Berlin Weekend

This year for Christmas I received a ridiculously nice gift from Ignasi. That put my Christmas gift to absolute SHAME. I opened a box with 12 cards inside. These were the cards:

Thursday Night:

From work we hopped in a cab and zipped off to the airport. Our flight was a bit delayed due to wind allowing us some time to enjoy a few beverages. Then we were off!

The Soho Haus is a very beautiful hotel. The lobby was populated by plush chairs and a grand stairwell decorated in a rustic/swanky sort of way that Berlin pulls off so well. It also was adorned with two Damien Hurst 'artworks' that I'm sure upon delivery he was laughing all the way to the bank. One of them 'SOHO HAUS BERLIN' is featured in the above cards.

We dropped our bags in the room and met up with some old Amsterdammer friends (from Toronto) that now live in Berlin—Antonio and Fitza—in the Club Bar on the 7th floor. Where George Clooney also happened to be enjoying some company a few meters away.

Friday:

Woke up in our gorgeous room, enjoyed a waterfall shower in the heated-floor bathroom, and took full advantage of their wide range of Cowshed products. Then we headed out for some wandering.

The light in our room:

We first got a light breakfast near the hotel at Luxemburg cafe and then headed towards the Turkish Market. The market was similar to the markets here in Amsterdam, except there was a lot more amazing street food, and more material.

Some coffee:

Bought a couple posters. One of them is the Metropolis on on the right side of the photo:

Some kids playing football just off the market:

The city is full of people leaving their mark, through tags, graffiti, and sculpture:

After the market we got some food at Manuela Tapa's. And what is this? Yes, a plate full of whole little sea creatures. Usually when I eat these, it's bits of tentacles, not the whole deal. I tried one, and imagined/felt it's little eyes and head popping in my mouth. I decided to stick to the legs after that.

After lunch we wandered to Hasenheide Volkspark. A bit sketchy. And then over to Bergmannstrasse. Some more random acts of art:

Next we went up to the Jewish memorial. Spent some time getting lost in the pillars, and then went into the museum to read the whole story.

After the memorial, we also scoped out the gates to the city, and Checkpoint Charlie.

Friday evening we headed to Markthalle for dinner. We ordered very meaty dishes with a mountain of sauerkraut and the best potatoes au gratin I've ever tasted.

We finished off the meal with some schnapps and sketches, and then headed over to the bustling Lucia for 1...4 gin&tonics, and oh a couple tequila shots. Really, Ignasi?

Saturday:

Breakfast in bed. Properly spoiled.

Wandered around Mitte. Headed over to the Neurotitan Shop & Gallery, enjoyed some great street art in the alley: 

Saw some great stuff in their gallery:

Next up, SpreePark. SpreePark is an abandoned amusement park.

A little info:

"An old GDR-era amusement park flanked by the River Spree, abandoned to the elements at the edge of Treptower Park in Berlin. East Germany's only permanent funpark after opening as the 29.5 hectare Kulturpark Plänterwald in 1969, it was hugely popular, not least because of its 45 metre Riesenrad (ferris wheel). Spreepark was host to some 1.7 million visitors a year at its peak. Since the wall fell in 1989 however, its decline began. Only 400,000 visitors graced the park with their presence in 2001 before it was finally closed, escalating prices, stupid decisions and dodgy dealings contributing to its demise. Debts of €11 million were reported." To see full blog post I copy/pasted that from, go here (it's interesting): 

http://www.abandonedberlin.com/2010/04/spreepark-and-how-to-get-in.html

So, as it is trespassing to enter the park, Ignasi and I of course didn't go. We of course didn't wander the fence for half an hour to find a hole to get in. And we didn't hear the ferris wheel sound like dozens of screaming children when it started spinning on its own accord in the wind. We also of course didn't get kicked out by a very nice security guard 45 minutes later along with 4 other people. So, of course, we didn't take these photos:

After our non-visit to SpreePark, we met up with Ignasi's cousin, Vanessa, and her partner Christian for some dinner at Filetstück. It was proper meat on meat on meat salad, and it was delicious.

After dinner we went for a few beers in the smokiest bar I've been to in years. 

"Malia, they're snorting tobacco at the bar."

"What?! Umm...not sure it's tobacco, Ignasi."

"I was a smoker for years, I know what tobacco looks like."

"Oh, there they go again!"

So that happened.

We next joined Antonio for a few beers at his place and then went to a squatter ping pong bar. One of the stranger scenes I've seen. You enter to a room with a ping pong table in the center. Everyone is there with their own paddles. You circle the table volleying the ball, and as people mess up they get eliminated. Once you're down to two, the game begins. The games went relatively quickly, so I don't think they were full matches. And then everyone got up and started circling again. I was well into my drink at this point, so I didn't manage to get one hit in. Ignasi did a little better. And Antonio made it down to the final two once.

There was also a mini foosball table that we commandeered for some time. I lost.

After some delicious wee-hours-of-the-morning-food, we hopped in a cab back to the hotel.

Sunday:

The next day (or same day) we woke up with fantastically slow moving limbs and pounding heads. Checked out of the room, and wandered over to a breakfast place Ignasi knew of, Strandbad-Mitte. And thank goodness, they serve delicious breakfasts all day. It doesn't look like much from the pictures, but it was actually very cute, and the menu was great, I definitely recommend it:

Bedhead:

After breakfast we headed over to the Hamburger Bahnhof for some culture.

First we admired Martin Honert's sculpture work:

Saw Mr. Warhol:

And were blown away by the meticulousness of George Widener, who looks at dates and figures and draws endless connections. For example, a disaster that happened a Friday for every day of the month throughout history:

And then it was back to Amsterdam. 

Thanks for the trip Ignasi!

Parting Shot:

Chewing Gum At The Metro Stop Makes You Look Like A Thug

January Was Freezing

January was freezing. And even though the snow is all gone now, February may have some tricks up her sleeve as well considering the small random hail attacks we've been experiencing.

So, these pictures were taken Jan 14th—27th when we had the lovely combination of freezing weather + precipitation. So here are some photos I've taken on my morning or evening commute to/from work. I must warn you though, they're mostly just a bunch of pictures of canals. BUT, this time, they're not taken on my phone, they were taken on my new camera. So thank you Mom, Dad, and Ignasi for the wonderful birthday present!

 

Three Kings Barcelona

I was the lucky winner of two Christmas holidays this year. The first, in the wintery wilderness of Northeast Washington state, the second, in the sunny and vibrant metropolis of Barcelona! I got to enjoy the best of both worlds.

It wasn't exactly Christmas that we celebrated in Catalonia, but rather, Three Kings (Dia de los Tres Reyes). A celebration of the day the three kings arrived in January to say "hello" to baby Jesus and adorn him with gifts. And, subsequently, the day of the main gift-exchange for the Spanish people (instead of December 25th). December 25th carries other traditions, involving a 'slightly' altered Santa, this guy: 

I'm not going to go into the details right now, but you should look it up. 

So, Ignasi and I headed south for a long weekend to enjoy family, festivities, and sun.

The first day in town we headed down to the water for a late lunch near the W Hotel. Ignasi's lovely family:

One of our paella's dyed black with squid ink (delicious!):

Post-meal sunset walk:

After sunset we headed to the main Barcelona parade for King's Night. The parade celebrates the arrival of the three kings, with lots of beautiful floats, costumed people, and the kings as well. 

Throughout the parade there were helpers collecting letters from the children, containing their wishes, to be delivered to their favorite king:

And there were lots and lots of presents:

These photos were taken on my phone, and are of terrible quality, so I only have 1 king sort-of in focus:

There were also beautifully constructed elephants, giraffes, horses, and robots (?).

After the parade we wandered over to Santa Mara Del Mar:

And then met up with a group of Ignasi's friends for eats and drinks:

The next day, while nursing a gin&tonic hangover, we finished wrapping presents and joined Ignasi's family in the living room to exchange gifts. Included in our gang were Ignasi's parents, Pere and Tere, his brother Ferran with his girlfriend Tajka, and his cousins Eva and Vanessa with their partners Borja and Christian. Quite the crew!

So, as you can imagine, there were too many presents to fit under the tree:

After the presents, we headed over to Eva and Borja's house for lunch/dinner. I failed to take pictures this night, but it was a lovely evening. We first enjoyed some drinks out on the terrace in the sun, then moved inside for a beautiful meal, including the traditional holiday cake. You can wind up with the bean, or the king. If you get the bean, you must pay for the cake, if you get the king...well...you're the king of course! And you get to recite a poem. We ended the evening with a lively game of Party&Co. A view from the terrace:

The next day Ignasi and I went to see some of the fruits of Barcelona. First off was Park Guell to admire Gaudi's work and the view of the city:

This guy, in his full cheetah attire, serenaded us with a "meow" song he was making up:

Next we headed down to the water to ride the Port Cable Car installed for the 1929 International Exhibit. The ride takes you from the port to Maramar on Montjuic. I must say, it's pretty high up there. Strangely enough, the most nerve-racking part was approaching the mid-way tower. Perhaps because it gives you a point of reference for how high up you are.

Once we reached Montjuic, we walked up to the castle, where Ignasi gave me some Catalan history lessons.

Parched from all the sun and views, we returned to the port and made our way along the restaurants scouting for some refreshments. And we found this place:

Can't say I've enjoyed a bottle of champagne on a curtained mattress overlooking a restaurant while being offered messages before. So that was interesting.

After champagne we headed into town for dinner with Ferran and Tijka. And we ended the evening at the movies to watch Les Misérables. A good movie, but holy smokes it was long! And honestly, do you really need to describe every character's feelings through a song?

Our final day before takeoff we had a couple errands to run. While out, we wandered by the Barcelona Cathedral, and entered through it's courtyard:

Skulls, names, and crests marked most of the floor stones . All clues point to these being burial places:

And we were blown away upon entering the cathedral:

And exiting out the front:

Adéu Barcelona! That was great :)