quarantine

We made it home to our house in Lethbridge around 3:00 am this morning. Everyone was so excited to see all of their belongings again and marvel at how different everything was from how they remembered it, it took us a while to settle down to sleep. We have to be in quarantine now for fourteen days and can't leave our house. We are allowed to be in our yard but can't go beyond our private property. If we do, we can risk getting a big fine.
Rus has opted to be in quarantine with us. It was either that or he would have to stay in a separate part of the house and stay at least two meters away from us at all times. That would have been too hard. Rus got some groceries before picking us up and we have had some thoughtful friends drop off a big care package for us. So we are well taken care of for now.
Rus has been busy cleaning the upstairs of our house that we had rented out and the kids and I are going to repaint it before moving everything in again.
It has been quite an experience living in Denmark. I think it has given us all some good shared memories and has shown us what we are capable of. Coming home was strange at first but it already feels normal again. Rus said the same thing when he came back. It's not really weird being home. What's actually weird is that it doesn't feel very weird.
Now it's time for us to pick up our life here. Maybe we will try to move back again in another two years, after Ila and Mei have graduated high school...

Freya prepping her bedroom walls for paint.
Patching holes is her new favorite activity.

coming home

We are currently at the Toronto Pearson Airport. We should arrive in Calgary around midnight (mountain standard time).
Yesterday, we sped through some popular tourist attractions in Berlin, most of which we got into for free with our Legoland passes because they have partnerships throughout Europe.
We visited the Brandenburg Gate and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The girls and I went to Madame Tussauds wax museum while Liam stayed outside with Dean because Dean thought it would be too spooky. We all went into the big beautiful Berlin Cathedral together.
Then Liam went to the Neues Museum while the rest of us went to Sea Life and to Little Big City.
In Germany, it is required to wear a mask while in public buildings and on public transit.

Ila at the Brandenburg Gate

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

standing in the center of the Memorial

another picture from the center of the memorial, looking up

Freya and Katy Perry

Mei and Albert Einstein

Ila being counselled by Sigmund Freud

Freya and William Shakespeare

Mei and ET

Dean looking up in awe at the ceiling of the Cathedral

Dean lighting a prayer candle

Berlin Cathedral alter

a Royal coffin at the Berlin Cathedral

The Berlin Cathedral

...so there is actually an entire store dedicated to Ampelmann

Sea Life

Dean in the Atlantis Maze at Sea Life

Dean with oversized statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
...and Freya is in the picture somewhere too.

Ila zooming around Alexanderplatz on an electric scooter.
Freya had been begging me to rent one the whole time
 we were in Europe so I finally did on one of the last days.

Mei with Neptunbrunnen, the Neptune Fountain

Little Big City, the Brothers Grimm

Little Big City, Hitler's underground bunker

Little Big City, St. Mary's Church

waiting in line for almost two hours outside the Berlin airport

getting on the flight to Amsterdam from Berlin

Berlin to Amsterdam

Amsterdam to Toronto

Dean sleeping facedown in his neck pillow at the Toronto airport.
It's the middle of the night for this poor guy.

Topographie des Terrors and Checkpoint Charlie

Today we visited Topographie des Terrors (Topography of Terror) Documentation Center located at the former Gestapo headquarters (from 1933 to 1945). Not much remains of the original building. It was a sombering experience. The older kids had talked about going to visit a nearby concentration camp, but I didn't think it was suitable for Dean and Freya and it was a bit difficult to get to so we went here instead. After seeing the photographs and reading the stories in these exhibits, I think going to visit a camp would be too overwhelming. This was enough for me for now. Maybe if we come back someday, we can go to one.
Checkpoint Charlie was in the vicinity so we walked by there too. We didn't know the historical significance before seeing it, so it was a bit underwhelming. I have since learned that it was the most well-known crossing point between east and west Berlin and became a symbol for the Cold War. The Western side of the checkpoint was purposely small and easily moveable to show that the Wall was not to be permament, while the Eastern side of the checkpoint was full of armed guards, watch towers, cement and barriers. It was also the site of a standoff between US and Soviet tanks in 1961.

a few of the many political prisoners held at the headquarters

remaining walls from the original building, with the Berlin Wall in the background

remains of the main gate through which all the prisoners had to pass

Checkpoint Charlie (named by the Americans)
just a little hut and a pile of sandbags

portion of the wall 

Section of a souvenir shop containing a large collection of items with East German's Ampelmann (little traffic light man), created in 1961 just after the wall was built in response to high rate of traffic fatalities. It was a very carefully developed design that came from a traffic psychologist and was supposed to encourage pedestrians to be more obedient, as the characters appeared more likeable and trustworthy. Their thicker bodies also allow more green or red light to be seen. You can even buy Ampelmann pasta.

churches, museums, and the Ramones

I found a service for our church in English here so Dean and Freya and I went to church while the older kids did their own thing and visited a few museums. We ran into them on the way home when we stopped to look at an old church so we travelled back together.  We had a relaxing afternoon at the apartment and then Liam and Ila and Mei went to a Ramones cafe and museum.

prayer candles at St. Mary's Church

Dean and Freya, entrance to St. Mary's

Berliner Fernsehturm - Berlin TV Tower
iconic landmark with observation deck and revolving restaurant

Liam, Dean, Ila
on the subway

And here are some pictures that Ila and Mei sent me from their day:

bust of Athena from the Greek exhibit at Altes Museum
picture by Ila

Greek statue (realistic body image!)
picture by Mei

picture by Mei
Beautifully done
and because who doesn't like goats?

picture from Mei
just a self-portrait that she liked
(rare to see a female painter in a self portrait from this era)

selfie by Ila at the Ramones Museum

Mei in her Ramones shirt at the Ramones cafe

Liam lounging at the Ramones cafe

The Berlin Wall

We left Kolding yesterday morning around 9:30am and after one bus, three trains and a taxi we arrived at our Airbnb in Berlin, around 9:30pm. I don't think we have ever been happier to have clean, comfortable beds.

We slept in and didn't even leave the apartment today until the afternoon. We got groceries for the day and walked to the East Side Gallery, the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall still in existence (1.3 km). After the wall was torn down, painters from all over came to paint murals on the east side. It became a protected site soon after and has since undergone restoration. It is now the largest open air gallery in the world. I started explaining what little of the story of the wall that I knew to Dean and he said, "Yeah I know that already. I learned about it on Ted Ed." I think he actually knew more about it than I did! So we watched it again on YouTube when we got back this evening. 

Dean

Freya

Ila

Mei and her buddy Karl Marx
west side of the wall

Liam

picnic lunch on the west side of the wall

Liam and Dean on the train yesterday

1 of 2 bedrooms at the Airbnb

The corner store grows its own herbs!

More Berlin Wall pictures...

panorama by Freya

drawing taped to the wall
picture by Freya

picture by Freya