Author: fleetfootkath

Kathleen and I took the train to London to meet Kirstyn and her two boys Oscar, 2 and Freddie 4 months and have Dim Sum in Chinatown. It is years since I have been to Chinatown in London and it seems to be much more developed than I recalled. We met Kirstyn at St Pancras and walked over to Chinatown via a park near the children’s Hospital that only allows adults in who are accompanied by a child! It has a range of play equipment and sand pits which Oscar enjoyed while Kirstyn fed Freddie. We continued on through Holborn and passed lots of interesting shops. Just as well I have a backpack because the sales have started and it is so tempting to add to my limited wardrobe.</
We went to a restaurant Kathleen's other daughter, Kate had recommended, the Orient. The food was great and for this little Aussie, such a treat to have Chinese food, and Dim sum (Yum Cha) in particular, after being in France and Germany. It was a very busy lunch with two little boys but also a treat for Kirstyn to have Dim Sum. I admired her ability to just roll with the kids and to come to London on the train. I could not have faced that with the twins!
Kathleen and I struck out after lunch for the outdoor shops. I had resolved to buy a day pack for the Coast 2 Coast after trying my large backpack half empty, and not finding it so comfy. Besides I may have to carry more on the plane when I head back to France and the foldaway backpack won’t carry much. I had done a lot of research and decided on a few styles but ended up buying another Osprey. They are quite a bit cheaper here than at home and they fit me well. My large backpack is also an Osprey. It was even more enticing when we discovered Cotswolds give 15% discount for National trust members. (Kathleen is one!) I bought some new socks and another quick dry shirt. When we left we realised Kathleen had dropped her scarf. After some backtracking we decided it has gone to scarf heaven and gave up the chase.

Next we headed to Clark’s shoe stores to buy a pair of sandals. Wearing the Tevas after a day’s walk is fine but I would like to look a bit smarter for ‘normal’ days. Oh, oh! Two pairs catch my eye and they are very reasonable (especially as they don’t charge me the VAT either). One pair is a very elegant bronze low heeled dress shoe and the other is a serviceable sandal in dark navy. And both in my size!! They are both lightweight so I snapped them up. Um! Now I will have five pairs of shoes to bring home because the sketchers I sent back to England with Karen’s Mum will be collected after the walk. Well that is why I have the daypack.

Kathleen and I had a good wander around Covent Garden which was the flower market but is now specialty shops with lots of floral decorations, buskers and singers. We headed up past Carnaby street towards Oxford street. By now the working day was done for most people and every little pub was overflowing with people enjoying a drink after work. Really amazing how many pubs there are! Literally one on every corner or every 300 metres.

We went up to Euston station so I would know where to go on Saturday and time the distance from St Pancras station. It is about 20 minutes walk between the stations and I am anxious not to miss the train to Carlisle with only ten minutes spare. I have decided to get an earlier train from Deal so I am not rushing.

What was so funny about Euston Station is that the concourse was chock a block with people all looking in one direction-the illuminated notice board for arrivals and departures. They all seemed to have such fixed gazes it was like observing a lot of zombies!

I am staying in tomorrow in the hope the replacement Amex card will arrive by courier but they are so security conscious that they are double checking I am the person redirecting it to Deal. I suspect it won’t come before I leave now. What a saga these cards have been. I feel like I am on personal terms with all the fraud staff of Amex and ANZ!

Kathleen took me to visit Knole, the ancestral home of Vita Sackville-West an author, poet and garden designer. She was such an interesting woman who was married to Harold Nicolson for 50 odd years, had two sons and several lesbian love affairs notably with Violet Keppel and Virginia Wolf. Her husband also had homosexual affairs yet when you read their letters to each other they are very loving. Fascinating characters.

Knole is situated within Kent’s last medieval deer park and there were many deer strolling the grounds. The home is huge, originally an archbishop’s palace, then in royal hands and finally into the Sackville family since the 1600s. It has 300 rooms and is almost a village in itself with extensive gardens. Too big to photograph! The panther was the symbol of the Sackvilles so they line the roof.

I loved the heater that was the most modern way to heat a room at the time.

Vita loved Knole but as a daughter she was not able to inherit the estate and it passed to her cousin Edward, who didn’t want it. Vita married Harold Nicolson a diplomat, to fulfil her conventional side, and they seemed happy but it didn’t stop her having an affair and some serious lesbian affairs.

She and her husband went on to lovingly create a magnificent garden at Sissinghurst Castle, which we visited after Knole. The gardens are glorious and full of fragrant roses. She had her room in the tower where she wrote at night after working in the garden during the day. Her husband had a miniature Oast house with windows looking across the Kent Downs. I would love a room like that!

Harold office.

The property had a house for the children! They had their house and own rooms plus a library, all connected by walls and garden courtyards. The library was converted from stables.Sissinghurst had been a notorious prison for French sailors and there is graffiti from their time on the walls which was discovered during a recent renovation of the tower. When Harold and Vita bought it, it was practically in ruins but after renovating the stables they started on the gardens (which now have 2 teams of rose de-headers that go through the garden twice a week!) Women had been head gardeners for the majority of the time Vita and Harold lived there but since the National trust now own it, they have the first male head gardener (in 50 years).

Although the garden is classically designed in squares or rooms, the planting is exuberant and lush with such a mixture of textures and flowers that it is a feast for the senses. Sissinghurst is also a working farm with cattle, sheep and pigs as well as home to rare species of wild flowers, insects and birds but we didn’t have time to walk around the fields as well. They have preserved the Oast houses that were used to dry hops. There are many of them in Kent and at Sissinghurst they are surrounded by wild daisies. My Australian roots surfaced when I saw the long grass and wild flowers. Good place for snakes!

Kathleen had the book of letters Vita and Harold exchanged over their married life which was published by her son Nigel. They are so interesting. I have read a few things by Vita but my curiosity has been stimulated now to explore a few more aspects of her work. She was reputedly the inspiration for the character in ‘ Orlando’ by Virginia Wolf. I will have to read a biography!

This was a stunning day for both weather and exploring.

After a slow start Kathleen and I walked from her home to Deal along the waterfront. The sky is grey and the breeze cool but there are lots of people walking dogs and strolling. Everything is a buzz. Her immediate village is very quaint and there are some lovely little fishermen’s cottages that we pass. Apparently the council are continually replacing stones etc because the sea is eating away at the shoreline and the homes could disappear in fifty years without this vigilance.

This wild flower garden on the shore was so picturesque. We passed a kite event where all sorts of shapes are being put into the air. Lots of kids are trying their hands at flying kites. The stiff breeze is filling the larger kites and getting them airborne. We were amused by the flapping of the legs of the large panda. He seemed to be running on his toes.

We wandered into the market but as we slept in, the market is a bit empty, as is the fish monger! We took my Brit Rail Pass to be stamped at the station and it was closed so we had to go back later. One woman was very annoyed that the station was closed for this short time. When we returned an hour later the guy was very helpful but I was unable to book in the same carriage as Lyn and Bruce for our trip to Carlisle on the 16 th June. He did say I could sit in their carriage if there were spare seats; ( it did seem weird that I could do that but I couldn’t book a seat in the carriage!).

Before we made our purchases at the market we came across the Deal Ukulele group putting on a concert. I am curious about why Ukuleles have become so fashionable. There are several groups at home. This group played and sang very well.

We wandered around town and it is quite interesting. The beach is all pebbles here and quite steep. I tried some shoes but they were a bit tight. After a coffee and cake we set off home and stopped at the last pub for a drink before taking the path by the campsite up to Kathleen’s home. Her place borders a camping ground and there seemed to be a whole group of tents exactly the same style with the same green and yellow flags which roused our curiosity. We wondered if it was a wedding group or a convention of some sort.

Finally at four o’clock the sun comes out and the sea looks beautiful. We take some wine and cheese and sit on the terrace and enjoy the sun until we are driven inside by the cool air. It is much cooler than the continent.

An early arrival at Tegal, a warm goodbye with many thanks for a great time in Berlin and then I left for Deal, UK.

I carried my backpack in the black bag to protect the straps until I got so fed up I just put it on! What a relief, it is so much easier to wear the pack. There were issues with the trains so we didn’t arrive at St Pancras as expected but we were able to use the underground anyway and I caught the train to Faversham without further problem to meet Kathleen at her upholstery class.

Kathleen has a beautiful home overlooking the English Channel. It is in a lovely garden in a very quaint area Deal in Kent.

Her chair is gorgeous and so original. It was an interesting time learning about the process. I felt quite inspired. She goes to the Creative studios which has all sorts of crafts as well as working artists. A very inspiring place.

We talked a lot last night over dinner at one of the local pubs and both were pretty tired.

My last day I set off solo into Berlin and I spent quite some time at Checkpoint Charlie, Mauermuseum-Haus. It was quite fascinating seeing all the different ways people used to escape. Modified VWs with people under the boot, in suitcases, out windows, in kayaks, tunnels. The museum documents the politics of the divided city, the allies and the Russian communists. It also has a teaching element about protests and politics which was focused on different international crisis.

I then moved on after a couple of false moves on the underground (when I realised I was going in the opposite direction to where I should be heading!) to the Field of Stelae, a memorial to the European Jews who died during the war.

It is a sombre sculpture of grey blocks over a huge area. I found it quite moving.

Then I got myself across to the Berliner Fernsehturm( Television Tower) that gives you a 360 view over Berlin. It was well worth it and really brings together the whole of Berlin. It is a green city with lots of parks even though I did find the central business shops etc rather grey. It looks so orderly with the housing and even a lot of the shops all on the same level as residential homes. The boulevards( Damn in Germans) are clearly obvious. It looks like a Lego city.

My day finished with Katharina, Thom (her ex-husband) and his partner Edi. We had a barbecue in the garden and a bit too much wine but lots of good conversation and food. I felt it was a real privilege to be invited into their home and I made two more friends. Thom used to be a camera journalist and had been to Australia many years ago. Edi is a psychologist.

Goodbye Berlin!

Next morning Katharina and I set off to walk from Kreuzung ( Old East Germany) to Templehof in the West. We explored this now trendy part of Berlin, with cafes and restaurants and quirky shops. There is a lot of graffiti, and around Niederbarnimstrasse there are lots of interesting shops. I loved the wall art of curlers and hair dressing accoutrements in a collage outside the hairdressers.

These brass plaques are in the footpaths to mark where a Jewish person lived before the war and the Nazis.

The housing in Berlin tends to be apartments no more than 6 stories and walls must be all in line on the street. Many have interior courtyards so they seem quite gracious and elegant but there is no parking! It is a premium. There are lots of cyclists, with and without helmets, with and without Lycra! They can take the bikes on the train at any time of the day and there seem to be many more bike and pedestrian lanes side by side.

We had lunch in ‘Little Turkey’ of Falafel, hummus and salad. They were massive plates that neither of us could finish and only €4. Then onwards to the Art centre at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien which was an old hospital but now has work spaces for artists, exhibitions and an open air cinema in summer. We visited one of the exhibitions about pollution in the ocean and some other exhibits that provoked our curiosity but of which we didn’t grasp the meaning!

Outside the art centre we saw a box home for bees.

We saw these crazy guys driving ‘grown up ‘ toy cars!

We came across a garden that had been a target for ‘ garden guerillas’ and eventually the council gave in and now the square is a thriving garden centre, coffee place and teaching centre for gardening. A grand improvement on some of the shabby, bedraggled squares I saw

The last stop(gasp) was the Tempelhof, a former airpot that was used by the Americans to break the blockade on food to West Berliners by the East Berlin government. They were trying to drive them into submitting to a unified Berlin under communist control but the Americans flew provisions in and out at such close timing that some planes crashed and yet they continued and saved the West Berliners.

The airport was built by the Nazis and was the largest airport in Europe but the grounds are right in the heart of Berlin and so is not practical as an airpot now. It has been given to the public as recreation space. The Terminal was a kilometre long. It house police and government admin. Now.

Katharina arrived on time to take Wendy to the airport but with the disconcerting news that the Israeli prime minister had just arrived at Tegal and security had closed some of the roads! As it turned out traffic was slowish but we got there in time and Wendy departed without drama.

On the way back Katharina took me to see the boat she is restoring. It is an old wooden American Coast Guard boat that she was practically given. She is getting enormous pleasure from the project and learning lots in the process. It is a huge project to my eyes! It is out of the water at the moment due to needing work done on the hull. She has it at a wooden boat specialist and we saw a couple of beautiful wooden racing yachts also under repair.

From the boat yard I went off to the Wannsee Conference Centre which is near the sailing club where Katharina usually keeps her boat and has a supplementary job cleaning the sailing school. The Wannsee area was developed in the 1870s for wealthy Berliners who built exclusive summer villas. Many of them were prominent Jewish families such as the publishers Langenscheidt and Springer and the impressionist Max Lieberman.

After 1933 many Nazi agencies overtook many villas and Jewish families were forced to sell their homes below market value or they were confiscated. Their properties and the area became a centre for recreation and planning for the Nazis. They made one mansion the centre for the Wannsee conference in 1942. It was at this conference that a circle of 15 high ranking representatives of the ministries of the party and the security department discussed and wrote the protocol for the extermination of all German Jews and ultimately all European Jews.

It is a Jewish education centre now which has documented the whole conference proceedings. It was so chilling especially after Wendy and I had visited the remains of the Berlin wall and seen the photographic display of political events in Berlin and Germany charting the rise of Hitler in 1933. It made us think about how manipulative governments can be. We saw similarities today between politicians and truth bending, nationalism and jingoism and how important strong opposition voices are to society.

By now I was feeling pretty tired after an early start so we decided to have the rest of the day resting. I returned to the apartment, which seemed so empty after Wendy left and slept for an hour!

Wendy and I are waking at 6 and talking so much we are always in a rush just before Katharina is due. Can you believe it? Me talk too much, never. Katharina is always prompt too. Katharina arrived at 10 as arranged to take us into Berlin but she said there was a major demonstration by cyclists ( 90,000!) and all the roads are blocked so we decide to visit the Glienicker Schloss and gardens and Peacock Island. This is where Prince Carl of Prussia spent his summer and the castle was built in the manner of a Roman villa with lovely views over the lake.

Peacock island is where a white Castle was built by King Willhelm the II for his mistress, who was reputed to be only 13! The strange thing is it looks like white marble but is actually painted wood! It doesn’t seem very solid, more like a movie set. The mistress liked peacocks so there are many and they wander freely. They actually keep water buffalo here in the summer to keep the grass down in the wetlands.

There is also a miniature frigate donated by the English King George to Willhelm which is housed in a boat shed that has an immaculate thatched roof. The first frigate was let to rot! I can’t imagine why he was given another after that. One upmanship perhaps as it was a replica of the ship that won a battle against Napoleon.

The grounds are so extensive on the island and around the Schloss that it is really hard to grasp such wild woods so close to Berlin. Katharina says there are wild boar in the parks and they have chased her little dog Theo. In the park while we were walking to the Peacock island we heard the most musical bells from the little church that is hidden in the forest. The bells sounded like a music box. Katharina said the little church only takes about 100 people and at Christmas you have to book a seat! We also saw across the lake the Sacrow church. The tower was part of the Berlin Wall.

We decided to catch the bus back to the car and Katharina was going to take us to Sansouci, another summer palace in Potsdam for another King, Friedrich who never went to Berlin where his wife lived. He stayed in the summer palace or in winter at his Potsdam palace. Apparently his father had locked him up until he consented to marry. Needless to say he had no children! As the bus zoomed along Wendy said isn’t that were we left the car? Katharina replied no further, then as we were about to head over the bridge we realised Wendy was correct. It was the same mistake Wendy and I made the previous day! Katharina was a bit embarrassed but we though it was a huge joke.

Katharina dropped us near Sansouci because she hates to leave her dog Theo for too long. He goes everywhere with her and frets when she is away. Katharina rescued him from Greece after we walked the Via de la Plata in 2014 and it was love at first site on her part. He has returned her devotion in bucket loads and is such a quiet little fellow.

Sansouci has the most exotic rooms with much baroque decoration. Friedrich was a great lover of art and nature and all the decorations and paintings reflect this theme. The grounds are tiered with grapevines and fig trees in glass cabinets. He had so many parties he had to build another place to house his guests! The area had 40 windmills to grind grain for the king’s army but there is only one left now. After we had strolled around the gardens we caught the bus into Potsdam itself and then the tram back home. While we had time we crossed the little bridge near our place and went up to look at Schloss Babelsberg. We see the machine building( power plant for the castle) from our window and it looks like a mini castle too.

Then it was a scramble for us to get refreshed (I have hardly any clothes) before we went off to Wannsee and the Boothaus, a casual eatery right on the water where Katharina has a berth for the boat she is restoring and where she cleans the sailing school. It is like being on Sydney harbour in one of the little coves. Boat berths are at such a premium she was offered €10,000 for hers. While her boat is out of the water having its hull repaired she is letting the space. I was a bit surprised to see water lilies around the boats. I keep thinking it is salt water. On the opposite bank of the lake is a beach and beach Pavillion. It is huge and has been there for a very long time.

Theo comes to the restaurant( dogs are allowed inside too) and sits at our feet. When we finish our very delicious meal we realise he has disappeared. Everyone knows him and nobody seems concerned except for Wendy and I. It turns out he got sick of waiting and took off to the car! Katharina was so impressed he knew which car. She lives near here so it is his ‘patch’. Another big day. Wendy leaves tomorrow so we need to be up early as Katharina is kindly taking her to Tegal Airport.

I am going to miss Wendy. We had a lot of fun together and really got to know each other better.

Today Katharina took Wendy and I into the heart of Berlin. We are staying beside the Wannsee lake near the Glienicker Bridge, famous for being the point where people where exchanged between East and West Berlin and divided by the Wall. The bridge has featured in lots of spy movies. We are within a spit of three Schloss and in a very gracious part of Berlin. Over the bridge you enter Potsdam.

After cruising the main Strasse we visited KADEWE department store to look at the food section with so much exotic and beautifully displayed ( expensive) produce. We checked the wine for Australian labels and found a few. I believe the Australian Wine industry has had a big promotional exhibition recently( according to the German friends we met on the way from Le Puy).

Before we parted company we had a beer in the beer bar. Katharina is renown for saying I am German I drink beer! Check out the pretzels and the bar man pouring all the beers. They need to settle a bit before he gives it to you after a top up.We wandered into an area near Alexandra Platz in search of Sushi but had to settle for Thai.( Guess who is missing Australian variety?) Katharina then left us to explore on our own and as Wendy had a couple of days under her belt we managed to cover most of the important places before catching the train home. I saw this as an orientation day for me. There are lots of museums and art galleries here so we need to be selective.

The weather was so humid everything is hazy and while I am impressed by the symmetry of the buildings and the grand strasses ( boulevards) I can’t help finding all the statues on the roof lines a bit strange, like cake decorations! Everything seems so grey and as a lot of Berlin was rebuilt after the war, especially in the East there is an ugly utilitarian feel to it.

Some of the platz( plazas) seem just empty and so many streets have weeds and overgrown grass. The city is gifted with beautiful parks but once again everything seems shabby and untidy. I feel it must be a reaction resulting from 6 weeks in France where even dead bushes are topiaried!

The official buildings are very imposing-really huge. The Reischstag, the Cathedral, the Brandenburg Tor but I am really fascinated by the history and the impact of the wall. Katharina told us she helped a family escape when she was a young student by bringing them out hidden in her combi, but her boyfriend a student doctor at the time, got caught and spent three years in prison before his parents were able to pay for him to be released. It was a time when you could get a pass to drive through East Berlin and the guards could not ask you to open the car, just look in. Afterwards she was told by the police she could never drive through again because the Stasi would arrest her. She had to fly out of Berlin if she was to leave, which was difficult as her parents were living in the south of Germany.

Wendy and I returned home but missed our bus stop which is before the Schloss and had to leap off before the bridge and rush back so we would be ready for dinner with Katharina. Even with the orientation I still can’t get a sense of direction in Berlin.

I left the hostel quite early so I could breakfast at leisure in the Capitole Square. I weighed up the idea of shopping for souvenirs and carting them to the airport or just buying at the airport and decided on the latter. I wanted to speak with the Easyjet people to get a refund on the extra luggage the App had tricked me into buying so I wanted to have plenty of time.

After checking with the Tourist office about how to get to the airport and the time it takes I opted for the metro and tram. Time 40 minutes, 1 change. The tourist office woman was frighteningly efficient. She was only young but spoke fast ( fortunately in English) and seemed to be working on a system of answer questions, move on!

I went into the metro station and couldn’t work out how much it would cost. A very nice French Vietnamese metro employee, who was happy to speak English, explained the cost €1.80(!), 1 ticket the whole way and take the platform on the right side. Easy and so cheap, Melbourne take note. I had three stops on the train, got out at the tram terminus and Voila, I was on my way. The tram takes you through new Toulouse out to the aeroplane/science district. Toulouse is where the Concord was and Airbus is built plus they have a big interest in space research.

The airport was a trifle confusing because I couldn’t see any shops or restaurants but that would have to come after my Easyjet discussion. There was no signage obvious so I started at the checkin counter, was directed to the customer service desk, who pleasantly gave me a page with numbers to call! I found a quiet spot and rang the UK. At first there was no joy, they passed me to someone else, no refund. I told them I was aware of the conditions of purchase but the Eazyjet App had not acknowledged my original baggage purchase and expected me to add a hold luggage before I could proceed and had failed to retain my boarding pass as well. When I got another ‘we regret’ I explained that I was not happy and in fact was very annoyed and felt ripped off. I insisted on speaking to a supervisor. Amazingly they went to a supervisor and explained about the app and in a flash I had my refund, instantly paid into my account. I was so pleased. I presume there is a bug in the App and I am not the first person to get caught. I was grateful but explained I would not be using the App again. We were all happy campers.

Now it was time to explore the airport and find some shops. I bought some pâtes, biscuits and small confiture flavoured with violet, the signature flower of Toulouse.

I decided to buy a book to read and they even had a small selection of English novels. I was really chuffed to see Jane Harper’s new novel in French. I felt a surge of Australian pride. Then it was just get rid of the bag and go to the boarding gate. After going through immigration where they asked me where I was going and checked the passport which is a new experience since last time I travelled in Europe I hit the security. Wow, there were so many lines you could go through it was so quick. None of this paltry two lines we have at Melbourne Airport. Then shops and basically nothing much else near the boarding gate. It seems like there was very little if any air conditioning and it was stifling. When we were boarding the staff moved us from one side of a barrier to another. It was like milling cattle at the sale yards! Finally we left the terminal for the plane and fresh air as we walked across the tarmac!

The flight had been 15 minutes late and seemed uneventful until we flew into a massive thunderstorm near Berlin. There was a group of teenagers who were squealing as the plane pitched and bounced through the clouds. It was rather funny until we actually got to Berlin and the pilot said we would need to go round till the storm eased. Then he attempted to land and just as we were about to touch down he pulled us up again (more squealing) and we went around once more. He announced that the side winds were too dangerous so we would wait a bit and we may be diverted to Tegal! All the time I am thinking about Katharina and Wendy who were at Schonfeld waiting for me. On the second attempt we landed but then we were left on the tarmac for over two hours before we could disembark. Wendy had texted to say that the original terminal had sustained a massive hail storm and was flooded and everyone had been told to go to Terminal A instead. My companions on the plane. You really get to know people after a few hours together. Christie is a paramedic in the army.

The pilot announced no staff were allowed on the airfield because of lightening and dangerous rain so no luggage could be unloaded or stairs bought to the plane. Eventually Buses arrived to transport us to the terminal and then it was chaos waiting for luggage. Our flight had dropped off the arrivals board as 19 others had arrived over the time! I wandered from carousel to carousel looking and after an hour I saw the group of guys on my flight who were here for a bucks weekend, starting to pick up their luggage. I rushed over to see with great relief, my bag going past. Chaos at the baggage pick up!

I made my way into the terminal and Wendy and Katharina were there. All up they had been waiting for four hours! Instead of 6 pm it was 10 pm and we were all glad to be out of there.

It was too late for dinner or shopping so we just stopped at a servo and got some essentials and beer. We are in Germany after all! Katharina had booked a lovely apartment close to where she lives which is on the outskirts of Berlin, on the Wannsee (lake). It is beautifully situated and in a very historic area. The Berlin Wall went right past the house.

Wendy has been here for a couple of days already and Katharina has been showing her around and how to access the public transport. It is very green and suburban with many lovely homes and apartments facing the water and several Schloss(Castles) close by. So exploring Berlin begins!