Life seems
to move at a much faster pace than I’m able to blog! We’re currently based in Berlin, where we’ve
taken a flat on the Badstraße for two months. We’ve been here for two days, and
already our vacation in Scotland
is becoming a happy memory while we adjust to the excitement, and culture
shock, of living in a new country.
When I last
wrote I was still recovering from a fairly stressful journey up north.
Fortunately our friends Pippa and Andy took such good care of us that we were
able to recover not only from the train journey but also from the preceding
seven weeks. New baby? Stressful. Moving? Stressful. Finishing a degree?
Stressful. You get the picture.
Pippa and
Andy don’t live together, but they both live really close to the North Sea
which meant we got to spend a lot of time feeling like we were back at home
(ocean! island!). On our first day we walked along the beach, allowing the
fresh sea air and the crashing waves to help ease our stress away. It was so
wonderful and it really helped me deal with the amount of homesickness and
displacement that I’d been feeling since Walter’s birth.
That
evening we attempted to light a peat fire in Pippa’s fireplace, but the wind
and rain were picking up and became so heavy that they interfered with the
chimney and our fire kept turning into a smoldering, smoky mess. By the time we
left that evening the wind was blowing so hard that ceramic flower pots were
being tipped over and roof tiles seemed to be coming loose. I fell asleep to
the sound of the gale winds lashing the rain against our window. It was bliss.
relaxing at Pippa's |
The next
afternoon Pippa took us on a walk to Girdle Ness, giving us a chance to see the North Sea in the aftermath of the gale. The waves were
high enough to remind us of Long Beach,
and there was foam at least a foot deep along the beach. We spent a long time
watching the waves crash against the lighthouse, trying to pinpoint the moments
the spray would come over its top, and discussing whether or not we’d want to
be out in a boat at that moment. We then walked along the beach, Walter, Pippa
& I sticking to the cliff top where we could take his pram and David going
on a small path by the water. Unfortunately we were unable to locate each other
at the designated meeting area since the path he was on never connected with
the path I was waiting at (I found some ruins and had to go exploring!) so
there was an anxious period of waiting and worrying that he’d lost his footing
on the slippery rocks followed by a wonderful rush of love & and relief
when he found us.
After an
afternoon of exploring we were ready for a sizeable dinner, so we went to Pippa
& Andy’s favourite Indian restaurant, Nazma. It’s won a bunch of awards and the
food really was excellent. I am also perhaps biased to approve of any place
that serves my mango lassi in a pint glass! David and I split chicken korma,
chilli & garlic lamb, coconut rice, and garlic naan. Walter joined in with
a bottle of milk, and he even obliged us by sitting in his pram for awhile so
that we could enjoy a meal together. It was the perfect end to a lovely day.
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