this is hans. he lives in our street, and was the first resident we’ve met when we moved here. in the beginning, he scared us quite often… we’d be walking down the street and suddenly notice him right above us, looking out of his window!
we used to think he was creepy, but now we’re used to having him there and always greet him on our way home :) he’s like the neighbourhood watchman!
paris has its baguettes, lisbon has the pastéis de belém and berlin… well, berlin has the currywurst, a fried pork sausage, drowned in ketchup and sprinkled with curry powder. for a long time, it puzzled me. how could this be their thing? it didn’t appeal to me at all. i guess i was never a big fan of ketchup to start with… nor processed meat fried in vegetable oil… but we dully took all our visitors to try it out, just for them to get it done. some even liked it!
honestly, i can’t see it – and i don’t think anthony bourdain was very impressed either…
these days, i just skip it and go for the fries instead, dutch/belgium style with lots of mayo. yum! :)
we visited the stasi musem (and former headquarters) some months ago, after reading some reviews here and there – and especially after having watched the lives of others. in my mind, stasi is synonym with suspicion and the kind of dread that comes with not knowing who your real friends are… what would there be in a museum dedicated to an agency that inspired so much terror? 
the museum tells the story of the ministry for state security from their origins till the day their headquarters were invaded by the people of berlin, in order to stop the destruction of secret files that was happening inside.
it profiles numerous victims that were imprisoned during the DDR and shows the tactics and cunning tricks used to spy on the population, as well as the propaganda methods of the time. 
it also has some interesting architectural components: there’s a motionless paternoster, and some of the offices and rooms inside were kept intact, including the office of former stasi chef erich mielke. it’s bare, leaving it up to your imagination to place the characters of the story.
it’s a pity that not everything is translated into english yet, but nevertheless, what you can grasp is enough to induce a sense of unease that comes from knowing that the events described all around you took place here, not that long ago. lest we forget.
Stasimuseum Berlin
Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1
10365 Berlin
Germany
after spending a month in portugal, i had a song stuck in my head:
it’s an advertising for the 60 year anniversary of compal, a very well known portuguese juice brand. the ad is about the concept of fruitology, which they explain is the science, art and ideology of making fruit. it’s all to do with knowing your fruits inside-out, and experimenting with them. for some reason, i find the whole thing quite touching, and i get goosebumps every time i hear it!
after we saw this ad, we discovered a bunch of making of videos, which are delightful as well – particularly the second one, with the portuguese lady teaching the maori man how to sing her lines! :D
my dad had a miniature railway when we were kids. it was a very serious and special affair, which me and my brother weren’t allowed to touch by ourselves. it was kept on its box and reserved for occasional weekends spent at home, when he was feeling especially patient and had plenty of time on hands. we loved setting up the tracks in complicated routes with overhead bridges which quickly took over the rug of the living room…
so when i found out about loxx through uberlin, i was blown away by the idea. i mean, i knew for some people this is a serious hobby, but doing a whole city? was that possible?
it turns out, not only it is possible, it is also super awesome, and one of the coolest things we’ve seen in berlin so far!
there are moving trains of course, all kinds of them, from s-bahns to the ice – but also trucks and buses that move around the city and magically stop at the traffic lights. there are miniature versions of the brandenburg tor, the tv tower or the reichstag, where you can see and listen to jfk doing his famous “ich bin ein berliner” speech. there’s even an airport – yes, with planes lifting off and landing!
my favourite part was really all the small details. it seems like everywhere you look, there’s something to be discovered, little events and scenes being enacted. we went around it pulling on each others sleeves, excitedly pointing out every scene we’d discovered. i believe you could spend the whole day doing that and still leave with lots you didn’t notice…
and every once in a while, the lighting chances and you can see the city during twilight and night time. 
i don’t have words to describe it. it’s just magic. go see for yourself! :)