Viktoriapark, Berlin

Yesterday, I decided to go for a walk and ended up in another jewel of Berlin. It's amazing all those hidden pieces of nature you can find all over the city.
I went to Viktoriapark, in Kreuzberg, where flows a waterfall (artificial, but still).
It dates back from the end of 19th century and is on the highest hill of Berlin. On the slopes even grow some vineyard which are still used to make wine.
On top of it, you got a pretty nice view all around and also a monument dedicated to the freedom after wars against Napoleon, on top of the monument is the cross that actually gave the name to the district. Kreuz = Cross Berg = Hill, Kreuzberg = Hill of the Cross.
6 months I've been working in Kreuzberg and was looking for this damn hill, I found it!

It's very nice, seating under the shadow of the tree and bathing your feet in the waterfall is so delightful with the heat right now. Plus the whole place is very pretty.

>>>PHOTOS<<<

== Greetings from Berlin ==

Blind Booking

Today, I discovered the Blind Booking by Germanwings. For around 60€, you can get a "surprise flight". You choose a departure airport (Cologne-Bonn, Stuttgart, Hannover or Berlin) and a theme (party, shopping, culture, nature, East, West), there's a list of destinations, you can delete those you don't want to go, and you know your final destination once the booking's done. Isn't it amazing?! I just love the idea! I always have trouble in choosing where to go, that's perfect for me!
Unfortunately, I can't afford it now, but well, when it gets better for me and if I'm not too far from one of the departure airports, I might give it a try!

== Greetings from Berlin ==

Getting dangerously close

Due to a lack of job offers in Berlin, I expand my research area.
On Sunday, I applied for a job in Luxembourg, not in video games, though. But in the offer they said, outside of media, you should be interesting in other stuffs, like shoes for example. Well, that's it! :D

The good thing is I could live with my parents in France (close to the border) while looking for a flat either in France or Luxembourg. France would be cheaper but further, Luxembourg more expensive but closer, but well, 1st, let's see if they'll contact me.

When I think about it....

... I had a couple of cool jobs so far.
I started working when I was going to university, I 1st was cleaning woman, hated it since I hate cleaning, but well. I also gave some private lessons of English and Spanish, even if I hate teaching and don't really like kids, but it was for teenagers, just one at a time, it was ok, didn't enjoy it but better related with my studies.

Some other cool jobs I had:

- Cabin Hostess: Working on a cruise on the river Rhône (south of France), full of German retired (they give good tips), was very hard for me, physically, working 12h/day, cleaning the cabins, washing the dishes, helping for the plate dressing,... But the atmosphere was very nice, and I got to see some nice places.

- Hostess/Guard in a museum aquarium: Was cool, walking around all day long, chatting with colleagues, "running" after the children "don't shout" "don't run" "don't knock on the glass" "watch our your kids they're gonna hurt themselves". The boss was funny, I remember once he got down the stairs wearing a monkey head and screaming...

- Receptionist in a youth hostel: That was so cool. I remember a Czech family offering me some cakes as they were so delighted to speak Czech, some guys coming almost naked (just in towel) to the reception as they had forgotten their key in the room before going to the shower, that teenager who came from an island south of Africa, studying in France and had to stay at our hostel every week end, seeing him looking with awe at the snow falling down (1st time he saw it) or asking to help for his homeworks or gently trying to hit on me...
I really liked that position , except the shitty working time. 7:00 AM- 10:00 AM & 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM every week ends.

- Translator-writer for a blog about celebrities' gossip, I hate that kind of bullshit, but well that was fun.

- Localization tester of video games in Ireland, being paid to play video games is a dream for some people.

- And now video games translator: always the same reaction when I say what I do "oh that's so cool!" The atmosphere is great, the job interesting and challenging.

But now I know I wanna go on with video games translation , I really love my job, I do hope the next one will be as good!

== Greetings from Berlin ==

Well done, doc!

Sometime ago, I discovered this track, I really like it and watch it quite often on youtube, while waiting to buy it.


And after sometime I realized, Nena, I know that name, isn't she the Nena of the Luftballons?!

Yes, the Luftballons song, maybe you know it:



Hard to think 27 years have gone between the 2 videos, she even looks younger in 2011 than in 1984!

== Greetings from Berlin ==

Let's give it a try!

Some days ago, I was on Facebook and my eyes were caught by an add. An add for a website: Meet at the airport.
It's a website to connect people traveling from/to the same airport, on the same day, at about the same time. It's kinda dating oriented but I wanna give it a try. Can be nice to meet some people while waiting for my flight. I'm too shy to start and talk to someone just like this, but I'm always open for chatting if someone comes to me.

Well, I don't think I'll meet my Charming Prince, but well, let's see...

== Greetings from Berlin ==

Always nice to hear

My contract is soon coming to an end, I am starting the last month in my company. So the other day I asked my chief if I could ever leave the office for a few hours and work later in the evening if I ever had job interviews.
He told me that was ok and added that he wanted to keep me since I am reliable and a hard worker, but he has to motivate the decision and unfortunately there's no project coming up for French.

That's something quite nice to read, that means that if they don't keep it's not because I'm bad but because there's no job for me. I have to admit it lightened up my day... I knew it, I'm the best! ;)

== Greetings from Berlin ==

Berlin walls n°2

Remember my 1st post on Berlin walls?

Well, last week while walking around I found 2 other interesting graffitis:

This one can be found on several houses in Prenzlauerberg district:

Strip-tease!

There seems to be a strange phenomenom happening when a friend of mine comes to visit me in a new place, she's the 1st and we go to CouchSurfing meeting, it always end up with strip-teases.

Maybe a kind of unconscious ritual...

Case n°1: A. comes to Brno in 2009, she's the 1st to come and see my Czech life. On the day of her arrival, a friend of mine tells us, through CS, that he's giving a gig in a pool bar. Ok, let's go then! When we entered the "pool bar", we thought we were wrong (other friends met there had the same feeling) as there were hostesses with tiny red dresses, the deco was kinda sexual and there were strip-teases poles in every corner.
Well, he did his gig, and then came the (female) strippers.

Case n°2: J. came to Berlin last week, she's the 1st to visit me here. We go to a CouchSurfing meeting, in a bar, so normal stuff. Well, there was also a female stripper and a bellydancer! There was supposed to be a male stripper coming, but his car broke down! :S

So, well just making the connection between 2 events made me smile. Well, but guys don't rush over to Berlin, as it's only with the 1st visitor, you'll have to wait for my next destination! :D Or maybe if the 1st visitor is a guy, maybe we'll have a male stripper! Yummi! ;D

== Greetings from sunny Berlin ==

Germans date subtly...

That's what explains this song. It's about a French girl who's sad not to have found a boyfriend, surprised not to be flirted on as much as in France.
So the singers explain that here, in Germany, it's way different, that guys do look at her but she doesn't notice since they don't whistle at her.



== Greetings from Berlin ==

My fave German singer

I really like German modern music, all kind of them, I think that German language can also give some beautiful and great songs.

As I was living in France very close to the German border, I could get easily German TV and radio, and there's one artist I have always liked: Xavier Naidoo.

I don't understand everything, but his songs are very nice, and can be quite emotional. He's really great, see, or better hear:

Heading to Lorraine

My contract comes to an end on May 22nd, as it's on a Sunday, my actual last day of work will be on the 20th.
And from the 21st to the 30th, I'll be in Lorraine. Mainly in Metz, by my parents, but also in Nancy, where I have some friends.
I hesitated before booking the flight, since I still hope they would renew my contract. But I got a few days off still available, and maybe I could also see if it's possible to start the new contract on June 1st...

I found cheap flight from Berlin to Saarbrücken, so I decided not to wait too long before it gets more expensive and full.

I'm really looking forward to it, that's the 1st time I stay that long abroad without coming back for a visit (will be 5 months), and I really miss my family and friends.
And also a good way to drop a 1st suitcase if I ever go back "definetely" in June.

== Greetings from Berlin ==

When looking at me working...

... my collegues must be really laughing.
I'm kinda expresive with my body, some remote Italian roots maybe. ^^ When I speak, I gesture a lot.

When I'm working as well, making funny faces, like imitating fish, putting my head in my hands, "throwing" my arm forward, putting my finger on my lips,...

But now, I have to proofread a translation from someone else, this someone can't possibly be a professional translator, hard to think he/she's native Frenchspeaker as well. It's really horrible, so horrible that sometimes makes me wanna cry, so my gestures are even funnier. Can you picture Homer Simpson's Doh with hand slapping forehead? Well, I do it. I also have horrified looks, I burry my face in my hands, put my two hands arounf my nose and mouth and close my eyes, looks of despair,I sigh a lot, angry sighs,...

That must be really funny to watch I guess! :D

== Greetings from Berlin ==

Once again...

So as I might end up jobless by the end of May, I'll have the joy to start with the jobhunting process again...
That's something I really wasn't missing.
I just finished updating my CVs in French, English and German, just those in Spanish left. I think a good thing to write CV for another country, when you don't really know the rules is to use Europass, European tool to write CV, I find it really convenient.

At first, I'll look for a job in Berlin, I'd like to stay in the video games industry, I know there's lot of gaming companies out there, then I'll extend to the rest of Germany and Europe, why not out of Europe also?
I'll also soon register for competitive examination to work in French ambassies, I failed last year, but I'll try again. So far nothing at UN or EU, but I keep an eye on it.

And if I really can't find a job, I still have the option of going free-lance earlier than expected, in France will be better since there I'm pretty sure to get social aids to get me started, as I have no savings.
I'd really like to stay here, I'm getting tired to move 2/3 times a years, I'd  really like to settle somewhere for some time before hitting the road again.


== Greetings from Berlin ==

Where?

If I don't stay in Berlin, I'm wondering where I'll end up next.
After Dublin, I came to Berlin, which rhymes.
So, I'm trying to think what next "rhyming" destination could be mine and I thought about the following:

- Medellin, Colombia
- Szczecin, Poland
- Tallin, Estonia,
- Santorin, Greece
-Darwin, Australia
- Aberdeen, Scotland,
- Austin, Texas
- Moline, Illinois,
- Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Any other ideas? :D

== Greetings from Berlin ==

Delighted

Some time ago, I told you I was looking for body jewels. I couldn't find any in shops in Berlin, nor on German websites, so I found a very nice on-line French store. Avec passion, for those who can read French.

So last week, I decided to order two body jewels and a pair of earrings. They are re-usable, you can also order some special glue, which I'll order next time. I ordered on a Friday, late afternoon, and by the following Friday morning, I got them. So quite quick. On the invoice, was manually written "Wishing you a nice day" in both French & German, I found this very nice.
So on Saturday, I tried the Snakes on (both earrings and bodyjewel), it does stick hard, with my 2 left hands I kinda struggled, but I'm very happy about my purchase. :D

== Greetings from Berlin ==

They gotta keep me!

My contract is soon coming to an end. One month or so left. I would really like to stay there, and they gotta keep me!
Why?
Because I'm the best! ^^

No, really, first I'm working fast (and good), almost everytime I finished a translation, my boss was like: "wow? already? good job!"

Then, out of the so far 5 months now, I've never been sicked. I need to be really sick (like have to stay in bed with high fever) not to come.

And well, I'm just the best, as simply as that! :D

But well, it seems there's no project coming up in French, so not sure about it at all...

The only series that can make me cry...

I'm not really the kind to cry for a book, a film, a series,... I can be captivated, really into it, my heart can beat faster while waiting to know what'll happen next, but crying, not likely,...

I'm more the kind to laugh when in Titanic a man jump out of the boat and bounce on the propeller. Or to laugh out loud when in Moulin Rouge the girl is caughing to death,...


When I was a teenager, I loved Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and out of the 8 seasons, only 2 episodes brought one or two tears to my eyes.

And a few years ago, while I was studying & living in France (it seems so far away now), I discovered Grey's Anatomy! And every season, several episodes can make me cry! Really! It's always so intense, the creator of this series is a genius! How many times did I go to sleep so late because of this? I'm like, ok, this is the last one, and at the end, there's something big happening and I just need to watch the next one! Even if most of the events are so unrealistic and too much, it's made in a way that made me quickly addict.

Do you have any series/book/film bringing a river of tears to your eyes?


== Greetings from Berlin ==

Break

Travelling is like a drug for me, and I kinda gotta go to rehab! ^^
Well, I have to slow down with travels, I decided to travel less and save more money. My trip to Sardinia was one of my last trips for 2011, in May I'm going for a visit to Fance, in my family, and end of Summer/early Automn I'd like to visit my friends in Czech Republic.

I really have to save money (money I lately spent in heavy travelling) to achieve a few projects: this trip to Greece with a friends we've been talking about for 4 years now (quite big budget according to our plans), this trip to Peru I've been dreaming about for years, I'd like to see Machu Pichu before I turn 30, so I got 2 years left. And I'd also like to save money for my free-lance project. I'd like to work at the same place during 2/3 years before going free-lance, as a translator I can work from anywhere as long as I got my laptop and an internet connection. I can pretty picture me being 1 month away, 3 months at home, 1 month away, and so on,...

Plus, I find travelling alone less enjoyable, so maybe after quite a long break, I'll know how to appreciate it again... Well, I'll try to stick to it if the travel bug isn't stronger than me! :D


== Greetings from Berlin ==

Cagliari, Sardinia

Bastione San Remy

After Villasimius, I spent 3 and a half days in Cagliari, which is indeed a very nice city. I was staying at Hostel Marina, in a dorm for 6. The room was very big, with a mezzanine, where I settled right away, and the 2 first nights I was alone! ^^
On the 1st day, I went walking around in the morning, I started with the Bastione San Remy, you can not walk up the stairs, but there's an elevator to go on top of it, and the view on the city and the sea is just breathtaking! Even early in the morning, it was warm and got hotter and hotter during the day. Then I just walked among the tiny streets and discovered some very nice places. the old town is built up hill, very charming.

Spiaggia Poetto

In the afternoon, I took a bus to go to the beach, Spaggia Poetto, Poet's Beach, and there I heard 2 girls and 1 guy talking in German and the man mentioned CouchSurfing, I don't like to interrupt people when they're talking so I was waiting for the right moment. We got off at the same station, and an old lady who thought I was with him told to the both of us (in German) "The beach is over there, look", so I took this opportunity to start talking with this guy, Ravi, an Indian, we spent the afternoon together, it was really nice. And the beach is so wonderful, blue water, hills, blue sky,... A dream! The sun was there, it was so nice !

On the second day, in the morning I decided to go to see the Roman Amphitheater, it was closed for visits but you can see much of it from outside, it's now a mix of ancient stones and modern steel with plastic chairs since it's used for shows in summer time. Then I followed the signs to some Botanical Gardens and was quite disappointed, it was 3€ to get in but it was nothing special

Roman Amphitheater

 In the afternoon, I went back to the beach, and you got those guys selling junks. One came to talk to me and was like "oh why are you alone? You're so beautiful" and so on, so I decided to have fun and started lying about me, I was suddenly Isabelle, broken heart, living in Prague, just broke up with her boyfriend who cheated on her and not trusting guys anymore, that was kinda funny... When I came back from the beach, I went to grab some ice cream and then a guy stopped me and asked me for something, after I told him I don't speak Italian, he switched to English, he was asking for the time, and then to walk with me. We sat on a bench and started to talk, but well, he asked if I was single, I again lied, because I know from experience that's the best way to get rid of such guys, otherwise they insist and insist... So I walked away and a few meters further he joined me again, asked to take a picture of the two of us, and while putting his arm around my shoulder, he tried to touch my butt! Well, no! Put your hand up, take you pic and ciao!
In the evening, I met for a drink with a guy from CouchSurfing, nice but nothing exciting.

cosmopolitan + book + sun = :D

So after came Saturday, the last day. In the morning, I walked around again in the city and in the afternoon I went back to the beach. It was almost 30°C, the sun was high and bright, the sea was deep blue, just like the sky and I was covered with solar cream. I got to find a beach chair in one of the beach bars, and laid there with my book. I then walked along the beach and by the marina, sat again on the beach, it was hard to leave, this place is so wonderful. While I was on the bus, I got a SMS from a Couchsurfer who invited me for a dinner with other people. But I couldn't send any SMS (I thought I had not enough credit but actually I had), so I managed to find a phone and as I had some time I went to do something that came up to my mind while I was leaving the beach and I kinda enjoy to do when I am alone: go to a bar, outside, with a cocktail and a book, the sun was still there, that was really nice. Later, I join Marco, I thought we would go to some restaurant but actually it was someone's place and I was feeling quite bad to arrive empty-handed. But it was fun night. And on sunday early morning I took a flight back to Berlin. Game Over.

This trip was really enjoyable. Sardinia is so wonderful!

Sardinia from the sky

Delicacies from Sardinia

During this week in Sardinia, I tried a few specialties, Italy is so good concerning food, outside of the classical Italian pizza, mozzarella, limoncello, I also tried some typical sardinian products:

Pecorino : it's a very good and tasty hard cheese, from ewe's milk. 

Salsiccia sarda: some sausage, I've tried it only on "Pizza Sarda" along with pecorino

Prosciutto di Sardegna: ham

Torrone: a kind of nougat with mandle, not too sweet and not too hard, perfect

Curlugiones di patate: ravioli pasta filled with potatoe and mint, they serve it with some cut sausage and tomato sauce, some parmiggiano on it and it's perfect!

Sabadas: pastry, dough filled with pecorino, baked and then covered with honey, served hot, that's quite good.

Mirto: blueberry liquor, to be served icecold

== Greetings from Berlin ==

Villasimius, Sardegna

Spiaggia Simius

So last week, I went for holidays to South Sardinia. First step was 3 and a half days in Villasimius, 50 km away from Cagliari, on the Capo Carbornara which is a protected maritime area.
At this time of the year it's very quiet, but in June/July/August, it's full of tourists with a population multiplied by 10. As I have no driving license and thus couldn't rent a car, I could see all I wanted to, but it was delightful.
On the 1st day, after settling at the hotel, I went to the closest beach, the Spiaggia Simius, like 1 or 2 km walk, a long beach, grey sand, beautiful sea with shades of blue I had never seen before. And empty and clean. Plus the sun was shining, and that was so good to think that some hours ago I was freezing while waiting for a bus to the airport in Berlin, and now I was on this beautiful beach, under a bright sun and something like 25°C. I walked along the beach and sat down for some time before getting back to the hotel.
I was staying in Aquarius hotel, in the centre of the town, I had a big room with double bed, fridge, TV, balcony, big bathroom... And it was cheap, I paid 40€/night with breakfast included, but in the hot season it's much more expensive.
At night I just stayed in my room and read a book, that was quite clever to take with me a books of over 1000 pages, in one week I read almost 800.

Porto Turistico

On the morning of the second day, I went to Porto Turistico, the touristic harbor, the marina. The walk to there is like 4 km, there was not that much happening but the surroundings were so gorgeous, with a wonderful small beach just nearby, but I didn't find the way to get there.
In the afternoon, I wanted to go back to Spiaggia Simius to lay on the beach and read, but while I was on my way, it started "raining", it was very little rain but quite windy, not the best for a reading session on the beach, so I went back to my hotel waiting for the sun to come out. And it did come out. While I was sitting and reading on the beach, some man came to talk to me, he was speaking Italian quite slowly and I was speaking what I call itañol, a mix of Spanish (which I speak fluently) and Italian. He was quite nice, he told me he could drive me to some places I wanted to visit but couldn't go to and gave me his phone number. I hesitated a lot, but then I thought that if he wanted to harm me he could have done it on the desert beach, so I texted him but never got any answer.

On day 3, I took again the direction of the marina having seen some signs for beaches and ended up at Spiaggia Notari, a long beach set between Mediterranean See and a lagoon, it was very windy and sunny, so beautiful, the colors in the water were amazing, and again very clean and empty.  I walked a bit in the ice cold sea, sat down to admire the view and enjoy the sun and then went back to town.

Spiggia Notari - lagoon side

In the afternoon, I first went for an ice cream in the gelateria (ice cream shop) opposite the hotel, on Sunday I had tried Ferrero Rocher and that day Nutella, both were delicious, then I wanted to go to Punta Molinari but there was no space next to the road for pedestrian, so I just went back to Spiaggia Simius, that's amazing how I can stay doing nothing when there's such a beautiful landscape, just walking along the beach and sitting down and enjoy... And on my way back I realized I had turn completely red, with some clouds and wind I didn't beware of the sun, so I had to stop at the pharmacy where they had only expensive solar creams and after sun creams, but well better than getting a skin cancer.

On day 4, I got first lazy in the morning and stayed in bed, watching TV, then reading, then I made some sandwiches and went back to Spiaggia Notari for a pick-nick. After that I went back to finish packing and took a bus to Cagliari.
Those days there were very nice, rest, quietness, beautiful nature, sun,... All I needed. I think april/may are the best time of the year to go, it's already warm and sunny, when I was there too cold to bath but I think in a couple of weeks it should be no problem. After May it starts to get crowded and too hot, they told me it can go up to 40/45°C... insane for me! But I'd advise you to rent a car and explore the surroundings as well.



== Greetings from Berlin ==

Company's party

Yesterday we had a company party. We knew only 15min before leaving when we would be going since it was a surprise. We went to Isa Mitz Café in Görlitzer Park.
It was a nice place, there was a big buffet, I could chat with some colleagues, all was in a good atmosphere. And well, someone told me we were supposed to play mini golf... Hum, well so I didn't choose the right outfit this morning: skirt & high heels. Plus we were wondering where, since we didn't see a mini golf in the park and plus, it was getting dark, so for joking I told him it was maybe underground.

And later in the evening, some colleagues asked me if I wanted to play mini golf with them. So it was indeed underground. I had not played mini golf for like 10 years, and it was the first time I played indoor mini golf, with neon light and phosphorescent tracks, in skirt and high heels. But it was fun, one track was an ascending slope with a reversed horseshoe in the middle of the slope, where you had to put the ball... and I did it in one shot! I was quite impressed, amazed and proud. But i lost on the whole game...

It's the 2nd company party since I've been here, it's always fun, the atmosphere in the company is so cool and relax, it's really nice to work there, I do hope they will renew my contact.

== Greetings from Berlin ==

My first Easyjet flight

I usually mainly fly with Ryanair, which is quite unbeatable on the prices. But to go to Cagliari, I took Easyjet for the first time, plus there aren't lots of Ryanair flights to/from Berlin. I've heard so many times how better is Easyjet compared to Ryanair...
Well, that's basically same service, same comfort, so to say 0. But Easyjet is more expensive. But good things are no weight limit for cabin luggage (but they're strict on size), no obligation to check in on-line (quite convenient if you happen to have troubles finding a printer), and it also seems they go to airports closer to the main cities, which is way convenient, time & money saver.

But well, if I got choice I'd better choose Ryanair as for such bad service and comfort I'd rather pay less. A "middle cost" company I like is Air Berlin, I flew with them when I went to France for Christmas and they offer better comfort & service, and quite reactive & efficient in case of a problem (we had to land on another airport, and the buses left 1h after landing).

== Greetings from Berlin ==

Wonderful Sardinia

I still haven't found time to write proper posts about my wonderful week in Sardinia, so while waiting for more, here are already the pictures:

Villasimius & Cagliari

Cagliari & Flight back

Heading to Sardinia

When this post will be published I'll be on the plane to Cagliari. I took a week off to get some sun in Sardinia.

I'll land in Cagliari on Sunday 27th and then will take a bus to Villasimius where I'll stay till Wednesday to get closer to nature. Then, I'll spend the rest of my stay in Cagliari, but never too far from the beach! ^^ I've been looking at the weather forecast, mainly sun, few clouds, no rain, between 15 and 20°C! I'm so excited, it's been a long time I wanted to go there, so sad I'm going alone though, but well, we'll see if I get to meet some nice people!


==Greetings from Berlin==

Skin Jewels

(I'm not sure whether the correct English is skin or body jewel)


A couple days ago, I went shopping after work, it was mainly pre-holidays shopping, I went to a big shopping center to buy sunglasses and solution for contact lenses and came home with, in addition to this, an umbrella, earrings and lingerie. I've been strong enough not to venture in any shoe shop! :D But as I was walking by a jewelery stating "body jewelry", I had a flash: skin jewels! I used to love that by the time I was studying in France, I used to buy a lot of them at Claire's or when ordering lingerie at Beat Ushe. But then it became more & more difficult to find them. I loved to wear them for a party, to embellish a cleavage for instance.

So I guess I'll have to go and have a look around while on holidays and then back to Berlin, or I could try to find some German websites selling them (I spotted a few French ones but ordering in Germany will be less expensive for the shipping fees). The big challenge while looking around will be to resist to buying earrings, something I failed on that shopping day. I bought my sunglasses at Bijou Brigitte and had a big crush on wonderful earrings. Sometimes I can fit the "typical" girl cliché: I love earrings and shoes and could buy some quite often, luckily I don't care about brands and don't like to spend to much for a single pair.


==Greetings from Berlin==

Simon-Dach-Strasse

If you're in Berlin and looking for a place to start a wild party night that's where you have to start. This street is pretty famous and full of bars and restaurants. There is everything from hype to metal, from alternative to German type. You'll be sure to find something you like. And it's always crowded (especially at the week end). Don't ask me for names of cool bars, I've been to a few of them but don't always know the name. :D

How to get there? With M13 (tram) to Libauerstr or Simplonstr; M10 (tram) to Revalerstr/S-Warshauerstr; with U1, S3, S5 or S7 to Warshauerstr.

== Greetings from Berlin==

My first Baby

My very first video game, translated only by me has just been released. It's called Wolfteam, a FPS game (basically shooting game) where you can turn into a werewolf, cool, isn't it? So I had to translate from English to French, and so the brand new French version is now available. But it's also available in English and German.

If you like this type of game you should like it, I had to play the English version before translating, I really sucked at it, but it's pretty cool. We do have a lot of other cool games anyway if you don't like this kind.

I gotta admit I'm really proud now, it's my 1st official translation. And a big one. I wanted to translate books or films at first, but I guess video game is something in between, and it's very interesting and challenging to do. Like a couple of years ago, I would have never thought I could end up in video games industry, since I'm not a huge gamer myself, but the industry is booming right now and I guess I can get other opportunities afterward, and the good thing is I could do this job almost everywhere on the planet.

==Greetings from Berlin==

RIP, Knut.

On last Saturday, I heard on the radio that Knut, the famous Berlin Polar Bear is dead. He was 4, was born in Berlin Zoo and became very popular and a local symbol, a national star. There was even a song about him and of course they sold lots of goodies after him.

He just died, we don't know why, he fell down in the pool and never rose again. The zoo specialists could not figure out why. And it was of course a topic of discussion in the bars at night, with some crazy theory like he committed suicide since he couldn't stand the fame anymore. That's so bad, I wanted to go and see him in Spring, since visiting zoos in winter isn't that fun I guess, ok he's a polar bear but I don't spend money for a zoo tickets just for one animal.






==Greetings from Berlin==

Reichstag, Berlin

Around 10 days ago, by a very sunny Saturday morning, I went to visit the Reichstag, which is now home of the German Parliament. Due to some terror alarm, you have to book the visit online and go through heavy security checks, so I would advise to get there around 30 min before the start of the visit.

The building in itself is amazing, our visit was focused on art & architecture, we could see lots of artworks exposed there, as well as the graffitis from the Soviet soldiers when they took over the Reichstag in 1945. There is another interesting artwork, looks like archives, each "box" labeled with the name of those who sat at the Parliament, no one has been forgotten, and a black box represents the 12 years of nazi.

We finished the tour on the roof, with the famous glass dome, which was added after the 3rd Reich period, so that the people could look into the parliament room and that the deputies never forget who they are working for: the people. Plus, the view from there is amazing!

Here are some pictures.

==Greetings from Berlin==

Ars Vini: a little bit of Switzerland in Berlin

There's one tthing about me: I LOVE cheese,no, I WORSHIP cheese!
So there's been some time I was craving for a fondue and a raclette. So I decided to look for a Swiss restaurant, and yesterday we went to try out Ars Vini.They are specialised in fondues (cheese, meat and chocolate), they have 2 venues, we went to the one in Mitte, at the angle of Templiner Strasse and Zionkirschestr.

First, the place is very nice, you feel welcome right away, the staff is very nice. If you order wine, they will advise you, make you try a few samples,... Well, as I don't drink wine I just had a vodka with orange juice.

We had the Classical Swiss Fondue, we thought we'd get 1 or 2 pots for all of us (we were 5), but no, each one gets a small pot with a "dosis" for 1 person. You get with it a small salad and bread, I also took an extra portion of potatoes. It was so delicious! A delight for my tastebuds! I'm so looking forward to have my own place for quite some time and invest in a fondue pot and a raclette grill to throw "cheese" parties at home! ^^
And the "portion" of fondue was really a lot, but with my huge appetite, I was the only one to eat it all and even helped my friends out! :D After this, a kirsch to digest a bit and we went on with chocolate fondue, served with fruits. We had almond chocolate fondue, such a delight once again, but this time we ordered for 1 person and shared between 4 of us. It was really a delicious dinner and plus we had lots of fun!

When paying, the waitress asked us if it was the first time we were coming, and with one friend, we answered at the same time: "yes, but that's not the last"! We are already planing another visit, next time I might try out the meat fondue (I also love this one - yes I love meat, potatoes and cheese, this restaurant is kind of a paradise for me).

Stockholm

This week end I went to Stockholm. It's been a long time I wanted to visit Sweden, so I took advantage of great Ryanair discounts to go to the capital for 1 week end and have a glimpse of it.
I was completely delighted! The city is of the most charming ones.

I left Berlin on Saturday early morning to Stockholm-Skatsva, where I took a bus to Stockholm city centre (80min ride). There, I met with Charlie (my host for the night) and his guest from the previous day. We first went to his flat, then I went alone to explore a bit of the city. I had no idea where to go, I found a map, spotted an island called "Old City" and decided to take the tube to there.
This island (Stockholm is composed of several islands), is really nice, full of little streets, with wonderful buildings. I walked around, visited a few churches, saw lots of beautiful places, even though I didn't know what most of them actually were. Then, I ended up in a shopping street, than in a shopping mall... the good thing in flying with Ryanair with cheap flights is that I don't take check-in luggage for a stay of max 4 days, as I'm limited to 10kilos, shopping clothes & shoes is excluded... but not earrings, and I found a very nice pair! ^^
Then, i took the tube back to where I started, stopped in a café for a good hot chocolate and brownie and went home.
At night we didn't do anything exciting, watched a movie, chatted, went to bed early,... So Stockholm night life experience will be for next time.

On Sunday morning, I went again city exploring alone, I kinda get lost from the tube station to the coach station where I would leave my luggage, but at least I would know the way later when I'll go catch my bus to the airport.
Then, I decided to go to the harbor where I'll take a boat tour later on, walked along the quays, frozen sea, freezing wind, ... I tried to find a cheap & open restaurant in the neighborhood but found nothing so I had to have lunch at Mcdonald's whereas I would have liked to try some Swedish specialty.
Then, I went for the Winter Boat Tour on an icebreaker boat. It was guided tour, so I learned quite a few interesting things about Stockholm and Sweden history, and I was crazy enough to sit outside, despite the freezing cold it was worth it, the views were just amazing. But when we took the way back to the harbor, I went inside again to get warmer with a hot chocolate. I really enjoyed this ride, Stockholm is so wonderful! I really have to go back there in Summer time and stay longer to explore more of the city and see the famous Archipelago.
Then, I headed back to the coach station, I was too cold to walk, and took a bus to the airport to get settled at the hotel, just 50 m away from the terminal. Flying back to Berlin at 6:30 on Monday morning it was the wisest choice, especially that I was going directly to work after that.

I slept at Connect Hotel, quite luxury hotel to me, I paid 55€ for a room (well you can be up to 3 persons) with no private bathroom/toilets, no TV, no nothing, but it was wonderfully quiet! I got a cocktail at the bar, had dinner and went to bed at 7:30pm. So I wasn't that tired when I woke up at 4:30 to enjoy the included breakfast.

This stay in Stockholm was really enjoyable, I now have to go back as 2 days are rather short, a nice week end away from home!

PHOTOS

==Greetings from Berlin==

Havanna, Berlin

On Saturday night, I went (finally) for the 1st time to a club in Berlin! It was Havanna, great club, with 3 floors, one with salsa only, one with bachata, merengue,... and one with rnb, black music, 90's,... There was supposed to be a 4th room with disco/dance but it was closed (I hate disco but love dance music).
It was lot of fun! My problem is that I can't dance proper salsa and it's impossible for me to go & see a guy & ask for dancing... The only man who invited me could have been my father and couldn't really dance...
So even if I love latino sounds, I spent most of my time in the underground floor, where I could dance alone on very good music. So good music, that even with hurting feet and dry throat, I had a hard time leaving the dancefloor! Yeah, I had the wonderful idea to put on new shoes! I was even surprised to hear 2 French tracks, plus good ones! I'm always surprised to hear French music abroad in non-frenchspeaking countries.
I had to abandon around 4 am, my feet hurting too much, so much that I rather stayed sitting at the bus stop for 20 more minutes than running after a bus stopping a few hundred meters away...

But well, I totally love that place, hum so now gotta find electro club! ^^

==Greetings from Berlin==

Dixit

I discovered this game during a board game evening in a bar on Friday night and just love it!

How to play it? Easy:

"One player is the storyteller for the turn. He looks at the 6 images in his hand. From one of these, he makes up a sentence and says it out loud (without showing the card to the other players).
The other players select amongst their 6 images the one that best matches the sentence made up by the storyteller.
Then, each of them gives their selected card to the storyteller, without showing it to the others. The storyteller shuffles his card with all the received cards. All pictures are shown face up, randomly, and every player has to bet upon what picture was the storyteller's.
If nobody or everybody finds the correct picture, the storyteller scores 0, and each of the other players scores 2. Otherwise the storyteller and whoever found the correct answer scores 3. Players score 1 point for every vote their own picture receives.
The game ends when the deck is empty. The greatest total wins the game." (source: Wikipedia which explains it better than I would ^^)

I wasn't that bad at it, I do love the creativ aspect, I might even buy it, it's lots of fun!

==Greetings from Berlin==

A week-end of discoveries...

This week-end was a nice & interesting one. On Saturday, I first went for Brunch in an Italian restaurant, even if there was too much fish according to me, it was very nice.
At night, I went to the place of some guy from CouchSurfing for a small party, it was lots of fun! There was a Mexican guy who came with some specialties from his home land, first: fried bugs, yurk... I didn't try, I found it too disgusting. But he also brought nice dark tequila and showed us the real Mexican way to drink it: you take a quarter of a lime, put some of lime juice on your hand, add salt, lick your hand, drink tequila in one shot and bite into the lime. And this way, it's not burning. Then, I discovered a German way to drink vodka, with Ahoj-Brause powder, a powder with taste, sweet, designed to be mixed with water for kids, but here you take a bit of the powder, in your mouth, take your shot of vodka and mix powder & vodka INSIDE your mouth (cheap shaker :D ), it pops, it's funny! Then, they went for Russian Disco, I wanted top join but felt not really good and we had to queue before getting in the club which means it's full so I rather went home.

On Sunday, I wanted to visit Berliner Dom (the Cathedral) but had to pay €5, so well next time. I had a small walk in Museum Insel (Museuem Island) and ended up in Deutsches Historisches Museum (Museum of German History) which shows National History (and well also European History, they're often linked) from Roman times to 1994. It was very interesting, and gotta admit that German & French Histories are sometimes linked, especially History from my home region which had been the target of wars between the 2 countries.
After that, I decided to go to cinema, i first wanted to go & see Rapunzel (thinking a cartoon might be easy to understand) but it's plaid only late morning/early afternoon so I chose The Next Three Days, it was very nice movie, I really liked it, except one or two times when everybody was laughing because of something funny I didn't get...
It was a very nice week end, and here are some pix of Berlin since the beginning of 2011.


== Greetings from Berlin==

Szczecin, Poland

This week-end, I went to Poland. It was a country I wanted to visit for a long time, I had several attempts to get there while I was living in  Czech Republic (and so not that too far away) but never made it. So for my 1st week-end out of Berlin (Xmas trip to France doesn't count) I went to Szczecin, not very far from the border, used to be German, 2 hours by train, perfect.
I took the train around 8am on Sat morning and arrived there around 10am. And when I got controllled I realised I've been screwed, the lady controling my ticket asked me why I had not bought the Brandeburger ticket for 10€... well because I didn't know, so I paid 55€...

When I arrived, I took the tram and met J., my great host for this wonderful week-end. We started with a breakfast, before going to visit the cute city centre, she wanted to have me taste a Polish speciality, but the place where they make the best ones was closed, so we head off to a bakery, they had poppy cakes! I used to eat tons of this while living in CZ but never found them in the other countries I visited/stayed in afterwards.
We had quick lunch at McDonald's, I kinda like to try McDonalds in different countries, good thing in Poland: they got ice tea!
And then we continued with the visit and ended with shopping! And there was a shop of Bata shoes! A shop in which I hardly can enter and leave empty handed (which is not in Germany), plus it was sales, so I bought a beautiful pair of pumps! ^^

After the shopping, we went home, she cooked me a nice Polish specialty boiled potatoes with "medalony", some meat with oinions and spices, that was very tasty. After this, the party started, some of her friends came by, I was surprised to surprise them by drinking pure vodka. We had a nice time, and ended up in a great night club. The club, Cityhall, was free for ladies before 10pm, and it was a special night with a famous DJ coming, and as I love electro music that was just perfect. Except that I got suddenly completely tired and it was quite frustrating not have the power to dance on such a good music. We got a great night!

The next day, we slept late, and when I woke up, I met her Italian flatmate, and we were like: but we know eachother, don't we? I had met briefly met him last year in Oslo for NYE party, he hosted her in Bergem (Norway) this summer and now he's sharing her flat... the world is so small! I love those moments that are likely to happen thanks to CouchSurfing! We had a slow start, had a good breakfast and went for a walk.
We took a shortcut, quite isolated, so there was still ice, and my sneakers were slipping like hell, I tried to walk on the muddy side, was fun, and we met a dog, it was sitting on my side, as he wouldn't move I started to try to cross the icy way to get to the other side, when it started to bark at us and chase us, with something aggressive in its eyes, I'm usually not afraid of dogs, but there I paniked a bit, and wanting to kinda run away, I slept on the ice and fell, kinda hurt me, nothing serious, but I still feel some pain... Well, I'll survive ! :D
Then, we crossed a nice park, walked in the centre a bit, stopped for an ice-cream and it was already time to get home, stopping by the shop to buy a bottle of Polish Wodka! :D

It was an awesome week end, the city is very nice, there are lots of parks, lakes and it's not very far from Baltic Sea, so might be even more beautiful in Spring and summer... and for sure I'll go back!

PHOTOS


==Greetings from Berlin==