See http://picasaweb.google.com/ajoest/BerlinInOctober#
It was a dark and cold weekend but kicked off with a night out with work colleagues in Mitte. Then Saturday and Sunday involved checking out Berlin Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg! Berlin is a smorgasboard for the eyes.
Berlin Arrival
So i'm in Berlin. Thanks to Sarah, my old quasi-landlord in Mannheim, I am staying in a place at the top of Schoenhause Allee. Sarah was in Berlin while I was in her room in Mannheim. It's a wg- (wohngemeinschaft - or share apartment) with all the essentials. I'll stay here until the 9th and in the meantime will look for a place here. Once I have a place - i'd love you to visit...
After dropping off the car I rode my bike back up through Berlin-Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg. Even on a Sunday evening there are plenty of vegetable shops open, restaurants, bars and considering the weather was quite agreeable today, there were lots of people out.
The energy in Berlin is everywhere. It's powerful...and I hope it rubs off on me as I immerse over the coming months!
After dropping off the car I rode my bike back up through Berlin-Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg. Even on a Sunday evening there are plenty of vegetable shops open, restaurants, bars and considering the weather was quite agreeable today, there were lots of people out.
The energy in Berlin is everywhere. It's powerful...and I hope it rubs off on me as I immerse over the coming months!
Stuttgart
Moving out of B6 was a nightmare. Sarah was busy getting her things out while also making the flat livable for me. In the end, as there had no water and very little furniture it felt as though I was camping there. In many ways i'm happy to have very few possesions. When I moved my things, four trips down the stairs singlehandedly got all my things into the car. It took the girls two days and a large Mercedes Sprinter van to take their things!
In the end it was sad leaving the great times of B6 with Sarah, Andreia, Henna, Marie and Christoph as well as honorary guests - Praful, Avinash and many more from our class.
With a full car I went down to Leonberg (near Stuttgart) on Thursday evening. Thursday evening was spent over a few beers with Marc and his friend Armin in downtown Leonberg - a happening place would be an gross misrepresentation! In the morning I also went to Weil der Stadt to visit a sick but happy Laura. I spent the rest of Friday with Marc's dad cruising around on the bikes while Marc was at work. Marc's mother is a mean cook and really won't let you leave the table until you're completely and utterly full. This was a welcome task considering the past few days of "camping" in B6. Nothing like a home cooked meal and lots of Schwaebisch being spoken! We went out on Friday night in Stuttgart which was pretty good - Waranga, Barcode and Mutter's Milch. If you're into house music then Theodor Heuss Strasse is for you. Saturday was touring around and seeing the sights. Klein aber fein = Stuttgart. The Schloss Platz, Koenig Strasse, Markthalle, etc are all nice. I like some of the new architecture in particular the new Museum at the Schloss Platz. After a lye down and another great dinner on Saturday evening we hit the Wasn for the Cannstatter Folksfest. Sadly I didn't have Lederhosen. It's the second biggest Volksfest (people's festival) in Germany after the Oktoberfest in Munich. While it might not be as good as the Oktoberfest, there is no shortage of beer, dancing on benches and dirndl powered cleavages. In fact, it is something that makes Australian drinking behaviour look like kids drinking milk in the school yard. The guys / girls running around with 10 steins with a litre in each (plus the weight of the glass) is impressive. I'm astounded that no one breaks the benches that everyone stands on. Each bench has 5-6 people jumping for hours on it. The heat in the tent (it was below 10 degress outside) was high due to sweating people so much so that the inside of the tent had enough condensation for it to drip water (of course) all evening.
After a lap of the show grounds and a few beers we took off early to beat the crowds to head into town. Marc met some of his friends while I met with Laura and her friends in a Mexican restaurant. There was plenty happening and luckily we could still get into bars. A bouncer in all his wisdom tried to test how drunk we were by asking me if we could speak in English...we got in. Classic Rock was a good bar with plenty of dancing and after-Wasn activity going on!
The only mistake was missing the night-bus which set us back an hour. That being said, an extra hour in the cold to wind-down was probably a good move. Although a Doener was threatened, waiting for the bus didn't seem too long a wait. Marc's mother dotingly picked us up in Leonberg and brought us to our beds to round off a great weekend.
After some strong coffees and a couple of brezels I hit the road again, heading north to Berlin. I had arranged a Mitfahrer (via a online platform for car-sharing) and picked him up from McDonalds. As it was Sunday and trucks aren't allowed on the Autobahns, the traffic flowed nicely and meant I covered the 640kms in five hours or so. I unloaded Clements (a nice guy about to start his studies) in Potsdam before unloading my things in north Berlin and before taking the car back.
What started last week as a stressful week of moving and not really knowing my plans and future finished up being a fun, relaxing and reinvigorating week. Thanks to Marc and his family for superb Schwaebisch hospitality!
In the end it was sad leaving the great times of B6 with Sarah, Andreia, Henna, Marie and Christoph as well as honorary guests - Praful, Avinash and many more from our class.
With a full car I went down to Leonberg (near Stuttgart) on Thursday evening. Thursday evening was spent over a few beers with Marc and his friend Armin in downtown Leonberg - a happening place would be an gross misrepresentation! In the morning I also went to Weil der Stadt to visit a sick but happy Laura. I spent the rest of Friday with Marc's dad cruising around on the bikes while Marc was at work. Marc's mother is a mean cook and really won't let you leave the table until you're completely and utterly full. This was a welcome task considering the past few days of "camping" in B6. Nothing like a home cooked meal and lots of Schwaebisch being spoken! We went out on Friday night in Stuttgart which was pretty good - Waranga, Barcode and Mutter's Milch. If you're into house music then Theodor Heuss Strasse is for you. Saturday was touring around and seeing the sights. Klein aber fein = Stuttgart. The Schloss Platz, Koenig Strasse, Markthalle, etc are all nice. I like some of the new architecture in particular the new Museum at the Schloss Platz. After a lye down and another great dinner on Saturday evening we hit the Wasn for the Cannstatter Folksfest. Sadly I didn't have Lederhosen. It's the second biggest Volksfest (people's festival) in Germany after the Oktoberfest in Munich. While it might not be as good as the Oktoberfest, there is no shortage of beer, dancing on benches and dirndl powered cleavages. In fact, it is something that makes Australian drinking behaviour look like kids drinking milk in the school yard. The guys / girls running around with 10 steins with a litre in each (plus the weight of the glass) is impressive. I'm astounded that no one breaks the benches that everyone stands on. Each bench has 5-6 people jumping for hours on it. The heat in the tent (it was below 10 degress outside) was high due to sweating people so much so that the inside of the tent had enough condensation for it to drip water (of course) all evening.
After a lap of the show grounds and a few beers we took off early to beat the crowds to head into town. Marc met some of his friends while I met with Laura and her friends in a Mexican restaurant. There was plenty happening and luckily we could still get into bars. A bouncer in all his wisdom tried to test how drunk we were by asking me if we could speak in English...we got in. Classic Rock was a good bar with plenty of dancing and after-Wasn activity going on!
The only mistake was missing the night-bus which set us back an hour. That being said, an extra hour in the cold to wind-down was probably a good move. Although a Doener was threatened, waiting for the bus didn't seem too long a wait. Marc's mother dotingly picked us up in Leonberg and brought us to our beds to round off a great weekend.
After some strong coffees and a couple of brezels I hit the road again, heading north to Berlin. I had arranged a Mitfahrer (via a online platform for car-sharing) and picked him up from McDonalds. As it was Sunday and trucks aren't allowed on the Autobahns, the traffic flowed nicely and meant I covered the 640kms in five hours or so. I unloaded Clements (a nice guy about to start his studies) in Potsdam before unloading my things in north Berlin and before taking the car back.
What started last week as a stressful week of moving and not really knowing my plans and future finished up being a fun, relaxing and reinvigorating week. Thanks to Marc and his family for superb Schwaebisch hospitality!
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