I am writing this on New Year’s Eve… over a week since our arrival in Berlin. So much has happened… so many joyful moments, delightful conversations, and warm memories to keep with us. I am stalling as I write trying to think back on our trip so far. I’ll start with the first few days here through Christmas.
Jake and I took a train to Barcelona, and from there flew to Berlin. The travel day felt actually quite long. We were filled with anticipation to see family, and also I think filled with slight nerves about managing the train stations and making it to the airport. We’ve really never traveled much by train, and we were not completely sure how to get to the Barcelona airport from the train station. Luckily, after asking around helplessly we managed to get on the 20 minute train ride to the airport after arriving in Barcelona. We did not plan for time to see Barcelona, so we’ll have to make that trip again some day this next semester. For now our sights were on Berlin. We were relieved once our train dropped us off at the airport and we went inside. However, the angst came back as we walked down the airport mall passing every terminal except ours, and then we reached the end!! Turns out we had to go outside and around quite a ways to find the EasyJet check-in. It seemed separate from everything else, and I was getting really nervous for a bit. It was so far that some people took a shuttle. Luckily, we found it and checked-in with enough time to grab some copas y tapas (wine and appetizers) before our flight. Though our flight was only 2 or so hours, Jake and I both felt like it was a good 4 or 5 our ride. We were just ready to be in Berlin safe in the comfort of home and family.
All was well when we saw Rachelle’s beaming face greet us at the airport. She even brought us water and a snack for the ride into town. Which of course was another bus and metro ride before arriving home. But that’s ok, because we were supremely more relaxed with Rachelle by our side. David and Ariane welcomed us with happiness, hugs, and a hot meal!! What a wonderful end to a stressful travel day. As always we talked and talked, and headed to bed quite late.
The next morning we slept in, enjoyed a late lunch together, and David then took Jake and I for a tour of Berlin. Well, at least part of Berlin. :) As many know, there is A LOT to see in Berlin!! So much history!! So many sights!! And of course having your own tour-guide-historian-uncle by your side makes everything so much more interesting!! We went to the Pariser Platz and the Brandenburg Gate. We saw the Berliner Dom, Neue Wache (a guardhouse for the East Germans during the Cold War, which now serves as a war memorial), and Bebelplatz (where the Nazi book burning ceremonies took place). David pointed out an old theater where Ian had done a few shows as a child. This area was East Berlin before the wall fell, and it was not until Ian began to do shows here did this area become a familiar and comfortable place. I found that interesting.
After seeing the sights, we planned to go to one of the many Christmas markets nearby. They are all over town--little winter wonder lands full of crafts, souvenirs, food and drinks, sometimes rides for kids and I even saw a mini petting zoo at one. I was pretty cold by this point because I didn’t layer up enough our first time out (California girl!). I was really looking forward to entering the market with all the warm crowds, food and fires going, and store fronts to block the wind. However, David saw one more special thing that he wanted to show us before we hit the market and I’m so glad he did. Around the corner was the church where he was confirmed into the Anglican church not too long ago. It was an old building, but absolutely stunning inside. We sat down in the front pew reliving the moment together. It was a really special moment for me with my uncle. After that we finally hit up the Christmas market and bought a small Berlin ornament to remember this special day at every Christmas to come. :) When we arrived home, we had another wonderful family dinner prepared graciously by Ariane and Rachelle.
On Christmas Eve-day, everyone in the house had a little work to do before their vacation to Lisbon, so Jake and I went up to the Charottenburg Palace and walked the grounds. I remember the palace and the gardens when I was here 17 years ago, and I was looking forward to going there with Jake. Though it was not nearly as warm and sunny as I remember, we had a good time walking hand in hand enjoying the view and each other. We also wanted to go see the Olympic Stadium from the Berlin Olympics in the 1930’s. We took the metro there, knowing we could not get any tours on Christmas Eve. Everything was closed as we suspected so we just walked around those grounds and neighborhood in the area. We were again pretty cold at this point having been outside for so long. I saw what looked like a cafe or something in the distance with many lights, and I told Jake I wanted to go there on our way out. We had been in search for glühwein (mulled wine) that we had seen at the Christmas market but never bought. I suggested that this place with lights might have some, or at least something warm to drink. But as we got closer, we were disappointed to find that it was actually a circus not a cafe/restaurant. Out curiosity we got a little closer to see if we could see anything inside. The tent was open into the foyer area, and we could see an elephant inside. We thought that was interesting, and there was not ticket booth or persons collecting tickets outside, so we went into the foyer. There we saw concession stands with balloons, souvenirs, food, and… glühwein!!!! What luck!! So we bought ourselves a couple of cups. As we looked around, the entrance to the main tent was wide open and there was still no one selling tickets, so we went in to sit for a bit while we finished our drinks and warmed up. The tent wasn’t too big and there was simply an elephant with a line of kids behind it waiting to get on it and take a picture. So we figured it was actually just another fun Christmas market type of venue and kids were taking pictures with an elephant for fun. So we watched this take place for about 10 minutes while we relaxed from our afternoon of walking and standing. All of a sudden the elephant was cleared out, the lights went down, and an announcer started opening the show!! We sat there for another 2 hours enjoying a full circus production with a tight rope walker, trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns, animals including: elephants, a giraffe, zebra, a hippopotamus, and a rhinoceros!! We couldn’t believe what we had just wandered upon. We loved it!! And it just cost us two cups of glühwein!!
We had a fun story to share when we got back home. Ariane, David, Rachelle, Jake and I had nice Christmas Eve dinner around 8pm that night, and then we all headed out for the 11pm Christmas Eve service at David and Ariane’s church. It was neat to share this service with them at their church. We were grateful to take communion since the Anglican church invites all believers to join in the sacrament. Ariane and Rachelle had to coach us through the process before the service since it is carried out so much differently than the way we’re used to, which actually made communion this Christmas Eve very memorable for us. I’ve always loved attending the late Christmas Eve service and being able enter into Christmas day at church with God in focus, and it was even nicer to do together as a family. We left church about 12:30am, and went straight to bed. At least some of us did!
On Christmas morning, we came downstairs around 11:00am and the living room door was shut. Anita had just arrived as well. Anita and her mother, Maria, are long time family friends (aka family) of the Antals. Maria was out of town on Christmas, so they invited Anita over for Christmas morning family time, which was great because she’s a super fun hang. I really enjoyed meeting her and spending the morning together. So once we all arrived there was a grand opening of the doors into the living room revealing a beautiful Christmas tree that had been set up and decorated overnight, just like when the kids were young. A family tradition I had always heard about, but never witnessed first hand. Everybody then crowded on David and Ariane’s bed enjoying croissants and tea talking and laughing.
Anita stayed a couple of hours and then had to get on her way. We all got up and stretched for bit. Rachelle had to run out to “meet a friend and exchange gifts.” Ariane was excitedly awaiting a 2:00pm skype date with Ian in New York. At 2:00pm Rachelle raced back into the house grateful that she made it back in time for the call. David, Ariane, and Rachelle were crowded around the computer while trying to connect with Ian. When Ian came online it sounded like he had just gotten up, and he said Sarah was still sleeping. It was pretty early still in New York. They weren’t able to get his image on screen which I know the frustration of all too well now after many Valencia video chat attempts with my parents. All of a sudden Ian interrupted and said he couldn’t hear them anymore, and the connection was breaking up. And boom… they lost him. Ariane seemed quite disappointed as she attempted to try again… but nothing. :( Rachelle mentioned that there was probably too much traffic online since it was Christmas and many people were possibly trying to also video chat. Ariane tried one more time, and got Ian again, the connection continued to break up with Ian’s voice going in and out. And suddenly the voice coming from the computer began to get ever so clear and while getting louder from the other end of the house. And before my mind had put together what was happening Ian and Sarah burst in the room and jumped on the bed. Ariane kept looking back and forth from the computer screen to Ian as if her mind was still trying to figure out how her little boy jumped out of the computer screen and onto her bed. I was watching all of this take place from the sofa while welling up with tears. It took me about 15 seconds to figure out that I should be capturing this moment on video. So I have a little video, but it doesn’t start until after the initial shock has subsided slightly. Here's a link to my YouTube page if you haven't seen the videos yet.
This was such a wonderful surprise to witness, and though it wasn’t really for me, I was intensely overjoyed as well for the opportunity to get a little time with another cousin who I hardly ever get to see. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Ian in the context of home and family, and it was striking to see the level of energy he brings to a room. It was so fun! And of course, this was my first opportunity to meet Sarah as well finally! I was so grateful for this opportunity to get to know her through the events and family time of the next few days.
The rest of the day was filled with even more energy and laughter than before with Ian and Sarah in the mix. Ariane and Rachelle made a delicious turkey for Christmas dinner, and again we had an absolutely perfect evening talking and catching up.
The day after Christmas began with another slow start. Jake and I have gotten really good at relaxing. The family had a light lunch together, and then we all did different things in the afternoon. Jake and I went to the Story of Berlin museum, and as always I took way too long reading nearly every single thing so we had to rush back to the house to by 7:00pm. David, Rachelle, Ian, Sarah, Jake, and I had plans to go out to one of the favorite Christmas markets together that evening, while Ariane stayed home finally taking a moment to relax herself. We all shopped around for a couple of hours, ate some bratwurst and drank some glühwein. On our way back we stopped at the Holocaust Memorial and the Chancellery building. It was a fun evening out with 6 of us together. We didn’t get home until pretty late, so Jake and I went right to packing up our things for our Prague trip, then headed to bed ready for our next adventure.
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