alva might be, we had a nice time there. It's odd for me to return there as an adult. I've been back five times over the last decade, and while it always feels familiar, I always feel like I don't belong. It was 23 years ago this week that my family left the UK to move to the US, and at this point I am far less a Scot than I am an American. As such, even though I grew up there, I feel like a tourist...
Despite the recent unwelcome return of winter, we have had some glimpses of spring in Berlin.
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On the left is Aidan enjoying strawberries at the market on Winterfeldplatz, a favorite food market in Berlin. On the right, we enjoyed brunch that same day at a sidewalk cafe. I love the sidewalk cafes of Berlin, and sitting outside on a spring day is something I've been looking forward to as we head toward April. Of course, Berliners weren't constrained by a big wall and so they aren't gonna be constrained by something as simple as the weather. Yesterday it was 37 degees and windy outside, but we saw a guy sitting outside with his coffee and cigarette at the cafe where we were enjoying lunch. At any time of winter we've seen Germans walking the streets enjoying an ice cream cone. These people want to have a good time, and will not let something as trivial as the seasons get in the way of doing so!
Aidan continues to enjoy his time here. Recently he and Jen and his babysitter Claudia went to the Berlin Zoo, where they visited Berlin's most famous resident, the polar bear Knut. Knut is a lot bigger than he was when he became world-famous as a little cub, but Aidan was still delighted to finally see him.
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Knut |
Aidan and Claudia |
So, that's what we've been up to lately. We now have 6 more weeks to go before we leave Berlin. The time is flying by. We don't have any other major trips planned, the only major event ahead is a visit from Jen's mom in early April. Mostly we are looking forward to enjoying the spring, getting outside, and making the most of our remaining time here in the city.
I'll leave you with three short videos of Aidan
Playing by the concrete stream channel in the Alva park
More play in the park
Feeding the ducks - I love the gusto with which he tosses that bread!
That's all for now - I hope spring is treating you well, wherever you are...
