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.!

tre' kool

a funny inside joke: put tre' in front of any english word = very _____ (we like kool)

funny things

so parisan kids are the cutest. even for me, a person who can walk past most smiling babies without an "ahhh". parents are really in style here, because most kids are dressed to the 10's with adorable knit caps, trendy boots, and good hair cuts. I might rethink buying asian babies for a french one!

and another funny...but not so funny because this is where we are headed. these are the clothes in style in the arab countries (we found them walking through a very middle eastern-influenced part of Belleville). looks like sexy pants-suits for me in egypt!
-a

notre dame & louvre

there's a great one of keith and I making facing in front of the mona lisa...more to come...

smells

I hate when really great landmarks in paris are ruined by the smell of pee-pee! paris smells like wonderful croissants, baked goods, crisp air and then...urine! I guess french men don't have a lot of time to use the can when they are busy swooning the ladies!
london smelled of curry. keith always thinks I have a super human sniffer. I am starting to think so.

update re: le tele

ann and I were having dinner, so missed exactly how this happened (I did see something that it involved a message in a bottle sent via mini-parachute), but THEY GOT THE CAR OUT OF THE TREE (remember, the one on the side of the hill?). surprised, aren't you?

now, here's the rub: the car and its inhabitants (and how this happened is the part of the film I missed while eating some of the best food of my life) somehow ended up out of the tree and off the cliffside, but then STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND!

hahahahahaha! tré funny!

I believe this was the rarely seen french prequel to "Le Island de Gilligan."
-k

le tele

this morning, on a channel that "sleeps" overnight (it's just the logo, snoring), I watched a french cartoon that involved - I think - three fleas who lived with two cats. the cats somehow got toy remote control cars and set about torturing the fleas with them.
the next half hour consisted of the cats running over the fleas with the cars, and the fleas attempting to first destroy the cars, then just move out (hobo packs and all) and then again destroy the cars. In the course of all that, they were run over about 25 times. Apparently, French children really like seeing things get all flat-as-a-crepe and then, after a comic beat, popping back to 3-D.

right now, ann is making a boeuf bourguignon and I am watching a movie (sound off - can't unnderstand them anyway - serge gainsbourg on in the background) where the main comedic element is that a funny old man, a weird young guy and an attractive "model-type" woman are in a car that is ... wait for it ... stuck in a tree on the side of a cliff.

ha! get it? see, it's a car ... but it's in a tree on the side of a cliff!

based on the actors' facial expressions, I'd wager the dialog is about as Cannes-worthy as the plot. -k

a few parisian observations

one:
Though it may not be the best gauge of a given city's cleanliness, on this trip I've developed the "B.C.I." (Booger Color Index) as a method for discerning air quality.
In London, when I blew my nose after a day on the town, the tissues ended up what I liked to romantically call "Dickensian Black." In Paris, it's a bit better and a bit cleaner, so let's call this spot's BCI "New Wave Grey."

two:
I have no idea what they're talking about, but old French men in conversation with one another invariably sound as though they are moderately tardy for a park-based, oversized-piece-employing chess tournament.
When they speak to anyone other than their own kind, they seem as though they are trying to charm/steal your girlfriend at a family holiday dinner.

three:
For being "the city of romance," no one in paris looks like they're having any sex, except for maybe a few of the honeymooning tourist couples. The old ladies look like they hate men, the young ladies look like they distrust men and the men of all ages look either hungry for love or resigned to not finding any.

four:
right now in france, they play the following on their version of MTV (it's not actual MTV - it's called "Tubes" or something): alicia keys, paris hilton (yes, they actually play her music video), alicia keys, this alicia keys-like singer called Melissa M (whose big single is totally the "Umbrella" of France - in a good way), some weird french rapper in straightjacket who thinks it's 2001 and he's in D12, sean kingston, fergie and gwen stefani. the complete and total global-ness of culture is a little annoying when you pay lots of money and spend lots of time to go half-way around the world only to see fergie videos and starbucks everywhere (in a country that invented cafe society! couldn't you have resisted, france? I mean, sure, I understand how you got covered in 400 mcdonalds locations - your defenses to global homogenization were low - all of ours were - back when the golden arches started spreading outside the U.S., and you didn't really have a lock on the whole fast-food thing. But you DID already have a lock on serving coffee on every corner BEFORE Starbucks said, "Bonjour, we come in and destroy your culture now." (Starbucks, as an entity, speaks sort of like a roughneck soviet robot - at least in my head.)

five:
Cumin cheese.

six:
A skylight over your bed is worth a six-floor walkup.
-k

paris pt. 1

the table in our apartment


our wonderful clothes drying system...it really works! thank goodness for clean clothes!



yup...this is out the kitchen window! I have not talked yet about the sixth foor walk up yet...but maybe a is video coming. let's just say I can feel the burn!

...and did I mention the skylight over the bed?



computer time...

right downt the street there is the best greek street food take out! yes, you heard me...greek food! the best spinch pie and all sorts of other strange things like giant beans, spreads...olives! they don't understand english so it is always funny when we do our best to point and say what we can. they also have given us a "free" trial item every time, which always turns out to be awesome! yesterday they gave us this very weird whitish-pink creamy dip. I have no idea what it is...it isn't cheese...nor yogurt...but it kinda tastes like a butter spread with maybe a slight fish taste but not strong at all. tre' bon over bread!

keith loves these beans. and the coscous they insist on (confusingly!) calling taboulleh.


keith likes taking pictures


ok, so you have to go to the effiel tower, right? yeah, so I hate heights and I didn't realize that you had to climb an OPEN caged staircase up to the first floor. um...can I say terrifing! keith thought it was fun, but my knees were buckeling. I made friends with the steel inner casing while keith took pics off the side of the tower!

can you see the tears?

keith congratulating me on making it through all that "romantic sightseeing"


oh, just like cedar point!

back on the beautiful ground!

keith took this...so parisan, noh?



something you definitely don't see in the U.S.


oh....and we congered up the nerve to go to the open market near the apartment (very locals-only and not meant for non-french speakers). a little fast paced and frustrating seeing tons of great food and not being able to say even "apple". we figured out enough to order cheese, roast beef (keith did a great job ordering!), veggies (potatoes, carrots, leeks, onion, apple, pear...) and fresh baggettes/crossiants. I made a great stew and will have more pics later.
au revoir
a

this is london

And so it begins ...

taken by moms at the airport ... of course


when we got to london, we discovered a terrace-type space attached to our room. it was weird. but not as weird as ann trying to crawl into her armpit. no not really, but it did take a day or so to adjust to all the weirdness.


the ceiling at the charlotte guest house (w. hampstead, what what!) was this cool embossed fake-plaster piece of work.


ah the brits, nothing like a good pillage! (it was just in the papers there that greece REALLY wants these back now. they're leaving space in their new museum for them, despite britain continuing to insist they have the greater claim.)


another one. yawn, right? no....part of the parthenon. oh, all those art history classes came in handy.


headless beauties


ann was pretty excited about these asyrian horses.


keith was pretty excited about these beards.


hall of heads.


moobs!


doing crack @ tate modern


mmm ... crack


doris salcedo did that so hopefully you won't have to ...


ann's crack (so many crack jokes ...)


keith - totally cracked. bad, cold lunch kinda near tate modern. cold veggie patties - yum.


the wobbly bridge.


this is ann getting back to her old job of taking art blog-type photos at Hotel Gallery in east london. the galleries here were, overall, disappointing. or rather, the work was. the galleries were pretty cool and the scene seemed largely vibrant. (ps: ann has new turquoise oxfords...thank you Topshop in london for saving my feet!)


this place was called "ska scooter." the prices were high (double those of the american vintage market) but my love remained.


hey, east london hipster artists like to gangsta lean their canvasses too! cheerio, mofos!


nice brogues.


nice horns ... @ some temporary gallery space (oh wait, just remembered, it's called lime wharf)


same space.


some tony oursler wannabe at vibe gallery, east london


britain loves newspaper art. here's another artist doing it. this one is of some note, we just can't remember his name right now. let's say mayor mccheese for now.


this is part of above. the artist arranges the paper headlines by each letter. so it starts with all the a's...and so on. pretty neat. he/she did a ny times page.

this space was awesome, but the art, as you can see, was boring. keith was rather upset to see that she (the artist) could afford eames chairs (as depicted in one of her drawings) by selling this crap.


the wooden stairs had a rough/cool/unfinished thing happening. ann later referred to this place as "home depot gallery." it was funny.


totem poles of modern plastics and such at another gallery. the whole little district had the recently-completely-and-and-still-mostly-industrial area feel of miami's warehouse gallery district. weird how that works.




this was upstairs.


so was this.


this was at vilma gold.


this was also at vilma gold


a secret little photo snapped despite the hawkish eyes trying to prevent photos at white cube gallery in shoreditch.


1001 cafe/dance club on a Brick Lane side street. this area is now london hipster central, it seems. the club was cool, we had a nice table, some beverages, a burger and some fries. ann also had her very first pain au chocolat and instantly fell in love.


after taking in the turner prize retrospective at tate britain (quite good - but tons of guards, so not photos), we left for paris. this is the kitchen in our 6th floor walk-up studio in the 11e. it's perfect and we want to live here. immediately.

more paris to come ...

greetings

We're just getting starting finally with our travel blog. It took a few days to get a readily available internet service and we are in paris now coming from our quick and blurry three days in london. London for us was about getting our feet wet. Like a three day stand in customs. They speak english. It is like a less fashionable paris. Great "jacket" potatoes (that is a wonderful large baked potato with cheese and baked beans) and for a poor man's budget. The last one almost tasted like a mexican burrito! yummmm. Around Carnaby street we ate at Mother Mash; the best english mash pototoes, meat pie and gravy. And if you were wondering, Keith is now eating cheese and meat! Yay!
Now...for paris...ahhhhhh....so perfect. We have the most perfect parisian apartment. It might be a sixth floor walk up but with all the wine, cheese and bread it will be good for the ol' thighs! We will have pics to come...and hopefully some funny movie coverage. Now it is just on to conquering the language. I need to know my fromage and vin! hahah...
Goodnight!
a