Made it to Germany!

The German adventure begins!  It has been an adventure for sure.  Most of our first week here has been spent running around to different government office trying to obtain the correct piece of paper but we did get to do one touristy thing this past Sunday.  We went to Schloss Charlottenburg.  This is a baroque palace that is just a few blocks from where we are currently living in Charlottenburg. Yep, we live just a few blocks away from a PALACE.  We did not go in the palace but we did walk around the gardens which are really nice and were a great place to get the dogs on a good walk.  We figured out that we can get into the gardens a quicker way from our house so there will probably be daily dog walks here while we live in this neighborhood.

Apparently this palace started smallish when it was built toward the end of the 17th century as a summer retreat for Sophie-Charlotte, wife of elector Fredrich III.   It is the largest palace in Berlin and the only royal residency in the city dating back to the Hohenzollern family.  Some other royals added on,  one such addition was the Neuer Flugel (New Wing - creative with names, the Germans) which was added on in 1746.  During WWII the palace was damaged a bit but was reconstructed.  I suppose that is the case for most of Berlin.  There was a bit of information around the grounds but most was in German so I didn't get much out of that.  


We walked around the gardens which were pretty cool and I look forward to seeing it come back to life in the spring.  The building at the end of this tree-lined path is a mausoleum that is the resting place for Queen Luise, her husband Fredrich WilhemIII, and the Emperor William I and his wife Augusta.  There are also a few other royals there.

 Calvin and Jahnimous were pretty excited to pose for this photo putting their best side forward! We tried  to turn them around and get a second shot but it looks just like this one.  I love those dogs!  I love them so much I drug them to Germany with me!

 A better shot of the boys with the palace in the background.

The English section of the gardens....

The have some funny looking pinecones here in Berlin!

There are some pretty cool statues around the palace as well

Most of the statues were looking pretty worn down....I guess that is from years of being exposed to the weather.

Siler seems to be settling into German life pretty well.  We don't have a car so we get around by walking and taking trains and busses.  It's been pretty cold here so she stays pretty bundled up when we are out and about.  She is not nearly as bundled up as most of the German babies though.  I think this is hysterical since we just moved from 60-70 degree Charleston to 40ish degree Berlin. The German babies are in prams with hats, coats, gloves AND in a sleeping bag thing.  I have to take layers off of Siler sometimes because she so sweaty and I have to keep her hands out so she can get her fingers in her mouth!  I am thankful for Starr for giving us the stroller blanket.  I had no idea when I was in Charleston how handy this would be.....in Berlin!

So we are here, we are settling in, getting adjusted to city life.  I think that the city life may be more of an adjustment than the we just moved to another continent part of our move.  Berlin is big.  Not as big as London I hear, but WAY bigger than Charleston or Asheville.  

       It takes us hours to run one or two errands because we take the wrong train and end up in the wrong place, or have to find a shop to feed Siler,  or realize later that there was a closer one of those but we just didn't know, or wander around looking for the elevator.  After dragging the baby and the stroller up and down some stairs and escalators several times and wondering how these other moms carried their GIANT prams up stairs, I realized that on the train map it notes if there is an elevator.  Now I look for stops with elevators if I have the stroller.  Since I don't know any of the stops well yet I have to wander around the station following signs to the elevator which seems like not a big deal.  Well, some stations have a few different train lines and different elevators going to the different train lines so it's a little more involved.  One of the funniest moments we've had so far was getting off one train (because we realized we had gone one station to far, so we need to go back one stop) and trying to get to another by elevator.  We found an elevator,  took it up,  walked across a sort of bridge over the tracks, saw the sign for the train we thought we needed but couldn't find a elevator for that, so we carried the stroller down the stairs, looked around and realized that was not the right platform, headed for the elevator, realized we were getting on the SAME elevator, but confused as to how this had happened.  Took the elevator back up,  laughing hysterically,  calmed down and finally found signs to the correct train.  I felt like I was in one of those MC Escher drawings at the time.  AH, the life of the newbies.....

       Here are a few pics of Siler.  She is busy, busy, busy.

Taking a bath in the first place we stayed.  I'm glad they bothered with the tub but it was so small I don't really know why they bothered.

 The washing machine at our old house was in the garage so Siler didn't see it much but was pretty excited to watch the one at our current house.  If I can do a load of laundry while cooking I can keep an eye on her!

LOVES that cute baby in the mirror.  It's in the foyer/hall of our current apartment and while Siler is crawling as fast as she can towards something dangerous she will see this baby and stop to chat.  I love this because it soooo cute and it gives me time to childproof!