Berlin

This is going to be one long post, so I hope you are ready. It was a real adventure, one for the books.

General feelings

I have never been to Berlin before. And this is the first visit to one of three most popular cities in Europe (the other two being London and Paris).

It is hard to describe Berlin in writing if you are not an able writer or a poet. I am sure many have done it with more or less success. I will just write what I felt while discovering this incredible city.

Yes, it is incredible, make no mistake about that whether you like it or not. If Berlin was a woman, it would be your perfect woman, described in this joke (!!!warning foul language ahead!!!): »A chef in the kitchen, a lady in the living room, and a whore in bed! « Berlin has all these qualities. In Berlin you will get the best cuisines in the world and also all the junk food you can imagine, you will get culturally educated and be awed by its history but at the same time it will fulfil your every fetish and desire (or so I heard) and show you the hardshipss of life. (Un)fortunately we couldn`t experience the night life, because we were just too exhausted.

If Berlin was a plant, it would be the most colourful, fragrant, beautiful, addictive poisonous flower you could imagine. Berlin has a way of luring you in and in time I think I could not get away. Everything is simple and reachable, but at the same time just out of reach. Some people live to catch it, some people fall into ruin (we saw the best cars in Germany as of yet, but also a large number of homeless abodes – people who make it and people who had to give up).

If Berlin was a food, it would be your favourite food done in a thousand of different ways, every one of which you would love and could not get enough off. Berlin is simply so variable and it is constantly »changing« (something that every guide told us and taking into account the constant ongoing constructions, the mix of old and modern, the variety of nationalities and races living in this city, I believe them).

This is our visit to Berlin:

The trip

It took us about four hours to get from Bayreuth to Berlin with our car. The kids didn`t enjoy the trip if I judge from the number of times they asked if we are there yet. It was like this:

Day One – The President`s Palace

Right after we arrived to our hotel Park Inn, which is in the centre of Berlin on Alexanderplatz,

we had to quickly register and get dressed for the meeting with the president of Germany – we and other 500+ participants. It was hectic. But we got all dressed up and boarded a bus that took us directly to Bellevue – the president’s palace. On the way I met a Scottish interpreter for Greek and Latin language (I hope I remembered that correctly) and a scientist from Hong Kong that had Australia written on his name tag as the country of origin – very confusing). At Bellevue we went over detailed checking

and after we were greeted by this (it looked like something from a British high society garden party):

.

What can I say, the kids jumped and played, I played with them and I drank as much champagne as I could get my hands on. 🙂

 

We met a young Slovenian family that are living in Potsdam (the husband is a Humboldt fellow and works in the field of Theoretical Physics). The president gave a speech about the meaning of being a Humboldt awardee, took photos with the kids (I missed the opportunity – damn)

and then they took us back to the hotel. It was a really nice day, relaxed and playful. Dinner at the hotel was nothing mentionable, except that there were so many people there that we had to stand in long lines to get some real food. By then we were all exhausted, so we slept like babies.

Day Two – The tours

After breakfast (a standard breakfast at the hotel) they drove us to the head of the Free University of Berlin.

On the way I met a Chinese Scientist (researches magnetism) who was born in a town from which Kung-Fu originates – but he explained to me that they picked the people who do Kung-Fu by their innate ability and not by whoever pays the membership fee. At the University grounds there were again tents and games for kids and this time they had food and drinks all the time.

The numerous kids had their fun, I had a lot of sun (I forgot to take the sun screen with us) and some champagne. Meanwhile Paula listened to a lecture given by an Honorary Researcher, Nobel laureate (Paula dictated this term to me) inside the University. After two hours and a half I was sitting under a tree, exhausted from running after our kids that each seemed to want to do different things at the same time, not even having enough time to take a pee. But it was fun and after I emptied my overblown bladder it was even better.

While playing with the kids (not just ours but others also, it was impossible to avoid them) I realized that we had very well behaved kids. There was this thing that happened while I was resting  in the shade under the tree, when two kids (they couldn`t be more than six years) came to me and they laid down a bunch of street like cones around me.

At the beginning I found it extremely funny, but then they got really rude. They were playing a game that I was their prisoner. So, I played along until they started yelling at me (in German, but I understood them). At that point I told them that they shouldn`t yell because that is rude. Their response was an obscene remark that had something to do with my penis – from a mouth of a six year old that word seemed even more inappropriate. Then I told them that I didn`t like that game and that I am leaving. They yelled something more but they didn`t get physical.

All that time none of the kid`s parents approached or even appeared to be in the vicinity. For some reason that »incident« kind of disturbed me.

After the University they took us on a tour with a bus around Berlin. The guide was one of the professors of the University who is actually an American (from LA) living in Germany for 20 odd years. He was really funny and gave some interesting information about the Berlin architecture and history. At that tour I started to realize that Berlin was an incredible city. I liked the tour, Ambrož slept through it. Apparently the voice of the guide calmed him. The bus took us to the ships harbour, where we went on a boat tour on Spree (Berlin river).

On the boat tour they only confirmed what I suspected from the moment we drove into the city limits – I was falling in love with the spirit of Berlin.

Being on a boat, served by waiters (the beer was free!!!) and meanwhile listening to explanations about Berlin, its structures and history can convince even a non-Berlin-lover that it is an exceptional place – a megacity.

The boat trip ended too quickly even for me – I have motion sickness that keeps me from having a good time even on the most calm boat rides, but I just couldn`t be bothered by my overturning stomach while enjoying the view. We had some time to rest at the hotel until it was time for dinner at a restaurant HB Munich in Berlin (two minutes’ walk from the hotel).

We sat at the table with a nice German family (the husband was a former Humboldt fellow that studied snakes in Australia – imagine that). We talked a lot, they were both fluent in English and their daughter was just 5 months old, so she just laughed at my silly beard (or was that Paula ?!). The restaurant has a special place for the kids, so they played

– and soon things got a little violent. There were a few older boys (with this I mean about 10 years old) that played a bit more aggressively. At the beginning the tallest of them (he was just a little bit smaller than me) got hit really hard on the head – again, his parents were not there. He must have cried on the floor for 10 minutes before someone came and got him (I tried to speak with him, but all he said was »papa«). And a little later on another boy got hit on the head so hard he tore his scalp – those who have seen a scalp get torn open know that scalp bleeds heavily and the boy head looked like a mess. Again, that incident stuck with me. When they called the ambulance it was already late for us (Ambrož was dozing off in his mother’s lap).

We said goodbye to our newly met friends (the husband gave us a card and invited us to visit him in the Hamburg Zoo where he works as a curator of the Tropical animals) and went to bed. We were looking forward to next day, because on Thursday we discover Berlin on our own. That meant the end of Humboldt annual meeting of fellows and their families. With no exaggeration I can say it was one of the best organised meetings I have seen in my life and a true presentation of the meaning of being awarded the Humboldt Scholarship – they go the extra mile to make you feel as a part of the Foundation and an organisation that connects different scientist from around the world. There were more than 571 fellows and other Humboldt officials and honorary members from more than 70 countries all over the world. I think that data is just awesome by itself, the meeting was:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NsK_Ovp0y0

Day Three – The Zoo (Incident)

Although it was raining we had our eyes set on the Berlin Zoo (it gave us and the kids something to do together).

I remember that one of the guides said that Berlin has the best public transport in the world – he was not lying. They have buses, trams, S-bahn and U-bahn. It took us about two minutes to get to the nearest S-bahn station (the one that the concierge at the hotel that looked like the spitting image of Zac Ephron said we should go – he was so cute I don`t know how Paula remembered anything he said :)) and the train arrived in two minutes. I thought we were lucky, but then I saw that the next train will be arriving in four minutes. On the trains they have special cars for baby strollers and bikes, which came in handy for us.

After fifteen minutes of train we were at the famous Zoo Station (from the German book and movie We Children from Banhof Zoo . If you haven`t seen it yet, don`t watch it, cause it is very depressing – but unfortunately a great movie so you should watch it. Me, I would rather see Star Wars again).

It took us no more than five minutes to get to the Zoo entrance and it was time to enjoy ourselves – or so we thought. No more than five minutes in, I turned away from the kids for about a second (I swear on my mother it wasn`t more than that) and Ambrož was already climbing on a fence that separated him and a four meter fall to a cage with wild Capricorn-looking mammals. It was our time to be the irresponsible parents it seemed. The lady that took hold of Ambrož gave us a spiteful look, I had a stern talk with Ambrož and we forgot the incident two minutes later. I wish we hadn`t… It became apparent that the kids were not interested in the animals, but in other stuff like running heedlessly through the Zoo, looking for ice cream place, or trying to climb on stuff that was not meant to be climbed on. But we did see a lot of interesting things.

Then it started raining and Paula and I decided it was a good time to see the Bird Palace that was indoors. And it was magnificent. They had even a few rooms that allowed you to enter and sit among some tropical birds we have never seen before. So we went to a tropical forest room that had palms and some streams in it and beautiful birds and butterflies.

I was enjoying the place, taking pictures, Paula was putting our things away (we had to undress because the inside of the room was hot and humid – just like the rain forest). I was walking over a small overhang made of wood, underneath was some water that was covered with moss-like greenery when I heard a loud splash behind me. I turned to see what made the splash in the water (my first thought was to call Mojca to come and see the fish), but as I turned I didn`t see anything but that green covering the surface of the water. The next moment a kid surfaces from the water. It took me about a second to realize it was Ambrož and my hearth stopped. All I could do was say his name. Before I could react, a lady that was near him grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the water. By then I was by his side, so I took him and thanked her for the help. Well, I think I thanked her, I was in a panic. I haven`t got much experience with panic, because I consider myself a calm and controlled person in a bind. But this time I was just – paralyzed. All I could do was to take his clothes off, so he would stop shivering. By then Paula was beside us, helping me. We undressed him, some people offered us help but I was in no state to understand their German. We just said that we have change of clothes, which we took just as a precaution because of the rain – the swim was not in the emergency plans. After we dressed him we didn`t laughed like we did in Eremitage (maybe we should have because it all turned out OK) but I made a mistake of yelling at him, telling him that this was the consequence of climbing to places that were not meant to be climbed on. Only later, when we all calmed down he told us that he thought the green stuff on the water was grass and he wanted to get across it to touch some flowers. Then I felt bad for yelling at him, because moments before he fell in I was just thinking that the green looks like nice grass you see on golf courts.

After that we went home and did what anybody that went under so much stress does – we went to eat to Burger Kings on coupons.

After a well-deserved afternoon nap, we decided to not get beat by the misfortune of the morning and headed to the Aquarium where there is even more water for Ambrož to fall into (some of the pools even had Alligators in them). Talk about responsible parenting. But this time we all enjoyed our time without incident(s).

By the time it was over, the kids were tired and grumpy, grumpier even than this fish:

We went to eat at this place:

where they serve some mean (I mean good) noodles, but the kids hardly looked at them.

The moment we got out, they started crying how hungry they were. So we bought them noodle soup which we ate at our hotel room. Our trip was coming to an end. I looked at the sunset over Berlin:

and said goodbye.

The Trip back

Friday was the day for leaving. We had our breakfast at the hotel, than went for a walk around the hotel.

   

There we met an older Croatian couple that overheard us talking in Slovenian. They came over to us and we talked a bit, but it was nice to see that the fact of a common origin (former Yugoslavia) and a similar language still connects us so.

And then we headed toward home – Bayreuth seemed more home to us than ever before, we just had to be away from it a little time. We used the main road through Berlin to get one last look at it and then we hurried to our cosy apartment in the familiar surroundings of a small city.

Slovenci v Berlinu:

To bo zelo dolga objava, zato upam, da ste pripravljeni.

Splošni občutki o Berlinu

To je bil moj prvi obisk v Berlinu. Prav tako je to prvi obisk v katerem od treh najbolj priljubljenih mest v Evropi (druga dva sta London in Pariz).

Težko je opisati Berlin v pisani besedi, če nisi izkušenj pisatelj ali pesnik. Sem prepričan, da se jih je kar nekaj lotilo te naloge in nekaterim je uspelo, drugim ne. Jaz bom samo zapisal, kako sem se počutil, ko smo odkrivali to veličansko mesto.

Ja, je veličansko, da ne bo pomote, verjetno tudi za tiste, ki jim ni všeč. Če bi bil Berlin ženska, bi bil popolna ženska, kot jo opiše ta malce vulgarna šala (pazite, naprej so določene neprimerne besede): »Kuharca v kuhinju, dama v dnevni sobi in kurba v spalnici.« Vse te kvalitete bi lahko v prenesenem pomenu pripisali Berlinu. V Berlinu vam bodo postregli najboljše jedi, ki so kar mojstrovine, prav tako pa se boste lahko napolnili z vso hitro hrano, ki vam jo srce poželi. Berlin vas bo izobrazil o kulturi  se boste čudili njegovi zgodovini, istočasno pa bo pripravljen zadovoljiti vse vaše skrite pokvarjene želje in fetiše (no, kakor so nama povedali). Na najino (ne)srečo nisva okusila nočnega življenja, ker sva bila preprosto preveč utrujena.

Če bi bil Berlin rastlina, bi bil najlepša, najbolj barvita, dišeča, privlačna, a strupena roža, ki si jo lahko zamislite. Berlin te nekako zapelje in te prevzame na način, da se ti sčasoma zdi, da več ne bi mogel pobegniti. Vse v Berlinu se zdi dosegljivo in preprosto, vse je na roki, istočasno pa je vse ravno izven dosega. Nekaterim uspe doseči svoje sanje, nekateri pa pri tem propadejo (npr. v Berlinu sva videla največ izjemno dragih avtov in urejenih ljudi in istočasno veliko domovanj številnih brezdomcev, če si le pozoren – torej srečaš ljudi, ki jim je uspelo in ljudi, ki so preprosto morali obupati).

Če bi bil Berlin hrana, bi verjetno bil vaša najljubša hrana, ki bi vam jo pripravili na tisoče različnih načinov in vsaka verzija bi vam bila boljša od prejšnje. Berlin je tako raznolik in dinamičen, da ga morate vzljubiti in se ga ne morete nasititi. Berlin se neprestano spreminja. Dejstvo, ki nam ga je povedal vsak od vodičev, ki nam je predstavljal to čudovito mesto.

To je naš obisk v Berlinu:

Pot tja

Rabili smo okoli štiri ure, da smo se brez težav pripeljali do Berlina z avtomobilom iz Bayreutha. Otrokoma je šla pot bolj ali ne na živce, če bi sodil po številnih vprašanjih, če smo že na cilju. Bilo je nekako tako kot je na prvem posnetku zgoraj – ne preveč zabavno.

Prvi dan – Obisk pri predsedniku

Takoj, ko smo se pripeljali do hotela Park Inn, ki je v centru mesta na Alexanderplatz, smo se morali na hitro registrirati in olepšati, ker smo imeli zmenek s predsednikom Nemčije – mi in preostalih 500+ udeležencev. Bilo je noro. Ampak nam je uspelo se lepo obleči in smo se vkrcali na avtobus, ki nas je odpeljal neposredno do Bellevue – predsednikova palača. Na poti sem spoznal Škota, ki je prevajalec Grškega jezika in Latinščine (upam, da sem si pravilno zapomnil) in znanstvenika iz Hong Konga, ki je imel na svoji znački napisano, da je iz Avstralije – zelo zmedeno. Pred predsedniško palačo smo šli preko natančnega varnostnega pregleda (slika zgoraj) in potem nas je pričakala lepa scena, ki je izgledala kot nekaj iz angleške vrtne zabave premožnih ljudi (slike zgoraj).

Kako naj vam opišem dogajanje kot, da povem, da so otroci skakali in se igrali, jaz z njimi, vmes pa sem poskušal popiti čim več izvrstnega šampanjca, ki sem ga našel. Na zabavi sva spoznala mlado slovensko družino, ki živi v Potsdamu (mož je znanstvenik in  prejemnik Humboldtove štipendije, in sicer za področje teoretične fizike). Predsednik Nemčije je imel kratek govor o pomenu Humboldtove fundacije in dejstvu, da je biti prejemnik Humboldtove štipendije čast in dosežek. Potem se je slikal z otroki (smo izpustili priložnost – prekleto) in potem so nas odpeljali nazaj v hotel. Bil je resnično lep dan, sproščen in razigran.  Večerja v hotelu nam bo ostala v spominu predvsem zaradi gužve in dolgih vrst, v katerim smo se skoraj borili za par krožnikov resne hrane. Ko jo je bilo konec, smo bili že izmučeni, zato smo spali kot dojenčki.

Drugi dan – ogledi mesta

Po zajtrku, ki je bil tipičen hotelski zajtrk, so nas odpeljali proti Svobodni Univerziteti Berlina. Na poti do tja sem se pogovarjal s kitajskim znanstvenikom, ki se ukvarja z magnetizmom in je bil rojen v mestu, iz katerega izvira Kung-Fu – ampak mi je razložil, da so za treninge izbrali samo ljudi, ki so bili naravno nadarjeni za kung-fu in ne vse tiste, ki so plačali članarino. Pri univerzi so bili spet šotori in igrače za otroke, pri čemer so nas tokrat postregli tudi s hrano in pijačo, ki nam je bila neprestano na voljo. Številni otroki so se zabavali, jaz sem se žgal na soncu (pozabil sem kremo za sončenje) in se hladil s šampanjcem. Med tem je Pauli poslušala predavanje od nekega častnega raziskovalca, znanstvenika, ki je dobil Nobelovo nagrado v predavalnici univerze. Po dveh urah in pol sem sedel v senci drevesa, izmučen od letanja sem in tja za Ambrožem in Mojco, ki sta se ravno tisti dan odločila, da bosta vsak delala svoje stvari vsaksebi, zaradi česar nisem imel niti možnosti iti lulat. Ampak je bilo zabavno, sploh, ko sem olajšal prenapolnjen mehur.

Med igranjem z otroki (seveda sem se moral ukvarjati tudi s tujimi otroki, ki se jim je bilo nemogoče ogniti) sem spoznal, da sta najina otroka zelo lepo vzgojena. To spoznanje sem imel po nekem dogodku, ki sem mi je zgodil, ko sem počival pod drevesom. Takrat sta k meni pristopila dva otroka, ki nista mogla biti stara več kot 6 let in sta okoli mene zložila stožce. Na začetku se mi je zdela zadeva neizmerno zabavna, potem pa sta otroka postala zelo nesramna. Igrala sta se igro, da sem njun zapornik. Seveda sem se prepustil njuni igri, dokler nista začela name kričati (po nemško, ampak sem ju dobro razumel). Na tej točki igre sem jima rekel, da ni vljudno kričati na ljudi, kar ju je še podžgalo. Takrat je en od njiju začel kričati žaljivke, in sicer nekaj o mojem penisu – iz ust šestletnika se mi je zdelo vse skupaj še toliko bolj groteskno. Takrat sem jima rekel, da mi igra ni več všeč in sem vstal. Seveda sta kričala name (sem bil pač njun zapornik), ampak nista postala fizično nasilna. Ves ta čas ni noben od njunih staršev pristopil oziroma se mi ni zdelo, da bi bil kateri sploh v bližini. Ne vem zakaj, ampak ta incident se mi je vtisnil v spomin.

Po univerzi so nas odpeljali na ogled mesta iz avtobusa. Vodič je bil en od profesorjev iz Univerze, ki je pravzaprav Američan iz Los Angelesa, ki živi v Nemčiji že čez 20 let. Bil je strašno zabaven, ki nam je povedal veliko zanimivih stvari o Berlinu, predvsem o zgodovini in arhitekturi. Med ogledom se mi je začelo svitati, da je Berlin dejansko veličastno mesto. Ogled iz avtobusa mi je bil zelo všeč, Ambrož ga je pa prespal. Mislim, da ga je glas vodiča pomirjal. Z atobusom so nas odpeljali do pristanišča, kjer smo šli na voden ogled mesta kar iz ladje po reki Spree, ki teče skozi mesto. (za vse si oglejte slike zgoraj).

Na ladji se mi je še dodatno potrdilo spoznanje, da sem se nekako zaljubil v duh Berlina. Ko si na ladji in ti strežejo od spredaj in zadaj (pivo je bilo zastonj) med tem, ko poslušaš razlage o Berlinu, zgradbah in zgodovini, lahko še hudega nasprotnika Berlina prepričaš, da je to resnično izjemen kraj – mega mesto. Kljub moji morski bolezni, čeprav se mi je malce obračal želodec, se je ogled končal prezgodaj. Po tem ogledu smo si lahko malce odpočili v hotelu, potem pa je že bil čas za našo večerjo, ki so jo organizirali kar v restavraciji HB Munich v Beerlinu (samo dve minuti od hotela). Sedeli smo pri mizi z mlado nemško družino (mož je bivši Humboldtov štipendist, ki je študiral kače v Avstraliji – noro, ne). Veliko smo se pogovarjali, saj sta oba tekoče govorila angleško in njuna hčerka je bila stara samo 5 mesecev, zato se je samo smejala moji smešni bradi (ali je bila to brada?!). Restavracija ima poseben prostor za igranje, zato so se igrali, dokler stvari niso ponovno postale malce nasilne. S tamalimi se je igralo tudi nekaj otrok, ki so bili nekoliko starejši (s tem mislim, da so bili stari okoli 10 let) in so se igrali malce bolj agresivno. Skoraj takoj na začetku se je najvišji med njimi (je bil le kanček manjši od mene) močno udaril v glavo – zopet ni bilo nobenega od staršev v bližini. Mislim,d a je jokal tam na tleh kakšnih 10 minut preden se je nekdo le prikazal in ga pobral (sam sem poskusil govoriti z njim, ampak je le ponavljal »papa«). Malo kasneje pa se je drugi fant iz iste »družbe« tako udaril v glavo, da si je prebil skalp – tisti, ki ste že videli kakšen prebit skalp, verjetno vesta, da skalp zelo močno krvavi, zato je otrokova glava izgledala kot krvava zmešnjava. Ta dogodek mi je zopet ostal v spominu. Ko so poklicali rešilca, je bil čas, da se poslovimo, saj je Ambrož že dremuckal v maminem naročju. Poslovili smo se od novih prijateljev iz Hambruga (mož nam je dal svojo vizitko in nas povabil na ogled Hamburškega živalskega vrta, kjer dela kot kurator tropskih živali) in smo pohiteli v postelje. Veselili smo se naslednjega dne, saj je bil četrtek dan, ko bomo odkrivali Berlin samostojno. To pa je pomenilo, da je bilo Humboldtovo srečanje pri koncu. Poudariti moram, da je bilo to srečanje eno bolje organiziranih srečanj, kar sem jih imel priložnosti videti. S svojim trudom so resnično pokazali, kaj pomeni biti Humboldtov štipendist saj so se organizatorji potrudili, da bi se počutili kot del te očitno zelo pomembne organizacije v Nemčiji, ki povezuje znanstvenike iz celega sveta. Že sami podatki so spoštovanja vredni, saj je bilo na srečanju okoli 571 udeležencev in organizatorjev iz več kot 70 držav iz celega sveta. Samo srečanje pa je bilo neverjetno čudovito super fajn – tolikokrat kolikokrat Kung-fu panda Po zgoraj pove AWESOME.

Tretji dan – (Incident) V živalskem vrtu

Čeprav je bil napovedan deževni dan, smo se odločili,d a gremo v Berlinski živalski vrt (na ta način smo lahko vsi skupaj delali nekaj, kar nas vse zanima). Spomnim se, da nam je on od vodičev razložil, da ima Berlin enega od najboljše organiziranih javnih prevoznih sistemov v svetu – in ni se zmotil. Imajo avtobuse, tramvaje, S-bahn in U-bahn. Rabili smo okoli dve minuti, da smo prišli do najbljižje postaje S-bahna (do tiste, ki nam jo je priporočil receptor v hotelu, ki je izgledal kot izrezan Zac Ephron – bil je tako čeden, da še zdaj ne vem kako si je Pauli zapomnila karkoli je rekel ;)) in vlak je pripeljal v roku slabih dveh minut. Sem mislim, da smo imeli srečo, ampak potem sem videl, da naslednji vlak pripelje v štirih minutah. Na vlakih imajo posebne vagone, ki so namenjeni za prevoz koles in raznih vozičkov, kar je nam prišlo zelo prav. Po petnajstih minutah smo prispeli do slavne ZOO postaje (ki jo verjetno poznate iz Nemške knjige in filma Otroci iz postaje Zoo. Če filma še niste videli, ga ne gledati, ker je zelo depresiven – ampak na žalost zelo dober film, zato ga mogoče vseeno poglejte. Jaz bi raje še enkrat gledal Star Wars.). Po petih minutah peš hoje smo prispeli do vhoda v Zoo in smo mislili, da sedaj lahko začnemo uživati v ogledovanju živali. Čez slabih pet minut sem za sekundo (prisežem na svoji mami, da ni bilo več kot sekundo) obrnil stran od otrok, da nekaj poslikam, ko je Ambrož že visel na (hvala bogu še notranji strani) ograji, ki ga je ločila od štirimeterskega padca v kletko, kjer so bili kozorogom podobni sesalci. Očitno je bil najin čas, da sva neodgovorna starša. Neka gospa ga je nežno prijela in ga dvignila z ograje, jaz sem ga malce okregal in čez nekaj minut smo že pozabili na incident – mogoče ga ne bi smeli tako hitro odmisliti. Bilo je namreč očitno, da otroka živali kaj preveč ne zanimajo, saj sta brezglavo letala po živalskem vrtu v iskanju sladoleda ali pa kakšne stvari za plezanje, ki ni bila namenjena plezanju. Smo pa vseeno videli veliko zanimivih stvari – poglejte si slike zgoraj.

Čez nekaj časa je začelo deževati, zato smo se odločili pogledati palačo ptičev, ki je bila pokrita. In je bila prečudovita. Imeli so celo nekaj sob, v katere si lahko vstopil in si se usedel na klopci med raznimi čudnimi ptiči. Izbrali smo tropsko sobo, ki je imela palme in majhne potočke z ličnimi lesenimi mostovi ter čudovitimi ptiči in metuljčki. Užival sem v ambientu, Paula je ravno pospravljala naše stvari, saj smo se mogli sleči, ker je bilo tako vroče v tej sobi (kot v tropih, vroče in vlažno). Ravno, ko sem hodil preko enega od tistih ličnih majhnih lesenih mostov, pod katerimi je bil majhen potoček na površini katerega je rasla neke vrsta trave, ki je popolno prekrila površino vode, sem za sabo slišal glasen pljusk. Takoj sem se obrnil in že hotel poklicati Mojco, da naj pride pogledat ribo, vendar nisem videl drugega kot tiste zelene rastline, ki je prekrivala gladino vode. Naslednjo sekundo se iiz vode odrine en fant – šele čez dobro sekundo sem ugotovil, da je to Ambrož in srce se mi je ustavilo. Vse kar sem lahko naredil v prvih trenutkih po tem spoznanju je, da sem izgovoril njegovo ime. Na srečo pa je bila bliže njemu neka gospa, ki ga je zagrabila za roko in ga potegnila nazaj preko ograje. Takrat sem se že tudi jaz zbral in sem priskočil, da ga do konca potegnem ven iz vode in se zahvalil gospe za pomoč. Upam, da sem se ji zahvalil, ker sem bil paničen. Nimam veliko izkušenj s paniko, ker se smatram za zbranega in obvladanega, ko pride do zagate. Ampak tokrat sem bil preprosto paraliziran. Vse kar sem lahko naredil je, da sem ga začel slačiti, da se bo nehal tresti. Takrat je bila zraven že Paula. Skupaj sva ga slekla, nekaj ljudi nama je ponudilo pomoč, ampak sem bil preveč raztresen, da bi jih razumel, sva se jim pa zahvalila in povedala, da imava s sabo za preobleči. S sabo sva namreč imela dodatna oblačila, ker sva vedela, da bo deževali – med kriznimi načrti ni bilo nenačrtovanega kopanja. Ko sva ga oblekla, se nismo nasmejali dogodku kot smo se v Eremitage (mogoče bi se morali, ker se je konec koncev vse končalo v redu), ampak sem naredil napako, ker sem Ambroža okregal in mu razložil, da je to posledica plezanja na stvari, ki niso namenjene plezanju. Šele kasneje, ko smo se umirili, nama je razložil, da je mislil, da je zelena površina na vodi trava in je želel iti čez njo pobožati neke rože na drugi strani. Potem pa sem se počutil krivega, ker sem ga kregal, saj sem nekaj sekund pred njegovim kopanjem tudi sam razmišljal, da zelena površina zgleda kot fina travica na golf igrišču.

Po tem smo šli proti domu in naredili karkoli naredijo drugi ljudi, ki so pod stresom – šli smo se najesti v Burger King na kupone. Po zasluženem opoldanskem počitku smo se vseeno odločili, da nas nesrečni dogodki dopoldneva ne bodo odvrnili od načrtovanega obiska akvarija, kjer je še več vode, v katero lahko Ambrož pade (nekateri od bazenov imajo celo krokodile). Toliko o odgovornem starševstvu. Začuda, smo se tokrat zabavali brez nezgod. Slike zgoraj.

Ko je bilo akvarija konec, sta bila otroka že utrujena in tečna, bolj kot nezadovoljna riba na zgornji sliki, pa še lačna povrh, zato smo šli na večerjo v Wok to Walk (wok za sabo), kjer smo dobili dve skledi zelo noro dobrih rezancev. Kljub okusnosti se otroka hrane nista dotaknila. Ko smo stopili ven iz restavracije, sta začela takoj tečnariti, da sta lačna. Zato sva jima kupila juho z rezanci, ki smo jo pojedli v miru naše hotelske sobe.

Naša pot se je počasi iztekala, zato sem še enkrat pogledal sončni zahod nad Berlinom in se poslovil.

Pot nazaj

Petek je bil dan za odhod. Pojedli smo zajtrk v hotelu in šli še na en sprehod v okolici hotela. Zgoraj je ene par slikic iz našega sprehoda. Na sprehodu smo srečali starejši par iz Hrvaške, ki sta nas slišala govoriti slovensko in sta pristopila. Ko smo se pogovarjali, mi je bilo prijetno spoznati, da nas bivša skupna država in sorodni jezik še vedno zelo povezujejo.

Potem je bil čas za odhod – Bayreuth se mi je zdel bolj domač kot kdajkoli prej, samo malo smo morali biti odsotni. Ko smo se peljali do avtoceste, smo šli po glavni cesti skozi Berlin, da si še zadnjič ogledamo središče, potem pa smo odhiteli proti našemu udobnemu stanovanju in majhnem domačem mestu.