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/