We left Gdansk this morning on a 9:00 a.m. train. It took us five hours to get to Poznan where we changed trains. The second train was very nice. It was much quieter and smoother. It was a much newer train than the Polish one. It took us about three hours to get from Poznan to Berlin. We arrived at the Haupbahnhof train station. It was completed in 2006 and is considered an engineering marvel. It was dark when we arrived so we did not get the full effect. But it is all glass and very impressive. It is supposed to be the most modern and state of the art "crossing station" (as they call it) in Europe. We will get a better look at it on Sunday when we leave Berlin.
We made it to our apartment at about 7:00 and then went out to find a place for dinner. We ended up a couple of blocks from our apartment at an Argentinian restaurant. It was delicious! People in Poland don't really eat much beef (like people in the US do anyway) so we really enjoyed our steaks and hamburgers tonight.
We will have much to blog about on this trip to Berlin but I did want to note a fun thing that happened in Gdansk on Saturday. We were on our way to meet Myles at the Amber/Torture museum. The tram was crowded. In Poland, whenever an elderly person boards the tram or bus, the young people pop up and offer their seats. It is automatic and everyone does it. I am delighted to report that my kids have formed this habit and are always on the lookout for elderly people boarding. On Saturday, at one point several elderly ladies got on the tram. All of the young people offered their seats. The lady who took Trey's seat sat there and talked to him in Polish for several minutes. He did not say anything to her but interacted. She had no idea that he did not know Polish, it just looked like he was being a quiet little kid. As we were getting ready to get off the tram, she handed him two tiny pieces of candy. In his best Polish, he said, "Dziekuje" (thank you).
He is learning some Polish at school on Mondays. Our whole family is going to start Polish lessons soon with one of the teachers at the British International School. But when Trey says Polish words, he says them like the Polish people do. When I say the words, I sound like an American trying to speak Polish. Not good.
We are going to be tourists tomorrow. Yesterday, many world leaders were here in Berlin for the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down. We missed Hillary by just one day! The celebration continues for this momentous anniversary and we are thrilled to be able to be here to see some of it for ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment