Spain on my mind

Yesterday evening, Seàn and I went to the concert of two young and gifted spanish musicians at Mendelssohn Remise close to Gendarmenmarkt. It was done in honor of Isaac Albéniz, a spanish pianist and composer, one of the best, who died 100 years ago.
What a shame I had never heard of him before: His works on Spain are just adorable! I'll have to go and buy "Iberia" soon - most probably the version by Alicia de Larrocha.
And the concert was lovely! I miss Spain...

Sweeter dreams

Age and old bones - tell me about it!
Since a few months, my back aches every morning after a few hours of tossing and turning. And my old mattress only makes it worse.
So a new mattress it has to be, and most probably a new bed as well, I made up my mind.
Anna and Volker are looking for a new mattress as well, so we exchanged ideas and knowledge. The choice wasn't easy, but in the end we found professional help at some shops in Berlin (Betten Anthon) resp Stuttgart (Mannsdörfer).
Thanks to Seàn who helped me chose the right bed, I found this one. It comes with a better mattress than the one shown here and will be delivered soon. I hope. I'm craving for sweet dreams and no more pains!
P.S. This post was corrected after Anna and Volker had found their perfect bed at Mannsdörfer's on Sept. 19th.

Saturday pleasures No 3: Fruits at the appleshop

What a lovely week and even better weekend we had. Summer seems to be back, it's so warm and sunny. But the mornings are as cold as autumn already.
It's the season of pears, plums, grapes, and the first walnuts, too. I bought all of this today, at Winterfeldtmarket and at my favourite apple shop, where they had arranged the fruitbasket you can see in the picture.

My new supertight tights

Monday, I had been to the doctors to check my skin. Everything fine here, but she was shocked at my venes and advised me to wear compression stockings. Every day. :(
I got these in black today. The spiderman stockings I had to wear only once to have my measures taken. According to this image 3d, my legs are medium size and short. Even worse...
But: I had to buy new shoes, no high heels any more. And who could resist buying new shoes? Some nice Arche, black, to match the stockings. :)

Wasn't me!

First day at work, and I got mail from my friend Heike. Guido Westerwelle became chancellor, and they blame me for not voting.
Well, I already did, by mail. I only hope they haven't lost my letter!

Last night of the proms

And I was there! Not in London, alas, but I watched it on tv, sang with the merry crowd, and in lack of flags Emil waved his tail.
My stupid virus kept me from celebrating with Daphne and her friends, I really missed the party. And it kept me from joining the flash mob and protests at Potsdamer Platz in the afternoon. Ah well.
Hopefully I can make it to work tomorrow. Today I'll take it easy and stay inside. Autumn is coming fast, rain outside, grey sky, and dropping temperatures. Just right to cuddle up on my couch with a book and hot ginger tea.
If you missed the last night of the proms yesterday, don't worry: The original BBC version will be shown tonight at 1:05 h on NDR. If you can't wait or will be sleeping then, watch and listen here now.

Dresses from long ago

Some years ago at Stuttgart Bohnenviertel, I had found this great dress from the 40s, black, with black,red and white embroidery around the neck. I had loved wearing it, it was so special and just perfect on me when working. But since I had lost 14 kilos, it just wasn't great any more. At least not on me.
Then, in Schöneberg, I found this lovely shop, "Mimi", selling clothes from 1850 to 1950 to people who enjoy wearing these old made-to-measure dresses.
Anna brought the dress last week from Stuttgart, and today I sold it at "Mimi". I was happy some other woman might find it here and enjoy wearing it. It's so special and different from the every day fashion we have nowadays.
If you have a close look onto the pic, you will see the couple dressed according to the 30s fashion in the original outfit from these times. So weird, but nobody wonders, not in Berlin...

The chinese way

Recovering from health problems can be helped by doctors and treatments - but all over the world you will find different ways of doing so. In Berlin, we have the center of traditional chinese medicine at Charité, in old St. Hedwig Hospital in formally jewish Spandauer Vorstadt.
My collegue Doris had told me a lot about it since months, they had helped her fight her allergies. So when I was told I was suffering from allergies myself, I called them and asked for an appointnment.
I was lucky, they asked me to come the very same day, and since then I'm being treated with acupuncture and eating according to their advices. I'm supposed to strengthen my middle by eaten hot or warm food, spiced up with lots of ginger, millet and oats for breakfast, chicken broth ever so often.
My sinusitis is better already, and some head aches vanished the very hour I was lying in one of their rooms with needles in my arms, legs and ears. Quite relaxing, really.
A few more appointments, and my body should be strengthened enough to go on without the weekly treatment. :)

Lunch at Akazienstraße

I am on sick leave these days to recover from my virus infection. Since it's a pity to stay inside all the time, I asked Sean to join me for some lunch today - somewhere close by, sitting outside to enjoy the autumn sun.
We met at our favourite tree at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz, and strolled down Akazienstraße to get some ideas. How lucky we were that "Albrecht" deli had set up their grill and offered food you would hardly find anywhere else: organic salads with freshly grilled organic sausages, either chicken merguez, wild boar, or lamb.
We chose wild boar and lentil salad, and shared some organic austrian beer to go with it. So delicious!
And afterwards we went straigh home where I took an afternoon nap. Yeah well, sick leave...

090909 - 09:09:09

Great date and time!
Not to me: I was on my way to the doctor then.
The virus is still going strong, despite the needles we had tried to kill it with. Well, everybody had told me to take a day or two off work and stay in bed, and so did my doctor today, too.
Now it's chicken broth and ginger tea, and the same procedure as every year. Sigh.
And it's nice and warm and the last days of summer outside now. I should relax on a meadow underneath a tree looking up into the blue sky! Sigh...

20 years ago - the women's view

All over Germany and especially Berlin there are meetings, discussions and exhibitions on the fall of the wall and what happened then.
I was invited to join the one at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung this afternoon, and was happy to go and listen to the women. They remembered how happy they had been in November and December 1989, and how fast they had to learn that being taken over by the west means less rights and chances for women. Even though not everything had been perfect in GDR, they had to fight to keep a few rights they had had then.
It was a pity I wasn't feeling too well, I had caught a small cold this weekend (hot during the day, cold in the mornings and evenings). So I left early to go to the center of Traditional Chinese Medicine close to Hackescher Markt. A short trip of 30 minutes normally, but it took me thrice as long: S-trains are reduced again, they run less and are shorter, and those you're lucky to get are packed with travellers.
I got my acupuncture with some special needles to fight the virus, and left by tram and bus. That way I made it to Gabi's and Tanya's dinner in time. They took special care of me, nice women. But I left early, and will go to bed now. Hopefully my cold will be gone by tomorrow morning. Good night!

Visits No 5: Salvu

A nice old friend from Hospitalityclub chat biking through Europe since weeks stopped for some days in Berlin: Salvu, a 23 year old student from Malta.
We arranged a meeting through facebook, and spent all weekend together with Gabi, a teacher from Berlin, and Tanya, an art history student from Russia, more friends from HC and Couchserving, both living close to Crellestraße.
Saturday we enjoyed Crellestraßenfest until late at night, when we had a last drink with live music at "Leuchtturm", and on Sunday we had brunch at Cafe Mirell (with more CS friends) and home made dinner at my place. It was great to spend all these hours together.
I should visit Salvu in Malta some day. And will definitely see Gabi and Tanya more often.

Like the old days - fighting against nuclear power

50 000 came to Berlin yesterday to protest against nuclear power. More than ever before since the 70s and 80s, when Tschernobyl crash woke up many that had been considering nuclear power safe until then.
It's many years since I last left home by bus to take part in one of the biggest protests in Brokdorf in northern Germany, walking with 70 000 through the deserted village, shops closed, doors and windows shut and protected by wooden bars. It took me two days (and nights) to get there from Düsseldorf and back, and now it was only a short right by public transport. The old friends were there, and lots of young people, too.
Farmers had come on their tractors all the way from Wendland, where nuclear power threatens their farms and homes. They keep protesting since many, many years.
The actions in Berlin were colourful and creative. We will be going strong until politicians realize nuclear power is a danger to us and many generations to come. Change to sun, wind and water!
Remember: We only have this one world, and we have to give it on to our children and grandchildren!

Party at work

Yesterday, the ver.di yard hosted the traditional "Spreeportfest", and Hartmut and I joined it after work. ver.di members and officials were buzzing around, meeting friends and collegues, feasting on wine, beer, and savorous food, some even danced to the music.
I chatted for hours, and left late for a last drink (water!) with some guests of the "Linke" at Engelbecken. Home by 22:00 h, not too late then. And today: going to the "Linke" party close by, and listen to Inken and more friends in the choir "IG Peng". I might join them soon - singing is such a great way of spending your time with likeminded people, not reading or surfing the web on your own all the time. :)

Mother and daughter

Anna left again today. We went downtown together this morning, and then she walked on to her meeting and I took the bus to work.
We had spent not even two days together, and hardly had had any time to talk. What a pity!
But we still enjoyed every second, and even managed to buy twin cashhmere cardigans at Galeries Lafayette and to go swimming last evening. Now we're pondering on spending a weekend together at the wellness hotel Anna and Volker discovered last year. I hope we'll make it in October!
By the way: Her plane that was due to take off at 18:00 h didn't - Anna made it home about two hours later than scheduled. Dah!

Family life at airports

Yesterday evening I went to Tegel airport to meet Anna. She's coming to Berlin to join a meeting on demographic change in Germany (she's leading a project on that in Böblingen), so of course she stayed with me. The plane was scheduled at 21:10 h, but when I arrived shortly before 21:00 h, the announcement sayed the flight was due at 00:05. I thought there was a problem with the announcement, but no - Air Berlin pilots had been on strike, and all planes were five to six hours late. :(
I called Anna to ask her about the delay, and - can you imagine - nobody had told them in Stuttgart! She was sitting without food nor drinks and waiting for somebody to tell them when the plane would leave. And now these very bad news from me!
No chance to buy any food, no chance for her friend Volker to bring her any, so I browsed Tegel airport to get her some vegetarian dish for her to eat when arrived. The only one that was for sale then was - a bretzel! (Quite suebian, really.)
Whilst Tegel airport was slowly closing down, sarcastic people telling me there was no planes allowed to land after 23:00 h, and Air Berlin workers calming me down by promising me there would be a flight from Stuttgart to Berlin aorund midnight, I received a sms from Alex.
My son had been on the plane from Stuttgart to the States, and was now waiting in Atlanta for the flight to New York. So all three of us were sitting at airports, waiting for flights. What kind of family life is that?!
Well, as you can see on the pic, Anna made it to Berlin before midnight, and we took a taxi to my place. We went to sleep at once, and when I woke up in the morning, Alex had sent a message saying he was in New York and ready to leave for Times Square. He sure has some stamina, to stay up that late after almost 20 hours of travelling!