April Fool's Day

I received a few comments that make me believe that people didn't catch my last sentence in my It's a Small Small World post yesterday. That entire story was fictional in attempt to play an April Fool's joke.

It's A Small, Small World!

So here I am, across the pond. Berlin, Germany - 4,000 miles from home. I am amazed and overwhelmed by the sites of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The original church on the site was built in the 1890s and was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943. It was decided that the remains of the church would stay as a memorial. As I am clicking away pictures I keep hearing "Amush, Amush (spelling?)" which is a Polish derivative of Amy. Towards me this scraggly looking older man is walking. How the heck does this man know my name?? Did I drop my passport or something? You can only imagine my utter shock when I actually discovered that I knew this man. It was Mr. Kji, a very dear friend of my father's. They were friends in their younger professional years but became very close friends in the retirement years prior to my dad's death.

Mr. Kji is actually en route to tour Poland and was with a group from Lackawanna, NY. They landed in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday, arrived in Berlin yesterday and are traveling to Poland tomorrow and will be there for a week. In talking to Mr. Kji, it was nice to her him talk a bit about the trip that he took to Poland in '93 with my Mom and Dad. I am so absolutely floored at this chance meeting. Also, in the spirit of the friendship of my dad and Mr. Kji, I simply have to pass along that he said Happy April Fools Day. (By the way, keep scrolling down. I made 3 blog posts today.)

Crazy Day! - Day 10 (Berlin)

The plan today was to let Madeline sleep in after yesterday's day of rest and then head out to see the Olympic Stadium (Berlin 1936...with Hitler as a spectator). Madeline woke up coughing her head off. I told Jeff that before I could do anything else I had to get something for Madeline's cough (Jeff's wife, Carolyn, also has a terrible cough so he was willing to join in the hunt for drugs). Yesterday, we tried to get to a drug store. Let me just tell you, that next time you go into a Rite Aid or Walgreens, kiss the floor!!! Nothing like that exists here. The medical process is so completely different here. Yesterday, we went to a "drug" store but the best they could do is offer an all natural herbal medicine. I felt like saying, "Don't give me the fluff...we need DRUGS! You know, Robitussin....something!!" Yesterday's herbal stuff was useless so today we tried again. Come to find out you have to go to a pharmacist to get different drugs (what we get over the counter). It was a hoot trying to find one with the language barrier. After asking directions by pointing to a German phrase book, we ended up finding one directly across the street from the "natural drug" place we were yesterday. Madeline and I came back to the apartment to dilute the drugs in a little juice (the dosage is only 4 drops!). Madeline is normally really good with medicine but this stuff tasted so bad that is was a treat trying to get it down her. At this point I noticed Madeline, in addition to looking quite beat, felt a little warm. Yep, 101.7. No, sightseeing for us today. Luckily, I had packed Children's Tylenol. She took a shot of that and we napped. I had decided to contact David to let him know to plan on having dinner at the flat, rather than going out. The problem with that was that I had to drag Madeline out to a local grocery store to get the makings for dinner. Luckily Madeline had a burst of energy once the Tylenol kicked in and after a nap. You would think that the makings for pasta would be easy enough but even shopping as simple as that had my head spinning with the language barrier. We got back "home" and checked Madeline's temperature which was still good, so I was pleased.

David surprised me and came back to the flat a couple hours earlier than he has been. Madeline was still doing well and since David was back, I took the opportunity to get out of the flat for a little bit to see a little bit more of the city. I must say, what a feeling of independence and accomplishment. Here I was, a woman on my own, not only just in a strange city but in a strange country too. I received a little guidance from David with directions before I left....but I did it! I grabbed a taxi (I don't think I ever did that by myself before) and headed down to a main shopping district in the city. I got a few souvenirs. I stumbled upon an old church (Kaiser William Memorial Church) that was semi-demolished as a result of WWII. After the war, instead of demolishing it or rebuilding it, they decided to leave it as is as a memorial. As you can see from this photo, not only is the top half of the steeple missing but I am certain the original church used to be much larger in size.

David also wanted me to pick up a second of a souvenir that I bought the other day. I thought I was lucky enough when I encountered another location of the same store in this shopping district. They, however, were out of what I was looking for so I hopped in a taxi again and went back to the Brandenburg Gate to the store that I purchased the first souvenir. While heading back, I decided to take a picture of my foot on the only sign near the Brandenburg Gate that the Berlin Wall actually existed. It is a small row of brick that follows the path of where the Wall used to be. It was funny trying to shoot this picture because I did this while crossing a very busy intersection in front of the gate. I next grabbed a taxi and went "home" to make dinner.

Upon arriving back at the flat, Madeline was curled up next to David watching a movie on the computer. As I came in to give kisses, Madeline felt warm again. Yep, the fever was back, 102.5. Out came the Tylenol. I still made dinner (and was proud that I was able to make this creation after shopping in "no man's land") and Madeline picked at dinner a little bit. I, however, felt guilty as all hell having gone out at all. So, it is already decided that Madeline and I stay in the flat again tomorrow....even if she is feeling like a new person (see view from our flat below). I guess if she had to get sick, it is better now so that she has time to recuperate before we have to start traveling back home. Please say some prayers for her speedy recovery.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLES CHARLES!

FYI...

Did you know that you can click on any photo to enlarge??

Hitting the Berlin Wall - Day 9 (Berlin)

Today, in Berlin, Madeline hit the wall. I am not speaking of *the* Berlin Wall; what I mean is that she hit her limit. She slept in a bit but woke up with a persistent dry cough (almost like she has a tickle in her throat). In general, other than the cough, she seems to be feeling well yet, she is just done with the "Amazing Race" marathon sightseeing. I figured that we would just have a light day, find a pharmacy for her cough and maybe go to, via taxi, a large shopping center nearby. Just finding a pharmacy, which was basically across the street, was a meltdown-filled ordeal. She was, plain and simple, DONE. So even my "light" schedule for the day was altered.

After picking up some cough stuff, Madeline and I went back to the flat while Jeff explored on his own. We spent the day hanging out, watching movies, coloring, and yes.....NAPPING! Madeline (and Mama-Dirtyfoot) needed this down day. When David and Carolyn got back from work, it was after 7pm. We didn't want to have Carolyn and Jeff feel obligated to dine with a 3 yr old again so we encouraged them to head out for an evening by themselves while the three of us grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant around to corner from us. I feel funny saying we ate German food because we *are* in Germany, but this was very German. After dinner, Madeline went straight to bed and then when Carolyn and Jeff got back we sat around in our flat gabbing. Tomorrow, as long as Madeline doesn't get any worse, we plan on heading out to sightsee with Jeff again while David and Carolyn work.

From West to East and Back - Day 8 (Berlin)

David and Carolyn were off early this morning to get to the trade show. After Madeline woke, Jeff, Madeline and I headed to a local corner grocery store to pick up some items for our flats for the week (Our flat is in the former West Berlin). Afterward Jeff, Madeline and I took off to explore the streets of Berlin while our spouses were hard at work.

I just have to say that I walked my butt off! I missed David, not only because he is my hubbie, but also because he is a walking encyclopedia. It would've been nice to get some insight as to some of the things I was looking at. Yet, Jeff was a nice companion and a huge help (and great sport) with Madeline. On the walk, we passed this nice monument. I had no idea what it was but after the fact David told me that he thinks it is a Victory Column to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon. (The first photo on top is of Madeline and me sitting on a part of the Column.)

After at a ton of walking we decided to cheat a bit to shorten our trip to the Brandenburg Gate by catching one of those bike trolleys. It was a nice break for my feet and Madeline thought it was pretty nifty. The trolley's biker was able to point out some things but with his thick German accent it was very hard to understand him. Here Madeline and I are just on the other side of the Gate (former East Berlin). Below, we are standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate.....or as David pointed out, where 20 years ago we would've been shot for standing there. At this point, the only thing that gave evidence of the Berlin Wall ever existing was a small brick path in the road that followed the path of the Wall.
Once in the former East Berlin, we did a tiny bit of souvenir shopping. We continued walking down the main road that began at the gate and came across the Berliner Dome (Berlin Cathedral). The Cathedral just kind of crept up on you as you exited a clearing in the streetscape. The sudden massive building that popped up in front of me was breathtaking. Luckily were were able to take some photos inside so I have included a few below. Also, you were able to climb the dome as David and I did in London (interior only). This time, I was brave enough to not only climb the 267 stairs but also go outside with Madeline. The exterior was well secured and Madeline behaved nicely.

Exterior of Berliner Dome

Interior of Berliner Dome (Main Altar)
Looking up into the Dome

On the Dome (The Tower in the background is the Berliner Fernsehturm, a television tower.
After leaving the Berliner Dome, I let Madeline run around in some green space outside. I included some video but I left it to post at the very bottom of this blog entry. Excuse the video as I was being stupid while trying to operate the video function of my camera.

We headed back up to Brandenberg Gate and visited a Holocaust Memorial. The Memorial occupies 205,000 square feet of space near the Brandenberg Gate.
Afterward, Jeff, Madeline and I were so far away from our flats that we ended up catching a taxi back. We reconnected with David and Carolyn and headed out to a true German resturant. The food was gut-bustin' meat and potato-type food and the German beer was flowin' Below is a photo of David and Jeff and our gut-bustin' meal. Don't the guys look so proud of their meat?? (I didn't actually just type that last question, did I?) Anyway, it is way past my bedtime here.....must rest up for another day of sightseeing.

Here's the video....

Greetings from Berlin (Day 7)

So, maybe we shouldn't have stayed up so late. David got home very late from his meeting in Windsor last night but then we ended up staying up chit-chatting even later. Not such a good idea when (a) we lost an hour today because England had their "Spring ahead" Daylight savings Time change and (b) we jumped a time zone in traveling to Berlin. Anyway, our "plan" to get up early didn't quite go as planned. We slept in a little bit and therefore did not do a tour of the Tower of London. We did take a quick walk to view the Tower of London from the exterior as well as the Tower Bridge......basically what I have been calling our "touch & go landings" of the sightseeing highlights. I really enjoyed our stay in London and both David and I were sad to leave. I would love to get back there some day (ummmm......Tammy, our 40th birthday trip????). The only thing I regret is that I only took one picture of inside our London flat. (This picture of the former moat area around the Tower of London is facing where our flat was. We were located just on the other side of the tall building in the center of the photo.)

The flight from London to Berlin was uneventful....a *good* thing, of course! Madeline was extremely well behaved....yeah! The thing that struck me as we were starting to land in Berlin was the Soviet style architecture. At the airport, we met back up with David's co-worker, Carolyn, and her husband, Jeff, who were traveling to Munich and other parts of Germany while we were in London. It was a treat trying to find a taxi large enough to hold the 5 of us along with all of our luggage - but we did. We found our way to our flat. So far, I am not so impressed with Berlin but I think the fact that it is much more eastern has something to do with it. I will try to reserve my complete judgment, however, because we haven't really seen much of Berlin at all. I will give you a better idea of things during the next week.

Our location of the Berlin flat seems in more of a residential area rather than a tourist area but I also don't completely have my bearings either. We are at least right across from a subway station. The flat situation is actually great. It is sort of like an adjoining room situation in a hotel but instead it is adjoining flats. David and I have a two bedroom flat and Carolyn and Jeff have an adjoining one bedroom flat. After the five of us went out to dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant (Madeline's good behavior from earlier in the day had worn off by this time). We came back, put Madeline to bed and were able to open up the adjoining door and socialize with Carolyn and Jeff.

Tomorrow, Carolyn and David will be off to their trade show early in the AM. While they are working, Jeff, Madeline and I will explore Berlin. The nice thing is that David and Carolyn were in Berlin in September so they were already able to see much of the city's major sites and therefore they won't be missing out on what Madeline and I will do during the day.

Other than the morning's stop at the London Bridge we really didn't do any other sight seeing. So, I will leave you of some photo's of the flat in Berlin. By the way, the Internet here was hit or miss when we first arrived. It seems as though the problem has been solved but if, by chance, you do not get my daily post, it is probably due to internet issues.

Mama & Papa's room



















Madeline's room



















Kitchen



















Dining Area



















Living Room (The door in the center is the adjoining room to Carolyn & Jeff's Flat)

The Fab Two?? - Day Six (London)

Although it is Saturday, we had limited time to explore today too because David had a meeting this evening in Windsor. The Tube doesn't go out to Windsor so he had the pleasure of trying to negotiate his way there on the National Rail. That is actually where he is as I am blogging away. Oh...by the way, I forgot to mention, so you don't think I left Madeline in the flat while I headed to the pub, our flat's Internet issue was fixed Friday. David and I were able to use the Internet here for the past two days. That is a good thing because this drunk Polish (yes, from Poland) guy wouldn't leave me alone when I was at the pub on Thursday night. But, anyway, here I sit in the cozy, comfort of the flat.

In the time we did have today, David, Madeline and I tried to make the most of our time. We had a list of five things we wanted to try to squeeze in today. The first stop today was on the Tube again to St. Paul's Cathedral. This too is a very beautiful church, however, I think Westminster Abbey was a bit more impressive. Although we weren't supposed to take pictures inside, I sneaked a couple. For the pop culture fans, this church is the one where Prince Charles and Princess Diana got married. The dome of the Cathedral was breath-taking. The photos do not do it justice. In the exterior photo of the dome, you can sort of see the various "layers" of the dome. These "layers" is approximately where the church's various observation areas are located. On the interior, you can climb up to various observation decks (actually there is also one on the outside as well). The three of us climbed up for a view. In the dome photo, you can sort of see the rail of where we were in the dome. The rail can be seen just above the arch. The climb up was a work-out in itself. Yes, stairs....spiral, round and round. It sounded like a good idea from the ground but you really have no concept of how high you actually were. I think David and I both had a death gripe on Madeline's hands. Any thought of going any higher was completely forgotten about. However, if Madeline were a little older we probably would've trekked to the other two higher decks (one of which was outside). The third, highest deck at the top of the dome was closed for repair.



Back on the Tube. We tried to search out the Temple Church. For those of you that have read the DaVinci Code (or saw the movie) like David and I have, you will know that the characters, made a mad dash through parts of Paris and London on their quest. We were able to see the Temple Bar Memorial (the bronze griffin) but were not able to get to Temple Church. The streets surrounding this church almost form a gated community. The public normally would have access to this area, however many law offices are in this area (because of its proximity to the courts). The gates were closed due to G-20 protesters. We did, however, take a picture of the the Royal Courts of Justice that were located across the street from where we tried to go.

Back on the Tube again. David is a big fan of British television. Quite honestly, I just don't find Brit-coms funny. David can be rolling on the floor laughing while I don't even crack a smile. He also likes the Sci-Fi stuff such as Dr. Who. So, a tour book said there was a BBC Shop. We figured that would be a good place for David to pick up a souvenir. No luck, the store was closed (not for the day, but out of business). Oh well....back on the Tube again.

Growing up a Beatles fan, (Although the Beatles were before my time, my older brothers gave me no choice in the music department) how could you go to England and not do something related to the Beatles? The three of us rode the Tube to see the famous cross walk from the cover of the Abbey Road album. When we exited the Tube, there was a small coffee shop that sold all types of Beatles gifts too. We asked for directions and they told us to walk to the third stop light. You knew that you arrived because (a) it was just outside of the Abbey Road Studios (see photo above) where the Beatles recorded the album, but (b) there was a small group of tourists there that were trying to snap pictures and recreate the album cover photo. The funny thing, that you cannot tell from this picture is that the intersection is actually a fairly busy intersection. Every time there was a small break in traffic tourists would jump out into the cross walk. I can't even imagine what a pain in the butt it would be if you lived in that neighborhood and had to drive past there often. I tried to get David to have someone take a picture of the three of us but he didn't want to do that because it was a busy intersection....although he told me to take Maddie with me....hmmm???? Anyway, even though the photo wasn't an exact recreation of the famous Fab Four's photo, the "Fab Two" had to suffice. However, if you click of the photo of Madeline and me in the crosswalk it will enlarge and you will be able to see that I decided to portray Paul McCartney. Yes, I am barefoot and it is about 40 degrees out and raining.

Back to the Tube. We still wanted to get to the Tower of London but ran out of time. We still needed to get some dinner before David headed out for his evening meeting. The plan is (not sure how well it will work, but it is a plan nonetheless) to get up early tomorrow and head to the Tower of London before our afternoon flight out of London.

Next stop.....Berlin!

Heavenly Experiences – Day Five (London)

We really got our exercise today!! David took care of work business all morning and Madeline and I just sort of had some down time in the AM and early afternoon. We were able to run out as a family around 2pm for some super speed marathon sightseeing. Luckily for us, London’s Tube is extremely easy to navigate. We were on and off those trains countless times today.

The first stop on our route today was back to Westminster Abbey. This was our first “heavenly” experience. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed. Yet, if you have a spare moment, check out some online photos of Westminster Abbey by clicking here. The grandeur, architecture and history of this place are remarkable. Walking through the Abbey is a jaw dropping experience. The beauty was stunning. The highlights of the Westminster tour included seeing the Coronation Chair, the Quire, Henry VII’s Lady Chapel and Poets’ Corner.

After Westminster Abbey we hopped back on the subway to Trafalgar Square, which is the official center of London. The square has a huge monument with lion statues at each corner. I guess the big thing is to climb up near the lions….so Madeline and I did (with the help of Papa). I would’ve liked to sit on top of a lion but that was way too high up.

In Trafalgar Square is the National Gallery. Since admission was free we did a quick peek in. Not a place that you can stay very long with a 3-year old. In the 30 minutes or so that we were there we just got a peek at some fine art (No photographer here either.) I was able to see two paintings by Vermeer. Vermeer’s work inspired the book I just finished (Girl With A Pearl Earring). I was also taken by a work, “Mond Crucifixion” by Raphael. I thought that the faces of the subjects in this painting were similar to the paintings that my great uncle did in his murals and church art paintings. I wondered if Raphael was an inspiration for his work.

Madeline’s behavior for the day was even more improved since yesterday. Any meltdown behavior was simply due to being over tired or hungry. It was *totally* time to grab dinner; thankfully we had bought Madeline a souvenir which she was thrilled to play with as we waited for our food. We ate at an Italian restaurant. The food was excellent!!! David had some type of ravioli, I had linguine with garlic, mushrooms, bacon (it was more like a ham) and Madeline had lasagna. Our second heavenly experience was the dessert!!!! The dessert was called “sticky toffee pudding” and David and I agree that this was no doubt the best dessert we *ever* had!!!

After dinner, we took a quick stroll around the corner to walk by the Ben Franklin House. Benjamin Franklin lived in London for several years pre-Revolutionary War. As I was able to see the Vermeer paintings, a connection to a book I read, David also learned of the Ben Franklin House through a Benjamin Franklin book that I bought him a few years back. Like I previously mentioned, David is a huge history buff.

Back on the subway to Piccadilly Circus. This is the equivalent to NYC’s Time Square. We spent enough time there to stop at a souvenir store and have Madeline dance to the music of the street performers. She was having a blast and was very briefly the “star" of the show…..which of course she loved (see video at very bottom). Madeline was initially dancing by us and there was a crowd of other people dancing too but the others encouraged Madeline to go solo in the center of the circle......yeah, like *that* needed a lot of encouragement! That girl is such a ham! Getting her to leave there was like trying to pry Mama-Dirtyfoot away from a dance floor.

Back on the train to the Hard Rock Café. We just made a quick stop there to pick up another souvenir. Back on the train again….next stop, our home away from home. Poor Madeline, we didn’t get back until 10:30pm! Yes, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

My Bloody Feet Are Killing Me! – Day Four (London)

The remainder of last night went well. Madeline got a much needed good night’s sleep. After David and I took turns going to the Pub next door to use their Wi-Fi (which we have to do again tonight), we took a minute to sneak up one floor to the rooftop to scope out the view. This photo of the Tower Bridge was taken from our rooftop. As you can see, we are very close to the Tower Bridge.

This morning, David finished up with his work obligations early in the day so we were able to do a bit of sightseeing. This first picture of Mama and Madeline was taken at a sundial in a small park area outside of our flat. We next jumped on the Tube (subway) to head in the direction of some of London’s most popular sights. David and I were thrilled to see all that we did but Madeline wasn’t so impressed. For the most part, the tantrums have improved today however the only time we were close to tantrum stage was between Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. After traveling to Disney last fall, Madeline couldn’t quite understand why she wasn’t seeing any princesses at the “castle”. Also, the guards and barricades of the palace limited how close we could get and Madeline had a hard time understanding this. In her mind we should be able to get as close to Buckingham Palace as we did to Cinderella’s castle. And since we saw fireworks at Disney she thought we were going to see fireworks at Buckingham Palace. Also, from what I could gather, I think Madeline knew that we weren’t at Cinderella’s castle so in her mind she decided that we were at Mulan’s castle. She was insisting on finding out where Mulan was. With this rationale in her head it’s no wonder she pretty much had a meltdown when we looked at Buckingham Place, took a couple pictures and walked away. After several attempts to explain that this wasn’t Mulan’s castle I gave up and told her that Mulan was inside hiding from Madeline’s screaming. (Oh yeah, Madeline’s screaming fit had me so distracted that we practically got ran over by a car while crossing the street. Same as in Dublin, the cars are on the opposite side of the street and thus coming from a different direction than we are used to for pedestrians as well)

With all the elaborate architecture, Madeline must’ve thought we were in a village of castles. We took a walk through St. James’s Park. On the other side, we came upon Churchill’s Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. Although Madeline was now tantrum free, and pretty much stayed that way for the rest of the day, we were not willing to press our luck and head inside…..just not a very exciting place for a kid. Mama-Dirtyfoot wasn’t too disappointed but David is a history buff so I know that is something he would’ve loved to see.

From there we walked over to see 10 Downing Street (home of the Prime Minister). We also walked over to see Big Ben. For the faithful Mama-Dirtyfoot readers you know how Madeline pronounces “clock” (without the “l”) so of course we got to listen to her exclaim, “I see the big clock!” with her unique pronunciation. Luckily there was plenty of traffic volume so that the rest of London didn’t hear that too! The Big Ben is part of the Parliament building. The architecture is beautiful. Also, in that general vicinity is Westminster Abbey. There too is beautiful architecture. Unfortunately, by the time we got to Westminster Abbey, they were no longer allowing tourists in for the day. That is someplace that, if time allows, we will try to get back inside.

Next we walked across the Westminster Bridge and headed to the London Eye. The London Eye is a huge Ferris wheel. In fact, the London Eye is the largest observation wheel ever built. Madeline was thrilled to go on the wheel. The height aspect of the wheel didn’t even faze her as she would sit right along the glass enclosure. Madeline can make a friend anywhere and she had a fun time during the ½ hour ride with another 3 year old girl. The views from atop the London Eye are beautiful.

Finally we walked quite a distance along the River Thames. We ended up getting dinner at a little place that overlooked the river. In fact, we could see St. Paul’s Cathedral directly across the river from where we ate. The restaurant was great because the décor was very nice yet it was *very* kid friendly. David had a burger while Madeline and I shared a shepherd’s pie (yeah, I know Tammy….that is *almost* like a casserole!!) After dinner we walked back over the river via the Millennium Bridge but since it was getting late and cooler outside we took the Tube the remaining three stops back to our flat. I think we will all sleep quite well tonight!!