Day tripping.

Things we have managed to squeeze into our days. Days that have become predominantly about park hopping, Chinese whispers (which is very entertaining even though we are only 3...), I spy and countless crazy renditions of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory's Oomp Loompa song.

• Headed to Prenzlauer Berg for a few lengthy play stops at Wasserturm, Kollwitz Platz & Helmholtz Platz (check out a 360 virtual tour of Helmholtz Platz here).
• A visit to Wohnzimmer. Which is a gorgeous little bar on the edge of Helmholtz Platz perfect for catching the afternoon sun or even better, an evening drink.  The bar reminded me a little of Yelza (with a more French... rather than Eastern European feel) for those who remember it?
• A rather lengthy shopping foray at TragFlache.  The most immaculate and impressive 2nd hand store I have ever come across.  The owner was incredibly proud and so very passionate about his stock. The LF bought himself a couple of jackets, including a leather jacket I think someone may have tried scaling the wall in back in the 80's (.... there are a number of discreet repair jobs on the arms). 
• A visit to the oldest beer garden in Berlin where we met a friendly couple, with a familiar accent and their 2 year old son.  He was an Aussie from Perth and she a Berliner.  They were weighing up where to live....for now it seems Berlin although he is adamant Australia will win out long term.  They both work in the arts sector.  Needless to say Berlin wins hands down here. We chatted, amoung other things, about the incredibly cheap cost of living in Berlin... starting with groceries.  I can not believe how cheap groceries are!  I finally understand what my German friends mean when they complain about the cost of living in Australia.  A bag of food at the supermarket in Australia would cost me around Aus$50..... here it's about 13Euro.
• We took a train ride out to Charlottenberg to visit Harry Lehmann perfumery.  A store which is caught in the most incredible time warp.  A friend of the LF's gave us the tip and asked us to bring back a bottle of 'Titano Man'. Both are priceless gems.
• A visit to the Bauhaus Archive which Z was rather excited about. Since it was a rainy day I can only imagine he thought Bauhaus sounded like an indoor play centre.  Once we were all kitted out in our audio gear the sweet lad kept coming over to give me the heads up....'mum skip number 5 it's really boring'....'mum so is 6' and on it went until we got to the work of Ludwig Mies van Rohe & the model of the Barcelona Pavilion which he loved & thankfully all was saved.
• From the Bauhaus Archive we took a drizzly stroll up through the Tiergarten, past Golden Lizzie and got lost in a section of fantastic 60's suburbia around Hansplatz station.

The LF is out tonight on his wild tour of Berlin's night life.  Let's hope he survives unscathed.
xx

You can find all the 'Berlin' posts here.