Berlin....the old & the new

It has been six years since my first visit to Berlin, each time we have stayed at The Swiss Hotel. This time Emin decided on a change, and so he booked us into the SAS Radisson overlooking Alexanderplatz. Six years ago we had wandered around this square almost alone, one of the few visitors on a chilly day. This hotel had yet to be built and all around was a cold and barren cityscape.
Now the square is thriving. A sea of new buildings and restored old ones have risen from the rubble Only the Stasi building is left to go, hundreds throng the Christmas market and skate around the central fountain. When Emin booked he chose a courtyard view of the Aquarium this was the view from our balcony However like all hotels the room was too hot and leaving the window open was of no help as it was so noisy. every spoon dropped, every glass filled echoed round the atrium. Luckily for me the bathroom was faulty so we were moved to...

This view instead, with an icy cold breeze I felt a lot better. We left our window open all day only to be left a polite notice to close it in case any spiders or other likewise brave souls managed to haul their frozen butts all the way up !

This was the view from across the river of the Reichstag

This magnificent church was just outside our hotel

Finally back to Potsdam, we went right instead of left, to wander around the Royal Palaces, unlike last year the day was almost beyond endurance, it was so bitterly cold with an icy wind that cut you in half. The images are of the Summer Palace which was so overly ornate as to be rather cloying.

Around the palace were a number of other buildings, but I was beyond enjoying anything after an hour. We marched down the longest boulevard in the world, to another Palace bursting for the toilet, then we had to look at flats. I slept all the way home and my reward was the most streaming cold I have had for years. Despite the fall in value of the pound against the Euro Emin is still keen to get a toe hold in Germany and Potsdam is a very beautiful place, but I may wait until it is warmer before going back.

Issei Suda

When I was young I lived in a very small village west of Leeds, the village was a very close nit community and at some point it was decided that a group of families would pay host to foreign language students.
Our first two visitors were both young girls from Japan, They came in consecutive years and it was love at first sight. I thought they were wonderful in every way shape and form. They were awesomely polite, they adored English literature and both during their stay purchased copious amounts of books to be shipped back home. I loved the fact that when they bought an item of clothing they would sit and re-sew the buttons on. I loved their tales of life back at home which seemed like another planet to me. I loved their kimono's the tempura they cooked, the tea ceremony's. I loved the origami they made, putting my sausage fingers to shame, but best of all I loved the fact that they loved me! I felt valued and loved for 3 whole weeks it was bliss.
I have never stopped this love affair with all things Japanese. The nearest I have got is Korea, the prices are soooo expensive. Like most parents when I got the chance to live my life vicariously through my children I did. The opportunity came for an exchange visit to Japan at Daisy's school seized at the chance to send her. It nearly bankrupted me, but although she was very blase at the time, she now appreciates that the experience was life changing, she stayed in a lovely house on the outskirts of Hiroshima for a week, before touring Tokyo and Kyoto.
My love affair continues via Japanese photography and Issei Suda is one photographer I saw in a gallery in Cologne.

Somewhere there is a photograph of me dressed in a Kimono that looks just like this.

These images are all from the Priska Pasquer gallery. They are so wonderful and evocative and remind me as if it were yesterday how wonderful life was when the girls from Japan came to stay.

Cologne

Very few images from Cologne, not the most visually appealing city to look at or walk around, it is sliced in half by the Rhine which funnels bitterly cold winds along the path beside it.
We were here for just a couple of days, I would have loved to have stood at one of the many stands at the Christmas markets stuffing my face with sausages, swilled down with mulled wine but have Muslim eat no pork.... Most people associate Cologne with the amazing Christmas markets and having been they are everywhere and an incredible site, they look better at night but by then the crowds have arrived and the slow shutter speed generally resulted in a rather blurred mess. I could have spent a fortune on one of the jewellery stalls as well as hats, scarves etc etc etc

This was taken inside the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum It has a lovely interior but it was sadly too expensive to go and look at the paintings. It is always a shock when I am abroad to find out that have to pay to see an exhibition most of the galleries in London are free to visit apart from the small special exhibitions. I guess we are spoilt, but it makes for a far more inclusive society and I am always struck by how empty the art galleries are abroad compared to the hoards that visit the ones in London.

Towards the north of the city is a small enclave of wonderful smaller private galleries which were brilliant as well as one of the best art bookshops I have ever been in.

Cologne is full of rebuilt Byzantine churches. The cathedral dominates the city (sorry it was just too hideously Gothic to take any photographs of) and was only allowed to remain relatively unscathed because it gave the British bombers a landmark, the rest were all destroyed. it was very sobering to see photographs taken just after the war, the whole city appears flattened, It is hard to believe it was possible to rebuild it but they did.

We sadly do not appear to have learnt any lessons from that war or any other, as the news shows history repeating itself over and over again.

Brussels

Brussels was our first stop via Euro star, which if booked early enough is not too expensive. What you notice immediately is the huge increase in the volume of graffiti, this is a city in serious need of some municipal TLC, sadly the state of the sitting government probably does not help.
I did wonder if there was anything left to see after my last visit, amazingly by turning left instead of right there was. Although I do not feel this is a city with any clear identity or focus there are strands that run through it that I love. What is missing apart from a good scrub is a river, most cities grow around water but although this does have a river the city has evolved around the square pushing the river to the outer ring road.Apart from Tin Tin, Magritte is probably their best known export although Horta would run him a close second. As a teenager I loved Magritte's work enough to write an essay on him, now the work leaves me cold. It is clinical and clever but lacks feeling. This is part of a hording surrounding one of the buildings being renovated.

The main square is normally devoted to beer festivals, the architecture is overly decorative and ostentatious, but whilst we were there there was an amazing light and sound show with projections onto the buildings creating a rather surreal effect.

Kasbah down in the center, just opposite The Marriott is a beautiful Moroccan restaurant, we paced around outside until it opened as it fill up very quickly. It has a wonderful richly exotic interior and delicious food, I had my favourite lamb, prune and almond Tangine...

Brussels is particularly good on shops, particularly small shops with a narrow focus, hence this Ginky Paradise

Quite possibly the most beautiful staircase I have ever seen.

Books shops are everywhere, always a good thing.

As are the most delicious chocolate shops

My favourite shops of all were the antique shops selling the most incredible African artifacts. in particular the shop above had some stunningly covetable jewellery.

We were here for just 2 days before boarding a train to Cologne, it is a good stepping stone to the rest of Europe, I also noticed an increase in the amount of galleries that are open. We looked around some wonderful small ones near the center, more of which next week.

Sadly until the value of the pound improves not a place to spend any money.

The view from here

This I took just as the plane was about to take off for home, although the mosques are all prevalent, the call to prayer echoing throughout the day Istanbul had the feel of a European city rather than the exotica of Asia that I expected. In fact It seriously felt more like Paris than anywhere else. Emin thought I was mad, but whether it was the combination of tall Napoleonic buildings,or Utrilloesque narrow steeply cobbled streets mixed with a predominantly Muslim population I could not say. After the tumbled weed of out Parisian New Year we found that most Parisians were in Istanbul, they were everywhere.

The view from our hotel which was in a beautiful old building traditionally furnished but eyewateringly expensive as it was priced in Euros

Looking at Asia

Neither hot nor exotic

I came home to this email from my sister.

Hello from sunny Sydney. I am off to the Golden Coast tomorrow to join the boat for my trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Sydney has been great so far. We have done lots of driving - The Blue Mountains which involved a cable car down the mountain (the highest in Australia) and a small train back up (the steepest in the world) - kittens were born by both mum and me on both. We went on a boat ride up to Sydney Harbour. We have driven to Hunter Valley for wine tasting. We have been to a beach for the day. Finally we went on a boat trip to see the dolphins yesterday - which was absolutely brilliant. Having a great time - the weather is on and off - not too hot with some very overcast days (although today looks like it will be a scorcher). I have managed to avoid killing mum - so far ...

I replied

"Glad you are both having a good time, my marrow is frozen so I am struggling to type. We have not been above zero since before the holiday.
The holiday was good, although we got progressively colder as time went on. Istanbul was effing freezing, it even snowed! New year was an interesting experience, which is a euphemism for WTF. All adds to life's rich tapestry...Leyla was vile most of the time, violent and irritating, despite this I managed to lots take lots of piccys and despite the cold we managed to have mostly blue skies
The girls are fine both enjoyed their break, although I had a distraught Kitty phoning me up on Christmas day in tears because she only had 2 Yorkshire puddings, the dinner was rubbish and this was her 'worst Christmas ever' I told her to go upstairs and make a bacon butty. I think Martin calmed her down but she has complained of being half starved throughout her stay! She continues to be very thorny/irritating/confrontational/rude.
Daisy had a cold but appears to have partied plenty. She is now revising with all the good grace that can be expected of someone who's nose has dripped with snot for two weeks. She is currently hard at work on a scraper board as I write.
So as you can see life is all hunky dory here, back to work tomorrow..have fun, no seriously, don't let me spoil it I am just fine! XXX"

I left snow and I now sit surrounded by snow, yes I know it is winter but seriously it is really cold, as we sat trying to thaw back in the hotel in Istanbul Emin decided that Dubai might be a better option next year!

So I am back, I have spent today editing approx 350 photographs just from Istanbul, I will do Germany tomorrow. Brace yourself, although I have culled drastically, I will be posting a few over the rest of the week.

To ease the pain of return I went to see Twelfth Night with daisy at Wyndham's Theatre, without doubt one of the best plays I have ever seen.

Merry Christmas

Well I am still not packed, so that's a late night followed by an early start, can't complain though can I?

A big mwah to anyone reading, I am now away until the 1st but rest assured I will be snapping away for your delight and delectation.

I hope Santa brings you all that you desire and some.

XXXXX

Sartorial challenges

The last one (bag) I promise, well this year anyway. It completes my trilogy, all good things come in three's so I needed a black one and this one is perfect. I use it for weekends and going out as it is so much smaller than the others.

I teamed it with a black merino wool wrap dress for my interview, I decided that the black leather jacket smacked too much of 'rock chick' so amazingly I managed to still fit into a very old Chanelesque tweed boxy jacket that I have had since before Leyla was born. I had originally bought it to wear with jeans, I loved it and wore it a lot, but as with all that we love it started to feel dated, but unusually for me I was reluctant to part with it so I dry cleaned it and put it away. I realised it would look perfect with the dress, and I was right. What cheered me up the most was that it still fitted, I did not even have to squeeze into it, it hung as beautifully as it had all those years ago.

My next sartorial challenge apart from packing, is to put together an outfit for New Year, which will be spent at a very posh dinner dance in Istanbul. This requires a ball gown or at least a proper posh long frock, but I just do not 'do' long, If I had realised earlierI could have borrowed a beautiful tiered Jaegar skirt from my mother, sadly it is too late. So I am going to wear trousers, either a pegged wool pair from Toast or an almost vintage pair of wide legged velvet ones. I have bought this




to wear with it, I have a very light sequined cardie to wear over the top and a beautiful sequined bag, but shoes..... oh God what am I going to put on my bloody feet!