Sunday 7 October 2007

Whirlwind tour of summer part 1

June 9th: Celeste visits Nijmegen! Yes, exciting isn't it? Celeste seemed to quite like Nijmegen. She took to her bike despite some complaints about a sore ass. And happily pedalled in to town every day, to eat pancakes and window-shop. Although I'm beginning to think she likes anywhere with broadband and a laptop - myspace junkie that she is! First question when we saw her in Barcelona: "Did you guys bring your laptops?" (alright, not the first, to be fair). Nijmegen is probably ideal for a post-India recovering week. We went to the pancake house in the woods and saw the Italy-Serbia under 21s match. Then we went to Amsterdam for 3 days and had a pretty good time (can't remember anymore what we did except that it involved eating drinking and I think some art). Were the victims of some very heavy summer deluges and the undersupply of hotels that Amsterdam suffers from. After that she went to Venice while I went off to Poland.

Poland with Mum and Dad - hiking in the Biesczkady region (see photo). From the photo you might think that the best thing was the hiking maps which show each route as a straight line and omit any natural features, but actually the food was really good too. Highlights were the soups - which somehow mixed chunky vegetables, watery broth and cream really well. How can I learn to make Polish soups? I don't know. Maybe Esther can teach me. Must eat pickle and potato soup again one more time before I die. Plus the ice cream is very good. Weather was good and whole place gave the impression of verdant farmland - very thick and green.

O.k. all you non-commenters - time to get to work. Is my attempt to write more-spicily than David Byrne making the writing just seem overly enthusiastic? Like that linguist who gives talks as if he's wildly excited about his subject matter, and you end up just wondering why.

After a very enjoyable train ride from Rzeszow to Warsaw, we spend two nights and one day in Warsaw. Didn't see much of Warsaw during the day but the last evening me and Mum went to see Dad give a talk. Just had to write it down so he doesn't forget. See we do care! (oops another exclamation mark, tut tut). Lots of funky young Poles there who care about politics for good reason. I then took a train from Warsaw to Berlin. Another lovely Polish train. Are they the last ones full of cabins? When you order a salad in the cafeteria carriage, the guy behind the counter puts on a little apron and chops the veges to make the salad. Still no supersized chocolate cherry cake like on the Berlin to Amsterdam train (can't have everything, at least not on the same train trip).



Berlin with Richard and Celeste
Richard and Celeste didn't like Berlin! Maybe we're different types of travellers. Are you the type who has to be grabbed and swept away by a place until you finally have to go home? Celeste had just come from Venice, Richard from somewhere in India (I should know where, but....). Berlin was unusually cold and drizzly for July, and we were staying in a rather bleak part of Friedrichshain, looking over the river at some ugly new office buildings with too many mirrors for a post-nineties building. I like to settle in to a place. Slowly go for walks from my place of abode making ever-greater circles. Berlin, I like.. couldn't say why.

Picture above shows Richard and Celeste having a very good time at Claerchen's Ballhaus (Ball-house) in Mitte. We spent our last night there and had a great time watching people dance tango and eating the best chocolate mousse I have ever eaten. With those famous Brandenburg strawberries. They didn't take to Berlin so much as you'd expect for a pair of Melbourners, but being themselves they did manage to have quite a good time. I think the Berliners frightened them to be honest, and they like hustle and bustle, which you don't really find in Berlin so much.

stay tuned for the next installment: Saarbruecken, Mama BB visits Nijmegen, Strasbourg Yiddish course, the big Meditteranean ramble and Paris take-two.

2 comments:

joe cupcake said...

i think it's very spicy!
David Byrne ain't got nothing on you eh? I like the photos too. See - you do have fans.
We can try to learn polish soups. I hope the secret is not meaty stocks as I suspect. But still, pickle soup is always a crowd pleaser and I don't put any meat in that. Will summer be a good time to experiment or too hot? Maybe we can start with chlodnik.

hurry home ruthie.
xx

Anonymous said...

Hey have finally caught up with your blog doings. Who is David Byrne?
I can't tell if you liked Paris or not.
So after all your wanderings, what's good about travel?
xx
Mum