yin and yang

Day and night, sunshine and rain, yin and yang...whatever you want to choose... The idea is that we've had a really nice day (two, actually) and a really shitty day this week. On Sunday we took up my mom's offer to go to the city with us, just to stroll around and enjoy the beautiful weather with a walk, some beer and/ or some ice cream in a cafe somewhere along the way. We walked along what always has been and still is one of my favorites in Berlin: Unter den Linden (the long boulevard with old museums, churches, bridges, libraries, a university, etc. leading up to the Brandenburg Gate, coming form the East). Really nice, indeed.

#1: with my parents

#2: the famous Berlin TV tower

#3: P enjoying his beer

#4: ...my mom and I enjoying sweets

#5: one of many cathedrals (the Berlin cathedral in this case) and the Neptun fountain

#6: in front of my alma mater

#7: take a guess...



Yesterday went on our daytrip to the Baltic Sea - to the island of Usedom, from where you can practically spit to Poland (not literally, of course). The three towns by the sea (Ahlbeck, Heringsdorf and Bansin) are arguably some of the most beautiful spots in all of (East) Germany. we left early in the morning with my mom's little Smart car (TINY! I have to take a picture) and returned at night. We strolled along the beach boulevards, hung out at the beach for a few hours, dove into the icy cold water, ate lots and lots of fresh fish and soked up the sun. Later in the day we went to the city of Greifswald, an old university town. My friend Sabrina is just finishing her studies and getting ready to go to Cape Town for half a year, so we thought we'd stop by to see her for dinner. When we returned around midnight, we were exhausted, but happy about a beautiful day, in every sense.






Today then we got ready to explore the former West Berlin and right off the bat Berlin had to remind me of its less attractive sides: Only two stops from where we got on the train, the subway broke down and everybody had to get off to wait for a bus. That bus never came (at least not in the 35 minutes that we waited in the scorching heat with dozens of others) and we embarked on an hour long journey through one of the more ghetto-like parts of Berlin before we got to the train that took us downtown. Next to being upset about just being kicked off the train and left in the heat forever without any further notice, a tour in a bus full of loud kids and teenagers (who got out of school early due to the heat) without airconditioning was less than pleasant. We finally got to Berlin Zoologischer Garten (the center of West Berlin, many would say) to do some shopping. None of that proved successful either, but we witnessed the typical Berlin rudeness, just to complete the already not-so-great day. These are the moments when I am reminded of why I have such a love-hate relationship with this city and why I still do not feel homesick, much less hungry to return one day. Don't get me wrong: It has its many, many good sides and it can be a fantastic, fun city to be in. But when it's crappy, it's crappy and it can rain on one's parade thoroughly.
Tonight we are meeting another good friend of ours and after that we have decided to go to a late show in one of our favorite movie theaters. We have to return downtown, but this time of year it is beautiful to be out at night. It is light until 10.30 pm or later and people are only out to have a drink or an ice-cream or to go for a walk... all in good spirits without any stress or bad attitudes. Let's hope it'll be the nice night out that we're looking for. The movie ("Two days in Paris"), at least sounds good and has gotten good reviews. So then...