Grey days in Berlin

I bet you thought we were being a bit lucky with our Autumn weather, didn't you?  So did we! Well the last two days (and today in fact) have been a bit grey and rainy.  The first rainy day seemed like a great opportunity to have a quiet day, as we've been so busy! And Greg could keep working on his damn report.  Bella and Liam both had (reluctantly!) school work to do too, so I thought I'd have an adventure all by myself: a trip to the laundromat!  It turns out that there is no laundromat in this area, the reception printed a map off for me and told me it was 5 train stops away, then a two block walk.  Easy peasy I thought. Well I got onto the main drag with my bags of dirty washing and went down to the U train platform, but the only train was taking me into the centre of town - not where I wanted to go.  I went back onto the street, walked around, and found another U train entrance - but it was the same destination.  I was frustrated - I didn't want to go back to the hostel and say I couldn't make it!  I thought I'd find someone who spoke English to help me.  Did I mention it was raining quite heavily?  No?  So I'm lugging my bag, my laundry, my umbrella, my (damp) map, asking random people if they spoke English.  I didn't have much luck with my first couple of people.  One lady kept repeating, louder and louder, "Seestrasser" - I thanked her, I knew the name of the street we were standing on!!  A kindly older man stopped to help me and gave me directions to the U stop he thought I wanted.  I followed his directions, and arrived to find I was still a few stops away from where I should be.  How the hell did I get there?  It was a relief to find a woman who spoke English and told me that in fact I wanted the TRAM.  I'd assumed the guy at reception had said TRAIN, but no he'd actually said TRAM.  I found the right tram, and the laundromat, managed to follow the steps (in German, but luckily with accompanying illustrations!) and then TRAM my way directly back!!
I was disappointed to find that NO-ONE had finished their work in the time I was away.  Really!  Can't they just get on with it??  I'm quite happy to spend a quiet afternoon working on my album or sorting my photos but with Greg using the laptop I have no option but to keep reading "Game of Thrones" on my kindle.  I'm into book 2 and I have to say there is a lot less sex in the books than in the TV series!  I'm hoping to get to watch it soon (when Greg is done with my laptop) as I have a much better understanding of the characters.
Yesterday was MUSEUM DAY. Greg feels very strongly that we must expose the kids to as much culture as they can stand, and then add a little bit more :-)  So we set off to the Museum Island in Berlin.  Liam was navigating.  (Bella had her turn the other day).  We made it into town OK but were not quite sure of our direction from the train station - whoops, Liam corrects me here, he knew exactly which way we were going, the rest of us where a trifle unsure.  We saw the TV tower in the distance (a great landmark!) and passed a family puzzling over their map.  Greg wanted to give them some assistance.  I queried what sort of assistance we could actually offer.  We could point out the TV tower?  And acknowledge that we were guessing which way we going?  No, I moved us on before we confused those poor people any more than they already were!
But yes, Liam was correct and we did find the Museum Island.  It's undergoing some serious renovations so the exact entrance required a bit of too-ing and fro-ing but luckily it had stopped raining.  We started with the Pergamon Museum which has amazing and HUGE antiquities which the Germans saved/plundered from the middle east.  The museum included an audio tour (as you might know by now we are big fans of the audio tour) which contained just a little bit too much information.  Especially as the museum turned out to be enormous - nearly half as big as the Louvre I thought, but Greg thinks that is an exaggeration.  My tip to them would be to reduce to size of their info tidbits by half - I think if you listened to it all it would seriously take an entire day.  As it was we were at the museum for over 3 hours which is a good effort!
We had a little break wandering in the nearby market (being a stall holder in the cold with the rain did not look like much fun) and Greg & Bella tried currywurst, a Berliner favourite snack.  Bella quite enjoyed it but Greg thought it tasted disgusting.  Liam just had a regular sausage which Greg also was not impressed with, so he went back for different one which he also declared foul. (I smile everytime thinking of Greg's face as he ate his currywurst - I took a photo of course!)  Being the fussy one I went into the museum cafe and had soup, the kids joined me for chocolate cake and hot chocolate.  Is there such a thing as too much chocolate in one sitting?  They said no, but Bella struggled with her last mouthful!
I had a bad headache and Greg said he'd find me some panadol.  It turned out to be a saga worthy of mention in my blog, along the lines of my laundry visit! While we waited outside the cafe, he tried the newsagency we'd passed on our way to the museum, but they referred him to the chemist shop in the train station, which was closed -it was Sunday. So then he tried a few supermarkets in the area - they all referred him back to the chemist (a bit like our GPS!).  His next idea was to ask in the pubs - surely heavy drinkers need a panadol or two every now and then?  No luck at the first few - eventually at one, a customer rifled in her bag and produced - a single panadol.  Greg thought it was a bit ungrateful to ask if she had two!!  It was a very large panadol though and seemed to do the trick - at least it made his journey worthwhile.  We've resolved to make sure we have panadol and tissues in my bag at all times from now on :-)
We girded our loins and set off to visit the Old National Gallery.  The gallery had a lot of sculptures which the kids really enjoyed - the paintings did not inspire them as much.  There was one room with impressionists which I liked.  Again, the audio information went on, and on, and on!  If you ever want to know really intimate detail about a painting or sculpture, just take the audio tours at the Berlin museums!
Today we are leaving Berlin for Poland.  Tonight we will be in Wroclaw, which is said apparently pronounced "vrott-suave" not "raw-claw" as we were saying!!  
I caused some hilarity with my family at breakfast today.  It's a cafeteria style set up where you get your tray, bowl, plate, cutlery, put your tray on the bars in front of the food and load your plates up.  I was sliding my tray along and reaching from some bread when there was an almightly crash.  The roll thing had ended and I wasn't looking - it was my smashed bowl and plate (with cereal) on the floor!  I had to zip into the kitchen and find the broom and sweep it all up, Liam and Bella pretending they didn't know me... Greg did help me find the brush and pan to clean it all away!