9 Things: Vacationing in Your Own City

We were on vacation in Berlin last week. I didn’t mention anything here because I thought that would be a great opportunity to catch up on blogging and campaigning. I was not really going away from my own city.

Then again, as we started getting into the vacation, I realized I desperately needed it for my own well being. I could feel my nerves flaring up from all the tension. So I decided to really forget about work and go fully into a break. Besides, catching up on work kind of felt like procrastinating on my own vacation .

Unfortunately, since I mostly work from home, switching the brain isn’t that easy. The “I didn’t have to go to work today” doesn’t really feel like anything to me. Unless, of course, I didn’t want to check any e-mails or play Sims Social (yes, I’m addicted to it since a few weeks).

The first few days were okay, it felt like a nice long weekend. We went for lots of walks, had great food, doing our usual weekend stuff. But then I started to feel some anxiety attack. What if I couldn’t feel relaxed enough during this vacation? Did we make the right decision by not going anywhere? (the answer to the last question is YES, because we needed the fund for something else more important).

Skipping to the end, I managed to feel relaxed and happy like being on a usual vacation.

It’s not easy because we didn’t go to other cities (except for a daytrip to Braunschweig).

Here are the things I do to help myself:

1. Stay away from the usual routine. Which was why I stayed away as far as possible from word processors and design tools.
2. Set up a vacation budget, so I would not feel guilty of spending more money than usual.
3. Rejoice in the fact that I’m saving money. At least I don’t have to pay for transport and lodging.
4. Look for places I haven’t been to. Granted, this is the advantage of living in a bigger city. But I bet there’s always somewhere you haven’t been to in your city. Look for some exhibitions, concerts, new restaurants.
5. Don’t fret about housework.  You wouldn’t worry about laundry or dishes during a vacation, would you? I’m not saying you shouldn’t clean up, but just don’t feel like “since I’m not working, my house should be shiny clean”. (Unless you’re a fan of cleaning… I’m not )
6. Don’t fret about work. This is not the time to catch up. This is a time for refreshing the brain, to prepare itself for new ideas for the next project.
7. Treat your other senses. Perhaps try a new spice in food, try a new type of cuisine, or go for a massage.
8. Pretend you’re a tourist. Make a role play, look the part, bring a map, and take lots of pictures.
9. Most importantly, do things that made you happy. This is the time for it! My happy things are going for a walk in the city, eating good food, and read a lot.

Tags: 9 things, Campaigner, vacation

Lange Nacht der Museen Berlin – Summer 2011

Twice a year, the museums in Berlin opened their door for a long night visit, from 6pm to 2am. When I first saw this I was thinking, “Who would want to go museums in the middle of the night? Had anyone watched Night at the Museums? There must be ghosts prancing around those ancient objects at night, right?”

Boy was I so wrong.

It’s a very exciting event. This year was the third time we went to such event in Berlin. We always went on the summer ones (since I had been a wimp to brace the winter chill at 1am). And yet, every year, we always found something new and interesting to see.

The ticket was 15 euros (10 if you’re qualified for a discount – student, elderly, etc). It included the admission price for all the participating museums and access to shuttle buses & Berlin transport systems (which meant you can get ANYWHERE easily). Pretty decent price, if you asked me.

(at Vision & Fashion exhibition)

There were 106 participating museums this time around, and there’s absolutely no way you could see them all within 8 hours. What you need is a good plan of what you’d like to see and make a good route out of it.

This year we calculated that we would spend around 1-2 hours in each museum. We prepared a list of 4-6 places we’d like to visit and the possible routes to go through all of them. The route we had wasn’t the most optimum but we got to the places we’d like to go.

1. Schwules Museum

It’s a museum dedicated to the history of homosexual people  (especially in Berlin). They had been through a lot, especially in the Nazi period and I think it was great that now they have equal rights and recognition here. Unfortunately almost all of their exhibition texts are in German, although you could still browse through the pictures! And the people there are nice so I’m sure you could ask around if you have questions.

2. Mauermuseum – Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie

It’s probably one of the most famous museums here in Berlin. It exhibits the history of the Berlin Wall, how and why it was constructed, the escape attempts, and the fall of it. I found the museum too overcrowded, both with people and the amount of information. But if you’re interested in the history of Berlin Wall, this is the ultimate place to go.

3. Computerspielemuseum (Computer Games Museum)

Ah, my geeky gaming heart leaped when I knew this one was on the list. The museum was quite new (2010) but we hadn’t had the chance on visiting it yet. It has a permanent exhibition on how computer games evolved through the years and you could play with some of the games too! Very interesting although it was too crowded last time. They also had several live music events on that day, one of them is gwEm, a cool duo musicians from London who combined 8-bit music and heavy metal.

(music performance by GwEn at Computerspielemuseum)

4. Kunstbibliothek – Kulturforum Potsdamer Platz. Vision & Fashion Exhibition.

I love this one! I didn’t know there was an exhibition on fashion here and we were lucky to accidentally come across it. It’s about sketches, drawings, and photographs that relates to fashion from the 1980-2010. There were plenty of really pretty visions and images from the fashion designer, or inspired by the fashion designers.

5. Helmut Newton Stiftung – Museum of Photography

We went directly for the special exhibition of Helmut Newton: Polaroids. I like the Polaroids images. I like how there’s a certain feel of realness in there. No photoshopping, and it’s all about the angles, composition, and light. Such a great work from a great artist.

6.  Schloss Charlottenburg

It’s a palace built in the end of 17th century for Prussia’s first Queen, Sophie Charlotte. It has a beautiful Baroque architecture and I always found it interesting to imagine how they lived in that era. It also has a beautiful park behind it, which is quite close to where we live and it’s my favorite place to go jogging .

We started exactly at 6pm, and we finished at 1:45 am. It was exhausting (be sure to wear comfortable shoes!) but it was well worth it. And I think our itinerary was good because we didn’t feel too overwhelmed since the museums we went to has different kinds of exhibitions.

(PS: If you only have an interest in one museum and you’d like to stay there the whole time, this is not the thing to do. First, it’ll be way cheaper to pay for an admission price for that one museum, and second, there will be a huge crowd.  This event is good if you want to visit several museums or galleries and get an overview of it. Perhaps if you like a certain place, you could go again on the next day.)

Tags: Berlin, Lange Nacht der Museen, museums

Energy. #Trust30

Energy by Julia E

“The world belongs to the energetic.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s easy to blame our failure to meet our goals or to live our dream lives on a lack of energy, and we don’t always stop to think about the quality of energy in our lives. Yet we can choose to create and manage our own energy flow.

Think of an instance when you’ve been so involved in an activity that you’ve lost track of time, and then identity the passions and energies you were feeding. Who was there with you? What were you doing? What will you do to make time for moments like that one more often?

(Author: Julia E)

I’ve always loved travelling with hubs, exploring new places, trying out the local cuisine, and being able to just live in the moment, not worrying about anything. We could walk for hours, taking a different turn, trying out a new cafe we thought was interesting.

It is something about being in a new place that excited me. I love the sensation of having a new experience, getting into things I’ve never done before, seeing things I’ve never seen. I’m not talking of the daredevil things, or some great buildings or canyons. For me, it was simple things like finding a new corner street with lots of interesting cafes, a park I’ve never been to, or a new Zara store.

As for work, I love the feeling I get when starting a new project. With the writing projects, it means all those possible plots to explore, new characters traits, new villains. With the design projects, it means all those new color, new theme, and new ways of doing things.

It’s not easy when you felt stuck in a project that takes too long. I procrastinated. It definitely made it worse. I think it’s time for me to go back to the feeling I had when starting it, remind myself why I was so passionate about it. I know the feeling when I did something good would be much more exhilarating than starting a new project. I aim for that.

Tags: #Trust30, energy

Travel. #Trust30 – Day 5

The prompt:

The challenge of answering this post was not because I don’t know where I wanted to go, but because there are so many of them! I love travelling, and so far I have been lucky enough to visit several places I’d think as ones to visit before I die.

I’ve visited Paris, London, Tuscany, San Francisco, Singapore, and Vancouver. I currently live in Berlin. Life is awesome .

There are two places that I’ve come close to visiting, but haven’t been just yet. First is the white wall buildings and deep blue ocean of Santorini. I’d love to have the smell of the ocean combined with the ancient history of the city. Second place I’d love to visit is New York. I have to visit that shoe store at Saks on Fifth Avenue, the one with its own postcode.

I’m making sure I live in Europe until I get to visit those places. It’s more feasible with the money and distance from here. I just need to make more money, either from my writing or from my design work . \o/

Tags: #Trust30, travel

A Trip in a Thirties Bus

Ever wondered how people in the 1930s going around town? This was one of the buses in Berlin during the 1930s-1950s. It’s a double decker for around 50 passengers. Absolutely diggin’ the vintage design look here.

There was an automobile exhibition in Ku-Damm last weekend, featuring vehicles from early 1900s until now, which was why the bus was on display. We had a chance to go on a 10 minutes ride around the area. It was very nice. Most of the people were the cheeky 60s, which made it felt more authentic and fun.

I love how the driver didn’t hesitate for a second when I asked him for a picture. I could feel his passion on the job. He told us he wore a completely authentic uniform too. How cool is that?

The benches on the top part of the bus were made from wood, no cushion at all… and no good suspension system either. I would bet your behind would be quite sore if you had to ride it for a whole day .

Also, I find it quite interesting to have in each warning sign the part “polizeilich”. I wonder if that actually meant someone could get arrested when they stood on the aisle or the stairs for too long?

Tags: 1930s, Berlin, vehicles

Einstein Tower, Potsdam

Einstein Tower (Einsteinturm auf Deutsch) is a solar observatory located in the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam, Germany. Designed by Erich Mendelsohn, it has a very unusual shape for buildings designed in 1920s. It is one of the landmarks of expressionist architecture.

I love how unusual the tower design is. Reminded me of submarines.

See how beautiful it is? And the lovely surroundings too!

We went there on foot, walking from Potsdam’s main train station. It wasn’t that far, only around 1km, but it was a steady uphill climb. We didn’t mind, but please put it into consideration if you decide to do the same. It seemed like everybody else either took a car or a bike.

There also supposed to be a bus going there, although it doesn’t go on weekends (at least at the time I went – last year).

Nice sceneries are guaranteed. Along the way you’ll walk pass some nice apartment buildings, woods, and an adventure park. Refreshing break from Berlin city buzz .

Now, the Einstein Tower itself is located inside a University/Research complex. The complex has an entrance gate, so I’m not sure if you could take the car in. From there, it’s still quite a walk to get to the building. I remember going “Oh noez!” but no worries, there’s plenty of pretty buildings and sceneries for a nice distraction.

Link to Google map for the location of Einstein Tower.

I would recommend going here if you love unusual architecture and you have an extra half day in Potsdam. If you only have a day, go to Sans Souci and the city center first!

Tags: architecture, Einstein Tower, Erich Mendelsohn, Potsdam, travel

Grom – The Most Fabulous Ice Cream

I realized that whenever I said I love a holiday destination, it usually has a lot to do with the food there. Figures it’s one reason why I love going to Italy so much.

No, I’m not there recently, the last time I went was last summer. But I was digging through my post drafts and I found this one. Something about ice cream and it made me ache with the promise of warm weather!

The first time we found the place was when we went to Milan, July 2009. It was a very warm summer night, we were walking around the area of Piazza Duomo and we came across an ice cream place with a long queue of people in suit. I thought the place must be fabulous, as the suited people must be some sort of locals. Needless to say, we were intrigued enough to start queuing as well. Tourists!

It was the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted. Ice cream-gasm!! Man, I’m drooling right now. The good thing was they are a chain, and you could find them in lots of places in Italy. I think they even have a branch in Paris, not sure. The bad thing is… there’s still none in Berlin. If you guys read this, maybe take it as a hint .

You can’t go wrong with the flavors. Pick any flavors you like and they tasted great. Or pick a random one (like me, because I hadn’t got a clue what the tag meant and instead of asking, I just took a random pick). Just one word of warning: it’s addicting!

Now I know where the drip on my bag came from.

Here’s the link to their website: Grom. Last time my favorite flavors were Nocciola & Cafe. Share me yours

Tags: food, ice cream, Italy

My Andrea Bocelli Groupie Moment

I always thought of myself as someone who is quite composed in almost everything. I rarely jumped up and down screaming and stuff. Not really easily panicking over something (except firecrackers. I hate firecrackers!). Okay, I know some of you would say, “Yeah right, Astrid, we don’t believe it.” Ehm… yeah perhaps it’s true, sometimes I think too much of myself…

Anyways, at least I *used* to believe I won’t ever going to get starstruck, that I would remain poised whenever I get to meet a star. After all, being in Berlin with its film festival events get me some chances to see some movie stars up close. So far so good, I guess. At least there’s no proof saying otherwise.

Until the night we went to the concert in Lajatico on Sunday July 25th, 2010. We had this one amazing moment when Andrea Bocelli happens to walk within my arm reach. OMG!!!

I’m going to show you screenshots since the whole moment is captured on video. Darling hubs happened to be blocking Andrea’s way (lucky hubs!!!). Technically hubs was actually even closer to Andrea than me, just too bad we didn’t have hubs’ face on camera . Read more…

Tags: Andrea Bocelli, groupie, Teatro del Silenzio

World Cup 2010 – Falling In Love With Deutschland

I love the Football World Cup. No secrets. If you happen to follow me in twitter/plurk/facebook or know me in person, you might already know that I went crazy these past weeks.

Why do I love football? First, it’s hard to miss the world cup if you lived in Indonesia. I think people there are crazier about football then here in Germany. Probably England could top that. Probably.

Second, it started for me as a bonding time with my dad. Therefore my favorite team is dad’s favorite team, England. In fact, it had grown to be my football home. Mark my words: England will win the world cup in my lifetime! (note: I wasn’t born yet in 1966)

Read more…

Tags: football, Germany, world cup

Loving Berlin Seasons

I love Berlin. We moved here almost two years ago and are still learning a lot about the city. There are always new things to do, new neighborhood (kiez) to explore, new restaurant to try. And I love especially just walking to the parts you were familiar with but looks very different every season.

Tags: Berlin