more wandering

Maya around town--and the amazing fallen leaves sculpture in the Jewish Museum.

Okay, when last we left our dear blog readers, Maya had rejoined me. We moved around the corner to another lovely Berlin flat in my favorite hip EU neighborhood. Friday we had down time, and tried to reconnect with Maya's friend. We discovered the German habit of CAKE. At 4pm you stop and have a large slice of Torte. In Alexanderplatz we had a lovely Marzipan and raspberry concoction that left us in a sugar coma. We have decided this is an important custom to take home. Then off to the film awards. They spoil directors to BITS here--red carpets, little lounge with wine and beer for them to await their fans. Maya wants to come back next time as a director, for sure. Everyone is sooooo into film here--every showing is packed, young people ardently following the festival, everyone stays and asks questions at the Q and A. And no Disney for miles. These are meaty films on important topics with fresh voices. I have been thrilled to see the number of stories from families with children with disabilities--autism, aspergers, down syndrome. Lovely stories.Difficult stories, universally appealing stories, well told. The Black Balloon, a story about two brothers, one profoundly autistic, won the Crystal Bear, and my personal favorite, Sita Sings the Blues, got an honorable mention.

On Saturday we went to see the Red Carpet and rubber neck for celebs. What a scene, but compared to LA it was totally laid back and there were plenty of sensible shoes and warm coats. We stood right next to Maya Rudolph of Saturday night live who was also taking celeb pix and BEING a papparazzi--no one here knows who she is so she can just be a normal person. Weird. When we were leaving we cut right past the winners, so close we could have lifted the Golden Bear. You would never get that close to a star in the United States. After all that, we grabbed noodles to make at home for a simple meal at the mini mart, watched BBC and went to bed.

Everything is closed on Sunday except tourist spots and eateries. You CANNOT shop or do marketing. Its a day for family and friends. We went to the top of the Sony building, the Panorama and almost froze our ears off, then climbed to the top of the Berliner Dom to see the skyline from a birds eye view. Dinner was Tapas--so far we have had street food, Asian food, Spanish food, Italian food.

Monday was our last complete day in Berlin. I thought it was important for Maya to experience the Jewish Museum. We also saw Checkpoint Charlie. We spent a few precious final hours with Maya's friend, then went out for a traditional German meal mit Schwarzbier and kartoffels. Just like my grandmas cookin! Very satisfying.

I love Berlin. I am sorry to go home and all the layers of multitasking. I hate the humiliation and tedium of travel and security and the small minded paranoia of my country. I like thinking big thoughts and being out of my element and trying to think in another language. I loved having Maya all to myself. But its all smushed into the backpack, I have purchased another patch to sew on, bought my souvenirs at the the Euro store and Pfenningland, and its time to go home to the chaos of three kids and two artists lives. This trip was a marvelous gift and I am so grateful.