40 Days of Birthday: Day Thirty-Seven

We’ve had today’s activity on our calendar for months: The Botanic Garden Halloween Fun Fest! We attempted to go to this same event last year. It was one of the first times Lennon used his baby buggy. He was so displeased with it, however, we put him in the baby carrier half way enroute. With an empty carriage and a baby on my chest, Nicholas, Lennon, and I waited in line for an hour to enter the festival. We had no idea Halloween would have such interest in Berlin. We did arrive late in the day and when our friends called to woo us to dinner we aborted our mission.

Before we got going today, my husband and I went through our weekend trade-off schedule: I get up with Lennon early, around 6am, while Nicholas sleeps. At around 8pm, I get to go back to bed for an hour or so. When I awoke this morning from my sleep-in time, Lennon and Nicholas had made me breakfast in bed for Birth-Day Thirty-Seven! So very lovely.

 We came to realize late that it was day light savings time, so even though we had a leisurely morning, that extra hour still allowed us to arrive early to the Fest—minutes after opening. There was no line and we sauntered right in. The admission cost was the regular Botanical Gardens entrance fee, and of course I received my student discount. It was brisk today so perhaps that’s what kept people away. Or maybe coming early was key. In any case, it remained uncrowded.

The opening of the festival coincided with Lennon’s naptime. Lennon was cozy bundled in his “Fuß Sack” inside his stroller and, as he knows to do at 11:30, went right to sleep. Sleepy Lennon had a jack-o-lantern balloon tied to his stroller upon arrival. We first made our way to the pumpkin carving station. We reckoned most of the activities were for older kids but we thought maybe we’d get a good photo-op in for Lennon—he wore his “Jenks the Beagle” costume out today! The pumpkins were 5 euro and you paid an additional 5 euro deposit on the carving kit. We’d be carving the pumpkin we bought at the Hofladen Falkensee the night before Halloween, but it was sweet to see what the future would hold when Lennon is a bit older.

After picking up a 1 euro candied apple that, despite my husband’s reservations, was completely delicious, we headed indoors. A ghostly puppet show was to be performed in one hall but our timing was off so we headed to the “Neues Glashaus” where more of the program was taking place. It was lovely and warm inside. Nicholas and sleeping Lennon stayed on the stroller friendly first level where chairs and tables were set while I ventured upstairs to snap some photos. On the next level up, there was a “Halloween Café” selling snack bar food. Next to it, a child’s birthday party was underway with a long table and decorations. I’m not certain how they pulled this one off, but it was such a brilliant coup: have your child’s birthday party at a festival with face painting, crafts, and costumes! It made me wonder why more people didn’t think of this. How did they secure that lovely spot next to the café? Can anyone book this for a birthday? It was all too mind-boggling.

On the upper level, there were several booths selling Halloween items. Nothing extraordinary, at least not by U.S. Halloween standards, but these items were fairly exotic here. It was all typical drug store merchandise: Halloween paper plates and cups, plastic witch hats and prefab costumes. Most children came in costume to the festival today but didn’t stray from the classics: witches, ghosts, and goblins. There weren’t even any fairy princesses. Halloween is new enough to Germany that all the original rules still seem to apply.

Beyond the Halloween items, a face-painting table was teeming with children and several craft tables were set with materials. Kids were painting ceramic birds. I wasn’t sure what this activity had to do with Halloween, but none of the children seemed to object.

We continued to walk the grounds when Lennon woke up hungry and thirsty. After a quick snack we headed home, all before the clock struck 1pm and we turned into pumpkins.

40 Days of Birthday: Day Sixteen

We rented a car today through our city car share service and headed to Berlin’s neighboring state of Brandenburg. The idea originally was to go apple picking but we thought better of it when we imagined Lennon not being able to join in. Our friends, the El-Falakis, live in Brandenburg and just thirty minutes from our home, so we decided to stay with our original travel plans and visit with them for a spell. The El-Falakis, Karen and Adel, babysat Lennon for a whopping six hours on the day we moved house in August. Lennon had been to their home, Nicholas and I had not.

On the way, we stopped at the Hofladen Falkensee, a sweet farm stand, to purchase the apples we might otherwise pick in later years when Lennon can pitch in. We couldn’t resist buying another pumpkin, a proper Halloween orange one this time, and a wee, mini one for Lennon’s room. As promised, we also bought a big bag of apples, some bio fennel, bio chestnuts—so yummy roasted this time of year—and a few slices of cake from their bakery to bring to our friends.

The El-Falakis live just ten minutes from our farm stop. Lennon warmed up to them in no time, even though he hadn’t seen them since the move. We were given a tour of their home and some Kaffee and Kuchen before we all headed out to the see the 1936 Olympic Village whose ruins still stand minutes from their home. Karen billed the dilapidated grounds as eerie. We were so excited to see them.

 What’s left of the Olympic Village is in a beautiful state of crumbling. Most of the moss covered buildings had bricked-in windows and boarded-shut doors, but Jesse Owens's sleeping quarters can be toured and is set as a bare bones museum honoring the gold medal runner. This area of Germany being part of the old East, many of the buildings had been demolished by the Russians when they made their headquarters at the Village. In their place they constructed pre-fabricated cinderblock box structures, which also can be seen in the space today. I fell in love a little with the 1936 indoor Olympic pool, now falling into the ground. The building that houses it was blocked off with scaffolding today, but I caught a peek through one of the windows: Pure romantic horror in blue tile and cement.

I was able to get close enough to capture a shot of the Olympic “foot bath” that sat just outside the pool building. It too was making its way into the earth, but deliciously so.