family day

German Buggies--see below.


So Mayas host is really sick so she is my responsibility again (not that she ever ceased to be!) and I was getting used to being footloose and fancy free. Now I have to manage a heavy film schedule and now I get why she isn't seeing much--films run from 9 am to 9:30 pm. We got a quick trip to the Jewish Memorial sculpture, and the Brandenburg Gate because Maya can't leave town without seeing it. Then I went to the Kathy Kollwitz museum and an photo gallery dedicated to getting signed original limited edition prints into the lives of ordinary people. The photos were great and for one crazy moment I was going to buy one. That moment passed. I found myself on the Michigan Avenue of Berlin and the people watching was spectacular (although I felt more in my turf in Prenzlauerberg, where I stay, poking around second hand shops with other artistic types. While waiting for Maya to come out of her movie I had a really good, cheap (did not think this was possible) sushi dinner at an ethnically confused restaurant called Hong Kong Bay. The sign in the window said: Sushibar--Thai--Vietnam Küche. The music playing was Spanish. But it was warm and candlelit and the sushi was ANGEBOT--on sale!!! I really do know how to find a sale in any language. Oh, and I totally freaked them out trying to find out if they had my favorite maki: spider rolls. They don't know from soft shelled crab, and thought I wanted the poor chef to put spiders in my food. OO crazy American lady at table 8. They got me back though and almost gave me a heart attack with a self sanitizing toilet. Literally the second after you stand up the seat spins around under some little arm at the back that somehow nukes the bacteria, but I only figured that out when I put my reading glasses on and scrutinized the fine print on the toilet after I calmed down. First I thought I broke the toilet. Toilet seats are not round and when they rotate its kind of surrealistic as that uneven shapes spin. If you are not expecting it, its a bit of a shock. There is NO mention in my guidebook of spinning toilet tops. But they don't clue you in on toilets much. Lets just say that there is a reason Americans dump so much water down the throne and Germans have to get a lot more conscious of their output.....

Another thing you will not find in guidebooks is this tip for the Ladies. LEAVE YOUR UNDERWIRE BRA at home. I have now been "wanded" and felt up by female security guards in 3 countries since my bra invariably sets off the alarm. So much for good foundations.

As a former busker, I have to say that the quality of the street musicians here is uniformly excellent. Today I experienced two violinists, and my current fave, an acordion player, and I let the train go by and caught the next one so I could listen.

Apparently, the German birthrate is quite low, but I am staying in the neighborhood with the highest birthrate in the country. They have never heard of umbrella strollers here--everyone pushes around this Cadillac behemoth prams, with shock absorbers for the cobblestones. There were a bunch of moms daytripping on the train and five prams took up half the car. AND THEY DON'T PUT THE BRAKES ON--so they rock back and forth across the aisle while the moms socialize--brilliant! Well its really late and I have to get my young journalist to about 5 films tomorrow. Might watch a few myself though I really want to hit the puppet museum. German puppets are second only to Indonesia, although the Poles might give em a run for it...but thats the gig, I am the official chaperone. You can check out her reviews by googling The Berlin Film Festival, going to the Generation section and look for the link at the bottom of the page for the Jungejournalisten--she is in the English section but I think you can go to her bio and look up her reviews from there.
I wish I had the ability to post photos, but that will have to wait til we get back. Free wifi hardly exists here, and we don't want to stop having fun long enough to find the 3 place that have it.