Berlin with the Floh-fish

Berlin, Germany.
Mary Mary Mary... she'd informed our poor host that we'd actually be arriving the week after we did! So in fact, he was only with us the first day, as he then headed to Strasbourg (hitch-hiking) and to Sicily by plane for a few days.

Still, this guy was amazing. An extremely experienced Couch Surfer, who has hosted hundreds of people from all over the world, Floh is one of the most down to earth and generous people I've met, though I only "knew" him that one day. Just the fact that he opens his apartment (which he shares with an Estonian guy) to so many people passing by in Berlin, even though he is unemployed, says something about his mentality.



He has a "time machine".
This is a shower.
Except... it's in his kitchen.
Amazing.
He has no bathroom, except for a toilet down a long corridor.
One of those old houses where you turn the hot water switch on 20 minutes before showering... in the kitchen!

So the day we got there, Floh took us around Berlin for many hours, ensuring our first meal would be the famous Currywurst, and Berlin's best Kebap. Food is extremely cheap in Berlin, as are most things actually.
Anyway, Floh accompanied us through some less touristy sides of his city and amazed us with never ending knowledge about the history and future plans of the city, he showed us some "empty" grounds and told us what buildings were destroyed during WWII, why they haven't yet been re-built, and whether there were any plans to re-build something on the sites. All this in a day when he wasn't really expecting us, and had to submit two job applications, AND pack to go travelling early the next day.





..... snow?!



In the evening we went for drinks at a Couch Surfing catch-up, and met some really interesting characters, namely a nice Oxford graduate in literature, turned poet, teaching English in Berlin... a Colombian/Ecuadorian tattoo artist... an American girl travelling around Europe by herself for three months... a gay German fascinated by the Italian film industry of the 70s, and a few other Berliners.

We also travelled a bit out out of the city and visited Großer Wannsee, a river/lake.



We caught up with a friend of MJ's, who showed us a busy neighbourhood with cool bars.
We went to an intense Turkish market! It was easy to forget which country we were in with all the interesting breads, dips, olives, types of feta cheeses, fabrics etc... so we didn't resist buying some curious products for lunch on the river.
We found Berlin's hottest Latin American / hip hop club, and found some interesting differences between the Germans' and Italians' approach.
MJ and I had a romantic dinner at a typical German restaurant, with truly lovely food.
We got absolutely astounded to find that all buses arrived perfectly on time, on the dot, in what seemed to be a nearly faultless public transport system.


My highlight was by FAR visiting the historical five-storey Kunsthaus Tacheles. Tacheles, from Yiddish, = "straight talking", and there seem to really be no limits to the art exhibited in the many rooms inside. In the 1990s it was occupied by activist artists who opposed its demolition... thank God they succeeded.
Anyway the history is quite fascinating, if you have 2 free minutes read up on it here: http://super.tacheles.de/cms/
I don't think I've ever felt so powerless, almost scared, walking through a building. Not that there was anything dangerous about the place, but the dim lighting and unfiltered art had a very particular effect on me.
Unfortunately some heartless bank has too generously paid off someone for the building (who never officially owned the building but simply gained control of it over the years), and it seems it'll get demolished.

I took a lot of pictures:

just thoughts. definately not procrastination.

Umm.... I have FOURTEEN pairs of shoes here!! :/


BARCELLONA IS BOOKED!
Flights from June 28th to July 29th; I'm enrolled in a 5-week language course (20 hrs/week) starting at the intermediate level B1, according to the online Spanish test the school made me do. Creepy how much I guessed simply based on Italian. I've had a few good offers for rooms in shared flats with Spanish people, but nothing 100% confirmed yet. So, VERY excited for this new adventure, although I must first focus on doing well in my French exams... and although I will definately miss Milan... :'(


Lately I've realised I have a mixed identity... two different personas which make up who I am, and I need to exercise both of them to feel complete. It's interested me but I won't go into much details, except to say that the first 'me' is very studious and focused, perhaps likes to plan things, and sometimes be lazy and cynical. The second 'me' is more open, risk-taking, relaxed, and loves to go out dancing and socialising.
Lately, because my first exam is on May 31st, I have been trying to repress identity #2 and diligently stay home and study... at least every second night.


The SUN is making me happy lately!! Milan is getting hot... except all the Milanese insist on covering up their elbows and knees, even when it's over 30 degrees, what the hell, are you CRAZY or robots!?!? Meanwhile I'm making the most of the sun we get in the afternoon through our "balcony", which unfortunately faces about a hundred other people's balconies, so one must be relatively discreet.


I learnt something enlightening and quite useful from my favourite professor here, who teaches me a French course on oral argumentation. Throughout the course she's slipped in really wise advice on how to read people, how to figure them out before planning how to argue with them. In her last class, she told us why we should not be upset, but quite happy, when somebody gets angry at us: we should step back and be happy because when somebody gets angry, he/she shows you his/her weakness; hence you can learn more about him/her, and in a situation of argumentation (I'm not talking about fighting here) they use emotional arguments, which are very hard to control, and so they loose control of their logic. Bam, you then find the fault in their advance, and win them over. A very smart and inspiring lady she is.


I've hosted Lofty a couple of nights, a guy from college in Perth who's flown in to Europe for his first time, has few plans but a good sense of adventure, after having spent three months volunteering in South East Asia.


Speaking of travel, I booked a trip to Palma, in the Balearic Islands. I'll be there from July 15th-19th =] Of course, a much needed holiday from what will be a very very stressful time for me in Barcelona!


I also made my very first tiramisù. It's in the fridge setting... very looking forward to tasting it. Last night was another new cooking experience, as I made a sort of chicken parmiggiana with my favourite cheese discovery (stracciatella). Verrrry nice.

and before life got stupidly busy... I spent six days in Vienna.

No ok...
life got busy about six years ago actually, and luckily it hasn't really stopped. But, I spent the week following Easter in Vienna and hadn't yet found the time to blog about it.



The best thing about going to Vienna was catching up with a few people met in Perth. Shall I name them all? Tom Nuspl, Pat Prokesch, Rene Welter, Kat Steininger, Mo Leder, Anna Holzmann, Roisin Ni Neill, and Dan Hunt. Meeting a few of their friends was also nice. As was randomly bumping into two Austrian girls who have applied to stay at St. George's next semester!



Apart from that, I thought Vienna is a beautiful city. It seems so liveable, generally pleasant; it seems there's always something new to discover, with many vast green gardens and such varied architecture. I'm told the crime is also very low. They have horse carriages around the centre, so the poop is the only down side ;)



Difficult not to be jealous of what the council has done with the Museums Quarter, where there is a large courtyard with so many of these plastic couches, call them what you want, but it's just too tempting to come here and hang out with a drink, catch some cultural show they put on or observe some particularly bizarre and arty looking people... aaah the hard life.



Being in company of such awesome people also helps:



We had some particularly interesting meals while in Vienna, let's just get to the main topic (food). A very cute concept was where we had lunch the first day, a French cafe with a big common table where people sat around. Another lunch at the Palmenhaus, yes, what used to be a "Palm House", this would be it...





A very very typical Austrian restaurant in a country side village called Krems...



And an unforgettable Austrian Sunday brunch, which literally filled me for two days.

The day we made a trip to the countryside we also visited Dürnstein, another small town near the hills, where we hiked on top of one to visit some castle ruins. The view was pretty spactacular :)





I also really enjoyed visiting the Summer Palace (Schönbrunn) with its huge and perfectly looked-after gardens, and a sweet rewards awaiting you on top of the hill behind the Gloriette.



Still in the Schönbrunn is the world's oldest zoo, yes because the Emperors clearly needed their private zoo. So we went to the zoo :)



Another big highlight was going to the Austrian state Opera! Thanks to Tom, we watched Nabucco, by Verdi; I found the chorus' performance of Va, Pensiero quite moving.



The theatre was gorgeous of course, and we got to dress up and go to a very class bar afterwards, on top of a high building facing the city's cathedral Stephansdom.

Though perhaps not the most informative blog entry, this is all about Vienna. Tomorrow I am going to Berlin with Mary for 4 days, so will be hearing more German :) We don't really have any plans so it should be fun to improvise, of course trying to make the most of every day we're there!

Best wishes to everyone reading :)
Elena

Liguria - re-visited (by Massimo Longinotti, who didn't appreciate his exclusion from my banal account)

I tried to refuse Federica’s invitation, but was impossible to me, so I started what I thought would be the worst weekend of my life.
And at the beginning it really was.

On Friday evening we reached Rapallo, an anonymous city near Genova, the capital of Liguria, which has it’s only beauty in being the house of the best football team in the world.
Sampdoria of course.
But I was talking about my staying in Rapallo.

We had a disgusting dinner at Federica’s house, they cooked something that can be compared to shit, but shit has absolutely a better taste.
I had to simulate an headache to go bed as fast as possible.
During the night I had terrible nightmares about Federica chatting to me again again and again.

Saturday morning we started for that fucking trip Federica wanted to do.
We went to the famous four cinqueterre with a couple of her friends.
As they were Federica’s friends, I had the lowest expectation anyone can imagine.

There was Simone, and then…then there was Massimo.

He was the greatest apparition of my entire life.

My mind couldn’t avoid to remind some bible’s description of an angel appearence.
He appeared to me with the sun shining behind his shoulders, and this shine followed him all day long.

But let’s talk about cinqueterre, also if my mind is far from there, and probably also far from this world.

We started with Riomaggiore, we walked Via dell’amore, where I picked a lock as tradition of the walk.
I hadn’t the time to write the name you may imagine on the lock, but it was already impressed o my heart.
Than we took a more adventurous hike up the scaring hills of the region.
There were dangerous plants with sharped teeth and a lot of wild animals staring at us.
I’ve never been so scared before, but Massimo’s tranquility gives me the power to go on.

Looking at him, while fronting the wildness and obscure nature, reminds me about epic fights between forces of good and evil.
Star wars is nothing compared to what I saw.

He guided us, and opened a path.
During the walk inside the hell, he defeated all the beasts coming from the deepest part of the earth.
When I was in trouble, he saved me, and brought me ahead towards salvation in his strong arms.
At the end, sun rose again…and instead of dark clouds, a really amazing blue sky took place.

So we reached the fourth land.
Vernazza, which was Massimo’s favourite, and so also mine…

Liguria

I didn't exect this weekend to be so wonderful.

In Perth I was lucky to meet Federica, who was there for three months from Cattolica, and with whom I've caught up a couple of times in Milan.

She is from Rapallo, a short distance north of the Cinque Terre, and was enthusiastic about bringing me with her on a weekend visit to Liguria, the regin with Genoa as capital.

Her and her family's kindness was beyond expectations! Getting to Rapallo on Friday evening, we had a lovely home cooked Ligurian dinner with her family. On Saturday, after a typical Ligurian breakfast (salty focaccia dipped in warm milk!), we did a day trip with a couple of her friends to the Cinque Terre, less than an hour's train trip from Rapallo.



We started with Rio Maggiore, the most southern; we walked la Via dell'Amore, getting to Manarola (the second). To reach Corniglia we took a more adventurous hike up the lovely hills of the region, covered with vineyards, which took us about 2.5 hours, was challenging but very fun! We enjoyed a well-deserved tomato, cheese and rocket focaccia for lunch, had a siesta break, and made our way to Vernazza (fourth Terra), another fair walk-hike but most pleasant as the sea sceneries were amazing. Vernazza was my favourite of the towns we visited, as it had a lovely beach which we relaxed at for a good hour, before returning home.



A nearby town, Camogli, held its annual festival on Saturday night/Sunday, so we took Federica's scooter and met a group of her friends there for some drinks and chats.

On Sunday, we took the scooter again and travelled along the Ligurian coast, admiring the modest and natural beauty of towns like Santa Margherita Ligure, Portofino (where we ate some cheesy focaccia and saw a number of less-than-modest villas, including Berlusconi's holiday home), Recco, Sori and finally reaching Genoa.



We ate a gelato. We saw the world's second-largest acquarium (the first was in Valencia) and walked along some streets of the world's largest historical centre! It was very curious to see the many little alleyways known for the large prostitution traffic. On our way back, we stopped at Boccadasse, where we apparently HAD to try this famous gelateria... voila', 5 ice cream flavours in one day!



In the evening I truly enjoyed another home cooked family meal with Federica's family and a few friends. The diet continued with chocolate profitteroles... but a sweet end to a really lovely weekend :)