Berlinale Kindergarten Gets Two Thumbs Up

CC spends a few hours at the Berlinale Kindergarten.

You might remember me mentioning the Berlinale Kindergarten, a bilingual -- and wallet-friendly! -- daycare option for festival goers? Besides giving me a few hours to check out a film at the Berlin Film Festival, the Kindergarten also gave CC the chance to mingle other little ones. And it didn't seem to matter that those little ones were all speaking German.

In fact, I made the mistake of picking her up too early. Leaving her there for three hours, I started getting nervous, thinking she might be uncomfortable or worried that I had left her alone in too-unfamiliar territory.

Nope! Even though she was happy to see me, she asked if she could go back again the next day.

The daycare, which operates out of a real German Kindergarten space that's huge, colorful and full of wonderful playthings, turned out to be a wonderful respite for a little girl who just wanted to play with kids. CC told me they climbed up an indoor treehouse, read books and rode around on little cars. (Mercedes, of course.)

Not bad for only 5 Euros ($6.60).

CineStar Theater at the Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz.

I was happy to hear her so happy. And happy, too, to check out a film on my own at the super-cool Sony Center called "Kid-Thing," by David and Nathan Zellner, which explores the dark side what happens when a neglected, disgruntled 10-year-old girl is left to her own devices.

Maybe it was watching that film that made me rush back a little early to pick up CC. Either way, I was more than happy to have her in wonderful hands.