Introducing Petunia Hedgiflora non punctuata

Nope, not a rare flower, my bicycle. Lovely Mr. Andrew Crooks was good enough to take two trips to the giant big box store in Berlin with me. He, unluckily, had to do all of the talking. But in the end, thanks to him, I have this beautiful bike--Hedgiflora. We even took it for a few test runs.

Tricked out with panniers and all sorts of bells and whistles it was time to leave Berlin :( I had a lovely time visiting Andrew and his flatmates were the pinnacle of welcoming.


So, I said goodbye to Andrew and hopped the train to Amsterdam, from where the biking adventures would begin. The train system was so easy, and adding a bike to my ticket only cost an extra ten euros. Fantastic. Seemed only a little bit strange to start out the journey by putting my transportation onto a train. But, however, that's how it all worked out.

Historical wanderings

Andrew and I took a trip to Potsdam, southwest of Berlin, and started at Schloss Cecilienhof, the site of the Postdam Conference. We went there with a new friend, Dorothea, who we met at an Easter brunch. Cecilienhof is a palace. It was built in English Tudor style, and is still decorated as it would have been during the Postdam Conference. The table is the one the big three, Churchill (later Atlee), Stalin, and Truman sat at July 17–August 2 1945 as they divided up Europe, declared terms of surrender for Japan, and made strategies for Germany's future (disclaimer: I'm so not a political historian). The flowers arranged in a red star were to the tastes of Stalin (and other decorations reflected the tastes of the other leaders).

We then went to a local building that had been restored since the area was reunited with West Germany. Dorothea had been to it when it was covered in Cyrillic writing, and was completely derelict. She talked a lot about the changes in this area since the wall went down. It was really interesting to have someone around who had been there and seen it all happen. There was a fascinating video on the reconstruction process, and there were even some restorers still working on some paint/tile work on ceilings.

 We had a lovely lunch of soup, visited by a Peking duck (yes I do love the creatures) fortuitously sitting out a storm inside after watching the clouds roll in.

Afterward we went to Sanssouci grounds, the site of a palace for the Prussian royal family, and walked through the grassy fields looking at different beautiful buildings and sculptures.

How did I end up spending 8 euro on this?

Andrew and I were biking along, going to see friends of his for cake and coffee, when we stumbled upon a miniature model village. Andrew was reluctant, so I treated us, only to realize three minutes in, that it was a model village. Hmmm. In the spirit of making the best of it . . .

Backstage at the Opera

Andrew took me to tour Deutche Oper Berlin, where he works.

I was amazed by how large it is, and how technical the behind the scenes of these theatres/opera houses. Deutche Oper was opened in 1912, but hugely revamped after World War II damages. Andrew showed me all of the lighting and rope work above the stage.

This stage can rotate . . . you can see the circle shape on the floor.

I also went into the below the stage area, and saw the massive pneumatics (is that the right word?) used to lift and lower portions of the stage and pit.

And then Andrew took me to look at the new ballet studio (Ginger, we got to watch some ballet dancers practice, but I felt to awkward to take pictures. . . so you just get a studio).

That night I watched Carmen from the third row (yay for "friends of the Opera" reduced price tickets). It was sung in French and had German subtitles, so I had to work pretty hard to understand any specifics. Broadly though, it was a treat to be so close to the costumes/set/orchestra, and I got the general idea.

I also went to a rehearsal for Samson and Delilah, and got to see first hand how staging decisions affected the sound of the singers, and watched as the director and chorus master adapted their plans, making for a more beautiful/full sound. Fascinating.

Lego Land

Andrew and I went on a rainy spring day and played at Lego Land in Berlin. Fun.

I made a giraffe, fitting, no?

Tulip "wow-face" training at the Britzer Gartens

Andrew and I decided to spend Good Friday at the Britzer Garten in Berlin. We bicycled there, through Berlin, and walked around most of the 90 acres of gardens, looking at tulips and watching all of the families that had decided to spend such a beautiful day outdoors, as we had. My favourite part of the park was actually right as you walked in, there were a bunch of park benches for people to sit on dotted around a beautiful field full of trees and tulips. So pretty in a more natural arrangement.

Here are the tons of people . . . all having picnics or playing sports, flying kites, or chatting in groups in the shade.

There was an area that displayed all different types of tulips, so that you could see the differences and similarities between different varieties.

Some trees had eggs on them, celebrating Easter. I guess a big thing to do in Germany for Easter is to decorate an Easter tree, kind of like a Christmas Tree. Seems like a good idea to me :)

No garden is complete without a bienenhaus.

Or a cafe that doubles as a library (this really is my type of gardens). Pity it was already closed for the day :)

A couple of shots of random people, but they typified the kind of experiences people were having here.

A lovely Easter Friday.

Butter Chicken à la Andrew and Mary

We used the spices that I brought from India and created a lovely Butter Chicken meal.
Now we just have to work on how to make Naan, and we're set. YUM!