Where Do The Children Play?

Germany has the best playgrounds in the world. Okay, so I haven't exactly researched this fact very well, and being half-German I'm probably more than a little biased but I'll be damned if I didn't have the most fun childishly skipping, swinging and sliding since, well, being a child.

An Asterix and Obelix playground in Bad Vilbel, Frankfurt.

By the Wasserturm in Berlin.

A giant flying fox in Tiergarten, Berlin.

Addicted

Mmm... Clothes by the kilo. My favourite kind of clothes. I found Garage, on Ahornstraße, to be the best for Berliner vintage. The clothes were relatively inexpensive (if you stuck to the by-the-kilo bit) and if you spent enough time in there, you could be sure to find a few bits and bobs to delight and satisfy your craving. Because everyone has clothes cravings, right? Or is it just me? Like, don't tell my therapist or anything but when I don't go charity shopping for more than two or three days I start to go a bit mad. Okay, not a bit mad, kind of totally crazy, agitated, bored. Go on Tuesdays when it's happy hour (for two hours from 11am) when you only pay €10 per kilo.


I contentedly bounced around the city the next day, dressed up in a well loved fraction of my finds.

Shirt and leggings, both paid by the kilo from Garage.
Patent shoes: From Mauerpark Flohmarkt, a bustling market in Prenzlauer Berg.
Sunnies and bag, both from Eastbourne Charity shops. The sunnies only set me back 50p. Good thing too, considering how many times I have dropped them in the past month.

Robot Rock

Top: Customised from an Eastbourne charity shop find. Black wet look leggings: Primark
White leggings: Pay by the kilo vintage store in Berlin, I cut the holes myself.
Patent shoes: From the flea market in Mauerpark, Berlin. Necklace: Ipod

Okay so I thought if maybe I looked like a robot and wore all robot-y things then this might not turn into a blog post about cats. Yeah, well I was wrong. Today I had to go to the doctor to kindly ask him for lots and lots of Codeine and along the way this black cat started running across the street and meowing at me. Like, really meowing. So I sat by him and pet him for a few minutes (but then I had to go because the call of the Codeine was louder than the call of the cat.) And, honestly, the way this cat came running up makes me pretty sure that I'm becoming notorious amongst the Eastbourne cat society for scratching cats behind the ear. They all know me now. If this is the last you hear of me you might want to just assume that I got consumed by a herd of meowing, nuzzling cats. Seriously.

Also, being a robot for a day was totally awesome and, although Mr. Ford did compare me to someone out of Starlight Express (not exactly the high point of my fashion career), it still comes highly recommended.

Flowers On The Wall

East Side Gallery is a deteriorating stretch of the Berlin Wall (or Berliner Mauer) that currently stands as the largest open air gallery in the world. According to Wikipedia, anyway. Approximately 106 artworks by artists from all over the world adorn the old barrier. Some political, some whimsical but almost all entirely hopeful. While I didn't write on or chip away at the wall as so many tourists seem to do, I touched it. Like, actually totally touched it.

Necktie: Just some lace from C&H Fabrics
Check shirt: From Garage, this super cool pay-by-the-kilo vintage place in Berlin.
Skirt: Vintage shop in Paris

99 Luftballons

Tomorrow, I meet Spain. I'm staying in Santander, right by the beach. We'll only have a short time to get acquainted though, just three or four days, before I fly off to say a big 'Hallo!' to Germany. A week in Frankfurt followed by a week and a bit in Berlin. If any of you lovely folks have any recommendations of things to see or places to go that you'd like to share, or know of any cool (non-techno) nights, leave a comment or send me an email. I do love a good email.

So, there we have it, unless I come across the internet for more than a fleeting minute here and there during our adventures, I won't post until we get back. Tschuss!

Nena

P.S. If I come back with a perm, you know who to blame. More likely however, is that I'll just overdose on '80s clothes. In the words of badmongo0 (a commenter on the 99 Luftballons video on Youtube), "The '80s were the shit." Well said, badmongoo, well said.