One evening, we decided to sit and observe the Brandenburger Tor as the sun set...and had this opportunity to feed the bear. Jason had to wrestle his way through tourists but eventually made headway. The bear didn´t have much to say other than an endearing "grrrr-" and a thumb´s up!
So much has happened since we last blogged. We have been to Prague, Czech Republic, and to Szczecin, Poland; we have been to the Stadtfest, a weekend street fair in the Nollendorfplatz. We were invited to Manuela and Regina´s place in upper Charlottenburg for dinner and were introduced to a friend of theirs, Penny, who moved to Berlin a couple years ago from the U.K. I have to mention a bit about their place which is up on the top floor. They have a wonderful view of the surrounding rooftops from their terrace...the first thing I said when experiencing it was "Holy Mary Poppins!":
I half expected to see chimney sweeps dancing about and an umbrella supported Poppins floating down to join us. Apparently I was not the first as Regina told me that other´s have made similar commentary.
Last weekend we attended the Stadtfest, a street festival in the area of the Nollendorfplatz, done as part of the CSD festivities. These street partys come up all over Berlin at some time during the year, but this one, while having the regular fill of beer and bratwursts, has to be the gayest. There was an underwear modeling show...and all kinds of costumed people were there: the devil, some nuns (Our Ladies of Indulgence) handing out kondomes, and an eight foot Mädchen (on stilts) were just some of the participants at this festival.
At the the Wochendemarkt in the Karl Agust Platz, we had met two Berliners in the Charlottenburg area who were a couple. We got together with them last night at the Zoo for Gay Night. There was a swing band playing, people dancing, and beer and bratwursts served. We tried a Radler which was a drink made half of beer and half of lemonade...tasty, and helps to keep the alcohol consumption to a minimum. Other areas of the Zoo were out of bounds, and most of the animals were resting out of sight; however, there was one nearby cage with a panther in it and another area with flamingos meandering about. They all must´ve been quite swooned by the swing music going on until midnite.
Going to Szczecin involved a two hour train ride on the Deutsche Bahn. As we crossed the border our passports were stamped. We found out that both of us have ancestors from this region and that they boarded ships in Szczecin, which is an inland port, to emigrate to America. Szczecin was under Prussian control and then German...after the World Wars, lines were drawn and it became part of Poland. We just wanted to get the feel of the place and stayed for only one night. We arrived in the morning and had the whole day and most of the next day to explore the city as our return train would depart in the evening.
...photo album Prague & Berlin 06.21.2007...
1 comment:
que cool. it looks like all is well. i am waiting for the indie movie deal.
miss you much.
have fun, fun, fun!
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