I'm no artist, but one has to try.

These Buddy Bears were all over the place in Berlin. I didn't get to take a photo of them all, but got most of the ones I did see. They seemed to appear is some strange places inside and outside. I liked that they were all painted differently. Kind of appropriate to the timing, I found a bear with an Olympic medal. There were two at the Olympic Stadium, but I could only get so close to them as they were behind the guarded gate. You can see the soccer ball (football) by his foot.

I tried to be a little artsy with some photos of the trees and vines in our Sunday walk around town. Here is what I came up with. Not my best work, but I kind of like the vines running up the sides of buildings.

Do you think I'm looking up or down in the photo below?

Penny kept talking about the walk - don't walk signals on the corners of streets and how they were different in the East and West parts of Berlin. 

We actually found a store called "Ampellman" which had all kinds of products with these figures on them. Is was quite funny.

While getting on the train at one of the stations we spotted these shoes. I wonder if they make him fly?

People give me grief about my five fingers, but these are strange. Notice the face on the tongue of the shoe!

And finally on the train home, we got a great view of a sunset. A nice finish to our trip.

"Berlin! Berlin! Wir fahren nach Berlin!."

"Berlin! Berlin! We're going to Berlin!"  FYI, that is apparently a chant used during the World Cup in 2006, and is also chanted by supporters of the BFB-Pokal-finalists before the finals in Berlin.  (Thanks wikipedia!)

"The Pub" - yep, that is a self-serve
tap at the table!!

We did our first international trip last weekend! It was all the way to Berlin, Germany. I must say, it is very odd to us that we can travel to a foreign country in just a few hours by train. I think we are going to like this living in Europe thing!

It started with a 4.25 hr train ride, on a lovely Valentine's Day evening, a very "romantic dinner" on the train, and a whole lot of young men (students??) who had started their drinking early - although were surprisingly quiet and well mannered, all things considered.  This is definitely one thing that struck us on both train journeys is how very very quiet it was.  Our card shuffling was sometimes the noisiest thing on the train.

Upon arrival (9:30 - 10pm) we just had to go and try some great German beers. Another point of difference we noticed was that it was relatively difficult to just find a pub/bar to drink a beer. Everything we found seemed to be eating establishments, and people were eating late!! We thought they only did that in Spain, not in Germany.  Oh well, lesson learned.  (Don't worry, we did find a place to have our beer.)

Scott in front of the Reichstag

Saturday was filled with exploring the essential sights of the city.  Starting with a tour of the glass dome at Reichstag (Gov't house),  Brandenburger Tor, the Holocaust memorial, Potsdamer Platz, the Topographie des Terrors museum (site of the old SS headquarters - now a free museum), Checkpoint Charlie, the Mauermuseum (Wall museum - with much documentation on the escape attempts), and finally the DDR museum (a touchy-feely look at life in East Germany with the wall).

Can you find us?

Brandenburger Tor

The stone blocks in the Holocaust Memorial

A section of the wall, outside the Topographie des Terrors

Outside the DDR museum

Checkpoint Charlie and the Mauermuseum

Needless to say, it was a full day with lots of learning. Also a bit sad and confronting. It really made us realise what life might have been like and the fact that it was in our lifetime, and we were born and growing up around the same time.  Many things about that time are still confusing to me, but I have a much better appreciation for it now.

Really enjoyed the German beers!

So what do we do to cap off our day????  Surely it was to find a good microbrewery!  Hops & Barley was a bit out of the way, but was totally worth the effort - great vibe, great beer.  We also had a late dinner, so were very happy that the Germans do eat so late.

Sunday was a much different focus. We started the day with a visit to the Olympic stadium, then to the East Side Gallery - a 1.3km section of the Wall, converted into an Art Gallery, the Berlin Cathedral, and Hackesche Hofe - a series of very lovely, interlinked courtyards.

 

Olympic Stadium - figures there was a game on that day, so we couldn't go in.

One of the many beautiful murals at the East Side Gallery

Berlin Cathedral

Berlin Cathedral

View over Berlin from the top of the Cathedral

Just one of the many cute courtyards.

All in all, Berlin was great.  Oh, and don't worry, we did try some classic Berlin/German foods, including apple strudel and the currywurst. One we really enjoyed, the other - well, not so much.

To do anything in the Netherlands you need to have.....

Ok, we have now spent our first week in the Netherlands.  So far so good, but we have learned one VERY VERY important lesson.  In order to do pretty much anything in the Netherlands you need your residence permit.  Ok, that may seem very obvious, but it is the step after you get the residence permit that is crucial. You need your residence permit so that you can open a Dutch bank account, and a Dutch bank account is vital for so very very very many things you need to do to live your life. Let me give a few examples.

1. We got new phones and phone plans when we arrived. Used the credit up, and need to recharge.  Go online, try to recharge --- NO! Not without a Dutch bank account!  We can go the store and pay cash though.

2. They have absolutely wonderful cards that you use for all forms of public transport in the Netherlands (the OV-Chipkaart). Again, we got one of these when we arrived, have used up the credit and need to recharge.  Try to go online and recharge --- NO! Not without a Dutch bank account!  Ok, we will just go to the train station ticket machines -- NO! Not with a Dutch bank account!  We can go to the service counter, wait in line, and pay for it in cash.

Part two of this story, we also want to get a train discount card.  It's a really good deal (50euros for 40% off of all our train trips!), especially as we plan on travelling a bit!  Can we get a discount card - no! Not without a Dutch bank account!  First you need the bank account, then you can get a "personal" OV-Chipkaart, and then, and only then, can you apply for this discount card.

3. The grocery store - yep, the major chain grocery store all through the Netherlands.  You either need to pay in cash - or yep, you guessed it, you need a Dutch bank account. No foreign credits cards accepted.

4. We try to book our train tickets to Germany for next weekend. It is an international trip, on an international website.  It lets us get ALL the way through the booking process, I enter our Australian credit card details  --- and denied. Only credit cards from Europe are accepted.

Also on a related topic, there are some limitation we have found with Scott's ability to get a job.  He needs a BSN (like a social security number in the USA and a TFN in Australia). And guess what, you need a residence permit to get the BSN. Most likely, he will also need a Dutch bank account to get paid.

So needless to say, as soon as we get our residence permit we will be getting a dutch bank account. They tell me I can go to Zwolle - the capital city of this territory - this week sometime to pick it up!  Yay!

Musings on our COLD beginnings in the Netherlands

We have arrived in the sunny Netherlands!  Sunny, yes, warm - not even close.  It is cold.  It was around 2C on our first morning.  Quite the jump for the 30+ C weather we left in Sydney.  Needless to say, we learned some things.

1. All hats are not created equal. Size matters.  I tried to wear Scott's hat (as mine was in the suitcase we left at the airport - Doh!), but it was too big.  Tried on several others, while some were pretty, they weren't warm.  I selected a new woolen one. It looked so warm and thick, but alas, it seems to have stretched quite quickly and the those holes in the knitting do not make for good wind resistence.
2. Gloves!!  It took two layers of gloves that I wore in Sydney to even have a chance of keeping my hands warm!
3. The sun is lazy here.  We were lying in bed thinking it was still early. Then we checked the time, it was 8am, and the sun still wasn't up.  The sun didn't really get going until about 9am. This kind of works out as it seems most shops don't open until 10 or 12.  Even breakfast places weren't open!
4. Sex workers are hearty souls.  We wandered down to the red light district in Amsterdam in the morning while we waited for things to open up.  While there weren't many women in the windows, there were several, and I certainly hope their little rooms are well heated.  Those girls don't wear much, for obvious reasons, but they made me cold just looking at them.

After this cold start in Amsterdam, we made our way to our new home town of Enschede. We were met at the train station by my lovely colleague from the University, Piet.  He has been so kind and generous with us. Definitely help make this transition easier.  Now, we went and picked up the keys to our new "furnished" apartment, and went to go check it out.  Again, many new things learned.

"41m2, 2 room furnished apartment" actually means a 5 room apartment.  It is actually quite large. Our bedroom is very spacious, and so is the living/kitchen/dining room.  The other three rooms are a toilet, an enormous shower room, and believe it or not a very large (and very warm) storage room. The furnishings are, however, rather sparse.  Let me explain.....

 Bedroom - two separate beds, two separate doonas.  A table acts as a desk. And there is some sort of fresh air intake thing on the window.  At least that is what we think it is.

 Also, please note the large wardrobes and chest of drawers! We actually moved one of the drawers from the living room.  So plenty of room... mainly due to the lack of items in the bedroom.

There is a lovely little hallway.  Oh, and I should point out, we were told that we were in Apartment 11. Upon entering the building we see a sign "11+12" and "13+14" on the wall. No sign on the 5 doors in front of us. We try and try with our keys. Finally after disturbing our neighbor, and jiggling the keys we get in.  And then see that our bedroom is #11, and our living room is #12. Ah yes, that makes perfect sense!

The toilet.  Not much to say, except there is no lid????

 The shower room.  Now a few things of note here.  Please note the height of the shower head. Also the width of the shower itself - it is massive. Then, note the size of our towels.  They barely dry me, how do they dry the Dutch people who are so much bigger??

The rest of the shower room. There is absolutely no storage space. Where exactly are we supposed to put our things?? Also, the height of the mirrors????  Seriously!!  I can only see my eyebrows and up!

 The storage room - or as we call it - the hot box. Also, please note our "hat rack" that was much discussed before we left.  This room also makes for an excellent place to hang our sweaty clothes!

  The living/dining/kitchen.  First some perspective with the rest of the house.

 Then two more table/desks.  And ultra stylish and comfy dining chairs.

 The living room part - Two more super comfy and stylish chairs. No couch.  Oh and don't forget our one painting that was supplied!

The kitchen - if you can call it that. Two burners, a bar fridge,  a coffee pot and......nope that's it.  No oven, no microwave, no storage. Oh, the wardrobe on the right, is a clothes wardrobe. It has hanging space!! In the kitchen??