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. 

21 September 2012

The husband may be back from his trip to Scotland, but here is the last instalment of our solo parenting museum adventures from last week. The Deutsches Technikmuseum is having a Doors Open Day of their Transport Dept on every Sunday in September, so we went to check it out. There’s still two Sunday left, so plenty of time for you to check it out too ;-)

You can view a full picture gallery with over 20 photographs from our visit over on Museum Diary.

19 September 2012

I’ve been solo parenting since last Thursday while the husband is on a well deserved holiday in Scotland, so there has been a lot of one on one time with the boy. And, as you may know, museums are always my refuge. Though, actually, it’s the boy who has been leading the way on our museum visits. After dragging me into the Jewish Museum Berlin on Saturday, he followed up the next day by demanding we go inside the Berlinische Galerie (museum of modern art, photography and architecture).

You can read a full account of our visit over on Museum Diary.

17 September 2012

If you’ve been following The Ex-Expat for a while, you may know that we live only a stone’s throw away from the Jewish Museum Berlin. The boy loves going inside, although so far we’ve just been to the Glass Courtyard with him for afternoon tea, or the gardens for a run around. This weekend, we were coming back from the shops and he kicked up such a fuss when I wouldn’t let him go inside the museum because we had to get home and put the shopping in the fridge and freezer. So we went straight back out after we were done, and he made a beeline for the museum’s entrance.

You can read a full account of our visit over on Museum Diary.

3 September 2012

One of the fun things about moving to a new place, is that there’s lots to explore and you have more than just an average holiday period to do it in. As I’ve already mentioned, my parents were visiting the other week, and they asked if there was anywhere we’d like to go and explore that is tricky to get to by public transport, since they had their car with them. So we went and consulted a Berlin guidebook, and that’s how we discovered the Museumsdorf Düppel.

Museumsorf Düppel is a reconstructed medieval village on 8 hectares of land about 10 miles out of town, built on the site of a 13th century settlement. Surrounded by lush green fields, it’s hard to believe you’re still in Berlin. And it’s the perfect day out with a toddler. You can read a full account of our day trip over on Museum Diary.