final stop on the honeymoon express - berlin
there was a few little hiccups on our arrival.
as way of a preface, though, we've been pretty unbelievably lucky so far
- having had about 6 different flights all over the shop; stayed in a variety of accommodation types, from hostels to hotels to a mate's place and shared houses; we've driven through snow and on autobahns across half of deutschland (i got to 179kmh, btw, falling narrowly short of my rather testosterone-fuelled, adolescent-styled objective of 180, due to snow tyre limitations and too much roadworks nah he was just too pussy); and fumbled our way through 4 different languages.
and up until berlin, not one single, notable problem.
so, given that context, arriving to a flat with a broken heating system, LOTS of wet laundry draped across our living area and no light in the hallway was not too much of a problem.
annoying - yes; major issue - no.
...until...
we realised we could not shower, as the towels were sopping wet; that we would not have heating over night, when the temperature was going to be -1; and that there was no definitive resolutions to these problems any time soon.
well sir, that sir, become a massive fucking problem.
long story short - we got fresh linen delivered 2 hours later; we survived the freezing night rather easily, as it turned out, under doonas and with fuming temperaments keeping us warm; the landlord fetched us fresh towels in the morning, after several stern emails and a couple of calls from a freezing phone box with limited coinage; and the building manager came and reset the heating system for us. he was a lovely dude actually, who just laughed at me quietly everytime i said anything in german and we spent some time gesticulating to each other, sighing and half giggling.
anyway, now i know more about the whole heating situation in the building than the landlord does and he now wants me to teach him.
aaah - what a little saga!
Kent, of course, was the perfect gentleman, and 'dealt' with it. I spent much time muttering, swearing, yelling and crying, without actually doing anything to advance the situation. Except maybe to get change for the phone booth. That I am proud of.
here's our living room area - which is also the bedroom (bed to left, behind camera - ooh actually, you can see the bed just peaking in from bottom left)
we decided to bring some of the lucy's amazing flags to hang up when we got here, for that authentic homely vibe. and they really work perfectly.
this is the view out of the windows, into a sort of inner courtyard area.
i'm pinning my hopes on spring injecting its life force into that tree and delivering to us a daily show of freshly sprouting green shoots.
no doubt i'll eagerly advise of that development when it kicks in.
around the corner from us is a big park.
on the right there, on the steps, some dudes (small teenagers) are filming a rap video.
the amount of extremely white, apparently well-heeled euro kids who wear giant trucker caps, perfectly askew on their shampooed blond hair, frowning with serious intent, with their jeans around their thighs, imitating the ghetto stylings of poor american cities is equal parts hilarious and just kinda sad.
kids these days eh?!
i usually jump right in with some architectural musings, but let it be known, berlin ain't pretty.
i'm sure that having the red army bearing down on you from the east, whilst the yanks and poms lead the remnants of the french army into town from the west, bombing the living bejesus out of the joint in retribution for the monumentally horrendous behaviours of the city's governing arseholes, well, that sir is gonna end in a pile of broken dreams.
the fact the city survived at all is probably a miracle.
anyway, as a result, the place is butt ugly.
Which is, as it turns out: awesome! In a way it helps you to see why the place is filled with creatives - nothing to cramp your style. The rest of the places we've seen are so damn pretty, all you can do is swoon in a heap thinking 'I'll neeeeevaaaah be worthyyyyy!' Well, not here. I already bought my pencil and pencil sharpener and EVEN drew a picture of THE broccoli - yep, this place is a melting hotpot of edgy experimentia!
here's the ubiquitous tv tower from the east germans, in the background....but...
as melbournians know from comparisons with sydney, a city's virtue and beauty lies not in its easily manufactured syruppy appearance. tis rather the sum total of its inhabitants' behaviours.
and thus far, berlin is serving up a treat.
friendly people, funky cafes, intrigue at every turn.
today we cruised around our local area, on a scouting mission for cafes, after the morning's fiasco with the flat, and stumbled on many. you can see why melbournians dig it here, there are similarities for sure. especially the cafe culture.
it is even more relaxed and chilled than home though, it so far seems. there's a gentle, calm, but vaguely effervescent energy about the place, if such thing could be said to exist. our area is 'baby-buggy' town and there are kids everywhere. so maybe that adds to the relaxed atmosphere. and i mean relaxed, in this sense, as it is obviously safe, there are mother's clutching coffees in the sunshine, chatting and laughing, and the constant distant happy laughter of young'uns.
of course, get too close and the kiddlies voices become piercing hot shrills aimed directly into your skull and you're also liable to be plowed over by a small battalion of pram weilding yummy mummies.
ooh - check out this sweet bit of macrame art, just hanging out over the street.beautiful.
I am just so stoked to be eating vegetables and drinking soy again I can't really get much further than that right now. It is a soothing and happy thing. Oh, did Kent mention that I JUST BEAT HIS NINJA FRUIT SCORE?!?! I am now the Sensei. He now bows to me (and runs to the iphone to try his luck. You wish baby!) I am The Master!
However, some very very cool street art is clearly in the midst - more to come I'm sure! x
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