A U2 Connection In Berlin and Bears!...

Many years ago, in the early 1990's, I lived with my sister in a two bedroom flat in a Melbourne suburb. She was U2 mad back then (and still is) and when she moved to Brisbane I found I missed U2 booming from the stereo. It was 1994 and I went and bought U2's latest at the time, 'Zooropa' on disc.

I fell in love with 'Stay (Faraway so close)' and adored the film clip.... (stick with me here...) Here's the link to the video.  Filmed on location in Berlin, I never thought I would see the Brandenburg Gate (at the very start of the video), nor the statue Bono falls from (Siegessaule/Victory Column) for myself.  Obviously I was wrong.  Very wrong.

Victory Column is directly ahead, as I look through the Brandenburg Gate

It is an impressive gate, one that led from the old West Berlin, to East Berlin.  The Berlin Wall was built about 20 metres from the gate, towards the Victory Column.  But the gate was around a long time before the Berlin Wall went up.  It was built in 1791, but was used as a major gate (there were 18 along the wall) to cross from east to west, after 1961.  It was here most video footage was taken when the wall was torn down in 1989...

With a bit of courage, we used the underground train system that Berlin uses.  It is one that uses more of an honesty system, rather than other undergrounds we have travelled on in different cities in our time.  We thought we'd do the right thing and buy tickets for ourselves at a vending machine.  It was very pricey (heck!) but we felt better knowing that we weren't cheating the system.

The train line we caught was the U2 line.  Yep, that's what the underground line is called, I kid you not (and no, not after the band.)  They have many train lines and it just happened that we needed the U2 line.

And just where were he headed?  But 'Zoo Station' of course. (You'd have to be a U2 fan to appreciate this. ;-) )

I was thrilled, MrL was not so thrilled with me banging on about U2, but he was thrilled that we navigated our way on the underground to our selected destination.... (and no, we didn't go to the zoo!)  Instead of the zoo, we headed to Kurfurstendamm (try saying that in your best German accent!), which is equivalent to your local High Street.  However, unbeknown to us, we turned right instead of left and walked down the glitzy part of the street, with all your Prada and upmarket shops which we dare not set foot in.  (And besides, they're a dime a dozen in our section of the world.)

However the girls were more than thrilled to find Bears.  Big sculptured Bears, displayed on the street.  I am pretty sure these bears have toured the world and this year they have found place and home in the German capital.  They are scattered everywhere through out the city and the girls, especially Lily, loved to point them all out.  The ones along this road were from all corners of the world.

The Aussie Bear by Ken Done.

Not only did Lily love to point out all the Bears, but at one point she gave every. single. bear. a hug.  You should have seen the smiles and giggles we got.

The girls hugging the UAE Bear. Cute.

More travels in Berlin to come...

We're Back...

...from a wonderful two week holiday.  We visited two very different, wonderful European cities of Berlin in Germany and Barcelona in Spain.

I can't choose a favourite city - I enjoyed both for very different reasons.  Because we went in the height of the summer holidays, I can tell you that the crowds in Barcelona was a bit much and I imagine if it wasn't for every man and his dog being there I probably would have loved it more than what I did.  (Don't get me wrong, LOVED Barcelona, just not a fan of the crowds.)

I was very happy with my (new) camera - it did the job for me.  Here are some examples of what we saw and what we did.

At a small shopping centre in Berlin

The famous Brandenburg Gate in Berlin

Part of the remains of the Berlin Wall.  The SS Headquarters were behind this section.

East Side Gallery in Berlin.

At a Barcelona Fresh Food Market. 

A square in Barcelona

The awesome Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's final masterpiece.

Gaudi's La Pedrera

At a Park, designed by Gaudi, that over looks the whole of Barcelona

We ate and drank and walked and walked and walked.  Monet did so very well to keep up with her mum and dad, and Lily too for that matter.  However we did have to bribe her an awful lot to get in her stroller as she wanted to walk and walk and walk too.  *heehee*

Stay tuned for our adventures....

Snap...

...What do you do when you are fortunate enough to get a new camera? You get to take photos of your two daughters to test the camera's functions on.

One had just woken from a nap, so wasn't 100% ready to have mummy in her face with a camera in hand....

And the other is a poser from way back, so I could easily get her to do a pose or two.

Off on holiday soon... ;)

Oven Fresh Donuts

We're into our third week of summer school holidays here and in all honesty, we haven't done much. MrL is on, what I call 'Stoopid Hours' (3am till 1pmish), due to the Summer rules they imply over here and last week his car was at the Car Doctors, so he had my car.

Monet has been great, filling in the days by doing art work, playing and drawing and reading with her younger sister.  Lily thinks it is fantastic having Monet at home every day!  So do I.  Well, most of the time.

As a special treat, (and me having my own wheels back this week), I took the girls to Krispy Kreme Donuts yesterday down in the city.  Ooo is there anything much better than those donuts, nice and fresh from the oven and iced?  Me thought not yesterday....along with two little girls.

It was Lily's first experience of those donuts and by the way she hoed into it, I'm pretty positive that she enjoyed ever last crumb.  She had Monet and I smiling at each other as she gobbled it up.

Somehow I think I won't be able to pass that store without Lily wanting more... Oh! What have I done?

Sewing Quarters Update

With some help from MrL, Saturday saw us remove the bookshelf from my 'sewing room' (it's now in MrL's study room on the 3rd level!) which gave me a bit more extra space.  I have been very busy cutting and sewing my skirts and thinking of new ideas.  

I have had great feedback in regards to my 'Abu Dhabi' skirt, so I am hoping it'll be a hit once I have sewn a few more, ready to sell.  

As Miss Lily is usually downstairs with me, she's always in and out of the room, annoying me, being cute, hiding from her big sister, playing etc.,

My little sewing table with, with a few little nick-knacks.  Pretty sure my machine needs a service but I'll try and get my hands on some machine oil first and I'll take it from there.

Since MrL and I removed the bookcase from the room, I now have a clothes rail in there which helps me feel a bit more organised.  Once skirts are cut out they're placed into the correct 'nook', already to be sewn together, then hung (waiting for a buyer to come and purchase her - yes, my skirts are female.)

Here's my latest unveiling too - I know you've seen the skirt with the black camel, but not the black skirt with the tanned colour camel.  I posted this photo n FaceBook and some of my dearest and nearest gave me some ideas on possible having both block colours on the same skirt....  Well, perhaps watch this space. lol

You need a happy, clean, clear space to create.  I think I have found it. 

My Babies In An Ancient Dress

Check this out :-

When I do this, you can really see Monet in Lily.  The dress that they are both wearing was worn also by me as a toddler and pretty sure it was originally owned by my sister Kim too.  Only thing is, for an ancient dress, it is pretty typical of Lily to get blue marker pen down the center of it, (*urgh*) but hopefully it will come out in the wash.

Dress Up Fun

As I was busy in our family wardrobe room (yes, we have one whole room which houses all our clothes in free-standing wardrobes), organising stuff before we head off, the girls were busy in Lily's room, trying to keep out of trouble. I could hear squeaks of delight coming from the youngest and Monet giggling away.

"Mum, where are you?"
"In the wardrobe room...."
"Okay, well here comes Lily..."

This is how Lily presented herself to me.

Cute eh?  Lily the Fairy.

Well, then it wasn't long until I was given a 'dressing up' fashion parade...

I was visited by a Mermaid and Hula Girl...

A couple of Pumpkin Fairies...

And Snow White with her Wicked Step Mother.

(Check out the shoes on that above photo will you!?!)

Fun, funny times.

Framed Words

When Monet gave us this piece of paper the other day, there was no way I could not have put it in a frame.  So I went and bought a frame to put it in.

Yeah, sometimes I get 'engry' (angry) at her.  She is 6 going on 16 after all. ;)

We've told her that whenever she gets angry at us (which does happen sometimes, believe me) I'm going to bring out the framed writing and show her.

You realise that we get lots (and lots) of art work given to us and some take pride on the pin board in the kitchen.  I am considering getting a frame for this piece of work too;

(The skirt she is referring to, is this one.)  I might have to get Monet to have a dabble in helping to design some business cards for me. What do you think?

These are the memories I want to treasure.