Sunday, 21 July 2013

Party night with the gang

Mama and Papa had left me alone all day and I was feeling lonely. It's not unusual for them to go out and leave me home, but they were gone for fucking ages. I worry about them. I was happy when they got home and told me I was coming out with them for party night.

First stop was off to Tom & Danikas place to meet up and grab a drink. Then we got the train to Kreuzberg to get some dinner. Everyone had a roadie from the Spätkauf (late night shop) which is totally legit in Berlin.


Dinner was at Hühnerhaus, literal translation 'Chicken House' and it sells chicken. Duh. This was a good meal and everyone was giving me sneaky feeds under the table.



After dinner we walked to a bar / restaurant which is on the river spree called the Freischwimmer. It was a bit of a walk so I got photos with everyone on the way.


With the walk still in progress it was time for a rest at another Spätkauf for refills. I sat outside with Danika.


And had some laughs with Jack.


And then got the group shot outside the Späti once everyone had reloaded.


Not long after that we were at the Freischwimmer. We got seated quickly on the tables that run along the river. The waitress immediately got my drink first - she know's who is most important.


The night was going great, and me and Papa had some laughs...


And me and Jack were back at it again playing drinking games.


Then it was getting a bit silly. If you can't read it, Papa's watch says 1:17am.


It was getting late for me so I went back to ground level to re-hydrate...


And pass out.


We left the Freischwimmer and I took a moment to look over the Spree river at the Oberbaumbrücke.


Then I thought, Hey Gang, lets get a photo here!


And then I thought, maybe the buskers want photos with me too, like these guys...


And this guy....


It was late now...like too late for me. I was fucking tired. Time to go home.


It was a magic night. I can't remember how I got home :)

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Sharon and Ross visit

So - we have all been looking forward to seeing Sharon and Ross.

They came to see us here in Berlin as they started on a European holiday. When they got here Mama and Papa went to see them, brought them back to my place so I could say hi and then we went for a walk.

Typically it fucking rained as soon as we left the house. This is no fun for me. We posed for a snap and I said you better get me home.


A couple of days later Mama and Papa went out with Sharon and Ross for dinner, but didn't invite me...RUDE. I only meant when it wasn't raining that I didn't want to go out.

They showed me the pics of dinner back home.

Look at them having a good time without me.


I bet they were having a good old laugh at me being at home without them, living it up while I am all alone.

And look at that food - I could have been helping out with that!


I said, it's nice weather tomorrow - let's go out to a park all together, I'd love to spend more time with them and show them my city.

'Ummm...Barney' they said, 'They are leaving tomorrow, we won't see them again this time'.

WHAT!

I didn't get to say good bye.

Sometimes I feel invisible and unloved when they leave me out of things like this. I got feelings too you know.

Well Sharon and Ross...I would have told you in dog/person if I had the chance, but anyway, I hope you have a good trip. Auf Wiedersehen!

Friday, 14 June 2013

John comes to see me

My mate John, from Australia, came to Berlin to see me. I am pretty sure I am the only reason he came on holiday. He did go to see some other places first though.

I hadn't had much time to recover from my Holland and Germany trip, but I was excited to see Johnny when he came to Berlin a couple of days after we had returned.

We spent lots of time together and had some laughs.


I am going to miss him :(


Safe travels buddy.


Saturday, 1 June 2013

Catching up on travel memoirs of Holland and Germany

I know, I know, I know! its been fucking ages since I last wrote. Not my fault.

Unbeknownst to me, we were going on a road trip. No one had told me this. One day I'm going to bed as usual, and the next day Mama and Papa have gone out, collected a car, packed all our shit, and then chucked it all (and me) in the car for a road trip.



Whoa - what the fuck? They should run this shit by me first.

Anyway, I thought this could be an interesting thing for me to write about. We had a massive drive - the longest for me ever. This was so tiring. Then when we got to Holland it got weird. Mama started talking a different language, I met two new dogs and then we moved to a huge dolls house in a garden.

I said to Papa, 'I need to get on the internet to write about my travels'
Papa said 'There isn't any internet here'.

WHAT? NO INTERNET? What is this? the middle fucking ages?

That pissed me off, but it was late and after a long day we all needed some sleep.

The place was weird, with the sleeping area up in an attic space with a ladder much to steep for me to climb. I was left downstairs as Mama and Papa went upstairs to sleep in their sleeping bags.

It was already cold in this doll house but it just kept getting colder. I was still pissed about the no internet situation so I wasn't speaking to Papa. He can go sleep upstairs without me for all I cared. I will brave the cold on my own.

It got colder and colder and colder. I never felt so cold. I started to sing to myself to take my mind off it.

'I'm walking on sunshine, Woo ohhh, I'm walking on sunshine, Wooo ohh'.

It wasn't working, and when I got to the bit 'And don't it feel good!' I'm ashamed to admit that I started to cry...loudly. I was so cold I thought I was going to die. I couldn't breathe properly, I couldn't see, and I was frozen stiff. All I could do was cry.

Papa came to get me and the warmth of his body was so comforting. He took me up the ladder and I nuzzled in between their sleeping bags. It was still cool, but I was happy, warmer. And don't it feel good!


Thankfully we moved out of the middle ages and into a proper house after about 10 days in the doll house. We had internet here, but Mama and Papa said I wasn't allowed to use the computer. They said they needed the computer for the trip and couldn't afford for me to break it. How humiliating. 

They said I could use it once we got back to Berlin. And guess what, when we got back to Berlin I found out that Papa had already written all about our holiday, stealing all my thunder. How rude.

Seeing as he already wrote about our trip I guess that saves me some work :)

What I can say though is, Holland, WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THESE STEEP STEPS? It's bullshit how steep everything is. How am I supposed to get up and down the levels?






My other issue in Holland was that I had to share the house with two other dogs and a cat. The big dog, Moos, I didn't care for. I growled at him when he was near Papa - I didn't trust him. The little one, Sammy, he was okay, except he stole my red ball and I wasn't cool with that. I barely saw the cat and we never spoke.


We sometimes ate together, which was tense for all of us as we made sure no one else stole our food.



And we went for walks three times a day.



We went out lots during this trip, and it was so tiring for me.


We left Holland and they told me we were going back to Germany. Woo Hoo! 'Berlin?' I said.
No - the Black Forest. WTF. Another long drive. Very tiring for me.


The Black Forest was okay, but at one point they tied me to a 'Dog Parking Spot' as they went shopping. RUDE!


Unfortunately the weather was so shit the whole time we were away. The good thing was that I was with Mama and Papa 24 hours a day! (Although they can be very tiring). 

In Triberg I met another dog like me. Except they were uglier. Stuck up too.  it laughed at me for being on a lead. I shouted back 'Your owner doesn't care about you and hopes you will run away'. We didn't get friendly.


Heidelberg was my favourite where I scored some schnitzel and chips;


And some food from a stranger;


And chilled out overlooking the beautiful city with a drink.


The weather in Nuremberg was too shit to enjoy the place. A pair of dogs came up to me to ask for my phone number so we could hang out. I said I was only cruising through town so it was a no-can-do.


In Opa's birth town I met some strange animals - Ente they were called. Strange strange strange. I wasn't allowed near them.


Dresden was a nice place, but I was super tired and wanted to go home.


So by now I was over it. 'TAKE ME HOME TO BERLIN' I said.

And they did. 

I slept all the way.


We got home and finally, my own bed again! I was so happy.


It was an interesting trip, but I was so happy to be home. There was too much disruption to my life, too much walking and not enough sleeping.

I slept the whole of the next day. 

I love my bed.




Sunday, 14 April 2013

Strandbad Weissensee

Today spring has finally properly SPRUNG! It was our first proper sunny and warm day since we got here.

'Lets go out!' I said to Mama and Papa.

'I'm a step ahead of you Barn' Said Papa, 'We're going to the beach!'

'You're shitting me' I said. 'There's no bloody beach here in Berlin'.

'There sure is, and inland beach, and its only a tram ride away!' retorted my smart ass Papa.

'Well, let's go then people!'

So we hopped off down the road to our nearby Tram M13. All of us outside for the first time without our winter jackets - yea, even me!

The tram took only about 20 minutes and we went through our normal Berlin and to the district of Weissensee. The tram had stopped outside of a park and we walked through it to see it was dominated by a lake.

People were outside, drawn by the first real sun of the year. It was so nice.

We walked around to the 'beach' area. This is a fenced off area and you need to walk through some 'cabiney' type structure to come out on the other side to the beach.



The beach wasn't super crowded but it was busy.

I wasn't allowed on the sand area so we had to stay on the terrace at the top.


This was a good spot for people watching. It was obviously too cold for people to go in the water. A few children tried to go in but as soon as they touched the water they quickly ran away.

We watched as a mother and her son played some beach football by themselves, people laying on picnic rugs and mostly everyone rather overdressed for what we would consider 'beach wear'.



Mama and Papa got a beer as we watched the day go by. I took shade under the table.


It was so nice to be outside and enjoy the great weather for a change.




I liked this place and would like to come back...maybe with a bowl of water next time though.


As we left Mama and Papa said they would come back with their friends. They didn't mention if I was invited too?