I saw a terrible reminder of the history of Berlin whilst walking down the street. Bullet holes left on building walls from World War 2 could be clearly seen.
Year: 2013
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Berliner Weisse
My friendly tour guide in Berlin kindly suggested to us all that we never try the local brew, called a “Berliner Weisse”. He claimed it was supposedly a horrific abomination of beer and should never be consumed by anyone.
To me, that felt much like telling me not to press a big red button. I must press the big red button! In this case, the big red button was a rather horendously bright red coloured beverage. It was spiked with a pungent raspberry taste. I actually like raspberry, but my tour guide was definitely correct. Beer and raspberry do not mix 😛
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Visiting Vikas in Tübingen
I met up with my old chemistry colleague Vikas in Tübingen, Germany. We met at the University of Otago many years ago and it was nice to catch up once again. We had some genuine German food from the region and had a beautiful view of houses beside the Neckar river. Tübingen is a beautiful university city with beautiful old historic buildings; I highly recommend visiting if you are in the area.
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München
I visited München (aka Munich) in the heart of Bavaria. I made a new friend called Jen at the hostel I was staying at. With the help of Jen’s amazing timing, we saw the famous Rathaus-Glockenspiel, a strange feature on the München town hall which chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century to amuse passers by.
I tried the famous Oktoberfestbier. It tastes somewhat like other beer except it was served in a mug.
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What to do with a naked man
What is the most appropriate response to the following scenario …
You wake up to hear crashing and bashing in your apartment. You figure one of your flatmates is just drunk and ignore it. The bashing goes on for a while. You keep ignoring it. Then someone walks straight into your room (no knocking, just walks in), you realise you don’t know who it is, so you say “Hello? Who the fuck is that?”, to which the response from a mans voice says “Ahhh, I’m trying to get into that room” and they point towards your male flatmates bedroom. You then say “Get the fuck out of my room” to which they say “heyyy, chilll, I can’t get into the room can I can get in through (gestures towards your wall)”. At this point you realise the man is only wearing a pair of underpants. And you go on to say (more aggressively) “GET THE FUCK OUT NOWWWW!!”, at which point they disgruntedly leave your room. You then try to go back to sleep. But then you hear them talking to someone in another part of the house, and definitely not in the bedroom they were trying to get into, so you get up just in case he’s up to mischief and check on what’s happening.
You then find the mostly naked man standing in your female flatmates room talking to her. So you ask her if she knows him and she says “No. I have no idea who he is.”. So you demand he leaves, which he seems to object to, but you be more insistent, then he leaves the room. You then tell him to get out of the hallway to clear him out of her way, then ask him what he is doing and why is there, to which he says he is trying to get into the same room he pointed to before. You ask him why, and he says his friend is staying there. Then you ask him “which friend?”, but the name he says isn’t familiar. So you ask him why he is in the apartment and he says he knows one of the girls who lives there, so you ask him why he’s trying to get into a particular room, to which he says he knows the girl that lives in there (but it is of course a males room that he is pointing to). You then ask him exactly who it is that he knows in this apartment and he says he can’t remember the name of the person.
No one else appears to be home.
At this point, what is the most appropriate course of action?
(I actually had to deal with this scenario earlier this morning)
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Vigilantism
If people had the right to seek vengeance for things they saw as an injustice, society would become a very scary place. You may feel you are justified in seeking vengeance upon others, but I’m sure others feel justified in seeking vengeance for things you would not agree with. I recommend not setting an example for those whose moral compass does not align with your own. At least the justice system is “trying” to get it right.
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Kölner Dom
I visited the Kölner Dom (aka Cologne Cathedral) in Köln with Julian Münster, an old hockey friend of mine. I went again the morning after and climbed to the top. For future reference, I suggest leaving your luggage behind before deciding to embark on climbing the staircase :/
We also headed to the Gaffel brewery to try the local brew called “Kölsch”, a slightly strange beer which is traditionally served in little 200 mL glasses.
Gaffel Kölsch – photo borrowed from somewhere on the internet -
Bonn
I visited Bonn, Germany around 2009, but I was mostly just passing through on my way to Köln just north of there. This time around I had a proper look, including taking a bus tour (note: bus tours in Germany are for old boring people and are best avoided). Whilst in town, I had some awesome beer, including a slightly strange but tasty brew called a “kristall weiss”, which is basically a regular weissbier, but it’s filtered so it looks like regular beer.
After having more beers than is a good idea, I headed over to the Bonn Münster, a church in the Bonn city center. It looked quite spectacular in the evening. It was built in the 11th and 13th centuries.
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Room for rent in Oslo
I moved into my current apartment because I knew I would have awesome flatmates. Three awesome girls and a cool guy. My room is 23 m2, ie: very big! I am moving out because I am moving to Berlin.
If you know of any males looking for a room to rent or are looking for one yourself, please get in touch 🙂 Rent is 5670 NOK per month plus electricity and internet and the bond / damage deposit is 12000 NOK. Rent starts December 1st.
For an extra fee of 5000 NOK you can also have the whole place totally kitted out with furniture, including a nine month old double bed, a couch, large mirror, large Plasma/LCD TV (not sure which), big chest drawers, a bookshelf, a desk, two free standing lamps and two giant bean bags (useful if you have lots of visitors over).
The apartment is situated between St Hanshaugan and the Royal Palace, easy walking distance from bus, tram and subway routes. We have two bathrooms, a very large kitchen/dining area and we have tons of storage room.
