Was ist das?

We've been active in our existence here in the land of currywurst...

Gatzaenkers visiting our flat, kinder behaving as pigeons in a park. It was cute and scary.


Anders has four teeth, two are on display here.


Part of the quite impressive and sprawling soviet memorial in Treptowerpark. In response to the question of the estimated cost of this DDR era memorial our Berlin by way of New Zealand cold war tour guide Mike said "I'm not sure, that's a good question." He then went on to explain how after blowing up most of Hitler's favourite hangouts in Berlin the soviets then carted off all the marble, brick and stone and recycled most of it into various city projects and memorials, including this one.


Another part of the memorial. According to Mike, this statue of a red army soldier with a child in his arms holding a sword and crushing a swastika underfoot is based on a real soldier who, during the taking of Berlin in 1945, discovered a child crying in the arms of her dead mother in the smoldering Berlin rubble. He went on to be the symbol of the red army liberators. He's really big. That's Randy and Emery in the doorway entrance, they are small. Yeah.


Myself enjoying the bountiful fruits of Mauerpark in Prenslauerberg. I believe that is the universal sounds of Abba being cheered in the background.


Saoirse took this photo of the side of a non descript building on a non descript side street in Kreuzberg that has a descriptive mural on it.


This is a dramatic photo of the memorial to the dead jews of recent history. There is a longer name for it but it escapes me. Underneath the memorial is an information centre that walks you through a timeline of the escalating persecution of jews, sinti and roma during the third reich. It is informative and moving with many personal histories donated by relatives of those who did and didn't survive the war. Nobody was smiling and it was very solemn as you can imagine and there was at least one letter from a child to his father just before he and his mother were taken to Auschwitz that moved me to tears...


Saoirse at Kottbusserdamm U-Bahn stop. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this face, one day a wind will blow and it will stick like that.


So, there is so much we've done recently, from Randy and I going on a cold war walking tour, to the soviet memorial in Treptowerpark to the nighttime shenanigans of K.B., but both Emery and Anders are setting each other off as screeching baby eagles and we need to take them out for a walk before a double infanticide occurs. (I am joking about the murder of children BUT I AM NOT JOKING about how bad the screeching is, you feel t.v. snow settling over your psyche and you want to snap like a turtle.)

Until later...