Two weeks in Germany

After Edinburgh it was time to spend two weeks in Germany, and it was also time for what had been rather mediocre weather in England (not awful, but generally not great) to be replaced by exceptional weather in Germany. For most of the two weeks it was over 23 degrees and almost half the time it was blue skies and even hit 30 degrees. This enabled several BBQs, a 3-day cycling and beach trip, a few days walking around Berlin, and relaxation at Andrea's house.

My mum and eldest sister came to Berlin with me on a Saturday, and were treated to a bike ride around town and a trip to one of the many lakes in East Germany that are flooded mines and perfect for swimming in and relaxing next to. The next day we took a train and cycled around 45km along one of Germany's tremendous cycle paths (where Britain has excellent footpaths, Germany really has excellent cycle paths throughout the countryside and cities) to a city beside a larger former-coal-mine-turned-lake called Senftenberg. We spent a couple of nights in a small bungalow that we rented with a pool, cycling around the lake, visiting the pretty town center of Senftenberg, and enjoying the beach and playgrounds beside the lake. It was a wonderful low-key, relaxing, experience.

In Berlin, for those interested in an intense two-day itinerary, we were packing things in: the very good Jewish museum in the morning, the excellent Stasi museum after lunch, and a walk from Postdamer Platz up past Brandenburg Gate and the Bundestag to the main train station (where my sister left to go back to the UK). My mum visited the Holocaust memorial (Andrea and I having been before and preferring to play with Hannah in the Tiergarten), then we did checked out the tendy/shopping areas of Hackischer markt, and Gendarmanmarkt where we ate at a nice Italian place. It was a packed day and it's interesting to see the similarities between Berlin and London, with parks, palaces, gates, parliaments and shopping streets all being close together.

On the second day we walked through the old part of East Berlin where Humboldt university and the Museums island is, checked out the Berlin Cathedral, and then went to the DDR museum. Another fantastic museum, it excellently reconstructs life in East Germany when it was the DDR, focusing on aspects of living, music, sport, the economy and all sorts. There was even a section on nudist beaches, and of course a Trabi car. In the afternoon we went to the Berlin wall and then the fantastic exhibit into Terror alongside a part of the Berlin wall (near the Stasi museum). We decided against the Checkpoint Charlie museum (though we saw Checkpoint Charlie itself) and instead went to the Berlin city museum. This was a massive museum, covering a lot of detail about the history of Berlin, and included a tour of a nuclear bunker which was built in the underground car park. Another great visit, though the museum was rather too long. We ended the day walking along the Berlin equivalent of Oxford Street (Kurfurstenstrasse) in the evening.

On day three, having done most of sights in Berlin, not fancying too much walking, whilst also wanting to enjoy the nice weather and not be inside more museums, we ended up going to the Gardens of the World, out in the suburbs (the other option was going to Potsdam, but we didn't think we would have enough time as my mum had an afternoon flight). A wonderful little place, perfect for Hannah with a playground, water, stones and other things to keep her busy. Some of the 8 or so gardens were excellent, particularly the renaissance garden, the Chinese garden and the oriental garden. An English garden is under construction, so we'll have to go back another time and see what it is like! A quick visit to C&A for some more shopping, before my mum headed back to England we managed some more precious hours in Primark (the only one in Germany, and just as packed as the one in Watford), before we also grabbed the train back to Andrea's house.

Over the next few days I went running the nice German countryside, Hannah played with her grandparents and some of her German friends, we went swimming a few more times (both in the lakes and leisure centres which have slides and warmer water for Hannah), ate ice creams, went to playgrounds, saw other friends, and generally relaxed.

On one day we did a trip to Dresden, where I had never been before. Although famously destroyed during the war, a large part of the old town has been restored and looks wonderful. There are many more restored buildings than I expected, with several churches, palaces, an opera house, art academies and all sorts looking beautiful. We also explored the new town on the north side of the river, which reminds me a bit of Camden with some funky shops and some interesting architecture. There was also an excellent playground – really, cities should invest in these things, they make cities so much more livable for families and are a beehive of activity. Where Berlin has the Hackischer markt, a complex of pretty courtyards and interesting shops, Dresden has the Kunsthofpassage, similar but more authentic and with nicer architecture.

We wrapped up our day in Dresden with a tour of the Volkswagen factory there. It's made entirely of glass (the floors are wooden though) and makes the expensive Phaeton. It's a beautifully designed building, a very interesting tour, and a great idea: VW not only make 11,000 cars there a year, they create a halo around the brand showcasing the craftsmanship (cars are mostly assembled by hand) in the "transparent" building, and have made an excellent customer experience out of it all. Highly recommended as was the whole day in Dresden.

The four weeks have gone by quickly, a series of different mini-holidays, a mixture of busy times and relaxing times, time with the family, time with friends, time seeing things, and time having fun (the four adult water slides at the Badliebenwerda leisure center are really good; the Alan Partridge film I saw in the cinema was non-stop laughter, and of course much of the Edinburgh comedy was funny too).