BACK IN LONDON

Before heading off to New Zealand, I had a full week back in sparkly (and now wintery) London. It was a solid seven days of braving the freezing cold to enjoy the city's holiday festivities and learning that London is VERY serious about it's Christmas decor. 

The weather called for many indoor-activities, so we skipped ice skating at the Somerset House and instead checked out the "Me, Blondie and The Advent of Punk" exhibition at the gallery inside. Blondie is just such a crazy babe and the photographer, Chris Stein (her old boyfriend and bandmate) had a great quote about the exhibit: "Photographs exist outside of the feedback loop of our capricious thought processes. They ground the moment in some semblance of solidity."

A bit of Xmas shopping, a bit of hardware store shopping...

We made it to "Winter Wonderland" and "Winterville", 2 festivals in London that are filled with amusement park rides, bright lights, food, live music, dance floors and cinnamon-y mulled wine. 

My (very appropriate) last meal in London: tea + biscuits at Heathrow.

My last week in London topped off 3 months of hopping around the UK + Europe. The other side of the Atlantic surpassed my expectations, the cities and landscapes were lovely and the humans I encountered were even better.  

Now, it's off to New Zealand for a second-summer and a much anticipated road trip with one of my favorite Americans. (!!!!)

BRISTOL, ENGLAND

To make my way back to London (to fly to New Zealand!) I took a long weekend detour through Bristol, England. Bristol's a pretty city that's home to Banksy, many colorful houseboats, a fun music scene and some awesome restaurants.  

We got tickets for Beardyman (a one man triple-threat of a DJ/beatboxer/comedian) our first night there. His DJ set that included insane beatboxing was accompanied by trippy videos at Thekla, a great little venue that's actually a boat.

The houseboats in Floating Harbor (that runs right through the city) were bright and cute, a nice alternative to a downtown apartment. 

"Well-Hung Lover"

We hunted down Banksy works around the city and marveled at the boat-building going on right along the harbor but the four day visit basically ended up being a food tour through the city. 

The tour included: an Indian Thanksgiving dinner, awesome jerk-everything Carribean food at Turtle Bay (after watching Imitation Game at Watershed - amazing movie at an amazing theater) and butternut squash mac + cheese at a place called The Boston Tea Party, which I was particularly fond of (no bias there or anything).  

ON THE PENINSULA

Ryan, the Kiwi who can fix any bike and makes a mean mulled wine.  

Olivier, the Frenchman who taught me the wonder of camembert and honey for breakfast. 

Peniche Harbor

Daniel the Swede, whose love of surfing is only rivaled by his love of desserts.   

Brad, the mischievous American with beautiful ombre dreads.

At Bar de Bruno, the best cafe in Baleal. 

THINGS I LEARNED IN PORTUGAL:

1. Portuguese sounds like Russian.

2. When living in relative filth (camping) I turn surprisingly domestic. I suddenly felt an overwhelming need to "deep clean" the kitchen and would set the dinner table each night as though a tablescape is necessary when eating ramen mixed with tuna. 

3. Pangs of homesickness strike at surprising times. After ordering an iced coffee I practically flipped the table over in a rage when the server arrived with a tiny cup of espresso accompanied by tiny cup of ice. I was obviously expecting something that AT LEAST VAGUELY RESEMBLED a medium iced regula(r) from Dunkin Donuts: obscenely massive cup with at least 15 tablespoons of sugar. C'mon, Portugal. However, they did make-up for it with this. 

PORTUGUESE STORMS + SUNSETS

Since I was in Portugal during November, it wasn't always sunny surf weather. It was often chilly and rainy, making for some slippery bike rides and rather rustic igloo living. 

On the bright side, the storm clouds did make for some killer sunsets. There's a metaphor for life in there somewhere... but let's not get too deep and just enjoy the photos. 

BALEAL, PORTUGAL

Two weeks in Portugal were spent on the little island of Baleal, a small surf spot off the peninsula of Peniche. I worked at a campsite/B&B to sleep for free in an igloo and have access to the surf gear.

I wasn't kidding about the igloo. 

There were 7 workers and only 1 guest at the B&B (Daniel, from Sweden), so Daniel became one of us and we all did the only 2 things there are to do in Baleal: surf and ride bikes. It was a simple and relaxing two weeks: we'd wake up, eat a big breakfast, ride our bikes down to see if the surf was good, maybe surf (I use that word loosely, more waves rode me than I rode them) or maybe ride bikes, work for a few hours, cook dinner and then get creative with YouTube for evening entertainment (we followed the Rosetta Mission Comet Landing and watched a dated Behind The Music on Dr. Dre - both equally fascinating). 

Daniel, the best guest. 

Our group included an Argentinian, Spaniard, 2 Italians, a Swede, 2 Americans, a Frenchman and a Kiwi. 

It was like being a kid on summer vacation. Which I'd now definitely recommend to any adult. 

BARCELONA, SPAIN

Despite Berlin's solid effort to pull ahead, a whirlwind trip enabled Barcelona to maintain it's position as my favorite European city. Dominating factors include: proximity to the coast and flip-flop friendly weather in November.

Barcelona consisted of: an adventurous night out which led to 48 hours of no sleep, art galleries, a bit of shopping, catching up with Matthew (an Oregonian ex-pat who once called Naples home and is now one half of the cutest couple in Barcelona), a trip to Park Guell and eating more Vietnamese food than is socially acceptable when visiting a Spanish country. 

AROUND BERLIN

Any place that requires me to buy a hat, scarf and gloves upon arrival has a tough chance of becoming a favorite but Berlin plowed through my cold-weather prejudice and left me smitten. 

When faced with a menu in a language I don't understand, I like to just pick at random and hope for the best. I was particularly pleased when ALL THIS arrived at my table for 4 Euros. 

My favorite day in Berlin was when Gianluca (an Italian from my hostel) and I rented bikes and did a self-guided street art tour. I'm usually a bit wary of bicycling in the city (face planting on South Huntington Ave in Boston and having to be rushed to the hospital in a stretcher will do that to you) but it was fantastic and definitely the best way to get around Berlin. 

We stopped into the Michelberger Hotel to warm up with some coffee and I've never been more enamored by cafe/bar. So colorful and charming. I can't imagine what the hotel rooms look like.  

Berlin is quite big on repurposing abandoned places (there's even a website) so the next day I rode over to Tempelhofer, an abandoned airport turned public park. The massive space was lovely for riding around (on the runway!) and in better weather would be perfect for a picnic. 

The Jewish Museum proved to be the best historical museum I've ever visited. Certain sections of the actual building were designed to conjure up physical sensations within the visitor as they walk through (feeling sick, feeling alone) that symbolize the past, present and future of Jewish-German co-existence. It was tremendously effective.

This installation examined the industrial reproducibility of the torah as well as the relationship between man and machine. Titled "bios [torah]", it illustrated how the bios system (that all computers are built upon) is as "fundamental to the development of the machine as the Scriptures are the cultural history of mankind". 

LASTLY: before arriving, I figured the food in Berlin wouldn't be anything of note (bratwurst or whatever) but oh man, was I wrong. The food selection was epic. After a month of pizza and pasta in Naples, I was psyched about all the delicious ethnic food in Berlin (particularly Thai in Kreuzberg) and the doner kebabs were UNREAL. I barely consider kebabs to be serious food, just something you eat post-party at 3 AM but there's something about the bread they use that just takes it to a whole other level. 

Burgermeister, a burger joint in an (again) abandoned U-Bahn station (metro station). 

In conclusion, German's excel at doner kebabs as well as engineering. I don't even have a photo of a kebab but I just needed to share that with the internet. 

BITS OF BERLIN

NIGHTS OUT IN BERLIN

Berlin nightlife goes all night and into the morning (and into the afternoon at certain clubs) so a few big nights were in order with friends from the hostel. 

We skipped attempting to get into Berghain (Berlin's most exclusive night club) after receiving ridiculous advice on how to get in ("don't make eye contact with the bouncer", "wear black Nike's", "look a little gay but not TOO gay") but an eclectic bar crawl took us a 60's themed bar, a goth club, an absinthe bar, a bar inside an abandoned train station and a hip-hop club. 

My first night I met these 8 guys in the hostel kitchen and we all went out clubbing.  It was like the European version of Reggie, Bender, Trevor, Sean, et al. 

Dancing at the last club I was reminded of the Kurt Vonnegut quote that talked about how foreigners don't hate us for our 'liberty and justice for all' but rather for our arrogance, but that they do love us for our jazz. I would add that they love us for our pop and hip-hop too as I happily joined a massive room of Germans getting down to this song with this dance. 

BERLIN, GERMANY

Ever since I landed in London, everyone and their grandmother has been telling me that I need to visit Berlin. As I have no set itinerary, after my month-long stint in Naples was over I decided to see what all the fuss was about and booked a flight. Luckily enough, my 5 day trip fell on the 25th anniversary of Fall of the Wall and the city was full of events for the celebration. I'm happy to report that everyone was right, Berlin truly is, seriously, awesome. 

I stayed at the JetPak Alternative Hostel in Kreuzberg which was the perfect location for just about everything. The hostel was beautifully designed, clean and safe despite having mixed reviews citing "aggressive drug dealers on the corner".  That turned out to be a bunch of Nigerian guys asking "you ok?" and offering "African cigarettes" that, when met with a response of "no thanks!" would simply say "ok bye" and leave you alone. Which if you ask me, is actually a polite group of immigrant entrepreneurs committed to customer service and convenience.

All weekend, the city was buzzing with events to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. An obvious symbol for the Iron Curtain that divided Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War, the Berlin Wall existed from 1961 to 1989. 104 miles long, the Wall (along with guards and barbed wire) was used to prevent people from escaping the Eastern Communist half of Berlin. Today, one of the sections that remains is called the "The East Side Gallery" and is covered with ever-evolving murals and street art. 

For the 25th Anniversary, 8000 illuminated balloons lined the entire path of the wall and were released into the night sky during the big concert. 

The big celebration event was at Brandenburg Gate and consisted of: food stands of delicious curry wurst and Glühwein, impressive projection mapping, live music including Peter Gabriel, a weak fireworks show (the Lincoln July 4th fireworks show would've put it to shame), and speeches from various politicians and public figures that seemed very emotional but I had no idea what they were saying. Plus a lot of German techno music. I can't say I'm fully behind techno yet but after enough Glühwein I'll bop around to just about anything. It was a great night.