Almost every comment on the post I wrote about my bee-day party requested a picture of the dress. With so much demand, I thought I’d better oblige, so here I am covered in bees:
I’m covered in beeees!
I am aware that the above photo is next to useless for showing off the dress… let alone the pattern on it, so I took one of the dress without me in it just for you guys:
Bee dress, without filling
And here’s a close up so you can see the detail. Note the honeycomb pattern all over the dress. It’s pretty safe to say I am in love with this item of clothing:
Beeees (and honeycomb)
And those of you who didn’t understand the Eddie Izzard/covered in bees reference need to watch this video right now!!
The Frauenarzt got back to me last night… it seems she made a mistake. Their long days are on Tuesday and THURSDAY, not Tuesday and Friday, so I’ll be off to pick up my pill on Tuesday. Still plenty of time before I need it (yes, today is Thursday, but it’s a holiday here so everything is closed). She also said they have no appointments for Krebsvorsorge (that’s the cancer checks… you can learn German with me!) until July, so I get a whole month to psych myself up. Hurrah!
In the absence of anything else to tell you, here are some of the search terms that have found me in the last 30 days.
Eddie Izzard quotes force majeure
This one is not particularly amusing, but it’s found me three times and I want to address it. Seriously, anonymous searchers? You want quotes from Force Majeure while the world tour is still in progress?! No!! If you couldn’t manage to buy tickets you can wait for the DVD like everyone else!
Photo credit: Wikipedia
“There are worse things than being a sheep”
With quotation marks around it and everything. Somebody really wanted to find this phrase! Yes, indeed there are worse things than being a sheep. You could be a slug!
When Primark really opens in Karlsruhe blog
You mean it’s not really open now? Have I only imagined making purchases there? Oooh, a conspiracy!
What state is my relationship in?
You’re asking Google that? Really? Do you actually expect an answer as well?
What should I have accomplished at 30?
I find it ironic that this landed someone on my blog of all places. Me, who was so convinced I hadn’t achieved anything that I ended up making a whole list of the things I have done purely for reassurance purposes. Personally, there was only one thing I actually wanted to have done before 30, and that was have a baby. Fail! (And yes I could not go and pick up my pill next week and just wait and see what happens, but I can’t bring myself to deceive anyone like that. I want a baby who is wanted by both parents…)
Confuzzled dandelion
Awww, bless. I can just picture it…
OK, that’s all. The others are fairly boring and normal (“No, give me something fun to do” is among the best of the rest). Come on Internet searchers… you’re slacking 😉
So, time to get back to Berlin. WARNING – long post ahead!
Thursday
We arrived fairly late in the afternoon on Thursday (4 April), so we couldn’t really do much then. Our apartment was about 15 minutes walk from the train station and turned out to be literally opposite the Naturkundemuseum (Natural History Museum):
That’s the view from our window. As you can see, there was also a construction site right outside, which we thought might be a bit annoying, but it turned out we couldn’t hear a thing – the windows were obviously excellent!
Our first act after dropping off our stuff was to go in search of a supermarket. There turned out to be a REWE just around the corner – perfect! After taking the shopping home, it was time to head out for a look at Berlin before it got dark. Here are some photos:
The River Spree
The Reichstag building
Brandenburg Gate
Berlin Cathedral
As you can see, the weather wasn’t brilliant (although it wasn’t raining or snowing), and after all that walking around we were freezing, so we headed to Hopfinger Bräu for some food. The one we went to was Am Palais and it was quite expensive (although the beer was good). There’s another one in the train station that I think might be a little better.
By the time we had eaten, it was dark, so Jan suggested heading back to the Brandenburg Gate to get some night shots.
And that was the end of Thursday. It had been a long journey up to Berlin and we were tired, so after taking the above photo I suggested we head back to the apartment and get some sleep.
Friday
On Friday, we woke up bright and early to eat a breakfast consisting of things we had bought from the supermarket the day before. Then we went in search of a tram that would take us to Hohenschönhausen.
Hohenschönhausen is a former Stasi prison in East Berlin that has now been opened up to the public after some extensive work to make it comply with health and safety (as the website points out, there tended not to be too many fire escapes in prisons!).
On the sign above you can see how the street looked back in the days when the prison was in use. The area that the prison is situated was claimed to be a military exclusion zone. Some people suspected that there might be a prison there but nobody knew for sure.
Most of the people who were held in the prison were people who had tried to leave East Berlin after the building of the wall, although there were political prisoners as well. Many of the prison were placed in there merely because of a suspicion that they might be against the regime, not necessarily because there was any evidence that they had done anything. As well as prison cells, the prison had interrogation rooms where prisoners could be taken for the purpose of forcing a confession out of them.
The hospital wing
Up until Stalin died, prisoners could be tortured. After that, they started to use more subtle methods.
Hohenschönhausen Prison is not the most cheerful place to visit, but it is most definitely worth it. Members of the public are only allowed in as part of a tour, and most of the guides are people who were actually imprisoned there. We took a tour in German, but on the way round I heard one of the other guides speaking English so tours in other languages are available. The times of tours are listed on their website, and if you are at all interested in history I would certainly recommend a visit.
After Hohenschönhausen, it was time to go back in to town and get something to find something to eat. On the way to the tram stop, I took some photos of blocks of flats that Jan told me were typical for East Germany.
If the buildings look like this you’re probably in the former GDR
After we’d eaten it was still fairly early so we decided to go to the Naturkunde Museum since it was close to the apartment (where we still needed to go back to pick up our tickets for that night).. It mostly contains a lot of dinosaur bones and some stuffed animals. There was also an exhibition on how the dead animals are prepared and stuffed, ready to go on display. A little gory but strangely fascinating. Unfortunately, they closed before we had a chance to head to the second floor, so I’ve no idea what would have been up there. But I didn’t mind because by it was time for us to go and see Eddie Izzard! I’ve already talked about how amazing he was, so I won’t go into detail here. Those who missed that post can go back and read it now.
Saturday
For Saturday morning, we had an appointment to go inside the dome of the Reichstag building. It’s free to go up there, but you have to prebook so not too many people go up at once. Once up in the dome, you get great views of Berlin and the free audio guide does an excellent job of telling you exactly what you’re looking at, as well as giving some information about the Reichstag building itself. Here are a few photos of Berlin from above:
We had actually got out of the apartment earlier than we needed to, so before the Reichstag we went to look at the holocaust memorial (officially named the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe):
The concrete blocks gradually get bigger and bigger, with the highest being 15 feet 9 inches tall.
The grey sky and traces of snow on the ground gave the whole thing a bleak and gloomy atmosphere perfectly matched the seriousness of the topic it represents.
Underneath the memorial, there is an information centre/museum, which contains the names of all know Jewish Holocaust victims. Entrance to the information centre is free and it is well worth taking a look at.
Between the Reichstag building and the Brandenburg Gate is a memorial to the Roma Sinti who lost their lives during the Holocaust. We had passed it on the way to the Reichstag, so after our visit to the dome, we went back to look at the memorial. It consists of a pool in a small garden with the poem Auschwitz by Italian poet Santino Spinelli engraved around the rim of the pool, in German and in English.
Some of the writing round the edge of the pool
Our next stop was the Currywurst Museum – I needed a bit of light relief after all the politics and memorials!
I discovered where hotdogs got their name, so it was educational as well as fun 😉
The Currywurst Museum is just around the corner from Checkpoint Charlie, so after the silliness of sausages, it was back to the serious stuff. A quick photo of the checkpoint then in to the associated museum.
The museum gives some information about the division of Germany and the building of the wall then goes on to tell the stories of all the people who attempted to escape from East Berlin while it was part of the GDR. There is some excellent content and fascinating stories, but soooo much to read. They do have a few cool exhibits, including cars that were converted to allow people to hide in them and is is definitely worth a visit – especially if you’re interested in Cold War history – but be warned that the organisation is not the greatest and the museum can be a bit confusing. It was also incredibly full when we were there, which didn’t help, but there is certainly enough information to make it worth the visit (although at €12 per person it’s not the cheapest!).
By this time, I was all museumed out, so we set off for a walk, following the course of where the Berlin Wall used to be. In some places, there is a line of bricks set in to the pavement to show where the wall once stood.
The wall used to run right across this road
Our walk took us to Potsdamer Platz. Not all that long ago, this square was basically a big empty space. The Berlin Wall went right through the middle of it so for many years it was pretty much desolate. Once construction started, Potsdamer Platz became the biggest building site in Europe! Now, it looks like this:.
And that was basically the end of Saturday. We had decided to eat in on Sunday night, so as we were passing the train station we stopped at the supermarket there and bought the required ingredients. Then, after dropping the groceries off at home, we headed to Kreuzberg to attempt to play minigolf – we had tried to book early in the day but only got an answering machine. On arrival (after initially walking down Görlitzer Straße in the wrong direction then ending up wandering around the creepy park for a while!) we discovered that they had no room for us, so we made a reservation for Monday instead. Heading towards the Görlitzer Bahnhof, we walked past a restaurant with a man playing guitar inside so we decide to check it out. The restaurant, called Camba La Che, turned out to be Argentinian while the musician was Brazilian. One table was filled with a large group of what seemed to be the owner’s family, and the owner himself (at least I guess that’s who he was) looked old enough to already be retired! The service was a little slow, but the food was ridiculously cheap AND turned out to be delicious so we didn’t mind. It’s not like we had anywhere to be.
Sunday
Sunday lived up to its name and presented us with beautiful blue skies. We had queue jumper tickets for the Neues Museum (New Museum) because I wanted to see the Egyptian exhibition, so the Museumsinsel (Museum Island) is where we headed first.
One of the museums on the island… and blue sky!
It was interesting, but I was pleased the third floor was closed for renovation. There’s only so much museum I can take!
The next place we wanted to go was near Häckescher Markt, so we decided to eat in that area too. From the book my dad had given Jan, we chose Lemke’s, where I finally had Currywurst. But you can read all about our food and drink experiences here.
The Brauhaus Lemke on Häckescher Markt (there’s another one somewhere as well) is located under some old railway arches, as you can just about tell from the above picture.
We ended up having to finish our beers in a bit of a rush because the public tour at the place we wanted to go next was starting soon. Next stop was the Otto Weidt Blindenwerkstatt (Otto Weidt’s Workshop for the Blind), now a museum. In the 1930s and 40s Otto Weidt’s workshop for blind people produced brushes and brooms. He employed mostly Jewish people (many were sent there to do forced work) and when they started being rounded up and sent to concentration camps, he did his best to help them, even hiding one family in a room at the back of the workshop. The museum is in the original premises of the factory and you can actually go into the room that served as a hiding place. Entry is free of charge and the stories the museum tells are incredibly moving.
Leaving the workshop, we bumped into a guy from Chile who asked us what was in there then proceeded to strike up a conversation with us about whether or not Germans talk about politics. He was chatting to us for so long that Jan eventually suggest he walk with us to our next destination, which he duly did. The conversation ended up ranging from what we think should be done if it was discovered that the Holocaust 100% did not happen (reveal the truth or let people carry on believing in it) to why communism is a nice idea in theory but could never work in practice and even whether or not the upper classes believe they are superior to everyone else. Interesting but exhausting!
We finally made it to where we wanted to go… Bernauer Straße.
When Berlin was a divided city, the Wall ran right down this street. Many people fled to the West be jumping out of the windows of their apartments, until the authorities had them sealed up. Part of the wall here has been left as it was, and from a viewing platform you can see what it looked like.
As you can see on the photo, the Berlin Wall was actually two walls, divided by a strip of dirt. Inside that strip, dogs and armed guards patrolled the path, and in the areas surrounding the path there were mines. Anyone trying to cross to the West had to scale one wall, avoid guards, mines and dogs then somehow get over the second wall. It’s amazing that anybody ever managed it!
We finally managed to get rid of the Chilean when we headed back to our apartment for food (as interesting as the conversation was, 3 hours of it was enough!). After dinner, I decided to take advantage of the fact that the apartment had a bath tub. I’m not usually the type to soak in the bath for ages, but this time I did… and even took my glass of wine in with me. Bliss!
Monday
On Monday, we went to look at the East Side Gallery, a 1.3 km long section of the Berlin Wall covered with works by artists from all over the world, painted in 1990 on the East side of the wall following the opening of the border. I’m going to put the photos from that in a separate post, I think. We then headed to Kurfürstendamm, known locally as the Ku‘damm, which is one of Germany’s most famous avenues. It’s basically a huge shopping street in West Berlin, and we only went there so we could say we’d been properly into the West. Ku’damm is the epitome of everything I hate about big cities – large, ugly buildings, crowds and lots of cars. Brrr.
That evening, we finally managed to play blacklight minigolf, which you can read about here.
Tuesday
We had to be out of our apartment by 10 am on Tuesday so, as the train home wasn’t until around 1, we went to the Museum of Communication. No photos unfortunately because you weren’t allowed to take any, but there were some interactive things and LOADS of old communication equipment and information about different means of communication, such as Morse code. There was far too much for us to look at everything before we had to leave!
And that concludes our trip to Berlin. To end this post, here’s a photo of a Buddy Bear. There are lots of them standing all around Berlin, but unfortunately I barely managed to get any photos because almost every time I saw one either it was already dark or we were rushing to get somewhere. Boooo!
Over the next few days, I’ll be publishing a series of posts about what I did on Berlin. And naturally the first of these has to be dedicated to the marvellous Eddie Izzard – the main reason we went there and something I’d been wanting to do for at least ten years. And Mr Izzard did not disappoint. The show was exactly as funny as I was expecting. I don’t want to give too much away, but for those who are familiar with his previous tours, Darth Vader makes a return (as does Penne all’arrabbiata – which I’ve just had to look up the spelling for. How many b’s??). Force majeure is, of course, a French word that literally means superior force. In legal terms, however, we speak of an act of God… and so, as you might have expected, religion was a topic – including the fact that Charles I of England was obviously not appointed by God, no matter what he believed, otherwise the whole beheading thing probably wouldn’t have worked out (watching Eddie Izzard do the actions for an axe boinging off somebody’s neck was hilarious!). Other topics include human sacrifice, the simplicity of the English language (spoon, spoons…. none of this gender lark!) and ghost cows wondering round a New York hotel. A slightly surreal sounding mixture, but if you were there I’m sure you would have laughed just as hard as I did!
We weren’t allowed to take photos during the show (obviously), but here’s a rather blurry one of the poster advertising it:
What? You didn’t think I’d go a week without posting my Friday letters did you? Even if I’m not actually around. This is a scheduled post, so I apologise in advance for not replying to your comments. I will when I return, promise!
Dear Berlin. Hii! I am currently in you! (Oooh, that sounds kind of dodgy…)
Dear Eddie Izzard. NO MORE SLEEPS til I see you live! Excited is an understatement…
Dear readers. Sorryyy, I had to mention Eddie Izzard again. But I promise to do so only once more after this post, ok? (Come on… you don’t seriously expect me not to blog about what I’m sure is going to be one of the best evenings of my life, do you?)
Dear weather. I would be most grateful if you could prove the weathermen (and women) wrong over the next couple of days. I do not want to wander around Berlin in the snow and rain thank you very much!
Dear Karlsruhe. I hope by the time I see you again on Tuesday Spring will finally have arrived!
Happy Friday everyone. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.
The title of a post is something that Germany supporters chanted during the 2006 Football World Cup. For those who don’t remember, in that year, Germany were the hosts of said World Cup, and the final was to be held in Berlin, hence the chant. For non-German speakers, it means “Berlin, Berlin, we’re going to Berlin!” Germany did not, in fact, go to Berlin for the final – they lost to Italy (the eventual champions) and ended up coming third overall after beating Portugal in Stuttgart. There’s your lesson on German culture for the day. 😉
Jan and I are not taking part in a football competition, but we are going to Berlin. Tomorrow. We’re mostly going to see Eddie Izzard (my absolute favourite comedian EVER!), but being in Berlin and not actually seeing anything seemed pretty pointless, so I applied for four days off work and we’ll be in Berlin until Tuesday – returning just in time for the quiz on Tuesday (a week late this month due to Easter). I do have a few posts scheduled for you, but other than that you won’t hear from me until I get back.
Here, have someone else’s photo of the Brandenburg Gate.
It’s Friday again! But this time it’s not just any Friday… it’s Good Friday, which means I get the day off work. Thank you Germany for your insane love of Feiertage! Now for the Good Friday edition of Friday’s letters…
Photo credit: davidbonting
Dear Easter. I mentioned last year why you’re one of my favourite holidays, and nothing has changed since then. Four-day weekend? YES PLEASE!
Dear Eddie Izzard. One more week! I’m so excited!
Dear housework fairy. I need you to come and clean my kitchen, please. I am sick of doing it only to turn around (what feels like) 5 minutes later to find it looking like a bomb’s hit it. Ugh!
Dear weather. Please could you be nice tomorrow so we can go out for the day? I would be ever so grateful!
Dear new shoes. I hope to be able to wear you outdoors soon. Please be patient!
Dear self. You really need to drink more water! And the fact that work provides you with large bottles of Volvic for free there is really no excuse for how little you’ve been drinking recently!
Both the weekend and this week seemed to go by incredibly fast – I can’t believe it’s Friday again already! After an incredibly busy weekend last week, this time I have no plans whatsoever. The flat is a tip though, so it seems like a cleaning sesssion should be in order. If I can be bothered, that is. 😉
Here come this week’s Friday letters.
Mr Zip (Photo credit: ian.crowther)
Dear Eddie Izzard. Two weeks today, I shall be at your show in Berlin! This thought makes me so excited that I may have actually just squeed aloud. I actually, genuinely cannot wait!
Dear Berlin. Do you think maybe you could start to show signs of spring by the time we arrive? I’ve seen photos of the snow that’s currently lying and I really don’t feel like walking around in it! There’s been enough snow now, I think… after all, it is officially spring!
Two fat ladies (Photo credit: duncan)
Dear body. First it was the extra huge bum that crept up on me, now I seem to have developed a belly as well. I hadn’t thought much of the bit of extra padding I’d noticed until Sunday when I tried on a dress. A year ago, it looked good on me. Five days ago, it clung in all the wrong places and made me look about six months pregnant (I’m not, before anyone asks). Where has this fat explosion come from?!
Dear self. You’ve managed to do a circuit of your exercise DVD twice this week. It’s a start, but nowhere near good enough. This belly seriously needs getting rid of!
Dear Easter. You are just around the corner, and while I’m looking forward to the four-day weekend you bring, I knid of wish you weren’t this close. Not sure I’ll be able to resist the huge basket of treats that’s now appeared on the table at work. Normally, I would be excited to dig into all the chocolatey goodness, but this year I’m sensing it’s a bad idea (see fat explosion letter above…)
That’s all folks! If you want more Friday letters, click on the button below. Have a great weekend!
After not sleeping very well last night then having to get up while it was still dark this morning – a fact that I had somehow managed to bloc from my memory during my two weeks off – I was really not in the mood for going to work this morning. Monday has never been my favourite day and first Mondays back after two weeks spent relaxing are never going to get a reputation for being particularly fun. But then my colleague arrived bringing with her an unexpected gift for me and suddenly things looked a lot brighter.
I got a mini Henry desktop hoover! He’s just like the ordinary Henry hoovers (you know, the red vacuum cleaners with the face), but battery operated and much smaller. So very cute! Every time my very boring translation made me start to wish I was anywhere but at my desk, a quick glance at Henry soon put the smile back on my face.
I then arrived home to find that two things had arrived. First something I found last week while looking for a gift for a friend’s birthday. I immediately fell in love and after showing it to Jan he agreed that I could buy it:
Owl tea cosy
Isn’t she beautiful? (Yes, I’ve decided it’s a she). More fuel for my current obsession with owls. And it goes very well with the owl cushion my Grandma sent me before Christmas.
The second thing I found in my mail box made me squee very loudly to myself in excitement:
Eddie Izzard tickets!!
You probably can’t tell from this photo, but these are in fact my tickets for Eddie Izzard in Berlin this April!! I wanted to take a close up photo but my camera battery died immediately after taking this one.
The excitement of receiving my tickets was even enough to give me the rush of energy I needed to do some of my exercise DVD. Admittedly only one circuit (well, 3 if you inlude the warm up and cool down) but I did the thighs and triceps one which always kills me! I’ve no idea how I’m going to cope when I eventually get round to trying out the entire 40 minute workout!
So a potentially bad day that actually turned out well. Isn’t amazing what a difference a visit from the postman can make? 😉 (Not to mention lovely colleagues who know exactly what gifts will make you smile).
Yes, I am aware that I’ve already blogged today, but there’s no way I was going to let that stop me from posting my very first Friday letters of the year!
New Orleans: Brass letter slot in old door, Algiers Point neighborhood (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dear T. Thank you for your hospitality and for showing us round Luxembourg. We had a fabulous time. Can’t wait to see you again this year – wherever it may be!
Dear 2013. Finally, you’ve arrived! For an entire year, I get to end every single date with my favourite number (13 in case you hadn’t figured it out).
13 (Photo credit: zigazou76)
Surely this means 2013 has to be my year? I am hoping for good things from you, understood?
Dear Eddie Izzard. I am coming to see you in Berlin in April and I can’t wait! I received the e-mail today telling me my payment has gone in and the tickets are on their way. What excellent news for my final day of my Christmas holiday! (I’m back at work on Monday.)
Dear Cacharel. I looked in 4 different shops today for my perfume (one of which I know for a fact used to stock it) and failed to find a bottle. Your website no longer lists it under fragrances either. I am so not impressed!! Bring it back, please.
Dear L. Can’t wait to see you later! Has it really been almost 11 months since I visited you in Delft that time?!
Dear self. Tea is not going to cook itself, so get off the computer and get on with it, otherwise you won’t be ready when it’s time to go out and meet L!
Confuzzledom 