Reunion/brunch/lunch with some of my nieces. (Long post!)

Reunion/brunch/lunch with some of my nieces. (Plus a post of day 2 of my trip to Berlin)

Today on the program was a reunion lunch with four of my Nieces, I was excited and a bit nerves. In February I had a birthday party from my Aunt, when I went there I saw alot of my Nieces and Nephews back, they were all from my Mothers side though. (Way better then the Nieces and Nephews from my Fathers side sorry to say, it's true) The family from my Mothers side are much more opener and friendly. At the birthday party from my Aunt a Niece decided to organize a reunion for this Summer, a nice 'come together' for Nieces and Nephews only. What a great idea, I was already excited. Just before my trip to Berlin I got a email from 'that Niece' and I confirmed with the reunion. 5 August on a Sunday we will meet in my city at a near pub, for lunch and a drink, great!! This morning I rested and just before I had to go I took a nap, around 11:30 I took of for the reunion. 

Ofcource I was first, lol. I waited on my bicycle and 10 minutes later the Niece who organized this all showed up, we hugged and shook hands, it was nice seeing her again. Five minutes later two other Nieces showed up, hugs and shaking hands followed. Not every Niece and Nephew showed up cause of the Summer holiday, most were still on Holiday. We decided to do this reunion again in September of this year, "Then we will all come," said one Niece. It was a nice sit together, we sat outside and had lunch and drinks. We talked alot, and I didn't mind there were only Nieces, lol. It's a fact that on my Mother's side are more Nieces then Nephews. I enjoyed the whole two hours we were together, friendly people. Amazing right? That after such a long time we saw each other we talk in and out, like we see each other everyday. In September the group will be bigger, can't wait!


Here it goes, day 2, trip to Berlin...

City bicycles for rent, just like in London,pay with your credit card.

 After getting used to the bed and the atmosphere in my hotel room I woke up nicely on time, I had a nice and a okay sleep. I was nervous the air condition would turn on automatically during the night, but it didn't, I don't like wind blowing in my face when I sleep. I woke up around 7:00, I showered, I cleaned the shower afterwards aswell, lol. It wasn't even needed, but hey, just the way I am. At 8:00 I went downstairs for my first German breakfast, there was a host waiting for the guests, I had to tell my hotel room number and then could pick a seat. 'We' have our own spot while having dinner and breakfast in the hotel, not a rare spot, just in the hotel's restaurant. 'We' are with many people so the waitresses and chef's need to know when it's time for 'us' to eat, so that the waitresses can divide us and show 'us' our table. When it's time for breakfast and dinner we can choose our own food, like a buffet. I'm loving it.

After our breakfast I went for a little walk, I figured I still had a small hour before 'we' take off for the city tour. I wanted to take a few pictures with my new camera, I have two camera's with me, nerd I am, lol! (If I loose pictures on my old camera, I will still have pictures on my new camera (geesh!)) It was a nice walk, I took several pictures and was satisfied. Finally I'm getting more and more used to the new camera, though I need to practice more on the panorama function. I was still on time for the city tour, I'm getting more closer to the 'group' aswell. Ofcource we all have to get used to each other, that takes time. Though most of our group are elderly people, but there are people of my age aswell and even younger, a mixture of ages you can say. 9:30 am, the city tour began! Berlin has so many sight seeings, mostly it's about World war 2, but that's cool and very interesting. 

A piece of the Berlin Wall, so much art on this last piece of the Wall.

At Check Point Charlie... never knew this area would gave such an impact.

Our guide for today was not the bus driver but someone else, this Dutch guide is living in Berlin, studied German, architecture and German history. By the way he spoke you could tell he did his studies, everyone was quiet when he spoke. I saw the Berlin Wall, (wow, what a impact that gave!) Check Point Charlie, (another impact, I saw pictures from it in a book and I saw it on TV, but it's so much better to see it in real) and the Holocaust memorial, (that was amazing aswell!) Lol, I'm writing this post on a little notebook on a bench in front of a restaurant, and there's a woman sitting there, I think she wants to know what and why I'm writing. After the city tour the bus driver dropped us of at a huge shopping area near the biggest warehouse of whole Germany, (maybe even of whole Europe) the warehouse is called 'Kaufhaus des Westens,' in short Kadewe. 

Kaufhaus des Westens.

The meat section in the Kaufhaus, 7th floor where it's all at.

There was a small but cozy subway station aswell, I went there first for a little lunch snack. I like train or subway stations, I like to watch people going from A to B, lol. While walking you had to be prepared for foreigners who are begging for money, I saw a few, but walked further. Though one stopped me from behind, a little teenage girl had a notebook with her and she made it clear I had to fill in something. I could see she was poor and deaf, (or she pretended) she was friendly aswell. I'm weak, lol, so I filled in what she wanted. I had to fill in my signature, place where I live, and what country. I thought, "Okay, what's next?" It was kinda awkward, she looked at me and I could have guessed it, she wanted some money. So I gave her 50 cent. She showed me again the notebook, took her thumb of her writing and there it said, '5 Euro permitted or more.' 

Then I got angry, and I wanted to have my 50 cent back. I'm not a hard or though person, but, a beggar asking for 5 Euro is crazy, be happy what you get. Later I found out that she was fake when she was talking with another partner-beggar, I thought, 'damn you.' While I went on with shopping I saw many times the same beggars asking other people, I watched them for a little while. There was so much to see in this huge shopping street, I got sleepy aswell and searched actually for a place where I could take a little nap, lol. The only option were benches, I paused many times, and took it easy. Later on I felt better. At 4:30 I returned towards the bus, I was done. At 5:00 everyone returned and we took off, back to the hotel for a little rest and dinner. It was a full day, cause at 7:30 the bus took of again for the city night tour. I felt good though,dinner and rest did me good. 

Marlene Dietrich platz at a theatre near Potsdammer platz.

The huge meeting point at the train station in Potsdammer platz.

                                        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdamer_Platz

The city night tour was great, we had the same guide as with the city tour. Again great stories about Berlin, re-building of Berlin, the difference between East and West Berlin, tearing down the Wall in 1986. The bus took us to Potsdammer Platz, Berlin has actually 3 centers, Potsdammer Platz is the 3rd center. With hotels, shops a huge shopping mall and huge train station this platz is BIG, it has a casino and theatre aswell. I took alot of pictures of the amazing architecture and sight seeings. Our guide told us how this place was re-build, if you imagine that this area was once just a huge flat area bombarded with bombs in World War 2, it was a outstanding story the guide told us. The last event for the evening was the TV Tower, this tower is a television tower in the city centre of Berlin. 368 metres (1,207 ft high, and I'm going in. Ofcource I was a bit nervous, but I wasn't the only one. 

A few eldery guys from our group were aswell. Though I went in, and it went prety fast. It was dark and that kinda helped to ease down my nerves. The vieuw was great, thank god I couldn't quit see how high we were. Our visit to this tower was short, it was in, stayed 15 minutes and we went down again. It was all fine with me, it's been a long day with a full program, I needed a sleep for sure. But wow what a great day, I seen so many things, heared so many stories. Tomorrow we leave again at 9:30, but first, 'Good night!'