moving on to pretty things.

Hey all you lovely Berliner-elle readers,

I have moved onwards from the days of Berlin (sadly) and I am now documenting my new adventures in Melbourne, Australia.

It would make my heart very happy if you were to become a follower of my new blog you pretty things. Just follow the link. http://heyprettythings.blogspot.com

Love and happiness to you all,

xxx

where Mel was Bourne.

thanks to Roz McQuillon via redbubble for posting this glorious Melbourne masterpiece

Tomorrow is the day I will dip my toes into the world of Melbourne. 

Apparently I like to blog the night before I move somewhere, it's a funny wee habit that I have acquired along the road of relocation. One of the perils of having a somewhat obsessive nature, is that packing turns into a huge production that is neither fun or exciting for my Mr Lover and I. I can only hope that after such a debacle I have managed to remember every little essential item so as to be ready for my big adventure.

very bad blogger!

The last post was close to 2 months ago and this makes me a very bad blogger. In justifying my reason for very low blogging activity, I can say I have a fairly legitimate excuse. The name of the blog is Berliner-Elle and the reason for launching this blog was to share my Berlin experiences. I felt like a bit of a cheater for blogging about things that didn't take place in Berlin. After some recent travelling I just cannot fathom how many amazing opportunities there were to blog that I let slip through my fingers. In saying that, I've decided that this blog will remain active and I will continue to blog about all things life - irrespective of them being in Berlin. This makes me very happy.

X

lucky to know you.

Today is an emotional day. I am extremely excited about my impending Budapest adventure with my boyfriend and friend and being reunited with family after 14 months apart. On the other hand, I am facing the cruel reality of leaving a lot of very beautiful friends behind in Berlin. There are promises of visiting each other in the not-too-distant future (I can only hope!). Here's to you friends, I endeavor to maintain these friendships from the other side of the world. It is all of you that make Berlin such an incredible city and meeting you was something very special. Through what you have taught me, physically I am the same person but fundamentally I am changed.

gonfaron and goodbyes

I can't really believe how fast the last 4 weeks have gone. I'm beyond excited to be in Marseille but there was a sad au revoir this morning, goodbye Gonfaron in all your donkey flying glory. I selected a few of my favourite snaps from my time spent in Gonfaron. Countless hours of helping out in the yard and gardens, countless delectable meals and countless entertainment provided by 2.5 year old cuties.
After the jump for more pictures...

hunting for eggs

 

hoppity hop hop

Just because I'm not in Berlin for Easter doesn't mean I can't get excited about the weekend line-up. I have always been a big fan of all things lomo and Berlin gets a lomography easter egg hunt. I hope all you lucky little baskets still milling around Berlin check out this awesome photography workshop/egg hunt. 15euros gets you a camera, film and the opportunity to take part in a hunt to find and snap picures of the treats around Berlin. Best part is whoever finds the most treats wins..woooot!

If you head to Gericht Str 23 you can wear your best yellow frock and celebrate all things yellow. From video installations, live painting, illustrative work, photography and other artsy things created in celebration of this fabby primary colour. There's even yellow cookies and cocktails and if you do follow through with your yellow frock you only pay 4euro. win!

Oh and as I scan through all these updates I see that Kulturbrauerei is celebrating Easter in true bonfire fashion and they are promising it will be huuuuge. 

As much as I would like to get amongst all that Berlin boom time I have an Easter egg hunt to attend on Sunday with a bunch of babes. These Frenchies better have a good Easter egg selection to make up for the lack of Easter related events around town hehe.

Happy Easter pretties, drive safely and eat lots of choc X

sunshine and smiles

The Berlin goodbyes were sad but the sunshine and smiles in Nice are a real treat! 

Things we have been doing in the last 2 days:

1. Eating a lot of cheese in baguettes
2. Meandering down romantic Rue's
3. Soaking up sunshine
4. Grazing on marinated olives
5. Strolling through markets featuring an array of local cuisine

Photo's as promised, after the jump..

1 more sleep!

Last sleep at Scherer Str 9

Crunch time, my German visa runs out in 6 days and with only 1 sleep left I've been faced with some pretty testing packing time. There I went, packing an entire years worth of living into a few suitcases. In the meantime the sun has been working overtime and I've been busy enjoying the most wonderful farewell gatherings. For this reason of course I haven't had time to write about all the goings on. I share with you a lovely collection of Berlin Springtime photos, feast your eyes.

Picnic at Landwehr Canal

Nestled between Prinzen Str and Kottbusser Damm is the glorious Landwerhr Canal. We had ourselves a merry little picnic one Spring Sunday. After dining on some picnic favourites: cheese, strawberries and leberwurst, some of us enjoyed an adventure aboard an abandoned ship whilst others raced around on fixies.

hear them roar!

 One Saturday afternoon following a Tigers basketball match, the team decided to wreak havoc among the streets of Kreuzberg. An army of men roamed alongisde the U1 tracks..equipped with Berliner kindl and a cat in a bag.
The rest of the story after the jump....

 

I have to say in all my years of celebrating St Patrick's day, there really has never been any experience quite like last night. An interesting combination of a Mexican restaurant La Pulqueria masquerading as an Irish Pub, the bar refusing to sell Guinness and a piece of tiramisu being thrust into my mits all contributed to a very memorable St Patty's. Long live the leprechaun! 

Check out all the pictures after the jump...

Last days - Charlie Sheen

The complete devastation of Charlie Sheen prompted another thrilling party in the 'last days' series, hosted by Suz and Frank of iHeartBerlin. Located in your typical Berlinesque derelict house, complete with a substantial amount of peeling wallpaper and a bathroom doubling as a lounge.

The theme of dress was macho man or easy-to-get-girl with the latter being more prevalent. In fact, I would say most of the gay men who attended the party felt obliged to dress as a mix of the two - macho man + easy-to-get girl. At times the dancing was so daring and provocative I found myself blushing. Namely a young man in the bathroom/lounge with strap-on leather shoulder pads and some rather vigorous pelvic thrusting going on. Clearly pre-rehearsed.

As Berlin is home to a growing population of hipsters, art-types and very eccentric personalities you'd never tell whether there was a theme of dress to begin with - anywhere in Berlin, at any given time. That fact alone made for some pretty fruity fashion at the last days party. (follow this link for a peek).

In true Charlie Sheen fashion everyone was messy and everything was sufficiently chaotic, with a home time just shy of 4am I think we sent Charlie off with a bang.

Thank you last days 

xxx

Cupcakes & Gonfaron

Walking down Griefswalder Str

Last Sunday had a sweet little cupcake date with a few friends at a delectable cafe by the name of Vanilla. During this catchup I was introduced to a lovely French guy who unbelievably knew of Gonfaron. Gonfaron, France - come 9th April our new home for 4 weeks. ~eeeheeeheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~

Friends..meet Gonfaron:

• Located in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region
• Somewhat famous 'Le Village des Tortues' (Tortoise Park) where they take care of up to 200 tortoises yearly
• No real particular attraction for visitors. However, there are old fountains.
• A yearly celebration takes place - the legend of the "flying donkey"
• Not so far from St Tropez

Needless to say..I'm excited!!

1UP

Today was an exploration day dedicated to Friedrichshain. Starting with a positively nerdy visit to the computerspiele museum and finishing with some thrifting at Humana (4-story second-hand store). The sunshine was out this afternoon and despite the weather being on the chilly side, it was another perfect day in Berlin.

Fun computer steps in the nearest U-bahn

 Daddio brought a game gear back from the States when we were young. The endless squabbles over 'Paper Boy'.

XL joystick

Dance Dance Revolution

The Pain Game - everytime you lose a point against your opponent the pad where your hand rests heats up, you get shocked and a rubber cord whips you. Judging by her hand my guess is that she wasn't winning? *ouch*

 

love.

Most of 2010 I made excuses for not enjoying Berlin completely. My main complaint's were; not earning enough money, the cold brutal Winter, being without certain beauties of friends, going an entire year without eggs benedict from 'The Fridge' and the grungy state of the city in general. It's only now after having exhausted all excuses that I've fallen completely and madly in love with Berlin.

Thanks to Natalee for taking some pretty perfect shots of Berlin during her visit.

X

what a weekend

Something that is never disappointing? Days and nights exploring the different boroughs in Berlin.

Saturday night was spent exploring Kottbusser Tor with a friend who unbelievably had her first excursion to Kreuzberg after living in Berlin for longer than any of us.

We began with a visit to Luzia - complete with vintage furniture, baroque wallpaper and built-in human size dollhouse. Across the road shining brightly were the words "Insert coin" - sitting pretty next to a trashy billboard. For only 10 cents in the slot machine this dico art installation named tamamümemu began. A big disco ball started spinning, lights shined bright, a gay anthem blared (Chaka Khan's 'I'm ever woman') and 3 pairs of happy feet danced up a storm. Much to the onlookers amusement.

 

Fits of laughter

 We carried onto Multi Layer Laden where we sat on crates, sipping and absorbing our surroundings. A large cardboard cassette rotated, a home-made jukebox played pretty tunes and a creepy mannequin with duct tape over her mouth lingered over Sarah's shoulder. After a few of the best damn G&T's in town we started to notice the collection of rather explicit artwork gracing the walls. Feeling sufficiently trance-like we decided to leave and try out the bar above Kaiser's. After about 10 minutes of dancing next to a group of vigorous fist pumping Deutsch Jungen resembling something from Jersey Shore, we decided to call it a night.  
 

 

Sunday began with sunshine and basketball

 

Sunday was filled with pretty friends, tasty brunch and a cappuccino stop by Gorlitzer Park.

 

Then Sunday ended with my very first beef and ale pie.

X

 

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” - Pat Conroy 

Seoul, South Korea

Check out the other places we visited during 2010 here...

up to our elbows in Ethiopian

That one's my Valentine

My Valentines day was beaut. We started off the evening with a bit of pressy sharing underground in the Heinrich Heine U-bahn, tried out a new restaurant that served wonderful Ethiopian food and finished the evening snuggled up and drowning in giggles, watching Parks and Recreation. Last night was the second time I've eaten with my hands in public, the first was at Medieval Times on a family trip to LA. Last night, less awkward, a lot tastier and absolutely no men with swords galloping on horses. I would recommend this lovely little Ethiopian restaurant to anyone visiting Berlin. If not for some truly superb food then for a pretty funny experience. The pictures really do speak for themselves, particularly the aftermath shot where you see we had no trouble devouring the mountain of food.

For those in Berlin - check this.. http://www.bluenileberlin.de/1.html

A pretty full tum

Already dreaming up a few new owlfits..hehe

 

Happy belated Valentines all my pretty's

xxx

what cool kids do on Mondays

Gangrene - The Alchemist & Oh No

 More photos after the jump..