So without further ado lets get this ball rolling.(again)
A
Long Berlin Weekend and a hairy pig to boot.
We had decided quite a few weeks ago that
we would spend the 25th Anniversary of theTag Der Deutsche Einheit in Berlin. I was working in Berlin when that momentous
event took place so I thought what better way to spend this long weekend than
in the reunified capital of Germany.
I picked Linda up from work and had quite
an uneventful run to Berlin (well uneventful if you discount a mysterious heavy
vibration that occurredat the front end of the car after about 30 minutes, but I couldn’t find anything
wrong and we continued without any reoccurrence of the cars strange behaviour.
We travelled South and in the area just
around Wittstock I saw a lot of Cranes ( Grus
grus not the building site sort) in the fields. I pointed this out to Linda (she
just does not have the eyes for these things) a little further on the sky
became quite full with them as they gathered for the pending migration, and as
I said it was otherwise uneventful.
We arrived at my daughters; she had been
able to get a resident parking permit for me for the weekend, thus saving the
horrendous parking fees. She had got lots of meze stuff in so we ate, chatted,
drank wine and went to bed.
Janice had announced that on the Friday we
could go to the Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg, it is one of the few remaining
original market halls in Berlin, the rest having succumbed to Allied Bombs or
developers hammers. She told us that the streets around were also full with a
food festival, so without further ado it was off we went
.
The market hall is situated on the opposite
bank of the spree in what was originally Kieze which was where the original workers lived in tenement housing and small workshop area. A lot have been turned into very
desirable shicki micki developments (alas) thus some areas have now lost their
original attraction, though they have attracted a lot of diversified
restaurants, cafes and bars.
We arrived at the venue and decided to have
a look round the streets as it was still quite early there was not too much
business going on so we decided to start outside and wander a bit (we had, had
breakfast but there is always space for a second one).
There was a Pie Stall selling the normal as
well as the abnormal pies (Currywurst pie), sausage, flower and mushrooms
stalls and many others to boot. We then decided to pop into the newly renovated
market hall, just in time to see some of the workshops, the first was the fish
fileting the next was sausage making, they have done it very well and if in the
area well worth a visit. I had a Portuguese egg custard with a nice cup of
coffee. We next went outside and wandered through the streets again stopping
off to visit the cheese workshop and sample a few artisanal cheeses, goats,
sheep and raw cow’s milk, quite wonderful. They even had a stall selling Swiss Raclette. It all looked so inviting.
We strolled a little further and happened
upon a fish stall, not any old fish stall this one was grilling fish over charcoal,
well I just couldn’t pass this one by, so I ordered a nice piece of Wels
(catfish) in a roll, well worth the €5,- I can tell you. The rest of the team
had also been tasting and sampling at various stalls. Janice went for veggie
samosas and various other none meat grub (she has left the straight and narrow
and is now becoming veggified, poor lass).
Because Berlin is truly becoming a
cosmopolitan hub in Europe, most of the stalls had their displays signed posted
up in English. Everything from pulled pork, Moroccan food, seafood, burgers,
Indian,
You name it there was something for
everyone.
We next walked to Waschauer Allee U-bahn
caught a train and hopped off at Mörkernenbrücke , the reason being was that we
had planned to visit the Martin Gropius Bau Museum, this was one of the first buildings to
be renovated, it was in the west but almost touched the wall. I visited it
often when studying at the HdK (I was a guest reader for 4 semesters), it is a
very impressive building and an excellent job was done in renovating such a
fantastic piece of architecture. At the moment they are presenting the Vikings
and well worth a visit. We only wanted to see what the queues were like as we
would be visiting the next day.
We then walked via Potsdammer Platz to the
Brandenburg via the Holocaust memorial
and along Wilhelmstrasse passing the New British Embassy, a lot has changed in
25 years, I remember coming across this area when it was but wasteland and
rubble and it contained the Polish/Russian market, but that is long, long gone,
now it is the area containing the most sought after properties in Berlin.
The area between the Brandenburg gate and
the Victory Column on the 17er Juni Strasse was full with food and drink stalls
we did do a bit of sampling, I had my Currywurst and pommes fix ,real Berliner
Currywurst none of your curried bratwurst that passes under the cloak of
Currywurst in a lot of the rest of Germany a travesty I say, they should be
hung drawn and quartered and turned into sausages.
We then headed back towards home and
stopped off to have a bit of Sushi at a place just around the corner from
Janice’s apartment. I have visited here before but it was a first for Linda,
she was most impressed, the quality and the prices are really good.
We then headed back to Janice’s joint and
drank a few bottles of wine looked at photos of their trip to Sri Lanka and our
France/Ireland trip.
Next morning after breakfast (Linda went
and got the fresh rolls) we had booked a table in a Sri Lankan restaurant near
to Boxhagenerplatz, which was very handy as there is a very good street market
around the square and we needed some stuff for home as the fridge was bare back
in Stodo.
I love Boxhagenerplatz, this is another
workers quarter in Friedrichshain it has still retained its wonderful original
character while expanding into the modern Berlin, street cafes, bars and ethnic
restaurants of every hue.
The stall holders come in from the villages
and small towns in Brandenburg that surrounds Berlin, most are Oko farmers and
small holders, you are able to get top notch quality produce, this has of
course its price and they will be a couple of € more expensive than in the
discounters, but if you want quality and taste, then it is well worth it.
I happened across a small stall, selling
pork products, not any pork products, but those of the Hungarian Woolly Porker,
crossed with the Wild Boar, he also sold farmed game (no interest in that), but
the Mangalica to give its correct name was of great interest, we chatted about
its characteristics, he explained that it was originally bred for its
Ruckenfett (back lard) but had almost become extinct (the only other European woolly
pig was the Lincolnshire curly coat, which is now extinct). The breeder now has
crossed his with wild boar (the original breed had also been crossed with wild
boar, so this was a double cross so as to speak). I decided to buy some to give
it a go, not cheap at about €20,- kilo but the 500g I bought was affordable, I
also bought some smoked Mangalica ham. We then plodded down the street to the
Sri Lankan restaurant for a really nice
lunch, I had a very tasty Mutton and potato curry washed down with a couple of
Cobra beers. I don’t know what the rest ate as if I am not eating it, it is of
no great interest to me!
After lunch we headed to Martin Gropius Bau
and the exhibition, of course the rest had a moan, now that I am a pensioner I
got in for half price, not bad this pensioner lark.
The exhibition is well worth a visit, the
main hall is filled with the remains of a long boat that was discovered and
saved from Roskilde in Denmark, they have given the feeling of size and shape
of it by adding steel ribbing and a massive square sail. The surrounding rooms
are filled with artefacts, treasures and information about the lives and times
of the Vikings, all very interesting.
After that it was case of hopping on the
U-bahn across the street and heading
back to Friedrichshain. Janice had decided to make a squash and carrot soup for
supper, and very nice it turned out as well. We then watched a very nice film
called Boxhagener strasse (well worth a look if you get the chance)drank a few
glasses of wine and it was not too late for bed.
Next day breakfast, packed the car and off
we went to have lunch with my dear old friends Sigrid and Wille up in Lubars,
he was BBQing entrecote and we ate and chatted about old times, it was time to
head for home, unfortunately it was at a time that all the rest of the tourists
and visitors to Berlin were also leaving, so after many detours dictated by our
Sat Nav and the diversions it was after 21:00 when we left home. Just time for
some beans of toast (thank goodness for part baked baguettes and vacuum packed
Naan bread ). The Mangalica goulash into the fridge, that was to be tomorrows
diner, the smoked ham was for breakfast.
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