London swallowed my purse!

London was good to us..providing a break from the icy cold in Berlin and more than anything the chance to see friends we miss.  Aside from these happy times I had a bit of a miserable afternoon in our second to last day there.  The morning went swell..some meandering around the streets and climbing up The Monument with great friends in tow.  Whilst the afternoon was not so ideal, my cold progressed at an undesirable rate (Rudolph aint got nothin' on me!) and I lost my purse during my Harrods experience.  I will never forget my adventure in Harrods..sadly for the wrong reason.  Bloomin' Harrods swallowed up my purse and all the irreplaceable items inside.  After retracing my steps for a good half hour, Daniel and Abby kindly waited in Topshop for me to return complete with lost goods.  Unfortunately I did not, tears aside I sucked it up and enjoyed an evening out at Brick Lane with some old friends. I'm pretty glad I didn't throw a big paddy and call the night off because I had too much fun.  Much later in the evening the necessary follow up commenced, including the cancellation of credit cards and informing the insurance company of the incident.  Let's hope the German side of things won't be too testing on my patience!

Daniel and I are miserable and sick in bed on the eve of New Years, here's all my fingers and toes crossed that we make a speedy recover for tonight.  Our first and possibly last NY in Berlin, we better be up for machen party ya.

Happy NY 2011 all my lovelies out there,
xxx

Christmas in London

Christmas day couldn't have gone more smoothly.  We began the morning with a well deserved sleep in and brekky..complete with perfectly scrambled eggs, bacon and Moet champagne.

We all settled into the couch watching 'Boy' just to put a Kiwi feel to Christmas in London.  I tell you despite being in our mid 20's opening pressies was a rather big deal! Complete with 'wows!', 'pretty look at this' and 'Ohh just what I wanted!'.

Warrington is a goodie

Our Christmas Eve dinner at Gordon Ramsey's 'The Warrington' was delicious, all the courses tasted just like Christmas should.  In the safety of a warm and cozy dining room we watched the trees swaying in the bitter cold through double glazed windows.  Did you know that having a Winter Wonderland Christmas is the best thing?  Not only does all the food make sense with the cold weather but today while our chicken was roasting we took a walk through the park and played in the snow.  I love you Christmas in London:)

Weihnachtsmarkt Withdrawal

I'm not going to lie and say that it wasn't hard leaving the Weihnachtsmarkt fun (Christmas markets) in Berlin.  Special in a hundred wonderful ways and complete with all the trimmings..ice skating rink, giant sized christmas tree, gluhwein and ferris wheel.  Magical magical magical, I hope anyone visiting or living in Berlin takes full advantage of the festive season and checks out Berlin's finest.  Top 3 on the list were: 1) Gendarmenmarkt Weihnachtsmarkt - ritzy and romantic.  2) Weihnachtsmarkt am Fernsehturm - authentic and charming, I found someones adorable set of pictures here.  3) As for you Weihnachtsmarkt Alexa, you will be sadly missed.  You and all your bright lights and crazy fun.

Gendarmenmarkt

Weihnachtsmarkt Alexa

View from the top!

When did I develop this new fear of heights?

I am still feeling sufficiently festive after making trifle with our lovely host Petra tonight.  And after the minor prepping for Xmas day I can taste the traditional Kiwi deserts on the tip of my tongue.  One ingredient is missing, where oh where is the snow London?  Give us a white Christmas..go on.

London how pretty are you?

Safely landed in London, a pretty big mission waiting around sprawled over airport chairs for a couple hours.  Being contained within our plane on Gatwick tarmac for over 40 minutes as ground staff sourced a spare set of stairs to get us all off!  Running through the airport battling with 30kilos worth of luggage to make the last scheduled train to Victoria.
Estimated travel time: 3 hours
Actual travel time: 8 hours

Despite the headache, we are so happy to be here to experience yet one more city and spend time with some very wonderful people for Christmas.

Grumpy face for 2 losses in 2 days

Indoor Winter Hobby

Knitting
I have been teaching myself how to knit over the past 2 weeks.  My new hobby, made for sitting snuggled up indoors and creating sweet pieces to add to the Winter woolly's selection.  At times extremely frustrating but more therapeutic than not.  My clever little friend inspired me with all her wonderful craft skills.  She promised to teach me to knit but somehow our busy Berlin schedules got in the way.  You can see her wonderful blog here she is truly truly gifted.

15 chilly things

Chilly bikes in the garden

Feet chilling in the mound of snow

Pumpkin pie for hungry eyes

On the 25th of November 2 American's, 3 Kiwi's, 1 French Canadian and 1 token German indulged in a night of thanks. 

Host: Sarah the amazing American who nailed the Turkey despite being a vegetarian and who was fabulously adorned in floral cooking pinny.  Together Sarah and her visiting brother cooked and slaved away over their first SOLO thanksgiving dinner.  Their mother would be so proud! 

More after the jump...

Weihnachtsmarkt Alexa

Thank you http://wishbringer.twoday.net/topics/Event/

I'm sitting in bed listening to 'Christmas In Africa - The Seraph Choir', whilst writing this blog..it's so interesting.  Some of the words I can definately make out, I wonder how they dance while they're singing?  I'm almost certain consuming too many gluhwein's at the christmas markets accounts for my sudden urge to engage in such behaviour.  So to the point already!  Tonight......I went to the Weihnachtsmarkt at Alexa.  You can see a pretty picture here.  There are many markt's scattered throughout Berlin, each with their own special feature.  Alexa is known to be the biggest and I support that claim, it is definately very big and happpening..imagine the Auckland Easter Show on crack, every epileptics worst nightmare.

3 perfect things that happened tonight during Weihnachtmarkt Alexa adventure

Lebkuchen that says I love you

1. Ate popping candy flavoured almonds
2. Drank Gluhwein (mulled wine) out of a little red boot while dainty snowflakes were falling:-)!
3. Decided which ride I'm going on next time

I am truly in my element after visitng Weihnachtmarkt tonight with a fellow christmas enthusiast yayayyayayyayyy (too many y's!).  I'm sorry there are no great photos, Daniel nipped off to Spain and took the camera with him, boo.


FYI I switched from African carols to Frank Sinatra it's just more my thing:)  If you feel like plumping up your christmas spirit listen to this festive song :) 

love love

Gimme Hunter's!

 

The forecast for tomorrow is snowwww. Can you believe that there will be snow in November?  If I were back in NZ right now I"d be picking out my new summer swimming cozzy and playing tennis in the weekends.  Booo.  On the other hand winter is a good time for buying great boots, making heart-warming meals and listening to dreamy music.  Equipment you need to make a wonderful winter day...

• Search http://www.cloggs.co.uk for great Hunter wellies
• Make this scrumptious delight that I found here..http://www.kitchenparade.com/2003/11/pumpkin-bread-pudding.php
• Listen to Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zero's album From Below.  You lucky birdies back home get to see these guys grace the stage at BDO.  Green with envy:)

X

The best toasted sammy's in town!

What a superb Berlin weekend, despite the rapidly descending temperature the weather is just beautiful and the friends are even better!  Friday I had a snazzy home haircut by a fellow Kiwi, (Ex-Stephen Marr hair design, tell me about friends in high places!  Wonderful perk yusss!) followed by many beers, nibbles and a very late bedtime.  A cozy Saturday night in, yummy dinner, movie and warmth.  For the first time in a while I faced a Sunday morning.  Not only was I out of bed before 11am, but I'd already served up some home-made muesli/grated apple/yogurt/coconut combo and was on my way home from a power workout at the gym.

I found this IKEA apple-corer in the cupboard this morning..pretty sweet!

 More to read after the jump:)

M.I.A

Berliners from all different boroughs ventured out into the cold cold 4degrees to see the much anticipated Mathangi Arulpragasam (M.I.A) kick it at Huxley's.  Her music is described as hip-hop, electric, dance, alternative and recently my Itunes took it upon itself to categorize M.I.A  as world?

More after the jump...including video footage of Galang.

East Side Gallery

Wikipedia says that East Side Gallery is a an international memorial for freedom.  1.3km of pure amazement, walking down what was the East side of the Berlin Wall reading quotes, photographing the works and fooling around makes for a perfect Berlin outing.  My favourite pieces from the Berlin Wall (Berlin Mauer).

Feel free to leave a comment if you'd like to find out the artist of a particular painting.

More after the jump...

Potsdam Paradise

Potsdam, capital city of the German state Brandenburg and only a 24km train ride from the city of Berlin.  Aside from the cultural ambience, there are plenty of important things to note about Potsdam.

• Potsdam is to Germany as Windsor is to England.  Schloss Sanssouci was the former Summer palace to Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.
• The palace (schloss) of Sanssouci is an official World Heritage site.
• Potsdam is home to Filmstudio Babelsberg, pre-war movie production company and the oldest large-scale film studio in the world.
• Cecilienhof Schloss was host to the Potsdam conference (17th July - 2 August 1945).  The Soviet Union (Stalin), The United Kingdom (Churchill), and The United States of America (Truman) met to discuss the consequences of World War II. 

 

More photos after the jump...

Ku64, the dental enthusiasts dream

Dear Pals,

Today I found out that the German water source isn't fluoridated, this news left me feeling as though I was missing out on having strong teeth.  Feeling betrayed by authorities for not informing me of this vital fact upon filing my Visa application, I made it my mission to find a stash of fluoride and some xylitol chewing gum..hehe. 

Spook time!

 Germans fail to recognize Halloween and instead of stocking dress-up costumes, pumpkins and trick or treating goods they drown their shop shelves in Christmas goodies despite being 2 months premature.  Fair to say with no pumpkins or spooky candies in sight, it made for a difficult task finding a costume.  Not completely impossible though, after consulting my wardrobe I resorted to dressing as 'Princess of grunge' Courtney Love (not unlike my usual Berlin party outfits), Dan managed to pull off 'Where's Wally' effortlessly.  Coming from a mother who threw the best Halloween parties in the street, helped plan our costumes weeks in advance and even set up indoor trick or treating one year due to rainy skies, there was no way I was missing out on some spook silliness.  Friends over for casual bevvy's then an adventure to a Mexican friends birthday bash in Kreuzberg made for a spooktastic Halloween.  Having immigrated to Berlin from Bolivia her party was equipped with pinata and a slightly creepy shrine in honour of the day of the dead.

 

Daniel really is all you need to see, however there are more photos after the jump...

Oh Rome

My lovelies,
I report all about Rome, these days I find myself reminiscing about my brief time there far too often!  Oh Rome! Rome is the most beautiful City I've laid eyes on and exceeded any expectations I had.  Oh the romance, the good looking stylish people, the gelato, skipping through cobble-stoned footpaths, laying eyes on Vatican City.  Weaving through the maze of tourist attractions, the free hugs around Trevi Fountain, climbing the winding stairs to the top of St Peters Basilica, taking in the view of St Peters square. Ahhh do you have all day because I could go on and on and on and on!  The monstrous colosseum, relaxing on the Spanish steps, and most of all getting to experience every attraction with 2 of my most amazing friends.  I have a million and one photos because we all went a little overboard, however I made a little movie for your happy viewing:)


Enjoy my beautiful people!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z4Kp3nN3Jc

Amore and donkeys

Watch this space for recap on Rome and Greece:)  I have been slack I don't need to be reminded of that fact but I promise for updates galore over the next week or so!
Love you all!!!

Berlin Festival of Lights

The sixth annual Festival of Lights, presenting Berlin as a sparkling metropolis.  Historical landmarks and famous spots are swimming in the prettiest of illuminations from the 13th-24th October. 

Willkommen Berlin Natee

I'm reporting a safe arrival of Natalee from Dubai to Berlin, where she plunged into the icy wind front and jumper-worthy weather of Berlin after coming from high 30's.  For Natee it was a shock to the system, but no bigger than some of the shockers we enjoyed yesterday while strolling the streets.  Tongue for lunch, live bears in the park, witnessing 2 abandoned dog poops in the train station and a raging anti fascist demonstration right outside our apartment block (we live next door to punks, they can't get enough of those demonstrations).  The weather may have been a cold and horrible welcome, however the day's activities were quite the opposite. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAJP1UyonyU

Today's line-up, a hearty breakfast followed by an adventure to Tempelhof airport.  Armed with nibbles and wine we're going to witness Berlin attempting to achieve a Guinness Book of World Records for the largest mosaic in the world.  Using the Tempelhof runway, polar bears aim to create Knut the cuddly polar bear using 6,500 rubbish wheely bins.  Tonight, we have some sweet tranny action at Warschauer Str.  The formal name awarded to the event is trannylicious and it's the first annual Berlin tranny olympics.  All you need to do is mouth those 3 words..men..fishnets..glitter and I am there!!  Amongst the competitions; a wet T-shirt event, lip syncing, eating contests and finishing with a 100-metre tranny sprint. 

Thanks for reading:)

I have been in ilegal parties better organised than Berlin Festival 2010

The very deserving title I have given this post is a newly birthed facebook group that I just became a member of!

Edwyn Collins yay

Terrible organization aside, I'm here to share all the spectacular moments..drool worthy riffs..pumping beats and all around deep satisfaction with yesterday's line-up. 

Berlin Festival..yes oh yes

Hi friends,

First night down with a ripe home arrival time of 2am and an epic night 2..waiting in the wing.  Last night it was unexpected cool, the set-up was unbelievable.  Berlin Festival 2010 is held at an old and somewhat abandoned airport in Berlin named Tempelhof.  Mostly we hear stories of friends grilling at Tempelhof but haven't ventured out there yet. 

Vegetarisch ab Wedding

Ok so here goes, my first official kebab rating.  I like the number 5 so everything will be rated out of 5, innovative I know.  Given I am not the kebab master I'm just Larelle, I'll draw from friends experiences to validate what I've said.

An interview with the lovely Vivian Oberhollenzer

1. Philosophically speaking, is the kebab half full or half empty? Half full
2. How do you take your kebab? With love and vege's (fresh please).  Garlic, mayo, sweet chilli
3. Do you have a nickname? Viv
4. Best joint in town? Mustafa's, U-bahn station Mehringdamm.   

Kebab Quest

This kebab is Berlin legit!

Doner Kebab (better known in Berlin as döner kebap):  Abbreviated döner and also referred to as donair, donar and donner.  Middle Eastern origin + lamb meat on vertical spit + sliced to order = deeelish!  Similar dishes are shawarma (Arabic), gyro's (Greek) and kebab (English).

I liken myself to the Hoff most days, particularly now that my knightly expedition has officially commenced.

Dan and Relle do rural Germany

TEMPLIN
After our 2 hour journey on multiple trains we reach the region of Brandenburg and Templin.  A small 8 km car trip and we reach Dargersdorf.  There really is only 1 street in Dargersdorf, it's self-titled with a scattering of residential and bach type properties for a few of the well-off Berliners.  A to the MAZING..if you can manage an "in" (we have Casp to thank for our weekend away in Dargersdorf) then it's definately worth the trip. 

Amsterdam part 2..

Continuing on from Amsterdam (which feels like forever ago) we explored the streets, embraced the space cakes and wore suspicious looking emergency raincoats when it bucketed down with rain on our Red Light tour.

Sunday in the Dam

Riding through the Dam I tremble with anticipation at what this City will offer me over my 4 night stay.  My train is making peculiar racing car noises, the tram driver initially forgot to take my fare money,we pass a group of shady looking young blokes and as we pass H&M even the clothing models look as if they've been on the Koosh.  Is it in light of knowing cannabis is freely sold and freely smoked that I'm seeing the red ring in the eyes of everybody I walk past?  Or is smoking cannabis the most common passtime next to cycling through the streets?

Once I arrived at my accommodation I couldn't escape fast enough.  Destination "The Flying Pig", in my opinion the owner had only one real motive for not installing any ventilation in the pokey underground common room-slash-smoking room...Hotttttttttt Boxxxxxxxxxx!  I explored the neighbouring park Vondelpark as I waited to check into my room.  The edges of the park were littered with dodgy individuals (my judgement based on the content of their conversations with themselves).  I questioned the safety of my exploration mission as I drifted through the hazy smoke and stepped over and around the hundreds of comatose bodies sprawled on the green.  Joking!! Gross exaggeration there were pockets of dog walkers, cyclists, families holding hands, a dash of peculiar scents with a sprinkling of limp bodies on the green. 

Morning 1 in Amsterdam
To be continued........

Norske språket er skrullete (2 words..google translate)

Let me bring to your attention that all single women and men should make the journey to Oslo, Norway at some stage in life.  These Norwegian individual's were genetically blessed and deserve a mention.  Nowhere have I come across such a concentration of good looks, for sure Paris had the occasional head turner but Oslo is teaming!!! Not only are they sensational looking with their deep tans, light hair and limbs to turn you green with envy but they are very friendly and likely to be earning some mad cheddar (money?).  I'm basing this on the ludicrous prices of food and drink (Daniel's single 330ml can of cider was equivalent to $13.50NZD) and I'm presuming the wage is relative?  So singles if you're still seeking take the plunge!

I would like to enlighten you all on the coping mechanism involved with being booted in the nose by your opponent in a football match.  A step by step process follows:

Back on the blog..

I am officially back up and running after nearly a complete blog-free month.  I was probably too busy enjoying all the public football viewings..beer..and lying in the sunshine.  Not to rub it in friends, family and followers but we have full-blown Summer happening over here in Berlin,  my main train of thought upon waking is 'where shall I lie in the sunshine today?'   There will now be a steady influx of posts relaying my events over the month of June and I'm looking forward to it! 

xxx

Mr Peeper

Today's entry is unbelievably horrifying.  It's often the most shocking moments of your life that make for exceptional stories and provide the most amusement!

Boobs and Bikes

My new bike is a sweet ride, I feel like it may be the becoming of me.  Today we went on an adventure to Tiergarten in 30 degree sunny skies.  I wrote down what appeared to be fool-proof directions to Tiergarten (thanks to the help of BBBike Berlin).  At direction 8 of 12 I got madly lost, ending up on the other side of the River and having no clue where in Berlin I was.  I had to bike back for a good 20 minutes trying to find a road among the shlerers and shleises that sounded familiar.  A bridge, a beach bar, a near death collision with a small child and I arrive in Tiergarten well overtime.  I'm going to get a little picture just to show to you the extent of this park, 20km of bikers heaven.

We like big bears and we cannot lie..those other bears can't deny

Berlin has decided it's Summer and the City is buzzing!

With Sunny skies comes mischief..grilling, sunbathing and visiting bears.  Live, roaring, people-eating bears tucked away in a small enclosure in the middle of Kollnischer Park next to Dan's work.  In my ignorance I'm going to call that quirky, as I have no clue to the significance of having 2 brown bears in the middle of a City.  They seem happy enough with their own private keeper, a pool to cool down in and plenty of visitors.  Given Berlin loves it's history there's gotta be a great story behind them, for now they are Berlin's living mascots Schnute and Maxi.
 

Pause at 37 seconds!

For those who wanted to check the Subject60 party, follow the attached link to Face Hunter's blog and watch the movie from the night.  Better yet, pause at 37 seconds and you'll see me in all my glory milling around the cocktail bar. SNAPPED!!!  The guy featured was perhaps my own personal bartender for the night..sad but true.  Anyway I have a little crush on Face Hunter and love his work, hopefully this clip sells him to you and gets you all on board.  Take note of Lykke Li's performance...*sigh*...amazing!
Bye for  now X
http://facehunter.blogspot.com/

Home Sweet Home..

Wedding has been a welcoming neighbourhood so far, kebabs a plenty and fruit shops galore.  Everything is at our doorstep which makes life easy and lets me give Wedding 2 thumbs up!  I went to IKEA spending 4 hours on Saturday and have now furnished our room.  Daniel really enjoyed the 4 posted oh-so-girly iron bed-frame, that's what you get when you leave it up to the girls!  We are lucky to have an area of lush green as our backyard and a park through the gate.  Recently I presented Dan with ping-pong bats and balls, there have been some close challenges but I have yet to beat him. 

Hope you enjoy xxx
P.S. Obviously it's always sunny like this too...pffft I wish!

Some fun Berlin snaps

Out and about in Berlin so far, the favourites:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxfskezcFOc

Lykke Li completes me..

Subject60 - a ridiculous marketing scheme to launch the new Volvo model.  A lavish party series in each of Berlin, London, Milan, Paris and Madrid.  The stars of the night were Swedish star Lykke Li (my most favourite singer ever, despite only having 1 album) and Face Hunter (Europes most popular street style blogger).
 
Exclusive tickets...well that's where I came into the scheme of things, winning 2 tickets via iHeartBerlin.  Considering Lykke Li hasn't got a scheduled gig here I was a lucky little basket to get the chance to see her!  I've never ever seen people so well dressed, I think Face Hunter had been in their thoughts when they were getting ready.  The fashion was cutting edge, the cocktails were free flowing and Lykke Li's performance was outrageous!  She is everything and more in the flesh, stunning..amazing..sensational voice and her dance moves were killer! 

P.S. Oh and I was front row!!!

 Lucky me:)