Alles Gutes

Another New Years has come and gone. This was my fourth New Years in Germany and I think I finally got it figured out. You can't wish anyone a 'Happy New Years,' 'Frohes Neues Jahre' until midnight! If you do it is considered bad luck, but you can wish them a 'Good Slip,' 'Guten Rutsch.' It sounds weird, but we tell people to 'Break a Leg' when they are about to perform. Then the day after New Years you can wish people 'Alles Gutes,' which directly translates as 'Everything good' but it convey, 'I hope everything goes well in the new year.'

The Germans go crazy with the fireworks. They throw them out the windows into the street and shoot them off from their Balconies. It is crazy and a little scary. They don't worry too much about where they throw them and sometimes the young guys light them in the subway stations and throw them into crowds of people. I prefer to watch from my apartment balcony and windows but you still have to keep an eye out for stray ones.


I have been thinking of a good new years resolution but I have come up with a good one yet. I don't want to do the standard, Lose x amount of weight or run a marathon. Those kind of resolutions never seem to work. I Guess I will resolve to focus on my goals and to not allow my self to get lazy. I mean, I can have a bad day or two and I can be stuck, but I will not allow myself to give up. I will just keep at it.

The goals I have are general. I want to lose weight and become healthy and fit. I want a full time job. I want a new apartment and I want a dog. All of these goals are not as easy to achieve as one may think. I have some work ahead of me to insure I achieve these goals. So I will have to stay focused to the task at hand. which is not one of my strong points, hence my Resolution.

Brauhaus Lemke

Yeah!!  Beer!! There is good beer brewed in Berlin!!

Now I am not the biggest fan of beer in general, but after living in southern Germany back in 2002 for a few months, I really learned to appreciate a good beer. In the south, it seems that every little town has their own local brewery. Here in the north there is not the same variety and surplus of selections. So I have been having a hard time finding a good beer that I like.  In fact I had given up on ever finding one, but thanks to a chance meeting with some visiting friends, I found one!! We discovered Brauhaus Lemke.

Bier Sampler (LtoR, Original, Pils, Weizen and the Seasonal brew)

There are two locations, Brauhaus Lemke am Schloss, next to Schloß Charlottenburg, and right off Hackescher Markt, build under the raised train tracks, which gives it a nice ambiance, though it can be little loud at moments outside in the biergarten as a train rolls by.

We discovered Lemke after touring Schloß Charlottenburg, it was a nice location across the street from the Schloss and a block from the river Spree. This time we went to their location near Hackescher Markt, which is a more convenient location for us to visit.

They offer a sampling of the beers they brew so you can choose which you like best. They always have a seasonal beer along with the dark original, a pils, and their weizen. The dark was good but I liked their current seasonal beer best.

Roasted seeds (Wheat, Hops,??)

They served some roasted seeds with the sampler, what ever they are exactly, they are used to make the beer. They were quite tasty.

Look Mom all gone!

The Menu

Lemke also had quite and impressive menu. There are mostly German meals from all over Germany, with a few foreign favs, like Hungarian Gulasch or BBQ Spare ribs. Oh yumm! They offer the menu in English and the servers speak English as well, which is always nice for travelers.

Schwäbische Kasespätzle

 















I ended up going with Schwäbische Kasespätzle and Mr. Man got the Pork roast with German dumplings (Knödel- which everyone should try at least once in their life, German soul food, if there ever was such a thing!).

Pork roast with Knödel

Brauhaus Lemke is a great place to visit if you want a good German dinning experience! Or to just have a good beer between Museum visits. It is barely a five minute walk across the river from the Museum Island.

Oh Man, this post is making me hungry!

Squash Soup

It's Fall once again! That means it's pumpkin and squash season!! I love me some squash! You can bake it, mash it, make a pie with it or add it to a cookie, cake or bread mix. It is awesome!!

Though hands down my favorite way to eat it is in a soup. In this form it seems quite healthy and so I don't feel guilty when going back for seconds. hehehe

Garden: FAIL

Gardening this year has sucked!

The tomato plants on their last days

The weather was cool all summer, we never got any heat. That said most of the plants didn't make it. The Tomato plants grew but didn't produce much. The peppers never got bigger then 8 inches and had only one bud that fell off. So no peppers! I tried spinach and lettuce, but nothing really took off.

Last attempt at pumpkins

I have some pumpkin plants growing but it is so late I doubt if they will produce any pumpkins. I have them in doors so maybe it will be sunny and warm enough to get one or two mini pumpkins before Halloween.

Found a 5th caterpillar, hopefully it is the last

I found catapillars on the greens. First two then a week later two more and finally yesterday a 5th one!! What gives!! I moved them indoor after I found the 3rd and 4th. I don't know what to do! I really wanted some good greens. I miss me some southern cooking. Greens and crayfish etouffee, yumm. . .

My Greens are pitiful

Well we will see if I get anything edible from these last attempts.

No Public Transportation

During the week I usually head over to my guy's place for dinner and a sleep over. Which is exactly what I did yesterday with the dog in tow.
Phillip, the hound dog, is a chicken and scared of everything. He does not like riding Public at all, so, I opted for hoofing it!
It is 5.8km, that's 3.6miles! (I googled it) It took us about an hour and 20 minutes. It was a straight shoot more or less but long, and full of obsticales. Pedestrians, bikes, cars, and millions and trillions of things that needed to be sniffed.

A fourth of the way there crossing over the canal.

The U1 to Warschauerstraße, heading over the Bridge.

Crossing the River Spree under the train tracks, 2/3rds of the way there.

The Berlin skyline from the bridge

 We made it safe and sound. Phillip was so tired that as soon as he was given a comfy place to lay out we didn't hear from him till the next day.
Then the next morning we retraced our footsteps all the 5.8kms home.

This time I opted for off leash,(except when crossing busy streets) it was easier then I thought it would be.

This is the same bridge we crossed the evening before but we were in the area underneath the red bricked section. It looks cooler from outside. You can't see much coming from the other side.

The bridge is right next to the beginning of the East Side Gallery, a preserved section of the Wall that has been painted by many artists over the years.

It was a good walk, I learned a little bit more about how my city is connected. I had been to a few of the places I past but never knew they were connected in such a way. It is completely different to walk from place to place then to sit in Public and pop out at different spots on the map. I am wondering what other areas to explore this week while I have the dog for a walking buddy. Cuz Lord knows no one else will.

Doggy-sitting and Allmende Kontor

I am Babysitting Phillip this week.

He is the Family Dog of the Toddler I babysit

So for our morning walk we went out to Tempelhof, the Retired Airport that was the location of the Berlin Airlift. It has been open to the public a little over a year now to be used as a park and location for events.

All over Berlin people walk with their dogs off leash, well most do. Though techniqually it is not allowed. 

List of Notices (aka rules): Mandatory Lead Policy, bummer!

There are a few nice sized dog runs fenced off around the grounds. We only made it to one, the rectangle shaped one, this time. But we still had plenty of fun!!

 FUN in action!

Sniffing out the vermin. . .

that is one big rabbit hole!!

Then we investigated what was going on in the area next to the BBQ grounds.

It was a little makeshift village of container gardens.  

Turns out this area has been designated for a community garden. It is named 'Allmende Kontor,' the medieval term for community garden. It's really cool! Here is an article about it from the Huffington Post.

Compost Bin, nice . . .

Anti Nuclear Energy Flag

Though the area is a little dodgy looking, don't let it get to you because the plants are growing very well in their containers. There was really full heads of lettuce and greens, way better then what my Balcony Garden has been looking like.  Jealous much? Totally! I would add more pictures but blogger is being difficult and not loading them. poo. . anyway . .

Maybe this is something I can do next year. It is so close to my apartment and it would definitely beat my balcony garden!

German Language Websites of organizers: 

Rübezahl Gemeinschaftsgarten

Allmende Kontor

The Ständige Vertretung

Most people know about the Berlin Wall and that from 1961 to 1989 it separated the West from the East. 

(source) Berlin Wall and Brandenburg Gate

During this time the two Governments; the West, Federal Republic of Germany and the East, the communist German Democratic Republic, had no official Embassies in Berlin for one another. To compensate the Ständige Vertretung was created. It basically is a Restaurant/Bar that was a hot spot for politics and culture. 

Ständige Vertretung, Schiffbauerdamm 8, 10117 Berlin-Mitte

When the Wall came down, and the new united Germany took up Berlin once again as the capitol. Thousands of people moved from Bonn to Berlin. The StäV, (Ständige Vertretung) became a little piece of home for the relocated Politician. Here one can have a glass of Bonn's local bier Gaffel Kölsch and dine on specialties out of the region. 

Menu with their cute owl logo

It is a nice interactive piece of Berlin's History to visit. Stay and have a bier at the bar and check out all the nostalgia and nicknacks mounted on the walls. The bathrooms are surprising very nice too!

Inside view of the Bar

If the weather is nice, sit outside next to the Spree, the river that runs through Berlin. There is a nice view. You can see all the different advertized riverboat cruises as they go by. You can choose the one you prefer to maybe do later.

View of the River and the Tour Boats from the terraced sidewalk.

I really like to take people here when they are visiting. My mom and I enjoyed a nice mid-sightseeing snack on her last visit! It is in a good location in the middle of the city, to relax and regroup and choose your next course of action.

Outside next to the StäV's riverside terrace