xmas in berlin

elizad — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:12:00 GMT

It is our fifth day here in Berlin... and Xmas! Not much to do today because everything is closed. We're planning to go to a movie and then maybe to Church. So far Berlin is excellent. A very approachable friendly city. Kind of like the Chicago of Europe, it's easy to feel very comfortable here.

Saying goodbye to Son Rullan wasn't as sad as I thought it would be, even though we had a wonderful time there. It was just too damn cold all the time. It's colder here in Berlin but our hostel is warm warm warm which makes a huge difference. Being cold all the time is just very exhausting and our last few days in Mallorca were incredibly windy. We couldn't sleep at night because doors were always slamming and the wind even broke a few windows. We left in the middle of the night last Friday and walked down the hill in the dark. Fitting to leave as we arrived - in the moonlight.

Our best discovery in Berlin so far is a place called Schwarzes Cafe, this funny little bohemian restaurant started by student radicals. The building itself is very cool, lots of peeling gilded ceilings, dark red walls, and plush sofas. The food is very very tasty. Our favorites are their quiche, served with a warm gorgonzola sauce, and their german noodles with cheese. Yum yum yum. Also very good beer.

Otherwise, we've been trying to accomplish at least one touristy thing a day. We've been to the Eastside Gallery and touched the remaining pieces of the Berlin wall (covered in incredible graffiti), the Gemaldegalerie (a museum of early European art, 14th-17th centuries, lots of early Italian religious art), and we saw the Reichstag, etc. Mostly just lots of wandering around which is my favorite way to explore a city anyhow. We've discovered that the Germans are strangely all about outside winter markets-fairs. They seem to love standing around in the freezing cold, chatting and sipping on various drinks.

Son Rullán

elizad — Sat, 8 Dec 2007 05:47:00 GMT

Our third day at Son Rullán - it is incredible. We arrived Tuesday night by bus, still very jet-lagged and exhausted after a hectic day in London and almost two days without a good night´s sleep. Our first flight out of Chicago was cancelled because of weather which threw everything off. Anyhow, even in the dark I could tell it was beautiful. We are about 45 minutes by bus outside of Palma, in the mountains near the sea. The house is an old monastery that was probably built in the 13th century or so, perched on the top of a small mountain. A winding road leads you to the top and it is surrounded by olive trees and ancient stone walls. Olive trees by moonlight are one of the stranger things I have ever seen - warped, twisted, possessed of a strange wild life-like quality. The house itself is very beautiful inside, much nicer in many ways than I expected (there is a marble bathroom!!). The lady who owns it is apparently a famous fashion designer and they rent it out in the summer for ridiculous sums. The entire place is stone, with funny cobbled slanting floors, deep cut windows, and views of the sea. The best is the kitchen with a huge fireplace with bancos on the inside where we spend most of our time. It reminds me kind of of the Hobbit or something, with a stone sink and lots of dried herbs hanging everywhere.

The people are very interesting too, much more WWOOFers than I expected. More about that later... tomorrow Betsy and I go to Palma to explore and buy a SIM card. Every day I think I become a little more spoiled, it is so beautiful and restful here and I sleep very deeply at night.

eliza's adventures

xmas in berlin

Son Rullán