Have you seen April?

Wow, time is really flying!

April
April is over and it was a big month. We started in Munich where we survived a forest walk through the wildest storm in 15 years, celebrated Phil's birthday, checked out some great music at the Rattlesnake and were joined by Joelle for adventures in Eastern Europe.

We took our first night train to Budapest which was phenomenal and is now in my top 5 favourite cities. Can't wait to get back!! Prague was a mix of big sights, great beer and walks in the sunshine. And we capped off the month with a visit to one of my all-time favourite cities: Berlin. Despite a slow start, due to my laying in bed sick for 2 days (cough, cough) we packed in a lot.



I have no explanation for this...

Speaking of Berlin
Neukolln where we've been staying these past few days is a crazy, pulsating, vibrant, Turkish and middle eastern immigrant area with the best haloumi wraps this side of Turkey.

Our street (Emser Strasse) had a palpable sense of community. People seemed to know their neighbours and met for chats and a beer at the mini market under our building. Food deliveries were made from a motorbike on the pavement through open windows and on the weekend the balconies are filled with people just well, people-watching.

We spent the week walking parts of Berlin I hadn't seen much of before - Kreuzberg, Freidrichshain, Neukolln. Kreuzberg was particularly picturesque by the canal, but also had some interesting aspects...



Spotted in Kreuzberg - the box says "take for free"... it only contained underwear

Just for the record, if you're planning a trip to Berlin, I would definitely be happy to stay in Neukolln or Kreuzberg despite (or because of?) the occasional grittiness.

We checked out the former-airport Tempelhof park, hit a couple of flea markets and visited the east side gallery - a section of the Berlin Wall which has been preserved.


It was fun but we barely scratched the surface in a week and it just reminded me that Berlin is a freaking enormous city and we definitely have go back later in the year for a month.

Off to War... ahem sorry, to Warsaw
We have booked a week in Warsaw and are heading there today! The plan is to use Warsaw as a base and do a couple of day trips - one to Kraków and one to Chelm, the town my maternal grandparents hail from.

It's working really well to spend about a week in each location. so we figured this is the way to go. If Kraków looks awesome, we can go another time.

Having never been to Poland and with not a single word of Polish, it should be interesting...







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