I woke up our first morning in Gdańsk the same way I fell asleep, lulled by the church bell at the nearby Basilica of St. Mary chiming the hour. Cool air wafted through the kipped windows of our hotel room in the heart of the city’s historic center, the Główne Miasto or Main City.1

Fun fact: The Main City has most of the historic landmarks, but is not the same area as the Old Town (Stare Miasto), nearby. The area in the Główne Miasto was founded as a separate town by the Teutonic Knights in 1343.
But the surrounding city dates to around the year 980. So after the Main City was merged into the rest of Gdańsk, the older area became known as the Old Town. The Główne Miasto is still very old, just not as old.

I moved the curtains to watch the sun rise over the tops of a row of brightly painted townhouses while my coffee brewed. The city was almost completely silent.

Gdańsk has everything I love about travel - historic landmarks, museums, beautiful architecture, lovely scenery, delicious food - without the overwhelming crowds of tourists and high prices that plague so many other cities.

Just five and a half hours by train from Berlin, it has become one of my favorite vacation destinations. We have been multiple times and I have barely scratched the surface of my bucket list.

One drawback: I do recommend visiting later in the spring or summer, because the weather on this visit (in early April) was freezing. The wind coming from the nearby riverfront sometimes felt like it was going to blow me over.

From the Old Prussians to the Teutonic Order and beyond

For a history buff like me, a visit to Gdańsk is like taking a kid who has never tasted sugar to a candy factory.

From the 10th through the 15th centuries, control of it shifted back and forth between the Polish monarchy and the German Teutonic Knights, all the while remaining a powerful member city of the Hanseatic League.

Subsequent centuries also saw the city change hands between Polish and Prussian, then German, rule.

Each of these huge transitions left indelible marks.

Two different times, it became an independent city-state, the Free City of Danzig, once under Napoleon and then again after the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I.

The first shots of World War II were fired here when a German ship attacked a Polish military outpost on the Westerplatte peninsula.

Second fun fact: Following the destruction of 80 percent of its buildings during World War II - city leaders decided to rebuild the Main City with its landmarks - but not in the way it looked just before the war. They reconstructed it as it appeared during the Renaissance, when it was under Polish rule and at the height of the Jagellionian royal dynasty. 2

The Museum of the Second World War, located along the Motława River near the Gdańsk Shipyard, tells the story of the war and its aftermath from the Polish perspective. It is well worth a visit, even if you think you know a lot about the history of that war.

In the modern era, the city was also the birthplace of the Polish Solidarity movement, which led the overthrow of the postwar Communist government of Poland and the country’s transition to democracy and independence from the Soviet Union.

The European Solidarity Center, located within the Gdańsk Shipyard, tells the story of the movement and its impact on the end of the Cold War.

Shopping and eating

I know for most people vacations are about more than museums and historical markers. And Gdańsk doesn’t disappoint there, either.

In addition to ship-building, its known as the world’s amber capital, producing 70 percent of the world’s amber products.

Boutiques, galleries and workshops along Mariacka Street, as well as Długa, and Długie Pobrzeże are the best places to see the work of local artisans and to shop for amber jewelry and other products.

I have heard that you can even find nuggets of amber washed up along the beaches of Gdańsk and the nearby cities of Gydnia and Sopot, but I haven’t done this myself.

When you get hungry, you can find restaurants specializing cuisines from both Poland and around the world. In addition to the famous pierogis at Pierogarnia, and the awesome Neapolitan-style pizza at Ostro, there were spots for tapas, ramen or Mexican food in walking distance from to our hotel.

We also liked the food hall, Słony Spichlerz, which has 10 different food concepts and two bars. It is conveniently located just across the river on Granary Island and we liked that we could walk over the pedestrian Holy Spirit Bridge (Kładka Grzegorza) to get there.

Sopot and Gdynia

Gdańsk is part of the Polish Tri-City (Trójmiasto) a conurbation with the nearby Baltic beach resort town of Sopot and the port city of Gydnia, all located on the shores of Gdańsk Bay.

In warmer weather, taking the SKM rapid transit commuter rail to either or both is an easy way to spend a day at the beach while you are staying in Gdańsk.

Sopot is known as the Riviera of Poland and is home to several white-sand beaches, plus the longest wooden pier in Europe. Another attraction is the Sopot Lighthouse, built in 1904.

Gdynia is a bigger city, and a major port (several luxury cruise lines dock there) but also has several lovely beaches and a waterfront that features numerous museum ships and other activities.

Getting there and getting around

If you visit, I recommend staying in the Main City. It is easily accessible to the main train station (Gdańsk Główny). It was about a 12-minute walk from there to our hotel near the basilica. You can also take a tram to within about a five- or six-minute walk.

Cars and buses are restricted from traveling inside the historic area, which means you won’t have to worry about being awakened by car traffic or getting run over in the cobblestone streets. But if you have a lot of luggage or need to travel by cab for accessibility reasons, you would need to schedule one through your hotel. We saw some parked in the rear parking lot of our accommodation, so they must be allowed in for single trips.

Public transit in the city is awesome. There is an extensive and easy to use bus and tram network in Gdańsk, and the SKM commuter rail that runs along the coast and provides access to all of the cities and towns in the TriCity region. Gdynia and Sopot also have their own local transit networks. The Metropolitan Ticket is an all-inclusive ticket that lets you ride on any of the transit in the TriCity region, including the commuter trains.

Gdańsk is a pretty bike-friendly city, even outside the pedestrianized Main City. There are numerous cycle routes for sightseeing along the river and around the harbor. I am definitely a fair-weather biker only, so we did not rent bikes this time. But my husband and son did ride a lot on a previous visit.

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If you want more detailed information about Gdańsk and travel tips from some locals, check out these posts from other writers. They are where I found some great ideas and recommendations.

• Into the Bloom: 26 Best Things to do in Gdańsk (A Local’s Guide)

• Inside Laura’s Head: A Complete Guide to Gdańsk, Poland

• Visit Gdansk: A Good Time for Gdańsk

• In Your Pocket: The Royal Way

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My husband just passed his Leben in Deutschland test, with a perfect score—33 out of 33 questions correct.

This is important because it was the last required task before he could apply for permanent residence (the Niederlassungserlaubnis). Leben in Deutschland (literally, “Life in Germany”) is the official Einbürgerungstest, the same test you take if you want to become a German citizen. But it’s required for permanent residence, too.1

Because David is here on an EU Blue Card, he can apply for PR after just three years. Non Blue-Card holders (like me) have to wait for five.2

He is our anchor here - in more ways than one. His job with an international tech company allowed us to move here in the first place. His security as a permanent resident will mean that we won’t have to leave if he changes jobs or loses this job and has to look for another one.

This is important as layoffs in the tech sector become more common.

My daughter, who just turned 18, is embarking on a separate journey. When her current residence permit expires in 2027, she will have to apply for one of her own - preferably on a student visa in whichever country she attends university. But where that will be is - at the moment - still being determined.

She is currently working in a minijob and taking classes at a language institute to improve her German fluency. Many universities here require evidence of a C1 level of German before admission to an undergraduate program - even if the language of instruction in that program is English.

My son, 15, is in the middle of a paper chase of a different kind.

When his current permit expires - also in 2027 - he will be 17 and eligible to apply for permanent residence. To get it, he will have to show that he has sufficient German language skills and is either enrolled in or has completed full-time education or training.

A valid diploma from his German secondary school would be considered proof of both language skills and sufficient training. But getting said diploma is no simple matter.

He is currently in Klasse 9 at a Berlin integrated secondary school. At the end of the year, all students will take exams for the BBR (Berufsbildingsreife - basic vocational diploma). The exams are in the subjects of German and in mathematics, but in order to be granted the Schulabschluss (literally, ‘school leaving’ qualification) you also have to have passing grades in all required school subjects.3

His subjects this year are:

• German (this is a language and lierature class similar to English as a subject in the U.S.),

• Math,

• English (this counts academically as his “first foreign language”),

• Biology,

• History,

• Chemistry,

• Physics,

• Political Science, and

• Sport (Physical Education),

• Art + Music (half-year of each).

When I was first researching the diploma requirements, I thought he could just focus on German and math. Somehow it never registered how hard it would be to take all required high school level courses in a language he only began learning two years ago. And how many different subjects that would be.

For example, all students in Berlin take physics and chemistry beginning in the Klasse 7 (7th grade), whether you attend a university-prep Gymnasium or a Realschule or an integrated secondary school, like ours, that offers all qualifications. This was not the case in the school district we moved from, and he had never studied them in any language.

He has been granted an exception as an ‘NDH’ student (this stands for “nichtdeutscher Herkunft” - non-German heritage) for skipping some additional elective subjects (he takes remedial German language classes, instead), and not taking a second foreign language, which is required for students who want to pursue the German Abitur.

But the subjects above he has to take and pass - all in German - if he wants to get even the most basic school qualification.

Like most high school students, my son worries about his grades and his future. But he has the added concern (we have not really talked about this with him, yet) that the immigration office can reject his application if his grades aren’t good or he doesn’t have at least a basic diploma. In short, if they think there is a reasonable likelihood he would not be able to get a job and would be a burden on the state.

Reading this, you may be thinking: That’s a lot! Why would you even do this?

It is a lot.

But also, people do it.

It’s not like we’re the only ones.

His school is half full of students who came from other countries and learned German. They speak another language, sometimes multiple languages, at home and speak German at school. And, among our other immigrant friends and David’s colleagues, are several kids who are on the same path. (Nachhilfe - tutoring - is a booming business in Berlin.)

We still think Germany offers better educational and career opportunities for both of our kids than they would have if we remained in the United States. If they choose to remain here as adults, they will have access to affordable health care, be protected by stronger labor laws, and live in cities that are, on the whole, greener and more sustainable.

That being said, we have always had a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C in mind for all of us in case this whole gamble doesn’t work. (And my anxiety brain is usually busy working on Plans D - Z as well.)

And when things like this come up4 - as they seem to more and more frequently - it does give me pause.

What if they change the citizenship rules before we can apply? What if relations with our home country deteriorate to the point we get kicked out?

Will we have spent all this time and money and effort to build a life here for nothing?

(Part of the reason we want to eventually apply for German citizenship is because - with it- we would have the right to reside in any EU member country. We also want it because we want to be able to vote.)

As non-citizens, Germany owes us nothing. We have given them our tax dollars and our labor. In return, we get to live here and another roll of the dice on getting to stay.

We came here through a program that the German government established to recruit immigrants to move here. But governments and laws can change.

That is the gamble that every immigrant you know has made, is making, every day. We did not come to another country to take over or take advantage. We wanted to add to, as well as benefit from, its community.

Whether we will be able to, remains to be seen.

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Berlin is in the midst of a lovely false spring after experiencing its coldest winter in 16 years. Despite my earlier attempts at positive winter spin, I have never been more ready to see the end of the season. It feels like Christmas was six months ago.

I’m not so foolish as to think that actual spring has arrived.

I know we can expect at least one more hard freeze, if not another round of snow, before the end of April when sun + higher temps are more reliable.

And if the city has taught me anything in the three years we’ve lived here, is that when you see the sun in March, the housework, school work (and blog updates) can wait.

So posting will continue to be light over the next several days is what I’m saying.

In the meantime, check out these links to things I’ve been reading, watching and listening to, recently.

Share Alte Frau, New Life

Reading

Kreuzberged: Berlin Companion

BREWING ANGER: BERLIN BEER STRIKE OF 1932

Every nation has its symbols, those official and those that everyone knows. Especially culinary ones. For France it must be the baguette, for Italy pasta, for Scots their supreme whisky and Germany stands for beer…

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2 months ago · 5 likes · Berlin Companion

Paul Krugman

Europe v America: Who’s Really Winning?

Not one of my regular morning posts, but something I’ve been thinking about. Many readers may want to disregard it…

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2 months ago · 2413 likes · 608 comments · Paul Krugman

Watching

OK, who else didn’t know these were actually two different words, with two different meanings? (Just me? Fine then …)

The video is about the Danish minority population in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein (and the German minority population in the Danish county of South Jutland/Nordslesvig). After World War I, the former state of Schleswig, which had been Prussian territory, was split into two - with the southern half voting to remain in Germany and the northern half becoming part of Denmark. (The whole region had been Danish until the Second War of Schleswig in 1864.) The Danish minority retains its own political representation in the state and German national government.

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It is a mystery that has puzzled European historians for hundreds of years and is still hotly debated. Who constructed the thousands of narrow, empty, underground tunnel networks scattered all over Europe?

Known as ‘Erdstalls’ — the etymology is from the Middle High German erde for ‘earth’ and either stelle for ‘place’ or stollen (mineshaft) — they are most heavily concentrated in southern Germany and Austria. (There are more than 700 in Bavaria alone.) But they have also been documented in Hungary, Spain, France, Ireland and Scotland.

I first heard about them from this article in the newsletter, weird medieval guys.

…

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This is probably the most common misconception many people (particularly Americans) have about moving to Europe.

That everyone gets “free healthcare.”

It is true that all countries in Europe have what is known as “universal healthcare,” meaning that all people in a given country or region are able to get the medical care that they need, when and where they need it, without financial hardship.

And, it is true that the governments in all of these countries assumes some degree of responsibility for ensuring this — whether it is by a single-payer, government-funded system (like the UK or Sweden) or a system that combines the use of public and private health insurance (like Germany, France and Italy), these systems are all supported by taxes paid by the people benefiting.

Remember what I wrote here about our taxes almost doubling when we moved to Germany?

It’s not free.

And, in Germany, we still pay insurance premiums and have some very limited out-of-pocket…

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After a brief interlude where the temps climbed above freezing and the snow and ice melted away, the cold returned again last week and with it the ice-covered streets, sidewalks, lakes and streams.

This January was Berlin’s coldest in 16 years, according to the German weather service, with the average temperatre just -1.9C. (That’s 28.6 Fahrenheit, FYI. It just always sounds more hardcore in Centigrade.)

Although such winter weather used to be much more common here, it seems Berlin has grown unaccustomed to dealing with long periods of ice. Doctors’ offices and hospitals reported record numbers of injuries from people slipping on frozen sidewalks and streets.

State law requires inidividual property owners to keep the public sidewalks in front of their properties free, but there seems to be almost no enforcement against those who don’t.

This year did seem particularly bad to me - the sections of sidewalk that were actual…

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In Berlin’s Schöneberg district stands a secondary school named for Sophie Scholl, a member of the White Rose resistance movement executed in 1943 for resistance to National Socialism.

She and her brother were caught distributing leaflets on the campus of Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University urging passive resistance to the Nazis. They were put on trial, convicted of high treason, aid to the enemy, and distributing subversive propaganda.

The Berlin school is one of many streets, schools and plazas all over Germany and Austria that are named in honor of the young woman revered by Germans, today, as one of “our best.”

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Powdery snowdrifts crunched under my feet as I trudged along a busy Goethestraße in Charlottenburg last night. Soft flakes blurred my vision and collected in the folds of my coat and messenger bag. Strangely, the new surge of winter weather lightened my mood.

Earlier that afternoon, I had been struggle-stomping my way to an appointment along those same ice covered streets, trying to avoid slipping and falling, cursing the lack of enforcement of the Räumen- und Streuenpflict (clearing and ‘gritting’ obligation).

Somehow the new-fallen snow added some traction and walking became less like unexpected ice skating and more like walking on a sandy beach - if a very cold and dark sandy beach.

Instead of studying the ground in front of me for every step, I could look up and appreciate the scene - snowcapped roofs, bright shop windows, people pulling their young children and/or th…

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So, despite all my bitching and moaning about New Year’s Eve in my last post, it was relatively calm over by us.

I think we have the weather to thank for that, rather than any human-led effort. There was quite a lot of rain between 1 and 3 a.m., which seemed to have put a damper on things.

While we did have to deal with people setting off firecrackers in our hof all night, that’s nothing compared to last year when it sounded like people we setting off bombs on the roof.

There was significantly less garbage all over the park to clean up the next morning, which was nice.

That’s not to say I was completely wrong about the outcome. There were still an unacceptable number of injuries and property damage. But, by Berlin…

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Every year around this time I begin to see the same kinds of posts on social media.

I’m coming to Berlin on New Year’s Eve!

Where should I go?

Is the S-Bahn safe to ride late at night?

Where is the best place to see fireworks?

This always brings to mind the advice I got when we first moved here - which are still the words I live by on Dec. 31:

Be where you plan to stay by 7 p.m. and don’t leave there until after sunrise the next day.

Yes, the S-Bahn is generally safe, even at night. And unlike most nights, the trains will be running frequently all through the night.

It’s everywhere around the S-Bahn that isn’t safe on Silvester.1

Unless you are the kind of person who enjoys throwing incendiary devices at others or having them thrown at you, then I advise watching some fireworks from a balcony or bridge early in the evening and then staying inside (shutters closed, if you have them), for the duration.

Think I am exaggerating?

Here is a short list of highlights …

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Today is Black Friday. Yes, even in Germany — though it mostly exists in that virtual no-man’s land of online retail, not in brick-and-mortar stores.

(It’s also called ‘Black Friday,’ instead of the German ‘Schwarzer Freitag,’ in in open acknowledgement of its status as an American import.)

As the purported first shopping day of the Christmas season, this time of year is particularly stressful for Americans in Germany looking to send gifts back to friends and family. Well, unless they are very good at planning ahead.

( And I am not.)

International shippers require packages to be mailed very early to make it to a destination outside Europe by December 25. DHL, which operates Deutsche Post’s package delivery service, requires parcels to be mailed by November 26, for standard delivery - by December 3, if you pay for premium service. Christmas cards can be mailed as late as December 6.

Every year, my good intentions of sending handmade ornaments found in o…

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It was the largest general strike ever in the former West Germany and I had never read anything about it.

I can’t find any mention of it in English-language sources, likely because American and British news outlets were focused on the Berlin Blockade and subsequent Berlin Airlift that were happening at the same time.

(Note: All excerpts and quotations below have been translated from German into English.)

Inflation, currency reform and low wages

On November 12, 1948 - 77 years ago this past Wednesday - around 9 million workers in the American and British sectors (this is out of a total workforce of 11 million) staged a 24-hour work stoppage to protest unaffordable food prices coupl…

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The 9th of November is known across Germany as a “Schicksalstag,” a “fateful day” in the nation’s history. The first German republic was proclaimed on this day in 1918. But it is also the day of the Hitler Putsch (also known as the Beer Hall Putsch) in 1923.

It is the date the Berlin Wall came down, but the event that led to the reunification of Germany is commemorated on a different day - October 3, the day the country was officially reunited.

It is also the day of the November pogroms - a wave of coordinated attacks against the Jewish population that occurred all over Nazi Germany between November 9 and 10, 1938.

When I was growing up in the United States, we learned about these events by another term, “Kristallnacht.”

Translated as “The Night of Broken Glass,” we were taught it was a wave of vandalism that targeted Jewish businesses, escalating the legal and soci…

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We were at the Museum für Naturkunde (Museum of Natural History) on Sunday for the opening of Berlin Science Week.

At a time when it seems like respect for scientific knowledge and research is increasingly undervalued around the world, it was gratifying to learn about the many different research efforts that are underway in Berlin and across Europe.

The Einstein Telescope, for example, is a cooperative effort by scientists from research institutes across Europe to build an underground gravitational wave observatory. Current plans call for its construction in the border area of northwest Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

On Sunday, visitors could view a VR presentation about gravitational waves and learn more about the project.

I was interested in the research underway …

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I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning to my husband already in the kitchen brewing coffee and feeding our two dogs.

I got up, summoned my inner German, went down the hall, and rage-whispered into the darkness, “It’s Sunday! Why are you feeding them so early?”

“It’s almost five,” he shrugged. (Note: That’s when when normally get up during the week, though we’ve gotten the dogs used to sleeping a bit later on weekends.)

“It’s not!” I hissed back, flashing him the front of my phone screen.

The time change strikes again.

It always sneaks up on us and ruins my day, one way or another.

This time, my husband’s internal circadian rhythm woke him up at the normal weekday morning time, which was now an hour earlier than clock time.

In 2019, the European Parliament voted to end the time change across the EU starting in 2021, but member states have been unable to agree which tim…

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The title of this post should really be, “Five things I thought were European but aren’t.”

But I don’t think I am the only American to have cobbled together a fantasy pan-European culture in my mind—a Eutopia, if you will. One where everyone has ‘free’ healthcare and takes their lunch daily at the nearest sidewalk cafe.

We Americans can come up with a lot of preconceived notions. We imagine life “in Europe” to be as homogenous as life in the U.S. largely is, just different.1

But Europe is comprised of 50 different countries, 27 of which are in the European Union, each with their own unique culture, language(s) and history.

I got the idea for this post from watching a Paris apartment tour video by another creator. She mentioned something in the kitchen as being “pretty standard for Europe,” only to be quite put out by the number of commenters from different parts of Europe (okay, a lot of them were from Germany) informing her that it wasn’t like that …

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I don’t know what it’s like in your neck of the woods, but autumn has definitely arrived in Berlin. The leaves have already started to change and there’s a definite chill in the morning air.

The sun is already setting around 7 p.m. At the height of summer, it doesn’t go down until almost 10.

This weekend we got a nice last gasp of almost-summer with temps in the low 20s (that’s mid-70s Fahrenheit, by the way). But the mercury is headed back down below 10C next week,1 so it was time to bring in the outdoor plants and get my indoor plants (and me!) ready for the long winter.

That involves finding everyone a resting spot near a window and bringing out all my artificial light sources from storage (grow bulbs, fairy lights and candles).

I wrote more about preparing for a north German winter in this post from last year:

That coupled with all the paperwork and schedule adjustments accompanying the new school year took up most o…

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Apologies that this week’s Weekly Wrap is a few days late. For once, I was out seeing and doing instead of writing!

This weekend was the culmination of Berlin Art Week, an annual festival dedicated to contemporary art with coordinated exhibits and openings at more than 100 museums, galleries and project spaces. Although some curated walks and special events were ticketed — most showings were free to the public.

I learned my lesson from last year’s Long Night of Museums, and kept my plans small. There’s simply no way to see everything—not even everything you think you have to see.

I took the advice from The Berliner’s inside guide to just pick one area and “dive in,” opting to take an English-language curated tour of selected collections—”A Stroll along Leipziger Strasse.”

I …

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I read a blog post from another mom last week that said, ‘The new year really starts when school starts.’

I could not agree more.

I wish I could remember who said it. (If this was you, drop me a line and I will edit this post to give you credit!)

August or September, whenever my kids have gone back to school, is when I make my resolutions to be different—-and better—in the next year: Read more, meet all my deadlines, keep a cleaner house, bake all the things, be more organized.

It’s a legacy from my own childhood when each new year brought a fresh start: a new school binder, blank schedule, packs of unopened blank notebook paper.

By January, when the calendar actually changes, we will already know how much of the hopes (and how much of the fears) that we started the year with, have come to pass.

This year, I only have one kid left in school. One child to get set up wi…

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High above the throngs of tourists gathered around the Fountain of Neptune in Florence’s famous Piazza della Signoria, or shopping along the Ponte Vecchio or strolling through the Boboli Gardens, glides a 460-year-old engineering marvel.

The Vasari Corridor, a one-kilometer long aerial enclosed walkway, would be an impressive feat of construction even if it were built today.

Constructed in 1565 on the orders of Cosimo I de Medici, its stated purpose was to allow the wealthy, out-of-town guests to the wedding of his son, Francesco, to navigate the city unbothered by grubby commoners. But some historians speculate it was really to protect he and his family from attacks from citizens unhappy with his rule.

(His predecessor, Grand Duke Alessandro, had just reconquered the city-state in 1531, putting a final end to the Re…

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