the berlin to-do-list

Before we left I had a written as well as mental list of things to do in Berlin (ah, the list-bliss!).



:: Climb Siegessäule – check. 
Anyone who’ve seen “Der Himmel über Berlin” (one of my favourite movies) know this monument, the place where angels congregate. I’ve been fascinated by it ever since. It has been a little dream of mine to see it up close (even with my thing about statues). Now that dream is fulfilled. We climbed the 277+ spiral stairs up and down, 50 metres up in the air on a small, very windy, trellis balcony I could stare up the golden angel’s dress. It was pretty awesome. Perhaps a small step for mankind, a big step for me. More of this later in a post of its own (it takes ages to select photos to upload...). This is the Shoe Per Diem-post about the golden moment.

:: Go up the TV-tower – check. 
One of those Berlin-things-to-do. You can see for miles and miles, which I suppose might be interesting, more for some than others.

Bonus-info: I also had an aha-moment standing in the queue for the two elevators "I wonder if they have one lift that only goes up and the other only down?" M stared at me dumstruck, but really only the most brilliant of minds can understand such mind-boggling reasoning, right? Right.



Overall, what I found most interesting up in the crowded tower was that I could spot the tiny specialized El Naturalista-shop very quickly from up there (only been there once, yes such is the spell of El Naturalista...). I hadn’t planned to visit it, since the range they carry is pitifully small. But I did. And I’m very pleased I did since I found one pair of shoes I missed out on earlier this year. Which of course brings me to:

:: Roam the shoe sales (naturally El Naturalistas only) – check. 
As one can never have too many comfortable, pretty, colourful, quirky shoes. It is kind of a deranged clever sport to find what you're looking for when it comes to El Naturalistas, you never know which colours and models the limited shoe-shops have to offer. Last year it was no problem to get size 41, this year that was sadly a trickier thing, but many 39, 40, 42 as well as smaller left. A pair of oxfords for autumn would have been lovely, but nope, not to be found. My general impression was that the sales weren't as overall fabulastic as last year, but on the other hand I am pretty specific on models and colours I'm my feet are looking for. Granted, they did well after all.



I am however feeling a tad bit silly about two pairs I got in the same fantastic denimblue shade turned out to be nearly twins at first glance (not bought in the same shop or on the same day), but really, looky, looky, the stitches and heels are quite different. Really. Suitable for different occasion.

:: See more castles - alas, only one, in Lutherstadt Wittenberg and that was not even a decent and proper castle in my-book-of-castles.

:: Visit Beelitz- Heilstätten - check. 
Some 60 abandoned old hospital buildings some miles south of Berlin. Goodness. Me. The eeriness, the beauty, the sadness, the decay. I'm so not a really daring urban explorer, but wow, I'd love to go return and explore some more... Soon-ish in a post of its own. For now Shoe Per Diem moment here.

:: Revisit KaDeWe - check. 
Had a lovely bobbaloo lunch in the Wintergarten top floor restaurant and did some food shopping. So. Much. Loveliness.

:: Get a vegan bag, preferably by recycled materials - check. 
Found a sporty red/white thing at BagAge at a very appealing price.

:: Get a pair of open-toes Birkenstock slippers - check. Obviously.

:: Buy a box or two of Nestlé white chocolate curly wafers - a guilty pleasure. They are lovely to feast on every five years or so. Didn't find.

:: Go to Berlin city beach - check. 
One of the best moments in Berlin where had at Strandgut. De-loveliness galore.

:: Visit the sand castle exhibition - no check.

:: Visit markets – flee markets - see above.

:: Enjoy meals at at least one new vegetarian or vegan restaurant - check. 
Only visited one new, but since I had one of the best meals in my life at that top notch vegan restaurant that counts for a lot. As it will get a post of its glorious own I will not spoil the *surprise* by mention its name just yet...

:: Eat at Yellow Sunshine vegetarian fast foodish diner again - check. 
Yum. But for the generous sprinkle of German sprouts on top of that salad... Seriously.
Edit: Oh I usually love sprouts, but there have been severe EHEC-cases reported from Germany, which apparently came from sprouts (that hadn't been handled correctly), these past few months. At least 20 dead only in Germany. So, until all clear-to-eat, no German sprouts for me...

:: Visit my friend and her family - sadly not, they were away on holidays of their own.

:: Eat several breakfasts at Café im Literaturhaus - check. Forever heart that place. One of my favourite places on earth in fact. The ambiance, the food...

:: Have a Berliner Weisse per day - oh noes, only had two. Both at Strandgut. But we did took some bottles with us home. So one can still enjoy Berlin in a bottle now and then.

:: Have cakes at Tillmann bakery - check. We saved them for the boat-trip back to Sweden. 66% of them were enjoyed by us both, 33% admittedly went into cake-heaven (not the tummy).

:: Take photos of this and that things I missed last year – semi-check.

:: Buy ice tea at Tee Geschwender – semi-check. Bought two. Would buy more to take home. Saved that or the last day, then oh vey, the shop was closed due to cash-desk issues. Sad face.

:: Buy something small at Berliner Zinnfiguren - check. A wise owl. Will get a post of its wise own.

:: Ride the tram - no check.

:: Practise mindfulness, be in the here and now, relax and don’t worry – semi-check. Some days were easier than others. It doesn't help when you get a rather upsetting work-mail on holiday *which you can't help but open*.

:: Have a walk in Tiergarten park - no check.



:: Visit old airport Tempelhof - check. Fascinating. Eerie.

:: Take a picture of the bobbaloos at Brandenburger Tor - for some reason, no check. We only passed in the car. And somehow old Tor photos just aren't the same without them bobs... So, well, if one lacked reasons to return to Berlin...

hoptimist

Created in 1968 by Danish furniture designer Gustav Ehrenreich the Hoptimist has now been re-launched. The little fella (who comes in different sizes, models in plastic and wood) is certainly a moodlifting creation. I chose a wee green one (Baby Bumble Little Lime) to have nodding encouragingly beside my computer.

But before he can start his new job it seems like the bobbaloos think Little Lime needs to learn not to be this perky. Always. Because that simply can't be healthy. Perkiness in adequate doses. So Little Lime is still in session with the bobbaloos and I'm alone at the computer. It'll do for now.

Now is when I'll go and try squeeze the good out of my last holiday weekend - next week I fear Little Lime will be very busy beside my computer... - hope your weekend will be a lovely spent one.

Be kind to eachother ~

i love berlin birkenstock sandal

My Birkenstock goal for Berlin this time - where they sell them at at least half price compared to, in this case, over-priced Sweden plus the German assortment is of course much larger - was set; a pair of open toe-sandals for summer lounging at home. I still managed to get two instead of one pair that day. The reason for that being this pair. Because who could resist?



A limited edition style of sandals with the Berliner bear (or "bär" in German, in Swedish "bär" means "berry". End of language lesson) print.

Not only über-comfortable but also quite the perfect souvenir, win-win! In general I loath the obvious "I love city so-so" prints, thus these sandals with their special print are very discreet, only someone who knows Berlin and their bear-symbols would know. De-lovely.

The other pair open-toe pair I chose in the end are also black-and-white, flowery. Needless to say, the least favourited "colour"-combination of mine, but in this particular model the one I enjoyed most. Bobbaloos though, they totally heart and approve the bear sandals most (although granted, if I hadn't been so set on open-to ones, they think I should have gone for these twin-sandals with animal prints instead...).

tea giveaway

I had planned a tea giveaway in blog for a while, but given the most kind and thoughtful comments recently in different posts, I thought it would be a nice gesture to do this sooner than later. And sooner as in right now.

Thus two recievers will get one of these teas, both are black teas. The left one I haven't tried, it's from picturesque smalltown Nora and has an aromatic scent of citrus and flowers. The right one is the wonderful chocolate tea from Malmö Chokladfabrik (chocolate factory) I blogged about a couple of years ago.

All you have to do to take part in the bobbaloo drawing (needless to say they will do the job this time too) of tea winners is to leave a comment in this very post telling me one of the following:

~ your favourite tea AND your favourite chocolate
~ your favourite tea AND your favourite citrus dish

Last day of entry will be August 10. Easy as that! The bobbaloos have communicated that they think 'the more the merrier' is a fine thing, as in they do appreciate having to chose carefully between lots of lovely chocolate and citrusy tea comments. In fact, they do lots of happy dancing (and standing on head) with every comment.

the duckiest shower curtain in the world

The most beautiful shower curtain in the world demanded relief, thus enter the duckiest shower curtain in the world. Found via Twitter, where someone tweeted about her new awesome shower curtain (see, Twitter is brimming with essential information and grains of gold).

Adorning the duckiest shower curtain are for example;
galen anka = mad duck
ny anka = new duck
fin anka = fine duck
Peking anka = Peking Duck (needless to say, this one I do not approve of)
röd anka = red duck
kall anka (also word play for the Swedish Donald Duck, Kalle Anka) = cold duck
hungrig anka = hungry duck
smutsig anka (behöver bada) = dirty duck (needs a bath)
elak anka = mean duck
badanka = literal "bath duck", but rubber duck it is

It is indeed a fine and perky shower curtain, although having all those ducks staring at you when taking a shower feels... tad wacky ducky.

Duckiest shower curtain found at Lagerhaus

small bright matters

Today some glimpses of good things lately. Not quite up to writing a perky only post yet. All in due time. This for now.

There may or may not have been the arrival of new woolly settlers when we got home.

There may or may not have been a tad bit of crazy good acquiring of shoes on holiday.

Summer of 2011 may or may not have been time when I decided wearing different nailpolish more often makes the daily grind a tad bit lighter to bear.

To climb plus 277 steps (and the same on the way down) to reach a golden victory angel is not such a small feat. Doing this while wearing golden shoes makes it even better.

Miniscule frogs are adorable. And very, very tiny compared to Big Foot.

Someone kind had cleared the concrete garden path from weeds when we were away. Suddenly it looks presentable, fresh and new. If only life, at least sometimes, could be so easy to clean from rubbish and stupidity, madness and malice.

Be kind to fellow beings ~

the three-legged hedgehog

When we were away, I got news about the number one hedgehog being joined by at least two more - how they despite every measure taken still manage to get inside garden remains a mystery. Ah well, if they can to co-exist with the rest of us, they're welcome - one of which seemed to be hurt, though eating.

There were also reports of a bunch of frogs of various sizes. *Yay, I have a mini-zoo and I haven't forced anyone to join!*

The first sight when we came home was a hedgehog crossing the road before we turned in at the parking lot. Then making his/her way to the outside-fence part of our garden. When I went into the garden there were two others (one of which was the possibly hurt one, it looked strangely lopsided, but was very eager to eat, which is always a good sign) demanding food in the lilac hedge (their newfound digs).

They hizz, they sneeze, they crunch, they utter hedgehog-sounds, they poop, their presence is very obvious and you can feel someone is watching at times even when they're not visible to us. It is delightful - minus the poop I suppose.

I hadn't seen the lopsided one for a day and was wondering what had happened to her/him. Then suddenly she (let's call her/him a she since s/he feels like a she, okey?) came crawling out from under the water barrel at the bottom of the garden. Watching us with a curious yet watchful eye in her lopsided way. She sniffed for food and when doing that we could see that she was missing her right front leg, poor thing. But it looked like she was born that way and coped with it well in the way three-legged dogs and cats compensate for the missing of a leg.

She got some of the usual cat-food-crunchies and I spent a long time lying on the concrete-garden-path (playing the shored whale) watching her munch. She wasn't exactly appreciative when it came to the presence of me and the camera, but still, much less shy than the other hedgies. Needless to say she is adorable, ADORABLE, a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e.

When she had eaten most of the crunchies she scurried back under the barrel, where I suppose she has her home. Most every evening now, there are crunch-parties both in the lilac hedge and by the outside-fence area of garden. I'm very proud of being chosen as host for these cohabitants and distinguished summer guests.

Oh, how I love the way nature come so close even when you live in a reasonably densely populated neighbourhood, I could never ever see myself living in the inner city, nearby, visiting, forever fascinated by yes, but not living in, never... I want hedgehogs and frogs in my summer life. Heart.

humanity

Waking up to the news of exactly how many people who lost their lives yesterday, because one (?) person let the hate he felt inside pours over... It is indeed a thin line between feeling hate and contempt about many things in a society and then this, causing so much pain and sorrow within a few hours a day in July 2011.

There are ongoing tragedies all over this earth, every day, every minute, every second, most of them caused by homo sapiens' greed, anger, hate, selfishness and lack of compassion. The word "humanity" has always been double-faced to me, on the one hand it's meant to hold compassion, kindness and mercy. On the other hand, the most horrific deeds are most always caused by just that, the humanity, we the human beings on this earth. Many still believing humans are the finest, most superios kind of beings - if that would be the case, we wouldn't cause eachother and other fellow earth beings all this constant and in far too many cases studious pain.

Many beings lost their lives this weekend, due to hatred, if the humanity is able to learn from this, if we all do something good with our lives, feel more compassion, love and care for eachother (including other beings than mere humans naturally), for all those, all over the world, whose voices have now been silenced, maybe, then maybe, the word humanity will feel less tarnished and ill cared for.

Be kind to eachother ~

on july 22, 2011

I had planned to write something perky about my newfound fascination about nailpolish, possibly something about shoes, good teas and bobbaloos. The good, happy matters. When the ugliness of our violent, horrific world once again struck this afternoon - the two violent attacks in Norway.

Most of us in Scandinavia live in such a naive illusion that everything is and will remain a generally hunky-dory idyll up here in the North. Far away from the human inflicted violence that is the everyday reality for many, many beings all over the world.

The attack at the youth camp makes me especially sick. Such studious evilness, only from mankind.

I followed the first reports on Twitter, sadly (as usual) the information and Twitter-flow have since derailed. People.

Be kind to eachother.

Edit - I should have provided a link, where you can read more about this, sorry, news and update in English about this can be read at BBC News Europe and here for example.

and we are home again

Back in Sweden, back home. It feels awesome to sleep in one's own bed, have the cups of tea just the way I like them, cuddle with furries and just be me, here and now. But it was a brilliant trip, actually one of the best holidays yet I've been on. It may have been the company of bobbaloos, it may have been other factors. But them bobs have been so much fun (mostly, not counting the incident with them raiding the hotelroom bar and a few times of too much caffeine) and overall very pleasant fellow travellers.

All and all, so much experienced, so much seen, new and old, so many photos taken, great food - including one, if not THE, best meal I've had so far and it was vegan and partly raw food. Of course more of that to come in a pretty post of its own - great coffee, lovely shopping, including too many a few fine shoes, lots of Bookcrossing, being inspired, being uplifted, being tired and exhausted by all the walking, driving and too little sleep, having overall very good weather (never too hot and never raining). Lots of lovely loveliness, since I have been able to be quite good at staying in the mindfullness of here and now. Mostly.

In the end it was just too laborious to try and connect with the computer during the time away, so the Internet connection was strictly iPhoneic hence no blogging. I've regularly uploaded iPhone snaps to Flickr, but now commence the downloading, uploading, editing of the 'real deal'. Which will take its sweet time...

There are hundreds of stories to tell, thousands of photos to show, but for now, a few beach snaps which, surprisingly amidst all the citiness of this trip, symbolize treasured golden moments during the very same trip.

PS The bobbaloos have also made a new little green Danish friend, he's called Hoptimist Baby Bumble Little Lime. A very happy, bouncy li'l fella. I'm hoping too that he'll have a positive influence on not only the bobs (as if they need that, bah!) but on my imminent future, come end of vacation time in a couple of weeks. DS

bobbaloo travelling, day one

Upon leaving Sweden this was the exitement shown by Seth and Jojo.


Some four hours later, this was the first glimpse of Germany for six little bobbaloos.



After a while of driving these fields of gentle giants (aka wind turbines) were a welcome sight. The first for Calvin and Leonard. They too were in awe of the fabulastic views.



Alas, Internet accesss doesn't work as it's suppose to at hotel (or otherwise). Funny how the involuntary non-access can be such a nuiscance, when voluntarily chosen it's just liberating... I'm hoping this won't be the only short travel update with a few snaps. So, more to come.

bobbaloos on holiday

According to a list I got today this is what the bobbaloos want on a holiday:

1. Stay in a castle
2. En-suite WC
3. Their own travelling funds
4. Party accessories
5. Outings

What the bobbaloos want, the bobbaloos (mostly) get. Do note that all these treats do not come from me. From me they would have gotten a basket to sleep in and outings. They are now officially sponsored and spoiled by M.

5) They get outings galore, from Scania (Skåne), to Berlin, to short stop Copenhagen. Their suitcase is filled with candy in case there'll be shortage of food (as if).

4) They have their very own champagne party popper *not that I'll allow them to take that with them*, earplugs for me and in case they party too much there's a first aid kit for mending. Plus a supersized toothbrush so they don't forget to brush their teeth. Apparently there's also something called a banquet and party service for bobbaloos (who knew). For some reason that scares me.

2) Their own toilet to-go.

3) Chubs is guarding the travelling funds. Unlike undersigned it is very unlikely she'll splurge the money on shoes.

1) They will get to sleep in a castle. Seth and Leonard are already practising their sleeping positions.

The aim is to keep in touch with blog during our the bobbaloos' trip. A little snap a day, Internet-connection permitted (it was a grand such last year, I'm sure it will me this time too. With an odd update on Twitter too, I'm sure). House-, cat-, dog sitter will stay in house (no need to trouble yourselves, burglars) and we are soon of on a hopefully fabulastic holiday trip again. For now, cheerio ~

you are so fine

"Du är så fin" translates to "You are so fine/nice/cute/" - I love this simple and inspirational art print, good words to remind both oneself and other fine ones of when times are rough (as well as on good days too).

froggy 2011

Suddenly something crawled up from under the terrace's splints when we sat their having a cuppa enjoying the fact that summer holidays have at last begun - sigh, I'm lost for words how much I need this, I will make the best of efforts to really enjoy, treasure every moment, yes practise mindfullness galore - it slowly heaved its fat little froggy self up and sat there relaxing.

Before it hoppeti hopped over the terrace and into the lilacs hedge. I only had the iPhone to snap something quick with, which is indeed such a pity. This far wee one would have been nice to have captured in a nicer way. Since last year's frog (below) was such a handsome, large one, quite eager to pose. (And still he didn't get a post of his/her own back then, shame on me.)

There's also froggy 2009



H a p p y     w e e k e n d ~