london

christmas shopping in london – here i come – i love cheap ryanair flights – o my, booked without luggage again, just carry-on – ah well, it’s winter, i’ll just bundle up and wear a whole lot of layers – it’ll be fantastic – hope it snows

eden

i agree, every girl needs a gay best friend, but i think i’d have left then and there – who cares if this is paradise

berlin

IKEA – style

first week berlin

monday – i was completely thrown into the deep end – there’s the phone, you answer and deal with it – ahhhhh, what? how? when? who? where? – nope, i just had to do it mostly on my own and since it was monday after a long weekend it was exhausting – i came home, feeling absolutely dazed and just wanted to cry and come back to göttingen – defeated and beaten

tuesday – better, not quite good, but better – i learned that while working for a very important person, everything we do is also very important – that’s kind of our catch phrase, so don’t mind if i use that quite a bit – i took photos during an interview and felt oh so important – but i still came home simply wanting to curl up in bed and sleep

wednesday – i slowly get the hang of that whole phone thing – calling people and answering calls from total strangers, who might be important, but then also only think themselves important – i start to figure out a little more who’s who and recognize people, when i talk to them a second time – then, lunch at the official restaurant for members of parliament, with tourists on boats going past on the spree – ogling and photographing – oh, i feel so important

thursday – it’s like a puzzle and i slowly get the whole picture assembled together – and after a glass of wine to celebrate my start, i feel like embracing the world – i am happy happsy drunk and nothing seems like to big a challenge, unless you count putting the mail into the mailbox instead of walking past or finding the closest to home grocery store

friday – my way to work, through tiergarten and then driving underneath the brandenburg gate – it’s actually quite nice, especially if the sun is shining and it’s a bright friday morning, the weekend only hours away – the city is full of tourists and especially french school children – no idea, if they ever manage to go to school – there were tons of them running around england during my visit there as well – and it really is kind of surreal to be photographed while biking to work, just because one happens to be cool and trendy looking, when one bikes through the brandenburg gate, duh

summing up – my first week was exhausting, but eventful – my trip to the turkish embassy to deliver an important message and running down to the porter’s lodge to pick up important guests – it all feels quite okay – i miss göttingen to pieces, but i am getting used to big city life – i adapt easily it seems, but then that’s nothing new, for a cosmo girl like me – traveling the world and being at home where ever i happen to be

göttingen

i’ll miss you, while i’ll be gone

nando’s

the english countryside

first impressions – dandelions sneezed onto the fields like showers of yellowness – sighted from the plane, while landing in london-stansted – london underground: where’s “mind the gap”, no “mind the gap” – miss you “mind the gap” – also, no vampire-boy (sorry, steffi) – then, picture the scene – paddington station: bathroom and me paying 30 pence to go through the barrier but sadly only succeeding in pushing my bag through and then having to climb underneath it myself, looking suspiciously as if i had not paid at all

train to bath: lovely english countryside, very romantic and picturesque, but is it really or is it just because i am in the “romantic south” and expect it to be? – fields divided by hedgerows, boats on canals, small idyllic train stations and bridges

bath itself is beautiful – morning had broken all foggy and gray – just one hour later, sun is bright and pretty, bells are ringing in honour of st. george and bath is awake and alive, looking every bit like one stepped back in time to the 18th century – i managed the whole touristy load and still felt perfectly cool – it’s really as if i was in jane austen’s time, going to the pump room to take the waters, chatting at the assembly rooms, walking on the gravel walk – touristy, but just what you ought to do in bath – and i did see many handsome men – one slightly looked like vampire-boy from the distance – i was not able to get a good shot, so i brought something else

a party i attended was quite entertaining – had a discussion of literary themes with some very nice boys – might have been flirting, while quizzing them – but took my leave as soon as their talk turned to economy, politics and disease – men, what frightful creatures they are – never but spending just a moment in fruitful conversation with us poor women, before returning to their ceaseless worrying about the world’s turning to their desires

moving on to stratford-upon-avon – thou should’st be amused – thy eternal verses are used in ev’ry shop and ev’ry tavern throughout this town – quoted by actors, vicars, children, teachers thy words shall live for evermore and thus give life to thee! – shakespeare, if indeed he really was shakespeare, would be dearly amused by the cult that’s made of him in stratford – you can see the place where he wooed his wife (more like got her pregnant and then disappeared off to london to pursue the stage – not quite so romantic, but still …), visit his grave in holy trinity, the only place that’s truly shakesperean here, as he’s really there (dead and all) and see where he was born (or not!) – and it seems like people are inspired by this environment to spout out their own frightful verses and pretend literary greatness – indeed, i also felt the place’s magic in the very marrow of my bones, but indeed, i am amused, like shakespeare would have been – but then shakespeare was never really shakespeare, was he? – i am entranced by the whole mystery that surrounds him and he is still and will be for evermore my hero

best of all – the life, love & legacy exhibition at shakespeare’s birthplace with short films about him and with the very best scenes of one of my all-time favourite dr who episode

manchester – horrible, smelly, dirty, loud city and a hostel room full of disgusting, smelly, moaning, grunting, snoring men – the only good thing about the rain is my new pussy cat umbrella, which i proudly walked around the dirty, smelly, wet city – good shopping, though and i spent some happy pounds on useless and usefull nonsense – unfortunately, no manchester united fanstore to be found and no man united fan memorabilia to be seen anywhere – running up and down streets and round and round in circles in shopping centres did not help – no ronnie badge, key chain or anything whatsoever – like he doesn’t exist

liverpool, on the other hand is rather pretty and boasts two liverpool fc fanshops right in the middle of the city – me likey a lot and me buyey some nice presents – overall a good day there, but still no comparison to lovely south england and the romantic, historic haunts of bath and stratford

stratford and shakespeare

on to stratford this afternoon and goodbye to internet for a while – but imagine me in this quaint little hotel for the next nights and happy to be where dear old will spent his latter days

bath

weather not quite so pretty – bath every bit as pretty – roman baths, city tour, pump room, jane austen center and botanical gardens up for the day

shakespeare and david

the first wish is the one dearest in my heart and it grieves me painfully, that i have yet a whole long month to wait, till i can hold it in my hands

Shakespeare’s Sonnets, one of the most remarkable collections of poetry, was first published in 1609, 400 years ago, by Mr Thomas Thorpe. Naxos AudioBooks marks the occasion with a selection of 80 of the finest, read by leading actors. The selection includes famous ones such as ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’ as well as lesser well-known sonnets though of equally fine stature.

usually i am not a fan of audiobooks, but shakespeare’s sonnets, read by david tennant? – ahh, need i add more? – here’s a link to a sample – it makes me ache for more, so much more – from shakespeare and david with love

england

long have i been dreaming of a vacation to all the literary places in england and most of all stratford-upon-avon – birthplace of william shakespeare – i know, i know, the house called his birthplace isn’t even the real one anymore, but i don’t care – neither do i care for the whole debate, if shakespeare really was shakeaspeare or maybe someone else indeed – i just wanna go and see the place for myself – so, this year i’ll be celebrating the bard’s birthday in style – i’ll be in stratford!

and, what’s more, the shakespeare hall of fame will have opened by then – and, from the looks of it, david tennant will have made the lucky number 13 – oh joy!

during my week-long stay i will also try and go down to bath to visit a friend and jane austen’s haunts, then make my way up to manchester, where a dear old friend of ours spents his days;) and from where i fly back home – i am frightfully excited, even though i have no idea, how i’ll manage transport and accomodations yet, but i am sure, it’ll all fall into place quite naturally

berlin

so, my past weekend in berlin was pretty sweet – nothing fancy, nothing extra-ordinary – just me, some friends, an amazing city, walking around, taking photos and having coffee, whenever it got too could outside – here are some impressions of our beloved capital

we made it to the red carpet – that’s an achievement, isn’t it? – and notice my magic shoes!

you gotta love the berlin sense of style, not only the people’s but also in decorations and street art

i kissed the bear :)

more photos in my photoblog, which you’ll find here – bits and pieces of photography

london underground

sometimes it is fun to poke around in one’s old documents and find stuff, one has long forgotten about – here’s a video, silly me filmed while finding my way out of one of london’s underground stations, when i was there for a get-away in 2005, vamoosing from german boredom, meeting famous friends, spending ridiculous amounts of money and having a rockin’ good time

the music’s a catchy tune by adam kay and suman biswas

edinburgh

aye, here it is – impressions of three days edinburgh in a nutshell – too much to see and flat feet from too much walking – a hostel in the center of old town – fifteen minutes from the castle and fifteen from the palace of holyroodhouse, directly on the royal mile

there’s tartan everywhere, even on the bus seats – an astonishing amount of people is actually wearing kilts and the tourists are easily distinguished from the locals, as they have absolutely no sense of style (mostly), while the locals are highly fashionable

the castle is absolutely amazing – rising high over the city and – if the weather acts accordingly – providing an excellent view around and over the firth of forth into fife – the crown jewels are surprisingly not tartan, but can be viewed surrounded by a detailed exhibition about their history, crowned by the spectacular re-discovery through sir walter scott in 1818

food is yet another amazing topic – too much goodies to try in such a short time and too many cafés, pubs and places to choose from - i just want to mention two favorites – chocolate soup, provider of this amazing muffin: and the elephant house – birthplace of harry potter – i can very well imagine sitting there all day, sipping coffee and writing fantastic books

museums are mostly free, which is fantastic – you can just slip in, while it rains, check out a cool exhibition and leave again, as soon as the sky is bright and clear

and a bright and clear sky should be used to take a hike up the salisbury craigs or arthur’s seat – an amazing view of the city and surrounding country awaits the weary wanderer – in rain and fog it feels ever so slightly more scottish and very sublime – almost like the highlands, when corbies fly overhead and an eerie caw caw is the only sound to be heard besides the ever so softly constant whistling of the winds

more photos will be added to my photo blog over the next few days

scotland

just booked – three days edinburgh in october – it’s short, but it’s somewhere else and it’s SCOTLAND – it’ll be totally cool

munich

looky, looky here – men for sale – that’s nice. if only they weren’t the cheap left overs of other girls. i hate being poor! and they’re so pale. and the clothes – ah well, no comment here, don’t wanna be rude or anything. but somehow i get the impression that munich is a strange city – either you can afford to live there or you can not. i was not desired to live there, so i took my bags and traveled on – taking books not men with me - for books are so much better, they’re full of mr. darcy, robin hood, gilbert blythe, harry potter, romeo - heroes, friends and real men!