The Ex Expat

1 October 2012

First of all, thank you so much for all the lovely birthday wishes. I had the most wonderful day on Friday! At the weekend we celebrated with an afternoon tea party, and on Sunday we did some more sightseeing with my friend who was visiting from Edinburgh. With such a busy schedule I didn’t find time to prepare any blog posts for this week, so here are some pictures from my birthday to share with you while I catch up :-)

Since my friend was visiting, I took the day off work and we spent the morning down town sightseeing. At the Schlossplatz they have set up a huge walkable map of Berlin, to celebrate the city’s 775th birthday, with these giant colourful pins marking spots of historical interest or significance.

After that we moved on to Museum Island, where we saw this beautiful rainbow outside the Altes Museum. Rainbows and museums - what a perfect birthday combination!

First we visited the Pergamon Museum, where my friend wanted to see the highlights - the Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate - and then we went round the special exhibition on ancient Pergamon, which was closing at the weekend. It was my third time, and I still found it really impressive.

Then we went to see the Alte Nationalgalerie, as my friend was really keen on seeing the Caspar David Friedrich paintings there. It was my first time visiting too, and it made such a difference going through an art gallery with someone who is in to art.

After all that museum-ing it was time for some cake, so off we went to the wonderful Freckles cafe and they did not disappoint with their gluten free chocolate banana torte! It didn’t last for long ;-)

In the evening, the husband kindly took over babysitting duties so my friend and I could go out to my favourite Thai restaurant for a lovely meal of pad thai, jasmine tea, sake and ice cream.