Sunny Pommes-Frites

I haven't been in the mood to write much lately, but I have been taking pictures so it has been kinda fun to do these more photoblog-type postings.

I meant in the last post, where I talk about shoes, to mention a link I added on our right bar for Stil in Berlin. I guess that there is a bunch of related sites in most big cities that focus on street fashion. The people who do this one for Berlin must live kinda near us because most of their postings are around the area where St. Oberholz is. So...in a sense these are really people we see everyday. I am pretty sure that I saw a pic of the guy who lives across the way that has the hair horns.

Today I added this live Berlin feed. I stole the link from someone else's blog that I found on the Berlin Blogs listing.


still from about 2pm today

Today there was a totally clear sky, which I am not sure has happened since we have been here. Mostly it has been the typical Berlin-winter gray sky, but the last few days have been sunny. I have found the sunny days to actually be a bit more disorientating though. The light is very strange because, well, among other things the sun doesn't get very high above the horizon line...maybe like 30degrees at the most.



I took this pic yesterday at about 4:30pm from the S-Bahn as the sun was going down. It is pretty much dark by 5:30pm but the days are getting longer now instead of shorter.

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On Thursday R and I attempted to go to the Amt to apply for our residency visas. If you don't remember, we are applying for student visas with our letters from Babylonia. We got there a little after 10am when they open and there was a line literally out the door. We were going to meet BH (who I formally called Br, but R changed it since we know his last name now) who also needed to go to the Amt and he was going to be our German speaking guide.


While waiting in line at the Amt, a woman came by and padlocked this baby carriage to a pole while she went inside with the child. I guess it makes sense to treat a baby carriage like a bicycle, but then again...?

BH got there about 10:40am and we had just made it inside the building, with a full room line ahead of us. Half-way through this part of the line they announced that they no longer have appointments for people who are seeking student visas because they have filled up for the day. BH said that he had never seen the line this long and maybe it was an after Holiday rush. We had no choice but to leave it at that and took some info home to email the correct office in hopes of scheduling an appointment. If we do not hear from them before hand, then I guess we will head back to the Amt again on Thursday (when BH can hopefully join us again) at 9am and see what happens.

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On Friday night we ended up roaming around to a few gallery openings with SS and two of the Danes, MK and JB. We went to some Jannowitzbrücke galleries and then one the Danes knew of near Kochstraße, Croy Nielsen. DK was there too and we all went to an afterparty in this random location near Oranienberger Tor. The only landmark was a (bad) gallery downstairs next door, but we got there earlier than most so that meant no cover charge and free soup. The place was basically two rooms; a smaller front room with a bar and small DJ table that we stayed in and a larger room with a dance floor, another DJ, and tiered sitting area. It was fun but not too crazy. We all left by 2am.

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On Saturday, R and I went to the brunch place a block over from our apartment called Blaues Band. This is about the third time we have gone there and it is pretty good...no Sparky's Diner (SF)...but pretty good. R had the 'Farmer's Omelette' pictured at the bottom and I had the 'Kanadisch Pancakes mit Blaubeeren' with Milchkaffee and Orangensaft pictured above.



Speaking of Milch...here is my favorite Milch. SS wrote a whole post dedicated to it on her food blog. Not only is it amazing tasting milk, that is also organic, it comes in a logic-defying, award-winning container. The 'handle' to the right is simply an inflated section and the 'spout' in the upper left-hand corner you simply tear off, and by the way it is magically designed, only opens when you tip and pour the milk out. When sitting straight up like this, it closes itself so that it is doesn't get funky in the fridge. Genius!...and of course, recyclable.

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After brunch, R and I headed to the Helmut Newton Foundation to see the current exhibition, 'Wanted', with Helmut Newton, Larry Clark, and Ralph Gibson. There is also a permanent exhibition called 'Private Property' that has a bunch of Newton's belongings. I didn't know much about him before going, but Helmut Newton was a very famous fashion photographer known for his nude female portraits. Another highlight of the trip was seeing Larry Clark's 'Tulsa' series which documents the rampant drug use he was around and involved with in Tulsa, OK in the 60's and 70's. I can only describe seeing it as literally gut-wrenching...



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After a short bus trip back to our neighborhood we stopped by a brat stand for the German staple...Bratwurst and Pommes-Frites...before heading to the grocery store and back home.


Bratwurst mit Senf (Mustard) und Pommes-Frites mit Ketschup und Mayo