slow start to Berlin
well, we have been in Berlin for maybe 5 days now but we have yet to get into gear to really get to know this city. True, we have experienced the incredibly relaxed, laissez-faire attitude of this Berlin society as our Couch-surfing hosts decided to turn the circular brick retaining wall surrounding a tree in the square below us,
into a paddling pool.
They then surrounded the ‘pool’ with picnic chairs and tables, got out a variety of beers etc and stripped to Bikinis to get in the mood.
The passers by just smiled indulgently or ignored them without turning an eyebrow. The police (who I thought would shortly be along to arrest the lot of them) took no interest in their activities. Bizarre! Incredible! Mildly decadent! European?
Oh we have done a lot of travelling to and fro’ – using Berlin’s super-efficient Underground rail system very extensively. We have travelled from one side of the city to the other – arriving in leafy-green surroundings on both sides, but the intervening miles have been underground, so not a great deal has been seen. Why all the travelling? Well, the main purpose of getting to Berlin was to pick up a Motor-home that RnR had purchased via e-Bay. Get to Berlin, we thought, pay for and pick up the motor-home, purchase another one and we will be on our way. Hah! How wrong can you be? Little did we realise the relentless enthusiasm for detailed bureaucracy that the German’s possess! In our blissful ignorance we thought that we could purchase a vehicle as we would in NZ with maybe a few extras, because we were foreigners.
As we became acquainted with the requirements – which were revealed to us in small, impossible , difficult-to-understand installments via the German AA, the car dealer, the original seller, local friends etc – the job seem to become more and more impossible. The most likely way through the labrynth seemed to be to nominate a virtual stranger as the ‘owner of the vehicle’ and procede in trust from there. Not the most ideal solution. But hence all the travelling – shuttling to the first owner, the Berlin AA office, the car dealer (at the other side of Berlin) and back and forth several times between them all. This has successfully consumed most of the week, not to mention raising stress levels up a couple of detectable levels!
But today everything has started to come together (I might mention that this happened after some serious prayer by some people) We found that Rob could be officially registered as a resident because he possesses a British (EU) passport, and this made possible the obtaining of Insurances which must preceded purchase. What’s more, the vehicles can be in his name, which is a comfort! The saga is not over yet, but we can see a bright light at the end of the tunnel!
But I have had one ‘touristy’ interlude: late one afternoon I managed to squeeze in a walk to a memorial to the Berlin Wall.
Here there is a section of the Wall, and next to it the Chapel of Reconciliation.
The Chapel was built after the wall came down, and has been built over the foundations of the original chapel ( a classic old church) which was demolished by the Communist regime because it interfered with their surveillance of the Wall.
It was a delightful circular walk of 4 kms or so and I passed through streets lined with trees in blossom, people enjoying coffees on the side-walk, art-galleries, bakeries with yummy smells (and even yummier things to eat) – all in that delightful golden light that come with the later part of the day. It was good to walk through a peaceful and delightful part of Berlin, conscious that only a few years ago, people were being shot as they tried to escape over the wall, just 1/2 km away. It has wht my appetite: I am looking forward to taking a good look at this city!
Better pictures later
Tags: Observations, People, Travel, Tag Index
kiwijoe
May 9th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
hey guys n gurls
looks like you well on your way now
as for here well lots of work painting planting sowing fence repairs ect ect
by d way 3 days ago it snowed in ub
saw is working like a gem
overal more work than hands available
im going to ub for law work 3 days
the cops looks like have got the message (hope so)
take care
from all of us
dosvedania