What a week it has been! It began with these friendly peacocks pictured above. We decided to have a very German Sunday (when everything except for restaurants are closed) and biked to a bus through the woods to a ferry to visit a place called Peacock Island that used to be a private zoo for Prussian King Frederick William II and his mistress. The lions and tigers are gone, but the peacocks and rose gardens remain, plus a few beautiful old buildings and a lovely walking path around the island. While we did also see the classic blue-green peacocks, we were a little taken aback by these pure white ones… were they white nationalist breeds from the 1940s? Maybe they were just some odd genetic abnormality and I really ought to be open-minded about their albino feathers. But when you’re a Jew in Germany whose citizenship has been restored as a way of atoning for the past, somehow the first thing that comes to mind is that they must be Aryan peacocks. That’s what we called them, and we never saw a sign in the rare birds area to say otherwise, so we stuck to our story. For comparison purposes, the classic blue-green peacocks were very kind to pose for photographs like the one below:

The next day was Julian’s first day of 9th grade at the Berlin-Brandenburg International School (BBIS), just a 10-minute bike ride from our house. So we had to rise early for the first time in quite awhile. We were all out the door on our bikes by 7:30 for a quick zip up to campus. I made the mistake of following the 1st graders on bikes and ended up on a quicksand path through the trees that necessitated walking my bike, as I forgot that there was a sharp left turn into the woods to get up to the front gate. I won’t forget that again. Julian refused a first day photo and was quick to blend into the crowd of 9th grade boys in the opening assembly, so we made our way up to the parent coffee and met all sorts of wonderful people. It only occurred to me to me in the last half hour of the event that I ought to pull out my phone and get the WhatsApp numbers of these potential new friends. But I managed to get the contact info. for two women– one from Bahrain and one from Switzerland, both of whom got in touch the very next day and suggested we get together. The woman from Bahrain suggested we go spice shopping in the Arab neighborhood of town, which was particularly appealing since the food here is unbearably bland and the spice selection at the grocery store is paltry at best. Hooray for new friends! And Julian had a fabulous first day– and first week. He already loves the school and all of his teachers, and has new friends from Israel and all over Europe and Asia. Super cool. And that first day was the only day that we accompanied him on his bike to school. We trade off getting up early to make Julian breakfast, but otherwise, he is on his own, and arrives home a bit after 3pm each afternoon.

They even have a piece of the Berlin Wall at BBIS, right outside the academic building. The school was founded in 1991, just after the fall of the USSR. Julian is taking so many great classes– in addition to the usual subjects, he has music, design (all hands-on building projects), French and German. And he’s gone to try-outs for the football (aka: soccer) team. We just have to find time to squeeze in his drum lessons! Julian also mentioned that his history teacher is “just like me” and was excited to tell the class about their two upcoming field trips within Berlin this year– of course, the destinations are the only two museums (WWII and Cold War-related) that we visited with Julian in our first week here! I like this teacher already.

So with this newfound independence for Julian, Jonathan was able to hunker down and focus on work, and I am now basically a free agent. After all the packing up and leaving Belmont, then unpacking and settling into the new house here, it occurred to me that a little solo getaway would be nice. I started poking around for cheap flights, and found that I could check off a big box on my list of destinations for the year with a quick 24-hour trip to visit the home of my favorite textile designer, Marimekko. Yes, I was looking at taking a side quest to Helsinki, Finland. It is recommended that one visit Finland between May and September, as the rest of the year it basically ices over (given its proximity to the North Pole), and given our September schedule, that wasn’t looking like a likely prospect. Waiting until next May felt too long, particularly after I started looking into all of the awesome Marimekko-related activities I could do there. After convincing Jonathan that this really was the best time for me to go, I booked my flights and accommodation, and started making my itinerary! It was basically a pilgrimage to Marimekkoland. What a dream! I decided to focus on the Marimekko outlet, factory store, design museum exhibition, flagship store, and second-hand shops that are said to be full of vintage Marimekko textiles. I was so excited I could barely contain my glee. I smiled the entire bus ride to the airport, giggled on the short flight northeast that was primarily over large bodies of water, and then gasped when I saw on the map how close I was to St. Petersburg. I thought about waving to Putin, but decided against it. It was crazy that after booking on the site Cheapoair (that is actually their name) for a Eurowings direct flight about 36 hours before departure, I was given a window seat near the front of the plane, and had the most glorious first glimpses of the city from above. There was even a time change of one hour.

I had the most glorious time. It was a once-in-a-lifetime blissed out experience. I found so many treasures in the second-hand shops and outlets, and was glad I had opted for a largely empty suitcase (apart from PJs, clean underwear and toiletries) to have ample room to bring it all back.

The Marimekko factory was incredible. While they were not offering factory tours, it felt like I was bearing witness to the creation of so many magnificent, joy-inspiring prints. They even had electric car chargers with the iconic unikko print in their parking lot.

This was just the beginning. The iconic unikko print was seen all over town. From teenage girls to grandmas, it seemed like 1 in 10 Finnish women were wearing Marimekko– either holding a backpack, tote bag or purse, or wearing a fabulous printed dress or top. I could hardly believe it. Restaurants on the street had Marimekko tablecloths. So did the art room in the design museum.

At each of the shops, I revealed my starstruck sentiment and was met with enthusiastic staff who all focused on how Marimekko is a point of pride for Finnish people. Everyone loves it, and most women have at least one Marimekko item in their closet. Even my Iraqi cab driver knew about Marimekko! And I couldn’t get over the number of women carrying Marimekko tote bags while walking around town. The downtown was beautiful and easily walkable, with all of the government buildings, shops and museums within a radius of about a mile. And the weather was perfect.

I did eat some weird stuff. My dinner of two small plates consisted of a “tasty tidbit of northerly bear” (50 grams of tender, braised bear meat in rich braising stock) and a dairy-free salmon soup. Both were intriguing and filling, but did give me a bit of a tummy ache. Again, fabulous table linens were ubiquitous. Serving food on a thick slice of a local tree was a charming touch.

After a beautiful walk back to my hotel, a jaunt to the local grocery store yielded several bags of glorious Finnish black licorice, which hit the spot. (Most were saved to bring home for Jonathan, who is a super fan.) The Finnish government clearly has great incentive to max out the urban lighting for the city centre given how dark it is most of the day, most of the year. They nailed it. My walk home was so well lit, it practically felt like perma dusk. And the architecture was spectacular.

The next morning, I was awakened a bit before 6am by bright sunlight peeking through the slight gap I had left in my blackout curtains. I had brought a sleep mask, but forgot to wear it. Fortunately, I fell back asleep and woke up to my alarm, packed up my suitcase and stowed it at the front desk, and set off for a full day’s worth of stops. I must admit that ChatGPT4 was a great help in deciding where to go, and the free wifi for the entire city of Helsinki was awesome for navigating my walking routes from place to place in Apple Maps. I had my 10,000 steps before lunch. And I found SO many vintage Marimekko treasures that are only available in Finland. It was a day I will never forget.

As if on cue, there was a sweet teenage girl on my flight back carrying a Marimekko bag. She was also carrying a shopping bag from the same resale shop where I had found my favorite items. I only chatted with her briefly, but long enough to know that she found a pink sweater at “relove.” I smiled & told her that I had found a lavender one. She confirmed that everyone in Finland loves Marimekko. It’s just a part of Finnish culture. My pilgrimage was complete.

And I am SO BLISSED OUT.

I surprised even myself by how excited I was to land back home in Berlin. The airport is familiar, new, clean and easy to navigate, and I was able to pull out my keys and show my Syrian Uber driver the way to our house. I also got to practice a bit of my super rusty Arabic, which was fun!

Now I’m back home in Kleinmachnow, and so happy to be reunited with 2 of my 3 boys. We went out to a cute neighborhood spot last night for dinner. And Noah arrives tomorrow! I can’t wait to see him and show him our new routines here. We will be busy exploring Berlin, taking train trips to a few other towns in Germany, and a spending long weekend in Copenhagen. Noah is pretty excited about the beer situation here. I have to say, it is crazy delicious.

In our exploration of the Schöneberg neighborhood today, we found new Birkenstocks for the boys at a huge shoe outlet, in addition to discovering an entire Haribo store filled with gummies. We stocked up in anticipation of Noah’s visit, but my favorite package was this one:

We have now passed the two week mark, and are feeling really settled in and cozy here. The kitchen is now well-stocked, and even though groceries are still limited by bike storage and fridge capacity, Jonathan & Julian installed a nice sturdy mesh basket on the back of Forest that has tripled my storage capacity. So now I can go to the grocery store more like every three days. Score! We have landed in a great spot. The only missing piece at this point is working on our language skills. Although several people have sent me an image circulating on social media with the quote, “Life is too short to learn German.” We will do what we can!