Berlin 5: Bowling, Materials Institute and Schnitzel

We had the bowling alley to ourselves.   In between we also ordered supper which was way overdue by 10pm.   The owner couldn't speak English but made himself very clear - especially as far as wearing bowling shoes went.

Thursday was focussed on leaving.   Although our flight was only about 7pm, we checked out of the hotel after breakfast and no matter what we did, we were aware that our bags were in the taxi and we were on our way out.   This made the day seem wasted although it was not.

We visited the Materials Institute and find out interesting things about their projects.   One of their focusses is safety so they have a facility far away from the city that Mythbusters would love, where things are dropped from heights, burned and generally tested to destruction.

Another of their projects focusses on new generation cements and how adding polycarboxyllates can generate a much stronger, self levelling product.

Next order of business was lunch and since we had hardly had any German food but had been existing on McDonalds and Burger King besides the excellent breakfasts, the driver, Kei had take us to a Schnitzel place where we all enjoyed Schnitzel.

After that it was off to the Airport via Kaizers and the One Euro Shop.

The wait in the Airport was long, we didn't want to break any notes and we were all a bit down.   The flight was standard, very good landings and for me made better by the camera footage that we could see on the screen of the plane arriving at the airport.

That was a short but wonderful adventure.   We were all greeted enthusiastically by family and whisked off home to take up real life again.

Berlin 4 - In closing

Yesterday was taken up with the closing ceremony of the German/South African Year of Science 2012/2013.   It was held at the Technology museum which was full of modes of transport:-  planes, boats, trains, even bicycles. 

 There were a number of speeches by important people, including Dr Johanna Wanka, Minister of Education and Research for the Federal Republic of Germany and Derek Hanekom, minister of Science and Technology of South Africa.   Unfortunately half the speeches were in German.   We had translating devices but to hear best I closed my eyes to concentrate.   After so many late nights you can just guess how that ended.   I noticed other members of our team were having the same problem.   There was an interesting talk/slide show on conditions in the Antarctic and presentation of awards to other sudents of South Africa who had been prize winners in an Essay competition.   A long time was allowed for drinks and snacks leading straight on to lunch and we decided to go home and sleep rather than battle through the afternoon which actually might have been the most interesting part.

We returned for the evening function which was luckily a sit down affair.   We got to meet the other South African students and had photos taken together.

We didn't get home too late but I still ended up going to sleep after 1am.

Today we visited the Astrophysics Institute and had a look at their telescopes.  

Sanusha had a wonderful time.   Then we took a walk in the caste gardens and saw the castle from a view site.

The afternoon was devoted to shopping for souveniers  and other which even the boys excelled at.

After recovering (involving a nap) we started packing amid much sorting out to try to fit in all the extra stuff.   At about 10pm we went to a nearby bowling alley where we paid 12 Euros for a lane for an hour.   I think that is a much better system than paying per game.

Tomorrow we are going to visit a materials institute in the morning and then on to the airport in the afternoon/evening.   Our trip is ending.   The young people seem to have had a wonderful time.   I have also throughly enjoyed myself and got to know Berlin a little.   I will be happy to get back to my family and everyday life though.   It has been a wonderful experience.

Berlin 3 - schools, bunkers and ice skates

After the usual yummy breakfast we were taken to the Nelson Mandela school.   Nobody knew what to expect But we got shown around the school and managed to interact with some grade 9 students and Sanusha addressed the grade 8 art class about what the team

 had done and what they were doing in Germany.

Our Next stop was a tour of an underground bunker where we were not allowed to take any photos but we saw some interesting things and learned a lot about life in Berlin during the war.

Ever since we had heard about the Berlin trip, Alex had wanted to buy ice skates in Berlin.   She plays provincial ice hockey and apparently it is much cheaper to get a good pair of skates in Germany than South Africa.   Our driver/tour guide, Kye, very kindly took us to the ice hockey shop.   There were a couple of problems - the lovely whate skates were not available in the right size, the credit card machine seemed not to recognise the travel card but all the problems got sorted and Alex is now the proud owner of a pair of new Bauer skates plus some other hocky stuff.

In the evening we took a boat trip along the canals and the river Spree.   Probably my highlight so far.

Berlin 2. Adventure

The breakfasts at the hotel are Yummy.   we are staying at the NH Hotel Frankfurter Allee.   we were still enjoying our breakfast when the driver came to collect us to go to Sachsenhausen Concentration camp.

We got back to the hotel at about 5.30 and decided to go to movies.   If we left at 6.30 we would be able to see one of three movies showing in their original language (English) at Postdamer Platz.   This involved catching an underground subway (U Bahn) and changing at Alexanderplatz.   The friendly lady at the hotel reception had told me which numbers to catch and that the service stopped at 1am in the morning but then we could catch a bus No 5.

Danilla and Sanusha on the U Bahn

Well, we didn't leave accoeding to schedule and we were 10 minutes late for our movie so we decided to watch the 10.30 movie instead.   Meanwhile, after investigating the possibility of McDonald, Pizza Hut or some more expensive restaurants, we settled for Chinese food at one of the malls nearby.

The roof was amazing - apparently designed to represent Mts Fujiama.

We also got to see a Lego giraffe near the Lego workshop.

The movie we saw was a comedy called "Identity Theif."   It was fairly light watching and at least two of us fell asleep for a while during it.We almost had the moviehouse to ourselves.

The movie came out at twenty to One and we rushed off to the U Bahn station.   Unfortunatley the next train was only due in 12 minutes and although we got got to Alexander Platz, we were too late for the connection.  

So we went looking for a bus stop.   Unfortunately each U bahn station has at least 4 entrances and we came out of one that had no sign of a bus stop.   We asked at a late night cafe and were told that it was outside the hotel.   We had just seen a sign with a curved arrow towards tha hotel when a large taxi came driving past and Danilla waved it down.   We each had only to pay two Euro fifty which was in fact cheaper than the combined ticket for our 2 leg journey and we got taken right to our door..   We got home at 1.45 and in bed by 2am.   Danilla and I both hope that this is the most adventurous part of our stay.

Berlin 1

It was 2 o'clock this morning and I wasn't asleep.   All around me plane passengers were in various stages of unsleepfulness, with many on board screens silently showing movies of various types. I remembered how it all started.   The excitement when the Rand Park team won the materials video competition and were told we had all won a trip to Berlin.   I think there's a photo of us with our mouths open somewhere. I remember how three weeks ago I couldn’t walk to the staff room from my car without resting on the way and how I had gone to the healing team at church and asked them to pray that I could walk in Berlin and do all the things a tourist should do. Now after a certain amount of pressure when it looked like the visas weren't going to go through and a lot of prayer,   we were finally on our way to Berlin.   Alex and I had met at the Gautrain station and travelled to the airport by high speed train. 

  We met up with Sanusha and Keagan at the airport where we were later joined by Danilla who is our representative from the German Chamber of Commerce who is accompanying us..  

 After bidding goodbye to loving family we were on our way. We have had a lovely day.   We met Reece at Berlin and we were taken to our hotel (NH Berlin Frankfurter Allee) We found a Pizza place near our hotel so we had Pizza for lunch. 

Then this afternoon we went on a sightseeing tour.

The Berlin wall.

On the other side of the road was the Ice Hockey stadium.

The Brandenburg Gate with actors playing soldiers ready for a photo. 

The Reichstag Building

And the Charlottenburg Schloss

 

The Victory Monument 

and the Emperors square.

After the tour we did a little shopping. and exploring near the hotel.   I managed to get a German sim card for my phone and I have been able to send a whatsapp message to Keagan and Sanusha so we are getting ourselves organised.

Although we didn’t get much sleep last night, everybody is still up and planning more shopping trips to buy ice skates and sports shoes.   This is not going to be a restful holiday bur rather an adventure

Monateng – the difference between New Zealand and South African Holiday Parks

 

We had so enjoyed motor-homing in New Zealand that when the opportunity came to take Cubby, our own motor home,  to the Valentine Rally at Monateng, we jumped at the opportunity.   Although we had only been home 3 weeks, we looked forward to getting out into nature again.

The New Zealand Holiday Parks (not called “Caravan Parks”) were lovely and we stayed mostly at Top 10 Holiday Parks which are probably top of the range.   Besides the usual ablution block  and laundry, they also had a kitchen which included one or more stoves, one or more toasters and a fridge and freezer where one could store food in a labelled container.   Also there were a number of sinks for washing up, sometimes even supplying the dishwashing liquid.  ‘There was  usually a dining area as well and sometimes a barbeque.   These were not as exciting as a South African might think.   They were all gas fired and in 80% of the cases consisted of a metal plate with a hole in the middle, more like a skottel than a braai.  There was no such thing as individual braai areas for each site and to be honest, meat was so expensive that not many people would think of having a braai for supper every night like we might regard as holiday fare.

Monateng gave us all the things we had missed.   First of all the space.   In New Zealand, motor home sites are tiny.   Just enough space to park on and possibly one or two metres on the side with a bit of grass if you are lucky.  Admittedly, however they are flat and there is never the need to put down the jacks.

Compare our site this weekend,

 

Something else I was so happy to see, was a bath.   In New Zealand it is almost all showers and usually there is a button outside the cubicle that you push to get 5 minutes hot water. On one occasion we had to buy tokens to put into a slot in the shower cubicle for about three minutes of hot water. Sometimes there are “family bathrooms” where there might be a sort of half bath.   In desperation I occasionally  tried these and ended up with my chin on my bent knees.   Imagine my delight when I saw not one, but three large baths in the ladies’ bathroom at Monateng

  

We had a lovely weekend.   There is a large cool pool which was very necessary in the heat (about 35 degrees).   On Saturday night a potjie dinner dance was organised in the lapa.    There were 8 different potjies as well as starters and pudding.

So Monateng, you compare very well with the best of New Zealand Holiday Parks and have the added attraction of wild animals in the park.   (We saw a large herd of buck as we drove along the entrance road.)   We are looking forward to visiting some other nearby Caravan Parks.

What I learned from our New Zealand Trip

 

• My electric toothbrush can last 2 months without charging.
• My kindle needs charging more often on holiday.
• I love my family very much.
• The Gautrain Buses do not run on Sundays.
• Jet lag is real.
• You don’t realise how relaxed you are until you get back to normal life and feel like you are in a tumble dryer.
• Banks don’t cater sufficiently for their clients being out of the country.
• I’ve enjoyed writing the blog so much that I am going to continue it to cater for trips in South Africa.

Waiting at the Gauteng Train station to be picked up since there were no buses.

Zach’s Grave

Goodbye South Island

We arrived in Picton in good time and the Top Ten Holiday Park organised our dolphin watching tour for the following day.   We were treated to a stunning sunset.

Next morning we walked to the Dolphin Encounter base along the marina and over what is called the coat-hanger bridge.

We found that we were the only two who were just watching, everybody else on our tour was swimming with dolphins.   The success rate with watching dolphins is 95% but with swimming only 80% because they are only allowed to swim with certain species of dolphin, the bottlenose and the common dolphin but not with the Hector’s dolphin or the Orca.   The guides also have to assess the mood of the dolphins, e.g. if there is a new calf then it is not suitable to swim with the dolphins.

Our group was all kitted out with wet suits and shown how to use the snorkels and how to make sounds to communicate with the dolphins.  Among them was an 11 year old girl who reminded me of Kate Southworth, one of my very first guides.   She was the first to spot the Hector’s dolphins and later offered to help our guide make and distribute hot drinks.

 

We saw a pod of Hector’s dolphins which are the smallest and rarest dolphin species – only about 1m long.   They seemed to enjoy the novelty of a boat making bubbles and did a couple of turns past us and at some stages swam right in front of the boat.

Unfortunately we didn’t come across any other dolphins so the rest of our group could choose to book for another swim or get the swim part of their fee back.   We were quite satisfied, however although it would have been fun watching the others interacting with dolphins and making funny noises.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Picton and catching up on our reading.

The next day, Friday the 18th January, was our last day on the South Island and we caught the ferry back to Wellington at 10.30. 

Overnight in Palmerston North and then back to Napier on Saturday.   Our holiday is almost over and it is time to start making plans for returning the motorhome and getting back home.