Oh I forgot to Publish this post last weekend, superb. Now then… Happy eastern everyone. I am spending these few days at home in southern Germany – where the world spins a lot slower and the people speak my language 
To celebrate my return, I climbed a mountain. Yes this is what we do in the south because we have such things here. I attached some pictures to give you a better impression what I am speaking of.
Right now I am sitting in the garden enjoying the morning sun and listen to the various kinds of birds. Deep blue sky and 25°C – this is really amazing. For future notice: This is the best way to relax and let the mind wander. Who needs expensive vacation trips if this is a quite cheap and easy way to recharge your batteries for the city-pulse.
Some pictures of Home
Today I bought a bike. Wow great news you might think, now he totally lost his mind. No! I thought this one through. The good weather today of course had a great impact on my decision. So I woke up this morning and took the S2 + U5 to Samariter Street in Friedrichshein (http://www.bikeparkberlin.de) where I heard is a bike shop selling used bikes for 39€. There were many bikes unfortunately no bike cost 39€. The cheapest I saw was about 70€ and it crossed my mind that maybe some soldiers in WW1 used it to deliver some kind of mail – yes horribly old – this bike wasn’t “used” it was already dead for years. This is why I spend a little more but my new bike (with chain, air-pump and lamps) can be cycled.
So I just arrived back at home from my first half-day bike tour from Friedrichshain to Charlottenburg with many detours and a few breaks on benches in the sun. What a great day today! Only problem is: My tushie hurts 
Another post on the topic “weekend activities”. Last weekend – well it has been a few days to digest all the activities but I have to write now otherwise I forget – i did many things
Solarbar: A really really great place to spend time after work or weekends with a great view over Berlin and good cocktails. Unfortunately the staff tried to rip us off – they seriously wanted 172€ from me and i only had 2 cocktails and a beer. Nice new tactic to tell the waitress “i am with them and pay later” and then just leave…
Some italian guy tried to rip me off with some armani clothes out of his car. He said he gives me a present (6 nice shirts ) if I get him some gas-money. Ok I said I have 20€ and he was like I need much more and the he wanted his “present” back… stupid squid!
Then we stumbeled across a filmset from the new Pierce Brosnan (forgot the name sounded like a biographie of some guy…) movie with a lot of London cars, cabs and busses. I always thought it would be cheaper filming english streets in England…
After that Madame Tussauds was the next topic on the agenda. I visited MT in London a few years back – was better I think.
Pergamon museum: If your motivation-pool for the day is down low, dont go there. You really have to take your time. I will have to visit again to have a closer look on all the impressive sculptures and temples.
Rocco: A very expensive touri-restaurant at Hackescher Markt – first impression. After eating an Apfelstrudel there you will change your mind – very nice!
Osteria Caruso: If you want to eat a really good pizza, go to Potsdamer Platz and order there. Very big, very tasty and the location is sweet in a quiet street parallel to the Platz. I think not every tourist find this place.
Once again a weekend full of cultural and sporting activities. A friend visited me this weekend and we did all sorts of things. Just to sum up a few, in my opinion a nice mixture. But at this point I think I got enough historical input for the next days, have to prevent cultural overkill
Museum für Kommunikation. Very nice storyline and an interesting collection. Especially “Vom Tagebuch zum Weblog (Elsa Seefahrt)”
Martin-Gropius-Bau. Be quick to visit, it ends in 2 days. Many interesting pictures of Robert Lebeck
Gemäldegalerie – The Master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden
CineStar “Watchmen”. This is an amazing movie, great epic storyline (nearly 3 hours) and beautiful action sequences.
Playing a 2-hour hard match of Badminton with my new Pulse-Clock – max. 185 pulse
Today I continued my cultural Berlin adventure in the Berlin Kulturforum. An advise for all of you having the crazy idea to quick-visit the Kulturforum: dont! The Gemäldegalerie is really big – if you want to see all of it, at least take half a day. For the Kunstgewerbemuseum and Kupferstichkabinett the other half or the next day. Sadly the Kunstbibliothek was closed today.
So I will have to go there again with a little more time in my backpack and take a closer look on all the great drawings…
Last week I received my “art pass” from Daimler Financial Services. This gives me the opportunity to visit most of the museums and galeries in Berlin without actually paying any fees – let’s have some culture then! So I started yesterday by visiting the Akademie der Künste in Tiergarten near S-Bellevue. There were 2 exhibitions. The first one was dedicated to Maya Plisetskaya – the Ballet-lady – the second one Manoel de Oliveira – havn’t heard that name before. I dont want to go too much into detail – just go there yourself but dont expect too much.
The first two weeks of work and there it was, the first after work party in Berlin. For details on the location check out the website. I just wanted to write a new post in the blog – didn’t have much time besides work and finishing the organizational phase of moving. By the way i am now officially a Berlin citizen. Before Felix we had some drinks in the Caroshi-Bar. Nice place. Last week we went to Rivabar, also a very nice place. Just a little update today I am going to write more when i am fully settled in…
Felix after Work – March 2009
Suddenly my room isn’t dark anymore. I dont believe it, the sun is shining. What a great opportunity to go outside and explore the new surroundings. Ah yes, the good old Spree in front of our flat, you can even hear birds for the first time in Berlin. Is it spring already?
I know what the Spree experiences in eastern direction: There is main station, Bundeskanzleramt, Bundestag and all the other important buildings of Berlin. I have been there. But what exactely is there in the west? Well, lets find out I think to myself and start walking. Everywhere are jogger, people sitting on the gras at the spree, a great sunday! There are pictures and the exact way I have been walking. Sadly the sun had to leave an hour afterwards but ok, I will be having many trips through Berlin.
Walking time: 70 minutes
Reminder: I have to visit the Restaurant in the Boat, the exquisite lounge opposite of the boat and the restaurant with food from the tibetean highlands, this could be a culture shock btw. the Chicken-Döner on the way was really good!
Learned today: The more north you go within Moabit, the stranger the people and etablissements get! Spoooky…
For pictures visit the gallery!
In order to celebrate my bachelor degree and the great new flat we did a snowboarding trip to Grindelwald / Wengen / Swizerland this weekend. This place is heaven. On Saturday the snow was great and the sun burned its way into my K2-helmet. This was the best trip ever. On the second day we had heavy snowfall and something about 60cm new, fresh and untouched surface. What a ride. Unfortunately our car got stuck the way up so we had to drive back and took the train and Zahnradbahn from the next railway station.
We stayed in a big loft-like appartement thirty minutes away from the bright-white paradise by car. A marvellous choice near a big lake with an impressive view on the snowy mountain-tops. Dear Swizerland I will see you same time next year!
For pictures visit the gallery!
How do I start… I have successfully executed my masterplan in moving logistics. Everything worked out really well in the end. All the pieces are in place, the furniture is build-up and even the washing machine didnt stand a chance against my unbending strength of willpower. Besides a few medium-class missunderstandings with the flat-owner the moving project reached its final milestone with great results. But of course there were a few obstacles on the way.
- Flooded kitchen trying to set up the washing machine correctly
- Exploding lamp due to lack of electric knowledge
- and some more of those…
.
Some minor things have to be done to live in Berlin officially and completly.
For pictures visit the gallery!