TV Asparagus Tower

On Thursday night, I took all three kids downtown to meet Rob. We took the S-bahn which the kids call the ketchup and mustard train because of its colors. We decided to ride the elevator to the top of the TV tower which is nicknamed the Telespargel or TV asparagus (because nothing in Berlin goes very long without getting an irreverant nickname -- the Reichstag is called The Contact Lens).
Will has wanted to ride to the top since we got here. I'm not sure why -- because he knew he wouldn't have to climb, or because he wanted to see the view, or just because it was his own idea, but we do things that Will wants to, because he has to do so much that he doesn't want to do. The interior looks like something out of Tomorrowland, but the time period is the same, and the authorof Fast Food Nation maintains that much of Disneyland was designed by ex-Nazis, so we shoudn't be surprised.
It has good displays on the area of Berlin that you're seeing and the important places to look for in each section. It was even educational for Rob -- that maniac of Berlin and its city planning.

Once we finished at the tower, we took the kids out for dinner at (gasp!) McDonalds. Yes, American fast food is another trick in our bag of How To Get The Kids Sightseeing. This McDonalds wasn't your average place; it was a McCafe. Which means (we discovered) that it has a little section with leather chairs and wee tables where you can drink McCoffee and McCappuccino and eat it with McPastries. But we got our children Happy Meals and finished it off with three free Babyccinos (steamed milk) which they hated. Will said "Ugh! This isn't even Vanilla!"
This is the ketchup and mustard train, as the kids call it for its colors. We ride these all around
Berlin, like to the TV tower, and even out to Potsdam to see parks full of palaces.

Comments

Nigel said…
There, I read it all, August to October--it just took me some time to find the URL and the log-in info. I'd written that down and put it somewhere I couldn't possibly forget, and then I did. I wanted to log-in so I could leave snide remarks. I'm glad you're having so much fun. I think attending German public school will be an amazing memory and life experience for the kiddies.
Like Rachel said, go to www.myspace.com/sleepwalkerfineart and look around. After reading your blog way back in July, I decided I wanted the myspace thing to also function as a family blog...
--Darren
8:56 PM
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