Berlin

  Berlin, Germany
Monday, March 24, 2008

Right, so...where was I....oh yes Berlin!

So, after about a week of staying at Michaels house we decided to find a new spot (and stay in Berlin longer).
A few days before we left Michaels house, Paz and Cimi had gone out to the city and had met with Mark, the owner of a didgeridoo ( www.didgenculture.de ) shop in Pankow about 10 mins from Michaels flat.

Paz and myself left for his shop in the morning (well, about 1pm) and met with Mark, Pierre and Sacha (a rainbow brother Paz and Cimi had met in Italy) we sat around drinking tea and chatting in Marks shop, Mark played some of his music which he had created ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDYT3dHgMVE ) very good to listen to I think, the Didg is a great instriment I think, and has the power to fill a whole room with its vibrations!

We asked Mark later on if we could crash at his place for a time, which he agreed to!

The following day Michaels neighbour, Xena, with whom earlier Michael had gone horse riding in Poland with, invited us to stables outside of Berlin where her own horse was housed!  Leaving early, or rather hoping to yet of course getting up and moving fast is not exactly easy for some of us!  After some time, Paz and myself climbed into Michaels van and drove back to pick up Xena and her friends.  We drove for about 30-45mins out of Berlin to the countryside, and the stables.

This was the first time both Paz and myself had tried horse riding, although there were 8 of us in the group and only one horse!  As such we did not leave the stables itself, but rode round in circles within the stables, to get used to the horse and the feeling of riding.  As soon as you climb up onto the horse, you cannot help but smile, its a great feeling, being up so high, and being carried by the horse (if it allows you!)

Michael had earlier prepared a picnic basket for the group, cheese, bread, wine (red of course) and peppermint tea! Which we all enjoyed very much so, infact he had also taken a small picnic for the horses too, with lots of bread for the horses to enjoy!

After the riding we collected ourselves and headed for a local cafe in a local village nearby.  After a quick joint outside we tucked into three diffrent types of cake, and of course coffee.  A great end to a great day at the stables.
(Thank you Xena for the experience!)

We started to settle back at Marks shop, organising our beds and bags before the night, it was great that Mark was able to host us, he lives in the back of his shop with Pierre and everything we needed was in close reach, not to mention the abundance of musical instriments!

Lucky Mark's computer was working with my camera and I was able to upload all the pics and videos I had taken in Berlin earlier.  Although his PC is quite powerful and as such soon after I had slipped into my gaming addiction once more!  Installing steam and playing games late into the night, well I have to satisfy my addictions some times eh?!

Still this did have its benifits, as I was able to chat to my brother and mother over the voice chat (while in game, muhaha).  Seems that even though we are on this massive journey I am still able to indulge my gaming, while in Rotterdam I had earlier (at Allons house) finished Call of Duty 4 and now here, I had got my muliplayer fix.

Paz and Cimi meanwhile had left on numerous trips around Berlin, which all kinds of intresting and of course magical experiences were made!  Even recording three more music tracks and burning them onto CD (soon to be linked and uploaded to their myspace etcs)

Passing time at Marks shop, Mark and I had rather alot of intresting conversations (some while rather stoned) and got to know each other well I belive.  He is a massive if not fanatical Didg enthusiast, which comes through in conversations.  Not only does he play the Didg very well (if you havent listened to the link from above, I would suggest so now!) but he also crafts his own Didg's to sell in his shop.  He has a workshop down in the celler, in fact tomorrow I plan to help him out in the contruction of a didg, or at least watch him create one!


Intresting incidents have happened around his shop too, if not quite odd too...
We awoke one day to the sound of his neighbour at the door, appreantly someone had broken into the comunal celler and seemingly robbed some goods, although nothing was missing, and the heating was on.  As they explored the celler, after informing the police, Marks neighbour suddenly spotted someone hidding, still in the celler!  When the police arrived, this man, holding Marks Katana to his own throat threatened the police!  Fortunatly the incident ended with no bloodshed.  Later on it came to light that this man was infact another neighbour of Marks, who had recently broken up with his girlfriend and was kicked out of her flat.  He had broken into the celler and slept there for a night or two, drinking his sorrows (I assume) away, he was also and alchoholic and was in quite a mess.

Soon after this incident, a car across the street then preceded to drive into a passing S-Bahn tram!  Quite an eventful day, even if I didn't leave the house!

Well....its seems I am being interupted here, and dragged from the keyboard, Paz, Cimi, Sacha want me to join them on a trip across the city, destination unknown (as usual!)  and since I have been attached to the computer for quite a time it should be good to get some outside air at the least!

(Pic's and more updates later on!)
Peace