Aidan at the Berlin Olympiastadion, and on our Thames cruise in front of Tower Bridge in London
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Aidan at the Berlin Olympiastadion, and on our Thames cruise in front of Tower Bridge in London |
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Our last week in Europe was, unsurprisingly, a busy one. Packing, cleaning, and extricating ourselves from the German bureaucracy all took time, but we also were able to enjoy our last days in Berlin. Aidan's school threw a goodbye party for him, and they seemed genuinely sad to see him go. Aidan, itinerant world traveler that he is, seemed to mostly take it in stride; he wasn't sad to go, but he had a wonderful experience at this school with his German friends and teachers.
With the exception of the last two days we were there, the beautiful Berlin springtime was still in full bloom. We took the opportunity to spend an afternoon with our friend (and Aidan's babysitter) Claudia, riding the ferry from Wannsee to Alt-Kladow. This was May Day, and so many Germans were out with their bicycles to enjoy a day off work. Berlin is a quite compact city, so you don't have to go far out to suddenly feel like you're out in the country. (There were some anti-capitalist May Day riots and neo-Nazi rallies in areas around Germany and in Berlin, but none close to where we lived.)
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We also went with our friend Katja to a medieval festival over at the Berlin Olympiastadion. It was odd to attend one of these things in German, but it was fun and Aidan enjoyed it.
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Aidan and Katja chat in the Olympiastadion; Jen and Katja enjoy some fruit wine on a warm day |
Alas, all good things must end, and so it was that on May 6 we departed Berlin for a three day trip to London. After landing in London, the crew asked Aidan if he wanted to meet the captain and see the flight deck:
"Do you like movies about gladiators?"
We had a great time in London. With such a short time to spend there, we decided to approach it in full tourist mode. We took the open-top sightseeing bus tour, a boat tour on the Thames, rode in the London Eye, just embraced the whole tourist role. Of course, Aidan loved getting to sample the public transportation of a new city, especially the London Underground; that and the Westminster Clock Tower (Big Ben) were his two highlights.
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"Look kids, Big Ben!" |
Lovin' the underground |
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A view from the London Eye... |
And another... |
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The notoriously unpredictable London weather mostly cooperated with our visit; there was some rain, but it mostly fell while we were doing inside stuff, so we were able to walk around a lot. Walking the streets was an adventure. The streets are much more crowded and faster-paced than those in Berlin, and many intersections do not have walk/don't walk signals, so we had to condition ourselves to look the correct direction and walk when it seemed clear. Our hotel was located near Marble Arch in an area with a heavy Middle Eastern population, so on our walks we frequently enjoyed the fragrant smells of various hookah cafes. I had last visited London when I was ten years old, so the modern London of "Cool Brittania" is a far different, far more exciting place than the bleak, early-1980s version my family saw.
London's architecture is as eclectic as its populace
A highlight of the trip for us was a visit to the Tate Modern art gallery. Jen and I have wanted to visit here for years, but we had no idea how Aidan might react. Turns out he rather liked it. We took turns talking about the art with him, and also each took shifts of going off to look at art alone. He enjoyed works by Matisse and Miro and Warhol (brightly colored works), as well as several hands-on activities they had for children.
So, overall we had a fun time in London, and on the following Saturday we boarded our British Airways flight for the long flight home.
