Bleck Bleck Cat - it's Matt!

Matt is here from London with his friend - Matt :) Seems like a popular name that one.

Here are some of the touristy things we've done thus far...

Visited the Reichstag - climbed the dome and managed to do it on a very nice day - it was bright and sunny and blue sky, so no complaints there.


... and we managed to take a picture of a UFO... (look closer...)


... and the boys posed for Roger David catalogue...


We climbed the Victory Column... and then everyone's legs were sore (at some point the column was deemed 'not tall enough' and was extended by 6 meters... it was those 6 meters that killed us)


Matt found some frozen ice, got very excited and decided to try and skate on it...


We then visited a nuclear proof bunker in the Museum of Berlin... funny thing is that the bunker was built for 3567 people exactly... it would've also had enough oxygen to last these people only two weeks after which time you'd have to get out and be nuced ANYWAY... so my questions is - Why bother?


We also visited a World War II bombshelter... which in fact wasn't bomb-proof at all. Tha Nazi's built heaps of them around the city to give people a false sense of security. But the curious thing is that there are a number of these bunkers which were built underground (usually in train stations), and there were ones that were built on the surface. Well the ones that are on the surface ARE bomb-proof but the ones underground aren't - figure that!


Had a walk past the old city wall...


..and visited the oldest pub in Berlin...


... which has a chair in which apparenly Napoleon sat during his time here...


And of course no tour of Berlin is complete without the Fernsehturm (TV Tower).


And the Berlin Wall... Matt was getting all deep and meaningful on us with the Big M.

Visitors and visitations

This is what we've got going on - we'll try and keep this post updated with new stuff as it comes to hand:

1. 1st - 5th March ... We're off to see Denya in Romania
2. 6th - 8th March ... Stopping off in Budapest on the way home from Romania
3. 10th - 12th ... Prague cancelled due to Cherman burocracy - we have to turn up for an appointment at the department of foreign affairs which cannot be moved :-(
4. 15th March ... Moving into our new appartment
5. 20th March ... We're seeing Xavier Rudd in Berlin - how cool is that?
6. 22nd - 26th March ... Zoya staying with us - our official first visitor to our second appartment in Berlin ;-)
7. 27th March ... We're seeing John Butler Trio in Berlin
8. 14th - 17th April ... Easter in Copenhagen
9. 29th April - 1st May ... Witchy staying with us
10. 15th June ... Seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Berlin
11. 27th June ... Seeing LIVE in Berlin (we went a bit crazy with buying tickets to music events)

So we're getting pretty busy - which is good.
We are accepting further bookings by e-mail, snail-mail, phone call, sms, skype, googletalk, other IM or carrier pigeon (if you want your pigeon back please include appropriate postage).

Cheers
Jack...

Cherman Efficiency or Ve haff vays of making it vork - fast!

So we've been p1ssing and moaning about a lot of things the Chermans cannot do - like organise a decent booking system for their bloody film festival ;-)
Now an example of what they can do:

Senario: You wish to deposit cash into your bank account
In this situation in Australia I would have to:

1. find the time to get to a bank during their somewhat limited opening hours;
2. fill out a form;
3. queue up;
4. continue to queue as everyone else has turned up in their lunch break too;
5. hand over money.

Or if I was to use an Australian ATM I would have to:

1. find my card;
2. remember my pin number;
3. not be attempting to deposit coinage;
4. get an envelope out of the machine;
5. have a pen / pencil / crayon / other writing implement to be able to fill in the details on said envelope;
6. manage to feed the envelope back into the machine.

The Chermans have found a way to make this process much simpler and better:

1. Find my card;
2. I no longer need my pin - as I have selected deposit it doesn't care if I own the card;
3. Not worry if I have coins, notes or cheques - the machine simply opens a little hole and you just pour in your money, notes, coins, cheques everything, in any form you like;
4. Collect your receipt and card;
5. The coins and notes are instantly credited to your account as the machine can validate them.

Now that's efficient

Cheers
Check...

Venting Steam at the Berlinale

So... the cultured people in us (aka me) decided that it would be rather pleasant and entertaining to go and see some movies at the Berliale (aka Berlin International Film Festival). Thus, having picked out a couple of movies we went to the ticket office at Potsdammer Platz so we can exchange money for goods and services (aka the movie tickets). Standing in line... waiting... for what must have been at least 30-40 mins (and in my post-soviet mind that's a significant chunk of life that I'll never get back), and having a little child right in front of us being a complete and utter brat... mind you if I was a little kid and had to stand in line for that long, I would've done the same thing....

Sidetrack on the child thing... this kid was running off from his Mum to a distance of about 10-20 meters and then with a loud scream 'AAAAA' was running back into her arms... in which time Jack was quietly making comments such as "put that child in the bin!" as he might be a little less annoying and loud then. This line of conversation continued for about 20 mins at which point on one of his 'home runs' the kid actually bumped into a steel bin and produced a rather interesting sound :)

Anyhoo... so after standing all this time in line we got to the ticket booth just to be told that tickets to all films can only be purchased at most three days in advance... meaning we could only get tickets to one of the four movies we wanted to see. After complaining that "it would be nice if someone could write it somewhere in big letters before people have to line up for so long" we were told that this was mentioned in every program. And after consulting the program, indeed, in small (mind you - German) print it said that same thing.

I ask you - WHERE is the bloody famous German efficiency?! It's non-bloody existent I say! The only reason for this silly thing that we could think of is that it prevents people from buying too many tickets at once and reselling or smth like that. You can buy tickets online, however each ticket attracts a 2 euro charge, PLUS you are not able to buy tickets to all sessions, meaning if you want one that's not available online you gotta line up anyway... which also sucks. On a positive note we still get to see one of the movies and if we feel like we can spend another 40 mins of our humble earthly time on standing in line we might see some more.

German radio - I take that back

As been previously said we haven't been able to find any decent music on the radio waves of this 80 million population country.... until now. "Star FM - maximum rock!" - that's the slogan of this German TripleJ equivalent. They play pretty much everything good and also have news in English.

Oh, and for my fellow ruskies - I've made the best discovery in the supermarket yesterday - they have kefir!!!! There are two brands and it comes in a sour cream type container that we get in OZ. I went for the 'Kalinka' brand which had a picture of St Basil's Cathedral on the front (just to make sure I'm getting as close to the original as I can) and it is indeed kefir and it's perhaps not as sour as I'd like it to be, but still very good and kefir-like. I'm starting to like this country more and more.

Bookings are now open!

Howzit!

Our new PPPP (prime piece of plush paradise) - aka fold out sofa whom's features include:

• view of the Reichstag (smog permitting)
• dishwasher - so not having to do any dishes (you will, however, be expected to iron, scrub floors, etc...)
• 14 floors worth of "stepper" workout (if elevators fail)
• potentially scary land lady (no not Polina, but the owner of the flat)
• "cellar" - if you missbehave (or pay extra *wink*)
• timeshare bathroom

E-mail bookings now open from 24th Feb 2006 - 24th April 2006 (more dates to be released pending finding the money to stay in Berlin longer). We sign the lease on Thursday *fingers crossed*

Ciao

Jack...

Long Night of Museums

Last Saturday we went to the Long Night of Museums. This is a once a year event when about 100 of Berlin's museums open their doors from 6pm 'till 2am. 12 euros buys you a ticket to all of these and also to shuttle busses that run between them.

We managed to do _only_ five...

1) Berliner Dom - this is one of the largest and more prominent churches in Berlin. We went there to listen to the organ. They have a huge organ, but unfortunately that one was under repairs so we spent about 30 mins listening to a digital one. Still cool.

2) Altes Museum (Egyptian Collection) - ever since I was a little kid, and then did "Egypt - History of the Pharaohs" at Melb Uni I wanted to see the bust of Nefertiti... and I must say - it's amazing. For those of you Egyptian lovers out there *looking at Anya in particular*, you've gotta check it out!


3) Wildlife Photographer of the Year - held at the Auto Centre (where they sell all the new Audi's, Scoda's, Peugeot's and the like). Very cool exhibition of a good couple of dozen photos, a lot of which were of some incredibly cute animals. The pictures together with good live music made this one also one of the night's highlights.

4) Fotografik Museum - had a huge exhibition of Helmut Newton (famous German photographer)... if you don't know who he is you'll prolly know quite a few of his pictures. Included is one of my favourites.


5) Lastly we paid a visit to Haus am Checkpoint Charlie (this used to be one of the really famous crossings between East and West Berlin when the wall was still up). Again, museum is very big and most of it is dedicated to the history of the Berlin Wall and to the stories of those who tried to escape to the other side. Didn't get to finish all of it, so we'll have to come back.

Simon Dach Str - the proof

Wonderful view from our lounge room window.


Previously mentioned non-functional distinct-lack-of-female expensive kitchen appliances...


Previously mentioned gay literature...


Previously mentioned draw of sex toys...


And last, but certainly not least - the Taiwanese Princess :))))