The view from Berlin

I am the passenger...... for far, far to bloody long, the journey went on for-e-v-e-r. Bang went the theory that German trains ran on time, we were nearly 2 hours late arriving thus loosing our sunny afternoon. We were given water and a 25% discount off the price of the ticket. BUT we will fly next time...Again? Yes, next summer I am determined to get an apartment for a couple of weeks, we have found a great supermarket and it is time to try and go native...



I have as you can see had great fun playing with my Hipstomatic Ap, as well as, not instead of, my Pentax, although it makes my tourist snaps a great deal more fun.
I have always struggled to get a handle on Berlin photographically, I end up with an incredibly disparate group of images that make no coherent sense at all , in a way it is a good thing, I am having to look, look and look again to find my voice and so I have split my images up into batches again.
I think once I slow down and start to scratch below the surface it will come, meanwhile here are a few from the iPhone including this fun one using a tilt shift app.


Emin's gang! yes we took the family, or rather he did since it comes out of his holiday pot, we stayed at Sofitel which was in by far and away my favourite location, but whilst his sister was given a room with a view we were shunted to a dark corner, so lovely as it was I would not go back, which is a shame as it had THE best bathroom ever complete with scrummy L'Occitane toiletries. His gang fortuitously looked after Leyla giving us 2 days of peace which we have not enjoyed since she was born. The cost was however heavy because she lost her iTouch..Yes in a cavalier moment that was not watched over by me she didn't even know where or when it went! I cursed him for giving it to her and he has vowed it is the last thing of value she will ever get but it did mar the end of the break. The cost too of eating out is unbelievable pricy now all the more reason to get an apartment.
I went to various galleries and we walked for miles, the skyline is continuously evolving and I am glad i went early on so I can at least appreciate the difference. Another shock was that shops are closed on a Sunday, coming from a city that rarely sleeps least of all for God it comes as a shock when other city's do close on a Sunday, so no mooching around the stores sadly.

The weather was astonishingly wonderful and I nailed it with a couple of simple outfits layered to keep warm in the bitter NE wind. I saw some fantastic sartorial style seriously, way better here than London, I think they just 'do' my age group better here. I saw some amazing shops too but didn't dare taunt myself by going inside.

How I LOVE this AP.

and this one

Our favourite cafe was Einstein on Unter den Linden, it serves amazing apple strudel and even better breakfast's if you are there please go, you even get indifferent service which I am great fan of, no seriously I do, that way you get to relax and people watch.

So thank you Emin for a lovely break, looking forward to Istanbul in the autumn now!