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travel

A Conclusory Note on Bonn

June 30, 2011 – 4:40 am
Michael Reichel liked this post

Good times and good friends

Good times and good friends

This morning marks the beginning of our last two days in Bonn. This past week for both of us has been filled with erratically sleepless nights, the stress of exams and final assignments (for him, at least – I simply experience it along with him), frantic closing up of our (mostly his) business here, and disorderly packing. Today, he writes his second last exam (his final is to be done from the university in Greece), then we finish up our packing, have an inspection that will allow us to move out tomorrow morning, and then head off to a small going-away party with the friends we’ve made here, and one from Toronto who only arrived at the beginning of June for a 3 month internship.

The lull this morning between appointments allows me a few moments to reflect on my short time here. While I didn’t quite get into the city as much as I would have liked to – on my way here, I’d had dreams of networking and meeting loads of new contacts, obtaining freelance contracts gallore from businesses needing an English-speaking (or even just competent) web designer, and learning German so well I could do all of this in German. Needless to say, none of that happened. With all our weekend trips off to explore new places, there was barely a moment to breathe in between each train trip. And the past month I did, thankfully, have some old clients come back to me with new requests for work – something that I always look forward to, but simply can’t rely on. It’s too sporadic.

A final romantic dinner in Bonn

A final romantic dinner in Bonn

I haven’t even been able to finish my entry about our second day in Berlin – I will, but after that, I think I shall leave the rest of our weekend trips to the realm of fond memory, where they belong. To go through each one moment by moment seems a little useless, at this stage, as I’ve forgotten most of the details I probably would have enjoyed pointing out. Instead, I may touch upon them in future entries as part of another subject. Rest assured, however, I will certainly post about yarn shops in other cities – I’ve got London and Cologne lined up, right now. I sadly won’t be attempting to do a yarn crawl in Amsterdam, what with us having precisely one day and night there before we must head to the airport for 6 am on Sunday (yeah, you read that right – the moment the party we’re flying to Amsterdam for, Sensation White ends, we have to be at the airport – that’s right, we live large!) to head to Frankfurt and then on to Greece. Yarn crawl just won’t happen.

But, back to Bonn. In the early mornings, I often find the morning hustle and bustle of businesses opening, delivery men dropping off mountains of packages to retailers, shopkeepers cleaning their stores, and people heading to work to be a strange sort of immediate momentary comfort, rather than symptoms of the massive problem of consumption that threatens to wipe out our entire world in these times. I think in this case, it’s because I’m an outsider – I’m neither a solid part of the work-a-day, live-to-work, work-to-live world, nor a total consumer, constantly buying things I may or may not need, for social status and the thrill of obtaining new things (though some may challenge that stance).

On my walk to downtown Bonn this morning, I came across the recent aftermath of a terrible motorcycle accident. The bike itself was totalled, a helmet sat upright on the curb with seemingly no damage to it, blood amongst the broken glass on the road. The driver was not to be seen; an ambulance flashed its lights over the scene below and I pondered whether that was a sign the driver was already dead, thinking there would be no ambulance if he weren’t.

I won't miss the cold, wet weather

I won't miss the cold, wet weather

I may be an outsider in Bonn, indeed, everywhere I go – but that doesn’t mean that what’s around me isn’t real, as it sometimes feels to me when I wander through it. The accident brought me back to reality a little bit, and made me reflect on the coming potential dangers in Greece.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m really looking forward to going there. We’ll be on Crete, an island quite far from Athens, so I’m confident we won’t run into any issues. But it’s certainly interesting to head to a volatile country where anything could happen. I’ve been to one place like that before; now I’m heading to another. My intuition isn’t giving me any warnings, and I’m pretty sure I’m not just confusing it with excitement. I’m really, really looking forward to sand under my toes once again – this is something I crave, frequently. Not just that, but the warm, salt water of the sea or the ocean… it’s going to be fantastic for my skin. And, hopefully my weight… without all the wursts, schnitzel, croissants and beer of Germany, and with the extreme heat of Greece in July, I should be able to shed the developing spare tire that currently threatens my horrifyingly close impending 30s with a permanent residency. I did a quick search for “Yoga” in the area we’ll be staying in, but the only result that seemed even closely legit on Google Maps turned out to be a yoga centre in Ireland. Yeah, I have no idea why it said it was on Crete.

In any case, I should get going. This was not at all what I set out to do this morning at Starbucks, and now it seems I’m running out of time and must head back to the room soon to finish packing. As always, thanks for reading.

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travel

Weekend in Berlin: Day 1

June 8, 2011 – 11:53 am

Entrance to the nhow Hotel in Berlin

Entrance to the nhow Hotel in Berlin

On Friday, the 13th of May, we took off for a weekend trip to Berlin. We got up early, packed some trendy gear into a small suitcase and backpack, and headed off to the Bonn Hauptbanhof. We got on our train, and settled into an open seat with a table and a power plug, and began our respective robotics coding and surfing for freelance design gigs.

A couple of hours into the 5-hour train ride, we were informed by another passenger that our seats were going to be taken by the person who’d reserved them from the upcoming stop to Berlin, so we gathered up our things and prepared to move. Without realising just how packed the train was going to be from this point on, we failed to procure new, unreserved seats before the train filled up and people were left standing or sitting in hallways. This being our first train ride of any length across Germany, we had no idea that this was going to happen. Our intended 5 hours of peaceful internet surfing and work-doing was now completely out of the question. We sat on the floor in a quiet hallway and ate the food we had carefully packed, all the while staring at the tops of the trees we could see going by through the windows that looked out upon the passing countryside above us. Later, our lower backs were hurting, and we realised there was more than one reason to reserve a seat on a train ride longer than 2 hours…

Lesson learned, we decided to procure reservations for a trip home, and that we did. If you’ve never traveled across Germany in a train before, be forewarned: you will need to reserve a seat if you’re anything more than a teenager, with either work to do or a bad back – and it’s worth the extra couple of Euros. And be further forewarned: the only seats that have power outlets on these trains (ICE trains, that is), are the ones that seat four facing one another and have a table in the middle. So, if you’re reserving and need an outlet, ask to reserve this seating arrangement.

In any case, we arrived in Berlin, ready to take on the city. We went to our hotel, nhow Berlin, and checked in, in awe of the beautifully designed interior, art directed by Karim Rashid (the designer of the Umbra line of products, and countless other products and building interiors). Focused on music and sound, the hotel was located just steps away from Universal’s Berlin headquarters, probably an indication that famous musicians stay here frequently. They had a recording studio in the hotel, guitars and amps available to check out into the rooms, a way to hook up instruments and other music playing items to the in-room media centre, and a bar/gallery/event space on the main floor that probably hosted many a high-end, celeb-filled evening (though I can’t say for certain). In any case, it felt pretty darn neat to be in the shadows of such probable greatness, even though our room was definitely on the cheaper end (it was small, all things considered – though that would be my ONLY complaint – the interior was gorgeous, it was incredibly clean, and – dare I say – the bathroom itself was sexy).

After checking into the hotel, it was mid-afternoon, so we decided to head downtown, orient ourselves and check out Mitte – Berlin’s fashion district. We stopped at Alexandreplatz, a large square on the edge of Mitte, and got ourselves a massive bratwurst and a large mug of beer to enjoy in the afternoon sun. It was cool and windy, but the food warmed us up and gave us the edge we needed to continue our exploration.

At this point, I started looking out for a couple of yarn shops I’d seen on Google maps. We saw a sign for one, but didn’t understand it and missed the shop on this first pass. We also missed the other yarn shop on the first pass – they can be quite difficult to find!

We wandered around and saw the edge of Berlin’s Really Important Buildings and Monuments district, but we planned to spend Saturday fully exploring all that stuff, so we only passed by. We eventually found ourselves on another outer edge of Mitte, full of sidewalk restaurants. Along this strip, we stumbled across Mask World, and had to reign ourselves in substantially so we wouldn’t cave and buy both a gorgeous pair of large, white feather wings (for an event coming up, which I shall blog about later), nor this gorgeous, metal Venetian mask (it was cheaper in store actually – $50 cheaper! kicking myself now…).

We kept wandering and stumbled across an adorable wine cellar (Der Weinkeller) nestled into the basement of an old-fashioned building. Staffed by a sole, immaculately dressed man, he welcomed us and seemed a little surprised by our stepping into the musky, damp, dimly-lit cellar. We oohed and awed over the wares, and the man asked if he could help us choose a wine. Misha said we’d like to spend about 10-15 € on a bottle of red. He pulled out a bottle from Italy, explaining it’s not too sweet of a flavour, and it should satisfy what we’re looking for. He emphasised, with a somewhat nervous look in his eye (as if he thought we may not follow his instruction) that this wine must be uncorked and left for an hour, in order for the flavour to come out its finest. Indeed, when we later uncorked the wine, we were both a little horrified by the vinegary flavour of it, until I remembered his instructions. Uncertain, we left it out for an hour and sure enough, it “ripened” and became surprisingly palatable – and our first fine wine-buying experience turned out a success. I understood now why the nervous look in the proprietor’s eye as he handed the bottle over to us – “Will these young kids really understand and remember my instruction? I hope they are not turned off fine wine forever!” We giggled a little about this and finished up our lucky find.

We continued along this little back street, and next found ourselves in front of a cute little cafe / restaurant. We decided to stop in here, as it was beginning to get late and we were both experiencing growling stomachs by now. We sat down to a menu of traditional, home-style German food, and by the end were quite satisfied with our meal. You can read my review of Restaurant und Bar Keyser soze here – check it out next time you’re in Mitte.

On our wander back to the hotel, we came across Moni Novy Berlin, a local fashion designer’s shop. I’m now kicking myself for not getting something from there – it all just looked so high-end, and expensive! (It wasn’t.)

After our weekend in Berlin, and our couple of jaunts to Mitte, I now completely understand why Fluevog would dedicate a pair of shoes to the district, and definitely have to get myself a pair (soon as the price drops again).

You can view our photo albums of Berlin here (mine) and here (Misha’s).

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knitting travel

Yarn shops in Bonn

May 20, 2011 – 6:23 am

I arrived in Bonn, Germany just over two weeks ago now. This small town is really beautiful, full of European styling in its architecture, and populated by a lot of easygoing, mild-mannered people whose day-to-day lives seem to be filled with wandering around aimlessly, shopping, drinking beer on patios (but not getting rowdy drunk like you see in North America – not as much anyway), and kids. Having gotten used to the nearly free-from-children city of Toronto, it’s almost shocking to see so many young families with babies in their arms or in carriages, and toddlers running around everywhere. Each couple has at least two. Apparently there is some sort of baby bonus or something, which encourages people to procreate. In light of this, I find it amusing just how many lingerie shops adorn the cute, cobble-stone lined streets here as well – it’s almost like they’re in cahoots with the government to encourage baby-making.

In my time here, I’ve come across two yarn shops. As far as I can tell from KnitMap.com and Google Maps, these are the only two knitting shops in Bonn, though it’s possible I’ve missed other shops that do sell yarn amongst other things.

Wolle Rödel

Wolle Rödel - BonnLocated at Bonngasse 9, 53111 in downtown Bonn, this is the first yarn shop I came across here. It’s small, cute and organised well for such a small space. I was immediately drawn to a couple of drawers displaying small, shiny balls of microfibre yarn in deliciously bright colours – with a SALE sign next to them, marking them as available for €0.95 (even after conversion, that’s still only $1.31 CAD, which is pretty amazing). I immediately grabbed a ball of this brilliant turquoise colour which, for anyone who knows me, should come as no surprise. I also picked up two balls of the black in that same yarn, thinking that might be enough to make some cute small item. Total? $3.93 CAD, NO TAX, thankyouverymuch. Not bad, considering you can’t get a single ball for less than that (and it would be the crappiest yarn you’ve ever touched) back in Toronto.

Later, I browsed the Ravelry database for a pattern with which I could use my new microfibre yarn. I immediately fell in love with the, coincidentally, German-only pattern for this Asymmetrisches Top from Verena Knitting, Sommer 2009 (which I ordered from the Verena Stricken website, and which came 2 days later). Sadly, I couldn’t find the pattern in English, so now I have to harrass the poor German knitters on Ravelry for help throughout the enitre pattern. I hope I don’t get in trouble for essentially posting the entire thing online as I ask for help :P But seriously, someone should have translated the pattern into English by now! I DID buy the German magazine, which to be honest, is completely useless to me at this point. Thankfully, someone has pointed me to this dictionary of German-English knitting terms, so perhaps that will be of some use.

After obtaining the pattern, I realised I needed 3 more balls of this yarn in order to be able to knit up the smallest size available. I went back to the store, fully intending on making the top out of the blue colour, and using the black as the accents along the top and the middle of it. However, when I returned, their entire stock of this microfibre yarn had been emptied out into a large bin in the front of the store, and I frantically searched for my beloved, shiny turquoise. I found ONE ball of it left, and not in the same dye lot as the original one I’d bought. My heart sank, but I was grateful to at least have found this one ball – I can, therefore, knit the top in black, and use the blue as the accent. Not what I really wanted to do, but at this point, there wasn’t much of a choice. For the price of the yarn, I didn’t want to have to search for it elsewhere and end up paying $5 a ball. I can swallow the minor disappointment. Just goes to show, when you find a yarn you love for a price that can’t be beat – snatch it all up then and there, don’t wait a week!

In any case, I’ve rambled on a long way from the topic of the Wolle Rödel store – it’s small, cute, well-organised and filled with lots of brightly coloured, varied types of yarns you may or may not find in your local yarn shop back home. Definitely go check it out if you’re ever in Bonn. Maybe they’ll have something on sale for super cheap!

Visit the Wolle Rödel website

Lana Grossa

Lana Grossa - BonnA few days after finding the Wolle Rödel store, I did a search on Google for other yarn shops in the area. The only other one that I could find was this Lana Grossa store, located at Friedrichstr. 22, 53111, also in downtown Bonn. Only a few steps (but a couple of windy streets) away from Wolle Rödel.

Fully intending to enter the store and browse for a while, and with the desire to inquire about the Verena Stricken, Sommer 2009 issue (hoping they’d have it in store, so I wouldn’t have to order online), I entered this store on the first morning I found myself without my much more German-language-competant partner, hoping to show off my own language skills. I walked in and noted that there was no one in the store. This suited me just fine – I much prefer browsing small shops without the pressure of sales associates staring down my back, waiting for me to pocket some small item. I walked along one wall, when a tall, stern woman emerged from the back room. “Right,” I thought, “of course – she probably has a camera back there watching customers who come in and out, to make sure no one steals. That’s fine.” But as she emerged, she made strong eye contact and said “Guten tag” in a very serious manner. My inner little girl immediately shrank from her commanding presence and I sputtered “Allo!” at her, and she looked at me questioningly. I said, “Spre…cken… zee… English?” “Eine bissen. What do you want?” I’m sure she caught the relief on my face as she continued to stare sternly at me. My weak stutter continued. “I’m looking for the magazine, Verena Knitting, Summer 2009 – do you have it?” “Verena… Knitting?” I nodded. “No.” A slight tug began to pull at one side of her face. “Okay… thank you!” I turned around and practically ran out the door, waves of embarrassment about how terribly I handled that interaction flowing over me as I tried to pretend like I wasn’t interested in the rest of the store.

Horrible! I want to go back and browse some more, but I’m terrified the woman will be there again and worse – that she’ll remember me! I don’t know, perhaps in a few weeks I’ll go back and take a look around. Perhaps by then she’ll have forgotten the nervous, silly little girl standing in front of her asking for a German knitting magazine when she can barely speak German herself.

From what I did see of the store, however, their stock seemed to be a little less brightly coloured, a little bit older and dustier, and mostly oriented towards winter knitting, rather than a variety of light to heavy yarn weights, appropriate for all seasons. However, I don’t want to be unfair to the store when I didn’t really have a chance to fully explore it. I shall post again when I’ve had a better look around at their wares.

Visit the Lana Grossa, Bonn, website

[June 29, 2011 Edit: I've since returned to the Lana Grossa store here twice in the past 3 weeks. My first impressions were completely incorrect - they have a huge stock of new, summer yarns, many of them organic, all of them just absolutely beautiful. They had a sign in their store up to last week for sure, that said "30% off!" - that's right, 30%! That is a HUGE discount - and it applied to all the yarn in the front of the store. There was a small shelf in the back it did not apply to, and I believe those were winter yarns, probably newer stock. I spent a lot of cash there - they have yet, as they explained to me, to get a phone line installed for taking card transactions. I also don't know if the sale is still on. I daren't return, for fear of spending even more hefty sums of cash, when we must save the rest of what we have for the trip to Greece. All in all, it seems a bright, friendly place with beautiful yarns to explore. I really do love the Lana Grossa line. Definitely go check them out!]

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