Saturday 7 April 2012

Crackpots & cracking times

I should have said my name was 'Finja'. P.S Not only are our real names plastered all over the internet, you'll also find them on the wall at the Legoland Discovery Centre, Berlin.

Ah, the things I could tell you if only I had never set up this blog using my real name, and had never used photos of my family. Sometimes it's a curse! For example I would have been able to tell you an awesomely funny story of a truly horrific playdate I went on with the kids this week. You know it's not going well when you get asked round for coffee and you're the one who has to go for the milk, and you have to run faster than Paula Radcliffe there and back because Orla's parting words are "They're trying to take Hamish's trousers off!", and there's just something about the family that makes you just a little uncomfortable with that.

Alas, we're going to have to wait until either we've left Berlin, or they've left Berlin (and let's hope it's them, and soon) before I can tell you about it. Unless you email me, and I'll spill the beans ;)

As you may have noticed from the plethora of bunny-related blog posts, it's Easter. Orla has been on holiday now for a week and without even trying we've managed to pack each day with events that have cost either very little or nothing. We had a day of playing on 'one' day as Orla wanted to stay home and get stuck into all her new toys. Then on 'another' day we had a lovely day at Berlin Zoo with some good friends and spent a lot of time not looking so much at animals, but talking endlessly, avoiding fast-moving zoo traffic, and playing in the quite brilliant park.

Now this was a nice playdate. Fun is a shared love of railings.


On 'another one of the' days we spent a couple of hours in the depths of hell, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, and then went on a fake appointment on the other side of the city so we didn't have to spend any longer with them. And we also went to Legoland 'another' day because the kids have been dying to make more use of our year passes and I HATE that place on the weekends. For some reason I had convinced myself that the Germans would take their Easter holidays on a different week, perhaps that was the only way my brain would allow me to actually make the suggestion of Legoland to the kids. It's not that it's not good: in fact I'd say that the Legoland Discovery Centre at Potsdamer Platz is one of the best places to take kids in Berlin. As long as you like being underground and packed in like a sardine and enjoy noise levels from squealing kids that could drown out a pneumatic drill.

Don't get excited Orla, this poster is the best bit.

We also went along to the 'Helden' (Superheroes) exhibition at the Film & TV Museum in the Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz. I had seen the poster in one of the U-Bahn stations and Hamish had been very keen to see Spiderman. It was reasonable enough to get in to: Euro 4 for me and the kids were free, but it was a bit of a disappointment. The 3 Spidermen they had on display looked remarkably similar to the very small ones Hamish plays with, and well... the Star Wars display was just the Lego figures of the characters. If anyone wants to see a Disney Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story, & Cars exhibition, I will be showing one made out Duplo for the next 6 months in Hamish's bedroom.

The Sony Center roof viewed from the -2 floor. It's a geometric dream.

I will say however, that I am glad we went into it. I haven't bothered visiting the Film & TV museum because I kind of assumed that it would primarily focus on German films and tv that I wouldn't be familiar with. But it's worth going in even to the foyer and using the glass lifts to get a different view of the Sony Center roof. And you know how I like to take a photo or 80!

6 comments:

  1. Please send details of the Winnie The Pooh exhibition in Hamish's bedroom.
    I am super nosy and like looking at other people's houses, and I do have a kid who is genuinely into Winnie The Pooh (still - sigh).

    And I do get not being able to share some things on your Blog. I have written out a few posts I could never publish for that very reason. Your story did make me smile though. We will be much nicer to have a play date with (although Emily might try and steal some Winnie The Pooh Duplo, so maybe not....)

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    1. I will send on details about the exhibition...eh....I just need to work out how much could we get away with charging for entry ;-) And yes, if you guys ever do come visiting Berlin, I think we'd really enjoy meeting up with you!

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  2. "If anyone wants to see a Disney Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story, & Cars exhibition, I will be showing one made out Duplo for the next 6 months in Hamish's bedroom." ... oh you are very, very funny. There were nearly tears at that bit. Also, please can you not just start a new secret blog especially for sharing these moments so that you can share them with me and Fiona?

    (Incidentally, can you tell I'm spending the evening catching up on your blog?)

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    1. No, this is the first post I saw that had extra comments on it, so I'm checking it first. But you would have loved the playdate story, I just know it. It involved food....and not in a nice way.

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  3. The funniest part of the whole thing (apart from your exhibition announcement) is that one of my ex-pat friends actually thought you were me in disguise!

    She thought your Blog was written by me becasue what are the chances of finding another ex-pat Fiona, with 2 kids, living in a German speaking country, who is diabetic and still eats chocolate? She may have also said stuff about being objective verging on sarcastic, but I wasn't really listening at that point....

    And I think Frau Dietz is onto something. We need a joint Blog so we can write anonymously as 'Fiona' and no one will ever know which one of us it is (well it seemed like a good idea in my mind anyway).

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    1. WHAT?? You're a diabetic who eats chocolate? AND you are my favourite kind of diabetic the as well, as I never knew this fact about you. Can we be best friends, & go on holidays together that take in all the chocolate factory hotspots of Europe?

      As for the secret blog...I'm thinking it could be called "The Secret Lives of Fiona", but I am already thinking that I might start all my especially damning or lurid tales with "One time in Australia....", ha, ha, ha!

      And totally, I get the 'objective to the point of sarcasm' thing. I do believe it's one of my best traits. Yours too, ha, ha! P.S. Is she still reading? I can't help but wonder whether one day she noticed that that younger child of yours that likes wearing blue is in fact a boy on my blog.

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