Month: November 2016

You couldn’t complain about being bored in Berlin. Everything you do is interesting, with something to learn all the time. German history is so complicated that you can only hope to scrape the surface in trying to understand what has shaped this nation.

But first let me say I shed a tear this morning when I heard of Leonard Cohen’s death. What a loss for the baby boomers who grew up with his music. Sorry everyone I won’t go on…!!

Back to today…coffee at Einsteins…of course. Then, after going to the DDR Museum yesterday I decided I had to make my way to Karl-Marx-Allee which is this massive boulevard that was the pride and joy of East Germany. It was FrankfurterStrasse pre WW2 and was devastated by bombing in 1944. So after the war it was renamed Stalinstrasse and was the focus of the East’s rebuilding project. It is lined by apartment buildings circa Moscow. It really was fascinating to walk along it and absorb it all. Only problem was it was SO cold that taking my gloves off to take a photo was painful for the poor old hands.

I walked along to Cafe that LPG told me to go to, Cafe Sibylle, which is a really fantastic retro cafe from 1953 that has photos and stories about the development along the Strasse that was renamed Karl-Marx after Stalin fell out of favour. That was very interesting. So I had a stop and a soup there and then after walking along a bit more I got in the subway. I went via a German innovation Shop I’d been to with Chris because she wanted me to pick something up for her that she’d seen there.

Then back to my ‘hood’. Near me but not visited so far is a gallery…again in a magnificent building…Martin-Gropius-Bau. So I decided to go there. It was very complex with about 4 exhibitions on display and I went up to the ticket window to ask what ticket I needed and the man said…’I don’t speak English’ and wouldn’t engage in another word, dismissing me…they are cute sometimes !!! So I went away and tried to work out what I needed then approached another ticket man who was much more helpful. He didn’t speak English either but he made an effort and I got there. The most interesting exhibition was a history of Germany from the perspective of countries that were once part of the Empire and now aren’t and from remarkable German’s who helped form the history. That was good. The other one I’d (kind of naively bought a ticket for) was about a Choreographer Pina Bausch (I zoomed through that one). When I came out it was dark and Freezing…luckily I was close to home.

Just finished ‘Making a Murderer’…all fits into a very bleak view of America at the moment! Any suggestions for whats next on Netflix????

Today was another nice day in this rare city. Firstly, I had booked a ticket for Potsdam on Sunday and it says you have to print it out. I didn’t know how I was going to do this but when I set out I saw a Copy shop so I went in with little hope that they’d help me. But they were terrific and helped me access it so they could print it…that was a great thing first up in the morning. Then I had my usual morning coffee at Einstein before setting out in ernest.

I got on the underground and went to Alexanderplatz. Strangely enough, although I’ve been to this central Platz before I’ve never really had a look around so thought I should. In the centre is the massive radio tower that dominates the skyline of Berlin. I sniffed around there for a bit trying to decide whether I should pay my 13 Eu and go up to the top or whether the Reichstag was enough in terms of views (and a much more exciting building)..sniff, sniff, sniff… nah, don’t think I need to do that.

So I wandered around a bit more. The really annoying thing that is happening in Berlin at the moment is that they are setting up everywhere for the Christmas Markets (Weihnachtsmarkte). The really annoying part of this is that it means construction sites in the platz and all sorts of places. Fine, if I get to enjoy the market, sipping my gluhwein, but such is not the case….no sipping gluhwein for me as I poke about the stalls…just a bloody nuisance detracting from the beauty. Oh well !!

I walked towards the DDR Museum which was my destination. I stopped in at Marienkirche which is a nice, very old, C13, church but they’re very minimalist with their Churches. The lovely thing was that there was an Organ Recital happening so I sat and enjoyed that for a while before setting off again. The DDR Museum is on the River Spree and just as I got there there was a river cruise about to depart. Chris and I had tried to do that when she was here and failed so this just fell very conveniently into my lap (‘BWTS Maria’ – for the record). It was a lovely hour of cruising the river and getting a whole new perspective on the layout of the city around the river and the immensity of their public buildings. The sun came out and shone brightly which added to the pleasure AND they even sold Gluhwein on board…that warmed me up on the inside!

After that I got off the boat and walked straight into the DDR Museum which was a fun place full of interactive displays of life in the DDR under communism. Just how different life was for those living in East Berlin/ East Germany is mind blowing and how far the city has come following unity is truly awe inspiring. It just seems to be booming.

After I finished there I decided it was time to get something to eat so found a place for some soup. By then it was starting to get dusky so I headed home. All in all a nice day and very manageable i.e. I’m trying not to arrive home totally exhausted.

More tomorrow as my time in Berlin moves rapidly towards its end. Love to all. Happy Birthday Kirst…hope it was a good one XXX

I woke this morning to the very depressing news that it looked as if Trump was to be the next president. Hard to believe really. And oh so depressing. Its times like these that I really want someone to talk to so it was great to chat to Ang and lament the news. I couldn’t watch TV for long, it was driving me crazy so out I went. I headed for Schloss Charlottenburg and buried myself in Germanic Royalty and Empire. I walked the Schloss and then the New Pavilion with its collection of art. I walked in the beautiful park and then headed off over the road to the museum sector.

I’ll digress here to share my thought on getting around in Germany. The Germans that I’ve met and who are my friends are amazing. Heinz rings regularly to ensure I’m OK and Josua’s family could not have been more generous and kind. You feel as if once they are your friends, they’re your friends for life. But as you get around the city and interact in so many ways, I honestly don’t think I’ve come across many ‘peoples’ who are as rude and unhelpful (except maybe Bulgaria and Israel). Not only would they not dream of standing for anyone on the bus but actively shove you to get to the seat first (not EVERY time but often), the people you buy tickets off in the museums and Schloss’ etc are generally very unhelpful and as a consequence you have to work out for yourself what you should be doing. In shops, like today, when I was trying to buy a tasty cheese but didn’t have the words in German the woman serving got really cross with me, indicating that these were the cheeses and which one did I want. So…the long and the short of travelling in Germany (for me at least) is that you need to have friends. Once your friend I think the Germans are funny, generous and exceptional helpful.

That was my digression. Which you probably think is delusional. Now back to my day. Over the road from the Schloss is a sort of museum precinct. One of many in Berlin. So I bought a ticket for 2 of the 3 and made my choices. I went first to the Sampling Scharf-Gerstenberg Museum of Surreal Art. It was great to learn a little about German Surrealism as well as to get another dose ( a great dose in Hamburg) of the classics such as Ernst, Margritte, Dali, Tanguy etc. But for all the fabulous art, once again the venue was totally amazing. It was the old Royal Stables fitted out as a gallery and it was an extraordinary space. From there it was over the road to the Museum Berggruen. Full of Klee, Matisse and Picasso. can’t complain about that selection. Only problem being that Picasso was last and by the time I got to him I had to really work to maintain my interest…but Picasso helped with some great stuff!

Then I was out of food and my bus changeover was happening very close to KaDeWe …so I stopped in there to stock up on fridge food. A very expensive way to shop to be sure but a goos selection to keep me happy for my remaining week. By this stage I was exhausted and it was dark and bitterly cold. So back on the bus and home. First thing…a big glass of wine, second thing…turn on the telly. Oh great just in time to Clinton’d speech conceding the election. More wine…quickly!!

Not idea what I’m going to do tomorrow…too tired to worry about it.

Lots of love my dear family and friends (ARE you out there Calamia?????) XXXXXX Hi Jules XXX

I set off today and after a lazier start and a coffee I headed up to the Hamburger Hof Museum…again as one of Hammy’s ‘must see’ places. And it was remarkable. With all these Museums it is the space that is often the most amazing part of it all. Here they’ve taken a large train station and turned it into an incredible area for contemporary art. It is up and down steps like the subway, long platform areas and a massive glass roofed station area…I reckon being an architect in Germany over the past 25 years would be an extremely rewarding profession. The building are extraordinary generally and the building still looks as if its frenetic. There was also a great exhibition of a Turkish woman Gulsun Karamustafa which was lovely. And some weird exhibition of art put to/ inspired by music…weird but good.

Fortunately this lovely museum had a lovely restaurant for me to have my lunch in. I then debated whether to keep going…another museum, a walk in another part of town but in the end I wimped out and turned for home after my aching day yesterday. I got home mid afternoon and have holed up in the warmth for a bit of downtime this afternoon. Can I tell you it is fucking freezing in Germany. Top temp for today was 3 (-2 overnight) !! I’ll be looking forward to a bit of warmth when I get home. First time I’ve done that and I think it is a good thing to do. Big day tomorrow going to Charlottenburg Schloss and the adjoining museums so good to be fit for that.

Now to be finally driven crazy listening to the US elections before bed.

I forward Chris’ photo and you will see that I finally got to eat my pigs knuckle. This is something you definitely can’t do alone so excellent to be able to share it on Chris’ last night. As I said before we had a weird booking for the Reichstag at 10pm, it being the absolutely only time we could get a booking. So off we went to dinner before. We went to another of the Schwabian (Munich) type places with the beer and the famous pork. I have to say it wasn’t my choice and I put up a bit of a fight but had to concede that it was absolutely delicious. The picture tells the story!

It’s been 3 days since I last updated you…it just seems to have gone by so quickly. I write now while Chris is packing. As you will know I’m feeling very sad that she is on her way. It will be an adjustment back to my lonesome ways. Anyway the last days have been jam packed and full of nice times.

Back into the deep dark depths of time to Friday. This was great fun as we headed off to a great street market on Maybachufer in the very trendy area of Neukolln. It was a Turkish market and a great place to graze as you walked along. It is beside a canal and again reminded me so much of London. It was so lovely, a very relaxed morning. We then went to that great cafe where I sent the photo of my little face poking out the window. From there we were going to head up to Berlin Wall Memorial but were also going to meet a friend of Chris’ for drinks. Fortunately she rang before (just) we were to get on the train to head off into the wild blue yonder. So we were very easily able to abort that mission and instead went to Oranienburger Tor (Upper Mitte) to meet Sarah in a rather lovely bar. That was very relaxing and very nice. Sarah is a lovely Australian woman living in Berlin and it was great to meet her. After a few glasses of wine Chris and I walked around the area which is very interesting. Its the oldest Jewish settlement and also a very upmarket area full of gorgeous designer shops. But I was busting to go to the loo so was quite persuasive about going home asap. So, being so adept at managing the public transport, we trammed and trained home. For dinner it was back to the yummy cheeses etc we bought at Ka De We which was no hardship!!

Saturday first thing the mission was to get to the Gedenkstatte Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall Memorial) where we were heading the afternoon before when drinks became the imperative. There is no doubt that that was amazing. it really gives you an excellent feel for the impact of the Wall on the life and development of Berlin. We got there on the train and spent a long time underground reading and understanding how the Berlin Wall extended to the underground. With the ‘ghost’ stations and the great lengths the DDR Govt went to to prevent people escaping underground in the train network. All in all we spent hours there both walking along the wall outside, in the museum about the wall and the underground display. From there we went back to our Schwabian restaurant that we liked so much the first time. When we came out of a late lunch it was wet. Not too bad at this point so we walked up the Museum Island. Not to go to a Museum at this point..it definitely would have been all too much. But we walked around all the magnificent buildings, I felt totally overwhelmed at the prospect of so many massive museums to tackle or not to tackle as the case may be. By then however it was pouring, really starting to be very unpleasant so we bought a couple of bottles of wine, went home trudging miserably through the street. Once home we drank the wine and further depleted the fridge.

Now I’m catching up. Today…again Chris had things she was very keen to do so off we went firstly to a Museum that was being renovated and wasn’t open so we detoured to the Gemaldegalerie which is a marvellous gallery full of beautiful masters. So we walked that in a time limited sense given that there was another Gallery Chris wanted to fit in. I loved every minute of my time there. But then off we went to the Bauhaus Archive. A museum of industrial design where artists like Kandinsky and Klee worked. Not my favourite place I have to say but Chris was totally intrigued. So I spent quite a bit of time waiting for her to be satisfied that she’d seen everything she wanted to see!!

Then home which is where we are now. Me watching Chris pack and drinking wine. We have a (rather weird) 10pm booking to go up the Reichstag Dome tonight. The only booking that was available for 2 weeks so we had no choice. But its OK…we’re going to head off soon and go to dinner in the centre then head off to the Reichstag!!

That’s it for me. Tomorrow will be ‘Sad Me’ for a day or so but there is so much more to see and do that I won’t be moping about I can tell you.

Every picture tells a story and this one tells of a glass of wine…finally… after a big day. Certainly with Chris there is never a dull moment and much territory to cover. We left this morning and after our essential coffee (at Einstein, Hammy) we set off for the Berlinische Gallery of modern Berlin Art. All these gallery are in fantastic buildings which are in themselves worth going to see. It was particularly so, also, of the Jewish Museum yesterday. Amazing spaces. Anyway it was a nice gallery with a particular emphasis on artists from Berlin which seems to have been such a vibrant, creative and original city both before and then after the Third Reich and the Russians.

Its so much better exploring cities with a friend. It has been a busy day but a good day. We set off this morning to go to the Jewish Museum. We’re both rather hopeless with directions but made our way there on foot via a coffee at Einsteins!! We got there at 10 am and finally left at 1.30…exhausted. Towards the end it felt as if I was in IKEA looking for the fucking way out. It is a tremendous Museum, the building itself probably being the most impressive part. It was amazing with areas of great power and awe unsparingness (if you get what I mean). Not to go on too much because I couldn’t possibly do it justice.

We then walked back up to Mitte to find a restaurant that did Real German food. By this time it was 3.30pm but we found the restaurant and they fed us Speazle and a kind of German, meat filled ravioli. It was delicious and a good break.

From there we went to the Topography of Terror (again for me but I really only touched the surface the first time). We spent an hour there and then came home….totally exhausted. So here we are…we’ve been into the wine and the yummy food in the fridge from KaWeDe. We bought some soup at the restaurant and have policed that off too. We’ve plotted and planned for an onslaught on Museums, markets and street art tomorrow. Chris has a much greater sense of urgency only being here for 6 days. Honestly I think a year in Berlin would still see you with things you wanted to do.

Not much to report yesterday because it was a wandering sort of aimless day where I set out and tried out some busses, walked and walked to get my bearings covering the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Holocaust Memorial and around Mitte. Really it was not very directed and just a bit of getting to know the neighbourhood. Berlin was just SO full of people. It was the long weekend and everything was so very crowded. So I got home and that was that.

Then today BaBaBoom….Chris arrived and the world changed. I met her at the Central Station and we got back home on the bus. She has masses of notes about what she wants to do and after a glass of wine or two off we went. We walked up via the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and got on the No. 100 bus which is the poor mans tourist bus i.e. travels past the Tourist spots as it goes on its normal route. We went into the middle of the Western Sector, so the bright lights, designer shops and Department stores. The Harrods of Berlin is Ka De We and the comparison with Harrods is very strong. We headed straight for the Food Hall. Like Harrods very expensive and totally delicious with everything you could wish for. Neither of us had eaten all day so we went to the food section and got CurryWurst, beer, wine and sat down for a ‘snack’. Then we went shopping to fill the fridge at home. That was fun…delicious cheeses, liverwurst, salads, fishy stuff and of course sweeties. It felt good to be stocking up the fridge for the end of each day.

I hold great store by Chris, she has a list of restaurants to try, obscure places to go and ideas for things to do. We’ve booked in for the Dome of the Reichstadt but the only time available ALL week is 10pm Sunday night!!! That in itself is unusual. Anyway, back to Ka De We…we walked around shopping until we dropped. By some miracle a bus that goes past the apartment stopped outside the department store…thank God for that bec we were both dead on our feet. We jumped on the bus and home we come. Chris is now gently snoring on her little folding bed and I am talking to you. I must say it is lovely to have someone to talk to and to have a great partner in crime to do some exploring. Much more cheerful!!!