Wonderful Wednesday

I've already posted about our Wednesday on our own, but will mention it in greater detail now for continuity's sake of our little blog.


With both of us in agreement, Christian and I decided that I would venture out into the city alone on Wednesday with Tate.  It was patently obvious he needed some downtime and a break from Tate and me, and I was thrilled to be able to experience the city with Tate on my own,  just the two of us, like we always are.  The two of us are just a great little team, and I knew we could do this!


Per our usual we were up before 6 :).  We hung out in 'our room' together for about 30 minutes, then I ventured into the kitchen to get us some breakfast.  I shared a bowl of cheerios with Tate and he also had some oatmeal.  We got ourselves dressed and packed up all the necessities for a day out in Berlin!  Christian woke up and gave us some directions, a map and instructions to call if we needed him.  I chose to take Tate to Legoland, Potsdamr Platz (because Christian said there would be playgrounds there) and the Sea Life Aquarium.


We were off.


First stop - the tram!!  I am beyond grateful that I have a City Mini Elite stroller by Baby Jogger.  This thing is a one-handed open and close.  Seriously, one handed.  And it only weighs a little over 15 pounds.  And yes 15 pounds is alot, but it's so much nicer than those cheap umbrella strollers and it has a HUGE canopy AND the seat lays down flat!  I can completely keep the sun off most of Tate...only his calves are not covered, and he can sleep laying down.  The basket is small, but I can shove more stuff under there than imaginable.  Since it's such a cinch to open and close, I can have Tate quickly hop out, throw my huge purse on my shoulder from its perch on the handle  and hold his hand while closing the stroller (and my stuff doesn't fall out).  Takes 20 seconds at most.  Once situated I can hold onto his hand if need be while opening the stroller with a flick of my hand...just awesome.


So, we walked the 5 blocks to the tram station and once I saw our M-4 tram lumbering down the line, I had Tate get out of the stroller and we were ready to board!  He climbed up the HUGE steps and eagerly sat back down in the stroller.  We trammed our way to Alexanderplatz which began probably the most difficult part of our journey.  


We needed to take the U2 to Postdamer Platz to go to Legoland.  Christian does not take public transportation often, so he ended up being of minimal help with our train needs.  But I soldiered on, finally found a place to buy tickets and then we were in search of our train line.  All the while, Tate was asking for candy (I had introduced him to Smarties when we arrived in Berlin..BIG mistake...the yummy chocolate European candies).  To keep him quiet and occupied while I tried to buy my train ticket and find our train I indulged him at 9 in the morning.  I started to stress as I realized there were no elevators and we were going to have a hike to get down 3 levels to find our train.  But I put my big girl panties on and ventured on.


Poor Tate was in and out of that stroller at least 4 times as we made our way to our subway train, but he never cried or complained.  It was hot and crowded, but we finally made it.  I figured out how many stops away we were and we settled into the train.

Tate riding the U2 train!

Unfortunately, I did not remember to validate my ticket once I got to our line before we got on the train.  For the first since I've been to Berlin and ridden more times on their trains, the security/police/whoever they are boarded our car at the second stop.  They didn't speak English (why would they?), but I knew the man was asking for my ticket.  I gladly showed him, so proud that I had figured out how to purchase it after 15 minutes of 'reading' German at the ticket kiosk because I couldn't figure out how to change the language to English!  He frowned and showed me on the ticket where it said in PLAIN ENGLISH 'Please validate your ticket.'

Shit.

Ok.  I can't possibly be off to German jail over this, right?

Through hand gestures I realized I needed to validate my ticket.  I thought he meant I could validate it at my regular stop.

Oh, but no.

I had to get off at the next stop and validate the ticket.  Bah.  I hurriedly got Tate off the seat, the stroller moving and pulled him off the train.  By the time I did all that AND found the stupid validation stand the train had left.

So we just caught the next one.

We finally arrived at Potsdamer Platz.  Not an elevator in sight.  But two sets of 15 steps appeared in front of us.  Out of the stroller came Tate and then a very nice young man took the stroller up the stairs for me.  Bliss.

We wandered around trying to get our bearings all the while Tate begging for more Smarties.  I was not pleased, but I obliged in my frustration.

It only took me walking less than a block to realize I was going in the wrong direction and we finally arrived at Legoland!!!

We went inside the store and I was a bit miffed, thinking I came all the way over here for a store?  A store that was seriously no bigger than my living room.  Then the clerk told me I could pay 16 euros and go downstairs.  Hmmmm...I handed over the 16 euros and EUREKA!  

Fun, fun, fun.  First stop...building a castle according to Tate...

He then saw the bounce 'house'!  Apparently they are universal.  And all kids know their shoes come off and adults stay out!

Next was the pirate ships!!  Upstairs was a place where you put little tokens in and maneuvered pirate ships around a small 'sea'.  I was surprised by how much Tate enjoyed this...

We returned downstairs once our tokens were gone and made our way to the bathroom.  On our way there we ran into this guy.....

Tate found him to be very cool, and asked me to stand beside him (Batman) several times, but he refused to stand next to him himself.  (first time he's been scared by a figure of any sort)

And we also ran into this lion...what kind of ADPi would I be if I didn't photograph my son with any lion?!

We ate lunch, well Tate picked amongst the food I had brought...yogurt, applesauce, milk and some Oma cookies.  I bought him an icee which brought a huge grin to his face, and then we headed back out into the sunshine.  By now it was almost 12:30;  I was starving, and he desperately needed a nap.  And I was going to get him to take a nap.  It was quite warm outside and he was just a-whining, a sure sign he was tired.  I decided to walk through the huge park across from Sony Center.  And I started to get whiny, ok mad.  I was hungry, I was hot, I was tired.  And I was stressed because I knew he needed to nap.  I walked him around for almost 30 minutes before he grudgingly fell asleep;  this after I threatened, hissed and refused to indulge his moaning and crying.  But he finally, finally went to sleep. Along our walk I ran into this...

 Christian told me this is their memorial to the unknown soldiers from WW II.  

I toddled myself back to Sony Center and sat down to enjoy some lunch.  And enjoyed a fabulously crisp, cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

'Rooftop' of Sony Center...it's all outside with this gorgeous covering

After about an hour of hanging out I made my way back to the train station, Tate still asleep.  But he must have known we were about to continue our adventure because he woke up right as I got the steps, intent on letting him sleep.  He blearily got out of the stroller, and we made our way down the steps; this time I had no help :(  And my poor baby tripped and fell, but he was a trooper.  A nice lady helped him up as I was a couple of steps ahead of him with the stroller and she walked him down the rest of the stairs.  He didn't cry or fuss...such a trooper.  We got on our train and were on our way back to Alexanderplatz!!

Alexanderplatz

As soon as we got off the train at Alexanderplatz I saw the elevator!!!!!!  It was there the whole time of course, but in my frustration and stress that morning I had not seen it when we got off the tram.  And it was literally 30 feet from where we got off the tram.  Sigh.  Live and learn.

Up we went onto Alexanderplatz!!  Bright sunshine on our faces.  Tate demanded a snack and I handed over some Oma cookies.  We were then off in search of the Sea Life Aquarium and Aquadom.  Again I got turned around, texted Christian for help and finally found it myself.

Tate was not the most thrilled about this adventure initially as is evident from his facial expression.  He wanted more Smarties and this time I was not giving in!

Once inside though he had a ball....

Hugest crab EVER!

That Neptune's Labyrinth right there at the end of the 'tour' was a tunnel of mirrors.  And it was HARD to figure out.  I was beyond impressed that Tate figured out amazingly quickly that it was made of mirrors and that if he held his hands out and felt for the mirrors he wouldn't walk into one (like I did and the 2 adults behind me did LOL).  We made our way out and headed for the Aquadom.  This was a little dome I guess like is used at sea to go below and see fish etc.  It was STUFFY in this thing and once it was closed up I for the first time in my life felt claustrophobic.  I almost panicked, but after we started moving I was a bit better and was able to enjoy it. 

Tate seems a bit unsure as well :)

Fountain in the plaza

We made our way back to Alexanderplatz on foot again (this place was about 6 blocks away) walking past the tv tower and through a gorgeous plaza.  I stopped at a little bar that was selling 'pommes frittes to go' for 2 euros hoping Tate would eat some.  You know...french fries, one of the few German words I knew before this trip :)  He scarfed almost half of them down and we packed the rest up to go home.  We caught our M-4 Molly train-bus and walked the few blocks back to Christian's flat.

And then walked up the 4 flights of stairs!!!!!  

Whew!  What a day!  What an absolutely awesome day!  We got home just after 5, and Christian was still at work sadly.  I made Tate some dinner...more fries, tried some chicken (no go) and gave him some yogurt and milk.  Christian got home around 6, took his clothes off with Tate and the little man was in bed with nary a tear by 7:15.

Christian and I sat down, both of us exhausted (I was absolutely worn out...physically more so, but still it had been a little stressful being in a foreign country, not speaking a word of the language with my child.  When I traveled here alone I never got stressed, but the responsibility of keeping my precious child safe weighed on me for some reason.)  We ate the leftover spaghetti from the night before and discussed our plans for Thursday.  Before we even left the states Christian had told me he wanted to take Tate and me to the Baltic Sea and stay over for a night.  I was all for it, though cautious.  Once we arrived and Tate's sleeping and jet lag were such an issue I was much more cautious.  The idea of having him sleep somewhere new yet AGAIN did not appeal to me.  Mostly because I felt he really needed to continue with his good sleeping, and also because if he didn't sleep, I wouldn't sleep.  Once Christian realized he needed to go into the office on this Wednesday, staying the night out there kind of went by the wayside, but he still wanted to go.  I did too, to some extent, but I was wary.  I knew we wouldn't get an early start because Christian simply cannot function before 9 and I would want to be back home by 5:30, so Tate would get to bed at his normal time.  It's a 2 1/2 hour drive.  I asked if we would be able to leave home by 8 and come back around 3.  I could tell this annoyed Christian greatly, but he agreed.  We spent about 45 minutes gathering what we thought we would need for a day at the beach.  We packed up, hugged good-night and went off to sleep! 

So, it was just a great, great day.  I had so much fun with Tate venturing out into a new city, seeing new things and just stepping outside our comfort zone.  And I think he had fun too;  he loved Legoland.  And I love, love, love hanging out with my little boy, so what more could I have asked for?

Aunt Lindsey sent us a picture of
 sweet Vincent on Wednesday!
We were missing him!