WOYWW 426: Greetings from Berlin

I am on my travels this week with the annual school trip to Berlin.  We arrived safely on Monday having got up at silly o'clock (I was at school by 2.50am).  So far we have had a fabulous visit (photos to follow).

I travelled very light on the craft front, although I did manage to get a little more colouring done on the page that I was working on at the crop.  I hope someone will link me up with Julia at The Stamping Ground as we have an early breakfast today (6.45 UK time).

We made it to the Ritter Sport chocolate shop on Monday after our walking tour of the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and the Holocaust Memorial.  The pupils were all very respectful and we have been very proud of their behaviour this year.

Yesterday morning was spent at the zoo as usual. 

There are lots of sculptures and artistic pieces to view as well. 

Reichstag which we will be visiting this evening

Friedrichstrasse our destination this morning

Brandenburg Gate in the distance

The cathedral

In the afternoon however we had a new item on the itinerary as we went up to the observation deck of the TV tower at Alexanderplatz.  It is the tallest structure in Berlin at 368m total height.  The observation deck is at  203m and that was high enough for me: fabulous views though as you have seen.

We got a different view of the cathedral on our river cruise later in the afternoon.  Yesterday was finished off with bowling.  Today will be very cultural as we are visiting the Palace of Tears at Friedrichstrasse, Bernauer Strasse (the wall memorial) and the museum at Checkpoint Charlie.  Some light relief at Sealife later this afternoon followed by a visit to the glass dome on the Reichstag this evening after dinner.  We are packing it in!
Happy WOYWW everyone.  I hope to be able to visit at the weekend as I won't have much time until then.

WOYWW 525: Life's Short

This time next week I will be sharing my desk from Berlin where I will be with three colleagues and 31 Y8 pupils.  It is the fourth year that I have organised and accompanied the trip, but I still worry about getting everything done and not forgetting anything.  However, having read Julia's and Shaz's posts last week with the sad news about Erika I am trying to chill a bit more.  I didn't ever meet Erika, but I enjoyed her posts to WOYWW as Sumbunneh and realise that life is too short to spend worrying about what might be.  RIP Erika.

I have another alternate view for you all this week.  These trolleys sit immediately to the right of my chair and to the right of last week's view.  They contain my paints, mixed media supplies and regularly used items so I don't have to go far when in the throes of creating.  I have 10 samples to post tomorrow and can relax a little now until after the trip.  I will still be blogging every day but have nearly enough projects finished that I can share while away.  I will prepare all the posts at the weekend so the only one which will be live from Berlin will be next week's WOYWW.  
I will be round to visit this evening or in the morning as it is unlikely that I will get much visiting done next week.

These are three of the projects that I sneak peeked last week.  I will share the last one tomorrow.
Before I forget, happy 'BIG' birthday to Helen today!

WOYWW 474: Greetings from Berlin

Hello and greetings from Berlin to all fellow deskers at WOYWW.  To know more visit the keeper of all things desk Julia at The Stamping Ground.  This week's post will be rather short but photo heavy as I am currently on a school visit to Berlin and am busy typing this post at 5.50am (Berlin time) before I need to hop in the shower ready for another busy day of sight seeing.
Yesterday we spent most of the day at the zoo and aquarium before going bowling in the evening.  Of course we finished just as Colombia equalised and by the time we were back at the hotel, penalties were the order of the day.  Even sweeter to see England win a penalty shoot out on German soil lol. 
At the zoo, the main attraction was the pandas; last year they arrived two days after our visit.  However as you will see, there were also lots of amazing sculptures in the zoo to see, as well as stained glass in the aquarium in addition to the animals, reptiles and marine life.

The Elephant Gate entrance.

We saw the gorillas being fed.

The usual suspects.

One panda was very active, the other was fast asleep inside behind glass, so no photos due to reflections.

Amazing sculptures were everywhere...

... and the stained glass in the aquarium was beautiful.

I was glad that there was glass between me and some of the reptiles.

Everywhere in Berlin, you will find large statues of brightly decorated bears; the zoo is no exception.

Finally, the other side of the desk.  Eva popped over on the Saturday before I left on the trip to spend a crafty afternoon with me.  She was using my Cricut machine to cut out all the letters for the birth announcements having finished all the stencilling on the cards themselves.

I would be grateful if Shaz or Zsuzsa could link me up to Julia as I am unlikely to be able to do so (breakfast is at 7.45am German time).  Sorry I won't get round to visiting this week, but normal service will be resumed next Wednesday.  Happy WOYWW from Berlin.