Well, somehow it is June 1st, but here I am catching you up on my European adventures! I'll start with Berlin...
We had always wanted to visit Berlin, as we had heard so many great things about it. We found a sublet in Kreuzberg - a cool neighbourhood with a lot of Turkish immigrants who made absolutely wonderful food! (Always great for a couple of food lovers). At first the weather was absolutely terrible, especially after enjoying the sunshine in Australia - but once the sun came out it was great. We lived right by Admiral-brucke, or Admiral Bridge, - which for some reason was where a lot of locals just went to hang out. People spilled out onto the road, drinking beer and wine, playing music, talking and enjoying being outside and amongst life. I bought a cd by a guy called Nikolaus Herdieckerhoff - who was busking on electric cello and was awesome!
You can check him out at http://www.cellolitis.de/startseite.php
There was also some amazing street art. It was so great to see such amazing work adorning the buildings of Berlin, and I wondered about the lack of it in NY. I don't know if it is a law thing, I think probably it is, - but the art was amazing, and really added to the experience of Berlin for me. Just when we arrived we heard about this Argentinian street artist called Blu - who does this amazing wall-art animation. I was in awe of it as we watched it online (http://www.blublu.org/sito/video/muto.htm) - if you like animation and graffiti you have to check it out.
Anyway, our train - the U1 - went right by a great piece, which we found out was by this guy! Right near it was another piece, which we are sure MUST be another of his works that looks like it might be being made into wall-art animation... We aren't certain, but keep looking to see if our wish may come true!
Besides the graffiti and the hanging out we were also lucky enough to have a couple of friends living in Berlin - one of whom is an English language walking tour guide - what luck! If you are in Berlin, you definitely should do this.. I have never taken many tours, as such, but Berlin is a place I am glad to have done so. There is obviously so much history and to hear and see it all on a walking tour was an amazing experience to fully realise that. The company is http://www.insidertour.com
We also did a lot of writing in Berlin (with a lack of instrument to play music on - thanks to a measly 27lb weight limit on international flights these days - it was all I could do) - and I look forward to turning the new words into songs - I hope over the summer. We spent a lot of days at a great cafe called Cafe Luzia on Oranienstrasse, which was covered in art by an artist called Chin Chin. (www.myspace.com/chinchin) I was so excited to visit a flea market one weekend and find her there selling t-shirts and printed scraps of fabric. I snatched up one of the latter, which I am going to frame, and it was my only souvenir from Berlin (that weight limit thing again!) - besides some great pictures, great adventures and some fantastic reunions with old mates.
Then it was onto Italy to meet up with A Storm of Light and my induction into touring with them!
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