Funkhaus Nalepastrasse Tour

This city is full of nondescript, even decrepit-looking buildings that hide a world of Berlin history. So we weren't put off when we arrived in the middle of nowhere (technically Oberschoeneweide) to what looked like a never ending waterfront of abandoned factories.

We had been invited by a friend to take a tour of Rundfunk der DDR and really had no idea of what to expect. But as we're usually ready for anything, a tour of an East Berlin radio we would do.

London Town- a Love Story in Pictures

As the source of my paternal roots, the place we were engaged and a pretty rockin place - we easily name London as one of our favorite cities.

Double Decker Buses! We happily took the seats at the front whenever we had a chance

A cheap flight from Berlin, we are always happy to return to the city and in our second venture we based ourselves in a little room in a flatshare just off of Brick Lane through AirBnB. We struggled with the pub closing hours of "no food after 6pm", discussed the short-comings of the much praised Tube, and ate and drank our way through the city.

Eurovision- A Love/Hate Relationship

When we first came to Berlin, we were up for anything and when a friend suggested staying in to watch a singing competition we happily agreed. And what a show.  This was

Eurovision

Never heard of it before? Either had we. This song competition between European nations (although I am confused how Israel is grouped in there) is a crazy mess. Some performances are good. Some performances are fun. Most performances are crazy tacky and terrible. Sequins! Lights! Dancing! Madness!

Unfortunately, in the past few years everyone started singing in English. Luckily, that does mean you can hear some hilarious pronunciation and understand some bizarre lyrical choices.

Example A: Maldova

This guy's were actually our favorite. The Princess on the unicycle? The hats? The monocle!?

Example B: Russia

This was the winning performance on our first watch in 2008. We were transfixed by the Russian Olympic skater and his itty bitty slice of ice. 

Song quality doesn't seem to matter because when it comes to voting, the countries vote for their friends. Each country gets several votes so,
Austria votes for Germany and Switzerland and vice versa,
Spain votes for Portugal and Italy and vice versa,
etc.

Proof in point - someone totally random won.

AZERBAIJAN - seriously? This led to a flurry of Tweets: "Where's is Azerbaijan?"

Somehow I almost forgot another favorite: Ireland's totally unhinged Jedward.

Watching this European throw-down has become a beloved tradition. Go Germany!

 

Update: 2014 Competition

The finale is taking place on May 10th and I can't wait to catch the madness. For details,

What is Eurovision?

Thinking of you P's

Happy Christmas Eve!

Ian just had me open the first gift- a French press! I am so happy. (Seriously, we've been missing coffee something fierce).

Love this video. A little Xmas spirit for the masses:



We are about to head out to get some last min groceries, drink a little g
luhwein, and then come home and cook the goose! The sexy little fowl is sitting in the fridge in some herbs right now. Going to finish him off with potatoes, apple, and a little orange. Yum!

At midnight, we will head to the cathedral. They have it open to the public and we can listen to the choir sing "silent night" auf Deutsch. Magic!

Back in Berlin - An Encore

We're back! Unbelievable, but we are. 


On Tuesday we arrived. Also, my birthday. Hectic, stressful, exciting, crazy, confusing. We were tired of living out of suitcases & ready to settle in. But first- a place. Our friend Jeff was nice enough to let us shack up in his flat, but roommates, as gracious as they have been, are not exactly siked to have two homeless living in their community room. The search began...


On wednesday we got to serious work scanning ads, writing e-mails, and making appointments. We just needed to get a foot in the door. C'mon people! Give us a place! Seeming to symbolize our stress & sense of shiftlessness we witnessed a large German man with child in arms lock himself out of his car. His wife beside him, he yelled "Nein! Neiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnn!" In freezing weather, a short sleeved shirt, and his car illegally parked next to Potsdamer Platz...he was stuck.


On Thursday, our displaced Thanksgiving, we had a promising apartment showing. It was within our price range, in a hip part of town, and looked gorgeous. We showed up to a lovely altbau apartment on the first floor. Large bedroom/ work space, separate bath, kitchen, and balcony, a washer machine AND a dishwasher. I practically had tears in my eyes. It has been years, literally years, since we had a dishwasher. The rental is just for over a month, but it gives us time to move out of the living room, get some work done, and find a permanent place. 

"We'll take it!"  

Back to German cooking

Kreuzberg Graffiti

Berlin Hubertus Lounge with it's hidden club

These bells are a gift from my mom from Seattle, and one of the first things to go up in any apartment. They mean we're home.

We got a place - now let's Christmas.

Video tour of the apartment

 More pics of our fist Month Back in Berlin

And to symbolize that day, giddy with goodwill, we witnessed a samba band hop on the U-Bahn and ride it a stop with us, playing drums, a trumpet, and a back up speaker system. Smiling, we gave them some coins. 

Back in Berlin!

 Follow us in our first few months back in Berlin.....

Karaoke

For a while there we got pretty into Karaoke. At the height of our addiction, we went 3 times in a weekend. We were not, however, any good (with the possible exception of Mr. Porter).

What follows here is a crime against music, good taste, and a video camera in a bar.

wika wika TUESDAY

Ok Go setting it off right:

Döner macht schöner!

I think Ian still has dreams about the sweet döner we left behind. For those of you unfamiliar with the tastiness of tasty, here is the expert on all things, Wikipedia:

"Doner kebab (Turkish: döner kebap or döner kebabı, literally "rotating roast", often abbreviated as döner), is a Middle Eastern dish made of lamb meat (mainly) cooked on a vertical spit and sliced off to order. Two similar dishes are called shawarma in Arabic and gyros in Greek,although ingredients and sauces differ.

A version developed to suit German tastes by Turkish immigrants in Berlin has become one of Germany's most popular fast food dishes; in fact, Annual sales in Germany amount to 2.5 billion euros ($4.61 billion)"

Ian practically teared up when we ate our last ones before returning to Seattle in the shop below our apartment in Friedrichshain.

We are almost back to our beloved döner and every once in a while, when the craving is especially bad, I remember the döner song about the ...

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