Chemnitz and Berlin Germany

Friday 11th November to Friday 18th November 2022
We have had a lovely week with Benny. A quick trip to Berlin for the weekend, a lot of rest, a couple of Benny’s performances, a few walks in the forest and some good food. We have really enjoyed our time here.

A quick review of what we have done.

Friday 11th November
I enjoyed a studio performance of Benny plus 5 other dancers (Sascha, Roberto, Valeria, Savanna and Livia). It was very good and also unusual being so close to them. The audience sat around the outside edge of the studio, so we were very close. We could see them breathing and it was really good to see Benny dance again.

Saturday 12th November and Sunday 13th November – A weekend in Berlin
We enjoyed a quiet morning and a sleep in whilst Benny went to work, then we all headed on the train to Berlin mid afternoon. We arrived about 5.30pm, checked in to our hotel and headed straight to Friedrichstadt Palast to see a spectacular show. It was called ARISE Grand Show. It was amazing – singing, dance, trapeze artists and the most spectacular costumes. It truly was and amazing night at an incredible venue. After the show we had a couple of kebabs for dinner and then ventured back to our hotel for the night.

After a lovely hotel breakfast we headed out on Sunday morning to the Berlin Zoo. We were quite impressed with this zoo. When you are overseas you are never really sure what you will see. They had an incredible number of animals that looked very healthy. We walked all day and saw big and small animals, lots of birds, then at the latter stage of the day we headed in to the Aquarium which we thought would just be fish but it was reptiles, amphibians, lizards, insects and also fish.

“The Berlin Zoological Garden is the oldest surviving and best-known zoo in Germany. Opened in 1844, it covers 35 hectares and is located in Berlin’s Tiergarten. With about 1,380 different species and over 20,200 animals, the zoo presents one of the most comprehensive collections of species in the world.”

David thinks they probably count their ants. Anyway, it was a very impressive zoo and we enjoyed a full day there in the cold. We were lucky though it didn’t rain.

We then headed to a German Bierhaus for dinner where Benny and I enjoyed a Hachser (Pork Knuckle) and David had a chicken and potato dish. I managed to swap my sauerkraut for slaw which was just cold cabbage and vinegar. We prolonged dinner as our bus home wasn’t until 9pm. Our 6.30pm bus we had planned to catch was cancelled. So a very big day out as we didn’t get home until 1am. Poor Benny still has to go to work tomorrow.

Monday 14th November 2022
We had another rest day to recover from our weekend in Berlin. In the afternoon we went for a walk around Kuchwald Forest which is about a 10min walk from Ben’s place. As this is our only opportunity to go out for dinner with Benny this week, we went to a very nice Chinese Restaurant – pork buns, whole perch fish, Sichuan pork and Peking duck. It was a lovely meal.

Tuesday 15th November 2022
We enjoyed another quiet morning and then in the afternoon we went for a walk with Benny in the other direction this time to another Forrest called Zeisigwald Forest, also only about 15mins from his house. It was a lovely walk through autumn leaves and we saw an enormous void from a bomb in the war and walked to a lovely lookout.

We then headed home for a quick dinner and went to watch Benny’s studio performance again. This time David came also. It was very good and as always I understood it a little better this time.

Wednesday 16th November 2022
Today, the weather had turned quite miserable, so we spent a lovely day at Benny’s just chatting quietly. It was a great day. He headed off to the theatre at about 5pm and we joined him at 7pm and watch a triple bill called Wellen Flimmern. All 3 dances were amazing. Benny was in the first and last dance. They were all so good. It was lovely to be watching him dance again. We then headed home for a late dinner.

Thursday 17th November 2022
Today we had planned to be on our way again, but we hadn’t had a chance to organise where, the weather was ordinary and we decided to stay one more day with Ben. He worked all morning and then for an hour or so in the afternoon. So we did some planning, booked a car, enjoyed some time in the afternoon with Ben, and he cooked a lovely meal of prawn and pork dumplings and Korean potatoes for us for dinner. It was a lovely day again. We will be on our way tomorrow.