I did it. I made it. I’m happy and a little bit sad. Already nostalgic but also relieved. Never thought that I would make it through the 60 days. I’ll still watch you. Thank you.

Congratulations LICHTENBERG! People do constantly underestimate you. You’re big, not the biggest district in Berlin but yet very big. You have the highest buildings and the most beautiful towers. Your parks are wide, your streetcars silent. And what’s more: you got the Dong Xuan Center! I like you. [more]

German TV does not broadcast Tuesday’s Champions League matches. (I know I mentioned this before)  And still!: Every Tuesday I check all the channels––in hope. Yet after another unsuccessful attempt I searched for a live stream on the net. And found everything but soccer: You can earn $8000 [more]

Tonight they show a documentary about animals in South Africa on TV. Every time I come across an animal documentary I get stuck. Unable to switch channels ever again and immediately stop everything else I am doing. Usually I am a multi-tasker, especially while watching TV. I have [more]

I was until 7am at Wilde Renate because I didn’t remember how old I am by now. The lovely Tills were there. Now I sit in a huge Sessel and watch Tatort. I did it my way. (Mäx was there)

How to upskill staff.

The Picabia Series, Part II

The Picabia Series, Part I

Trying to figure out where to watch today’s soccer match between the FC Bayern and Berlin’s Hertha BSC I seriously considered getting Sky, the Pay-TV. It seemed awkward and I went to the organic supermarket instead. It felt like time traveling. Was I gone for too long? Is [more]

This morning i felt so bad i couldn’t get out of bed. A sharp throbbing pain in my head, a sore throat. The first thing I was thinking of was the Stuck in my office, that’s it, that must be the reason. The Stuck made me sick or [more]

What is it about Stuck in Berlin ? Stuck, coming from the italian Stucco, a decorative coating for walls and ceilings. Entering an apartment in Berlin, everybody would first comment the Stuck, if there is some or not, if it’s beautiful, apparently it’s always beautiful, I never heard somebody [more]

Is Markus Lanz the lost son of Howard Carpendale? They do look very similar and they have the same amount of humor (none). Strangely enough in the Lanz show everybody was laughing when one of them was saying something. A really intimate and touching talk on TV tonight. [more]

I didn’t want to write about gin and tonic. It is my favorite drink, I know why, I don’t need to talk about it. Maybe some day I’ll tell you but at the moment I’m afraid that by putting words on it I will no longer enjoy my [more]

I was invited to this  Gala Dinner: The opening of a center for art and culture, the first and only one in Beverly Hills. The guest-list was very impressive: Brad Pitt, Robert Redford, Jodie Foster, Kevin Spacey and so forth. I was well prepared, beautiful dress, incredibly high [more]

Late at night, after a 13 hour flight I finally arrived at my hotel, too tired to realize were exactly I was. The only thing I knew was that I’m somewhere in Los Angeles. I woke up at 6 am, wide-awake I stepped onto the balcony. The view [more]

On the train from Biarritz to Paris after the three-day-wedding-marathon. Exhausted, empty, hungry. It is a new TGV (train grande vitesse), a high speed train. The interior design changed recently, the colors and the shape of the seats. To me they look like orange and violet shark tails now. [more]

Why are weddings so different to any other parties? People are doing things they would normally be ashamed of. They are loud, they are shouting, they come up with really stupid jokes as if everything would be permitted. Just for this very short time. The main goal is [more]

Thousand liters of champagne, wine and spirits, hysterical women, men loosing all their finesse. Why are people at weddings turning into something strange?    

Finally in Paris the first thing I did was going to my favorite shopping mall Le Bon Marché, Bourgeois Culture and Department Store, founded in 1838 and then enlarged by a new building designed by Gustav Eiffel in 1869. Not comparable to Galerie Lafayette or Le Printemps. It [more]

Not only French men are dramatic, the whole city of Paris is a constant drama, at least for me. Every time I arrive something unpleasant happens. Mostly it’s the RER the French pendant to the German S-Bahn (English: commuter trains). My favorite topic. Either the conductors are striking [more]

It starts at the airport, more precisely at the boarding gate for the evening flight to Paris. Men suddenly do look better. And they look at you, they even look into you eyes. First I was irritated. Is there something on my face, maybe salad from the sandwich [more]

Packing my suitcase once more turns out as exceedingly difficult. This time it is even more complicated as I’m going to three different locations with very different weather situations for four different events. I’m sitting in front of my luggage right now taking a little break thinking it [more]

In my yesterday’s post I mentioned this important soccer match, only shown on Pay-TV. So I had to leave the house to watch it. No way I would miss the match. All soccer bars are smokers bars. Like the one I went to. Everybody was smoking. Me too. [more]

Today is the last day of the Oktoberfest and a big day in the Bundesliga. BAYER vs BAYERN. The second against the third. It’s been nearly a year now that Bayern Munich has lost a game in the German League for the last time. It was on October [more]

& Marcel Broodthears #2 Die Crise?… ein Traum

“Moi aussi, je me suis demandé si je ne pouvais pas vendre quelque chose et réussir la vie. Cela fait un moment déjà que je ne suis bon à rien. Je suis âgé de quarante ans…” “Me too, I asked myself if I could not sell something and [more]

Today I understood why I love this little car2go smart car so much. Not only that it’s talking to me, it actually got the voice of K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Two Thousand). The exact same voice (german voice)! I winced. Of course, that’s it. Remember, Knight Rider. My first [more]

On Spiegel online I read today that Christian Lindner from the FDP (Free Democratic Party) got a hair transplant. I didn’t notice, but it seems true. He does look better now. A far better hairjob than Berlusconi’s. Better than Gerhard Schröder’s dyed hair too. I wonder if the [more]

why are you doing this to me? What’s happening? I was always there for you. I stood in for you, in every dispute. I celebrated you for your youth, your style, your Tennis, for being the first German to be naked on the cover of der Stern with [more]

For the first time in my life I entered a one-euro-shop. Although there has always been a certain fascination, I have never dared to enter. Doing a first step is falling on the other side, I imagined. Into the world of the Spießer, (the English translation is bourgeois [more]

This afternoon I had to walk through Berlin Mitte to pick up food I ordered. China City on Leipzigerstraße probably already existed in the GDR, like the one just opposite: Vietnamese Palace. Huge, empty and excessively decorated temples. Online, I looked at the vegetarian choices straightaway. #135, the [more]

It is 3:30 am, I have to get up in five hours, I’m working tomorrow, on a Saturday, it’s cruel, I should go to bed now, but I’m still trying to write something. The fear of the little empty white squares (leerpost) is stronger than the fear of [more]

This morning in the S-Bahn: Six girls around the age of 16  (which is quite hard to guess with young people today)  were sharing seats. First they sat on each other’s knees and tried a few different positions before squeezing in next to each other. Three girls on [more]

I went home a little earlier today. It’s funny to see how different the crowd is at a different time. I found myself in the S-Bahn (of course where else?) in the middle of a group of workers. Real workers. Like from this famous picture made during the [more]

I drove through Berlin today. To the far East. Listening to the radio. It was grey and it was raining. I haven’t been listening to German radio for years. They played commercials, I don’t remember what for. It doesn’t make any difference. It’s about the jingles. They were [more]

There are those moments where it all seems to go wrong. It starts by missing the metro for example. That was the beginning of my circle of non-functioning. Then, after I had missed the S-Bahn by seconds, the other trains were cancelled for some reason. Later on the [more]

Art Week Berlin: Gin&Tonic and fake boobs Oktoberfest Munich: Starkbier and real boobs

The Berlin Art Week started yesterday with a kind of small Oktoberfest on Auguststrasse in Mitte. The street was full of people, nearly impossible to walk through and  impossible to enter one of the galleries. It looked like the Love Parade, but it didn’t feel like it. I [more]

I was always wondering what kind of people would buy the TV-Programm Magazines. No, actually I thought they wouldn’t exist anymore, probably since the 1990’s, or if they still existed that at least nobody would actually buy them or read them. Until today. One of those people still [more]

I’ve been in a place today, a place so sad it almost made me cry. Carpet Land Berlin. I was looking for a red carpet, like the kind you see at movie premiers or the oscars, but just not red. I wanted a red carpet in navy blue. [more]

I landed at Tegel Airport at 11pm. No way I could take the S-Bahn. Too late, too tired. So I took a taxi. I was looking at the different cars and drivers standing outside their vehicles. This time I wanted to make sure to have a nice car [more]

A breeze of Bratwurst lays upon the whole city. Market stalls are set up everywhere. Even the tiniest little places are filled with stands in which traditional dressed people sell useless crafted wooden things or organic Bratwurst. People are wearing funny things but are absolutely serious about it. [more]

Today I didn’t take the S-Bahn, I took the plane. Berlin – Munich. I was sitting at the bar close to the boarding gate. I had red wine. I like airports and especially their bars. It is a kind of nomansland. I always feel like i’m about to [more]

Everybody is complaining about the fact that people are not reading, especially young people, especially books, nobody is reading anymore. But this is just not true. At least not in the S-Bahn. This morning a man was sitting in front of me and he was reading a book. [more]

I discovered my new breakfast place getting out of the S-Bahn this morning. Wines, Spirits, Breakfast. Berlin Moabit.

There was this man. He wore a hat, a good hat, made out of straw but such a perfect cut that made it look incredibly elegant. A very light blue shirt, a pastel green jacket and beige fading into grey trousers. Even the shoes, light brown classic brogue, [more]

This morning I took the S-Bahn (like the metro but partly above ground). As I was very tired––too much Mosel-Champagne yesterday, which was Christopher Roth’s and Georg Diez’s fault––and not in the best mood after walking ten minutes through the rain, I just wanted to sit down not [more]