Perusing Prenzlauerberg

Rob and Sebastian and I explored Prenzlauerberg yesterday morning. The neighborhood has one of the highest birthrates in all of Europe and has become the place to have kids in Berlin. It was in the former East and parts of it are still gritty, but other parts have great shopping districts and a playground around every corner.
Like this one. Sebi and I found it while Rob was talking to a sculptor at Sussholz about his trips to Poland to make rubbings of gravestones in cemeteries. Evidently the Jewish cemeteries there are being torn down for several different purposes, but this guy goes over to take down as much information as he can before it's lost. Rob asked him if he wanted an intern to go with him. So Sebi and I played on the pirate ship. We also found cool boutiques for toys and decorations and clothes and bags.
This is a gargoyle on one of the pumps in the park. From here we raced down Kastanienallee to try to find "W" the imbiss which is an anti-McDonalds establishment. We found it just when we should have been getting onto the S-bahn to pick up the kids. But we waited for two naan bread pizzas and then tried to figure out how to get back from deepest east to Lietzensee.
It was amazing. First we caught a tram. Then we nabbed a passing s-bahn and transferred to another. Finally we raced across the street to catch a bus, and we arrived 15 minutes early to get the kids. So we ate our naan bread pizzas (artichoke and sun-dried tomato on the one and avocado and arugula on the other) and decided that we have to go back there again.
Oh! And Rob bought me the coolest Christmas present ever! I'd tell you about it, but it's a surprise!