It's raining

So it's been pouring the last two days or so, making venturing out to explore kind of strenuous. Yesterday I came back soaking wet having to change clothes as I stupidly didn't have an umbrella. I also nearly lost my wallet, which was a harrowing experience! I ate dinner at a falafel place, paid, went to use the bathroom, and left. After going one stop on the train, I thought it would be a good idea to check for my wallet before I got home. Lo and behold, it was not there! I raced out of the doors of the subway, found the next train back, and practically sprinted through sheets of rain back to the falafel place. I was only gone for about 15 minutes or so, and fortunately I know my way around Berlin well enough that I knew exactly where the place was. I walked in, checked the bathroom, and sure enough, my wallet was sitting exactly where my jacket had been, with everything still in it. I feel really lucky for that. I have never really lost my wallet, only misplaced it for a few panicked hours or minutes every so often. Loosing my money and passport in a foreign country is not something I want to experience, especially since I am leaving for home in 2 days.



That's another beast I rode around in the rain yesterday - Berlin is a great city to bike in, and step-through frames are very popular. I've seen very few sleek italian racing machines such as the ones that are oh-so popular in SF.

Berlin Wall

Gazing at the kilometer-long still standing section of the Berlin Wall, I am overwhelmed. The graffiti splashed and collaged on this atrocious structure stands as a portal into people's hopes, dreams, stupidity, and comic relief. I had a hard time keeping it together - so many colors and words represent so many people's frustration, pain, sadness, joy, heartbreak, relief.

I take my time strolling past this monument. At the beginning I see a young couple attempting to chip a piece out of the wall to take home as a souvenir. It's unfortunate that much of the phrases now scrawled on the surface are mostly tourist sentiments (so and so was here European vacation 2006, etc). Much of the original art has been spray painted over many times. Still, much remains in the way of references to peace and hope.

Bike rides and the Pergamon museum

I've been doing a lot of walking, sightseeing, and eating of Falafels in Berlin. It's hard to get lost here as there is a subway or tram within 10 minutes or less of anywhere in the center of the city. Plus, there is food everywhere; like I said, I've been eating a lot of REALLY GOOD falafels as they are vegetarian and cheap! A falafel sandwich costs between 2 and 3 Euros, or about $3-4. Food is really cheap and very good quality here, even fast food.

Monday I took a bike tour which was a lot of fun, and our guide was pretty knowledgeable about Berlin history. We rode around for about 4 hours, stopping at the Reichstag, the Holocaust Memorial, Museum Island, and of course checkpoint charlie. She regaled us with tales of escape over, under, and through the wall from East to West Berlin, as well as describing the reconstruction effort after each war. The weather was beautiful and warm, and I managed to get a little sunburned (but not badly).




I'm now staying at the home of Fabienne and Khorben, who've been in Berlin for 2 years. Fabienne is French-American from California and has been out of the states for 4 years (2 in Paris, 2 in Berlin); Khorben is also French. They are great company and know the city well, in addition to knowing a lot about computer hardware/software hacking and sock knitting!

Tuesday it rained, so I headed off to the museums. I first toured the DDR museum, which is an interactive walk through life in East Berlin during the communist era. The curators did a good job of showing typical life of an average East Berliner from birth to middle age. I next visited the Pergamon museum, which has a ton of classical Roman, greek, and islamic sculputures and structures. It was absolutely amazing, with huge reconstructions / restorations of buildings inside the museum.



Berlin is really a beautiful city, with rich history. It's been in near constant turmoil in the 1900's, but is now bustling with hipsters, travelers, food and culture from all over the world. In essence, a big melting pot.

Mauer Park Flea Market

Yesterday I stumbled upon an awesome flea market in Mauerpark, within walking distance to Lette'm Sleep, the hostel I've spent a couple of nights in. I was starving, and of course there was food - but mainly bratwurst and bread. Fortunately, I found some pretty good fries with ketchup and mayo.



After silencing my rumbling belly, I had a walk around. It was unfortunate that I was unable to find an ATM before getting there, as there were a lot of things I wanted to buy. It's comparable to several flea markets around the bay, but better as everything is a little different. I'd say the best values are for housewares there (one girl was walking around with the most awesome hanging lamp I've ever seen), but that kind of stuff is just to big to really bring home to the US. As with most flea markets, the vendors to the front have the most expensive things, while those in the back are a little cheaper.

It was great to walk around and take in the sights and sounds of a local event. There was music and art everywhere! The first group I saw was this jazz/r&b group that played on top of a Mercedes-Benz RV. They were pretty good, and people really got into it.




I sat and watched these guys for a while, the bass player/drummer was pretty good. Kind of psychadelic hippie jamming but it was still nice to listen to. When the saxaphone player passed his hat around, I dropped a Euro in.

I wandered around for a bit and finally settled in on the hillside to peoplewatch and peruse my German phrasebook. I still can't speak German, but I'm not expecting to really learn much. Probably the best part of the afternoon, besides sitting in the sun and relaxing, was seeing a group of people spread out on the wall behind the park to paint murals and Graffiti.



This flea market happens every weekend in Mauerpark, so I'll definitely be back next weekend to check it out again before I leave.

Berlin!

It's a wonderful city. I arrived on Friday night, a little tired from waking up at 5:30am (ugh). I flew into Frankfurt and then took an ICE train (high speed long distance train) to Berlin. The train ride was very pleasant. It's quiet, you can get pretty good food, and look out the window at the rolling green hillside. I was very surprised to see that it reminded me of California! Maybe that's just my homesickness though. But really, it reminded me of taking long drives in Northern California to my cousins' place in the woods. All of the houses, however, are a lot different. Europe has a typical farm house or structure - cream or bright white with red rooftops.

The S- and U-bahns (main subway and metro trains) are amazing here. Most of the day they run every 3 minutes, and at night and sundays every 10. Normally, I feel I have no sense of direction, but in Berlin, I have found it very easy to get around by train or by walking. In many respects I feel like I am in San Francisco, but it's bigger and with much better public transportation. There are all sorts of colorful people here, many of them friendly, and every building is different.

Last night I met with a knitting group that meets regularly at a cafe in Berlin. It was pretty nice to go and meet, even if I don't speak German. A few of the people there spoke english, however, so I was at least able to chat with them and get some names of a couple yarn shops. We all shared our knitting projects (I showed off my gloves and hat that I'd made a while ago) and gave feedback - one woman called my fuzzy turquoise gloves crazy! But I think this was a compliment. I was invited by Kim, who is a friend of Fabienne, who I'm going to stay with for the rest of my time here. Fabienne is a friend of my friend Matt, who met here at CCC in Berlin around August. Fun stuff - it's great to make foreign connections.

I've met quite a few cool people on this trip, given out my e-mail a few times, gotten a few more - I hope I can at least remember to keep contact when I get back, as at times I'm so bad at it. I think I will need to make better effort in the future.

Au Revoir, Paris

So today I left Paris bright and early at 6am. I was actually happy to leave. I, unfortunately, was not terribly impressed by this place, except maybe by the Cemetier Montmartre. Cemetaries are a bit amazing to me - the aged, rotting tombstones and crypts, strewn with dried flowers and leaves left by mourners long ago. Cemetier Montmartre is a huge, sprawling lot, with lots of family crypts and families of cats. I've dubbed them "les Chats de Mort" (the cats of death), even though they don't seem remotely deadly to me.

I wandered around for about an hour and a half, enjoying the peace and quiet, so to speak. I was in photographic bliss! I love picturing rust, and the delicate stains of dirt, smoke, and pollution.

Bonjour, Comment ca va?

Paris is weird and expensive. I've been here since Saturday night. Sunday and a portion of Monday were spent mostly sleeping as I've caught a bad cold (or, en francais). I've been staying at the Montclair hostel on the 6th floor. Other than the strenuous climb up 6 flights of steep, winding stairs, the hostel is pretty nice. It's really clean, fairly comfortable, and the staff is really nice. Our room has its own bathroom that only three people share - a lot better than the previous. It's also got a kitchen and a lobby - probably another reason I've been here so much.

On Monday night, I was a bit relieved to hear another American voice in the kitchen. I introduced myself to Shavonne, a bartender from Seattle, and two Hungarian youths (I forget their names!) and was promptly handed a beer. We chatted for a bit and quickly became friends, eventually wandering out to a bar nearby to talk loudly about English language, rugby, football, and other miscellany shared over several bottles of wine. We eventually made our way back to the hostel to hang out in the Hungarian's room, and were interrupted several times by the staff on duty to keep the noise down. I guess laughter carries in the corridors.





Shavonne, me, and Shavonne's roommate, an Australian, met the next day (Tuesday) to head to the Louvre. They were hungover, and the Louvre was closed, so we didn't get very far. All city museums in Paris are closed on Tuesdays. It was, however, a beautiful day. Shavonne took off shortly after we arrived to get a train ticket to Amsterdam, where she was headed the next day. The Australian (I'm so terrible with names) and I wandered around for a bit, and I eventually found an english language bookstore where I bought some short stories by Roald Dahl, some pens, and a pretty good map of Paris. I've been dying for something to read since I got here. Since we were both exhausted, we headed back to the hostel to nap.

My days in Paris have been spent getting up late, wandering for a few hours, migrating back to the hostel in the afternoon, napping, and wandering again in the evening. I finally got a chance to do a little clothes shopping today, and found some excellent (and expensive) new duds. I've been really frugal so far, so I think I can splurge a little bit. Now that I'm starting to feel better (thanks to french over the counter cold remedies), I'm going to try to spend my last day at the cemetary in Montmartre and on a bike tour in the afternoon.