Road Trip - Day 2 (Berlin)

Road Trip – Day 2 (Berlin)

We finished today with soggy pants, sore feet and no shortage of adventures. Thankfully, we are all still smiling.

The day began well enough. Jason and I woke to an alarm (we really need to plan vacations that do not involve the use of alarms…) and managed to get ready without waking the kids. Once we woke the kids and got them ready it was off to breakfast. I never realized how slow we are at eating until this morning when we finally headed out the hotel door a half hour later than we had planned. Even though we booked it to the Potsdam train station as quickly as we could, there was nothing we could do except admit the fact that we would miss the morning walking tour that we had booked. Oh well.

We arrived in Berlin, bought a map and started off on our own walking tour. With me as the tour guide I cannot vouch for how accurate a lot of the historical details were but after leaving the train station, admiring the fall colors on the trees and checking out the Reichstag we journeyed across our very first marking of where the Berlin Wall formerly stood.

While there are still some parts of the wall that remain (more on that later), the majority of the former east/west Berlin border is marked by brick, stone or white lines throughout the city, through streets, over bridges and across sidewalks. As I stood on top of our first connection with this line I marveled at how connected I felt with history. I wondered if those who put up the wall knew the controversy, heartache and deaths that it would cause, if those who struggled and fought for a reunified Germany knew that they were not only making history but changing the face of the future too and I wondered what ideals we would see change, expand or alter in my lifetime. Jason and the kids waited quite patiently while I drank deeply of this little piece of history, they even faned interest when I spouted off information I learned in various documentaries trying to pretend to know what I am talking about when it comes to lessons that can be learned through learning history. Then Jason interrupted my little philosophical moment with a request to get moving as Milayla was beginning to fall asleep and Atticus was antsy to see some other things.

Milayla was so tired she fell asleep with her hands hanging onto the strap in front of her

So we were off, following the line of the Berlin Wall, we journeyed through an area that would have formerly been what was known as the ‘death strip’ and is now (fittingly) a cemetery with a few standing wall segments.

From there, we stumbled upon an old guard tour fitted with a mannequin dressed in the guard uniform keeping watch out the window.

Then we veered back towards the center of the city to visit the DDR Museum. The DDR museum is a small museum that hilights what life was like in East Germany, most specifically East Berlin. Though small, it certainly had some interesting items and they were displayed very interactively. Both the kids, Jason and myself quite enjoyed it. The only downside is that it was very, very, very busy. We did not get to look at quite everything before a sense of claustrophobia began to set in and we headed off. In the time we did spend there, however, we certainly felt a broadened sense of understanding of exactly what life was like in East Germany. Though, in truth, we never will truly know just exactly how it was.

They had some really neat ways to display the items in the museum. Here is Atticus playing with the desk that had a large touch screen computer inlayed on it. When you placed one of the office items onto the desk it opened up an information window for you to explore and learn. Very cool.

shelves of "free thinking" books that were not allowed and "west jeans" which were also not allowed (but that didn't stop people from finding ways to sneak both in.

The percentage of people that had showers, toilets, heating and phones in 1971 vs 1989. And a Trabbi; you needed to place your order for this car early as it could take up to 16 years to get one. Also, you better keep good track of how many kilometres you have traveled since your last fill up since this car has no gas gauge.

We were interestingly surprised when we walked into a life size version of an apartment from East Germany to see OUR living room from our first apartment in Germany. It was kind of eery, though we laughed when we noticed that it even had the exact same sofa (only ours was a three seater). We used to remark about how outdated that couch was (and not to mention, uncomfortable) and now we know where the roots are...

From there we embarked on a journey down Unter den Linden; the Champs d’Elysee of Berlin. Not quite as charming as Paris, particularly when it was covered in various stages of construction but the enormous Brandenburger Tor that stood fixed at the end of the strasse certainly provided a nice goal for us to reach.

Milayla and I in front of the Berlin Cathedral

Upon reaching the Brandenburger Tor we grabbed a seat at a nearby café and enjoyed some fresh brotchen sandwiches, rested our feet and prepared to catch the afternoon walking tour (the same tour that we had missed earlier in the day) and even snapped a photo in front of the Brandenburger Tor.

See that statue on top? That was originally intended to be the Goddess of Peace riding her four horse chariot. Well, Napoleon decided to take this statue back to Paris for the collection in the Louvre and when the Prussians got it back they renamed the Goddess - The Goddess of Victory. But the victorious return does not end there, the head of the goddess was also turned so that she looks down on the French Consulate; keeping an eye on them. Quite the sense of humor.

Here is where we could have ended the day, headed to the train station and back to the hotel in Potsdam, but we didn’t, we pushed through (may not have been the brightest idea...we try to put our family enjoyment level over how many things we get to see...).

Once the tour started lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with both children. Atticus responded by small acts of misbehavior – perhaps more appropriate to be titled 'minor irritants  than misbehavior. Milayla responded by a little fussing and then drifting off to sleep.

As Atticus’ minor outbursts grew in intensity, we did at least manage to learn a lot of things we had not previously known, as well as caught some sights that we had not yet seen.


Anyone recognize the hotel below? It was the hotel where Micheal Jackson infamously displayed his baby out the window. Nothing like a little strange pop culture trivia amidst all the other heavy history things.

The Jewish War Memorial was a very interesting stop. Our guide did a great job explaining the history behind it, why it is there, possible symbolism and the intrigue of the optical illusions. It is a very touching monument. 

to further fuel interpretations, the artist who won the competition of designing this monument has left his intended meaning and source of inspiration unknown so that everyone can find their own meaning in how it makes them feel. The most popular theory, however, is that his inspiration was a jewish cemetery located near his home. If you look at the picture on the above left you will see the view of the monument as you approach it; the different heights of the large concrete blocks and the vastness of their number. As you walk along side of the monument, you soon notice that what originally looked like level ground that the blocks were sitting on actually deepens into the ground for quite a distance. Not only that, but some of the very first blocks are right under your feet and you did not even notice as they are level with the path. 

Jason heading into the monument.

Once into the centre of the monument, the blocks tower well over your head and the enormity of the monument begins to sink in. Despite the fact that there are crowds of people milling about in the monument, there is an eery calm that surrounds you as other people only briefly cross your view before being consumed behind other blocks. The rain trickling down the blocks seemed to mimic tears.

From there it was on to a large parking lot. I won't go a lot into this stop as there is certainly no gentleness in its' history. This is the former site of Hitler's bunker were he spent the last weeks of his life. 

Then we were on to the building of finance with quite the history. 

This building was originally designed and built for Hitler's use and was designed to be strong and imposing. During the time of East Germany communism, this building was used for political offices. It was during that time that the mural was painted on the wall to show everyone how happy everyone is in East Germany. Apparently, they really liked to play the accordion, too. 

Jason putting on his best "happy face" to match the happy people behind him

From there it was on to another section of the Berlin Wall. We needed to pass some more Trabbis first though, and the curry stall. 

The section of wall that we journeyed to is quite decayed and while it would be easy to assume that it is primarily due to weather you could not be entirely accurate. You see, some entrepreneurial folks decided to start chipping off chunks of the Berlin wall and selling them. It probably seemed like a bright idea at the time until it was discovered that this section of wall is loaded in Asbestos which led to the city putting that fence up in front of the wall so that no one else could take their own chunk of Asbestos laden wall home with them.   

I really liked this picture that we passed that I had to take a photo of it (yes, I took a picture of a picture). It is a photo of a display that was put in front of Brandenburger Tor. You will notice that it is a picture of the Tor after the city had been severely bombed. It's amazing the contrast. 

From there it was a short stop at the tourist packed Checkpoint Charlie which has a very lovely finishing touch of locals dressed in American uniforms posing for photos with tourists. Nice...

Then it was time for a much needed break at a little cafe. Milayla was wide awake from her little nap and both kids were ready to stretch out their legs. 

We happened to sit down at a cafe table right next to a grate in the sidewalk for the subway. Milayla was insanely intrigued by the sounds and breeze that came from down below and just wanted to hang out on it. This picture is easily one of my favorites from our whole trip...

And just in case one photo isn't enough, here's another! I love her hair!

After our needed little break it was off to see some churches that look an awful lot alike...

The boys in front of church one

the boys in front of church two. I wish I got a better angle of this one.

The near identicalness of the churches is no coincidence, it is, in fact, another display of competition between France and Germany at the time. 

In between the two churches is the classical concert hall. A very beautiful building. 

It was here that a huge downpour of rain caused us to seek shelter in what easily became one of my favorite stops. We had watched some documentaries on Berlin before our trip and this statue was one of the things that really stood out to me. Despite the pounding rain outside, and the swarms of drenched people inside, there was an interesting stillness inside this room. Everyone was intrigued by the statue in the middle of the room that was being rained on due to a large, intentional hole in the sealing overhead. As people rushed to the statue for their chance to pose in a picture while holding their umbrella over top of the statue I mused over the possible symbolism in their actions.

The statue is simple and beautiful as it captures a mother cradling her son that she lost at war. And though the elements pour down on her, she is completely enveloped in the moment of mourning for her son, in pouring out every ounce of love and courage that she has into his soul that has left this earth so soon. My heart ached in a way that I cannot put into words. The sacrifices we all make. The love we all give. The complexity of our emotions all simplified into service and compassion. The love of our Savior ever present in our words and our actions. A million thoughts ran through my head, making connections between my mind and my heart and broadening my understanding of motherhood, of my unique contribution to my family and my personal connection to my Father in Heaven. It was a good moment.

When the rain let up, there was not much of the tour left, and thankfully, the break seemed to help substantially as we were all in much better spirits.

We trekked onto Bebelplatz which has the opera house, a church,

And the Royal Library of Humboldt University which is now the law school of Humboldt. 

This building has quite a bit of history seeping out of it's walls. Not only has it been home to quite a few notable scholars (Einstein taught here before emigrating to the United States and the Grimm Brothers studied here) but it was also the tragic site of the dramatic book burning in 1933 when some 20,000 volumes of books were torn from the library shelves and burned on the square outside. That terrible occasion is now remembered by a monument in the middle of the square.

This monument is quite a bit different from many of the others that we have seen though. This monument is underground.

Because the picture is not the best, I will explain what the monument is. It is a white room with empty white book shelves (with room enough to hold 20,000 volumes) and a plaque that indicates that the book burning was only a prelude. A very sad, but truthful thought.

From there is was on to Musuem Island for some more facts and figures and our tour was complete.

The TV tower that was erected in East Germany

Following the tour we trekked to find dinner and after finding a couple places that were completely full it was decided that the timing was not right so we would eat following our return to Potsdam. That’s when things got interesting again.

We waited for our train on the assigned platform. It never came. We waited until we had missed the arrival time twice before we decided to hop the next train that came in hopes of getting to the main station and having better options for our train out of town. No such luck, we were dropped at the end-of-the-line only to be stuck on the platform and to find out the no trains were heading out due to a tree that had fallen on the tracks during the storm. The elevators were out of service and we were not allowed to take the escalator with our stroller. When we finally tracked down a transportation employee and asked how we could get to Potsdam she said it was not possible today. Great. Being completely unsatisfied with that answer we took the stroller down the escalator and headed for the ticket/information office to find an alternative method to getting back to Potsdam. Seeing that the situation had gotten a little complicated and stressful we decided that we better ask the lady at the desk if she spoke any English as we don’t always speak/understand German all that well. Her response? A very shrill; “No going to Potsdam and no English!”. I guess she was having a bad day too…

Thankfully, shortly following that response we stumbled upon two train conductors who looked to be giving someone directions to get to Potsdam. Hallelujah! They didn’t speak English, but between their incredible patience and the assistance of a map we were able to understand all the transfers, platforms and funky maneuvers to make it back to Potsdam. We headed for the first platform in our newly designed journey to run into stairs, lots and lots of stairs. No elevator. Seriously, what do people in wheelchairs do? Milayla was in the wrap which made the stroller a bit lighter with only Atticus in it. I was just heading around to the front of the stroller to help Jason carry it down the stairs when a complete stranger beat me to it, lifted the front of the stroller and carried it down the stairs with Jason. As we finally reached the bottoms of the stairs we thanked the anonymous helper and when he turned to walk away Jason and I remarked, nearly in unison, there are still good people in the world. Looking back, the whole series of events seems so trivial, but in the moment when we were all tired, hungry and still sopping wet, the kindness of complete strangers shone as brightly as the north star on a clear night. Thank you!

Our journey back from that point was, thankfully, uneventful. There was certainly plenty of patience required though as the entire journey back to our hotel took nearly 3 hours from the time we started heading home (in perfect circumstances it would have been about 40 minutes). Food tasted wonderful. Warm showers were incredible. And cuddling up as a family on the big leather couch in our hotel room to watch some General Conference warmed us all right to the core. The day certainly was not a dull one.

What's the difference between a Mormon Temple and a Chapel?

The Calgary Alberta Temple was dedicated last month as the 140th operating temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. That's pretty big news. We're pretty excited about it. Since we couldn't go to the Temple Open House, we were also pretty excited when this came in the mail.

That's one of the open house tickets that was very thoughtfully sent to us by Jason's grandparents. We are pretty fortunate to have them living right around the corner from the new temple as they very routinely kept us updated on the progress of the temple and gave us a very lovely report of what the tour was like (they very thoughtfully included a Thank You Card which is funny as it is we who should be thanking them). We were also able to find some interior photos of the Calgary Temple here. The wheat motif and paintings of the landscape from the Calgary area are beautiful.

Of course, there was the traditional cornerstone ceremony which can be watched (in a shortened form) in the video below. The kids thought it was pretty funny that President Monson can wiggle his ears. And we made sure to pause the video when the camera panned the choir so that we could play a game of "Where's Uncle Chase". We found him :).



The temple being dedicated has also really opened up more conversation in our home about temples, why we have them and what the difference is between a temple and a chapel. Along those same thoughts, I found this inforgraphic that I thought was great at showing the difference between Mormon Temples and Chapels.


(the infographic does not seem to be loading properly, so until I figure out how to fix it, you can check it out here)

Even though we no longer live in Calgary, knowing that there is now a dedicated temple there is a wonderful, peaceful thought. Speaking to our friends and families and hearing all of their experiences surrounding the building and dedicating of the temple has been a wonderful treasure for us. Temples are an incredible blessing in our lives and I am so grateful to see one now standing beautifully upon the hilltop in a city that we hold so dear. Looking forward to visiting it one day soon!

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You can read a bit more abou the temple dedication and even watch a highlights video from the cultural celebrations by going here.

The Hat

I am so grateful that our kids are such good sports about things like this :)

I just love that little, sweet smile of hers.

Road Trip - Day 1 (Potsdam)

I am sitting at the desk in our hotel room (a different one than last night as they moved us to a larger, more modern room on another floor – perhaps having little children running around on the attic floor wasn’t the best idea) reflecting on the day that we just had. It was a good day. There wasn’t one particular thing that we saw or did that stands out to me as particularly amazing, but the fact that we spent the whole day together – start to finish – was just lovely. Sadly, it feels like there have been so many things pulling at our time back home that a day 100% devoted to our little family is a rarity and, boy, did it feel good to have that!

The day begun early for me with an unintentional punch in the eye from Milayla who had been sleeping in the middle of mine and Jason’s bed the night before. As I woke up and took another survey of the room I decided that I quite like the wonderful musty oldness and I decided that I want doors similar to the wood doors here, but with handcrafted doorknobs (I know, I have odd lines of thought in the morning). It was not too long after that that we were all up and casually getting ready to go down for breakfast. We were very pleasantly surprised by an incredible breakfast spread with a large selection of fresh fruits and vegetables along with plenty of hearty breads. To top it off we got to sit in a beautiful, old dining room adorned with gorgeous well-maintained antiques. After breakfast we were off to explore the historical town centre.

The weather was a little chilly this morning, so we bundled up and enjoyed being some of the first people out on the streets. There really is something quite peaceful about being able to explore at your own leisure.

Back when we were planning our itinerary for our road trip, we had decided that we would keep Potsdam incredibly flexible and easy-going with goals to visit the Sanssouci Palace and explore the historical city centre. Keeping our agenda open allowed us to find the rhythm that felt right for us, allowing for a low-stress tour around town. We explored a good portion of town as the shops were opening up before deciding we ought to head to the train station and pick up a map to ensure we weren’t missing any particular treasures.

 The kids loved pointing out these traffic light guys each time we went to cross the street. His name is Ampelmann, and he wears a hat because children are more likely to obey someone wearing a uniform with a hat (at least according to research way back when...wonder if that's changed?).

Jason had actually been to Potsdam before on a business trip so there were a few things in the city that he wanted to show us. Among those things; a space themed mosaic along two sides of a university building.

The building below was nothing but the face of a building. We never did find out what exactly it was. Anyone know?

The train station here doubles as a mall and is surprisingly clean. It was a nice little break from the cooler weather outside. After buying our train tickets for tomorrow and purchasing a map we headed back out on our adventure. With map in hand, we took a wrong turn. Perhaps it’s a little ironic, as before we had a map we didn’t have the possibility to take a wrong turn as there weren’t any particularly right turns either. Anyhow, as I was musing about listening to my gut when something doesn’t feel right (like we are going the wrong way) we happen to run into the missionaries! As we were walking towards them, Jason pitched the idea that we see how long it takes for them to start talking to us and let them talk to us about the church. It would have been a fun idea, I’m sure, except that as soon as the missionaries said ‘Guten Morgen”, I was already off on a tangent of questions about how their day was going, where they were from and all the other usual questions you ask missionaries. Perhaps it would have been fun to let them talk to us about the church but I was just too amazed about the fact that of all the people to run into in the city, we run into people that we know (well, sort of ;) ).

Once we were back on track we headed into the Dutch Quarter. It started raining. Perfect ambience. With lines of brick row houses and gabled roof tops with rain trickling down the sides, there certainly was a Holland-esque feel to this particular area, though it was missing canals (I guess the rain made up for the lack of canals.).

Coming upon lunchtime we spotted an organic bakery and headed in to be surprised by vegan sandwich options and plenty of delicious bread. We had barely settled in when a protest began marching down the street (we sure do have a knack for being in town during protests. Thessaloniki and Athens come to mind.) It was a delicious lunch and I am happy to report that Milayla is really starting to take a liking to solid food. And by that I mean she is at least willing to sample the foods (and she is quite liking them too!) that we offer her and that is a pretty big step forward.

The gate outside the cafe we stopped for lunch

The Brandenburger Tor in Potsdam. Frederick the Great had it built to celebrate a victory.

Following lunch we started the trek to Sanssouci Palace. Enroute, Atticus fell asleep. He has not fallen asleep in the stroller in a looooong time, so we certainly knew he was tired. Entering Sanssouci Park was quite something. It is beautiful. Filled with strong, tall trees beginning to glow with the vibrant colors of autumn, statues of many shapes and sizes and water features to fill in any voids.

Sanssouci Palace, King Frederich III’s Summer Palace, is a single story palace that sits atop desolation hill. Not too shabby for a summer home.

We had some time to wait for our tour time so we toured the grounds (allowing Atticus to get a bit more sleep) while Jason ran back to the hotel to retrieve the wrap (since we learned upon our arrival that the stroller would not be able to go in the palace).

That's the Hill of Ruins below. They aren't real ruins, Frederick wanted them constructed to look like that (I think it was to commemorate something...)

Of course, every palace needs it's own mill.

The tour through the Palace was shorter than we thought it would be. Once you enter at your allotted time you are given an audio tour set and you begin going through the palace one room at a time. You don’t tour through the entire palace, but you certainly see the highlights. The marble hall, the bedchambers, the welcoming room, the music room, they were all unique and quite beautiful. Much of the interior has needed to be restored at one point or another due mostly to the damage of light (the windows are now equipped with special light blocking curtains) but there are still mostly original furnishings through out, including the very chair the King Frederich died in. A little odd….

Well, since we did not take any photos inside the palace, this picture of the information sign will have to do. If you look closely, you can see some of the interior rooms. (Though, you can probably just look online for plenty of interior pictures if you really want.)

We all quite enjoyed the palace. Atticus loved keying in the number on his audio guide for each room that we entered and Milayla adored looking at the different wall and roof ornaments with each new room.

Then it was back to the hotel for a snack and to opt for some dry clothes as the rain had finally stopped. While we were gone the hotel staff had switched us to a large hotel room on another floor and added a baby cot which should help us all sleep a little better tonight. We quite like our hotel. Our new room has a very large corner sofa that the kids think is the greatest thing ever. I’m not sure they knew that couches could come this big and comfy.

interesting use of the old tree

After a little relaxation and a game or two we headed off to the Russian Colony. Good ‘ol Frederick the Great allotted some land to have 13 homes and a Russian Orthodox Church built in honor of Czar Alexander I. It is now a Unesco World Heritage site and sits on a large parcel of land filled with fruit trees. It is a very peaceful area. Most of the homes have people living in them short of one home that is open as a small museum and another that serves as a Russian restaurant (complete with a family favorite - Perogies!). We loved the detailing on the roof lines.

We headed up the hill to see the church. 

It was quite small, though I imagine with only 13 homes, there were not very many people that attended services then.

Following our walk through the Russian Colony it was off to find dinner. With shops already closing down (the downside of being in a smaller city) a lot of restaurants also closed early too. At least we got to see a few more interesting buildings/places on our search for a restaurant. The architecture here is so diverse and every time we think we have seen our favorite detailing, we find something new.







For dinner, we settled on a small pizza and pasta restaurant. It was nothing special, but it was good. We enjoyed some dessert on our way back to the hotel.

It felt good to get back to the hotel. The day was relaxing and we all enjoyed it, but we always look forward to sitting down at the end of the day and talking about the day. Atticus’ favorite part? Lunch. Milayla’s favorite part? We’re guessing the palace as she was in complete awe the whole time. Jason’s favorite part? The Russian Colony. And mine? Just being with my 3 most favorite people in the universe.

Well, now I must climb into the bed that is calling my name. We will be up early tomorrow morning to take the train into Berlin. Looking forward to it.

Road Trip – Day 0 (Starting things off)

A few post-posting notes: I wrote the postings from our road trip each evening when we had settled in, or when we were on the road in an effort to try to capture the feelings of the day a bit better. I added the photos long after we got home (because I am terribly tardy at getting through photos) so between the text and the photos I hope that I have captured the trip accurately both for us to look back on and enjoy and for all our lovely friends and family that enjoy staying up to date on the happenings in our little corner of the world. I hope you all enjoy :).

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We have officially begun our road trip. After Jason finished work today we headed off to Potsdam. The kids fell asleep in the back seat while Jason and I chatted about life and played a variety of games to stay alert near the end of the journey (you know you have young children when 10pm feels like 2am).

We arrived at our hotel very late in the evening and needed to retrieve our key from a lock box (it was a pretty small establishment), parked the car and headed into a very old building to climb three sets of richly detailed antique wooden stairs (should have snapped a photo!) to our attic bedrooms. The whole attic floor is ours – complete with a creepy unfinished storage room. The old wooden floor boards creak. The stately bedroom furniture looks like it was saved from the Titanic. The large, heavy doors heave a sigh every time we open or close them. The air is musty and thick. It’s unique. It’s old. It’s home for the next few days and we quite like it. Though, I am torn between whether I should feel like I just stepped into a beautiful old estate or a haunted mansion. In either case, happy to be here and excited for the days ahead.

Thankfully, they have updated the windows so our rooms did not have any awful drafts.

Milayla and Jason about to unload our things.

The big 'ol bed. We've lived in Germany for a while now, and I still can't get behind the way that they make the beds here. It's not that it is terrible, it just doesn't look all that comfortable and inviting to me. To each their own! And see that floor? oh, this picture does not do that floor justice. It was beautiful, and old, and creaky, and the kids thought it was so cool.

Atticus about to get lost in Narnia

Making Lunch

I think we may have a little budding chef in our home. Atticus has been very insistant as of late about going beyond helping with making meals and wanting to actually make them. Most recently, he made me my lunch. I adore how much he was beaming about the opportunity to serve me.

Super proud of himself for making the salad :)

Tossing the salad with a fork. See the salad dressing? He made that all on his own. It was pretty tasty!

Proudly showing off his masterpiece that he brought to the table (and set the table) just for me. 

I sure do feel like one incredibly lucky mama. I love this little boy! It was a delicious salad. He has a knack for flavours. During lunch today he guessed which spices I had used in the sauce on our Quinoa Salad. Now, the trick will be to come up with menu/meal ideas that he can be a little more hands on with. If anyone has some ideas, I would love to hear them! Thanks!

The Windmill

Earlier this month, we enjoyed a nice brunch with a friend downtown at the windmill. It was a nice time, good food and interesting conversation. Certainly a place we would recommend :).