aw yeah that's noice.
They look like two completely different streets - but nay!
going to miss the joyous transition of a european spring.
whilst not the same thing, small compensation comes with the fact that we have an australian spring to look forward to on the other side of ... gulp ... winter.
After a winter in Copenhagen, an Aussie winter seems like a piece of piss though really.
anyway, before all that happens, we have the last few days of berlin to enjoy and then a quick stop in frankfurt.
the other day, we took off to the nikolaiviertel, which is like where the old city of berlin used to be.
but, like much of the city, it got trounced during the war. in fact, this area was particularly badly hit and almost entirely obliterated.
check out the bullet holes in this building, one of the few left.
so, all the really old little buildings, the windy little cobblestone streets, the alleys and the generally cute european town-ness of the city on the river were converted into bullet-riddled piles of bricks and blood. bit of a shame really. war eh?!
anyway, they patched up what they could save and set about resurrecting what they could and trying to keep the charm of the wriggly little streets and shops. Finding narrow streets that didn't fit cars was quite the novelty really - they are truly a rarity in this part of the country.
unfortunately, it was on the east of the city, and as a consequence, in the hands of the communists, and they really made a hatchet job of the whole affair.
Here here. Sorry guys, but you fuglied it up good.
I mean, what is that concrete shit?!
check out the concrete monstrosities in front of the church towers. Ew!
nice try but minus five points for you.
still, it must be said, the sheer higgledy piggledy nature of the streets does lend it some charm, and there's the spree running eagerly by, and some nice old buildings next door on museum island, so it ain't all tragic.
and when the sun is out, everything feels just fine!
For the record, I am not naked in this shot. Just momentarily without clothes.
no less than 100m away we found a lovely little patch of grass by the river for a picnic in the sunshine.
that's the cathedral in the background, that's on museum island, from an earlier post, with one of the big museums further in the back, with all the columns.
What a fucking awesome spot for picnicing joy!
every so often a little tourist boat would drift by and an automated voice would espouse the
highlights of the area to its clientele.
and on the other side of us was the famous alexander platz and the tv tower that looms over you at every turn, like some sort of weird sentinel of the city. Yeah, it's gonna feel weird not being able to see it to determine my position - it is like the sun. I'll miss you TV tower!
this was a super pleasant little stopping point. we watched a dove collect twigs to make its nest, discussed our plans of moving to the bush and opening a store, and devoured some pretty average back-factory rolls (so wrong they were right, you know?), washed down with mezzo mix - a cola delight.
ok, so i have been getting totally sick of my hair lately.
it's just terrible. It really is.
something in the water has turned it lank and nasty. Yeah 'the water' pfft!
plus, probably, an advancing collection of years and hereditary male pattern baldness.
such is life for the virile man!
Just face it Kent. You OLD! So no more hair for you.
anyway, after many offers, i enlisted lucy's help and she took to me with her magic scissor hands.
Yeeehaa! Let's have some fun! It's great cutting boy-hair, because it grows back so quickly, if you make any BIG mistakes, it can be shaved like that. Heh heh. What a satisfying afternoon.
this is the most images i'll ever post of myself - it being only necessary for the proper communication of
the story at hand.
rum and ginger ale soothed any apprehension i (we) might have had.
Had to water Kent up good to relax him really.
there were one or two worrisome moments, when lucy went all freehand with her technique, (What the shit I was a PRO!) and the rum was dulling out my senses a little (mine too - like I was going to cut his hair without any liquor in me!). Luckily, coz I accidentally gave Kent a couple of racing stripes above the ear on the other side - mmm, hello fresh bald patch!
Bit close up don't you think? It looks way better when you are standing a regular distance away.
but all's well that ends well!
a terrific job (ah-thank yaw),
We now have a regular Tin Tin!
especially with minimal tools and client that kept taking photos of himself from different angles
so he could check on the progress and offer any advice.
Whatever - you just love yourself Kent.
With a visit from the cute as Eliza Skinner, we had some simply lovely last stops at some of our favourite spots. Lunch at YamYam (don't eat there early, you will get a seat, but somehow it doesn't taste as good when you don't have to fight for it.) - broiled beef on rice of course, followed by a lazy meander back toward the station.
shit - i forgot to pinch another set of steel chopsticks so that we had a pair. bugger! Oh Kent.
Some kicking paste up of artist Ai Weiwei - we hope China lets him out of jail soon please! He's a good guy!
seriously china, get a some human rights clues already. Right on.
So, the last couple of days have mostly been consumed with wandering through our local streets, having colossol breakfasts with friends and savouring our last St Gaudy coffee today - sob sob - we will miss you Johnny! Best coffee man evaaaah!
Breakfast for four is really breakfast for twelve - we did not finish the platter. this was consumed with our new friends ariel and andrea from berlin/melbourne (and before that, like chile and hungary). they run pandarosa - great peeps, talented as shit. down on oderbergerstrasse, under the shade, on a blue sky day. We hoed at it for a good two and a half hours before giving up and stumbling back home for a ten minute breather, before heading to Gaudy for some coffee. Made it just in time for the thunderstorm to roll its sweet self in, without drenching us. We had a great view into the bucketing rain, flashes of lightening and some pretty epic thunder. Awesome-cakes!
totally brilliant.
proper bass-rolling thunder, flashes of lightening - like paparazzi. Um.
The crows here are grey and black - very street.
next day,
we wandered our way through mitte again - hunting out some last minute gifty ideas.
there's about a million things i wanted for myself, or for us, and it seemed like everything was perfect for sarah [James], somehow berlin seems like a sarah town... but there's only so much room one has in one's backpack, and only so much weight allowance on the flight. oh well. we'll live.
Sez, you better come back soon - this city really was built for you!
A shot of a garden, oh, just out the back of a shop in Mitte. Yes, this is so like Alice's experience with the garden through the little door. Only, it was an overpriced denim shop (and some leather shoes, of which there was a killer pair of work boots for 300 euro), and the doors were MASSIVE and the garden was RIGHT THERE! Absolutely stunning. If only the sales staff weren't so suspicious of us gawking (and probably photographing), it would have been even better.
they got especially concerned when i photographed their jellyfish aquarium.
it's probably a bit hard to make them out, but there's little jellyfish in there.
they almost looked like they were luminescent. pretty amazing.
How cool is the sideways seaweed?!
it think maybe it had some black light going on.
the aquarium was about 3m x 1.5m x 0.5m. and this image is taken from the narrow end.
Shawarma plate at Babel - good shit.
And last, but certainly not least, a revisit to Babel for some Killer lebanese food - nom nom nom! Not really the best place to go when you have 'kleine hunger' but some how we managed to polish both platters off - must be all that hard doing nothing we've been so busy with!
Now we have to pack our bags and get on a damn train to Frankfurt. Berlin - it's been very sweet. x
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