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fun and games

Monday, June 8th, 2009

by Rach, who loved the slide as much as the children
Koeln, Germany

The morning:
Yesterday we had seen a playground with a fantastic-looking slide across the river.
Today we investigated it more closely:

 

The afternoon:
Yesterday Grandpa had found a Starbucks with wifi while the rest of us were climbing the belfry. Today he and I cycled back to it with a view to uploading pictures, publishing blog posts and catching up on emails (not to mention a spot of googling for bicycle prices and Carcassonne rules).
At eight euros an hour plus needing to purchase something, there was no way we were staying! That’s $25 for an hour! GULP. Thankfully someone in the cafe gave us directions to another cafe a little way across town, which would have free wifi. For once I spoke more German than the other person spoke English, but she insisted on using her English….and sent us in not quite the right direction. Up the High Street, what’s more. It would seem this is the one place in Koeln that has a temporary  population density approaching Asian ones….and there we were on bicycles, almost stationary, we were weaving our way so slowly. Heidelberg Horrors haunted me, and I decided it would be prudent to ask for help. Asking three people shed no light on the matter and so I re-interpreted the original directions to what I *thought* she might have meant and we backtracked. Still not finding our free wifi, we asked someone else, who sent us “just five minutes up the road…turn right at the corner, cross the main road at the traffic lights, you’ll see a yellow mouse on an arcade and keep going a bit further, you’ll see a small street, it’s right there.” We found the mouse – good to know I’d heard her correctly! We also found the small street, but no cafe. Ah well, ask the fruit lady…..she confirmed we were hot on the trail, but needed to cross another couple of streets before we would get to our goal. This was as much fun as geo-caching! Sure enough, there was our hotspot. Success.
Success for Grandpa, who was connected and emailing before our overloaded machine had even opened. I got open…..and connected……but could not open any web pages. I tried every trick techno-dude Rob has taught me, all to no avail. Last time this happened there was a simple explanation – simple to Rob, who knew what to look for, that is. And so I decided to ride back to the Womo park for diagnosis.
Nothing wrong apparently. Sigh. I’m sure I saw him click a few buttons and hoped one of them would be the magic one.
Back to the cafe.
Open. Connect. Find webpage. Success.
But not for long. Flickr would not upload my photos. Webpages we wanted to browse offline later refused to be saved. The couchsurfing site was down. Ra ra ra. Finally the screen went black in the middle of me emailing my mother and when I woke it up a “critical battery error” warning advised me to connect to a power source immediately or risk losing all my data. There being no such power source available, I turned off and gave up. A girl can only manage so much fun and games in one day.

Time on the road: no roads ~ just footpaths and cycle lanes
Distance covered: 4km on foot or bike for everyone, plus an additional 4km by bike for Rob, 6km by bike for Grandpa and 12km by bike for me

Posted in children, money, postcard: Germany, postcard: Rhein Road Trip, price, recreation | No Comments »

sightsee-ers, stars and scavengers

Sunday, June 7th, 2009

by Rachael
Koeln, Germany

Sightsee-ers

“No, a family ticket is for one family. You are one two three four and more people.”
“Yes, but we are one family. These are our children.”
”No, a family ticket is for only children of one family.”
”Alles klar. We are one family!”
”How many children do you have?”
”Seven.”
”Really seven?”
”Yes, seven.”
”Oh fantastic. I’m sorry I had to ask. That is wonderful.”
And by now the rest of the queue behind us was giggling along with the beaming cashier. So to give them something to really think about I added, “Actually, we have eight children, but one is outside.” It didn’t seem right to have lied in a church, but I thought they were going to count them and we only had seven with us at that stage!
Wouldn’t you agree it would have been ironical to not be allowed a LOT of children on a family ticket in a Catholic church? <wink>
We were at Koelner Dom (Cologne Cathedral), the city’s most famous landmark and unofficial symbol. It is a Gothic church, started in 1248, and completed in 1880 (having been an abandoned project for a few hundred years in the middle there!). It houses the Shrine of the Three Holy Kings that supposedly contains the relics of the Three Magi, although we didn’t get to check this out as we were ushered out of the cathedral soon after entering, due to it being Sunday and a service was about to begin. We were in there long enough to be impressed again at the grandeur of stained glass windows, the devotion stitched into enormous tapestries, the care taken creating intricate carvings, the atmosphere of glimmering candles.

We didn’t have to pay to go into the cathedral itself…payment was for the privilege of climbing the belfry. And at only 5euros for a whole family, it was not as exorbitant as some of the indulgences sold hundreds of years ago to fund the initial buildings.
Up we spiralled. Around and around and around. Up, up up. 533 steps. By the time we had also spiralled down, down, down 533 steps, around around and around, some of the smaller children were dizzy and jelly-legged with shaking knees!! The steps weren’t a problem – it was much easier than hiking in Thailand – but the spiralling left you with a strange sensation that is difficult to describe.
The view from the top was spectacular. The church, which had not looked *so* big from ground level, took on a completely new perspective. It was enormous. The vaulted ceilings, the “concrete filigree” lacework, the bells themselves. Gigantic.

Another impressive cathedral. Another old town. Actually, Koeln is one of the oldest we’ve been to, having been founded by the Romans in 38BC. Nero’s mother was born here (now that was a long time ago, wasn’t it?) and in 310 under Constantine a bridge was built over the Rhein here. She’s an ancient place, but doesn’t *feel* old, not even near the cathedral. Probably because the centre was completely destroyed during World War II. About 95% of the population of the city disappeared, due both to death and evacuation. 95%!! Can you even imagine that?
Reconstruction of the city followed the style of the 1950s, while respecting the old layout and naming of the streets. Thus, the city today is characterized by simple and modest post-war buildings (which don’t feel at all old even if their names are timeless), interspersed with a few pre-war buildings, which were reconstructed due to their historical importance. Like the cathedral. And that’s all the sightseeing we did.

Stars
Outside the cathedral was an array of the “statue men” we have been seeing in various towns. The children have been awed at their ability to stand stock still – I just wish a few of them would be further inspired and start practising for at least an hour every day! These particular ones, who included a grey-sheeted sheik, Charlie Chaplin, the usual black-n-white suits with white gloves and faces, and a sailor, interacted with their audience more than any of the others we have watched. These guys wanted you to come and pose with them, take a photo and leave money. The sailor probably did not bargain on Tgirl5 climbing up on his box with him when he simply extended his hand for a shake!!!!

When you’re eight years old, you know the protocol though:

Scavengers
The other day Rob contemplated picking up a deckchair he saw lying on the side of the road (wouldn’t hurt to have one chair for Grandpa-who-finds-the-mat-on-the-ground-to-be-a-long-way-down-these-days), but upon giving it a good kick, discovered why it had been left.
This afternoon Kboy11 rescued a ball floating down the river. He kicked it – it bounces. More successful than the deck chair.
Earlier, the Walking Along The River To The Cathedral discussion had centred on how much quicker it would be on bicycles. Only having two, we cannot transport everyone this way, and Grandpa worked out we just need three tandems, another single and two baby seats. At the cathedral I saw a father and daughter team roll up on scooters (not the motorised variety) and it occurred to me that this might be an option! Cheaper, anyway. And easier to store. The merits and drawbacks were discussed on the Walking Along The River Home Again. Partway along the riverbank promenade are five large rubbish bins. Sitting next to these five bins today was a baby seat designed to go on a bicycle. We inspected, knowing that with the experience of having fixed *something* every single day so far, a bicycle seat would most certainly be fixable by our residents expert fixers. We looked around. Had someone just put it down for a moment and would be back soon to retrieve it? No, for a start there was no-one around, and secondly Jgirl14 pointed out she had seen it there on our way past a few hours earlier. So we picked it up. And carried it home. And looked at it. And could find nothing wrong with it. Nothing at all. So we mounted it on a bike. And went for a ride.
(That’s the royal we, I had nothing to do with it at all other than say, “Pick it up, we can fix it.”)
With this new acquisition further fueling thoughts of alternative transport, Grandpa was soon expressing his interest in getting a folding bike (he is really unimpressed with the rubbish we picked up at the market and would love the excuse to indulge in a piece of technology he has long admired – heehee). So now we just need three tandems or half a dozen scooters.
Then we’d be able to fit in a whole lot more sightseeing.

Time on the road: all morning
Distance covered: at least 8km (judging by the distance markers on signs – Mr GPS took a break today and couldn’t tell us)

Posted in children, God, history, money, postcard: Germany, postcard: Rhein Road Trip, price, recreation, weather | 1 Comment »

all’s well

Thursday, May 28th, 2009
by Rach, who drove happily today and who noticed Grandpa had stopped clutching his seat Kehl, Germany (across the river from Strasbourg, where we tried to go) 2.2m read the sign, indicating the distance between the two concrete barriers into the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in postcard: France, postcard: Germany, postcard: Rhein Road Trip, price, transport | No Comments »

the b word

Monday, May 4th, 2009

by sick Mama
Berlin, Germany

Now would be an Officially Bad Time to be blogging.
The kids are OK – so it’s not them. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in health, learning, postcard: Germany, price, transport | 6 Comments »

TRUST

Monday, March 30th, 2009
by an uncharacteristically impulsive buyer Beijing, China “In God we trust”, the official motto of the United States and emblazoned on their currency as a daily reminder, has its counterpart in China. Here bus stops routinely declare:

[Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, dress, God, housing, money, parenting, postcard: China, price, transport | 8 Comments »

Cheapskates Do The Peak

Saturday, March 14th, 2009
by Rach Hong Kong We told you the other day we’d probably make it up Victoria Peak. We also told you we’d more than likely do it on the cheap. And we did. Instead of taking the iconic cable-car, we ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, food, health, money, postcard: Hong Kong, price, quote, recreation, transport, weather | 4 Comments »

do not worry about what you will eat nor what deodorant you will use in your armpits

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
by the parents Hong Kong "Should we pick up some food to take with us for tomorrow?" Ever since spending the good part of a day looking for food in Kampot, we have usually taken an emergency one meal supply with ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in food, housing, money, postcard: Hong Kong, price, transport | 2 Comments »

money here and money there

Saturday, March 7th, 2009
by Mr & Mrs (empty) Money-Bags Hong Kong

 

Never mind the Rolexes or precious pearls. Our needs are more modest. THERE a plate of rice covered with a selection of meat and vegetable dishes cost a ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in money, postcard: China, postcard: Hong Kong, price | 2 Comments »

The Great Mall of China

Monday, March 2nd, 2009
by the lady, who prefers to create than consume Guangzhou, China So it's the Great Wall the kids are hanging out to see, but they've had to do their time in a few malls first. The biggest mall in Asia is ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, dress, justice, money, postcard: China, price | 3 Comments »

apartment living

Friday, February 27th, 2009
by Rachael Guangzhou, China China features four times in the top twenty "biggest cities of the world", and while we won't be going to number 19 (Shenzhen), we will be visiting numbers 14 and 16 (Shanghai and Beijing), and right now ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in food, housing, money, postcard: China, price, toilet | 2 Comments »

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