August 14, 2009: Soenke and I embark on our first entire weekend away, without child (thanks Oma & Opa!). Soenke had a flight tour overnighting in both Budapest and Berlin, and I certainly was not one to turn down that kind of European travel!

The first 20 minutes after we left the house, I felt a bit melancholy.. missing Sophie, feeling concerned she would miss us. By the 1 hour mark, I was totally over that (and so was Sophie, so I heard later).

The 24/7 mantle of motherhood had completely slipped away by the time I cozied down into my jump seat in the cockpit, installed my radio headphones, and adjusted the volume. Next stop, Duesseldorf. The captain, Herr Schreck, was a German of the happy-fun variety, and he regaled us with tales of his family’s R.V. trip through the Pacific Northwest, Vancouver Island, all the way up to the Yukon.

I have to admit, the flight to Duesseldorf - even from the excellent vantagepoint of a cockpit - is not very exciting once you pass the Elbe. It’s plain flat. Thankfully, we continued onward to Budapest over the Alps (not in the cockpit this time - we were deadheading), and that promised a fine view for the next morning when Soenke would be flying again.

Now, this was my first visit to Budapest. When I think of Hungary, I think “gulash, colorful embroidery, Soviet occupation”. (perhaps I should have thought ‘Roman baths’ too, but I wasn’t very informed prior to departure.) What I learned is that Budapest was originally 2 cities……. yes, Buda… and Pest. One on each side of the Danube River. It took a few hundred years for them to get around to building a bridge, so each side has developed its own unique personality. The city is particularly known, as my Dad informed me via SMS, for its thermal baths. Since we were not swimsuit-equipped, we had to skip these. Probably a good thing: another captain we met informed us that the public baths seemed to be full of European backpackers who hadn’t seen a shower in many weeks.

Thanks to Lufthansa, our digs were the 5-start Kempinski Hotel. Nice. Well located. We headed via metro for what we thought was the famous Castle Hill (without more than a metro map in hand - we were really unprepared) and ended up at a very nice castle, sort of on a hill, but not the famous castle. It was not a wasted venture - the castle and lake were reminiscent of a Disney fairytale, and we enjoyed our stroll and ice cream break to the fullest extent.

A taxi took us back to the other side of the river (the Buda side) via a beautiful tree-lined boulevard, and over the famous Chain bridge. The castle and Fisherman’s Bastion up the hill were both very scenic. Cobblestone streets, restored historic buildings, and spectacular views rounded out the experience. Possibly the high point was our supercheap, very tasty 44eur multi-course dinner at Apetito(complete with excellent Hungarian wine - who knew?!).

The next morning, we groaned at the 4:45am wakeup call. But, the sunrise-splashed flight over the Alps (past the Koenigsee and Chiemsee - which we just visited in my prior post!) was well worth it. At Munich, we parted ways - Soenke & the captain to fly a leg to Madrid, and I to continue on alone to Berlin, where I would have an unprecedented 6 HOURS FREE TIME. (I can hear all the mothers sighing, “wowwww…..”).

I had already mapped out my destination: the Dahlem Ethnological Museum, home of an excellent South Seas exhibit. Contained in their collection is one of the VERY few remaining Rongo Rongo talking sticks from Easter Island: these are wood pieces, carved in a fascinating fashion with tiny, detailed rows of the still-undeciphered, enigmatic Rongo Rongo script. Rongo rongo is the ancient language of Easter Island - depicted in written form as figures of birds, animals, plants, celestial objects, and assorted geometric forms. No one has really the slightest idea what it means (not for lack of trying to decipher it), and western civiliation so successfully annihilated the Easter Island natives between the 1700s & 1900s, that there was no one left to carry the secrets to the next generations. I have been salivating over the chance to view one of these pricless items, and here it was!

I arrived at the museum and found the doors locked. After a moment of extreme panic, I realized it was 10 minutes until opening time. An enthusiastic museum employee guided me directly to the South Seas exhibit - seemingly excited that someone other than a school group had a real interest. I was alone to revel in the South Seas for nearly an hour… I took my time… through the Carolines… past the Marquesas…a stroll through Tonga….until THERE IT WAS: Easter Island. Some tools, a feather headdress… and then… with the most horribly understated caption ever: “Wood With Writing” (!!!) … there was the elusive RONGO RONGO TALKING STICK. Sadly, most of the script had been worn off, but there was just enough to take in a few clear characters. I was overjoyed! And to round out the experience, my very own Easter Island head (just a small one - a household statue) - but nonetheless, I felt one step closer to the Ultimate Destination.

Eventually hunger took over, and I broke for coffee and cake and hopped a taxi to the crew hotel - the hip Schweizer Hof. Athletes were everywhere (looking very athletic) and I soon learned that the Track & Field World Championship Games were in Berlin that week. This does not excite me, but I did enjoy the presence of many Americans.

Soenke arrived in due course, and we treated ourselves to a quiet dinner at the excellent hotel restaurant. My compliments to the chef, who presented the finest rendition of a California Mexican-style salad that I’ve laid eyes or fork upon since arriving on this continent.

The next morning Soenke continued his tour while I took the fast train back to Hamburg. I had found a bargain in First Class (49eur!) and, accompanied by only about 4 other travelers, I enjoyed my comfortable seat, free newspaper, and delicious chocolates. Train travel really isn’t my thing, but I don’t mind it if free chocolate is involved.

Back home in Hamburg, Sophie greeted me with gales of laughter and excitement, which was the best return a mom could wish for! The weekend was a total success, and I’m pleased to report we’ll be doing it again (next time, Milan/Paris) later this month!

——————-

Photos of the fun:

In Budapest, I thought it prudent to take a picture of the metro sign near our hotel, in case we got hopelessly lost…

We went to the “wrong” castle, but this one was beautiful too!

With a lot of VERY diverse architecture in the complex… multiple centuries of building here!

A taxi took us down the Pest main boulevard, across the river on the famous chain bridge, and up to the Buda castle (and I can’t believe I forgot to take a photo of that):

What a view! I’d fly all the way there again, just for this:

I think this is a saint - can’t remember which one - but he has the requisite halo:

Returning to our hotel across the chain bridge, I attempt some funky photography:

I found this amusing - at the Kempinski, they had a number of these around the public areas. I thought - wow, look at all these changing tables!

Now back to Germany…

And… drum roll……. the RONGO RONGO TALKING STICK (it’s the top one… use your imagination here… pretend to be excited!)

It was a little hard to photograph the script through the glass:

And my very own Easter Island statue:

And finally, yet a mere shadow of the esteemed Rongo Rongo stick, is my new purse from Duesseldorf airport that turns into a backpack!