Berlin – A Mix of Old and New

“This is indeed the capital!”

That was my first impression the moment I saw Berlin. I can’t help but compare it to Bonn, the old German capital, where I have been staying for almost 3 months now. Berlin, being a very busy city, is the center of politics, culture, media, science and economy. It has modern buildings, museums which stands right next to each other, shopping centers and restaurants.

Since I was only staying for three days to attend a workshop, I saw to it that I got a glimpse of the historical and famed landmarks around the city. Right after every session, my Taiwanese colleague and I would call a taxi and with our limited Deutsch words asked to be brought to the interesting tourist spots.

Gendarmenmarkt is known as one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. It was created on the 17^th century as a market place. It is now a quiet place surrounded by three landmark buildings, the Französischer Dom (French Cathedral), Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral) and the Konzerthaus. In the center of the square is a statue of Friedrich Schiller, a famous German poet.

German Cathedral in Gendarmenmarkt

Konzerthaus

The French Cathedral behind me with the statue of Friedrich Schiller

Charlottenburg Palace is the largest existing palace in Berlin and now functions as a museum. It stands in a sprawling land complete with park and garden which is used mainly for recreation. Inside the palace used to be what was described as "the eighth wonder of the world" — the Bernsteinzimmer, a room with its walls surfaced in decorative amber.

Unfortunately, as our sightseeing time was outside the office hours, we were not able to visit the museum.

Charlottenburg Palace

The Bradenburg Gate is an iconic landmark of Berlin and Germany which has been a witness and played different political roles in German history. Located atop the Bradenburg gate is the Quadriga of Victory . The quadriga was looted by Napoleon of France in 1806 and was only returned to Berlin in 1814.

East side of Bradenburg Gate

The Gate with the Quadriga of Victory on top.
Victory used to carry an olive wreath but was subsequently replaced by an Iron Cross.
The cross was once removed by the Communist government of East Germany but was restored back after the German reunification in 1990.

The magnificent and historical Bradenburg Gate

Of course, a visit to Berlin is not complete without having a glimpse of the Berlin Wall. Though I never had the time to see the actual remaining stretch of the wall, I was able to stumble upon this block while shopping for souvenirs near the gate.

Once was part of The Wall

Three Decades

Certainly! It has been three decades of life full of love and blessings. I cannot thank the Lord enough. He truly loves me – unconditionally.

“Youth had been a habit of hers for so long that she could not part with it.”

– Rudyard Kipling

Who says I’m 3-Oh?!!!

Holiday Sightseeings

Going through my blog, I thought it might not be too late to share photos taken during our trip to The Netherlands last December 2007. Since we were not able to go back home to Pinas, Zach and I decided to reward ourselves for our hard work for 2007 with this trip and to celebrate our first wedding anniversary.

We braved the busy pre-Christmas days and flew to Brussels last 22^nd December. We took a side trip and spent the night in the Belgian capital where we met up with college friends, couple Rey and Elanie.

Grand Place, Brussels

light and sound display show where they illuminated the Town Hall with hundreds of colourful lights which changes along with the classical music.

Brussels Christmas Market: Elanie and I trying out the must-try German mulled wine Glühwein

and Belgian waffle

parade of restaurants near Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert.

The following day, we took a 2-hour train ride and got off at Rotterdam Central in Holland where my Auntie Darling and her Dutch husband Uncle Dirk picked us up and drove us around the modern city for sightseeing.

Rotterdam is a city with modern architecture (as compared to Amsterdam) since it was greatly damaged by World War II bombings. Rotterdam port is the biggest in Europe and one of the world’s busiest.

Rotterdam's cube houses

My uncle brought us to see this weird structure in Rotterdam -

A building literally on top of another one.

Erasmusbrug ("Erasmus Bridge") across Nieuwe Mass River linking the

southern and northern part of the city

a quick shot in front of Auntie Darling and Uncle Dirk's house

Amsterdam welcomed us the following day. We drove to the country capital early in the morning and took a side trip to the city center before going to my Auntie Nenet’s place where we will be spending Christmas Eve.

Royal Palace, Amsterdam

The canals and bicycles of Amsterdam

Amsterdam at night

Taken while on a canal boat tour - typical boat houses along the canal and

Dutch structures at the bank of the canal.

Just after Christmas, the days were spent resting at home, visiting friends, partying with Filipino organizations, sightseeing and shopping. As for me and Zach, we did not let our holidays pass without visiting Elanie and Rey's town down South of Holland - s'Hertogenbosch or Den Bosch. As we did not have enough time to chat-to-the-max while in Brussels, we stayed for a night at their place and chat and drink the night away.

Photo-op immediately after stepping out of Den Bosch train station. hehe!

College buddies Elanie and I - reunited after 7 years

Zach, I and St. John's Basilica in s'Hertogenbosch

Little Women ( as in small gid ya...) conquered Europe. hehe!

The next day, Rey and Elanie brought us to Madurodam in The Hague. It is a miniature city showcasing a model of Dutch typical structures and landmarks.

Head office of Nationale-Nederlanden in miniature

Amsterdam Royal Palace

Zach enjoyed watching the mini cars driving along the mini street.

ECE5A in Madurodam - Rey, Elanie and me.

And since we are in The Hague, we dropped by the Peace Palace before calling it a day.

The Peace Palace is home to a number of international judicial institutions, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), the renowned Peace Palace Library, as well as the Hague Academy of International Law, which attracts law students from all over the world every summer.

The Peace Palace - a quick shot just before it got dark

A Commuter’s Life

It feels good to be back! I’ve been missing in action for the last 4 months, that is, in the blogging world. Work have been hectic and demanding that I hardly had time to maintain this blog. I’ve been meaning to share my adventures but I always found myself struggling with work and home chores realizing later that my planned blog updates were actually out-of-date. Hehe!

For the past months, I’ve been living a life of a commuter. Work requires me to be based in Bonn, Germany and all these months I’ve been travelling every Monday and goes back home in England on Fridays. The hour and a half flight is easy to deal with. It’s the flight delays in Heathrow Airport - being one of the busiest airport in the world that seem to be sucking the strength (and patience?!!!) out of me. Hotel rooms have been my home for 4 nights every week. For the first few weeks, it felt quite posh staying in these 5-star hotels and enjoying the comfort they offer but after a while I started missing my modest room in our England home. Indeed, there’s no place like home.

It’s actually starting to wear me out but I actually have no choice – for now. Definitely, I need to go back home and spend my weekends with Zach and try to fulfil my wifely duties. Hehe! My Saturdays are spent resting and catching up with laundry and other home chores. On Sundays, we attend mass in the morning and spend quality time dining out, shopping or visiting friends and end the day preparing for my trip the next Monday morning. On how long I can endure this routine, I am not sure. Hehe!

All I know is that I have a lot to be thankful for and there’s no room for me to complain. I have the most understanding husband whom I have not heard complaining about having an absentee wife. I have the opportunity to travel without costing me anything. I get to experience the German way of life and culture and meet all the friendly people here. Career-wise, I have this opportunity to work and learn with different people.

But I will always remain hopeful that somehow there will be a possibility for me to work remotely in UK for this project. After all, more than anything else, my life is in England.

Pinoys in Fleet

When I first came here and was looking around for a flat, I had absolutely no idea if there were any Filipino communities in the area and the neighboring towns. I tried to ask my relocation agent at that time but she told me she’d ask around and come back to me with the information (which she never did). After 7 properties in 3 different towns, I settled with the one in Fleet which is the closest to public transport as I did not have a car back then and it was only about 6 minute-drive away from my workplace in Southwood, Farnborough. It was only later that I learned from a Filipino colleague that there are considerable number of Filipino families in neighboring towns of Farnborough and Frimley (which has a big hospital with majority of its nurses coming from the Philippines).

Walking around in Fleet’s town center, I would get excited whenever I see Pinoy-looking people and realizing later that they were actually Thai or Napalese. Hehe! Until I finally met a Filipina from the church and it was there I learned that there weren’t much Filipinos in Fleet. Over the months, my circle of Filipino friends widens and all of them are living in Farnborough, Frimley and Camberley.

Not until a few months ago when my hubby bumped into a Pinay in one of his train rides. From then on, we have been frequenting their house for a barbecue and it was through those gathering that I got to meet the other kababayan living around the town. In a span of a month, two more guys arrived from Pinas and we all agreed that our community in Fleet has somehow grown not into a really big community but just enough that everyone knows everyone. It’s exciting that the “Ate’s” are actually talking about having a Pinoy Christmas Party!!

fraction of the whole Pinoy gang