Kunst

At check-in to their new apartment, the guy from the agency mentioned to them that the owner was a German cameraman/filmmaker who travelled a lot.  He would be returning to the flat on the day Dave & Kate were due to check out.

Whether it was the artistic energy, the two Buddha statues, or just the layout of the apartment itself, they immediately felt very comfortable here.  Some places take a little longer to settle into but a few rare ones have that 'right' feel immediately.  It was a lot brighter than the last apartment and had more things in it, plus a raised platform where the couch and coffee table sat and underneath a pull-out double bed.  They had never seen that type of thing before and liked it.

They were now about as far east in the city as you'd want to be without going into the outer districts of Berlin.  A clear sign the next move could only be out of the city itself.  The next sign was when Dave opened the kitchen cupboard and pulled out this mug...

Naturally, a Kaisers supermarket was nearby and now they were really in the heart of east Berlin.  Frankfurter Allee (formerly Stalin Allee under the old regime) was the main shopping street, 2 mins up the road.  They hadn't used a Subway takeaway place since Paris but with everything closed on the Sunday they checked in and no groceries it was there again to get them by.  For the rest of the week they ate potatoes for tea.

Money was just about out (they had enough to last the week) but the prospect of a new influx was promising.  Or so they thought...

The Night Of The Living Dead

On Friday 31st December 2010 Dave & Kate entered Kaisers at 3.10pm to stock up on some groceries for the next few days.  The Zombies were all out buying their zombie juice and each check-out had a queue stretching to the back of the store.  It was 4.20pm before they got out and only 5 mins of that was spent selecting food.

That afternoon their neighbourhood in Friedrichshain resembled a war-zone.  Loud bangs and explosions going off all over the place as the menacing atmosphere of the living dead grew.

Dropping their groceries off at their bunker they made their way through the streets like nervous animals not sure when or where they might be bombed.  MacBeam, the nearby internet cafe they used, was closed so they headed back down the streets.

One moment summed up the collective insanity of the human race.  A grown man walking towards Dave, Kate and another young couple in front, lit up a firecracker, watched them come towards him, threw it on the snow in front of them all and walked past with a manic grin on his face.

Dave, Kate and the young couple stopped, waited for it to explode like a bomb before walking on.  More explosions assaulted their ears as they quickly retreated to the safety of their bunker.  Later that night they watched the madness continue on tv, some guy singing "What A Wonderful Life" in front of the Brandenburg Gate and then David Hasselhoff sing "I've Been Looking For Freedom".  Dave & Kate were too, with the amount of legal explosives going off in the courtyard and all around the neighbourhood.  What a wonderful world.

As they sheltered themselves in their bunker, watching the crowds on tv, the irony didn't escape them that those very people who were setting off explosions and getting all excited about it were probably the same people who would be out on the very same streets again protesting the next war.

Welcome To Berlin - Citadines

When Dave & Kate arrived at Citadines in the Kurfürstendamm area to check in the manager happened to be behind the desk and saw they had booked through a last minute website.  She revealed to them her amazement that she had only just put the offer up that morning when 5 mins later their booking came through.

The offer was so good and all the staff so welcoming it was 4 nights later before they could leave.  Each morning they went down to the lobby to check the internet and each time they saw the offer still on they booked again.  The woman behind the desk was amused by this and they joked about how they were the guests who wouldn't leave.

When the offer ran out and the time came to go, it was the first time Dave & Kate had felt a tinge of sadness at leaving a hotel.  The staff were the friendliest so far, they had Kaisers supermarket across the road and could go down to the lobby to make themselves a free cup of tea or coffee whenever they felt like it.  All of this felt like a real treat.  The Buddha also appeared 3 times within the area.

Before they departed they had a few things they had to do.  First of all, there was no longer any room for Jesus at the Inn and so he had travelled with them from Amsterdam to Hamburg and was now shipped off from Berlin via DHL to Edinburgh where he would eventually be told he didn't look like himself.  Secondly, Dave & Kate felt the time had come to finally abandon their backpacks and buy some suitcases.  They had spotted some in a luggage shop near Zoo Station.

Spending money on new suitcases at this time when they were almost out of cash seemed totally illogical and yet they had to do it.  They may be going back to Edinburgh with the cases but at that time they knew they couldn't go any further forward with the old backpacks, which increasingly represented a weight on their backs.  Why carry a load on your shoulders when you can let the earth take the weight?

The Rasta turtle from World Cafe in Hamburg seemed to think so, showing up next door to Citadines...

And funnily enough, the perfect place to dump their shells was round the corner from Citadines.  Kate had spotted this big charity bin that the backpacks could fit inside.  They zipped them up into their black body bags and disposed of them there.

Hazy Days

Arriving in Amsterdam around 11am and with little sleep, they made their way to the apartment they'd booked from Paris - an upmarket townhouse flat not too far from the Van Gogh museum.  It was bigger than they needed but the only option with a few days to spare.  This time they were glad not to be right in the heart of the city centre.

They met the guy from the agency at check-in, Chris, who had cycled to the apartment to meet them and then had to cycle back and return with the right set of keys.  Nice start but it gave Dave & Kate a chance to pick up some groceries while he was gone.

Chris was a full-on, enthusiastic English guy who had been on his way travelling elsewhere 20 years earlier, arrived in Amsterdam and decided to remain there and live on a houseboat.  Kate was touched when he came round one day with some of his own teabags he'd been sent from England.

Once all checked in and sorted, Dave & Kate slept for a good chunk of the day... and for a good part of their first 4 days in Amsterdam.  They had immediately felt a very different kind of energy here than in Paris and it seemed to be making them very spaced out and hazy.  And that was before anything was smoked.

Yet again, they were thankful for the apartment that had come their way.  There was an Albert Heijn supermarket 5 mins down the road, Vondelpark was 2 mins away, a tram stop right outside the flat (they only used it on arrival and departure) and everything else they needed was close by.

In the apartment they found various Buddha statues, photos of elephants and some spiritual books, including 'A Course In Miracles'.  They never read any but this type of thing would repeat itself and indicate something was going on.

Thursday 7th October 2010 - The Parable of the Raft

The 7th October 2010 turned out to be a pivotal day for Dave & Kate.  Only 4 days in and as they found themselves about to check-out of Citadines, they only had two real options for apartments.  One was down the road, on La Ramblas, a small basic studio flat with no internet acess.  The other was in the Eixample district, which they weren't familiar with but was a little bigger and did have internet access.
As Kate was on the phone to the woman who owned the latter apartment, there was a recognition this was the right one.  It could be heard in Kate's voice during the phone conversation.  They both agreed it had to be this apartment, even if it cost a little more.  The woman's name was Susanna, a Spaniard, who was currently working in Oman (an omen perhaps?).

So they attempted to secure the apartment by emailing Susanna just before they were due to check-out of Citadines when they were hit with internet trouble and couldn't connect.  After check-out they took advantage of the free wi-fi in the lobby to attempt to sort things out but still no luck.

The Raft

They made their way towards Susanna's apartment anyway and Kate tried to reach her on the phone.  Susanna was surprised to find they were just streets away from her apartment when they finally confirmed things and she arranged a cleaner to come and gave them a check-in time.  The only money she wanted in advance was for them to pay the cleaner 30 Euros.  It was the day before they left 3 weeks later before she took any rent from them and she had none of their details other than Kate's first name. 

As they had all their bags with them and nowhere to drop them off, they sat for a few hours on a park bench nearby.  They had been there for over an hour, relaxed in the afternoon sun, when a young man approached them on his bike.  In need of directions and apparently in need of a raft more than them, he didn't bother introducing his friend who was behind them.  In one swift moment they were now without their laptop, U.G. Krishnamurti and a bottle of olive oil. 

The Park Bench

A young woman had also approached them not long before that for directions as they sat in a cafe with their bags around them.  She left with a smile but took nothing.

What is that famous parable of The Buddha, The Parable of the Raft...

The Buddha then asks the listeners a question: “What would you think if the man, having crossed over the river, then said to himself, ‘Oh, this raft has served me so well, I should strap it on to my back and carry it over land now?’”



The monks replied that it would not be very sensible to cling to the raft in such a way.


The Buddha continues: “What if he lay the raft down gratefully, thinking that this raft has served him well, but is no longer of use and can thus be laid down upon the shore?”


The monks replied that this would be the proper attitude.


The Buddha concluded by saying, “So it is with my teachings, which are like a raft, and are for crossing over with — not for seizing hold of.”