Euro Trip - Berlin am Montag

Our hotel room in Berlin is twice the size of our Amsterdam room! We're staying at an apartment hotel in Kufuerstendamm - the hotel is really similar to regular hotels except they all have kitchenettes and depending on how long you're staying you get certain hotel services. They offer a breakfast every morning (11 Euros/person). Free WI-FI and a community computer (iMac) in the lounge.

For our first full day in Berlin we decide to talk a walk around the neighborhood. Since I had a chance to check out different parts of Berlin before Doogie arrived, I wanted to take him to see the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche and Joe's Wirsthaus located near the Zoologischer Garten.

There are lots of cool shops along the way. Doogie spotted a record store - must take a detour to check out the music selections... 

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche

This church was built in 1891by Kaiser Wilhelm II in honor of Kaiser Wilhelm I. It was heavily damaged during WWII. The remaining section (the foyer) was persevered during the rebuilding of the church. It is the visitors welcome center and has an exhibit showing how the church was used in the past and artifacts from before the war.

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche ceiling of old church (now the visitors center)

Next to the old church is the new church sanctuary with stained glass walls. Visitors aren't allowed to take pictures inside this part of the church. There is a modern statue of Jesus Christs that is suspended above the alter. It is a gorgeous place.

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche
(the tower is in the background, old church in the middle and new sanctuary in the front)

After leaving the church we took a walk towards the Zoo. We unfortunately got there after the Zoo was closed. We took a few pictures outside before finding a place to eat.

Joe's Wirsthaus

I really like this place - maybe it's because it was the first place I went to when I got to Berlin. Maybe it was our nice waiter who seemed happy about me trying to speak German. Or maybe it was the giant glasses of beer.... It's hard to tell.

Here's a link to their website: http://www.joes-berlin.de/index.php?l=2 

Wall decorations at Joe's

We found a new beer - banana wheat. I don't remember the maker but it was very good. A smooth mix of banana and wheat that goes well with any meal. I order Schnitzel and Doogie has a Currywurst.

Doogie orders another drink, Kirsch-Weißbier (Cherry Wheat), in a liter this time. The glass in huge! Another good drink. :)


We keep looking at each other in amazement that we get to spend a vacation in another country. We head back to the hotel and relax for the evening. Tomorrow we planned to check our more spots around Berlin.

Euro Trip - Amsterdam (Day 4)

For our last day in Amsterdam we had a few hours before we needed to catch out train back to Berlin. We planned to meet Kate and Adam at the Heineken Brewery at 11am to go out the tour.

Running late... we get ready and hop on the tram towards the brewery. Guess who we run into on the tram?!?! :)

The Heineken Experience

Brewing process tour.

Admiring the bubbles from the beer before tasting.

It's cool to check out a brewery but this is basically a 2-hour advertisement for beer I'm already familiar with. Still they had a couple fun interactive sections that include mixing wort, taste testing a couple beers, creating silly videos and pictures to email out.

Here is our silly Heineken Experience video.

Going through the brewery they showed the many different types of Heineken they had in the past. Now it appears they only produce the light pilsner. I would have liked to try one of their dark beers. They also have a new extra cold Heineken that is served at -5 degrees Celsius. Kate particularly liked the really cold beer. After the tour, we picked up a personalized bottle with our names on it. It will be a great addition to the bar. :) 

Doogie and I checking out something at the Heineken Bar.

Our train was departing at 2:50p so we had to leave Kate and Adam around 1:30p and get back to the hotel to grab our bags. I was still in the middle of my luggage woes so we stopped at a luggage shop and bought a new large suitcase for 40 Euros. I transferred all my stuff into the new suitcase, we caught a cab and made it just in time for our train home.

Next stop Berlin...

Looking for some inspiration...

So I think this time in Europe has been both relaxing and rejuvenating for me creatively. It becomes very tiresome to create in a bubble. Isolated from other design peers can really turn blinders into blindfolds. I often miss the creative collaboration that can go on when working with fellow designers or at least testing out new ideas.

For months I've been feeling like a lot of my work is stale. It's not that I don't have creative ideas but I don't feel like I'm pushing myself creatively. I'm not searching for new ways to use color, brushes, effects or even learning about new equipment. Part of that comes from the daily grind of what needs to be done and how that can overshadow opportunities for growth. I'm glad I have talented friends and family that can lend me an ear or an eye to critique my work.

Here is just one of the many pictures from Amsterdam.
The scenery lends itself to a painting or two...

Still there are avenues for exposure to new ideas in graphic design and I need to be more diligent about utilizing them. I have been meaning to join the AIGA in DC. That would be a good start. Plus, I need to pull more notes out of my Print and How magazines. There are always interesting articles and showcase pieces. Another good idea would be to get the studio up and running at the house. I've delayed it too long and I have all these great photographs that I want to use as subject matter for paintings, illustrations and maybe even some sculptures/models.

Look! My creative juices are flowing already. I hope I can keep some of this momentum when I return to DC. I still have a few more weeks off to relax. Let's see what happens....

Euro Trip - Amsterdam (Day 3)

Our friends are here! This morning we went to Anne Frank's House. The line is a bit long but it seems to move fast. It is overcast today in Amsterdam and light rain. :(  The city is still beautiful. I'm beginning to see where Van Gogh and others found some of their inspiration. Every channel, house, street, cafe, tree is an artistic painting waiting to be captured.

Ann Frank's House

Wendy, Kris and Jove

Jove (Wendy and Kris's son) is so cute. He was doing very well waiting in line but when we got ready to enter the museum he began to cry a bit. An employee of the museum said we could have Jove come in while he was crying. Wendy quipped "He's not a radio. I can't just turn him off." Go Wendy! Jove was able to calm down after a few minutes and we went through the house.

It's really amazing to think that Anne and here family spent 2 years in the attic of Otto Frank's (Anne's father) warehouse without anyone detecting them. The "helpers" or employees of Mr. Frank helped provide food to the family and other people in hiding in the basement. It was very sad to learn that only Otto made it out of the concentration camps.

Look a row team!

A boat ride and a hair cut (too bits)

After the museum we walked back towards the center of town to grab lunch. Doogie is a on a mission to find a place to get his hair cut. We decide to split up so he can get that done and we'll go on a boat ride. Kate and I find a tourist store to buy tickets for boat rides, the Heineken Experience, Ice Bar and a Red Light District tour. I didn't get the Red Light tour tickets. Although, that is the only tour that guarantees your safety!!!

The boat ride was nice but not very interesting. The audio tour did a Dutch, German and then English translation. It took awhile before it got to the English but I tried to understand the German first. I got as far as knowing something was on the right (rechts) or left (links) and a couple dates and measurements.

A picture from the boat ride.

Look at Doogie's new hair cut, Ice Bar and Red Light District.

Euro Trip - Amsterdam (Day 2)

With a whole day to ourselves we went walking up to Center City. Here is a picture outside our hotel. I don't know the name of this channel but I do remember our boat ride (the next day) went past the hotel on this channel.

It was a gorgeous walk up to the center of Amsterdam. The boats traveling up the channels and the old architecture. There are tons of souvenir shops and other stores. We didn't have any direct plans for today except to check out the city. Our friends Kate, Adam, Wendy, Kris, and Jove would arrive later that day.

We ate lunch near a mall and then went into to the mall to browse for clothes. Doogie wants to find shirts (not t-shirts) to wear. We didn't find any clothes (at least not in our price range). There was an Apple outlet store on the 5th floor and they had a MacBook Pro case that looked like an old book. I so wanted to buy it... but I didn't. There was a great pastry shop on the first floor. Doogie took some pictures of the desserts (below) and got in trouble. Apparently they don't want you to photograph their food. We sampled a couple bonbons and bought some other items to share with folks back in the US.

We walked around the area some more. Bought some shirts and a small bag. We talked to this one shop owner for awhile. Doogie wants a haircut so we're looking for a salon. So far all the salons we go into do haircuts for 40 Euros! Here are more pics with some captions (if possible). :)

I don't remember the name of the street but these leads (behind me) to Central Station.

Doogie enjoying the Number 1 fries in Holland (based on the signage).

 Our friends arrived in Amsterdam around 10pm or so. We'll meet up with them tomorrow.

Euro Trip - Amsterdam (Day 1)

Doogie made it! A late night (Berlin-time) phone call from Doogie made me very worried. He missed his plane but they were able to get him on the next plane out which was only an hour later.

I took an early morning cab to Tegel Airport and waited around for about 2.5 hours. I was there early because I made my arrangements for the cab prior to Doogie's new plane arrival time. It was okay thought because it gave me enough time to buy a new carry-on bag. I had this cheap black bag that had my neck pillow and books in it. It tore when I picked it up to get my cab. My luggage woes started a few days earlier when the wheels on my "good suitcase" shredded on the way to the retreat center near Erkner.

For this trip, I had two large suitcases with me - one with clothes and one for resources for Global Convo and DMYP. The resource bag was going to be thrown away because the handle didn't work. Now in Erkner it became my main bag. I figured out how to get the handle to work - but you couldn't put the handle down or it would get stuck. Needless to say, I was dragging a broken bag through the airport.

I was so happy to see Doogie come off the plane. Because his plane was an hour later we had to rush to get to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof in time to catch our train to Amsterdam. We made it to the station with about 10 minutes to spare. You can reserve seats (actual assigned seat numbers) on the trains. Folks without reserved seats would look for free seats. We took an ICE train to Hannover and then had to switch trains for the remaining trip to Amsterdam. In Hannover, I had to ask an old woman to get out of our seats (I didn't say it like that).  I think she tried to pretend like she didn't understand me but a woman behind us helped finish my translation. :) Once we got settled, Doogie slept for a good portion of the trip.

In Amsterdam, we caught a cab to our hotel - Eden Hotel Amsterdam. Our cab driver was really funny and shared information about the city. One thing to note is that there are more bikes than cars in the city. Bikes have the same rights as cars and people seem to ride them a lot. There are parking lots devoted solely to bikes that can fit thousands! The Eden is near Rembrandtplein. The plaza has a lot of restaurants and coffee bars nearby. We are staying in the smallest hotel room I've ever been in. The beds are two twins pushed together and the bathroom is a phone booth.

We took a walk through the plaza and up towards the center of Amsterdam. It was late in the evening and a number of stores were closing. The bars and restaurants stay open (of course!). The busy atmosphere reminds me of Times Square.

Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Plaza)

Alexanderplatz, Berliner Dom, Topography of Terrors

Me outside the Berliner Dom

So I had some fun experiences with the Estrel Hotel. Apparently they
are very serious about cleaning rooms. Even though I had a "Do Not
Disturb" sign on my door, they came in three times trying to clean my
room.

Alexanderplatz

Kendra and I took the S and U Bahn trains out to Alexanderpkatz. There
is a giant radio and tv tower in the plaza. At the top of the tower is
a ball that has a rotating restaurant and shop.

When the tower was built, it was considered a triumph of science over
religion. Ironically, when it is sunny, the light from the sunny hits
the ball at the top and forms the shape of a cross.

Berliner Dom

We just took pictures outside. I'll have more info on the church
later. There is a trip to the church as part of our Global Convocation
gathering. It's a very beautiful dome. We also explored part of the "Museum Island" and took some really cool pictures.

Berliner Dom

Neue Museum

Brandeburg Gate

Here you can find the U.S., French and British embassies and a musuem
for JFK. When we got there, the police were blocking the gate and
streets near the Reichstag because of an event near the parliment
building (the Reichstag).

We ran into Meg (from GBHEM) as she was wonderig around the city.

Topography of Terror / Checkpoint Charlie

From the Brandenberg Gate we walked down Wilhelmstrasse. We wanted to find Checkpoint Charlie but on our way we found the Topography of Terror. This exihibit is an extensive musuem on the history of the Nazi party propaganda, torture and intimidation. The grounds for musuem and exhibit space are where the Prince Albert Hotel and an art school stood. They were use by the headquarters for the SS and other Nazi activities. The buildings were bombed and destroyed during WWII.

I recommend visiting this place. I was there for a few hours and was
not able to complete the exhibit before closing time.

We then found Checkpoint Charlie but we didn't go inside because it
was at the end of the day.

Alex at Alexanderplatz

We concluded our tour of the city with a meal at Alex am
Alexanderplatz. This time I had Shnitzel mit Putenfleisch. Sorry no
picture of the meal but it was delicious.

Ersten Tag im Berlin

3 Weeks of Clothes

With my well-packed bag (and another 50+ lbs bag of resources) I took a 9:20am train from DC to NYC. Doogie dropped me off at Union Station and I met Kendra (from GBGM) at JFK to catch our flight. A quick hop (6 hours) over to London and then we had to run to catch a connection to Berlin. We nearly missed our shuttle bus at Heathrow airport.

Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche

Once in Berlin, we got settled in our rooms (at the Estrel Hotel & Convention Center) and went out to explore the city. We took the S-Bahn to the Zoo area (Zoologischer Garten) and walked around. On Hardenbergstrasse, there are many shops and Biergartens. I think I found a couple of souveniors but I'm going to wait until Doogie arrives. The Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche caught our eye. The church (built in 1891) was destroyed in WWII. There are beautiul towers surrounding the church with stained glass fragments embedded in the concrete walls.

After checking out the church we found a biergarten - Joe's Würsthaus zum Loewen - to get our first taste of German food & beverages. ;) I ordered  würst with mashed potatoes. This was my first chance to speak in German. Our waiter was very kind and was happy that I was attempting to speak "auf deutsch." ;)

We walked around Hardenbergplatz for a bit and then made out way home. After being up for so many hours traveling (18+ hours), I found it very easy to fall asleep. ;)

 My first meal in Germany.

Day Two: Alexanderplatz, Brandenberg Tor und Topographie des Terrors.

Deutschland und mich - Updates from Berlin

Here is a quick post from me. This is when we were boarding our plane from London to Berlin. We had to run to catch this flight.

More to come...