June and things

June and things

In Berlin we are still waiting for the sun to arrive! A few weeks ago I left New Orleans with 28°C to arrive in Berlin with 12°C. It hasn't changed much since :-(  Perhaps we'll have luck in June.


On Saturday 5 June I am off to Warnemunde with Frau Beckmann and her gang of 'Oldies' for a day of looking for the sun, eating a large lunch, walking along the beach before eating a lot of cakes with coffee, then taking the train back to Berlin. Sounds like fun to me!

Next day, I am going to the Olympia Stadium to see the final of the Olympic Pentathlon competition. One of my students is the boss and organised the event. I corrected his opening address and so got a nice invitation to the event :-) My iMac will be three years old then. I wonder what it wants as a present!

On the 3 June, I am going to see the Aga Khan exhibition at the Martin Gropius Bau museum. It closes three days later so I have to see it then. I want to see what this family, with its interesting claim of historical descent, collected over so many years.

I have a series of concerts and opera visits in my calendar for the season is drawing to a close and again  if I don't do it now I will have lost the chance. There are the usual lessons, and visits to Hans. There is also lessons for me to improve my written German. Getting slowly better!

Not a big month for birthdays in my family and friends circle. On the 19th June my father would have been 96 and my mother 90. Pity they are not here to have a real 'Oldie' birthday party! Teresa of a certain age has her birthday on the 23rd, Hermann the Oldie will be 73 on the 25th and that is it for birthdays this month.

I hope to post the photos and stories about my recent visit to New Orleans, and south Louisiana, for I have finally worked on each photo and reduced each for posting to the internet. Watch this space!

Brandenburg by water

Brandenburg by water

Heike and I slowly walked through the Alt Stadt taking in the Rathaus = Town Hall with its 'Roland Statue', which was an ideal place for another photo shoot.

We ended up at the river where Heike had booked us onto a little tourist boat. All were full so we had to share the last one with a group of women having a birthday party at the front of the boat. Not a bad idea. That is why you will see some shots with them sipping Sekt and dropping strawberries down their collective throats!

It was a two hour tour on the rivers and canals that flow around and through Brandenburg. I can really recommend seeing the city from the water. You see sights you can never see from the road.

After a relaxing cruise. Heike and I sipped a cup of coffee as we waited for a tram to take us to her flat. She has just moved into the flat.  I had heard about it but never seen it. Very nice and with a large balcony at the rear looking onto a garden area.

We said our goodbyes and I walked all of four minutes until I reached the railway station. She lives opposite it!  A short wait until the RE1 arrived to take me back to Berlin just in time to watch the final part of the football match.

I thought about Jan and his divided loyalties as Germany beat Hungary 3:0. At least a lot of beer and sausages were consumed here to celebrate!

Thanks for a very memorable day Heike and I look forward to seeing you soon in Berlin.

Brandenburg again

Brandenburg again

Yesterday I took the RE1train to Brandenburg again. This time it was just me, and to have a day out with Heike. Normally we meet when Heike comes to Berlin to put flowers on her sister Birgit's grave, but this time we decided to meet in her hometown.  A very nice photo of Heike on the right!

She had planned the day. We took a tram to the Marienburg and walked up the steps in the garden until we reached the Friedenswarte.

I think I need to explain that the Marienburg is the highest hill in the Federal State of Brandenburg and from the early Middle Ages had a fortress on the top. Over time this fell into decay and was replaced by a modern tower in the 1980's called the Friedenswarte. You can climb up it 180 steps if you wish for a view over the city and surrounding countryside.

We went there for the view and the more practical reason of having lunch!
It is spargel time in Germany and I really like them with a Schnitzel and potatoes with butter sauce. Mmmmh...very nice and even better with a cool beer or light dry white wine. You can see me relaxing after the meal and posing in front of the Friedenswarte.  The first pose is of me with the steps in the garden.

We later walked through the Alt Stadt to get to the river and boat, but that is another story you can read about in the next post.

Porcelain Day

Porcelain and Trish

An interesting Whitsun Sunday for me. I started with work on the computer then a call from Trish at midday. What a surprise - I nearly fell on the floor!  We had a wonderful chat for 45 minutes. She called to apologise for not sending me a card and greetings on my birthday. No problem for I know she was in the UK and between 'stations'. She is now back in Datca in Turkey.

After catching up on her news, I quickly showered and changed and cycled to the local U-Bahn station. The S-Bahn is not running. Why not? .... No, don't get me onto that again!!  I got to Alexander Platz in time to meet a new 'Oldie' to the group name of Rudi. When Jan reads this he will collapse in laughter for many years ago when I first moved to Berlin, and he didn't have a beard :-) my neighbour had a dog called Rudi. Woof, woof!

Rudi had called me earlier to ask what I was doing in the afternoon. I said, 'Nothing', so he said we should go to a special exhibition of Porcelain - mainly the world famous Meissen porcelain in the Nikolai Viertal. I had little knowledge of porcelain but was surprised by this exhibition and how it is put across to the public. If you are in Berlin this summer you must see it. Even 'Lizzie' had sent a couple of samples from the Buckingham Palace cellar!

My Birthday

My Birthday

I celebrated my 67th birthday in Baton Rouge. It means 'red stick' and is the capitol of Louisiana. I had hired a car and set off on a tour of the southern parts of Louisiana, taking in the plantations along the river, Lafayette, the centre of the 'cajun country', a swamp tour and then landed in Baton Rouge on a quiet Saturday.

I am working on the photos for my story about my New Orleans trip and need a little more time. Meanwhile, here is a taster.

There are photos of my car (I really liked it), the lemon cake I got on the evening of my birthday when I returned to Tony and Rita's, relaxing on their porch with a G&T, and in front of the state capitol building in Baton Rouge.

There is one of me in front of Fats Domino's house - he wasn't at home! It was taken by Rita on the evening of my birthday. At least I saw B.B. King play just before my birthday when we all went to the famous 'Jazz Fest'. More later.

Mothers' Day

Mothers' Day

The day after my birthday was Mothers' Day. It was also my final day with Tony, Rita and family in New Orleans. Tony flew to Brazil to promote his book late afternoon and I packed my bag for the flight next day. Rita was the centre of attention all day - and quite rightly so! I bought her a bottle of Chardonnay, Tony gave her flowers and the kids made a present.

The high point of the day was going to a Mothers' Day Concert given by three different children/youth orchestra. Bevan played double bass in the children's orchestra. It was packed with parents and grandparents, wearing their Sunday best and smiling broad smiles. A happy event.

Outside, I took some photos of the family before we all rushed off to take Tony to the airport. Later in their home I decided to take some more and the children happily played along. I really like the results - as do Tony and Rita.

Old, new and football

Old, new and football

Yesterday I bought a new washing machine. It's on the right. The old one is on the left. I started to have problems before I went to New Orleans and in fact had to wash clothes for the journey in a 'Washeteria'. I washed them again just before I left for Berlin, but being down to my last pair of underpants and socks, and not wanting to face another few hours at the 'Washeteria', I decided to get the money from under my mattress and buy a new machine.

 It is a newer version of the old one produced by Whirlpool, but with a better protected drum-lock. The old one broke off and set in motion a lot of problems ending with it not working. It was delivered at 6.00pm yesterday, as I was in the middle of preparing photos to update this blog. The mechanics found that the ventil/valve was blocked and so didn't allow water to flow to the machine (Berlin water is full of chalk!) but they kindly replaced it. They also found the rubber band that drives the machine had split. Mmmmh....and it was only three years old!

I filled up the machine and off it went. Now I have clean clothes drying on the balcony. As my 'smalls' were washed, I listed to music, did more computer work and then watched football. I think all males in Germany between the ages of 12 and 92 also watched the match. I thought of one in the north of Spain  and am certain he had his head 'glued to the box'. Right, Jan?  Bayern played Milan for the European Cup and as expected, Milan won 2:0. Germany is in mourning today!

Herren Tag

This year Herren Tag was on Thursday 13 May. In England this is a religious day called Ascension Day and not a public holiday. In Germany it is a public holiday. I have chosen the secular name for this day. 

Herren Tag 2010

I met my old Muggelsee Gang and set off from Spandau, in the north-west of Berlin,  to enjoy the day. We were a mixed group of Germans, Russian speaking German immigrants, a young French man who is staying with some of the German members of the group to improve his German + me!

We ended the day at Waldemar and Nina's big garden house on the Tegeler See where the grilling and drinking took place. I was there two years ago for a late summer meeting and reported the event on this blog..... you have forgotten haven't you :-?

We meet two or three times a year and it is now 16 years since we first met at a training school at Berlin's biggest lake called 'Muggelsee',  hence they are called my 'Muggelsee Gang'. I was very tired after my delayed and late flight from the USA, but determined to take part in our traditional bicycle ride with a picnic and ending with the grilling 'blow out' in traditional style.

I think the photos speak for themselves so just enjoy the images of the group and what we did.

Photoshop Show

Photoshop Show

Last Tuesday afternoon, I went to join my Photoshop Gang, led by Stefan, in an exhibition of work produced in our last course. It was nice to see the Gang again, who I hadn't seen for a number of  weeks. If you remember, I was in New Orleans! We had time to exchange stories before Stefan cleared his throat and opened the event with a speech.

There were more people than I expected, which was nice - as was the glass of  'Begrüßungs-Sekt' a nice lady offered me. Our work looked very different set in frames and displayed. Later, we 'Photoshoppers' enjoyed a  buffet to end a very pleasant afternoon.

Unfortunately we have to wait until mid-October to start our next course. Here is a photo of me posing in front of two of my 'Kunstwerk' (work of art) and one of me with Stefan.