Layover at Orio al Serio

If you want to be as glamorous as me and have breakfast in Germany, lunch in Italy and supper in Spain, then being broke and patient always helps!

Because a layover saved us money on our way to Spain and because Ryanair doesn't fly directly to Milan, we found ourselves with a lengthy layover (7 hours) in Bergamo, Italy. Factoring in picking up our luggage, storing it, transport to and from town and checking in for our next flight (not to mention Italian Time), we had about 5 hours to enjoy and explore the town. Having never heard of the place, I instinctively looked into going to Milan but it was much further away and I couldn't get tickets to see the Last Supper. The Duomo will have to wait until next time.

For 3.50€ we purchased a day pass, hopped on bus 1A to the funicular and in less than half an hour, we'd landed in what my father described as a movie set. We stuck to the "Città alta" (upper city) and it's narrow cobble stone streets and extremely old cathedrals. In case we never go to Italy again, we made sure to eat as much stereotypical food as possible ( lasagna, pizza, canoli and gelato), while exclaiming " Mama Mia" as often as possible. Before we left, we watched some kids playing "soccer" in the old town square and tried to recruit them for Team Canada.

It might have been short, but it was sweet and I'd recommend a layover there any time.

Swing and a Miss - My First Visa Application Falls Short

It was an early morning for me. I shuffled all my papers into a folder, printed out a few last minute forms and finally headed out the Ausländerbehörde. All in all the process went pretty smoothly, mostly short waits and luckily the ladies were friendly and spoke English pretty well.

That doesn't mean they were helpful enough to actually give me a visa, or even read all the forms I gave them. After filling out an application and sliding all my papers through the slot under the glass I was under the impression things were going well. A few minutes later they were telling me I had the wrong insurance, didn't have copies of my diplomas, needed letters of reference from past employers, and some form from an architecture institution here that I didn't quite understand. None of these things were mentioned as needed for a visa application. Not to mention the insurance I have is the same plan as a friend of mine has who got a visa a couple weeks ago. The insurance company said many people have used it for visas and all been approved.

The good news is I at least got a three month extension to my current tourist visa - which expired tomorrow - and can email all the other forms as soon as I collect them. Its all about convincing them the health insurance fit their requirements. Here's hoping...

German Visa Hunt

I'm still hot on the trail of the elusive beast they call a visa. Today I sent out my application for health insurance and printed my resume. I already have letters of financial support from family and Kristi. We went yesterday to register our address at the Burgerampt so that's all settled. Now I just need to prove I have adequate funds in my bank account, and set up an apointment to turn in all my paper work. Hopefully they will take the passport sized photos I already have.

Its been a bit of an ordeal. As usual I have left things to the last minute seeing as my tourist visa expires next week but it will work itself out. Always has.

Back in Berlin

Its been a while since our last update here. As always we are busy, working, teaching, designing, writing, hosting friends and exploring the city. Our latest adventure is spelunking our way through the caverns of the German Bureaucracy. I'm slowly gathering the required documentation to apply for a visa so I can legally stay and work. First step is heading to the Burgerampt to register at our new address. Next is finding affordable health care, prooving to the government I have enough money so I won't leach off the social wellfare system and gathering together a portfolio and resume to show I am employable.

Kristi is also changing her registration address and then we are both heading to the volkshochschulen to register for language classes. Lots of running around, too much paperwork, and to top it all off there is rain, sleet and snow falling all at once - not to even mention the freek thunder and lighting that is sporadically filling the seemingly confused Berlin sky.

Hockey Night in Praha

Tickets to a European Championship game run between 10 and 20 Euros (that is a maximum of 30$ Canadian for seats behind the bench). When we got to Prague however, the great Jaromir Jagr was scheduled to be playing and they had completely sold out. Well the Czech Champ got the flu and was unable to play so the scalpers, who were happy to rip us off, were left with plenty of good tickets. My poker face was terrible and my Czech was even worse so I wasn't exactly in a position to bargain.

Still, 20$ got us pretty close to the ice and the action. It was almost like being at an NHL game, complete with a Kiss Cam and Dj Otzi (hey hey baby, oh, ah, I wanna know...will you be my girl?). It seemed like the CR was going to take it, Jagr or no, but just like the trusty Habitants, they got a bunch of terrible penalties, stopped trying and lost what seemed to be a sure win. Interestingly enough, the fans didn't boo the other team. I guess being a jerk in the stands is native to North America. You can Czech out our video from the game on the right hand side of the page, where we will be posting all our videos.

In other hockey news, we managed to tap into CBC's live broadcast of Hockey Day in Canada to watch the Montreal Ottawa game. More on this and some pictures at berlinbabel.blogspot.com

Pragueduct Placement

That's right, the puns are endless when it comes to our latest trip. Only 5 hours away from Berlin, Prague was a very convenient and relatively inexpensive getaway. The skies stayed gray the entire time but it was worth it for the lack of tourists and excuse to duck into a pub. Czech out our Prague Top Ten list (non-architectural) . . .

10. Přebalovna. Seriously that was a sign at a kid's park , what could it possibly mean? Naked Sasquatche with frog puppet zone?

9. Sausage and lots of it.

8. The marketing of Franz Kafka

7. Breweries on every corner with pints of tasty beer in them.

6. Veselá Kráva (la Vache Qui Rit!)

5. Dumplings. But not the traditional Czech ones that are mostly just boiled bread dough with a few bits of stuff mixed in. We are talking delicious Hungarian dumplings that we found in a great little café (thanks Nazia). Filled with potatoes onions and topped with sour cream and spicy Hungarian sausages. So maybe that doesn't belong here but our week long quest to find the perfect dumpling proved fruitful. Or should I say potatofull...

4. Sculptures of Babies crawling up Žižkov Television Tower (It's a David Černý thing that is supposed to be representative of the teenagers who make babies in the park below the tower.)

3. Czech Hockey. Watch for the video of the Czech vs Finland game we attended in search for some replacement Habs. There were more Hadamcziks and Slavomirs than we knew what to do with. Try taunting a goalie who's last name has letters in it that you've never even seen before! It was also our friend Nazia's first live Hockey game.

2. Tram rides through the narrow city streets. The winding streets of the old city were particularly captivating as the sun set and the lights slowly twinkled on.

and the number one things we liked about Prague is...

1. Lentilky (derived from Latin, which is unusual in a Slavic country - Len being the Latin for a bean and of course ilky from milky = Smarties being a milky bean. An apt description of a tasty candy.)

Prague and Joy

So it's been a while since I last posted here. We have settled into our apartment have made many trips to Ikea and I've mailed even more applications to firms around Berlin. Nazia came to visit for a few days, from London and I gave her a little architecture tour of Berlin. She then convinced Kristi and I to take a trip to Prague for Kristi's week off school. Nazia was supposed to meet us on the Monday after returning to London for the weekend. Unfortunately i freak snow storm blanketed England with a sheet of snow making Nazia 3 days late in joining us. But she saddled up to the hotel on Thursday morning and proceeded to show us a great time. She got us a free apartment for a couple of days from her former boss and had us sharing dinner with an old co-worker. Prague was wonderful and you haven't heard the last of it. Kristi is going to tell the story of our hockey experience and post some videos. We will also upload some new slide shows.

market to market

We are pleased to announce the addition of mini movies to our site. We will be adding a video (hopefully weekly) to show you our travels as well as continue to write about them. Please bear with us, we are just amateurs! If you actually click on it, it will bring you to youtube and you can watch full screen.

This one shows a market down the street from our apartment in Berlin that we like to visit every Sunday. Though we haven't purchased anything as useless as traffic lights yet, we do bring home treasures on occasion...

Fire in the Hole

Located in Friedrichshain, our flat is on the ground floor of a large apartment building that encloses a courtyard. Within you will find, among the bikes and baby carriages and a tall tree, a series of large dumpsters for compost, recyclables and of course trash. We haven't yet figured out how the bins are emptied (the only access to the courtyard is through regular sized doors in the buildings) or when they are emptied (seems infrequent so far as they are all overflowing with junk). However, we are hoping that it will happen soon.

Last night, we were discussing this issue with our new roommates when we happened to glance outside and see one of the dumpsters fully ablaze. The fire soon engulfed a second dumpster and almost spread to a third. Personally, I blame the woman who empties her ashes in the paper container, as apparently these fires happen several times a year. I continued to watch from inside as the others ran out to inhale the plastic fumes. Lucas said the flames were awe-inspiring and the molten plastic was glowing blue, but I think he was a little delirious from the phthalates. My highlight of the evening was meeting the German firemen and of course getting rid of all that carefully sorted paper and cardboard.

Itching to Move

Berlin has been home for almost two weeks now. We have settled into the new apartment, unpacked our stuff and made piles of clothes and books in all the corners of our small room. Luckily we are moving to a bigger room in a week and will be able to spread out, invest in some nice furniture, organize all of our stuff and do some minor renovations.

Berlin is cold - halfway between Montreal cold and Albany cold. Either way, its colder than we expected but we are adapting nicely.