Leaving Berlin via the East Side Gallery

My husband travels a lot for a living. This makes it real difficult for us as a family because many times he has no interest in sightseeing. I have learned over the years that my husband is quite the gastronomic connoisseur. Wine shops, gourmet food shops, specialty cheese or chocolate shops are his thing. In fact, I say give him a bottle of wine in a brown paper bag with an assortment of fine cheeses and he is a happy camper.

For this trip to Germany, all he wanted was to find mulled wine or Glühwein as it is known in Germany. This wine is the drink of choice at the Christmas markets in Germany and since Berlin was already setting up for their markets, he figured there had to be some Glühwein somewhere in Berlin.

My husband also shoulders much of the child carrying on our trips. We always bring an umbrella stroller to hold one child or as our own personal cart for coats, souvenir/shopping bags, etc. The problem is that the only child that wants to ride the stroller in Thing 1. Thing 2 has no interest in the stroller, but tires easily walking and all she wants is for "Daddy carry". The Cat was exhausted at the end of every day and his back took quite a beating. And all that without a wine store that sold Glühwein.

While my Cat couldn't care less about sightseeing, I am all about the sightseeing. I love history and since Europe is just one big ball of history, I eat it up. Most people use guidebooks to look for attractions and map out their routes. I actually read the historical sections. Because of the kids, I have had to slow my usual pace and have had to make some concessions to keep all parties happy. So, it was that the day prior I had given up on seeing the East Side Gallery.

But, as I charged our GPS device on our last night in Berlin, I decided to do some research. I looked up the address for the gallery. It is an outdoor gallery where painters from all over the world left some of their art work on a stretch of the Wall. I figured that we had to get out of Berlin somehow, why not via the East Side Gallery. So, as the Cat loaded the car in the pouring rain on the morning of our departure, I plugged in our home address and inserted a via point: the East Side Gallery. I decided not to tell the Cat about my plan because 1) it was pouring and 2) he was so tired of sightseeing that I knew that if I asked to pass by the gallery he would have said no.

So, we left our hotel and low and behold, I found a Lidl (Germany supermarket). Knowing what I had already planned, I said "Hey - there's a Lidl. If there is Glühwein in Germany it may be there. Why don't you go in and check?" I prayed that he would find it because this way when he realized what I had done I could always say "You would not have Glühwein if I had not done that." And, so my very happy husband walked out of Lidl with a huge case of Glühwein, enough to last us a year although he insists that he will consume it before we move.

And on our way we go and low and behold there it is: the East Side Gallery. I act all surprised and tell the Cat to slow down. There was no one behind us so I took some pictures from the car (did I say it was pouring rain?) and then I managed to video tape a good portion of the Wall as the Cat drove along. He actually got a bit excited when he saw where we were and then he looked at the GPS and he says "Wow, even the GPS shows its location!" Then, he got a clue and I told him what I did. He had been duped, but he agreed that the would not have taken me there if I had asked.

And, so I got to catch a glimpse of the gallery, he got his Glühwein and 10 hours later we were all home having a glass of wine and laughing about the whole thing.