At 5pm sharp, my parents rang the doorbell, ready to pick us up for the trip to Berlin. After the long weekend in Germany, traffic was heavy on the way into Berlin, so we arrived somewhat late, but certainly still in time for dinner. Good thing that, since after climbing five flights of stairs with all our luggage, we were clearly in need of some food. Based on Bente and Jan's recommendation we went to a nice, little Italian restaurant in the neighbourhood before climbing the steps again and heading to bed.
Monday became our main sightseeing day, so the whole family headed out for some of the finest sights Berlin has to offer. In the morning, Jan proved to be an excellent tour guide for the ladies, taking in the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Bellevue. Potsdamer Platz and a host of other sights, while the men were off on a secret mission. We re-united at the cathedral at noon, which we promptly checked out. It was also revealed that my father and I had been shopping and got two brand new Android phones for my parents, which obviously required some extensive testing over a late and much awaited lunch, for which my sister joined us after finishing work. Touristed out, the motivation for more sights was low and everyone was tired and hot (as Berlin weather was fantastic at ~28°). So, the best thing to do in this case was - obviously - to go cut my hair. After having thought about it for a long time, the warmth and hassle of having to constantly tie it up became too much and the encouragement from the family helped. Despite being Monday, we found an open hairdresser, who conservatively shortened the mess. Tea, shopping, dinner and playing with the phones concluded the day.
My parents left early on Tuesday morning, but we had said goodbye on Monday, so were able to sleep in. Which was followed by a very leisurely breakfast, a siesta after that and a break after that, before having strawberries for afternoon tea. In short: We didn't do much. We did get a lot of things done though, putting finishing touches on the blog and dealing with a number of logistical issues ranging from immediate travel bookings to tax issues. We concluded the day with Bente and Jan, an enormous amount of Spätzle and a very overwhelmed first-day waitress at another neighborhood restaurant.
Wednesday was planned as and turned out to be a travel day - with added company throughout. Except for missing our very first bus of the day (to Berlin HBF) everything went smooth as we went from my sister's house to the train station and from there to Frankfurt (where we had lunch with Paola), to Frankfurt airport. A small plane took us to Madrid, where we took the Metro into town for the evening, meeting up with Julian, Borja, Marta, Antonio and Eugenia for dinner (more jamon!). After having had breakfast in Berlin, lunch in Frankfurt and tapas in Madrid, we headed back to the airport to have dinner on board a LAN A340 en-route to Santiago de Chile!
Monday became our main sightseeing day, so the whole family headed out for some of the finest sights Berlin has to offer. In the morning, Jan proved to be an excellent tour guide for the ladies, taking in the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Bellevue. Potsdamer Platz and a host of other sights, while the men were off on a secret mission. We re-united at the cathedral at noon, which we promptly checked out. It was also revealed that my father and I had been shopping and got two brand new Android phones for my parents, which obviously required some extensive testing over a late and much awaited lunch, for which my sister joined us after finishing work. Touristed out, the motivation for more sights was low and everyone was tired and hot (as Berlin weather was fantastic at ~28°). So, the best thing to do in this case was - obviously - to go cut my hair. After having thought about it for a long time, the warmth and hassle of having to constantly tie it up became too much and the encouragement from the family helped. Despite being Monday, we found an open hairdresser, who conservatively shortened the mess. Tea, shopping, dinner and playing with the phones concluded the day.
My parents left early on Tuesday morning, but we had said goodbye on Monday, so were able to sleep in. Which was followed by a very leisurely breakfast, a siesta after that and a break after that, before having strawberries for afternoon tea. In short: We didn't do much. We did get a lot of things done though, putting finishing touches on the blog and dealing with a number of logistical issues ranging from immediate travel bookings to tax issues. We concluded the day with Bente and Jan, an enormous amount of Spätzle and a very overwhelmed first-day waitress at another neighborhood restaurant.
Wednesday was planned as and turned out to be a travel day - with added company throughout. Except for missing our very first bus of the day (to Berlin HBF) everything went smooth as we went from my sister's house to the train station and from there to Frankfurt (where we had lunch with Paola), to Frankfurt airport. A small plane took us to Madrid, where we took the Metro into town for the evening, meeting up with Julian, Borja, Marta, Antonio and Eugenia for dinner (more jamon!). After having had breakfast in Berlin, lunch in Frankfurt and tapas in Madrid, we headed back to the airport to have dinner on board a LAN A340 en-route to Santiago de Chile!
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