Berlin

John-The Meeting:

We were looking forward to our Berlin Sit because our hosts have two cats, Oskar and Lucy, and our host, Ellie, seemed very nice during the Skype interview and in all communications. We did spend a night in Berlin while traveling from Gdansk to Munich. While we only saw the train station and our hotel, it was all impressive and Ellie said their home was in the “cool” section.

Lucy

We flew into the Berlin Schonefeld Airport in the afternoon and walked out into a beautiful sunny day. The signage indicated the train we needed was close, just down a pathway. We passed the “Mama Burrito” food truck and stopped for a beer at a beer garden. The train took us to the tram that dropped us off just in front of our hotel Ellie had suggested. Barb told Ellie we arrived and the hotel was nice. Ellie said she and Ben would meet us in front of the hotel at 7 for a short walking tour of their neighborhood and back to their home for a review of our responsibilities and to meet Oskar and Lucy.

At about 10 minutes to seven we went down to the lobby. It was busy with guests checking in and out and waiting for the remaining members of their group to go out to see Berlin. After a few minutes I went outside to look for our hosts. I was entertaining myself by balancing on the curb looking for a car with two young people thinking they should recognize me because I was certain to look just like the person Barb would be married to. Across the street from the trams and further down our street toward Alexanderplatz I saw people, sitting, standing and walking through and around the chairs and tables in the lights from the businesses and street lamps. If I didn’t have plans I would have ventured to either street to see what the people were doing. Within minutes I noticed two people approaching slowly and felt they were looking at me. My first thought was, “Don’t make eye contact for fear of provoking an altercation!” so I avoided eye contact, it is a city of over 3.5 million. Luckily, they had more sense than me because the woman asked if I was John and then I realized it was Ellie and Ben. Not a good first impression on my part. I partially regrouped, greeted them both with only a handshake and said, “I will get Barb.”

Barb came out with her huge warm smile and outstretched arms providing each of our hosts with a comforting hug. Ben and Ellie must have been relieved Barb was accompanying me. They walked us across the street explaining their home was on the other side of the busy street divided by the Tram tracks. The street we were walking on was wide with trees and people enjoying the gorgeous night. Ben and Ellie explained they didn’t frequent this side because there are so many places to enjoy in the area around their home. The roads were not busy with cars as I’d expected in an area at the heart of a city of that size but we saw later that the trams, trains and buses were very popular. Berlin is also been ranked tenth most friendly bike city in the world, another reason for the noticeable absence of vehicles. Ellie had just explained the distinction of bike lane paths from the pedestrian walkways as we started walking toward the street. I looked at the sidewalk and saw the bike lanes were red pavers, a clear demarcation from the sidewalk. At that moment I felt a polite tug on my arm prompting me to move quickly in that direction. It was Ellie directing me out of the path of an oncoming cyclist. Slick second impression, oblivious.

Great neighborhood food!

After crossing the street, we walked up and down several blocks with Ellie and Ben pointing out places of interest. The streets were wide with tall trees toward the street and tall clean buildings with attractive architecture and some color differentiating one from the other. There were restaurants, bars, late night convenient stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, a cake decorating shop, “Cake Ville -- Bake, Rattle and Roll”, with ample people and good energy. At one point, Ben said he hoped we will enjoy our stay in Berlin. At that moment Ben motioned toward a wine shop. He talked to the clerk and they selected a bottle of wine.



We then thought it was a good time to meet Oskar and Lucy. They live in a two story home. Both cats were friendly and playful. We knew they were going to be good hosts while Ben and Ellie were on holiday. I say hosts because we knew if we abided by Oskar and Lucy’s rules everything would go smoothly. Ben and Ellie showed us their place pointing out the automatic cat food feeder and watering bowl, along with other items to make our stay more pleasant. Since none of us had eaten Ellie had a Nepalese restaurant deliver some food. We said they could order anything because we will eat any food. We talked over a glass of wine about Berlin, politics, cats and we coaxed Ben to show us the video he made of their year of house sitting in and around Australia. He said when they returned home many people asked them what they did for a year so they thought it would be easiest to describe it through a video. They paused the video when the food was delivered. There was antipasto, a calzone type food, and two small pizza like foods with a light airy crust with cheese, sauce and, one had whole olives. I enjoyed it all but loved the antipasto probably because I had seen that on menus all my life and never knew what it was. After watching the video, Barb and I were ready to look for Sit opportunities in Australia.

The conversation tripped and flowed from subject to subject while drinking a couple additional glasses of wine. Barb and I wanted to open the next bottle of wine but, begrudgingly, suggested we go because we expected they had to prepare for their trip. I have been told it is a good practice to leave the dinner table slightly hungry. I suppose that allows you to feel you’ve earned the right to your next meal. Well, we left that night wanting to spend more time with our hosts and maybe we will see them before we leave Berlin or during another adventure we may be on.
My response to Ben’s hope we enjoyed our stay should have been, “I don’t see how we couldn’t!”, because we loved it!

Barb – The Stay:

Ben and Ellie’s neighborhood was great! We found great restaurants, a nice pub, a grocery store nearby as well as the tram being very convenient.

We took a tour of the city one day by taking 2 different public buses that pretty much circled the city.

We went to the Berlin Wall. There are many areas of the Wall left and we choose the East Side Gallery area. Many artists have left their mark on the wall and this section spans about a mile.

You can see more of my photos of the Berlin Wall. Just CLICK HERE.

Ben and Ellie had an amazing Espresso machine and John took full advantage of it (with a little help from Lucy)

Ellie had told us about the Festival of Lights that would be happening during our stay. It sounded nice but we had no idea how amazing it would be! Every year, Berlin turns into a world full of light art. International artists present glowing light projections, 3D video mappings and light installations, transporting their messages, themes and contents. These artistic projections on landmarks, monuments, buildings, streets and neighborhoods. We had never seen anything like it! Live music accompanied some of the light shows and I captured part of one.

You can view the video of the light show. CLICK HERE.

You can see more photos from the light show. Just CLICK HERE.

Oskar

And of course there was Lucy and Oskar, our “hosts”. They were entertaining, adorable and loads of fun! It was a great Sit and we were so happy to be able to have lunch with Ben and Ellie when they returned home.








If you would like to see more of my photos of Berlin, just CLICK HERE.

Cheers!
Barb and John