Fresh on the heels of Kristen and Lauren’s visit to the States, we decided that everyone needed a chance to experience America after being in Germany for a year. Since parent-teacher conferences were scheduled for 2 days this week, and the kids were out of school, we packed up the van and drove to Ramstein Air Base, a 4 hour drive north from Hohenfels. For military families, Ramstein is a destination in itself: the largest military shopping complex in the world featuring a movie theater, hotel, American restaurants and tons of little shops with European goodies. We were able to reserve TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) for 3 nights at $78 per night. Each TLF is a small apartment with full kitchen, laundry and 3 bedrooms. Bonus for us: each room had it’s own TV and DVD player. so much for quality family time but boy! how quiet it is when the kids each find a corner to hide out in.
While in Ramstein, we managed to hit the PX several times. I’m not usually one to enjoy shopping for boy’s clothing but there is something exhilarating in discovering that Levi’s has more than the “550” style jean. Will and Lilly hung out in the video/gaming area of the store–which had been set up with lounge chairs and couches so that shoppers could try out the latest in X-Box 360 Dance Central game. This became “kid central” and plenty of pre-teens were gathered around to cheer each other on. Each visit was capped off with a visit to the movies: Wreck It Ralph on Thursday and Skyfall (James Bond movie) on Saturday.
Since it just seems wrong to travel in Germany without experiencing something of cultural value, we drove to Trier, probably best known for the Porta Nigra, the black gate constructed in 160AD by the Romans. We first visited this site with Denise Rietkerk about 15 years ago on a cold and rainy December day. The weather was much the same for this visit but for some reason, the history seemed to come to life. We toured the gate, walked through the main town square, and stopped at the Trier Cathedral where the Holy Robe is kept in a wooden box on display at the altar. It’s said that this holy robe is THE seamless robe of Christ and that Helena, mother of Constantine, brought the robe to Germany when she lived here. We’ll never know for sure if this is indeed THE robe but having a story like this associated with your church sure makes tourists come out in droves. We finished off the visit with a trip to Karl Marx’s house, the Roman amphitheater and tasty doner kebaps for lunch. All this talk about the Romans has gotten me interested in reading “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.” I wonder if I can finish it before we move back to the States?
Another blog about Prague
Once again we made a trip to our favorite eastern bloc city: Prague. Lindsey and her friend Lauren thought it would be great to head out to Prague, our fairy tale city of choice. Lauren has travelled extensively in Europe but had never been to the Czech Republic before. We couldn’t resist the chance to present to her a city that reminds us of Disneyland. We left home at 9am and made it to the Prague-Arcaden mall by 11:30am. We first stopped at the border crossing and paid a quick 16 euros for a vignette, the vehicle sticker that lets us travel unhassled on the autobahn for 10 days. Then, we tried to park at our favorite Park and Ride, next to the Zlicin stop on the metro. But, handy signs on the autobahn let us know that there were no available spaces at the P+R stops so we made a decision to park at the mall and chance not having a “security guard” watching our car for the day.
Not a problem, it turns out. The mall is a nice one with Rip Curl, Starbucks and H+M on hand. We simply walked through the convenient pedestrian tunnel connecting the mall with the metro stop to purchase our metro day tickets (110 Czech Kroene=$5) and after a 20 minute metro ride, made it to the Old Town by 12:30pm. The three of us hit the Mucha museum first and I highly recommend this delightful little museum featuring the posters and art work by Alphonse Mucha. Following a tasty salad lunch at a restaurant near the St Charles bridge, we crossed over the Vltava River and took Tram #22 up to the Castle Complex. This time in Prague, we took the tram to the monastery high up on the hill and managed to score a new view of the city from this great height. We walked down to the cathedral, castle and other buildings in castle complex and wound our way through the vineyards before making back to the car (after a brief stop at the mall Starbucks–open til 10:00pm) and home by 9pm. Whew…an exhausting but satisfying day!
Berlin
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
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
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
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.
A Moveable Feast 