we've had a busy week doing some actual work, believe it or not, so it's been a week of mostly alternating laptop time as one of us works on files while the other reads, plays ninja fruit, or draws.
Deadlines seem a thing of the past, so this was definitely an interesting week for us. Kent and I were working on different jobs, so madly styling history books and proofreading essays was a novelty, until we realised that the bosses wanted the all the files by the same time (about 5 minutes ago - yes they're in!) - either Jane and Brigid have a wicked sense of humour or they forgot that we have one computer. By the way we love you both and thank you muchly for preventing imminent starvation we love you we love you.
then in between all that, we managed to work our way through about 50 episodes of the office and catch up to the current broadcast schedule for the the current season, just in time to watch steve carrell finish up.
For the record, I used to despise this show, so my only explanation is that this show is clearly laced with subliminal messages, because now I have an addiction that is far more problematic than that of my coffee and paprika chips situation. I blame Kent for corrupting my otherwise sweet self.
the weather has mostly been boringly european (wow we are really complacent today aren't we? "Oh Europe, get some contemporary weather already!"), grey, hazy and chilly, so it all worked out pretty well actually. So technically not our fault, that we spent a lot of the past week in bed eating chocolate. It is Europe's fault.
on saturday we took off to mitte to check out an art show.
but we couldn't really locate the gallery, even after hunting around this little out of the way back laneway of bars and shops. there's some pretty fun graffiti everywhere, and we did find an australian clothes designer shop for a bit of a browse. and some dude invited us to an exhibition of monsters that looked like shit (I thought they were kinda impressive) and cost 8 euro entry (less impressive), which we totally avoided (mostly because the guy was frighteningly eager).
Yippee! Finally got my new glasses (left my old ones at home), and was ready to go for some
actual art viewing - good old authentic chin scratching over the more recent vague squinting. Thwarted!
eventually we found the gallery, but it didn't appear to be open, even though it was supposed to be.
apparently this is not uncommon. We've heard many stories of secret shows and nook and alley type gallery spaces, that end up being a locked door, or someone sitting in their apartment. Half the fun really! but it was a lovely evening and we decided to just stroll about, enjoying spring time.
we took ourselves north, up through mitte to some previously strolled haunts, through kastanienallee and up onto oderbergerstrasse (above).
a lovely spot, under a glowing moon, was settled on for a coffee. we'd just come from a pretty awesome book/magazine shop, and we were deflated by the overwhelming amazingness of it and our lack of ability to load up a pallet full of goodies and bring them home, so we needed a caffeine uplift!
(I think Kent needs a caffine uplift right now - we actually went for our brilliant coffee on Friday night, and came back on Saturday when the shops were actually open to see the book shop of doom. oh yeah! all the days bleed together now. Pesky timeless holiday!) I think there were around 178 books and magazines that I needed "for business related purposes" from that shop. Don't think I won't go back. We have a box already to send half of our shit home, and it does need to get to 10 kilos ... so maybe I fill it up a little bit. With awesome books of joy.
hottest librarian EVER!
hahaha!
x
ugh.
We went to Kauf Dich Glücklich, which appears to have two venues about 10 minutes walk from each other. Part waffles and ice-cream cafe, part ladies clothing store, this place has a lovely vibe. Another brilliant space that seems to combine all kinds of nice without being constrained to provide just one type of service. I can almost see the founders sitting at their kitchen table, saying "I wish I could open a clothes and ice-cream shop. Hang on, why the fuck not?! Hurray!" At least that's what I hope they did. Anyway, I also bought a small wooden rabbit. Because it was right there next to the ice-cream. Nice.
First view of Savigny Platz in Charlottenburg - not too shabby eh?
Anyhoo, today we finally got our act together and jumped on a train (not literally - that would look stupid) to the west, to see what we could see (see see). And I think we finally found Toorak. Charlottenburg, to put it mildly, is very ... rich looking. The apartments had a distinct Copenhagen-y type feel, of pastel grandeur. The trees seemed a little greener over this way and the overall look was very gorgeous. The residential streets are much narrower than the rest of the areas we've seen, which made it seem more intimate.
Hehe - Kent's patented photo taking scowl.
ugh!
haha!
haha!
this tree was amazing - and much improved without my mug in the way.
The morning was a true Bill Bryson wander, literally walking around and looking at nice buildings, trees and flowers. Everything was shut, being Sunday and all (Except BMW), so it was fairly quiet and lovely.
We went a wandering past this very nice cafe, which looked so nice that it seemed too nice for us to go inside. So we employed the creepy voyeuristic tourism shot instead, poking our heads through the gaps in the gate, our tongues flopping out of our mouths, dribbling stupidly at the well dressed patrons, the muffled clinks of their nice silver cutlery against their fancy porcelain plates, muffling in the only way a garden restaurant can muffle.
we thought of brigid and jane here coz it was the 'literature house cafe' and very lovely indeed.
a couple of pieces of 'the wall' on a median strip, as public art.
check out this awesome shop entrance:
a tree - cut in half - runs the entire length of the shop, like a catwalk.
killer! And there is me, looking like a fussy old lady. Ugh ugh!
(Please appreciate that Kent and I are both feeling rather image sensitive - nearly
3 months of excessive beer, cheese, ham and chocolate will do that to you.)
we wanted to visit a cafe that david bowie used to hang out in, but alas, twas shut.
we had ourselves a lovely lulu-crafted sandwich lunch in a nice park and then took ourselves back to the cruisier vibes of the east for some coffee and general sauntering about.
We went to a nice little cafe in prenzlauer berg, with comfy cushions to sit out on the street.
although, the piss-soaked concrete was a bit too whiffy after a while.
europe really could to with some seriously updated sewerage works, and more public toilets.
You'd think people could maybe pee in the drain holes, if they're that busting. Instead of the surrounding concrete.
just saying.
it is 2011 now.
meow.
Aren't I simply adorable?
and to close out, two celebratory events:
(1) a second review published here, (it's really excellent, you should read it) about the rubbish art show mentioned in a previous post
(2) we've now had over 1000 page views on this blog - who'd have thought?!
Go Team!
(3) We now rate as the daggiest couple in existence. Hurrah!
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