berlin schnell

It's Wednesday morning-ish in Berlin. We're finding it hard to get early starts here because it is cold and grey (high 40's, low 50's on a good day - sun for about 10 minutes every 24 hours). but the city is cool enough and proving itself a worthwhile, if slightly underwhelming, stop.

here's a quick post before we head out for a day of art galleries. and then it's halloween night ... so who knows what german weirdness we'll get into ...



there are a lot of vw campers here. I don't know if it's a hipster/hippie/squatter self-fulfilling thing (they have always imagined living in berlin and having a vw camper van, so they seek them out and maintain them) or if there really were/are just a lot of them around. made me think of a children's tv show character. as in, this guy could be the "thomas the train engine" (or whatever he's called) of germany.


we took a city bus line that is well-known to run by tourist sites - it's cheap and lower-profile than getting on a "CITY TOURS - THIS IS A BUS FULL OF TOURISTS!"-type thing.


I made ann get out here and take pictures at this ... large gate/symbol of reunifi...blahblahblah


a church. I like to believe that all the dirt is from the war. makes it more romantic than "wow, pollution is crazy."


ann was impressed by these Ishtar Gates at the Berlin House of Stolen Antiquities - I mean, Pergamon Museum.


We went to an art party in the heart of the East. This is me trying to look East German. It was all very Soviet-feeling outside and very cool kids-feeling inside. Did I mention I bought a new hat? I'm trying my best to fit in ... with 80-year-old East German men. The height of fashion!


There's a lot of graffiti in Berlin. A lot. And most of it is this bad.


Jason - the Smart cars got even smaller! Here's Ann standing next to one so that you can gauge the scale. Note to those who don't know her: Ann is giant-sized.


The Germans can design-fetishize ANYTHING. Here, a window display of little Mead notebooks (the ones they sell at drugstores for 50 cents in America) and small metal binder clips. Yes, binder clips.


We went to a Turkish market on a canal near Kreuzberg. There's a big Turkish population here ("here" being Berlin). There's also a big white swan population here ("here" being in this photo).


Ann having a religious moment eating a spinach pie-sort-of-thing in naan-like turkish flatbread.



Me (in 60 years, apparently) eating a potato one. So good.


I enjoy playing a game I invented called "Hipster or Eastern European in the '80s?" More on this later. (This picture is of a hipster vintage store here.)


For my vegetarian friends: Captain Tofu's Ocean Fingers. Wanna lick the Cap'n's fingers?


Dinner last night. The bread here is hearty. The cheese is strong and crumbly. The salami ... well, let's just say I'm still getting used to eating meat.
-k

im berlin

we're in berlin now. it's a little ... ah ... weird ...

after paris, it's certainly a bit of culture shock. it's a bit too much like detroit for our current tastes. well, detroit with even more gutter punks and hippies and all that. it's like the kids at the trumbullplex and bohemian banded together and invaded an entire city. well, at least near where we're staying it's like that. I hate to sound like an ass, but we're pretty much over all that, you know? A life spent in Detroit will do that to you, I guess.

But we're having fun here still. Yesterday we had some amazing potato&grape soup and crazy apple sorta-mac&cheese. we'll get you the real names in the next post. and the architecture here is cool. today's return trip to mitte cool shopping & and the historic sites should bring good things. some quick pictures for now ...


ann had a bratwurst at a street stand near a flea market. it was really good, actually. I think it had coriander? in it.


me eating some salad.


last night, I made us go to a little bar near our apartment that shows american football. (ann was very nice about coming along - a good sport! ha, get it? grandpa here ...) they had soccer ... err ... football goals in the urinals. I appreciated this.


I had to improvise a shower for us. thankfully, the girl who usually lives here is a musician, so I borrowed one of her mic stands. it works surprisingly well.


yeah ... this coffin store occupies some prime storefront down the street from us.


ann was *really* comfortable here to first night ... or not.
-k

good bye paris

mr. t in paris? oui!


keith enjoys the scooters. this popular "tri-pod" model was funny.


keith and his new sunglasses! tré cool!


our favorite greek take out/street food is the best and I already miss it. the owners don't really speak any english and we have to always point and do our best to order. we guess at most things but are always satisfied! the best part is they give a *free* item with every order - usually we have no idea at all what it is, even after we eat it. (that is a weird thing for me...to eat something and have no clue what is in it!) the first time it was pretty easy...big beans in red sauce, but then it got harder. the second time it was a pinkish paté or sauce. and today it was a wonderful slightly pinky-white spread with this time I guess fresh dill and maybe salmon pieces. either way, it was amazing with bread!

oh, and they have the best feta-stuffed olives....I can't wait for greece!
***


ok. on to dinner. we decided after much research and computer translation to go out for one nice meal. we went to Bistrot du peintre. as expected, the waiter was a little "huffy and impatient" but the food was soooo wonderful! we sat in the outside sealed in plastic section with heat lamps. tré sexy. keith did a great job at ordering. I tend to lack confidence when it comes to being bold with my french on the spot, so keith pointed to our guesses of what we knew was a carrot/zuchinni/parmesan appetizer, and then duck for me and beef for keith.

this dish was so good, I can't even explain. nothing like this simple dish in america. it reminded me of a fancy mac'n'cheese but oh so better. the carrots and zuchini were soft and sweet and there was some kind of seasoned white cream sauce and then the best parmasan baked on top. wowwy pants!

this was keith's beef. wonderful. perfectly done...on the rare side with onion (think french onion soup) on top and big potato wedges. (the fries were amazing. the beef was pretty good, but nothing like how awesome ann's duck was - particularily the sauce. -k)

and mine....the duck. I had no idea what I was getting. when the dish came out I thought, "gee, that isn't scary at all!" the duck was tender and rare...perfect with a peppery crust on top. then the best sauce...like a chutnuy of fruit mixed with butter and maybe aux jus? and again, super great pomme frites and horseradish-tasting greens. all very complimentary.



duck details

beef details

me eating....

...and yup, I got a "gimpy hand" under the table!
-a

montmartre and leftovers

We leave for Berlin tomorrow....but we have some picture catch up to do.

we went to Belleville...it was like the sanfran/chinatown of paris...very hilly too!

and then we stumbled upon this...

super great views with no one around. better than montmartre! plus a very pretty park below. it was in somewhat of a more run-down part of town. this park was right by a housing project.

ooh la la...what views



this was just behind the great view

and then down to the beautiful private park

so, we had to do the steps at montmartre, right?

and the church

very nice, but very touristy



ok, and a few favorites....our preferred bakery bread - plain and poppy

funky cheese

our staple fizzy water and the bottle of wine (which seems to be the hipster brand) was only like 3 Euro...and did the job!

...and I had to get a crepe! it was sprinkled with sugar and butter...oh so good! why can't Detroit have good street food...or let alone the U.S.!