A Toddler Haven in the Center of Berlin
Berlin is a strange mix of a city at a poignant moment in its evolution. Old and beautiful, gritty and in transition. It cannot shake its history and it wears that history overtly. It is bohemian and innovative, mostly due to it being inexpensive enough for a big influx of foreigners, who seek a life a little outside of convention. That means you hear a lot of foreign accents on the playground. It also means it is a melting pot of ideas and creativity. It is also a city of distinct areas. Each district has a certain feel and culture. Mitte is the centre of of the city, and mirrors any major city in look and feel. Kreuzberg is a hub of eclectic and hipster elements, Turkish immigrants and artists. It is West Berlin but known as the black sheep. Prenzlauer Berg is a gentrified former East Berlin, and the children hub. It has a disproportionately large amount of fertile adults, and the visibility of children makes it seem like there are more children here than anywhere else. It is one of the only spots in Germany that is actually experiencing a baby boom. That is where we stayed.
Being pregnant in Berlin, with a child, means that Prenzlauer Berg is a haven. I was very happy to remain mostly entrenched there. My usual daily routine with Ruya could continue without much disruption, just in Berlin style and super child friendly. Bio organic shops abound, so most morning's we would walk to a grocery store and pick up the daily needs. You can walk everywhere in the area, and when we needed to go fifteen or twenty minutes away the metro was easy. M12 and M1 were the two main trains we used and they run every ten minutes or so. Everyone seems to be pushing around prams with babies, but I am still carrying Ruya or letting her walk. The streets are very toddler friendly for learning to walk in cities. We could easily cross roads holding hands. You just have to watch out for bicycles, of which there are tons. There is a marked bicycle lane and they come whizzing past, many of them with children seats. In this vein you will also see countless children on bikes of their own, in makes without pedals for the littlest babes onwards. We were lucky to have a little garden in the yard of the apartment complex we stayed in, complete with children's toys, so usually the morning ended there for garden time. The area is made up of five story apartment buildings, which cluster together and face into an open area. In our case this was filled with a kindergarten. Rents for residents are not expensive but for a tourist visit expect to pay at least 100 euros for a good place here, if going through airbnb - which incidentally is not actually legal though continues.
Our afternoon time was usually filled with visiting one of the numerous playgrounds around the area. Everywhere you go you will see prams and children on bikes. That means that restaurants cater for kids, have changing stations and when my toddler had a little melt down, it was part of the landscape. The playgrounds are all different, mostly with wooden structures. The one common element was sand. Berlin playgrounds always have sand and having a spade and bucket is a necessity, unless you want to keep trying to borrow someone else's, which was not always that easy. There are playgrounds everywhere within a few blocks each other. Our two favourites were Helmholtzplatz and Kollwitzplatz. Helmholtzplatz has a redone playground and is usually full of children. There is a kinder cafe at the far end of the square, and cafes all around it. There is also a great toy shop opposite the playground. Kollwitzplatz has two playgrounds, one that has toddler slides with ladders that Ruya worked hard to master and always came back to. The area surrounding it has great restaurants and cafes, and there is often a little farmers market next to it on the weekend.
Beyond playgrounds kinder cafe's offer an indoor experience. They do not usually have much to offer in terms of menu. But you can get a decent drink and watch your little one play within a very kitted out toy area. The weather is cold most of the year so as long as there is no rain kids are usually outside, dressed up warmly of course. Given a bit of sun, people bask in the light. It hit twenty degrees for a few days during our stay and people stripped down to T-shirts and kids went barefoot in the playground. You can easily buy some gorgeous silk/wool under layers for your child at a large bio-organic store, add a wind jacket and your little one is perfectly happy to be outside most days.
Berlin made us happy. It was down to earth enough for me to feel at ease. The eclectic mix of people gave it dimension. We could afford to be there, the food was fresh and organic. And most of all children were embraced. In our little haven of an area my child did not have to fit into an adult world. For a rare time an adult world attempted to fit in a little more with her.
Of course like any travel we had our challenges. We ate out a fair bit - the food is good and international. And on the second last day I got bad food poisoning. I spent a night in pain and the next morning was totally drained. Because I am pregnant I was worried about dehydration. My partner went off in search of a chemist open on a Sunday, not much is open on Sunday's. He eventually found one but they refused to give him a rehydration pack without a doctor certificate, because I was pregnant and they did not want the liability. So we met the restriction of German bureaucracy. In the many countries we travel in we are used to being able to get basic stuff like rehydration packets easily, but not here. So I focused on small sips of water, oats and made my own concoction. I got better within a day.
However, my daughter got it and started vomiting the next day, in the taxi, on the way to the airport. She did not stop until we landed in Istanbul, our two day stopping place before continuing onto Marrakesh. I learned that carrying a gag bag is a good idea, so that is now part of my basic travel on kit. We just cleaned her up again and again, ignored people's looks, went through the changes of clothes I had and kept calm. When she cried I loved her, when she slept I held her. We gave her small sips of water and no food until she expressed real interest in it. And 24 hours later she was back to her buoyant self.
We will be back in Berlin one day. It gave us all contentment. Enough to be a nest to return to.
