Back in Vancouver...

I'm sitting here at the table listening to the Slits second album "Return of the Giant Slits" on the turntable while Saoirse does her homework and Veda puts Anders down for the night. We've been back for two weeks now and it has been a whirlwind of illness, rehearsals, shows and Christmas decorating. Usually we have a floor to ceiling kind of tree but we're a little more cramped then previous years so we've opted for a three foot tree that resides on the turntable shelf next to the stockings.

Our last month in Berlin was wrought with frenzy, emotion and Mr. Minsch but we also made two trips out of town for Veda Hille shows. The first was München where we stayed at the Bayerischer Hof, quite a fancy pants hotel where the late Michael Jackson stayed when he hit the town (as was evidenced by the memorial in front of the hotel entrance). I was weirdly uncomfortable as the staff were always trying to carry your belongings for you and we had to walk to the pool in our robes as they had no change rooms. After his initial trepidation Anders loved splashing about in the pool and there was a spectacular view of the downtown core with the midday sun washed across the rooftops. As there was no second bedroom Anders slept in the enclosed front entrance but since he was teething and getting up so often I ended up sleeping on the floor beside his crib with my hand through the bars to soothe him back to sleep.

So, high points, pool, amazing dinner and breakfast (although, at the restaurant during dinner Anders had such a large poo in his diaper that it leaked through his clothes and on to my arm without me realizing it. Then I walked through the super fancy hotel lobby, almost made it into the elevator alone but at the last second a well dressed businessman stepped in and was visibly uncomfortable with the smell), low points, poor show for Ved, bad sleep for me, no free internet and two hundred euro opera tickets (we didn't bite). The other show was in Bremen which deserved full marks all around. We had a short but lovely time with Veda's friends Petra and Volker when we first arrived, after which we found some new kreisel to swell the ranks. Back at the hotel Anders and I wrestled on the bed and chased each other around the room and had so much fun. This time he slept in a crib in the spacious bathroom and we managed a much better sleep, Veda had a great show and came back to the hotel super happy, there was free internet so I skyped with Saoirse and then ended up watching an episode of Criss Angel Mind Freak dubbed in german featuring our friend Bro Gilbert who was working on the show. That was unexpected and cool, so basically it was a win win win trip for us.

Our final days in Berlin were spent trying to spend as much time with our new friends and not think about coming back to Vancouver. I was whinging about it so frequently that Veda was annoyed and made me stop, though it turns out it was in order for her to have a chance to whinge about it. It's all about balance I suppose.

Oh, oh oh! I almost forgot that Veda had a really great show at Lagari in Neukölln, performing a run through of some of the songs and dialogue from Leaky Heaven Circus' upcoming production of Peter Panties, written by Niall McNeill and Marcus Youssef. Our good friends Manfred and Amanda sat for us so I could have a night out and see the show. The crowd was really into it (both the Veda set and the Peter Panties numbers) and the cast of Josepha, Reimar and Tim really brought the noise. Did I already say it was excellent? Our neighbours Josh and Rona came as well and it really felt like home. Afterwards I stayed and drank shots of korn with everyone until I checked in with the sitters and found out that Anders was up and Pigi was helping out. I quickly cycled home and put him to bed. What a good night.

During this time we also had friends from Canada come to Berlin as well, Ida Nilsen and her partner Jay came and played some shows, and John K. Samson as well. I was mostly home with Anders but Veda had some good times with these folks. I did get out to see Ida's show at Studio Upstream in Weissensee (located in the northeast of Berlin and a bit of a hike from Kreuzberg) I managed to get drunk and stay out until four in the morning. I cycled there but Willem and his girlfriend Nic wouldn't let me cycle home on the little shopper and gave me a ride. Nic's friend Anna said it was too dangerous to go so far on such a bicycle. Basically laughing at my ride...whatever...

Speaking of the little shopper, it is now in the capable hands of the great Manfred Naescher. I wanted to bring it home but it just didn't make sense for Vancouver. It only has one gear, which is fine for Berlin but wouldn't be great for the hills here. I sure miss it though...

We did manage to finally make it out of the house briefly with Daniel, Pigi and Zoi. We all went out to the Gendarme Markt but it was cold and rainy and really crowded so we didn't stay long. Even with successful kreisel purchasing it was hard to enjoy the market. It's too bad there never seemed to be a convenient time to get out of the house together in all the time we were there. I miss them although by the end I think perhaps we were becoming a bit of a burden and they needed the space back. I could be wrong, I hope so.

Since being back in Vancouver I've been trying to pinpoint what makes Berlin such a great city in my mind and I think I've got it. Cities are an organic entity, growing, changing. I feel like Berlin is a city that gives to its people while expecting little. Through its plentiful and varied events, art galleries, parks and playgrounds and interesting markets and shops it feels bustling (in a good way). It also feels full of hope for the future and jumps in with both feet forward, at least that is how it seems to me, with its history I suppose it can't help but surge towards the future full force. I won't go on an anti-Vancouver rant but I will say that it is a conservative city that doesn't seem to try very hard to give to its people, but expects so much. Having a great location is not enough, and with all the arts funding being cut provincially and federally it seems like giving to the people is not going to happen anytime soon. In the end I guess I'm embarrassed to be a Vancouverite right now so our homecoming feels cold, if it weren't for our friends and family there wouldn't be much reason to come home. Hopefully that will change. The End.

buh

So much has happened but I'm too busy playing with Anders to blog. Coloured rings go on pegs, coins in and out of brightly coloured cups, reading german children's books and of course kreisel, kreisel and more kreisel. Oh, so much laughing...

I'm alive!

The interweb has returned to Katzbachstrasse 5! After seven days! And, I think Anders and I are for reals feeling better! I know I previously posted that we were sick and then recovered but I jumped the gun and soon after both of us fell ill again, though I must say we are not alone as all of Berlin seems to have the sniffles of doom, even the apothek we go to hands out free packs of tissue when one goes in for ones extra extra extra strength over the counter pain killers. We also live next door to a child that just started Kitta which is like day care but it's also like pre-kindergarten. Though I think of it as a place where parents bring their ill children to hang out with non ill children. Basically, disease is inevitable and death sweet release.

Until next time...

Veda und Anders bei Dreikönigskirche in Dresden.

Much has happened but I'm not inspired to write. I have things to say but no inclination to speak. I will post videos and photographs until my mood is clement.



Like mother, like son.

Kim Barlow...tsk tsk

When K.B. comes to visit she sure makes a splash, ha ha ha...anyways, I finally managed to flip this video off its side so people won't get a crick in their neck when watching it, so voila...

For Rosie...

Hey look, it's Rosie cycling away from the Siegessäule y'all. The truth in all it's glory...

Apfel time at the zoo

Yay! We're not sick anymore! And it's a beautiful day so as soon as Anders awakens from his morning nap we're going out to a park by gosh.

On Saturday Veda, Anders and I joined Manfred, Amanda and their friends Markus, Kristiana, Becky and Emiliano for a day of apfel pflucken in Potsdam, about forty minutes drive outside of Berlin. Manfred rented a nine passenger van for the journey and was basically der fuhrer of the road, safely navigating us through the foggy landscape to Hofladen farm where, after some time getting organized, we headed into the orchard. The trees were conveniently low, approximately eight foot, but I still had to climb to the top to get the best ones. There were three choices of apfel but I opted to stick to the Ralinda, (I think that was the name of them) which are crisp and tart and will eventually be made into crumble.



Afterwards we ate a nice lunch of soup in the farmhouse cafe and bought some meats and wines for later. All in all a super day that bled into...

...later that evening, when I dropped by Manfred and Amanda's to borrow some thread so as to finish sewing the hem of my jeans and stayed for a delicious mushroom risotto dinner. Their friend Brooke was also there and we relaxed in the living room listening to music and drinking wine until I was summoned home. Marriage...

Anders & I are sick again damnit!

So, I've been listening to these albums,

The Flaming Lips-Embryonic- It's like they used to sound before the amazing Soft Bulletin. Back then I thought they were shitty and careening. I still do actually. However, this album is rocking and dark and now they know how to sculpt the rock. OMG The Flaming Lips are the sculptors of the rock community...

Vic Chesnutt-North Star Deserter-He has a more recent album called In The Cut recorded with the same Montreal Constellation crew but I think I prefer this release (excepting the two typical Godspeed start soft, get loud, sound boring moments) What does it sound like? Fucking Vic Chesnutt, that's what. He writes really good folky, country songs that are believable, what more do you want?

The Very Best-Warm Heart of Africa-The team of Radioclit and Esau Mwamwaya are The Very Best and they make awesome Afric-Brit music. Last year they released an album of other artists songs, remixing them and adding vocals by Esau, then released it for free on the interweb. This is their new album of originals with guest vocals by M.I.A. and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend. So far, so good.

The XX-S/T- The debut full length from this new British band who play mid-tempo dance music with shimmery guitars, sweet beats and male/female vocal trading. I've read some comparisons to Young Marble Giants but I think that's a stretch. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I think it's not adventurous enough, lyrically or musically and I've yet to listen to the whole album beginning to end without distraction, on the other hand I'm always happy when it comes up in the mix. Miles of style can be obfuscating, but time will out. Saoirse said it's boring. She could be right. Their show in Berlin is sold out.

Taken By Trees-East of Eden-Second album from Swedish singer Victoria Bergsmann (formerly of the Concretes, recognizable as the female lead on Peter Bjorn and John's hit song Young Folks). The stereotype of female singers from Sweden is that there is a tendency towards vocals soft and sweet and Victoria holds true to this, but like many musicians lately she's added an international flavour to her folky folk as well as some more upbeat tempos. From what I've read she recorded the album in Pakistan and it shows. Sometimes a little too directly but I forgive her.

Karl Blau-Zebra-Basically, every album from Karl gets better and better as he explores the various inspirations and influences of dub and african, melding them to his positive west coast washington state vibrations. Dig it. I do.

Animal Collective-Merriweather Post Pavilion-This is a near perfect album and if they would have let me edit out Daily Routine and Guy's Eyes it would be perfect. But that's just my opinion. What I can say without a doubt is that this is the first album of theirs since Sung Tongs where the songs are stuck in my head for days and that means something.

Wax Mannequin-Saxon-At first I wasn't into this album like Chris' previous releases and I'm not sure why. It certainly isn't for lack of great songs, or the production, or the playing, all of which are consistently excellent. I guess that in the past there was a bit of pushing things over the top to represent and now it seems he's comfortable and confident with making great records. Now I love it like my brother. Lucky for him.

This is why it's important to remember that opinions are not the truth. This happened to me with Martin Tielli's first solo album, We Didn't Even Suspect That He Was The Poppy Salesman. Initially I blew it off as I was used to a certain immediacy from his songs and it took a while for the album to reveal itself to me, or maybe for me to open myself to it. Either way it's one of my favourite albums and I return to it again and again. So should you.

Man Man-Rabbit Habbits-I've had this album for a while but not gotten around to listening to it much. Now I can say it's worth picking up and if you hear anyone say, yah it's sooo good, you'll have me to back them up. They're great musicians and play eclectic rock music with a lot of variety to keep you excited. Yay! Excitement!

As an aside, when No Kids were on tour with Dirty Projectors we arrived in Philadelphia and the DP's were playing a sold out show with Man Man for the release of Rabbit Habbits while we played across town to no one at Johnny Brenda's with a band I recall being named Fresh Cut Salad...

Speaking of Dirty Projectors, with the release of Bitte Orca, they have not only made THE album of 2009 but have seriously made me re-consider the point of making music at all. I just wrote three paragraphs of gushy goop lauding this album and then erased it. I will only say that I love love love it and that's that.

Mount Eerie-Wind's Poem-My favourite Mount Eerie album yet, from top to bottom and side to side.

Pink Mountaintops-Outside Love-I took a chance and bought this even though I hadn't heard it which is rare these days. I wasn't so into the last album Axis of Evol, too dirgy for my headspace. This rocks like the first PM album, with a nice blend of The Stooges, Black Sabbath and a dash of love, (the feeling not the band).

Erykah Badu-New Amerykah Part 1-I never really got into the neo soul movement that she was lumped into so until this album I have ignored Erykah Badu. Not anymore, this album is pure and stark and simple and feels like she has taken leave of her senses in favour of taking the reins of her creativity, for the better of all of us.

Bill Callahan's new release Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is the first album I've ever bought from an artist that has been releasing critically praised albums since the late 80's but I've never quite gotten it like others have. For me this is the one. From the beginning to the end of this beautifully arranged album I believe him.

Thee Oh Sees-Help!-Perfect garage rock album from past label mates of ours. I highly recommend seeing them live as they are meant to be. Also, they put a shitload of effort into their artwork, the vinyl comes in bubblegum pink!

Cryptacize-Mythomania-I'm always so happy when the people I know make great music, and they are just getting better with each release. Poppy, folky, freaky. Whoo hoo.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart-S/T-Sounds like late 80's early 90's shoegazer, Yo La Tengo wannabe's. I want to dislike it but it's so fucking good. Kudos.

Though I don't think it stands as tall as Writer's Block, I recommend picking up Living Thing by Peter Bjorn and John. I love pop music, they make great pop music, it's a Swedish thing...

Fever Ray-S/T-Sounds like The Knife. It's Karin of The Knife. If you enjoy listening to The Knife like I do then you'll like Fever Ray. It's pretty easy.

Lastly, Camera Obscura's new album My Maudlin Career boasts arrangements by Bjorn Yttling of PB&J, though I think they probably could have come up with them on their own. On the other hand this is the only album I've bought of theirs so maybe I'm wrong. Girl group pop music delivered Scottish style by bored and icy voiced Tracyanne Campbell. Almost as good as Gigi...

Danmark part 2

So I wrote this on the train back from Kobenhavn and our whirlwind time went something like this...

Jacob and Rosanna picked us up from Liseleje and we drove the scenic route back to Kobenhavn along the coastline, Sweden in the distance. We arrived at Jacob and Jetta's flat which was located on the fifth floor of a renovated building in a nice area not far from "The Lakes", which are three lakes separated by bridges into five basins, a super nice stretch that parents rule with their strollers, oh, also joggers in tight, tight gear. The next morning Jacob, Rosie and I walked down to the harbour where the little mermaid is stationed and to our surprise, she was wearing a Swedish football jersey! Hooligans! Afterwards, we casually made our way to the palace fur hatted guards sternly patrolled the entrance. The weather wasn't particularly cold temperature-wise, but the wind was bitter and managed to make its way into every nook and cranny of one's coat so eventually we were forced to purchase some warm items or suffer, so I purchased a much needed scarf at Noa Noa and Veda bought Anders a lil' Nisse hat.

So cute.

At some point I borrowed Jacob's bike and cycled around the city when Veda and Rosie were out and about. I found some very good record stores but didn't buy anything as records are really expensive, about fifteen to twenty dollars more than the same records in Canada, or Germany for that matter. On the other hand, the selection was the best I've seen anywhere I've traveled so far, particularly of U.K. and Swedish pop music. It almost seemed as if they bought copies of certain records and hoarded them until they became out of print.

Generally, we had very poor sleeps due to one Anders Hille Kellam and on at least one occasion I walked around in the rain for three hours from 7:30 in the morning to keep from waking the household. Due to this sleeping situation Veda and I didn’t manage to see each other much with all the trading off, although we did finally have a lovely long walk along the lakes, eventually making our way around outside Rigshospitalet, the setting for Danish director Lars Von Trier’s television series The Kingdom (not so spooky, where are the ghosts?)

On the last night Jacob and Jetta put together an amazing traditional Danish herring feast in which it was revealed that I have limited table manners (who doesn’t eat off of their knife?) and we watched a somewhat beige game of soccer between Danmark and Sweden. The Danish scum (those of you who have seen The Kingdom will know what I mean by that remark) were victorious over the sanctimonious Swedes by one goal, knocking Sweden out of the running for FIFA world cup qualification in South Africa next year. The flat was full to the max as Jacob’s sons Frederik and Gustav were there as well as Jetta’s kids Jonathon and Josefia so kudos to them for finding a place for us. (Tak to Jonathon for giving up his room.)

It was so very worth going to Danmark and meeting Veda’s relatives as well as watching Rosie revert to a Dane. I’m looking forward to going for a longer time in the future because there is too much to see in Kobenhavn, believe me, you need time…we all need time.

We're in Danmark!

We took the ICE train out of Hauptbahnhof (I first wrote Anhalter Bahnhof, an altogether different bahnhof with a spotty history, if you know what I mean) northwest to Hamburg then transferred trains and headed north to the ferry at Puttgarden. Veda read magazines whiIe I listened to headphones with Anders asleep on my chest. I stared out the window watching the Deutsch landscape blur as we sped past. The trees were of course turning in autumn’s hand but slower that I expected and there was still a great deal of greenery. I made a point of listening to Scandinavian artists to get in the mood; Bjork, The Knife, Frida Hyvonen, Stina Nordenstam*… I didn’t think of much during the journey (in fact, thoughts tends to be non-existent unless I’m actively engaged in something specific) though I did wonder how the train crosses the channel to Danmark. On tour with No Kids we had a vehicle, a lemon yellow Volkswagen van that Phil christened “the jeep”. Ensconsed in the jeep, we had driven onto the ferry from Danmark to Deutschland and I vaguely remember there were two crossing points, though the names have escaped me. I couldn’t imagine the train driving onto the ferry but when we arrived at the ferry dock we did exactly that and drove directly onto tracks set into the deck of the ferry. Unglaublich! Once in Danmark we passed many small Danish towns and crossed many a waterway until we arrived in Kobenhavn, whereupon we were greeted by a Canadian flag waving Dane! Indeed, it was Veda’s cousin Jacob, who escorted us up to the elaborate and beautifully renovated train station above, and as it was getting late we set off immediately to spend three days at Jacob’s summer house in the little village of Liseleje situated on the Kattegat Sea.

*What, no Aqua? –ed.

When we arrived in Liseleje it was dark and the grocery store was already closed but Jacob had brought wine and moussaka to get us through the night. I attempted to make a fire in the stove but it took Jacob to really get it going which very quickly removed the chill from the air. He stayed for dinner, drinks and conversation (all of which were excellent) and then headed back to Kobenhavn, leaving us to our fate. We must have been pretty exhausted because an excellent night’s sleep was had by all which these days is a rarity. The morning was exciting as we got our first look at the outside world which introduced itself first with a crash and a thud as a medium sized bird smacked headfirst into the window and died immediately and is now peacefully buried under a nearby tree, unless the slightly reddish squirrel next door gets after it. After this incident and a good breakfast this is what we saw, the house is located on a tidy property that contains a little sleeping house and a large trampoline, which Anders was alternately excited and nervous to bounce on. It is situated next to a farm who’s owner plowed up and planted over a road that has existed since the middle ages. When the locals who use the road complained to the authorities, the farmer was informed that although the road was on his property it was not actually his to remove so until he replaces it people just cut across his field trampling his crops, which is what Jacob instructed us to do in order to get to the sea. So we did. We walked to the Kattegat Sea which is clean and clear with a sandy beach and has tasty Danish sand which Anders kept eating despite the many times we said nein, nein, nein mein sohn. The peace and quiet of Liseleje is very much like being on Gabriola Island, sleeping, eating, drinking, watching the fire or the ocean and generally thinking an awful lot. We managed to go for a nice long cycle further down the shoreline one day when it was really windy and the waves were incredibly high. You know, drama waves…

Anyway, we basically slept, ate, drank and read to our hearts content (you can read into that what you will...) until Jacob and Rosanna came to pick us up and return us to Kobenhavn.

To be continued…

Der Riesen und der Komische Oper.

Yesterday Veda, Anders, Rosanna and I made our way to the Lustgarten to see Day 1 of Royal Deluxe, Der Riesen Kommen, (the giants are coming). Royal Deluxe is a french marionette company that operate giant marionettes through the streets of various cities around the world in different situations and costumes and here in Berlin the little girl is reuniting with her uncle after being separated for many years. He emerges from the Spree river in an old school diving suit while she travels along the streets and at various times walks, cycles and rides in a boat. After wandering about the zentrum of Berlin eventually the two will meet up at Brandenburg Gate. I believe she has some letters in a satchel to deliver to him but don't quote me on that. There was a band following her on a travelling platform playing bluesy rock music with some turntable scratching and vocals every so often and at first I told Veda I wanted that job but soon changed my mind as the music kind of sucked badly and I would be embarrassed to have to play it. It's bewildering as it seems so much time and effort is put into the marionettes and their slow lifelike movements that they would put so little into the accompanying music. Better to have none at all I think...

I miss my band. They're awesome, and as I write they are on a long tour in the United States with Mount Eerie, Tara Jane O' Neil and Karl Blau. The last show we played together was at the Commodore Ballroom with Peter Bjorn & John just before we flew to Berlin and I must admit it felt very powerful, I felt on top of the world as they say, but now it seems a long time ago and Nick and Julia are very distant. Certainly as this is the first time they have gone on tour as No Kids without me (with Phil of Mount Eerie sitting in on drums) and I must admit I'm envious. It's not as if I'm unaware of how one's sense of self is intrinsically linked to the work they do or the art they create so it makes sense that I would be feeling this way as I'm not carpenting or playing music. Where am I going with this? Veda and I went to see Der Komische Oper production of Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate with our new pals Manfred and Amanda (super awesome fun fun people), and after the show I was reminded of times in New York that No Kids went to see theatre productions with our friend Mo. I think you would have enjoyed it Nick and Julia, it was very o.t.t. How o.t.t.? Many a glitter costume to spare and a twenty seven piece orchestra stage right that was really something. They were wearing fez's! Even if I didn't enjoy the show (which I did, for the record) it was worth attending for Cole Porter in German and the super band (and of course the post show pretzel. Ha Ha...)

Maybe I just need a day out on my own.

Books and bobs...

Anders and I have been sick for three days now which has been a drag as Rosanna is now with us and I don't feel inclined to do anything adventurous, but on the positive side I've been able to finish reading Hans Fallada's "Every Man Dies Alone". The story is based on true events about a couple who choose to defy the third reich by depositing postcards with anti-nazi sentiments randomly about Berlin. All the characters introduced are connected directly or indirectly with this couple and Fallada's insight into the machinations of the gestapo as well as his particular view of humanity under oppression drew me in and gave me a better understanding of how the german populace fell in line with the policies of the third reich so thoroughly. Following that, we watched a documentary on the rise of the wall and it's eventual fall in 1989 which was good as an overview, but not very detailed. However, it did help to consolidate my view that the oppression of Fallada's time quite easily links with the oppression of the soviet run ddr, and how something as drastic as the wall could only have happened without opposition from the german populace due to the lack of recovery time from the culture of fear during the war years to the culture of fear in the cold war years.

Unglaublich!

Anders' Geburtstag

Fahrrad saga...

Loree is gone, Kim Barlow is gone, Michelle is gone. I have no idea where the Gatzaenkers are. Seriously, they left Berlin like one million years ago and haven't heard from them. I can only hope they are happily lost in the mountains somewhere in Germany and that it's a good sign they are being quiet...

Anders turned one year old on September 23rd and we spent the day hanging loose as a goose. No pressure, a little shopping, a little sleeping, a little birthday pie and video of pie. When Daniel gets home we'll get him to smallify the video so I can post it. Blogger has fascist size restrictions. Why can't the Blogger program accept a post and adjust the size accordingly? It makes no sense.

There have been inquiries about whether my bike is up and running. Here's the scoop. I removed the tire and took it in for a new tube with no problem, and in fact saved myself twenty euro by just bringing the tire in on its own. Unfortunately, in the process of removing the tire I screwed up the back fender which led to it falling off at two in the morning when Kim Barlow and I were coming back from seeing my pals the Dirty Projectors at Festsaal Kreuzberg. They were amazing (it's kind of gross how consistently good they are even when I know they are sick or suffering from strained throats...) Merrill Garbus aka tUnE-YaRdS, made for a great double bill as she was equally impressive. I hate describing music but tribal ukelele vocal freakout are words that come to mind, her performance style is o.t.t. and riveting to watch so see her if you can and judge for yourself. She certainly had the Berlin audience in the palm of her hand. I spoke with Angel of D.P.'s before the show and was hoping to hang a bit with them afterwards but instead decided to accompany Kim Barlow back to Madame Claude's where she went to see Eugene Chadbourne play. As it turns out, somebody locked their bike to hers so she left it behind but fortunately was free by the time we arrived. It was after all this that my fender fell off as we were cycling along the canal. Oh! The other thing that happened in the bike saga was the locking bolt for the left side crank arm snapped and I had to ride around for a few days keeping the crank arm on the crank with my foot in a stiffly awkward pedaling position in order to keep it from falling off. I have since replaced the bolt but I'm starting to think the universe is telling me something...also, K.B. and I saw a fox cross the street under a streetlamp to great affect...really, we were affected...

Yesterday, Veda, Anders and I spent the afternoon cycling about the Tiergarten bathed in the most exceptional light of day, shaded woods and crisp autumn breeze. Japanese tourists took photos of Anders and I in front of the Siegessaule monument, and as we cycled it seemed every turn revealed some amazing architecture, interesting shop, park or playground. We ended the day with a last dinner with Michelle before she flew to Basel. She came bearing gifts of wooden car and balloon for Anders who liked them very much. (For those who don't know her, you are missing out cuz Michelle is the bomb.)









Also also, Today is our nine year wedding anniversary. How inconvenient to be right after Anders' birthday, overshadowing as it is but Veda was kind enough to remind me and my response was that my preference is celebrating every ten years...she is so forgiving.

The brief respite we're having between guests is great but I can honestly say we miss all our guests and soon Rosanna will arrive to fill the space, then off to Denmark for a visit to the North Sea. Yay!

Still in wonderment, ich liebe Berlin!

Saddest day evah...

Michelle, Loree, Anders and I met Veda at the fancy ice cream place on Falckensteinstrasse in East Kreuzberg today. We decided to trek out to Treptowerpark so's they could see the awesome Soviet memorial which was still awesome but while there I started messing around driving the little shopper up and down the steps and blew out the back tire. Scheisse! No, it really distressed me for real because it was late in the afternoon and everything closes early on Saturday and open not at all on Sunday, which means I'm bound to the tram or walking. We walked all the way back to Schlessischestrasse and on the way the tube came out of the tire and wrapped itself around the back gears which meant I had to carry the bike. Uh. Eventually I cut the tube out with my keys so I didn't have to carry it anymore, but sure enough every fahrrad station was closed and I had to take the tram home while Veda cycled. Uh. Then, the ticket machine at the u-bahn wouldn't accept my five euro bill and I was forced to buy beer in order to change it. (Actually, thinking back, that was actually a positive experience). If it wasn't for Anders and I having a bath together I would still be in a miserable mood. Now we've been drinking wine and eating tasty taste so I guess waiting until Monday will be o.k....

Just before the tire blew...



After the tire blew...

Saoirse in Berlin

I miss Saoirse...

I Forgot...

We had a rad piknik in Volkspark not far from Mauerpark with Randy, Charlie, Loree, Michelle, Veda, Anders and I. It has an incredible view of Mitte and Prenzlauerberg. We are all quite drunk here and Loree is showing us pictures of the event but f, we don't have a proper cable to connect s up...uh....

Chestnuts!

The Gatzaenkers are gone now but certainly not forgotten. I miss them already. Randy and I spent our last day together biking around the city, KaDeWe, currywurst, Birkenstocks (ha ha), Rock Steady records (I bought INXS-The Swing). I realized in our bike ride that I haven't really had the opportunity to explore the west too much but when we went to Rock Steady we saw a lot of very interesting looking architecture and shops, it made me happy we're still here for a while. Later we met up with Veda, Anita and the kids at a curry place on Kastanienallee in Mitte across from the Gatzaenkers flat. Chestnuts!

Herr Fuchs! I forgot all about Herr Fuchs. In the west and following soon thereafter east germany there was a television show called Das Sandmannchen featuring little sandman and a supporting cast of characters like Herr Fuchs and Frau Elster. The end result is us showing up at the restaurant and Veda has bought a puppet of Herr Fuchs. Weirdest is that this is the second Herr Fuchs puppet she has purchased. How many Vancouverites can say that? Well, speak up!

Empty the flat, fill the flat

Saoirse is now back in the land of her birth. I don't know how much this trip will mean to any of us in the end but I realized when we were on the bus to Tegel airport that I'm starting to think of Kreuzberg as my hood.

Some facts,

Kreuzberg, meaning cross hill, (named for nearby Viktoriapark and the 1821 monument commemorating the Napoleonic wars) is primarily Turkish and other immigrants. The area was originally poorer, but in the SW 61 where we live it seems more renovated, with nearby Bergmannstrasse supplying the area with a variety of restaurants and shops that I'm told ten years ago didn't really exist. The area we often hang out in is the less developed SO 36, (south west 61 and south ost 36 being the original postal code areas) which is where Veda previously stayed when she came to Berlin, so she is more familiar with that area.

Also of note, Hans Christian Strobele, the only Green Party member of the Bundestag (or Reichstag as everyone else calls it) represents Kreuzberg. His crazy, hand drawn cartoon election posters are all over the neighbourhood for the upcoming election. In them he is pictured as a flag bearing pied piper leading people through the streets with rainbows and so far he has been re-elected twice so it must be working for him.

Last night Kim Barlow did child minding duties so Loree and Michelle could take Veda and I out for birthdays dinner. There is a good Argentine place just up the street where we went with Daniel and Pigi but it was unexpectedly closed so Veda suggested this Italian place on Kreuzbergstrasse called Osteria that we walk by all the time. It was the right choice. The homemade pasta with truffles was amazing and we could have eaten that all night. I thought the rabbit in tomato sauce was really good but the others thought it was overcooked, as well the wild boar also seemed overcooked and a little on the salty side but I still ate it because that's just the kind of guy I am, I don't like to waste food. For dessert there was flan and blueberries with vanilla ice cream and of course lots of wine and prosecco, and grappa, and grappa, and grappa. We had a great time and Veda looked amazing in this new dress she bought from this great shop, (also on Kreuzbergstrasse) called Blutgeschwister which roughly translates to blood sister. Afterwards, we walked home and drank some more with Kim Barlow who ended up staying over on the couch.

Praise be to Loree, Michelle and Kim for a great night, and we would've gotten away with it if it weren't for that medding Anders................................Anders......

Loree & Michelle

Yesterday Saoirse and I went on a trek to see if she could barter on this dress she wanted which was tres expensive. I waited outside the fancypants shop near Hackescher Markt with the bikes while she worked her magic. She was inside quite a while and I thought she wouldn't do it but eventually, success! Oh happy day! Dress in hand we made our way to this record store on Ohlauerstrasse where I picked up Fishbone-Truth & Soul on vinyl and then stopped at a fleamarkt on Bergmannstrasse where I bought a Hindemith record and Human League-Dare, each for three euro. Saoirse went on ahead and when I arrived home Loree and Michelle had arrived in Berlin! They're here in front of my face right now as I write. Last night we had dinner and drinks, K.B. came over and we all sat around with candles aflame talking about family scheisse, mine, Loree's, Michelle's. Fun, fun, fun we're all damaged goods-whoo hoo! Today will probably be another flea markt day, wish us luck...

Rain, man...

It's pouring rain today and in Daniel and Pigi's flat they have three children and four adults in total and in our flat we have five adults and one child. It's intense man. I'll probably just blog all day...

Oh, hey, Kim Barlow is in town hanging out and writing music with her friend Matthias. She came over and we had dinner, played scrabble and drank a lot of wine. Eventually, Veda went to bed and Saoirse, Kim and I ventured out on our bikes into the Berlin night where they keep falafel and schwarma waiting for drunkards like us. We stopped, ate, then continued on towards Kim's place on or near Maybachstrasse just off the canal. I've decided to stop referencing the map all the time but I told Kim I knew how to get there, so they followed me until we had been travelling such a loooooong time that Kim was concerned we had overshot her flat. Which we had. By a lot. We had basically biked to Treptowerpark which is approximately twenty blocks past our destination which I should note is pretty easy to do when you're always following a map that makes everything seem far away and also, the street names change all the time as you travel along them so it is easy to suddenly be confused. However, we eventually made our way back to her flat, drank more wine and watched youtube videos of Rick Astley, cute hedgehogs and guitar gods with their cock wankery solos overdubbed with incredibly poor tuneless twanging, ala Lister of Red Dwarf fame. Eventually the wine was gone and so were we. It only took fifteen minutes or so to make it back home.

Ha ha ha...

Best day ever?

Could it be? Can any day overshadow a previous day? Judge for yourselves...

Randy and I went on a cold war walking tour with Insider Berlin Tours. This is the second walking tour I've been on now and I can tell you it is well worth the 10 euros if you have any interest in spending four hours wandering around and learning about history and geography. Mike of Berlin (by way of New Zealand) was our tour guide. He filled us in on his credentials up front, masters in european history, married a former DDR woman who's family were hardcore party people (politically not like, wooooo paaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrtttttttttyyyyyyyyyy!) who to this day won't open their stasi files because they don't want to tarnish their memories of the DDR. Anywho, he took us to the stasi museum which contained spy apparatus straight out of a James Bond film. As he was fond of saying, "You can't make this stuff up it is so ridiculous." Trabants with spy cams in the back for being followed, cameras in water cans at graveyards (even in death there is no escape from the stasi). Drugging drinks and taking incriminating photos for blackmail at a later date. At one point there was over 100, 000 people on the stasi payroll not including informers, and they are still discovering defunct wiretaps pressed up against the inside of wallpaper in east Berlin flats. In my time here it's not hard to become interested in the effects on the German psyche of so many years of totalitarian control, first with the nazis and then the communists. I mean, think about it, how does a society become liberated and then fall prey immediately to liberty crackdown before you even have time to breathe a sigh of relief...

Needless to say, we needed a drink after the tour to help wash down the countless numbers thrown at us over the four hour period. We stopped by the Gatzaenkers and picked up the kids, grabbed some beers and went to the playground where I played with Emery and chatted with German mums. On the way home I grabbed some pizzas and U-Bahned my way home (and I bought an Allez Allez record for five euro.)

Some of you might be asking, where is your bike in all of this, and I'll tell you, it was locked up at zoo station where I ventured later in the evening on bus to pick up. On the ride home I passed many very young, very well dressed prostitutes. I mean they looked pro, and they certainly were not impressed by me on my "little shopper" as our host Daniel referred to it.

Anyway, I'm tired so until next time there is always a next time...

Ok, so now it's the next morning and I'm sober and upon reading last nights blog Veda joked that people could misconstrue "little shopper" with "last turkey in the shop." Let me be clear that "little shopper" is my bike and generally one sees older ladies use these bikes to pop down the road for groceries...and me as well.

Secondly, I want to make it clear the observation that both the third reich and the ddr were similiar totalitarian states would be much enlightened if I lived through either. I'm sure I would notice a very clear difference between the progression of persecution each regime had, but it seems the end results for questioning authority were the fairly extreme punishments of prison, torture or death. Anita basically said that during either I'd be the first up against the wall because I have difficulty censoring myself. Whatever man.

xo j

Was ist das?

We've been active in our existence here in the land of currywurst...

Gatzaenkers visiting our flat, kinder behaving as pigeons in a park. It was cute and scary.


Anders has four teeth, two are on display here.


Part of the quite impressive and sprawling soviet memorial in Treptowerpark. In response to the question of the estimated cost of this DDR era memorial our Berlin by way of New Zealand cold war tour guide Mike said "I'm not sure, that's a good question." He then went on to explain how after blowing up most of Hitler's favourite hangouts in Berlin the soviets then carted off all the marble, brick and stone and recycled most of it into various city projects and memorials, including this one.


Another part of the memorial. According to Mike, this statue of a red army soldier with a child in his arms holding a sword and crushing a swastika underfoot is based on a real soldier who, during the taking of Berlin in 1945, discovered a child crying in the arms of her dead mother in the smoldering Berlin rubble. He went on to be the symbol of the red army liberators. He's really big. That's Randy and Emery in the doorway entrance, they are small. Yeah.


Myself enjoying the bountiful fruits of Mauerpark in Prenslauerberg. I believe that is the universal sounds of Abba being cheered in the background.


Saoirse took this photo of the side of a non descript building on a non descript side street in Kreuzberg that has a descriptive mural on it.


This is a dramatic photo of the memorial to the dead jews of recent history. There is a longer name for it but it escapes me. Underneath the memorial is an information centre that walks you through a timeline of the escalating persecution of jews, sinti and roma during the third reich. It is informative and moving with many personal histories donated by relatives of those who did and didn't survive the war. Nobody was smiling and it was very solemn as you can imagine and there was at least one letter from a child to his father just before he and his mother were taken to Auschwitz that moved me to tears...


Saoirse at Kottbusserdamm U-Bahn stop. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this face, one day a wind will blow and it will stick like that.


So, there is so much we've done recently, from Randy and I going on a cold war walking tour, to the soviet memorial in Treptowerpark to the nighttime shenanigans of K.B., but both Emery and Anders are setting each other off as screeching baby eagles and we need to take them out for a walk before a double infanticide occurs. (I am joking about the murder of children BUT I AM NOT JOKING about how bad the screeching is, you feel t.v. snow settling over your psyche and you want to snap like a turtle.)

Until later...

Lost! & Found.

Yesterday Saoirse and I decided to go to the Hamburgerbanhoff Museum on Invalidenstrasse to check out their collection. I was interested to see what Cy Twombly they had as I had read a really good New Yorker piece (no surprise for Nick and Julia) about him last year and was excited to see something in person. Unfortunately, instead of the eight euro entrance fee I was expecting, the woman at the booth tried to charge us eighteeen euro which was basically my budget for the day. It turns out she didn't believe Saoirse was sixteen and eligible for free entrance and as well misunderstood our desire to see the collection and not the temporary show. So, eager to avoid yet another unwanted purchase (cursed turkey!) I said no thank you, accepted her disgusted expression and took our money back.

We again set out on our bikes, not really paying attention to where we were going but now that we're biking regularly, I'm starting to understand that Berlin is a small city that is super easy to navigate.

Items of note about Berlin.

1. This city often smells of sulphur or something rotting. Though not always at the same time. Veda told me that Patsy first commented on this when she was here, and though I am not known for the most advanced olfactory senses I would have to agree.

2. Biking in Berlin opens this city like November 9th, 1989. I realize it may be presumptuous but I don't think you can really know Berlin if you don't own a bike.

3. Do your shopping on Saturday as on Sunday it is really difficult to find anything open, including grocery stores. This is particularly important if one is vegan and want a change of pace from falafel.

So after some time of haphazardly biking along we ended up in Prenzlauerberg. Now, I have described this area of Berlin in the past as being like Surrey but clearly there is a wide variety of sights and sounds within each area and where we were was more like North Burnaby, which is of interest because that's essentially where the Gatzaenkers live back home and it is by chance where they live in Berlin. Spooky...

While in Prenzlauerberg we came upon a massive flea market held in Mauerpark on Eberswalderstrasse. When I say massive I'm not kidding, there would be no way we could have seriously seen all the booths though we did manage to find beer. I was annoyed at Saoirse because there was a ton of vinyl being sold that I could have spent all day perusing but she was worried we would lose one another. Although her concern was justified I still called her a scheissehund...what else could I do?

The highlight of the flea market was arguably the open air karaoke fest we stumbled upon where there were probably a thousand people clapping along with germans singing Bonjovi and Abba, us too, it was rad. I've not seen so many happy people during the daytime since we've been here, hold on, maybe the german nation are a nation of bats...happiest at night...

Soon however we left as it was getting late and we didn't know exactly where we were yet, but soon enough familiarity was in sight and we were home to 5 Katzbachstrasse, Kreuzberg, Berlin, Deutschland. Ich liebe Berlin mein freunden. Ich liebe Berlin.

Dream

I knew it would happen eventually.

2 nights ago I had a dream in which I was standing on a sheet of ice in the north. Nearby there were elephants crossing the ice when the largest of the elephants fell through into the ocean. In my dream this elephant couldn't swim but maybe all elephants can't swim, in dreams or in reality. I guess I never really thought about it much. It made many attempts to crawl back on to the ice sheet but due to its weight kept cracking the ice and falling back into the water. The elephant did not drown. Eventually the ice stopped cracking and was thick enough to support its weight and it continued on its way. At this point in the dream Veda had appeared beside me, or perhaps she was always there and I just didn't notice her. Also at this point, the ice we were standing on developed a crack due to the struggle of the elephant and unable to avoid it, we fell into the ocean.

After the initial shock of the fall I wasn't concerned for our safety despite being in icy ocean waters. We started to swim back to the ice sheet when I realized Veda's toiletries bag was floating nearby. For some reason it seemed important not to lose this bag but when I plucked it from the water's surface all the contents emptied out and slowly sank into the depths. Before it was too late I managed to collect most of the items from the bag and with one arm continued to swim in the direction of the ice sheet where Veda was waiting. Unfortunately, before I could avoid it a wave crested against me and I couldn't hold on to the toiletries and swim at the same time.

I watched as each item sank out of sight.

Huh.

Random moments

Anders and I outside the Berlin MOMA, my favourite piece being the stairs leading to the top floor.

Emery hanging loose like a goose. His laugh is something to witness...

Inside the previously mentioned church with massive imposing gold Jesus.

Charlie in the fountain.

Charlie before the fountain...

Today, Yesterday, The Day Before...

I'll say right off that today was a good day. Yesterday was not a good day. The day before was a good day...

The day before yesterday was the day Randy and I went to the big record fair at the Velodrom on Landsbergeralle in Prenzlauerberg, an area I had never been to previously and, due to work on the tracks, took over an hour to get to. This was annoying as it seems you can get most anywhere in Berlin on transit in 30 minutes or under if you have your shit together and have no children with you as we did. The area looked kind of like Surrey and later when I saw that Billy Talent are playing at the same place the record fair is held I felt my superficial judgement held true. When we arrived there were a lot of records but not too much I was interested in. It's amazing how you can spend hours flipping through records until your fingers are encrusted with filth and still not find anything that makes your mouth drop open. I almost bought Supergrass-I Should Coco, an album that I didn't even know came out on vinyl but I walked away and while I was deciding they packed up and left. Just like gypsies, or ghosts, or gypsy ghosts. Que sera sera. I ended up with The Smiths-Strangeways, Here We Come on grey blue vinyl and The Constantines-Shine A Light because it's out of print and it rocks, but what made my jaw drop was the difficult to find and hard to acquire first LiliPUT album which I now possess. Nothing was really cheap except the records Randy got, which impressed me because well, he's an impressive dude who knows what he likes. By the time we left and made it home it was late in the afternoon and I was hungry but when I arrived home Veda had picked me up a falafel...and, well, that's why I love her.

Ugh, yesterday. I'm not sure what makes a day go wrong but for me it was a bad sleep, gum on my pants and buying really expensive turkey by accident. First the bad sleep, Anders is teething like crazy and has four teeth now all within a two week period so he has been up a lot during the night which in turn means Veda and I are somewhat underslept. Under this influence I went grocery shopping while Veda was at her piano studio and Saoirse watched Anders, but I got flustered at the meat shop due to a line up behind me and my Germglish fell apart, resulting in the purchase of two small turkey breasts for 10 euro. That is expensive here. We just bought a similiar amount of chicken for 1 euro 50 last week so I was annoyed with myself for not being prepared enough. Anyone who knows me at all knows I hate grocery shopping, I get too distracted and what should take 10 minutes takes 2 hours and the truth is I just don't get excited about food in the same way Veda or Doug or Rashid or Loree do. When Veda goes away and I am home alone I eat nachos or pizza and that is pretty much it. On tour I tend towards hotdogs as Nick and Julia have witnessed on more than one occasion.

K.I.S.S. is my motto.

Due to this grocery fiasco Saoirse and I missed out on the Jewseum that Veda and the Gatzaenkers were meeting us at and when we finally made it out into the day I sat on some gum and I finally said out loud that this day was a shitty day.

But then today we went to the zoo! Well, not all of us. Anita and Emery stayed home to chill a bit and Saoirse thinks zoos are wrong on a philosophical level but Randy, Charlie, Veda, Anders and I think zoos are rad. We saw hippos cavorting underwater, rhinoceros in the dusty dust looking happy to have outlived the dinosaurs, and monkeys, monkeys and more monkeys (seriously, there were a lot of monkeys.) We were there during feeding time and the lions were roaring and munching on rabbits, actually all the big cats, jaguars, tigers, etc. were munching on rabbits. They were dead already but Veda thinks it would be better if they were alive so the big cats can at least pretend to hunt. The monkeys ate veggies and the mongoose ate mice and fish. Perhaps the coolest part next to the penguins swimming underwater (it's outdoors but if you duck down to Anders level you can see below the surface) was the night mammals. You have to go downstairs and there are lighted dots that show the way to the aardvark, some odd jumping rabbit mice things whose name I've forgotten, and bats (of course). There was a sign saying we had to be extra quiet but Anders was squealing a lot so I took him outside and didn't get to see everything down there but that's just the way it goes, you want to see the night mammals but you don't always get to.

(Note: most, if not all of these blogs are written under the influence of alcohol. What can I do, it's relatively inexpensive and I have no job.)

After the zoo we met Saoirse outside the gates where she was waiting after a very bad day where she couldn't find the photo museum, was chastised by the politzei for sitting down on a curb and couldn't find a cool refreshing beverage to ease her pain. In an attempt to make things better we went for ice cream on Kurfurstendamm, where we witnessed the grossest ice cream eating ever by Charlie Wilfrid Gatley. Man, that kid likes his ice cream, and Ved's and Randy's and anybody else who will give up the i.c. Nearby was a fountain that foreigners were letting their kids walk around in so I suggested as a cleaning measure that we should go splash around in the fountain. Soon Anders and I were in as well and it was super fun (it was really hot today, 29 or 30 degrees) and refreshing. One of the statues in the fountain was of a little naked boy and although I wanted to join Charlie and Anders in their frolicsome nudity I spared the other parents my "last turkey in the shop" moment.

Eventually the Gatleys had to leave and we went to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church which is bombed out and left that way. Inside they were having a service and the bright blue stained glass and MASSIVE GOLD CHRIST FIGURE were really impressive but not impressive enough to Anders who seems to turn into a baby eagle when we stop anywhere, ignore him or are in the dark so we left and took the U-Bahn home. It was time to go anyway...

Fahrrad!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bought a bike at the flea markt on Schlesischestrasse! It's a silver beat up folding bike with former DDR vibe going on and I had to barter with a Turkish gentlemen to get it. Here's the scoop, at first he wanted forty euro so I biked around a bit then returned and said I'd think about it, you know, let him stew a bit. Just before we left Veda and I talked about it and decided not to pay more then 25 or 30 euro so I walked back and said, "Listen, I have 25 euro for a bike and that's it." He was not impressed and stuck to 40. His friend said, "For Americans, 60 euros." When I replied that I was Canadian he said, "Oh, 25 then." The main guy scowled at him and his other friend offered his beat up rainbow bike for 25 euro, so I scowled and said, "That's a little girls bike." The main guy then said, "35 euros" and I said, "No, 30" and he said, "No, no, no I cannot do it for so little." I thanked him and said I couldn't afford it, started to walk away and he shouted after me, "Why do you walk away, you have 30 euros yes?"

So yeah, I bought a bike.

Gatzaenkers!

I pulled a muscle in my neck stretching this morning. What is the point of stretching before you run so you don't hurt yourself but then hurt yourself trying to avoid it? If you can imagine somebody running very erect and acknowledging other runners with what could be misconstrued as a bow then you have some idea of what it was like for those who were in the park today. On the other hand the Gatzaenkers arrived from Sweden today! Huzzah! We met at the former DDR television tower at Alexanderplatz and had a picnic of brot, kase und fleisch as well as bier und schokolade. For those of you who don't know this East Berlin landmark, my understanding is that the communists were annoyed at how much development was occurring in West Berlin that they built this quite extravagant needle-like tower as a way of keeping the East Germans hip to the communist scene, as well as giving a nose thumbing to the west.



Charlie and I were also fortunate enough to hang out with Marx und Engels.



After that illustrious meeting we started on to our respective s-bahn stations. During this we passed a movie shoot, a photo shoot with a half naked (or half clothed) model in front of a fountain and a very beautiful sunset. Nice way to end the day. Time for ibruprofen, guten nacht!

Some pictures

For no reason but Saoirse, Anders and I are waiting for Ved to awaken so we can go out...

What goes on

So, it has been three days since I last posted and of course much has happened, and as well not much has happened. Let me explain. Soon after my last post on the 23rd, which some of you noted was my birthday, Saoirse decided to blow-dry her hair, the result of which was accidentally blowing out our only north american plug adapter, which has served in succession the computer, the phone and the ipods. So as a result we have been forced to conserve power on the computer while looking for replacement adapters which for three days has not happened. Until today, when we found them 2 doors down from our apartment. Henceforth, I shall recommence regular posts and now fill you in on what we have been doing.

1. Song Of The Day- everyday there has been a different song Saoirse and I have been singing. Some inspired by what we've seen walking around Berlin (huge recent tour posters of Europe, the band not the continent), some by beat boxing (boots und cats und boots und cats und boots und cats), some just cuz they stick in yer head (like Pokerface and My Humps.) We are only allowed one song per day in order to preserve Veda's sanity.

2. Walking tour of Berlin- Yesterday we all got up and out of the house quickly to attend a four hour english language walking tour of Berlin by Brian, the artistic director of Edmonton Opera. He was very animated and told us many things I knew but were made more vivid by the location being underfoot. For example, the huge Jewish synagogue located on Oranienbergerstrasse was spared destruction during Kristallnacht due to a guard pointing out to the mobs that Otto Von Bismarck himself had attended the christening of the church and as such it should be considered a German landmark. The mob dispersed and looted and trashed the rest of the Jewish stores and buildings in the neighbourhood but the synagogue was spared. Until later, when it was bombed...

3. Practicing the German language- One of the more difficult street names to pronounce is Schlesischestrasse. In response, I've been adding schlesische to any word in English to make it sound more German which Saoirse finds hilarious.

4. Shopping- I purchased two vinyl records that have been difficult to find in North America. The Sundays debut and Nick Cave's Tender Prey. Whoo hoo!

5. Birthday- I am 38 now. Daniel, Pigi, Zoi, Veda and I went to an Argentinian place down the street for dinner. Which I must admit was very enjoyable to be out sans Anders. Thank you Saoirse.

6. Weather- Very warm. Then very stormy. Then very warm. Then very stormy. Today is very warm and this morning I went for my first run in nearby Viktoriapark. It is a very lovely park on a hill that has a waterfall running through it and a quite gothic memorial situated at the top. Unfortunately, due to the previous entry I was only able to last a half hour which Veda pointed out to me when I returned...one day at a time...

7. Language barrier- Generally our mishmash of Germglish gets us by no problem except the more difficult concepts with Turkish restauranteurs such as veganism. Saoirse and I went out for the day and decided to stop and eat at this Turkish falafel establishment. Before we went in there was some rehearsal of the vegan language but it all fell apart when we ordered our food as he spoke absolutely no english at all and was somewhat impatient with us. Just before the food arrived in Saoirse's hands he poured a stream of yogourt on the falafel thereby rendering it inedible to her. As a result I took it and ordered another one without yogourt with the help of a woman who was waiting patiently for us to finish. He was visibly annoyed at our inability to order food properly and when it finally arrived we skedaddled before we felt worse. The food was excellent and Saoirse wanted to go back and tell him his food is good but he is a dick. We didn't...

Drei Tag

Oot and aboot on the town, did the tourist thang in the zentrum. Brandenburg gate, checkpoint charlie and the last bit of The Wall (the structure not the Pink Floyd album). The holocaust memorial was an interesting experience as most of the visitors were children and teenagers playing hide and seek which is easy to fall into, Veda, Saoirse, Anders and I crossed paths like shadows many times without intending to. I'm excited to go to the zoo but not until mid-week when the other tourists are busy...

Day One

So here are some pictures of our place, por ejemplo, Saoirse watching Daria on the interweb, how 90's...
Saoirse und Anders on the couch in Daniel und Pigi's adjoining apartment.
Our staircase to the upper level. In British Columbia it would probably be illegal due to it's minute width. Oh, and it's partially plastic...
Our kitchen, freshly installed today! The oven is magnetic and uses 3% of the electricity of a commoners oven!
Our hallway, our shoes, our Veda.

There are the sounds of the U-Bahn und kinder crying in the nacht...