Early birds

Incredible! At 8 am Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz just round the corner from my place is busy with men working. After all those months when nothing happened at all, now there's so much hustle to get it ready until next weekend. I wonder whether they'll manage to get the fountain going in time for the official opening.
Why I was out and about that early? I got two early birds tickets for the exhibition of french artists (for free!), so I invited Christel as a present for always looking after cats and plants that nicely. We met at the Neue Nationalgalerie, enjoyed the paintings and sculptures, and had a coffee and french pastry later in the sun. A wonderful way of starting the day!
What else happened yesterday? Work at home, doctors in between, an invitation to the 70th birthday party of an old friend and collegue. It will be on July 9th - the day I'll be operated. Sigh!

13 hours celebrations

We started at 9:30 in the morning, and I left at 10:30 pm. It was hard work to party that long! ;)
Martin Kempe, main editor of "ver.di publik" and my former boss, and Hertha, dear collegue from ver.di archive, had their last working day yesterday. They are pensioners now, enjoying life outside ver.di.
We had decorated Hertha's office the evening before and transformed it into a beach, waves and sand included. She loved it a lot, but refused to sit in the lounge chair all the time because of her back.
All day long friends and collegues came to hug her goodbye and share a last glass of prosecco or orange juice. Hartmut and I had found we are poets and had written a few verses on her leaving which were recited and/or sung. She seems to have liked them, she even joined in "ver.di, ade, ade! ver.di, ade!" (which is suebian for goodbye)
In the evening the official party was on, but we all liked our small one better.
I will move into her office on Monday. But it's a pity she left, we will all miss her.

Going to hospital

I shouldn't have gone to the DRK hospital Westend today! They told me my shoulder won't get better unless I'm operated. And I will have to be back to stay for a few days the week after next.
There goes my plans for some nice days at work and maybe some travelling. Tchiwam had invited me to Lapland last night. But no - Berlin Westend hospital it is. What a shame!

45 visitors

A bus full of senior members of our union arrived from Hannover yesterday, and Heike, Hertha and I welcomed them and showed them around the ver.di building. Our "boss" Frank Bsirske left his lunch break to talk to his old friends, lead by 87 year old Anni Gondro, and they sang some very special songs to cheer him up. It worked! :)

48 hours

Every year, there's a huge artists' festival in Neukölln, one of Berlin's poorest and most multikulti areas. It's called "48 Stunden Neukölln", and those hours are packed with wonderful stuff! The main day had been saturday, with open galleries, music and art everywhere, and special events for free the lot.
I had missed that, but went to Richardplatz on Sunday to enjoy some of the action. It was still going strong, and I sure did!
There were dance shows all through the day, lots of stands with the best homemade food from different corners of the world where the people living in Neukölln come from, and the smith in the old bohemian area was open and working.
In the evening I met Kliment in chat again, he will be moving to Cologne soon, and Enrique from the middle of nowhere in Spain whom I had missed meeting so often last year. Now the plan is to visit him in October, and I'm invited to a wedding in Morocco, somewhere in the desert. Sounds tempting!
Especially so, since I got a call from Anna today - from Mallorca airport! Volker and she had changed their plans for the week and decided to do some last minute travelling, instead of sitting in rainy Stuttgart. Four hours to pack and get to the airport - not bad! Beats my travel customs by far! I always need at least a day. ;)

Juhannus

Rain, rain, rain - all through the day. Not the best weather for dancing and singing outside. Luckily in the afternoon the sun glimpsed through the clouds, and I decided to go outside after all.
To the midsummer party of the german-finnish society DFG I went, and had a nice time with Finns and Germans, singing and eating and drinking. German food and german drinks, alas. Most people gathered inside; there was a pianoplayer and a singer performing traditional Juhannus songs, and in between there was finnish tango. The children outside were enjoying the sun and playing a few games, just like th swedish the day before.
When I arrived, two little girls came to me and asked me whether I wanted the beautiful wreath they had done. Of course I did! They put it on my curls, and a woman took this nice picture of me. It's almost like Finland, isn't it?
When the evening got too cold, I left for home and the cats. The wreath is decorating the wall above my desk now. What a nice souvenir of a nice day!

Midsommar

Swedes love to celebrate their summer, especially midsummer. Since I can't travel to join them on this never ending day, I went to the midsommar party at Victoria church, the swedish congregation's meeting place in Berlin. I was impressed: It was lovely!
Families and friends all came to celebrate, picknick in the huge garden, sing and dance around the midsummer tree to the music of a small, but enthusiastic band playing all the traditional midsommar songs. I ate and drank with them, and admired the wreaths woven of simple burch twigs or colourful summer flowers.
The danish party of Sankt Hans aften at Cristian's church I went to later was boring, so I left for the SEB bank on Tauentzien and their midsommar partying in Berlin center. Nice offers they give as special treats!
All these informations I found on the website Kulturhus Berlin. I sure will have to check it more often!
And today off to swedish midsummer at IKEA, and maybe get tickets for the traditional crab dinner in August, afterwards CSD parade, art event 48 hours Neukölln and juhannus in Spandau. If the weather gets better. It's a lot colder today, and rain pouring down ever so often! Sigh...

A day downtown with Anna

Not Heidelberg, but Stuttgart was where we spent our day. The idea of climbing up the hill to the famous castle in the summer heat didn't sound that good after all. Even the spectacular view couldn't attract us.
Instead, we went to Killesberg to join a guided tour around famous Weißenhofsiedlung built in 1927 by architects like Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and the brothers Taut. I had never managed to do it in all those years I lived in Stuttgart. Take a tour yourself on their website!
Later on to almost three hours of cinema, "Pirates of the Caribbean III". It felt like a private rehearsal: We were the only spectators in "Metropol 2".
Today I'm getting ready to travel back to Berlin. Gustav and Emil won't have missed me too much, I hope. Tomorrow it's back to ver.di and work. A week of vacation passed so fast, it's incredible. I'm looking forward to the weekend in Berlin, though: Christopher Street Day parade and danish, swedish and finnish (!) midsummer parties to attend to. Not as nice as the trip to Lapland I had planned for Juhannus, but still!

Shopping all day

Anna, Volker and I went to Metzingen, the so called outlet city south of Stuttgart, yesterday afternoon. After five hours of heavy shopping we left back home tired and happy with lots of bags and lots of goodies. Anna spent all her money at Ralph Lauren's, and Volker bought clothes at six different shops. I didn't find any shoes nor dresses, but a few things at Burberry's: a swimsuit and a cardigan. Posh stuff!
At home we had a lovely dinner of typical suebian summer food: a sausage salad with fresh bread. And then off to sleep until late morning. Maybe a trip to Heidelberg today?

Never too old to have fun!

This wisdom that anybody should know about and live up to was a message of the swiss movie "Die Herbstzeitlosen" I saw yesterday. I found a voucher for "Atelier" which I had been given on my 50th birthday, and was lucky they still accepted it after all those years. And the movie was great: Four elderly women discover life is more than just waiting for death. The 80 year old opens up a lingery shop in a swiss valley, and her friends help her selling her beautifully designed dessous in the internet. Kids and neighbours disapprove at first, but have to give in. Lovely plot!
Later in the evening I invited my kids to great tuscan food at "Trattoria da Loretta". Hmmmm, delicious, every bite of it!

Sunday at its best

Sunny, idle day, but still doing a lot in house and garden. Anna worked on all the small things that are so easily postponed, and managed to get them all done. I was digging out weeds, cutting dead wood, and getting the garden pretty in general.
Five hours of continuous, but not too hard work - it's always great to be busy outside when the sun is shining, bees are buzzing, butterflies flutter by, flowers are looking beautiful and smelling lovely, and cats are purring around.
Alex left rather soon for a stroll through the park with his friend Henni, and Volker joined us later. Then we decided to go downtown to watch "Pirates of the Caribbean III", and before that I was eager to have a look at Volker's flat. I had helped him plan the decoration, but had never seen it so far. It was cozy and comfortable! Of course!
On the way to the cinema, only ten minutes from his place (everything is just round the corner to him, living smack in the city close to Bohnenviertel), we passed Schlossplatz and the Lang Lang open air concert. It was just about to start, and lots of places still empty behind the fence, with a good view (though not that good sound). Volker rushed back to get a blanket and drinks, and Anna got a pizza at Vapiano's. What a lovely picknick we enjoyed, with great music as well! (And saving 600 Euro for three tickets.)
Today it's off downtown getting an idea what Stuttgart is like lately, and tonight dinner at Loretta's. Hmmmmm, mouthwatering!

Summer party

Heike and Andreas had invited their friends to party, and everybody came, even from as far as Amsterdam and Berlin. The flat in Cannstatt was decorated beautifully in hundreds of roses, their perfume filling the air. And the food was delicious, done and delivered by italian cook Loretta. She's the owner of a tuscan trattoria in Stuttgart centre, where I will invite the kids to for dinner. We had been too tired on Friday.
Anna is looking forward to it, and told me she would love to have her final exam dinner at Vincent Klink. Wow, I didn't know she's turned into a gourmet!
I loved the new flat with the most beautiful view from the huge balcony, and was happy to find a few old friends, f. e. Tina. I left rather early all the same, just in time to meet Volker at home, Anna's former boyfriend who had moved out into a flat of his own last November. We might go for some excursions together this week, most probably outlet shopping in Metzingen as well.
Today is a sunny day, perfect to work a bit in the garden, and hopefully to go to Sindelfingen international street festival. I'm on vacation, after all!

Two minutes in paradise

At Jena Paradies the train that took me from Berlin to Nürnberg stopped for two minutes. I got a short glimpse of the green area called paradise close to the station.
Travelling through Germany from northeast to southwest was nice, but tiresome. Luckily I had found the new Jasper Fforde on Nursery Crime Division at Dussmann yesterday evening, before going to the Akademie der Künste and the festival "Macht der Sprache".
Crossing the boarder to Baden-Württemberg, heavy rain started, hitting the landscape, the train, the floor inside, and even my luggage. We were all dry again when arriving in Stuttgart.
Anna and Alex met me at the station, both happy to have finished their hard work and exams, and we went back home to Felix and Emily. Leaving Gustav and Emil in my Berlin flat had been a bit hard, I admit, but Christel and Ute will look after them, so we're all fine.
It was great to meet Ute Würfel again after so many years, she's an artist, and we worked together in our union. We enjoyed some great time then, fighting for artists' rights to get payed for exhibitions, (see our website "Profession Artist" from 2001) and again last saturday at Bergmannstraßenfest, listening to music, and talking about what had happened during the last ten years. She had been granted an award and lived in Paris for some time! Lucky her! She's so nice, she'll move into my flat for the time until I'm back, to look after flat, flowers and tomcats.
Now to celebrate a bit with Anna and Alex, I invite them out to dinner in a restaurant somewhere closeby. I meant to buy tickets for a trip with the new TGV to Paris, but they're all sold since months. I only read about it today. So we'll travel around the Ländle a bit, Heidelberg, or even to Switzerland and Basel. Tickets are only 27 Euro for up to five people for a day!

Women in art

Working in the sunshine

All week long. Sometimes from my homeoffice. In between going to the doctors. Duh, life used to be different a year ago!
Tomorrow's my last day at work for some days: I'll go to Stuttgart for a week. Of course I'll miss a lot here in Berlin, f. e. the "Global summit of Women". And the Queer Pride Week and wonderful festival this weekend. And Bloomsday at Leydicke's. Sigh!
But hey, Anna will have finished her exam, first part, Alex his project on e-mail-archives (here's last year's project on digital cinema), and Heike and Andeas will celebrate their wedding and moving to a nicer flat. So of course I'll join them!
And will be back just in time for CSD. ;)

Just a short glimpse

My eyes still aren't much better, but I couldn't resist temptation. The weekend was great, Bergmannstraßenfestival as well, and summer is back in Berlin to stay for many weeks to come. Meaning: it's hot, hot, hot! Now why aren't there no proper seaside beaches here at all?
Work runs smoothly and is fun (of course), and everything else should be told with more time when my health is back to normal. Or almost so.

Remember a wonderful artist: Karl Valentin

His birthday had been on June 4th already. They sent some movies by the great comedian and dadaist Karl Valentin on tv. He's my absolute favourite, I was happy they remembered him, more than fifty years after his death. Try to get one of his books and laugh your head off! Or watch a sketch online!
About myself, there's nothing much to be said but this: I had been working on my computers too much lately, now my shoulders and eyes need a break. So I'm off to Bergmannstraßenfest and meeting friends in real life. See you again next week!

Thinking of a great poet: Mascha Kaleko

Mascha Kaleko would have been 100 yesterday. She's a wonderful german poet, living and writing since the 20s and 30s in Berlin, friend of Kästner, Tucholsky, Ringelnatz. Forgotten for many years like so many others: she was a jew, forbidden to work as an author, forced to leave her home.
If you ever read one of her short, but touching poems, you will understand how much I like her. If not: go and buy one of her books and start reading. You'll get addicted as much as I did.

Here comes the sun again

And my boss Hartmut is back from his long vacation with his family in Northrhine-Westfalia. Time to talk (he liked my website), and time to enjoy outside life in Berlin (I really liked that!). Both were great yesterday.
Today I stay at home working on the website (what else?), and in the evening off to visit some museums. Or to the book fair at Kollwitzplatz, to listen to a finnish (!) author. Maybe some beach bar later. Or Tiergarten, smack in the middle of busy Berlin center (see pic). Ahhhh, those lovely summer nights! :)

New seven wonders

Rainy days in Berlin, and lots to do at work and at home. So why not in the few breaks remember the travelling I did a year ago, and dream of new travels in winter? Where to? Any ideas? There's so many places I have not been to yet, and so many I would like to visit again. It's such a beautiful world!
There's a global poll to select the new seven wonders of the world from a given 21. I have seen a few of them, but still lack most.
My choice is the Alhambra, Petra, the Big Wall, Machu Picchu, Hagia Sophia, Stonehenge, and the Taj Mahal. Definitely NOT Neuschwanstein! :)

Back to normal

The film crew left; Crellestraße is its old self again. Randy had left on Wednesday already with lots of noodlesalad he had asked me on Tuesday to show him how to do. The tick was one after all, but had not bitten him yet, the doctor had said. He was lucky!
Talking of good luck: Anna started her exams on Friday. I sent her a good luck e-card yesterday and on Wednesday already a letter with a good luck charm, a small knitted cat I had found on the festival market last Sunday. Hope they help!
Sunday was a perfect day to stay at home, but nice to go to the book fair as well. So I did in the afternoon, later on to the environment festival close to Brandenburg gate (lots of bikers riding the streets, no cars at all, great) and finally a stop at "Alibar" in front of the Neue Nationalgalerie (see pic). A snack and a book I had bought at the fair, sitting in the lounge chairs, relaxing in the sun. No chance to get inside the exhibition, the queues are almost as bad as the year before last when the MOMA in Berlin was on. Maybe I'll book an early-bird-ticket and get there before 8:30 am. Just kidding, I will never make it that early.
Gustav and Emil are feeling more comfortable at my place every day, or rather night. Even Emil dares to leave his hiding underneath the bed to sleep curled up besides his friend. On top of the bed.
Now off to a day of working on the history website, and later to the dentist for some nice new teeth. And expensive, as well. Maybe they'll make me eat and look better, at least. ;)

Marketday in Prenzlberg, nights in the Carribean

Nice morning, not much work I felt like doing, only some shopping for the weekend. Titbits for the cats and water for me. The new Starbucks had openend up, and was full of people enjoying the sun in front of the coffeeshop. And their coffee, of course. Next door another bakery and coffeeshop will open up on tuesday, selling breakfast for 99 cent. So you can enjoy a coffee and a snack for hardly anything whilst waiting for your bus. :)
Instead of Winterfeldtplatz, I went to Kollwitzplatz market in Prenzlauer Berg. Unbelievable I had never been there before! It's quite a place for trendsetters and artists, preferably with some money: they had champagne with their sausage! I had a coffee at "Etienne" with life music. And checked lots of shops my collegue Sibylle had told me about, that sell great designers' stuff. Great indeed, the dresses as well as the prizes.
It's a nice area, but for a neighbourhood to live in I prefer down-to-earth Schöneberg. I will go to the book festival at Kollwitzplatz this afternoon, all the same.
In the evening I joined HC-chat for a while and afterwards second life. Gee, I found this great party place with lots of music and dances. They animate you, if you feel like it. I wasn't dancing like that for ages! I joined the club, and promised to be back this morning: the party is on around midnight american pacific time, so nine hours difference.
I travelled this virtual world a bit, which can be done without any money as well, and got an icecream, champagne, vodka (yuk!) and a beach hat for free. On Seychelles I discovered all those clothes for free, so I got lots of dresses and shoes and stuff. Done up in a beautiful black-and-beige silk dress I left for Barcelona, and had champagne at the marketplace for breakfast. Then on to the beach in my new bikini, lying on a towel, having some icecream.
Then I left my second life for real breakfast and some flat cleaning in rainy Berlin. And later: off to the books! First life ain't that bad, is it!

Baden gehen

Even though I was very tired yesterday, I still managed to go to the theatre with Hanne after work. Grips-Theater was doing the last shows of "Baden gehen". We saw the 99th, the 100th tonight will be the last.
I really enjoyed the show, the artists, the music and the story, last but not least the atmosphere in the small theatre that started off as one for kids and teens more than twenty years ago. Their shows are always famous for the music, the story, the politics. Great mix of the 70s!
It was my first time in Grips-Theater, I wonder why. Since so many years I had meant to watch famous award-winning "Linie 1". They had done more than 1000 shows all over the world! Maybe next month for me.
Before the show I should walk around famous and awardwinning Hansaviertel (happy birthday, it's 50 this year), and afterwards have a pizza in the restaurant next door at Hansaplatz. Yesssss!
Wow, the sun is coming out! Have to start my saturday program. I'm not off to Heiligendamm to demonstrate - am I getting old? Or only lazy?

Second life

I've done it! I went into the virtual world, took virtual t-shirts and banners, and was at the virtual demonstration in front of the virtual Paulskirche. Not many others around, though.
By the way, I'm the one with the curly red hair. Looking slightly different from real life. It was tempting too much to have long curls for once in my life. And a short skirt. There must be some advantage in virtual life, else it wouldn't make sense. Or be fun.
Afterwards I went to virtual Barcelona to lie on the virtual beach and enjoy the virtual sunset. And on by teleporting to Dresden and a visit of the virtual Zwinger museum. Lots of boring and famous paintings to look at.
The program isn't running smoothly on the new Windows software, so I got stuck in a wall, with only my upper half looking out from it. Hmmm.
Maybe I should stick to the real world for a change, and go to the new Moma exhibition opening up today, and see "Baden gehen" with Hanne this weekend. :)