The update before Christmas

If you can keep a secret, the boys are getting scooters. Santa will delivering those in only a week. He'll be leaving some chemical snow footprints that don't melt, from the front door to the tree.

Up in the mountains, there's plenty of white. Hope it stays a bit cold up there for our visitors! Down here it's 13 and almost balmy.

So here's the news:

Giving away some work shirts
I had a few old shirts with work logos which I never wear. It was hard to give them away. They were size medium, but almost no-one in the team would fit them. Medium in Australia is about XL in local sizing. One guy is 6ft/183cm and 72kg for example. Seems skinny, but the BMI calculator I used says he's right in the middle of healthy.

Paying the electricity bill
Sadly we'd just received an electronic remote key from our bank, and been locked out of our account. So I:
1. go to the electrical company website, enter all details, press pay. Then get asked for code received by sms. But the phone number is old.
2. ring up the bank to unlock the online access, register the electronic key device, turn it on, enter my pin, get a one time key, enter that all good. Each time I log on, it asks me for the name of my old cat.
3. repeat step 1 as it's been a while
4. get back online at the bank to phone number. It's not changeable online.
5. Try download the form to fax my new phone number.

On the to do list: installation of a giant pair of underpants.

6. get latest Acrobat,
7. log in and try getting the form again.
8. Give up and mail a cheque


The Space Smoker
When we first got here, the messages they put up at work seemed a bit weird. Now they're just plain funny. Recent announcements of upcoming events, in writing, on the walls:
- Wash Ecological Automobile
- Cover of the space smoker
- The Christmas chalet suggests you discovering our range of residential products.
European English speakers all understand each other. The native speakers speak funny it seems. We've got an Indian, a Scotsman, and an me at work. No-one speaks like they speak on TV, and less so like the locals. It's hard for them to tune into 3 different accents.

Things now in place: restoring company sells bread.

Olives pulped, and in the press.

Last weekend
And in other news, we went to visit Marie's cousin Jelena and her family. It was a lot of fun as far as I could tell. We stopped at Pavia on the way through. It's got an amazing bridge, and a lovely old town centre.

Jean Louis, Romain, me, Louis, Marie, Ollie, Leah and mixer.

The weekend before
We went to see some olive presses. We watched the crusher, the mixer, and finally the press. The boys had a good time, and it was fun watching the olives go round. We tasted a bit, straight out of the mixer.

Louis rides again!

Louis's bike in green, 1.6km each way, v. good!

Louis rode properly for the first time. He can pedal, and stop. He can't start, but he's nearly doing that.

It was about 3km all up. I ran along behind him, ready to catch, and broke my back a bit holding the handlebars through the skinny bits, and on crossings.

Tourrettes sur Loup

Another day, another village. Tourrettes sur Loup is beautiful, perched up on a mountain, and in really good condition. Seems there's several places in town for sale, so am continuing to dream about retiring in a place like this.

Tourrettes sur Loup

The girls from school.

Robina and Leonie.

And lastly, today I scored 100 on a diabetes test. Apparently that's good, and I've never got 100 for a test before. No you can't cheat. Apparently if you get 200 you need to worry.

Bernauer Strasse

Bernauer Strasse now has a fantastic green belt, lovely.

Sunday - we went to Bernauer Strasse to see the open air wall museum. It is well worth a look. They have a section of wall, a watch tower and the no-man's land, all as it was - scary! They explain people were forced to move from their houses, then the windows were bricked in, then the wall started to develop from there. The wall with the rounded top, fiendishly hard to clumb, is about the third or fourth generation of improvements.

The posts on the left mark the wall, the grass is no mans land.

We flew home and started work/school Monday.

Original part of wall, no mans land, grim lights, watch tower.

Escape tunnels are marked. The round building is/was a church.

Friday-Saturday

The boys like the S-bahn.

Louis a bit cold.

Friday - we hired bikes and went around Potsdam.









With a lot of encouragement, Ollie cycled about 20kms, which is fantastic for a 6 year old. Louis was in a kiddie trailer, and surprisingly happy despite the rain, cold etc. There are castles, including the Potsdam conference one, a bit of Berlin wall, and lots of lovely parks not yet ruined by freeways.

Potsdam - really nice.

After Germany was conquered, Stalin had detailed plans made to invade France, Italy and Britain. Why stop at Germany? At the Potsdam conference, Truman told Stalin that he had the bomb. Talk about an important conference.






Saturday - went to the Kommunication Museum. The boys LOVED it again, eg two cans connected with a string, written messages sent by vacuum tube, and a floor based video game.

Ollie racing around some castle.

The kids and Marie went to a movie about a racing snail. It's in the Sony Centre, where they tried to assassinate Hitler. While I went to Checkpoint Charlie and the museum to see the people who escaped or got shot trying. This is depressing. The Legoland interpretation was much more fun. Abductions, imprisonment, east German life was not as funny as in the DDR museum.

The Griswalds.

Finally we saw a Christmas market, had a chocolate crepe, and slid down a fake snow hill in a tyre tube.

This one's famous for the Potsdam conference.

Churchill and Truman let Stalin achieve what Hitler didn't.

Tuesday-Thursday

Nikolai quarter with the East German TV tower.

Tuesday - did the Berlin for beginners walk via the Rathaus, the Nikolai quarter, the Koncert Haus Humboldt Uni, a shopping strip, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Bundestag, Tiergarten and the Red Army memorial, which ended up on the west side.

The Koncert Haus is on the left.

The pictures of the ruins of the Brandenburg gate and the Reichstag there are impressive. 70 odd thousand people died in the taking of Berlin as the Germans would not give in. The big guns have some extremely bad welding done, and a T-34 tank looks like it was made from crazy concrete, not steel. I suppose they never lasted too long with all the battles.

Me, and the boys, at the Red Army memorial.

They're redoing Berlin. The centre is beautiful already. There are cranes all over the place. Plus they're putting in new underground rail U5 and U6 lines.

We're goin to the zoo the zoo the zoo

We went home by the main station, the Hauptbahnhopf. It's amazing, like George Lucas set it up for a Star Wars film. It's got shops, escalators like the endless staircase puzzles, and the S-bahn trains traversing the whole station overhead.



Wednesday - was in Spandau. Besides the famous rock band and the citadelle/prison, there is a nice pedestrianised old town and Rathaus or Town Hall, not for rats.



The late afternoon, we head to our local park with its flying fox, climbing net, jogging tyre thing, and a couple of things for children. Louis squeals with joy, the poor deprived thing.

Hanging around.

Thursday - we went to the zoo to see the monkeys swinging, the apes humping and the sea lions doing tricks. The lions pace their cells. The penguins look depressed. Only the jackas penguins look like they're having a good time chasing each other.

Monday

Protesters gather at the Lego wall with jackhammers.

The boys watch the fall of the Lego Berlin wall.

Monday - we end up at the DDR museum to see the way of life under a German commie dictator. The masses learn to throw wooden hand grenades at school, a brand of forklift is a byword for unreliability and the leaders got to shop at special stores not open to the public, just like in North Korea etc. School teachers pressed the kids to join the army - they had quotas to meet. Other highlights are the Trabant car, the interrogation room and the prison cell. Marie pretends to close the door on me, but the boys protest and won't let her, even when we explain it can be opened again.

We spent 3.5 hours in the afternoon in Legoland. History is everywhere in Berlin. There is a model of the city and every 2 minutes a grafitti covered Berlin wall falls. Strangely, it's good fun to watch the protest, the fall and the celebration every time. The boys build cars and race them down a ramp. 

All the grafitti on the walls around here, the buildings and the trees are reminiscent of a WW2 film. No need to change anything just start filming.

Berlin day 1

Cobblestones mark out the wall.

It's true: can't keep my eyes off of you.

Sunday - went for a walk along the canal to reach the Berlin wall. It's about 160km long, so everywhere, and you can walk or cycle it all. Now it is just 2 rows of cobblestones marking where it was. There are a couple of sections preserved, but not much. Sadly, it mostly got smashed down. I say sadly since it's one thing that's really unique about Berlin, having been divided after the war. Don't mention it!

Chewing them up.

We stopped at one of the high square watchtowers, got 2 kebabs, really delicious, and a historic bridge. Two large steel men wrestle on the line where the wall was in the middle of the river.

The man from the East versus the West on the old border.

Gorby was driving the change.

Further on there's the Eastside gallery - a couple of hundred metres of wall with frescos painted on, eg Gorbachev driving a hammer and sickle for a wheel, and Brechnev kissing the communist German puppet president on the lips. I thought this was some statement, but it seems they all do it.

The leaders greeting, showing higher brotherly love.

Later we saw a photo of Gorbachev kissing the same old man. Bleuck! I hope Louis didn't notice, but he is inspired to give me one too. I'm too old and queasy for this.

West Bank Israel 2009 - photo on the Berlin wall.

One side is a photo display of other walls around the world - Belfast, Israel, USA/Mexico and Spain/Morocco.

School holidays were in Berlin

West Berlin buildings same as Soviet side, + the U1 train.

During the school holidays, we went to Berlin for a week. Berlin has it all from WW2 history, to Soviet repression. The historical buildings are all being completely rebuilt. The city has cranes all over the place. It's going to be amazing once it's complete.

Saturday - landed and got to the flat no problems. German public transport is again A1.

The U1 train near our place

Bernardo our landlord meets us. He has his head shaved on the side, and wearing all black. I'm feeling old fashioned.

The flat is opposite a raised train line, just like in the Blues Brothers. The stairwell is like in the movie 1984. This is the west side of Berlin. We debate if we're on the old Soviet side as the buildings here are ugly, but no, it's the west side. On the east, some buildings are grandiose and ugly, but on the west some are ugly and cheap.

The boys are excited to be on holidays again, and settle in quickly. Louis's speaks English French style: "It's this one of which I speak" and "I've had enough, me".

East side - same, but more stately.

Yves and Meri visit

Marie talks to the tourists.

 Yves had to come over for work, so his wife Meri thought she'd come too. They're both from Sydney, but Yves lived in France until the age of 10 odd, so no problems getting around. They started in Amsterdam, got their bikes nicked, then bought two more in France, and cycled down the Rhone valley from Valence towards Marseille.

Hugues, Robina, Gabriella and Lionie happened to walk by.

Then they stayed at our place for the weekend to check out the sights. We went for a bike ride up to Cagnes sur Mer old town.




It was nice to have them stay!

Yves with Ollie's bike,mine and their folders in the old town.

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The Netherlands is the greatest place on earth.

Ride on! Amsterdam has 880,000 of them.

I had to go to Hoofddorp for work. It's in the industrial zone, as our offices are always. Me and a work buddy were there for 4 days, so we hired bikes. I picked a hotel that was 10km away, in Haarlem, just so we could have somewhere to ride to. It's more beautiful than the industrial zone.

From the airline magazine: "Flying over Holland for the first time, I remember thinking how organised this land looks. So geometric. Strips of grassland divided by narrow waterways, with farmhouses neatly placed at the end of each field. No waste of space. No urban sprawl. It was hard to believe this country was so densely populated. Everything planned." I think I have discovered where I want to retire for the rest of my life.

Amsterdam is my kind of place. There are 880,000 bikes in Amsterdam and 220,000 cars, about 210k too many. At work at home, they were excited about our trip, with all the sex and drugs. Me, I've got a one track mind for things 2 wheeled. By weird coincidence, a buddy from Oz and his wife are there, also cyclists. Their $200 folders from Aldi in Sydney have been stolen here already, so we give them a lift, one person each on the rack, bumping along the gob smackingly beautiful canals, and have dinner before heading to the hotel in Hoofddorp.

Cyclist, buddy, coworker and real French person Philippe.

We rode from Haarlem-Hoofddorp-Haarlem daily, which is easier done than said. The latest company guidelines specifically state that riding a bike is forbidden for business trips. So we do it, and ask later. In the morning, people cycling are all around. Some even indicate to turn. It's astonishing to think that there are enough bikes to warrant indicating your intentions on a path, let alone have company at all. It occurs to me that, in the same way, during the school holidays, Sydney is easy to drive, so too in the Netherlands, it would be easier with so few parents driving their children around.

The Haarlem suburbs are simple beautiful standalone appartment blocks. We ride through fields of cows, postcard perfect canals lined with cheerful boats, and lovely homes, all in great condition. The Dutch don't like curtains. At night you can see the home owners watching TV or reading the paper. Often you can see through to the fields on the other side.

The way from the hotel in Haarlem to Hoofddorp.

It's a nice area! A lady is power walking in the fields. Schoolkids ride 2 or 3 abreast chatting. For such a densely populated place, it has a lot more space than Sydney does! Then again, we do live near a 10 lane freeway on one side, and 6 lane Pacific Highway on the other. I continue planning my retirement, in my mind.

This place is amazing to ride. We roll over a large bike specific bridge spanning a main road, and under several underpasses. This means along the entire 10km route, we stop maybe 2 or 3 times for the lights.

The organiser asks if we rode, and asks how it was. Do these people have no idea of their reputation? How can you summarise a religious life transforming event like this? It's good! I say. I'm used to semi trailers, and fast cars passing too closely.

Where work is in Hoofddorp.

We get lost all the time. The biggest problem the Netherlands has is too many bike paths. Picture a grid of 3m separated paths going in any direction mostly not signposted. Problem no. 2 is rain. It rains all the time.

Dinner on night 2 is in Hoofddorp with work, and night 3 is in Haarlem, a beautiful historic town.

On the last day, leaving Hoofddorp to drop the bike off in Amsterdam, the rain jacket and rainlegs are not enough after 2 hours solid. There are two little 10cm patches of dryness on top of my thighs. The water still beads up nicely on my shoes, but the jeans have fed enough in via the heels, that they squelch.

It's been fantastically awesome. You know the problem with the world is that nobody thinks like I do. Then suddenly, there's a whole nation out there with bike paths going everywhere.

Maryanne and Julia pt 2

Entrevaux - on the walk up.

Yesterday, everyone else went to Entrevaux, a medieval village, with a fort perched above it. They said it's quite a climb to get up, but the boys did it ok.

I took today (Thursday) off work. We went to Ventimiglia to do a bit of shopping (Marie got boots) and Dolceaqua for lunch and to look around.

Our visitors are gone tomorrow, boo hoo.

Entrevaux - view from above.

Entrevaux - the bridge at the entrance.

The old bridge at Dolceaqua

Dolceaqua - recommended!

Maryanne and Julia pt 1

Nice one. Place Massena.

We downloaded all the photos from Julia's camera. So am updating it. Maryanne and Julia's school was in the middle of Nice. They'd pass the dude in the fountain each day. Apparently it's Apollo. He's the first god with horses on his head. A swollen head clearly.

They got off the bus here, walked through the nicer part of town. At home, everyone would do their homework, including Ollie who's getting some this year for the first time.

Louis in Noli

Here's a couple of shots from our day trip to Noli. It's a pretty village, typical of the area.

Typical Italian traffic jam: Noli. 

St Paul de Vence

This week, the two of them went to England for four days to visit family. The second part of this week, there was no school for them.