Today was one of those days of pushing my luck – I had made sure I had a ticket to Lange Nacht der Museen (more on this below) which meant we were in for a long night. So I tried to make sure Willem was primed – we stayed up late the night before to try and get him to sleep in the next day (didn’t happen). I had planned a lazy day but Willem really wanted to get out and see something. So we went to the Zoo.
Image credit: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Jean-Luc_2005
The Berlin Zoological Gardens is a zoo right in the centre of town – the Zoo station and bus stops are one of the major public transport hubs in town. The zoo prides itself on its location, and the number of species that reside there. It is probably most famous at the moment for being home to Knut the polar bear, who is no longer a cute and cuddly cub but a growing bear. There are all the ‘regular’ zoo favourites – big cats, great apes, giraffes, elephants, bears – and a lot of others. I am rather conflicted over zoos – while I can in a way understand the argument that if people come in contact with animals through zoos they will appreciate them more, I am not sure I really agree with it. And it does seem cruel and unnecessary to keep animals in captivity, especially when so many of them don’t seem very happy. It is not just the big cats pacing the edges of their enclosures, it is most creatures (every single mongoose/weasel like creature I have seen seems to be frantically trying to find a way out). Which makes me a bit of a hypocrite, seeing as we have visited three zoos this Summer holidays. So I think the Zoological Park in any city is out for us in future, though I reserve judgment on big ‘safari parks’ and the like. Anyway, we still managed to spend most of the afternoon there, though much of that was sitting in the apes and monkey house waiting for the rain to pass. If you do decide to go, don’t miss the playground, as it is absolutely fantastic; and I don’t know how often she is there, but the woman with a face-painting stall just next to the playground is very talented.
Willem as a Ritter (Knight)
We then headed over to Hackescher Markt district for some dinner. Near Museumsinsel, this trendy area is home to lots of shops, bars and cafes, but in true Berlin style except for a few over-trendy places it actually feels quite accessible, and affordable – our dinner for two which included multiple drinks, nachos, twelve pieces of sushi and great service, cost just under €23! You wouldn’t find that in most trendy places in the centre of London or Paris. After our dinner we strolled over to the Berliner Dom to start our Lange Nacht der Museen.
The Long Night at the Museums is a special event that happens twice a year in Berlin. Most museums stay open until the early hours of the morning, and many have special concerts, talks or events. We started with a walk around the Berliner Dom, and then we climbed to the very top viewing platform of the cupola for amazing 360 degree views of the city (a lot has changed since my husband and I took in the same views back in 2003). Willem loved seeing all the places he had gone past on ground level, and thought the walk up was a piece of cake after some of the climbs he has made lately! (The stairs are wide in most sections, it is not a steep spiral, and there are places to stop and rest out of the way, so probably still an option if you are travelling with littlies).
Berliner Dom, with the nearby television tower.
We then headed out to the open space in front of the Dom to catch an interesting performance by people on stilts, covered in body paint. From what I could gather, they were representing the Spanish coming to South America, but I could be wrong (the theme of this Lange Nacht der Museen is the bicentenary of the independence of eight Latin American countries). We then waited as a helicopter flew overhead and dropped 100,000 poems onto those of us waiting below (though many ended up in the water!) The poetry rain is part of a project commemorating towns that were once bombed, and Berlin is the fifth city so far. We managed to catch two, but Willem started to get cross that he didn’t get more, and that is when the long day caught up with him.
Travelling with kids can mean knowing when to cut your losses. And it looked like we were approaching that point as over the next hour Willem got grottier and grottier, obviously a bit over-tired and overwhelmed, and not quite willing to admit it. But I am a selfish Mummy, and thought if we just took a break, and a walk in the fresh air, we could continue to take advantage of this rather special event. Kudos to Willem, he agreed, and though all my plans for the night had to go out the window, we carried on. We saw churches that impressed (and Willem got to see a pipe organ up close, which he was impressed with), heard lovely music in various venues, and made it home bang on midnight thanks to Berlin’s excellent public transport system. I’m not sure I would recommend making the Lange Nacht der Museen a real Long Night if you are doing it with kids, but it is definitely worth experiencing, even in a shortened version, at least once.
Let's do something different 