Ich bin in Berlin!

From the lobby of Amstel House Hostel in Berlin!!!!

Long day yesterday and I'm going on more than 48 hours of no sleep. Other than some catnaps....

Arrived in Berlin after uneventful travel around 8 am.  Took the bus to the hostel with Gene leading the way, and then after checking into the tiny, tiny rooms we got out w Ezra and Gene to walk around the city and start to get acquainted with the subway system.  The weather is in the 50s here and overcast but as Cam says much better light for taking pictures.  Tried out a local food market, where Mom and I tried spinach strudel (NOM NOM NOM!) and I filched potatoes off of Gene and Ezra's plates. We walked down to the western shopping mall area to pick up our Berlin welcome passes for travel on public transportation.  Some interesting large modern art sculptures around, and a church which survived WWII and now is completely hidden from view by restoration walls.  Ezra left to pick up two of our students at the airport, and Mom and I went with Gene back to the hostel where we are still trying to stay awake.

Can't believe it but we're hungry. Will wait til the UWEC team is downstairs so we can go explore the street food. Currywurst anyone????

Am about to fall off my perch.  Tchuss!!!


BTW- Currywurst is delicious!  It is a wurst with lots of curry powder dumped on top. Fries with mayo and ketchup on the side!\.

Take Two!

I'm back!!!!!

It's been a year.  And now it's summer again, and again I travel to find myself.  I've had a great time to New Orleans already, and in about 20 minutes I take off for Berlin!

19 hours of travel later, I will arrive at Tegel Airport.  See you then!

Mitra

Stockholm stories

Nancy and I are headed back to WI tomorrow. We've had some great adventures in Sweden- we went for a boat tour of some of the Archipelago today, we went to the Vasa Museum ( which had a complete Swedish warship from the 1620s!), Skansen (open air museum w bears, wolverines, moose, lynx, foxes, etc), and I've eaten a moose burger, Swedish meatballs, artichoke soup, pancakes w cloudberries, lingonberry sauce, and goulash with dill pickles and sour cream (fantastic combination!), and a tiny bite of herring (ug). I also drank a shot of Swedish snaps (not like schnapps at all). Great shopping! We walked the medieval part of the city every day-Gamla Stan- and made it to  3 other islands.  It is beautiful here, and almost everyone speaks English so we had no trouble communicating with people.  Nancy is very friendly, so we met lots of nice Swedes (and one opera troll, who I'll tell you about later).

Pictures, and our Top Ten Best and Worst lists coming up in the next few days!!!!

Pippi Longstocking and Lingonberries

That about sums it up!

BMW tearing up the countryside!

Tall, handsome Swedes everywhere.

Sweden-we're hEre!

A drive to Madison, a ten hour flight, a rental car, a road trip to Linkoping, adventuring to find Rinna, the town in which Nancy's grandmother was born and baptized, and navigating a Swedish mega-grocery/home store later, we're settled in a cottage out in the southern Swedish countryside. It is cool weather, farmers have just put up the hay, and we are next to a lovely lake. Very nice. We're making bread and soup (ok, Nancy is) and then will have icecram and fresh strawberries. More tomorrow, but we're fine.

UW-Eau Claire and Sweden

Hi all-

I haven't written for a while and realized that not everyone knows I'm home safe in Eau Claire.  Thank you to those who checked in on me after the shootings at the Empire State Building- I am far from there, but like many I am horrified at some people's cruelty.

My last week in NYC was wonderful--I will post more in detail later.  But I had three more interesting salon experiences, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, and went to Coney Island!  Also the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Battery Park, and the Museum of Natural History.  It was a great ending to a great time in a great city.

I got home on Monday evening- Nancy picked me up and we dawdled along, stopping at different stores and fast food restaurants :).  Late night.  I've been at school all week, pushing to get syllabi completed and sent to the copy center, sending greetings to new students, getting my office sort of cleaned up, and attending meetings and finishing reports.  Because remember, I'm heading to Sweden on Monday!  Nancy and I are going to Stockholm, and will also spend two days in rural Sweden as she researches her family tree.  It is going to be terrific.  If anyone knows any one in Stockholm, let me know, as I don't know anyone!

I have one last report I really must write before I go home today, and I have a massage appointment at 6:30 p.m. (YAY) so I've got to sign off.  Hope you all are well.
Mitra

Tuesday, August 14

Almost caught up!

So tired this morning I actually had a hard time sitting up when I woke up.  Long days of walking, lots of food and not enough liquids, overstimulation by noise and crowds, and a full, full mind are all adding up.

Caught up on some work email and submitted summer grades.  Almost decided to do nothing but then knew that wasn't possible.  So few days left, so many things I want to do.

I wrote a list so I wouldn't get overwhelmed like I was yesterday, and I headed down to the Flatiron district one more time and walked to an Iranian restaurant I have been wanting to go to.  On the way there, I stopped at some sample sales (temporary pop-up stores in open storefronts that are selling left over designer merchandise.  Fun to look, but didn't buy anything).  Got to Ravaugh and had what might have been the best meal of my life.  While I was eating it brought back so many memories I almost cried again.

Bread with two types of sauce, maust au khayar, lentil soup, saffron rice, grilled vegetables, and chicken kabob.  Everything was stunningly delicious, but when I bit into the first bite of chicken I could hardly believe how good it was.  I ate slowly, with Farsi conversations and Iranian music in the background.  Had hot tea (scalding, really) afterwards, complete with sugar cubes to hold between my teeth for the tea to pass through.  Truly heavenly.  Under $20 because it was the lunch menu.  This is my favorite restaurant in NYC-Sapporo, you have been replaced!

What a fabulous culinary experience.  In a tiny restaurant off of 5th Ave.

Walked slowly down to 17th street to look at some thrift stores whose proceeds go towards supporting people with AIDS- I enjoyed looking around but only bough a book (HA!)- "An Available Man" which I have checked out twice from the library in EC and never finished.  Now I can finish it without rushing!  Stopped in TJ Maxx-so much different than in smaller cities-and purchased some accessories for my Mac products and two bags.  A new Baggalini!  My current one is ripping, but the trusty Baggalini has accompanied me to China, South Africa, Spain, and Portugal and never let me down!  The new one has a pocket for the iPad- perfect!  Also a new orange purse which I don't need, but I liked. So there.

Window shopped in a few other places and then went to Sephora- I have been planning to switch away from liquid foundation to something simpler like a powder.  I haven't been wearing makeup for the last month and a half and my face is very happy so I want to simplify things.  I purchased some mineral makeup which I think I am really going to enjoy.  Headed home.

Got home early, and decided that I didn't really want to blog, so I went to the Crosstown Diner for cheesecake and coffee. The cheesecake has been voted the best in the Bronx, and it was delicious.

They also have famous shakes, so I'll get that tomorrow!

Pictures from the walk home:

Where I did my laundry

E. Treemont, the main drag in the Bronx, and off of which I live

Home again, home again, blog, blog, blog.  AND, caught up!

Tomorrow am meeting Lock at the Metropolitan Museum of art for lunch and a look at some paintings, then if time to the Natural History Museum, and then volunteering at the Fringe Festival!  If we can work it out, dinner with Caroline and her friends at Iguana.  I hope it works out!

Night night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs, cockroaches, rats, or mice bite.