I’ve been home a week and, as usual, it’s almost as if I’ve never been away. ‘Endured’ those long fights. Spent that indulgent week in that hotel. Rode the U and S Bahns up, down and across Berlin. Absorbed all that history with every fibre of my being. Saw all that beauty with my eyes and through my camera.
Life has been work pretty much 24/7 since Friday which has put me in a sleep deprivation mode. I’ve also been trying to lick the last dregs of the jetlag that seems to be my destiny whenever I fly home from someplace that isn’t South East Asia or the US.
The most exciting thing I’ve purchased recently has been this set of Jamie Oliver cutlery because I’ve managed to lose the set I’ve had in my office for the last 8 years. I was a bit sad to be moving on cutlery wise, that set of stainless steel had seen me through so many ups and downs in life and were a reassuring presence in their well-loved familiarity at every desk lunch I’ve had in recent memory.
Speaking of work lunches, how disappointing is it when you’ve been head down tails up since 8am and settle down to lunch 6 hours later to find that your fancy cheese and (spring) onion (organic Thai Jasmine) rice crackers are a complete gustatory disappointment. What’s the point of rice crackers if they don’t come caked in powdered flavouring and crunch like crisps? The beetroot hummus was good though.
A less disappointing superfood find from my week has been the Instagram friendly acai bowl. I had mine with mueslis and fresh fruit. I didn’t realise how sweet acai could be and I’m a confirmed sweet tooth. I’ve managed to convince myself that an acai bowl is the healthy alternative to my usual almond croissant. Look forward to many, many more photos of acai bowls on my Instagram feed in coming weeks….
But back to Berlin. I’ve almost lost my holiday glow thanks to the weather and work but not quite. I still have two instalments of my Berlin Diaries to share with you so let’s go.
The Berlin Zoological Garden is Germany’s oldest zoo. It was opened in 1844 and is 35 acres big. It’s a short walk from its eponymous train station and is located in the Tiergarten.
The zoo was fascinating to me because of the diversity of its enclosures. The weather was perfect for my visit (Sydney, lift your game because Berlin is showing you how it’s done at the moment).
I was a bit cynical thinking that if you’ve seen one zoo, you’ve seen them all and that no zoo can beat Taronga anyway. But I was wrong. Berlin’s zoo is just beautiful to stroll through on a sunny day.
I was very taken with the penguin enclosure.
The elephants have a large compound in front of a cottage.
The gardens and lake in the middle of the zoo can be enjoyed both on foot and from the verandah of the main restaurant and cafe.
It was a bit of a jolt seeing the giraffes without the stunning harbour views they enjoy in Sydney. They still looked very content in Berlin regardless.
There was one playground at the zoo which Tigger found for me.
My favourite sight of the day was the flamingoes in all the pink fabulousness.
No visit to a major zoo is complete without a stop at its gift store on the way home. I picked up this Eric Carle fold out book for several youngsters back home. The art of Carle, zoo animals and numbers are universal languages of childhoos.
