Sunday in Berlin (PM)

A few years ago (five, shit five years ago!) I was in Berlin. Just for a few days. Not one of those days was a Sunday, so I guess I know nothing about what that would be like. I loved Berlin heaps of course. I didn't see any theatre but I sure can imagine someone there yelling into a microphone. Alls I can say is if you happen to be in Frankfurt I 'd suggest skipping the theatre because that yelling monologue is likely to be followed by a punch in the face.* I'm guessing.

After K asked me about Berlin in an email the other day I read my notes from when I was there. The impression I had of it was that the food was delicious, people were stylish, smileless, and it was big. I got there straight after visiting Amsterdam, where people are not very stylish, the city is is tiny, and restaurants are expensive and shit. I was so struck by one woman that stood in front of us in the queue to see Santogold I wrote about her in my book. "Straight bowl haircut, high-waisted skinny jeans", you know, like every second person in Melbourne now looks.
 
There was also some currywurst consumed. Not by me. But by others. And gummi. So many gummi. Mmmmmmm gummi.

*You know, Frankfurt had some real delights, like the most bestest apfelwein soft-serve  sorbet I have eaten and this totally awesome hammering man statue. I mean no disrespect to Frankfurt.

Sunday in Berlin (AM)

Hi you guys.
So check it out, I totally thought I had PM'd J's post about the winter warmers last week, where I said things about how great my PJs are and how I was surprised J thought I was loopy for getting them because she seemed so supportive at the time. But it looks like that post never saw the light of day. Which is ironic, because I actually wrote it from Iceland where there is nothing but light of day. AND NIGHT. I don't want to bang on about it but midnight sun is the craziest thing. Anyway, sorry that the post didn't work. I wrote it at 5am before we left Sykkisholmur in West Iceland to drive back to Reykjavik in order to squeeze in a dip in the Blue Lagoon before flying out. So it was hard to focus on anything other than the excitement of the Blue Lagoon and the need not to crash the car while driving in the most dense fog ever.  But that's a story for another time.
Right now I'm in Berlin and it's warm during the day and dark during the night just like a good city should be. We spent the day wandering around flea markets and sites of civic importance like the Brandonwalsh Gate and the Reichstag and eating Currywurst and crinkle cut chips. It was a lovely day.

Then, we went to the theatre.  We saw the postmodern classic Die Hamletmaschine by the famous German playwright Heiner Muller, in the original German. Readers, I am sure it will come as no surprise to you that I had never heard of it and knew nothing about it and now that I have seen it, I know even less about it.
One part involved a woman standing alone on a stage in a yellow dress screaming in German in to a microphone. Boy did she seem upset. And boy is German a harsh language when it is being screamed in to a microphone.
The only bit that made sense was when the play ended, the applause stated and the actors came out to bow. I knew EXACTLY what was going on and I clapped like a woman who wanted to show it. The fact that the applause lasted for about 5 minutes (seriously) and there were several bows had me questioning things again but at least there was no screaming.