i'm ready to duck, i'm ready to dive, i'm ready to say I'm glad to be alive

If you'll excuse the reference to U2's "Zoo Station" in the title, my excuse is that we've just come back from a weekend in Berlin, which inspired their album Achtung Baby. One of the main stations in Berlin is Zoo Station (actually Station Zoologische Garten) and one of the main lines is U2. But enough trivia...

Berlin is a brilliant city. The history, some proud, some not-so-proud, is so recent and tactile in the city. Our old housemate, Charis, told us Berlin is quite like Melbourne and I've gotta say we agree. It is incredibly cosmopolitan and eating and drinking-friendly. The shops are not chain shops (i.e. the London High Street consisting of Next-H&M-M&S-Tesco-Next-Starbucks-Dorothy Perkins-Accessorize-Next), but smaller, funky shops.

We did some touristy things: we went to the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Berliner Dome (the picture above) and sites of the old wall. We also went to the Jewish museum (which wasn't our cup of tea) and sat for awhile at the holocaust memorial near the Reichstag. The photo to the left is a 300m part of the Berlin wall that was preserved and was given over to artists to put their designs on. These designs vary in content and the artists are from around the world.

But Berlin is less about seeing things (though putting into perspective both the places that Hitler co-ordinated and executed some of his plans and also seeing the remants and legacy of the soviet rule of East Germany is fascinating), and more about experiencing a city that has seen more than its fair share of historic events. As a result, it has been in a state of flux with much of its history still felt in one way or another.

The result is a vibrant city with new buildings, alternative fashion shops, every imaginable type of cuisine and funky bar. It's like a city of Brunswick Streets, only less crowded and even more diverse.

So it's not hard to work out that we thoroughly enjoyed Berlin. It was, however, our last weekend away before we leave London and was therefore our last flight into London for quite some time. Our next flight is away from London, though it will be into the sunny beaches of Croatia which is obviously of some comfort. But it's the end of a season too, the end of weekend-travelling season. Just like at the end of footy season, it provides a tinge of sadness but also the hope of a new season, cricket season (or in our case, long-trip season). Just 3 1/2 weeks left in London then we're off. So much to do to organise our trip and tie up loose ends here but we're getting there slowly. The next big event is of course 12 June: the day that the World Cup kicks off and the day Australia kicks off its WC campaign with a match against Japan. Go you Aussies!

As usual, our photos have been updated. You can see our new Berlin and Venice photos by clicking the link on the right or here.

anniversario numero due

A few weeks back we spent 3 lovely days in Venice for our 2nd wedding anniversary. It was our first trip to Italy and a great one at that. Chris spent a lot of the weekend eating, making his way through the different types of pasta and pizza. I loved the hand made glass jewellery for which Venice is famous. We stayed in an incredible B&B near Piazza di San Marco , one of the nicer areas on one of the nicer islands (there are 112 of them) of Venice. The place was small and each room had a theme. The furniture in the room was antique and we had our breakfast bought to our room each morning. I felt like royalty.

Although we didn't take one of those famous gondola rides (small boats and me don't mix) we got around on water buses, even bumping into a mate from London one night on a bus on the grand canal. We travelled over to the island Murano where the famous glass products are made. It was great watching these two old blokes blow molten glass into incredibly intricate glass products. They both had beer bellies and fags hanging out of their mouths whilst making the glass. They looked like any two old blokes in someones garage. Quite amusing.

The Piazza di San Marco was really beautiful. In it are the Basilica di San Marco and Doge's Palace. They are two massive structures, and the basilica even had a wavy floor from where the ground had settled (and not) so you were constantly walking up and down small hills in the church. We travelled over to the island of Lido (once an island where the rich and famous hung out) which on one side is the lagoon which has most of the Venetian islands, and on the other side is the Adriatic Sea. We sat on the beach and enjoyed the sun, something our pale bodies hadn't seen in quite some time. It was quite amusing how kitch the whole beach set up was with lots of cocktail bars and lounges with attached umbrellas. We cannot wait to get home and see white, clean sand cos we're yet to come across a beach that comes close to rivalling and Aussie beach. We water bussed it back to Lido at night as well to an outdoor restaurant near the ocean we'd seen. Just for a change, Chris loaded up again on pizza and pasta, and we followed it up with gelato.

A lot of Venice is as you see in the movies with narrow canals and old bridges. That aspect was incredible to see but it was also interesting to travel out to the other islands to see where most of the Venetians live, eat and play. They've definitely got the lifestle right with plenty of eating and drinking done. Not long now and we'll be back in Italy for a longer period of time, so hopefully it will be more of the same.