From Europe to Africa in America - A Sisters' Expedition

[sue_88]

Loving your report.

 

[nodnol]

Happy Birthday Katarina !!!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a perfect escape for a dreary February day!

Thank you both! I really had wonderful day. I'm back at work now and everytime I get annoyed, I try to remember how relaxing it was...

 

[nodnol]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATHARINA!!!​

​

Your tea review sounds delightful...well not the amount of time you had to spend there
I think we talked about doing this for our East meets West trip in May but I don't know if we booked it...I don't think so but I will definitely check it out sometime....I am not a coffee drinker at all but I do enjoy tea
Your trip is right around the corner!! So exciting!!

Tracy

Thank you! And yes, we will soon be in Disneyland Paris. I guess we should start writing our packing lists, but unfortunately we are both extremely busy at work right now. At least there is time think about the trip, even though we haven't written anything down.

Awwww, I missed her birthday by 4 or is it for you 5 days now. Oh well, better late than never!


Happy Happy

Thank you! And you are right, better late than never. My MIL once forgot my birthday, poor thing, she was so sorry. I still can't believe my DH didn't think abour reminding her....

 

[lovealldisney]

Hi Katharina,
Your still alive! J/K! I know you've been busy! Are you still working on that big project??? Here's a if you still are I know you're fustrated. It's nice to see you here. Ok I have to go back to work. Shh... they don't know I'm here. Have a great day.

 

[vamassey1]

I was way behind on this trippy, but got caught up using your links. Hard to believe this is just about over, but of course you trip to Disneyland Paris is right around the corner.

The tea sounds lovely, just long. I really want to do this one day with my girls. It sounds like the perfect spot for some girl time.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Brook, I thought I might have missed to reply to your post and went back and checked and it seems like this was the case! I am sorry for that, it wasn't intended!!

I thought you could relate to my tantrum... I remember when I read about your Christmas trip when you had this moment when playing the tour guide for everyone was just too much for you - that was similar to my tantrum I think. But you were under much more pressure then than me!!

I am not so sure grammer would be the thing to get a tree year old out of a tantrum!!

The Japanese gummy candy was very nice! They have quite a variety and you just need to look for the small white paper lables which are on them. There it states in English what it is as well as all the ingredients. I guess they are not allowed to sell food without it being labled in English, it's the same her in Germany, all imported food needs to have at least a small lable listing the ingredients in German.

Oh, don't worry about it! I've been so far behind on the DIS, I just saw this myself!

It's funny that they have the English labels in Epcot but not at my local grocery store. I tried to search for the gummy candy there, but they don't have it - they have other things I have seen in the World Showcase though. I put these gummies in my notes for the upcoming trip, so hopefully I can pick up a box or two!

That is great news about having access to the extra perks with the Shareholders Club!

<--Katharina, these are from Henry. His way of saying HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY!!!!

Your tea sounds soooooo nice. It was such a great experience when we did it, I have wanted to go back since-but just haven't. I honestly didn't even think about it for this coming trip, but we would have the time.

I agree with you about the sandwiches, while they are quite good, ours were also dry. However my strawberries were delicious! That ended up being my favorite part of the meal last time - and the scone. I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it. While it is in general a slower meal, it's a very good thing you didn't have much else on the schedule, that took forever!!! So glad to hear it was a good experience for you both though - I too think it's a perfect birthday celebration!

 

[englishrose47]

Just checking in !!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Hi everyone!

I am really sorry, I just don't have much time for the DIS at the moment. Work is extremely busy right now and besides that I have things planned in the evenings as well (theater and running - I signed up for a 5K in March and need to train for that).

But I will have a lazy weekend and hope to catch up on the DIS then - with replies and new updates on my report as well as with replying on everyone elses!

 

[marvali]

Hmm, I read your update about the Tea Party earlier this week and thought I responded, but either I didn't or after typing it up I hit Preview Post, looked at it and thought it was the real post, and never posted it. Anyway, not exactly my cup of tea (sorry, I know that was lame) but it looks like you two had a good time, even with the delays. Some of those sandwiches did look tasty though!!!

Oh, that's gorgeous! I love the way they drizzled the sauce so artistically!

I was thinking the same thing. However, I can tell where the red "drips" came from, and the "yellow" drips, but what's up with the green ones??? Did they just think the green would complement the other colors???

Hi everyone!

I am really sorry, I just don't have much time for the DIS at the moment. Work is extremely busy right now and besides that I have things planned in the evenings as well (theater and running - I signed up for a 5K in March and need to train for that).

But I will have a lazy weekend and hope to catch up on the DIS then - with replies and new updates on my report as well as with replying on everyone elses!

I know you've been busy. Hope everything is going well with all of it! I guess that 5k is a result of your competitive side wanting to beat Liesa's times???

BTW, my youngest who was 13, about 90 pounds with short legs at the time (the only part that is different now is he is 14 ), had a 5k best time that was sub-21 minutes during Cross Country this year. Just thought I would give you a goal to shoot for.......

 

[brookelizabeth]

Take your time Magdalene! Good luck on the 5k too!

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Ok Magdalene, I'm catching up here! I was at Disney last week and thought of you and Katharina when it sprinkled a bit! I believe my exact thoughts were "oh no, I hope it's not another deluge!" But it wasn't a deluge, even though we bought those Disney ponchos and of course it stopped sprinkling the moment we put them on!

First off, the tantrum made me laugh! Only because it is very much like something my sister and I have done too. There's usually tears involved as well. Interesting language lesson too...you "have" a tantrum in Germany but in America you "throw" a tantrum! I can understand the frustration from both perspectives though, glad you girls worked it out!

I love this pic too, it's a great one of you both! It really does look as if you're holding a bunch of balloons!

I've always wanted to try the Grand Floridian tea but I have an allergy to gluten and have heard they weren't very impressive substituting food for it. Very funny about the whole dinner, tea, supper confusion! I'm from the north and we call lunchtime lunch and then our final meal of the day was supper. But now I'm living more south and everyone calls that final meal dinner. It is confusing!

The taxi excursion sounds very familiar. We had a taxi take us from the Grand Floridian to the Animal Kingdom and he conveniently got lost. Next thing we knew, our taxi fare was over $20 and we still weren't at the Animal Kingdom.

I too absolutely adore tea! I drink it everyday and love finding little tea shops around where I purchase something delicious to drink. And that tea room looks very inviting. How strange that they didn't fully understand a dairy allergy though. But I'm glad that things turned out ok and honestly, Katharina's dessert plate looked delicious! It's nice to not be rushing around sometimes when you're at Disney, I like my meals to be a bit on the leisurely side as well. This looked like the perfect birthday place!

 

[All7OfUs]

I know you've been busy. Hope everything is going well with all of it! I guess that 5k is a result of your competitive side wanting to beat Liesa's times???

OH BROTHER... that oughtta be hard.

 

[nodnol]

Hi Katharina,
Your still alive! J/K! I know you've been busy! Are you still working on that big project??? Here's a if you still are I know you're fustrated. It's nice to see you here. Ok I have to go back to work. Shh... they don't know I'm here. Have a great day.

Work ist still crazy, every Friday I think the next week will be better, but by monday it is the same again. In addition to that I had some volunteering stuff on Saturday and to do some freelance work (agreed to do it before it all got crazy). I had planned to catch up ond the Disboards on Sunday, but then we had problems with our internet connection yesterday. So I'm at work now, too, shhhh...

I was way behind on this trippy, but got caught up using your links. Hard to believe this is just about over, but of course you trip to Disneyland Paris is right around the corner.

The tea sounds lovely, just long. I really want to do this one day with my girls. It sounds like the perfect spot for some girl time.

Magdalene and me talked about DLP yesterday, POTC will be closed, which is okay for us, but we wanted to eat in the restaurant at POTC, we don't know yet, whether it will be closed as well.

That is great news about having access to the extra perks with the Shareholders Club!

<--Katharina, these are from Henry. His way of saying HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY!!!!

I'm really looking forward to using my shareholder's clubcard, although I didn't get the real card yet.

Thank you Henry!

Just checking in !!!!

Hello Rosie!

 

[englishrose47]

Hello Katharina !!!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Your tea review sounds delightful...well not the amount of time you had to spend there
I think we talked about doing this for our East meets West trip in May but I don't know if we booked it...I don't think so but I will definitely check it out sometime....I am not a coffee drinker at all but I do enjoy tea
Your trip is right around the corner!! So exciting!!

Tracy

I think it would be a great outing for your ladies' trip in May! And you are right, less than five weeks until DLP!

I read your review and then tried to look at my pictures as I don't recall the jam being in a tin, I think that would have stuck out to me but it appears we ate the scones and tart so quickly, that I didn't get a picture of that course!

I have to say, it was not a "quick" event, even without the restrictions but I agree, just a lovely experience and I'm glad we did it. I am glad they took such good care of Katharina, even if it was slow...

We never thought it would be quick, but it was rather slow... However, I think it was one of the better experiences with getting Katharina something which was the right food for her. The chef was very nice! I still think that Disney is generally doing a great job, at many other places this would not have been an option at all!

What a nice afternoon! I would love to do this with my DD. We both love tea. I can only wish for now, someday we will be back to Disney. Nice update ladies.

It was a great afternoon and I am sure that one day you get the chance to do it with your DD!!

Looks like a nice, relaxing time for the two of you at the GF. Sorry it took so long, but I'm glad you didn't feel the need to rush. It's hard to slow down when you're at WDW!

I think this was an advantage of our longer trip, we felt like we did not have to run around all the time and we had planned this event to be about relaxing!

 

[Flossbolna]

Without giving too much away from my how Tea update- and actually, after seeing yours I am VERY tempted to do mine now, out of order- I can't wait to do mine as a comparison. There were some very striking similarities, and yet, there were also some big differences; the most notable being that I order the Prince Edwards.

I think the confusion of eggs being dairy, although there really should be no excuse for this!, is that eggs are kept next "dairy" section next to milk oftentimes in grocery stores. I have never been able to figure that out? Anyway, without really thinking it through, some people may think that they are part of the milk-product food family when obviously they are not.

Anyway, I can say, as we experienced as well, you CAN NOT be in a hurry for this event!! It needs time to be relaxed over and will require pretty much an afternoon.

Oh, I would love to read your tea update to compare! I remember that I once thought about doing the tea review for you before your trip and I hope that your experience did not suffer because my review would have brought some good insight for you! And I would order the Prince Edward the next time as well! I was even thinking about it this time, but just wanted to get the classical experience first!

That's an interesting observation about the vicinity of eggs and milk in the supermarkets, that really might have been why the confusion happened! Also, I think very often people who have milk allergies normally react against the protein that is in the milk and they very often are allergic against the protein in eggs as well. So these do go together, but they are different substances...

I love going to a teas. I go to one every year and it's so wonderful and special All the ladies wear hats and some wear gloves. Did many people dress up to go? Or was it just casual? Did they serve lemon curd at the tea? It's one of my favorite things to eat with scones. Thank you for posting your tea. I want to go but I'll have to wait till we go with another couple with a willing female. I can't image dragging my husband there. Talk about bringing a bull into a china shop

Your annual tea sounds lovely!

A few people were dressed nicely, I did not see anyone with a hat, but I have read reports from ladies who dressed up. I think often brides take their bridal party to tea there as well.

I don't know wether you would be comfortable with that, but I have read reports from quite a few ladies who went to the tea on their own and really enjoyed it. It is definitely a place where you can feel very much at home on your own with a good book or a magazine.

Loving your report.

Thank you!!

I was way behind on this trippy, but got caught up using your links. Hard to believe this is just about over, but of course you trip to Disneyland Paris is right around the corner.

The tea sounds lovely, just long. I really want to do this one day with my girls. It sounds like the perfect spot for some girl time.

Don't worry about being behind!! I am behind on my own TR as well!

Yes, DLP is less than 5 weeks away and we are getting a bit in the planning mood! This is why I really want to finish this TR and get started with my PTR for WDW in the autumn so I can include everything relating to DLP in there.

 

[Flossbolna]

Oh, don't worry about it! I've been so far behind on the DIS, I just saw this myself!

It's funny that they have the English labels in Epcot but not at my local grocery store. I tried to search for the gummy candy there, but they don't have it - they have other things I have seen in the World Showcase though. I put these gummies in my notes for the upcoming trip, so hopefully I can pick up a box or two!

That is great news about having access to the extra perks with the Shareholders Club!

Your tea sounds soooooo nice. It was such a great experience when we did it, I have wanted to go back since-but just haven't. I honestly didn't even think about it for this coming trip, but we would have the time.

I agree with you about the sandwiches, while they are quite good, ours were also dry. However my strawberries were delicious! That ended up being my favorite part of the meal last time - and the scone. I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it. While it is in general a slower meal, it's a very good thing you didn't have much else on the schedule, that took forever!!! So glad to hear it was a good experience for you both though - I too think it's a perfect birthday celebration!

Getting behind on the DIS is dangerous! I have spent three hours tonight getting up to date with most of my subscriptions and finally am trying to get some replies done here...

Oh, I hope you will find some interesting gummies in Japan! Perhaps you find even something you like that the corner shop sells as well! I think the reason why they don't have labels is that they aren't importing it "properly"??

I think a two week trip is the ideal time for a visit to the tea room! I just hope that Henry can stay at the table better now... I remember that this was a slight problem on your last visit... Good to hear that your strawberries were good! We had many very tasty strawberries during our stay at WDW so we were really disappointed that these weren't as good.

Just checking in !!!!

Hi Rosie!

Hmm, I read your update about the Tea Party earlier this week and thought I responded, but either I didn't or after typing it up I hit Preview Post, looked at it and thought it was the real post, and never posted it. Anyway, not exactly my cup of tea (sorry, I know that was lame) but it looks like you two had a good time, even with the delays. Some of those sandwiches did look tasty though!!!

I was thinking the same thing. However, I can tell where the red "drips" came from, and the "yellow" drips, but what's up with the green ones??? Did they just think the green would complement the other colors???

I know you've been busy. Hope everything is going well with all of it! I guess that 5k is a result of your competitive side wanting to beat Liesa's times???

BTW, my youngest who was 13, about 90 pounds with short legs at the time (the only part that is different now is he is 14 ), had a 5k best time that was sub-21 minutes during Cross Country this year. Just thought I would give you a goal to shoot for.......

Thanks for the motivation for my 5k! I will not attempt to get a sub-21 time however! And Liesa's persistence with running, training on a track with holes and other nasty things on it, running a 5k just after returning home to the US and then again in the winter, really is one of the things that keeps me going!

Tea was a lovely experience, and there actually is a gentlemen's version for it as well!

And I think the green drops must be pureed Kiwifruit. Nothing too mysterious.

 

[Flossbolna]

Take your time Magdalene! Good luck on the 5k too!

Thanks Brook, the 5k isn't until the Saturday before we depart for Paris, so I still have some time for training. Even though at the moment my training plan seems to be nearly too ambitious to me. Saturday evening I wasn't able to move anymore after my 50 minutes run and then I had to run again on Sunday!!

Ok Magdalene, I'm catching up here! I was at Disney last week and thought of you and Katharina when it sprinkled a bit! I believe my exact thoughts were "oh no, I hope it's not another deluge!" But it wasn't a deluge, even though we bought those Disney ponchos and of course it stopped sprinkling the moment we put them on!

Welcome back! I think you did not miss too much while you were away! I think you must have been at WDW just around the same time frame as Katharina and I last year. I hope the weather was kinder to you than it was to us then!

Those Disney ponchos are very tempting sometimes! I think I still have one from Disneyland Paris from the 90s in its original packaging because we never even put it on!

First off, the tantrum made me laugh! Only because it is very much like something my sister and I have done too. There's usually tears involved as well. Interesting language lesson too...you "have" a tantrum in Germany but in America you "throw" a tantrum! I can understand the frustration from both perspectives though, glad you girls worked it out!

I think it really cleaned the air and helped us to enjoy the rest of the trip even more!

I love this pic too, it's a great one of you both! It really does look as if you're holding a bunch of balloons!

I think it is a real keeper, everyone loves it!

I've always wanted to try the Grand Floridian tea but I have an allergy to gluten and have heard they weren't very impressive substituting food for it. Very funny about the whole dinner, tea, supper confusion! I'm from the north and we call lunchtime lunch and then our final meal of the day was supper. But now I'm living more south and everyone calls that final meal dinner. It is confusing!

You know, I think I would even enjoy sitting there, enjoying the atmosphere and just have a pot of tea! I don't think you have to order food. And wouldn't they be able to give you some strawberries? And the brownie Katharina had definitely was one of those prepackaged ones you can buy which are free from all kind of allergens, I think they are glutenfree as well? I would say if you go for the atmosphere, it can work out. Just bring some time, they might get confused wether eggs contain gluten!

BTW, I checked out your dining review, but forgot to subscribe, will return shortly to do that!

The taxi excursion sounds very familiar. We had a taxi take us from the Grand Floridian to the Animal Kingdom and he conveniently got lost. Next thing we knew, our taxi fare was over $20 and we still weren't at the Animal Kingdom.

I think the taxi was actually taking the correct way, the busses go around in a strange way upon leaving Epcot as well. Youor experience sounds rather horrible!

I too absolutely adore tea! I drink it everyday and love finding little tea shops around where I purchase something delicious to drink. And that tea room looks very inviting. How strange that they didn't fully understand a dairy allergy though. But I'm glad that things turned out ok and honestly, Katharina's dessert plate looked delicious! It's nice to not be rushing around sometimes when you're at Disney, I like my meals to be a bit on the leisurely side as well. This looked like the perfect birthday place!

I think leisurely meals are very much a European thing. Here, when you go to a restaurant, you have the table for the night if you want to. Courses are much more spaced out and once you finish eating, you just stay at your table, have another glass of wine or beer or a coffee and just enjoy the company of your table mates.

 

[Flossbolna]

OH BROTHER... that oughtta be hard.

I will have to train very hard!!

Magdalene and me talked about DLP yesterday, POTC will be closed, which is okay for us, but we wanted to eat in the restaurant at POTC, we don't know yet, whether it will be closed as well.

Thanks for keeping this TR going!!

POTC is a bit of a shame, I would have liked to compare it with WDW... In 2007 I really did not know the WDW version as well as I do now.

 

[Flossbolna]

For my birthday in November 2009 my colleagues gave me a gift certificate for a Champagne Tea for two at the premier hotel in Berlin - the place where foreign dignataries stay when they visit the German government. I treated Katharina to this experience and we finally managed to find a weekened when both of us were free sometime in spring 2010. When we went, I documented the experience in order to make it into a bonus update for this trip report in connection with the tea at the GF... Well, it is nearly a year later, but I though you would still enjoy the pictures!

Hotel Adlon was originally opened in 1907, it is located a square called "Pariser Platz" which is just in front of the Brandenburg gate. This was a dead zone during the cold war, since the Wall was just on the other side of the Brandenburg gate and the square was in East Berlin and not accessible for anyone besides military. Also nearly everything around the square had been destroyed during WW II.

This is an aerial view of the square after WW II:

All buildings around the square have been rebuilt now, including the hotel Adlon and the embassy of the United States of America:

This the Hotel seen from the square:

And this is the view towards the entrance from the street "Unter den Linden":

The whole building is new, but it is done very elegantly to look like it was still the original. The tea was going to be served in the lobby bar and since there was a huge sign telling the tourists that photography was not allowed, these pics are from my Iphone (my reasoning was that taking a pic with my phone was not more intrusive than writing a text message...

This is the lobby:

We had a reservation (they strongly recommended this!) and had a lovely seating area for us, which looked just like this one opposite of us:

We were than served the champagne:

This was actually quite an experience because it wasn't a normal bottle, but one of those large ones (called Magnum, double the size of a normal bottle).

Next we got our tea - without tea cosies, but in real silver tea pots and with a sleeve over the handle:

And then the food came out on a three story display (we call it Etagere from the French word for it):

These were the sandwiches:

and this was the cake course:

There was a real gold leaf on the puff pastry!

There also were two scones on the middle plate which I did not take a better picture of.

Everything was delicious and it was a lot of food! It somehow reminded me very much of the GF! Since this hotel was built in 2000 to look like it was built 100 years earlier, it is as much a "themed" hotel as the GF is - just with a different theme: city hotel instead of beach hotel, but nearly the same era!

We really enjoyed the experience and did not feel as much out of place as we thought we might. We are even thinking about repeating it on my next visit to Berlin!

And on the way out we asked where the restrooms were and the lovely waitress told us to go along one hallway, the restrooms there would be nicer than the normal lobby ones and we got to see one of their function rooms along the way:

Next time, I promise, I will take you back to WDW!

Continue with Chapter 33: The First Last Visit