Day 21, it’s Friday and it’s the last day of the European school holidays, that’s good news, but it’s bad news for today and the week-end with thousand is kids and their parents trying to squeeze to last bits of life out of the holidays.

After yesterday’s big day for all of us we do sleep in a little, until the Navigator gets motivated and has looked at Facebook and realised that it’s 9.30 and we should get a move on. As we get out of the lift there’s a gentle hum, as we get to the foyer of the hotel it’s a loud chatter, almost a roar actually. There is a women’s health conference, and it’s full of women with lanyards around their necks, blocking the way out, ignorance in their own importance, and a few token men, poor bastards must be ushers or something, anyway Paul best to stop there, to keep muttering could lead to repercussions.

Bags packed, stored at the hotel and we walk down town for breakfast. A little place at €8.50 gets us freshly squeezed orange juice, a croissant, a piece of multi grain bread with butter and jam and a coffee/tea/hot chocolate and it all comes with a pleasant waitress.

We wander down to the canals, around the canals, over the canals, searching for the “F…..g swans” from the movie “In Brugge” and all we see is tourist boats full of f….g tourists, no f….g swans, what gives? Eventually we find some swans, who spend most of their time preening their feathers and hardly any time gracefully swimming in the canals, not very swanlike if you ask me, I’m thinking of complying to the Brugge tourist people, they need to have a little fireside chat to their swans otherwise I mightn’t come back.

Unfortunately there are thousands of tourists around the canals, and these are the that aren’t in boats, they are walking around clogging up the footpaths with their French and German accents, lots of Americans ( pick them up a block away they are that loud), and poms in t shirts soaking up the balmy 20 degree heatwave in Belgium. This doesn’t deter the navigator from a little shopping though. We check out a beautiful church that has Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child, the only sculpture of his that’s out of Italy, it’s in Carrara marble, not big but worth seeing.

We drop some of Tim’s ashes into the canal, these will end up in the North Sea, so a little adventure there for him.

At 4pm we wander back to the hotel, use the facilities ( Newsflash for the Bowel Queens – things are working fine!), and walk to the train station. It’s about a 15 minute walk, the Navigator struggles a bit, it gets a bit warm, tries to make the odd wrong turn, but Mark hangs back and watches out for her.

The 4.58 train the Brussels Midi ( tip for any one travelling Brussels Midi is the main train station not Brussels Centrum), the train is pretty full so we wait until we get to Ghent to get a seat. Just as well we do as about 30 French 10-12 year olds get on the train in our carriage at Ghent looking for seat, then when we get to Brussels we strategically place Genelle in front to move them out of the way with a withering glare if needed, followed by Mark to pick them up and throw them if they get smart and me last to settle the peace with any distraught mothers. This works, the glare I mean, because the path to the platform is clear for us. (Do you think I make this stuff up?)

Tip – if travelling to Brugge by train book the First Class tickets as then you will get a seat between Brussels and Brugge, maybe you will have to do the whole trip 1st Class to get that section. First Class are the carriages with yellow stripes on the top of the windows.

The second thing to do is work out where your carriage pulls up, usually means asking one of the train staff, in our case the Thalys people who wander by occasionally on the platform.

The wait at Brussels Midi ( or Zuid is the local lingo, Flemish I think) is taken up with a little food, a little window shopping, it’s a big train station with 22 platforms so there are plenty of shops. Our train is leaving at 8.13pm so we have a little time to kill. Soon we find Platform 6B is our platform and wait with the crowd, we’re given a bum steer by a bloke in uniform as to where carriage 17 will stop so it’s a little hustle to get down the front where it’s located, when we get on the baggage spots are nearly full, Genelle is loiteringing in the doorway as I try to sort the bags out, I think unwittingly blocking people from getting on the train, and the female guard gives the hurry up to get out of the way as the doors ar closing and people need to get on. I stowe Marks and my bag, they are less full (there’s diplomacy for you!) and Genelle’s has to come down to where our seat is, it’s a little tense with the navigator. We find our seats in a pretty full train, and we ie the train, slide away from Brussels quietly, in no time at all we’re sitting at 160 kph and then not much later a much faster speed.

The trip from Brussels to Paris on this train is 1 hour 20 minutes, 3 hours if you’re driving according to Google Maps so the train is a fast and efficient way to travel. As the sun sets in the west we glide into France, how do I know you might ask, well my Lyca mobile SIM card tells me we’re in France with a text message relating to settings on the phone. There are lights flashing on the horizon from lots of wind turbines, looks funny with the silhouette of village church steeples with the shapes of the wind turbines blended in.

The City of Light arrives and we get off the train, Mark is the advance party and main bags are off, Genelle and I are off a bit after that. We take the wrong exit and miss the official taxi line, we know that now but we get a taxi and I reckon we get ripped off, BUT, we do get to the hotel. TIP – find the official Taxi line and get the meter turned on in Paris, the shoulder shrug and downturned French look when you suggest rip off is a bit disconcerting at 10 o’clock after a long day. Anyway, one for the future but geeez I hate that feeling that you think you’ve been ripped off but you’re not sure.

The Hotel La Familia have f….d up the booking, Genelle thinks, and we have 2 rooms but they aren’t exactly what we wanted, but it’s a bed and it’s Paris and it’s busy busy busy, so it’s better than the street. They’ll have her to deal with tomorrow, poor buggers won’t know what’s hit them.

More on Paris tomorrow, after Genelle for a Bike About bicycle tour of Paris tomorrow, let’s see how much stress that gives her, anyway for tonight Auvoir

Paul

Today a journey to one of the most blood soaked areas of soil on earth.

A well known poem by John McRae, written after a friend was killed in the 2nd Battle of Ypres

In Flanders Field

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.   Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

…………………………………………………………

A group of about 23 are doing the trip with Quasimodo Tours today, a mixture of Australians, English and Americans. 9am and everyone is a little quiet, waiting to break the ice, waiting for somebody else to start a conversation. I’m sitting up the back of the bus and near a couple from central Victoria and an American friend, we have a chat while Phillipe ( our host for the day) starts to brief us on what we are doing and seeing today.

The first stop after about 1/2 to 3/4 driving is at a German war cemetery, it’s dark stone and shady leafy grounds give it a bleak feel. It’s a sobering start to the day, but apparently there are not many German cemeteries in the area, they really don’t acknowledge the war took place and the result they got. We move on to a Canadian memorial where it remembers in particular the first casualties from gas in the war, some 1200 Canadians died from compressed chlorine gas, but we do find out that the allies then also did use gas as well. Two wrongs don’t make a right, or so they say.

We visit Polygon Wood whee there is another Commonwealth Cemetery and a Memorial to the Australian 5th Battalion, even thought the 4th Battalion also fought there. We’re also on the infamous Menin Road and have lunch at the Hooge Crater Museum. We then check out the preserved battlefield of Hill 60 from the Battle of Messines where Australian tunnellers blew the hill up and vaporised 10,000 German soldiers in a instant. There is a movie called Beneath Hill 60 based on an officers diary made by Australians that has done quite well. The craters are all obvious and there is an English machine gun pill box built on top of a German pillbox facing east defending Messines ridge and Ypres. We also visit Tyne Kot cemetery. We visit the field dressing station where John McCrae wrote In Flanders Field, and where the youngest soldier killed on the allied side is buried, he was 15 years old.

We head into Ypres and check out the Menin Gate memorial where they have been doing a last post ceremony every year at 8pm since 1928 after they rebuilt Ypres. Ypres and most of Flanders was flattened , hardly a tree or building left standing so everything you see in this area is built after 1918, although they used the old bricks and stone and the buildings look very old. Ypres is a beautiful city.

Before the last post I’m cheauffered (sic) out out to Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery to try and find one of my relatives graves. I do find the grave of Stanley COOMBES who was wounded and died on 12th October on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele. He was in 45th Battalion on the 4th Division. The Battle was also known as the 3rd Battle of Ypres and Passchendaele lay on the last ridge of Ypres which was vital to defending the supply system for the German Army. Also there is a list of all the unknown soldiers listed on the Menin Gate memorial, there on Panel 59 is Alfred COOMBES, 34th Battalion of the 3rd Division, who died 7th June 1917 on the first day of 5he Battle of Messines. Another cousin Arthur COOMBES of 1st Battalion, 1st Division who was killed at Poziers is remembered.

Of 5 COOMBES family members, cousins and uncles with 1 set of brothers, all cousins of my grandmother, who went to the war, only 2 returned.

The last post ceremony at Menin Gate is very moving, a huge crowd, and a choir from Kent in England is spectacular, and they do this every day! The last post is absolutely breathtaking and there is only silence between the bugles and the choir, truly worth the effort to see.

I’m dusted, it’s been a long day for me, a black Mercedes brings me and a couple of others back to Brugge from Ypres.

There’s nothing remotely funny I can relate to about what I did today. The Flanders war area is remarkably small, there are cemeteries every where, they are still digging up about 120 tonnes of unexploded ordinance every year just in Flanders, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission do an exceptional job, the cemeteries and memorials are looked after so well. The scale of death from the meat grinder that was WW I is breathtaking. And the Somme area in France is very close, the war in Europe was mostly condensed to these 2 small areas.

Meanwhile Genelle and Mark went on a Segway Tour of Brugge, apparently she was so good on the machine that her and Mark were allowed special privileges like heading, at pace, out to see an old windmill. Wonder if she got it airborn like she gets the car in our driveway! Surprise, she also checked the shops out, no evidence of purchases yet, we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Cheers from Brugge in Belgium

Paul

Confusion reigns at Brussels Midi train station, have we got the right station asks the navigator with a concerned look on her face, Mark quietly advises ” we don’t know either but we’re pretty sure it’s right and we’ll find out, so it’s all ok”. Well spoken.

It is right and Google Maps points us to platform 15 for the train to Brugge, it doesn’t say Brugge but it’s one of the stops, it takes some convincing, she consults a local looking at the board, he confirms we are right and the train is 8 minutes late – happy days but the navigator still shows signs of doubt.

In the rush for the train we don’t get a seat and if we did we couldn’t watch our bags so we stay in the section near the doors, which is ok until I nearly take out Genelle when the train jerks. At Ghent the carriage empties and we get a seat for the last 1/2 hour. Brugge is a very modern train station, 10 platforms and we / me manage to find the right exit, the navigator is astonished!

Google Maps gets us to the NH hotel, we get our room sorted and then go for a walk in the drizzle to find our different assignments for tomorrow. The navigator true to form turns left outside the hotel door arguing the lift was left, Mark and I calmly turn right find the lift – no words need to be spoken. We find out where we have to go and then find a funky place called Mr Spaghetti, it’s humming, mostly young people, reasonable prices, good Belgium beer, good service, it’s a spaghetti only place and they handle Genelle when she says Spag bol but hold the spaghetti. We all leave satisfied. A great idea for Dubbo.

Bruges is a World Heritage site, a beautiful old town , regarded as the best preserved medieval town in Europe with a spectacular cathedral. It was featured in the Colin Farrell movie In Bruge, that has I think Michaelangelos only sculpture outside Italy – a Madonna and Child. The shopping area is quiet but I think Genelle could do some damage there, if the Segway doesn’t throw her off. More on that tomorrow.

Cheers for the 2nd time today

Paul

I’m sitting at the railway station

Got a ticket for my destination oooh ooh

……. bits missing

And every stop is neatly planned

For a poet and a one man band.

( Simon & Garfunkel – Homeward Bound)

Good way to start a song, I’m sitting alone on Platform 15 at Amsterdam Centraal Train Station waiting or the Thalys 9996 to Brussels, the Navigator and Mark have gone downstairs to the shops hunting for last minute bargains and doing some fluids management, after walking for about a kilometre along the Platform to the spot where Car 37 should pull up this is needed. We’re early, a small miracle, but we’re ready for the next leg of the trip however small it might be.

This morning was a late rise, after a long day walking yesterday and no appointment for anything this morning, I’m happy about that, my feet and ankles are happy as well.

We wander out into a coolish grey morning, just warm enough for a bit more than a t shirt. The dirty canal water is glistening, it’s quiet in our area on the edge of Jordaan so we wander the streets canals and alley ways and find a cafe for breakfast ( not a coffee shop). A few minor purchases for the blokes and the Navigator buys a “small” ring in a groovy little shop run by a pretty girl, so we buy a few other bits and pieces. She’s thinking of travelling to India on a combined holiday and work thing, so I offer a few bits of advice on what to look out for.

I buy a CD of an artist I’ve never heard of before + a wallet, my major purchases so far other than the bottle of Jameson’s in Dublin which was the most expensive purchase so far, for me anyway.

We wander the streets, it’s growing on me Amsterdam and I think I’d like to come back again but for a much longer stay. It’s sort of like Berlin in that it takes time to warm to, then you get over the red light area and the tourist areas packed with people and find the tree lined canals, the houseboats, the little shops with designer stuff like sheep skin stubby and wine bottle holders and other stuff they say is Dutch designed paraphernalia.

Our hotel – The Hotel Sebastian’s, is a groovy little place, we have a lovely room with a garden view, it’s slightly cramped with 3 of us but thankfully, as far as I’m aware anyway, there is minimal farting, belching or obnoxious behaviour. There is however a little snoring from all 3 of us, and the worst part is the gruesome movie Genelle is watching about people committing suicide on a tv show that Mark and I hate with a passion and she won’t turn to another channel.

We wind our way back to the hotel, get our bags out of storeage after a quick pit stop and slowly wend our way to Amsterdam Centraal Train Station. The closer we get the more people and bikes we encounter. And now I’m where I started this post, sitting at the railway station.

The train leaves on time, we’re in the right spot to get on carriage 37 and we find our seats easily. The Thalys train is very comfortable, very fast and in no time we’re in Rotterdam only to hear the news that there is a problem with the high speed rail and wet being detoured and will be 30 minutes later than planned into Brussels.

The navigator is worried about the connection but still worried about the fact that our ticket doesn’t say it covers the leg from Brussels to Brugge, although we’ve been assured that international trips into Brussels automatically cover this leg, we’ll see what happens.

The country from Amsterdam to Rotterdam is flat, productive looking land, it’s grey and looks like it’s drizzling outside.

As we get closer to Rotterdam the rain gets heavier outside, and the conductor arrives to check our tickets and deal with the navigator and her concerns regarding the Brussels – Brugge leg. He is a jovial chap, and handles the navigator well, she seems satisfied that we do indeedy have a ticket which says “ABS” which means that we can go to “Any Belgium Station” , which means he’s safe, Sonya is safe and Mark and I will be saved lots of “I told ya there’d be a problem….” listening. Thank goodness for this! Now she starts planning tomorrow’s shopping and getting ready for her and Mark to do their Segway tour while I’m off at the Flanders ( Belgium) battlefields of WW I checking out where 5 of the COOMBES family ( relatives on the REID side and also relatives by marriage on the Lyon side of my family) served and 2 died ( 1 in the Battle of Passchendael and one in the Battle of Messines with another being killed in the Somme (France) in the Battle of Poziers. The 2 that returned home – 1 was invalided back because of sickness and the other was wounded a few times and came back to end up an alcoholic, never marrying and was called “Old Soldier”. I have a poppy to put at Menin Gate memorial if I can find the memorial for Alfred COOMBES, this was given by my cousin in law Caroline Coombes who was involved in making poppies uses at the 100 year celebration at Villers Bretoneaux this year.

We’re in Antwerp and the train is now 40 minutes late. Nothing we can do, we just have to go with the flow unlike our neighbours in the train who are going to miss a link with the Eurostar to London.

Ciao for now from the train, next post might be later tonight once we’ve done a reccon mission in Brugge

Cheers

Paul

Amsterdam, it’s quiet and we sleep in, just a little bit.

The pressure is on from the navigator as we’re meant to be at the National Monument at 10.30 for our walking tour, despite her concern we make it to Dam Square and have some breakfast before we slowly wander over to the meeting point, get checked in and wait our start.

We booked a Sandermans – New Europe Free walking tour , it’s not really free because at the end you pay what you think it’s worth – we end up paying €10 each as it was pretty good. Alex was our guide, about 35, didn’t finish law at uni, lived in the USA for a year, seems to have a good sense of humour, we’ll find out if he’s good on the information and stories.

The first thing we learn is a little bit of Amsterdam etiquette, that is, crossing streets, bicycles, the safe areas ( all of it), so here are some of Axel’s thoughts;

• Cyclists should be called cyclopaths, the Dutch are pretty calm people but put them on a bicycle and they are aggressive and snarling. They fairly rip along in their laneways, sitting upright, some talking on mobiles, dinging their bells and snarling or giving the evil eye at what they see as f….wit pedestrians who wander into their space. What out for them all the time, we do and still nearly get mown down a number of times.
• Naming in Holland isn’t complex – Amsterdam is because of the Amstel River and where they built the dam is now Amsterdam, they call the West Church West Church etc etc.
• The Dutch East Indies company really ruled the world for many years with an economy equivalent to 7 trillion $ , bigger than France and Japan combined today, they did with private armies, private ownership owned by shareholders not the government.
• The Red Light area – if you feel a hand down your pants and you didn’t pay for it, then it’s a pickpocket. Engage and defend.

• The Dutch have 3 Rules that have applied to a lot of things through their history when making a decision whether to allow something that might upset somebody – it’s ok if;

a) It’s good for business. Eg Dope is not legal to grow, sell or own but it’s good for business so it’s tolerated. Same with the hookers in the windows in the red light area, now legal and now pay taxes but at one time not so.

b) If it can’t hurt anybody – eg hookers and smoking a little weed

c) Plausible deniability – the authorities turn a blind eye and say oh I think you’re over thinking this or words to that effect and effectively deny that there is an issue. This is how they became a Protestant country despite having a large catholic population and not having to evict or kill the Catholics. Long story this about the Catholic and Protestant’s but it all relates to the 80 years war with Spain and a few other BIG issues in their history

• Coffee Shop = Weed.
• Cafe = coffee
• There are 110 km of canals and 15,000 bicycles per year end up in the canals – mainly through drunks and vandals. They fish them out and recycle them – that’s a joke!
• Amsterdam has a long history of tolerance and was the first country to agree legalise to gay marriage- good on them – so they ( the government) erected a monument celebrating the gay population but also the many gay people who were incarcerated ( with pink triangles rather than the Jews star) and killed in WW II by the Nazis. This monument is in front of the most conservative church in Amsterdam.

We end the tour and lunch in the Jordaan area at a place called R03M, a groovy, funky area with way less tourists but crafty shops and nice cafe’s.

We walk the streets until about 4 then take an hour on a canal tour, sort of interesting but it was a little warm in the boat.

Genelle has a nail problem so while she gets her nails done I drop into a nearby gay bar for a beer, Mark keeps walking, but while the beer is enjoyable I’m not afforded the slightest interest by the well dressed chaps who bat left handed sitting nearby. Not sure if the problem is me or them?

we wander into the red light area, a few girls in the windows, the crowds growing but it’s still light so I’m guessing it gets busier later on.

We have dinner in a little Italian restaurant and keep walking back up towards Dam Square, our feet are hurting and despite wanting to stay a little later we hobble back through the alleys and streets, up canals and down canals to our haven at the Hotel Sebastian’s.

We have another half day here, so tomorrow morning is exploration of a few things we missed and then we’re on a train to Brussels and then on to Bruges in Belgium.

Ciao from Amsterdam

Paul

Day 18 – Berlin to Amsterdam

Dinner last night was down at a small restaurant on the Spree River, with the Berlin Dome, a Protestant church, it looks like a museum but it is actually a church, on the opposite bank. It’s a pleasant night, the food is good and we find it’s not more than 5 minutes from where we are staying, we just wandering in the long way.

A 6.30 rise, then a quick breakfast, shower and we’re out the door and checking out a little after 7. A little backerie (German for bakery I think) near Hackescher Markt provides some sustenance for the trip to Amsterdam. We pick up the M5 tram and we’re at the Berlin Hauptbahnof ( central station) way earlier than we thought.

The big board doesn’t tell us what platform yet so I walk to the Information desk where a surly bloke with a bit of a Sergeant Schultz type bloke tilts his head and looks at me with a “ this better be good” look. But it’s all OK, he tells me Platform 4 is our train and actually cracks a slight smile, “Danker” I say and mean it.

The wait until 8.34 when our train leaves, then mild panic from the navigator trying work out where Car 8 will come in is all eased when we are on board, bags stored and seats found.

The train moves quickly on to Spandau and Wolfsburg which looks like a large VW factory town.the country looks dry and in need of rain, a concept that we’re a bit familiar with. The train races through the flat farming country quickly at 150-200 kph, the wheat and barley in the small paddocks waving in the breeze and getting close to ripening.

When we get to Hanover at 10.50 it’s raining outside, today’s forecast is happening as predicted, the further west we go the darker the clouds look. Also, the further west we go the more I see of a maize like crop that’s just turning, I wonder if this is food, fodder or ethanol bound? My guess is ethanol. Oddly there are very few animals in the fields.

Berlin sum up.

Berlin is a happening place, spread out so you need to get a handle on the public transport system to handle it. Even then there is a lot of walking. There are still beggars on the streets and gypsies plying their scams like the piece of paper with sick babies or the peas under the cups scam, but there are also the funky ones with the twirly whirly mows and the way out skinhead types with shaved or half shaved heads, lots of body piercing, boots and knees out of their skin tight jeans, none of them are fat, and usually a dog with them. People walk around with dogs on leads everywhere, they get on trams and trains with dogs, we saw an Alsatian with a homeless type looking guy attack a guide dog in Hackescher Markt which was not much fun. People walk around with stubby of beer in their hands usually held by two fingers at the top – Berliner style I guess. The buskers are everywhere, lots of classical buskers. Peter our Urban Adventure man said Germans didnt have many poets but they had plenty of composers, I’m not sure what that means though, except maybe you don’t hear of many of the classic pop or rock songs ( poetry to music) written by Germans but there is a lot of timeless classical pieces written by German composers.

There is plenty of shopping, traditional at Alexanderplatz, the Mall of Berlin at Potsdamerplatz and many other areas, plus markets and fantastic specialty shops everywhere. The Saturn shops are huge electrical shops, nothing anywhere in Australia like this.

There are museums and galleries everywhere, young and old attend and look like they are interested. The streets are safe to walk pretty much anywhere, other than the odd stray remains of a vomit, there is little dog shit on the streets and strangely you see few police roaming the streets. Most toilets are pay to pee, 50c or €1 usually covers it and in the shopping centres you get a voucher that you can recover your spent penny from a shop if you actually do spend a penny.

Prices of coffee etc are about the same as Australia.

We cross into the Netherlands about 1.30pm, the fields have dairy cows and the odd sheep and the rain has got heavier.

A girl sitting behind me talks non stop, loudly the whole way from Berlin. Very inconsiderate, and rude, whatever she said the whole carriage heard, lucky for me it was Dutch and I didn’t understand a word other than “Mein Gott!!!!”

We arrive into Amsterdam Central on time, just after 3pm, we’re a little weary but work out which way to leave the train station ( nearly took the wrong way),set the hotel into Google Maps and walk, the navigator is a little whingey, but gets over the sore feet and shuffles along, Mark keeps and eye on her. Soon enough we’re at Hotel Sebastian’s, lovely area on the canals, and a nice unobtrusive little place, well decked out and friendly staff. Our room is nice but Genelle still has a little chip at the musty smell, I can’t smell it but she does.

A short rest and then our own orientation tour, a walk to Dam Square where some young people are doing a big dance thing, very entertaining. Observation – Amsterdam is dirty and grungy compared to Berlin but also more tourists I reckon, the place is chockers.

we have a quick fix dinner at a little place on the canals near the red light district, only the odd seedy looking sex paraphernalia shop around in this area, but the meal and the Grolsch beer is good. We wander deeper into the red light area and the odd girl is in a window trying to sell her wares, but it’s still early and a few have opened up shop early. Last time we were in Amsterdam was ten years ago in. Trafalgar tour, we had about 4 hours here so not much of a memory of Amsterdam from then about where things are.

We wander back through the alleys and across canals, Genelle doubting Google Maps and my direction but we’re back at Sebastian’s in about 15 minutes, I think her sore feet were impacting on her sense of direction, we’ll say no more.

Tomorrow we’re doing a walking tour of the city at 10.30, a boat canal cruise with food and drinks tomorrow night.

Ciao from Amsterdam

Paul

Breakfast is done and we’re off out the door heading for the Berlin Wall memorial area near Nordebahnof station. The M5 tram gets us up near there, we walk the rest of the way then explore the park where a large section of the wall has been retained, and where they moved a cemetery to cater for the space the wall needed.

Some Berlin info while I remember;

The 4 ways to get around on Public transport are :

• S – S Bahn Trains above ground
• U – U Bahn trains below ground
• M – trams
• Buses – 100 bus runs east west and 200 runs north south, that’s all I know about that option.

these work very well but it takes a few days to get the hang of them.

Berliners of all ages and sex walk the street with bottles of beer, larges and smallies, drinking, they hold them by the top of the bottle between thumb and index finger, a style that is or seems to me anyway particularly Berlin. There are groups of young people gathered in park and on footpaths drinking and joking, no sign of bad behaviour other than the telltale vomit stains on the footpath around the place.

Bikes – we haven’t got to Amsterdam yet but in Berlin there are lots of people on push bikes riding very fast in designated lanes, stay out of their laneway or you’ll get run over or abused. Bloody scary sometimes when you forget and walk in the laneway accidentally and turn and see a snarling Berliner on a bicycle bearing down of you – at pace.

Back to what we did for the day. In 1989 Ronny Reagan said ” Mr Gorbachev , tear down this wall”, in front of the Brandenburg Gate ( Brandenburger Tor) and Gorbachov did, to the surprise of everyone in the West, and effectively ended the Cold War. Very brave man Gorbachov. We wander through the wall memorial area, then catch a tram up to the Mauer Market, a large flea market in the old East Berlin. It’s seething with people in the dusty potholed area. They have designer stuff and genuine flea market stuff with copy Russian badges and medals trying to fleece the tourists. Genelle buys a very nice T shirt, I buy a piece of original art and Mark buys next to nothing despite much pressure from his mother. A small purchase relieves the pressure for him.

The tram back to Hackescher Markt is slow affair, not before the navigator thinks we should go left when we come out the gate, then arguing about it when I suggest she might end up in Moscow, things settle and a little lunch at a cafe at Hackescher then the S3 train to Warschaurer to the Eastside Gallery, famous for its murals on a long section of the wall still standing on the banks of the Spree River and where designated artists have done murals. It’s quite spectacular, but there is lots of it. The murals are very political and the language and art work can be confronting. It’s odd that a lot of the murals done by graffiti artists now have graffiti over them but that sort of adds to the effect in my opinion. The most famous mural is one of Brezhnev kissing Ronald Reagan in a full on pash, a pre cursor to the wall finally coming down in 1989, after 28 years standing and dividing the Berlin community and Germany in general.

Our feet are tired, we catch the train back to Alexanderplatz, wander around the plaza, hardly any shops open but a huge vegan festival going. One funny thing we see is a guy walking with a bulldog on a skate board, he wasn’t drinking and neither was the dog but the dog sure could ride! A really nice ice cream is what the Dr orders.

I retire to the apartment to take the weight off my feet, rest my aching back and sip a Heineken beer, and write up the final detailed version of the blog for yesterday while Genelle and Mark head to Museum Island I think in search of yet more markets.

They return for a rest while the sun is still in the sky, only being partially successful in the hunt for more German bargains.

Tomorrow we are on the 8.34 train to Amsterdam, 2nd class. I love travelling by train over here. It’s a 7 hour trip so it will allow a bit of a down day to rest the feet and back and regroup. Genelle and I were in Amsterdam 10 years ago for about 4 hours, it will be nice to have a few days to get a bit better look at it. After Amsterdam the bit I’m really looking forward to is a stop in Bruge in Belgium and I’ve got a trip to the Flanders Field battle fields where 5 family members saw service in WW I, only 2 returned home, 2 died in Belgium ( Battle of Messines and the Battle of Passchendaele) and 1 died in the Somme valley in France not far away in the Battle of Pozieres. I’ll stay for the last post at Menin Gate, a service that has been held every day since the end of WW I in 1918 wher 1 of them has a memorial plate on a wall – his body never found.

Cheers from Berlin for the last time – this trip anyway. Tomorrow I’ll sum up on Berlin, a city I really love

Paul

Ok, where was I? Oh I know, yesterday the Long Night of the Museums, with detail.. this time.

The Hackescher Markt Markets are a happening place, set in amongst the restaurants, all sorts of arty craft things, probably not my thing, but Genelle and Mark have a good look around and she finds a pair of linen pants to wear, the jeans have resulted in a rash over her legs, so any excuse to buy something I say, but not to her, and then they head to Alexanderplatz to get their train tickets to Potsdam.

Potsdam is about 24 kms from Berlin centre, and is renowned for the palaces and beatiful buildings. Potsdam was a residence of the Prussian kings and the Kaiser until 1918 ( that ended well for him – you know WW 1). Its planning embodied ideas of the Age of Enlightenment – through a careful balance of architecture and landscape, Potsdam was intended as “a picturesque, pastoral dream” which would remind its residents of their relationship with nature. For me, the knees are good, but the feet and calf muscles are aching so I decide to bail out on a trip out there and take it easy, and start my Museum day at the Art Museum beside the Pergamon and Nues Museum.

I have an easy start to the day, a slow breakfast, a walk through the market at Hackescher, and strange as it might seem I can’t find any jewellery, clothes or street food that suits me. I settle for a coffee and a marzipan and icing pretzel thingy, totally decadent but I feel that caffeine and sugar will help me get through the day, last year I would have had the coffee with 3 codeine and iboprofen tablets, and hobbled away with regular sit downs to keep myself going.

I head to Museum Island, it’s only 5 minutes from Hackescher Markt, to the Art Museum on the banks of the Spree River, but no action, WTF – the sign says ” Air Conditioner has Broken and we are not open until further notice”. Change of plans is now the order of the day, but change to what? I sit in the beautiful gardens amongst some of the sculptures and contemplate what I can do without the gentle hum of the navigator in my ear and the tension of every direction taken being challenged. I’m sure I’ll work something out.

Ok – my plan is now, seeing it’s drizzling rain, is wait for the Lange Nacht Der Museen (Long Night at the Museum) – tough translation that, which costs €18 and you can visit any museum in the 76 museum listed between 6pm and 2am, meanwhile I wander back Hackescher Markt way and wander in the drizzling rain around the alleys and and old buildings. I then get the train into Freidrichstrasser then Potsdamer Place, get my ticket for tonight at the Espionage Museum, my first planned museum. I have about 7 marked.

I’ve checked with Genelle, her and Mark are lined up at a palace and won’t be back in Berlin until about 6.30, but Mark would like to see the Espionage Museum. This is right near the Mall of Berlin, an extra large shopping centre, a brief interlude watching some professional dancers, a coffee and a waffle at a cafe, and by then I’ve had enough of the shopping centre.

Genelle and Mark have had a good day, but their feet are sore, they’ve walked all day and are exhausted and after Mark checks out the museum he’s decided that he’s had enough for the day. The Espionage Museum is great but it’s crowded, there is masses of stuff, real spy stuff from the Americans, the Brits, the East Germans and the Russians. We catch the trains back to Hackescher, via Hauptbahnof, the navigator decided against advice to take a train – which ended up being the right train but going the wrong way. Never the less she feels it was justified as we get the tickets for the train trip to Amsterdam out of the machine, Mark and I stay quiet, preferring not to poke the tiger.

Back at Hackescher we have a beautiful dinner in the restaurant area and they head back to the apartment, I head to the Altes Museum on Museum Island, on foot.

the Altes Museum is Berlin’s oldest museum, lots of Roman, Etruscan, Greek artifacts, lots of stuff. It’s quite late at night, the crowds are building, I get the M5 tram up the the Naturkunde Museum ( Natural History Museum). It’s packed but as it’s an enormous building the crowd is spread out. I get back about 12.30 am ( is that what I said yesterday?),exhausted, my eyes can’t focus, I’m dusted

Tomorrow is a bit of a freelance day, more about that tomorrow.

Ciao from Berlin again

Paul

The picture below is a Leunig cartoon I liked – not sure how to attribute him?

The Long Night of the Museums

Sounds like a good name for a movie. It’s 1am in Berlin, the city is still humming, there’s a slight chill outside, just enough for a coat, and the 87 museums involved in the Long Night of the Museums ( or words to that effect) – 6pm to 2am for €18 are still flat out with big lines to get in.

It’s a short blog tonight as I can hardly focus my eyes let alone my brain, so I’ll do a more detailed blog tomorrow.

In summary today was this;

• Genelle and Mark went to the markets in our area then to the palaces at Potsdam
• I went wandering, the art gallery, near Nues and Pergamon was closed due to the air con breaking and they’d shut down, then I went to the Espionage Museum, met Genelle and Mark
• We had dinner back at Hackescher Markt, they went to bed and I continued with museums until 1am

More details tomorrow when I can think straight

Ciao from Berlin

Paul

We’re over last nights nightmare, cranky, sulking millennial Corolla driving krauts are all forgiven.

We wake, muesli up, Irish tea scoffed and we head out to get our Berlin Welcome card for the free travel ( I know, you pay for it actually). But last year it worked really well. We head out to find the bus station to get Bus 100 to the Reichstag building to meet the Intrepid Urban Adventures tour and get lost, and I get lots. We can’t find the f….g bus stop, Google Maps has let me down, and the co navigator suggests a taxi. Of course I’d we’d had time to walk or get ready it may not have been a problem, but I admit I’m only saying this because I feel a little embarrassed.

A €10 taxi ride fixes the problem. We get to the big German flag on the western side of the Reichstag building before time, we meet 4 other Aussies who are on the Intrepid – Storyline of Berlin 4-5 hour walking tour of Berlin https://www.urbanadventures.com/Berlin-tour-storyline-of-berlin?__uap=Berlin. Our guide, Peter arrives in time and we are immediately into the Berlin thing. Peter is a local, has lived in the East before the wall came down, he escaped after 3 attempts and 2 years in goal, with a girl who was pregnant ( a friend not a girlfriend) in 1978/9 and now lives in Mitte in Berlin after some time living overseas in England and the USA. He’s pretty well qualified to give us an intimate view of being a Berliner in the 20th and 21st century. Our fellow travellers are from the Newcastle area, no names as I don’t recall them giving me permission to use them, but great company and one of the couples actually lived in Dubbo for some time many years ago.

Anyway on to the recent history of Berlin. It’s bloody, violent, and then the last 18 years or so have been pretty peaceful. Peter guides us through the area that linked East and West Berlin, the Russians, American and English took the world to the brink of war on a number of occasions because of dickhead military types getting into schoolboy pissing contests – that’s my simplistic way of describing what Peter tells us. But, there is a heart and a soul to the city, there is culture, the written word, music and a fusion of people from all over the world, it feels like a fun place. We walk through where Russian tanks and anti tank guns are displayed, the Brandenburg Gate, Hitlers bunker ( he didn’t survive it folks), Checkpoint Charlie, the Gendermarkt area, the museum area and finally we have a few beers and lunch in the Haeckerscher Markt area. Peter has done a great job, we feel that his personal story and that he gave something personal to us let us inside his shell, I think and believe what he said was true.

Lunch was hoot, the Newcastle guys drank 2 x litres of beer each as well as eating.

We rest up at the apartment for an hour and head the Alexanderplatz on foot, check the shops out, mainly the C&A shop for cheap jeans for me – none bought – yet. We then head on the trains, R trains and U Bahn trains back to Checkpoint Charlie, and then catch the trains back to Hackescher Markt for a light dinner, a giant 1 litre of lager and then a walk up the hill in the Mitte area of Berlin. This city goes late, I expect it will be too late for me. The only thing that would excite me and keep me up late is to find that pouting, cranky, barely out of teens driver and beat the crap out of home in Dark Berlin laneway, but then that’s not really me is it.

Tomorrow it’s Markets and castles for Genelle and Mark and Museums for me

Ciao from Berlin

Paul