Vive le weekend.
If you're going to work all week (that is 35 hours if you're a foreigner in France like me, or 28 if you're a native & fancy going on strike like a large majority of French people did this week) then you may as well make the most of your weekends. This has been my philosophy since I arrived in France & this past weekend was another example of its successful execution.
This weekend, I went to BERLIN. It was sehr gut, danke.
I arrived on Friday afternoon & was met at the airport by Dan, longtime friend & wise person that understands exactly why language degrees and the year abroad are such a good idea. Not to mention the fact that the more people you know doing the same thing, the more opportunities you have for free accommodation across Europe. See... it all makes sense.
The cold literally hit me in the face when I arrived - 10° really does make a difference apparently! But on the Friday night we went out to dinner with a group of Dan's friends & then moved on to a couple of bars which was very pleasant indeed & made a welcome change from the bars in Nice, which never change & give you a sense of déjà vu everytime you go for a drink.
On the Saturday we went for a stroll around Berlin, taking in the usual sights such as the Brandenburg Tor & Checkpoint Charlie, before spending far too long standing still in the sub-zero temperatures waiting to take a peek at the Reichstag. It was worth it however... the glass dome at the top is really cool, a pathway spirals up to the top so you get a perfect panoramic view of the city.
After that & fearing the onset of hypothermia, we ran round to the holocaust memorial & Hitler's bunker (which is now a car park - apparently a clothing recycling bank lies directly above his last resting place). Then, we headed back to Friedrich Strasse at a brisk pace (practically a jog by this point, it had started snowing & Dan was fearing the loss of one of his toes). Here, in the name of national stereotypes, we both consumed abnormal amounts if schnitzel & had a warming glass of glühwein before heading back out into the cold to walk along the Eastside Gallery, the remnants of the Berlin wall.
In the evening some of Dan's friends came over & we headed to a couple of bars before finding ourselves at something playing "Balkan gypsy electro-trash" - no, I don't know what that is either.
Alas, the weekend went far too quickly & my flight left in the early afternoon. This gave us enough time for one more Berlin tradition so we went back out into the snow for brunch. It was quite a spread, smoked salmon, cheese, meats, salads... plus some kind of table set aside purely for dessers & you could sit on a comfy sofa & eat as much as you liked between the hours of 10-3 for €6.50. In other words, it was pretty much the best idea ever.
So yes, I really like Berlin. It's certainly not the most attractive European city I've been to, & in winter it can seem a bit bleak. But, if you're lucky enough to know someone who knows their way around then it's a really good place to visit, with plenty of cafés, restaurants & all that jazz. And of course, the history is pretty fascinating.
I'll definitely head back one day, although if I were ever to visit again in the depths of winter I would not make the error of forgetting thermals.
It was back to the surreal world today. Sadly the boss has sorted out his unfortunate hair-dye situation & no longer has purple hair. This is a bit disappointing, because he is definitely eccentric enough to be the kind of person that suits purple hair & when he gave out instructions I felt that being amused by that made any task bearable. Today I felt a bit blue but the good news is that I managed to write most of this whilst sat at my desk.
Not guilty sire, if you're going to get paid what I do then you are contractually obliged to be a bit of a slacker.
xXx
This weekend, I went to BERLIN. It was sehr gut, danke.
I arrived on Friday afternoon & was met at the airport by Dan, longtime friend & wise person that understands exactly why language degrees and the year abroad are such a good idea. Not to mention the fact that the more people you know doing the same thing, the more opportunities you have for free accommodation across Europe. See... it all makes sense.
The cold literally hit me in the face when I arrived - 10° really does make a difference apparently! But on the Friday night we went out to dinner with a group of Dan's friends & then moved on to a couple of bars which was very pleasant indeed & made a welcome change from the bars in Nice, which never change & give you a sense of déjà vu everytime you go for a drink.
On the Saturday we went for a stroll around Berlin, taking in the usual sights such as the Brandenburg Tor & Checkpoint Charlie, before spending far too long standing still in the sub-zero temperatures waiting to take a peek at the Reichstag. It was worth it however... the glass dome at the top is really cool, a pathway spirals up to the top so you get a perfect panoramic view of the city.
After that & fearing the onset of hypothermia, we ran round to the holocaust memorial & Hitler's bunker (which is now a car park - apparently a clothing recycling bank lies directly above his last resting place). Then, we headed back to Friedrich Strasse at a brisk pace (practically a jog by this point, it had started snowing & Dan was fearing the loss of one of his toes). Here, in the name of national stereotypes, we both consumed abnormal amounts if schnitzel & had a warming glass of glühwein before heading back out into the cold to walk along the Eastside Gallery, the remnants of the Berlin wall.
In the evening some of Dan's friends came over & we headed to a couple of bars before finding ourselves at something playing "Balkan gypsy electro-trash" - no, I don't know what that is either.
Alas, the weekend went far too quickly & my flight left in the early afternoon. This gave us enough time for one more Berlin tradition so we went back out into the snow for brunch. It was quite a spread, smoked salmon, cheese, meats, salads... plus some kind of table set aside purely for dessers & you could sit on a comfy sofa & eat as much as you liked between the hours of 10-3 for €6.50. In other words, it was pretty much the best idea ever.
So yes, I really like Berlin. It's certainly not the most attractive European city I've been to, & in winter it can seem a bit bleak. But, if you're lucky enough to know someone who knows their way around then it's a really good place to visit, with plenty of cafés, restaurants & all that jazz. And of course, the history is pretty fascinating.
I'll definitely head back one day, although if I were ever to visit again in the depths of winter I would not make the error of forgetting thermals.
It was back to the surreal world today. Sadly the boss has sorted out his unfortunate hair-dye situation & no longer has purple hair. This is a bit disappointing, because he is definitely eccentric enough to be the kind of person that suits purple hair & when he gave out instructions I felt that being amused by that made any task bearable. Today I felt a bit blue but the good news is that I managed to write most of this whilst sat at my desk.
Not guilty sire, if you're going to get paid what I do then you are contractually obliged to be a bit of a slacker.
xXx