Jahrestagung

Last week we went to one of those mandatory events resulting from the fact that by accepting a research grant from the Alexander-von-Humboldt Stiftung my husband has become a Humboldtian and is now a member of the Humboldt Family. Ever year in June, the Stiftung celebrates its birthday by inviting all its relatives to a reception in the garden of Schloss Bellevue, the residence of the German Bundespräsident. And since Schloss Bellevue is only 10 minutes cycling from our house, I convinced my husband and my son that it would be fun to go there...

Normally, we would only have seen Schloss Bellevue from this side, but now we were able to see what lies behind the house/palace. While I was wondering whether we would actually meet the president, my husband was trying to remain inconspicuous because he did not want to talk to certain people and my son kept complaining that he was hungry ánd thirsty. After the inevitable security checks we were allowed into the park surrounding the Schloss and had to walk to the back of the house, which looks a lot like the front:

I was wondering why all the people over there were gathered around the parasol on the left, only to find that they were actually listening to a speech by Herr Dr. Gauck, the Bundespräsident himself (on the right - the white haired guy on the left is Prof. Schwarz, the president of the Humboldt Stiftung).

It was difficult to hear what he said, because my son kept tugging at my arm to ask why there was no food and that the apple juice did not taste right. Anyway, it was nice to have seen a real head of state in person. After the reception we were taken to Jannowitzbrücke for a long boat trip on the Spree which was excellent because the weather was great and the lunch that was served was not, so we spent the entire trip to Köpenick and back on deck.

Tomatoes

Every year when spring arrives, I have these wonderful visions of homegrown fruits and vegetables that will feed me and my family all summer long. Since I own garden nor balcony I can only keep on dreaming and try to grow some herbs in the window sills. Here in Berlin however, I have a pretty large and extremely sunny balcony. So this year, I was determined to grow at least one sort of vegetables: tomatoes. It started out quite well with tiny plants growing into bigger ones. But then I somehow forgot about them (maybe because spring was terribly late) and when I remembered them they looked very sad and had grown in awkward directions.

It was tempting to just throw them in the bin, but I decided to put them on the balcony to give them (and myself) a second chance. And look, after a couple of days of pampering they started to cheer up, so I repotted them, and now they go like crazy! I cannot wait to see those small yellow flowers popping up in due time - hopefully soon : )

Künstlermarkt - Strasse des 17. Juni

The weekly Troedelmarkt at Strasse des 17. Juni is pretty well known in Berlin and it's also mentioned in practically all travel guides. What these guides never mention is another market that is also on Strasse des 17. Juni but on the other side of the Charlottenburger Tor - the Künstlermarkt. Every Saturday and Sunday (starting from May, it seems) local artists are selling their handmade work here, which ranges from paintings, leather bags, wood work and jewelry to toys, clothes and iphone sleeves. My favorite artist is a woman who makes table ware out of old silver cutlery - of which, sadly I wasn't allowed to take pictures. But I will probably buy something from her in the coming weeks, so I will be able to show you anyway. 

The most popular stand (especially on sunny days) is the Wunderseifenblasen stand of Peter & Pat. They make giant soap bubble blowers from rope and bamboo sticks. Very simple and extremely effective - not to mention funny and addictive. All you need is a large amount of soapy water and a little wind and there it goes! My 5-year old son was so fascinated by them that I  had to buy him one (a small one - orange, of course). 

He happily went off to try it out, and what do you know? Even he can do it! 

Was jetzt wieder?!

It is time to return to the continuing story of the building activities here at the Carré Charlotte apartment building site. Last week, my son and I gladly noticed the removal of the yellow workman's cabins in front of our balcony. Would the building activities finally come to an end?

Indeed, the whole site looks a lot better with all the trees having leaves again and the rubbish removed. We were already daydreaming about a playground with a swing and a water pump, when the next day...

an excavator arrived, which tore down the whole wall on the eastern side of our terrain?! What was that all about?

That afternoon, I met out our neighbor on the staircase and she told me that she was furious because she had heard from the Hausmeister that another apartment building will be built right in front of our balconies! Staright away! After clearing the site they will immediately start building?! We were both quite sure that nobody from the Hausverwaltung had ever told us this was going to happen when we rented this place. She asked me what we were going to do about it. Well, we are moving out at the end of August... She said that she was so angry that she thought about moving out as well. And she knew from several other tenants that they are thinking the same. The Hausmeister had also told her that there is another project from the same builder in Berlin Lichtenberg with the same problems: taking way too long to finish, lots of complaints about missing stuff in the apartments, bad communication with the Hausverwaltung. Hmmmm...

Purslane pesto

A few weeks ago, I was doing my usual Saturday shopping round at the local eco-market at Karl-August-Platz here in Charlottenburg. I love the many local producers that come here every week to sell their homegrown products - all of them are from Berlin or from somewhere nearby in Brandenburg. Germans are quite passionate about their food and they love fresh vegetables in many varieties. And so I was very happy to find the lovely tender bright green leaves of purslane in one of the stalls. I remembered a recipe for purslane pesto that I had found in a Christmas special of of PUUR, a magazine of an eco-supermarket chain in The Netherlands:

Ingredients
* ± 90 grams (winter) purslane
* 6 tbl spoons olive oil
* 50 grams walnuts
* 50 grams grana padano cheese, grated
* 1 tbl spoon lemon juice
* 1/2 tea spoon salt
* 1/2 tea spoon freshly ground pepper

Mix all ingredients in a mortar or in a mixer. Add more oil if the mixture is too dry. Be a bit careful in adding the cheese: this pesto has a wonderful subtle taste, and too much cheese can make the taste too 'heavy'. Enjoy!

Deutsche Oper

Ever since we moved to Berlin, I have been wanting to go to the opera. At the time, there are two opera houses at the Bismarckstrasse, just a few hundred meters from our home. (Actually, there are no less than three opera houses in Berlin: the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Charlottenburg, the Staatsoper Unter der Linden in Mitte and the Komische Oper in .... .) The Staatsoper venue is currently undergoing major reconstruction and therefore it is now temporarily residing in the beautiful Schiller Theater, also in the Bismarckstrasse. The theater is just a few minutes walking from the consideringly uglier Deutsche Oper. But since I had tickets for the latter one, I went there first.

The Deutsche Oper is the biggest opera house in Berlin with 1859 seats. It is also the second largest concert hall in Germany. The building was designed in 1957 (and opened in 1961) by Fritz Bornemann as the replacement for the old classicist building from 1912, which was destroyed during a bomb raid in 1943. The architect envisioned a massive windowless outer wall along the broad and noisy Bismarckstrasse (one of the most busy streets in Charlottenburg), so that the theater hall is completely shielded off from the street noises. It does make the building look like a massive concrete brick, until you walk to the side walls which are almost completely made of glass. 

A minor but annoying design flaw (in my opinion) is visible on the corner of the building: on opera days, two flags are hung outside, showing the title of the opera that is playing that night. But, because the wind is mostly blowing in from the east, the text is always shown mirror wise... 

On the inside, the building is very symmetric and transparent. The spacious foyers are suited for multifunctional use and are often used for film shootings and commercials. Installed in the main foyer is a most fascinating motorized bronze wall sculpture - Alunos Discus by George Baker (1978). It is nicknamed 'der Wolkenskulptur' for the swirling, silent motion and the billowing forms, which had a quite mesmerizing effect on me. Measuring 10.6 meters in width and 4.2 meters in height it dominates the foyer with its slow movements: 

After wandering around in the building for about an hour, I had almost forgotten that I was actually there to watch and listen to an opera: The Love for Three Oranges by Sergei Prokofiev. It was all very Russian, very absurdist and very funny (it's an opera buffo). The singers were excellent, especially the Prince (Thomas Blondelle) and Truffaldino (Paul Kaufmann) and the lovely, very young Princesse Ninette (Hila Fahima). Alas, filming and photography was strictly prohibited, so I can only show you my illegal footing of a closed curtain, people looking for their seats and the orchestra members doing some last minute practice... 

Please don't send mail

That is, please don't use DPD to send me a package... Deutsche Post/DHL do find us most of the time, though they don't seem to like post cards. We have estimated that out of the 7 post cards we know were heading our way, only 3 actually made it to our mail box. Comparative analysis of the date stamps learned that a post card with priority sticker will take about 2 days, whereas a post card without priority sticker might easily stroll over here by itself in about 5 weeks. Packages sent with TNT have all arrived (as far as we know). The Dutch newspaper we receive here usually is 2 days late, but sometimes it does not arrive at all or they arrive in throngs at the end of the week. The only mail that is always on time and arriving in abundance, is the official Dutch authorities mail. You know, tax papers, social security services stuff, municipial taxes... 

But now back to the DPD package service. About a month ago, my dear friend Ilse ordered a gift for my son's birthday at a Belgian webshop. The package was sent using DPD. At his birthday, we got a lovely birthday message from Ilse and family, asking whether their package had arrived. Well, alas, it had not. A few days later, I got an e-mail from Ilse asking me if our address was correct, because DPD claimed that there was an error. I confirmed to her that, yes, the address was correct but it might be that DPD still has the old address of this building on record, for after renovation the building was assigned to a different street. So I also gave her the data of the former address and the package was sent to Berlin after all. All this took about a week. Several days after this, I got a phone call from the DPD distribution center in Berlin, asking whether the address was right, because they did not know it and were confused by my extra information including the former address. I told them that yes, the address was right, but please use the entrance at the site of the old address. I realize this might all sound a bit puzzling to you, so I made a small map to explain our situation:

See? It's actually quite simple. But not so for the DPD guy. Last week on Tuesday - I was not at home - I got a call from the delivery man, trying to explain to me where he was waiting for me with the package:

DPD: "Hello? This is DPD, I am standing at Fraunhoferstrasse near the orange container."

me: "Orange container?"

DPD: "Yes, the orange container at the building site. Can you come down here to receive your package?"

me: "Eh, well, no, I am not at home right now." (Meanwhile I was racking my brain about the location of the orange container)

DPD: "When will you be home? I can come back in about half an hour."

me: "I will not be back in half an hour, can you deliver it at one of my neighbors? You will have to walk to the Otto Suhr side, though."

DPD: "All right, I will try". (Big sigh)

A few minutes later he calls back:

DPD: "Yes, DPD again; there is nobody there to accept your package. I will take it back to the distribution center."

me: "OK, will you bring it tomorrow, then?"

DPD: "No, you will have to make a new appointment."

me: "Yes, and how do I do that?"

DPD: "Well, you call this number ... and then I will come once more on Thursday"

So I call the number, which is a call center and costs €1,49 per call(?!) and try to explain to the lady that the delivery should be done at the Otto Suhr Allee building site, not at the Fraunhoferstrasse. She obviously doesn't understand what I mean, but agrees to print out the explicatory note and schedules the second delivery for Thursday.

On Thursday, no DPD and nobody answers the phone. On Friday, same procedure (but it's Good Friday, so they probably don't work today). On Tuesday, after the long Easter weekend, DPD calls again:

DPD: "Hello? This is DPD, I am standing at Fraunhoferstrasse, can you come down to collect your package?" (No orange container this time)

me: "Fraunhoferstrasse? That will be difficult, for I cannot reach the other side of the building site. I am at the Otto Suhr side and the access to the Fraunhoferstrasse is blocked."

DPD: "OK, I see what you mean; I will give the package to my colleague on the Otto Suhr route."

me: "But can't you just make a detour, it's only two corners to Otto Suhr from where you are now"

DPD: "Sorry madam, that's not possible, it's a different route. I will give to my colleague and you will have it tomorrow." (Argh?!)

And today, hurray! I finally got the package (as well as two more packages for neighbors). And to top it off, a post card arrived from grandma O. - without priority sticker - after 3 weeks.

In short: should you decide to send me mail, please put a priority sticker on it and don't use DPD...