Berlin

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Kristen

The Reichstag, Berlin

During our time in Berlin, we managed to cover a lot of ground. Will commented that the thing he liked best about the city was it’s “excellent public transportation that gets you to where you want to be.” For the two full days we were in Berlin we bought the group day ticket which got 5 of us unlimited public transportation for 15 euros. We also had to purchase an additional child’s unlimited use ticket in order for the whole family to travel together. It was quite a bargain and a good alternative to walking everywhere. In fact, it was rare to see a lot of vehicle traffic in the city–I think Berliners have done a great job of using public transportation and helping tourists get a handle on the system too.
On Sunday, the family split up with the girls going to the zoo and Tim, Will and I going on a Third Reich Tour of Berlin. The 3 hour walking tour was fascinating and included seeing the sites of Hitler’s bunker, the no man’s zone between East and West Berlin, the Luftwaffe building and various other notorious buildings symbolizing the tragic events leading up to WWII and the separation of the city. We chose berlinwalks.com for our tour needs because we’ve used them before in other cities and their guides have never failed to both inform and entertain us. Mort, our guide for Berlin, offered many personal illustrations about life in Berlin during 1920s through today and we have a good handle of the role Berlin played in the Great War.
Our afternoon was spent in the Pergamon Museum and a walk at the East Side Gallery to see the Wall. I was a bit disappointed with the Pergamon, primarily because my vision of what the temple should look like was not at all how it actually is today. For some reason, I was expecting a fully formed temple with goddesses and gods gloriously guarding the entrance. Instead, it’s a combination of historical pieces and “blank areas” that you have to use the imagination to bring the structure to life. Far more impressive is the Ishtar Gate in the adjoining room. While it is also missing a great deal of the original structure, the sheer size and deep blue color of the tiles allows the mind to visualize how grand the space really was.
The visit to the East Side Gallery to see the artists’ contributions to the Wall was inspirational, if a bit long. Lilly was simply dragging throughout the entire walk but I did see 2 paintings I consider iconic…The Kiss and The Trabi breaking through the wall. Once I saw those images, I felt like I could put a checkbox on the experience.

Berlin’s Must Do List

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Kristen

Working your network becomes critical for families trying to plan a weekend trip at the last minute. Both Facebook and WikiTravel have became my new favorites as I developed an itinerary that blended the interests of 4 adults and 2 kids. Based on the recommendations of friends who recently visited the city, these were our top sites:
Pergamon Museum… a museum built specifically to house the excavations of the temple in Pergamon as well as showcase the Ishtar Gate from Babylon. Those Germans were crafty folks in the early 1900s as they plundered valuable treasures from Turkey and took the booty back home
The Berlin Wall… wasn’t sure what I was going to see but I had heard that pieces of the wall still stood in the city. We found a still-standing segment of the wall dividing old East Berlin from West Berlin and the East Side Gallery showcases pieces of the wall that have been used as canvas by artists in the 1990s.
Brandenburg Gate… the only remaining city gate from the old city.
Cinestar Original Movie Theater at Sony Center…OK, it doesn’t qualify as a historic site but we heard stories that there was an English-language movie theater in the city and we were eager to watch a first run movie in our native tongue.
We made it into Berlin by noon on Saturday. We left our bags with the hotel reception desk (rooms not available until 2pm) and then took the metro directly to Alexanderplatz, a large shopping district in Berlin. From there, we followed the blue signs on street posts that direct tourists to the top sites. We decided to begin our visit to Berlin with a visit to the DDR museum, a place dedicated to better understanding what it was like for residents to live in East Berlin during the Cold War period. It’s a pretty cool place to hang out WHEN it’s not packed with visitors. It is such a tiny museum space that reading all the placards and touching the exhibits is practically impossible without bumping into your neighbor. It did have a Trabi on display–this is the car that East Germany designed and marketed after the explosive success of West Germany’s VW beetle. The Trabi was made out of plastic and once ordered, took 16 years to receive from the factory!
After DDR museum, we found both Dunkin Donuts and the Brandenburg Gate conveniently next to each other. How happy the kids were to see the donut sign; how surprised I was to be standing in front of the world’s most famous gate! I’d say it was a win-win afternoon after this stop.
To round out our evening, we hiked over to the Sony Center and did find the English-language movie theater. Tim bought tickets for us to see Spiderman in 3-D and it felt so good to sink into those comfy, rocking theater seats and revel in the English language without having to read sub-titles. Interesting for us: we were the only English-laguage speakers in the theater. Everyone else was German or Pakistani!

A weekend in Berlin

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Kristen

This past week, Tim gave me the good news that he had a long weekend off from work—meaning 4 days of unstructured time where we can be crazy and generally goof off. In past years, we really do go crazy by undertaking some DIY house project that turns into 4 weeks on non-stop stress. But, living in government quarters limits the options for creative design. So, I tackled something I’ve wanted to do for many years…plan and execute a weekend excursion in under 24 hours.
Some limitations for our family:
we have 6 people in the family–this means at least 2 bathrooms for accommodations (no more hostel experiences for the Rietkerks, thank you Denmark!)
someone to watch our dog Lady because we weren’t about to travel with her in the van
A location in Germany that can be reached in 4 hours by car (Tim couldn’t technically leave the country so Italy and Croatia were out)
Some place we haven’t been before

Photo shoot

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Kristen

When we returned from our trip to Austria, we dropped off Tim’s parents at the Munich Hautbonhof (train station) for their 7 day excursion to Venice and Cinque Terra, Italy. We then had 3 days of relative peace and quiet before my friend Christine Wood and her friend Evelyn Cervantes flew in from Africa for a 3 days blitz in Bavaria.

I first met Chris in 2006 through PWOC, the military women’s ministry, when I served on the international board. She facilitated a week long leadership academy for the board members and this was the time I became “hooked” on leadership and organizational growth. From my further conversations with Chris, I enrolled in Azusa Pacific University’s Operation Impact masters degree program and spent the next 3 years traveling the world and learning about leadership in a non-profit setting. Chris served as a mentor on my thesis paper and has become a great friend over the years. When she heard we had moved to Germany, it seemed perfect that she pit stop here before heading on to Prague for her vacation. Traveling with Chris was Evelyn, a photo journalist who accompanied Chris to Jos, Nigeria to document the work they were doing with the community in Jos. Evelyn graciously volunteered to do a photo shoot of the girls on Monday evening just as the sun was setting. To see more photos of the girls, click on the box above.

Konigsee and Obersee in the Alps

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Kristen

Boat houses on Königsee

Nestled at the base of the German alps are hundreds of little lakes called “sees.” A popular one for tourists when visiting Berchtesgaden is the Konigsee, a thin finger lake that is visible when you’re at the top of Kelstein (Eagle’s Nest). Electric boats ferry passengers between 2 stops on the lake and we chose to visit the second stop, the bottom tip of the Obersee. We took the easy 1 hour hike from the ferry stop to “almost” the base of a waterfall high in the alps. The views along the path were breath-taking and Tim and I decided this is one place we want to come back to and complete the trek to the base of the waterfall.

Berteschgarten and Konigsee

“The water is great!”

Seeing what the Eagle Sees

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Kristen

The kids in Berteschgaden

We loaded up the van and drove to the delightful tourist town of Berchtesgaden, Germany. We selected this village because of its proximity to Salzburg, Austria and its connection to WWII (specifically as the city where Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest retreat was built). Tim found a great little gausthaus with enough space for the entire Rietkerk brood. Mom and Dad’s little apartment even had a small balcony where they could enjoy a glass of wine and a view of the hillside.

Our first stop was the Konigsee, about 20 minutes from the B-n-B. A retreat for many Germans, this lake is hidden from the parking lot by a bazillion tourist gift shops selling worthless trinkets highlighting the treasures of Bavaria. It reminded me a bit of Tijuana, Mexico except more charming. The lake itself is spectacular; emerald green waters and soaring mountains surrounding it. A few days later, we took a boat ride from the docks to the other side of the lake and then hiked to the Obersee, a one hour trek through forests and on the side of a cliff. (Don’t worry…there are steel cables along the rocks to help you anchor yourself to the side). At the end of the hike we were treated to a fantastic view of a huge waterfall and peaceful waters of the Obersee.

The Eagle’s Nest, Adolf Hitler’s mountain getaway

Mountain view

The girls

A Moveable Feast

Author Archives: Kristen