Who says playgrounds are only for kids?

DAY 24


Aktivity: Spielplatz - on our way to the cake-shop we passed the playground at Zickenplatz (if you walk down Kottbusser Damm from U-Bahnhof Schönlein Straße (U8) towards Hermannplatz the playground is on the right side). You can balance on turning car wheels, do some pull-ups, climb a wall and a net and a lot of other things:-)

Food:

Breakfast: 1 Brötchen from the funny Brötchen I made the other day

Lunch: We made some mushroom risotto which I gave my boyfriend for his birthday along with a enamel-casserole from Riess, an austrian company which still produces their cookware in Europe. Also the cookware definately doesn't contain any toxic substances as maybe teflon or steel... and of course pots and pans are super pretty - please check HERE if you want to see more.

Dinner: Leftover risotto


Transportation: Feet

Total spendings today: 3 Brötchen for 0,15€ and a piece of cake for 0,65€ = 0,80€

Berlin in the 1920's

DAY 23

Aktivity:

Once again we went to the movie theater "Sputnik" at U-Bahnhof Südstern. We collected our third stamp on our discount card - so now we only have to go one more time and then we can see a movie for free:-)
The movie of our choice was: Berlin - die Sinfonie der Großstadt, an experimental documentary by Walther Ruttmann which captures Berlin impressions in the year 1927. I super recommend to see that movie anyways but especially the version we saw: Tronthaim (an electronical Music Duo from Berlin) plays a new electronic soundtrack for the movie - and they do that live. Awesome I have to say!!!

They have a website where you can check when and where they are playing next. Please click HERE, they also show a little video so you can actually see if you might like it or not.


Food:

Breakfast: The parents were here for breakfast and they brought Brötchen - so free breakfast!

Lunch: I was making red cabbage to store it away, so I had red cabbage with Spätzle which I still had in the shelf and meat balls which I still had in the freezer from the meat which I bought at DAY 1.

I actually got 6 glasses full of red cabbage out of this cooking session. Making red cabbage is much easier than you think. You just need some onion, vinegar, wine, fat (butter or lard), apples if you want and some herbs. So I paid 2,00€ for the red cabbage which makes 0,33€ per glass which is very cheap compared to buying red cabbage in glasses - I believe a glass costs at least 0,89€ - woohooo!

Dinner: leftover Brötchen from breakfast



Transportation: Feet

Total spendings today: Tickets for the movie - special event: 12,00€ + 2 drinks 4,40€ (I believe)

Polarbears against Munich

DAY 22


Aktivity: Icehockey at the o2-arena. Of course it's not free but I got the ticket from my sister so it was free for me. But if you also want to go to a game of the Berlin team "Eisbären Berlin" you can get a ticket as cheap as 18,00€ which is compared to icehockey games somewhere else in the world a joke. And since the arena wasn't sold out I guess you can also be spontaneous. We went to the game against "Red Bull München" and of course "WE" won 5-2!
It was really fun to watch - I liked it much better than basketball which they also play in the o2-world-arena.
I have just one point to criticize: there is no space to park bycicles... they built this super huge 5 level parking deck - but I couldn't find a single bike rack. But nevertheless there are still some lanterns and other poles around so you can actually go by bike :-)
I had two beers which cost me 8,00€ though.

Food: I also went shopping at the market and I bought 1 red beet, 2 carrots, 5 big potatoes, 1 kg oranges and one head of red cabbage for 6,20€

Breakfast: ...

Lunch: Red beet&carrot salad (0,50€)+ homemade hummus + leftover falafel which I found in the fridge+these funny looking Brötchen which I made the other day

Dinner:Turkish Pizza with salad for 1,90€


Transportation: Bike

Total spendings today: 2 beeres: 8,00€+ 1,90€ Turkish pizza+6,90€ vegetables&fruits=16,80€

Sharing is caring

DAY 21


Aktivity:  I went swimming again - going swimming also always includes a 14km bikeride btw.

I would like to recommend something even though it's not an activity:

Do you know this feeling?: You moved to a new city and you need a drill to put up a shelf or a hammer to put some nails in the wall to hang up some pictures? Or you want to go on vacation but you don't have a suitcase... All these items you don't really need to own because you need them only a few times a year and the rest of the time they are filling up your apartment... so you don't want to BUY them?!

There is a solution for this - at least if you are living in Berlin - you can BORROW it. You just have to sign up HERE. I think this is such an awesome idea that I registered some tools which we own and our ladder - ladders are actually quite expensive - and how often do you need a ladder?

It looks like a shop - but you don't have to buy the things. It's completely free. You just have to register 3 things to lend and then you can start borrowing things yourself. It's so awesome.


Food:

Breakfast:

Lunch:  Flammkuchen - the recipe for the dough I wrote down  HERE. The difference between Flammkuchen and Pizza is actually only the topping. You need ham and onions and instead of tomato-sauce you have to put "Schmand" or "Saure Sahne" or "Crème légère" or "Crème fraiche" which all translate to sour cream - but they contain different percentages of fat. I was always wondering about that - but now I know. So next time you are in a supermarket looking for sour cream you know the different aquivalents we have here in Germany.

Before

After

The rest of the dough I formed into little "Brötchen". I have to say, the form I chose is maybe not the most appetizing form I see now.

Dinner:  Nevertheless they taste good and I had them for dinner. Not all of them of course!

Transportation: Bike

Total spendings today: I bought some stuff to put on my Brötchen - it was rather expensive I would say:
cheese: 2,75€ + meatstuff 4,19€ = 6,94€.
(The "Schmand" I got from my mother the other day and the ham I found in the fridge - it wasn't mine - but I think if I didn't eat it, it would've ended up in the garbage)

Climbing and Free Lunch

DAY 20


Aktivity: Todays activity is always free. This climbing rock is located in Tiergarten - next to the "Studentenwohnheim" - student dorm. How to get there: Go to S-Bahnhof Tiergarten and then walk up the street Siegmundshof, before the street makes a right turn you can find the rock on the right hand side.

Food:

Breakfast: nothing

Lunch: I got invited for lunch - so for me it was free...

Dinner: The lunch came with some baguette which I took home and ate as "Abendbrot" with butter and jam (which I still had)


Transportation: BVG - 2 tickets = 4,40€

Total spendings today:  4,40€ for the tickts + 2 liters lactosefree milk (1,90€) + 3 cubes of yeast 0,27€ = 6,57€

My BVG tipp: If you don't have a monthly ticket and you need to travel on single tickets there is one trick to save a few cents: Buy the 4-Fahrten-Karte-Einzelfahrschein - this is 4 single tickets for the price of 8,80€ (makes 2,20 per ticket) if you would buy the tickets individually you would end up paying 2,60€ each and that would add up to 10,40€. The same goes for short trip tickets - you can buy it in a set of 4 tickets for 5,60€ - instead of individually for 1,50€.

Books and Pasta

DAY 19


Aktivity: Reading a book :-P


Food:

Breakfast: Müsli with milk

Lunch: Pasta which I still had plus tomato-sauce with paprika (0,20€ for the paprika)

Dinner: Remaining pasta


Transportation: Feet

Total spendings today: 0,20€ for 2 paprikas

German-Norwegian History

DAY 18

Aktivity: Because it was so much fun and it was a grey and rainy day we went to watch a movie again. We went to the Sputnik again to get a second stamp on our discount ticket. The movie of our choice is called "Zwei Leben" which is the German candidate for the Oscars 2014. A very good movie which I would recommend to watch - it's about a not so well known chapter of German history. During the German occupation of Norway from 1940-1945 Norwegian women started having relationships with German soldiers. Some of them had children and some of these children were brought to Germany for the so-called "Lebensborn" project. So, children from Norwegian descent were raised in German children's homes, not knowing who their parents were and that they had Norwegian mothers. Then the wall came and with it the Stasi - (secret police of East Germany) now think about what possibilities these circumstances would mean to install spies in the Western world.... that is what the movie is about, basically. Really unbelievable.

Food:

Breakfast: nothing :-(

Lunch: Fishsticks and spinach (which I found in the deepest corner of our freezer) and potatoes

Dinner: leftover lunch


Transportation: Feet

Total spendings today: 6,00€ for the movie tickets

Birthday

DAY 17

Aktivity: We celebrated my boyfriend's birthday today and had a "Kaffeklatsch" and dinner. Some coffee, cake and real norwegian Lefse.


Food:

Breakfast: English Breakfast

Lunch: no time for lunch

Dinner: General Tao


Transportation: no transportation necessary today

Total spendings today: Todays spendings are taken from a different budget - because we were providing food for several people which completely didn't fit in my budget plan but since it was a birthday-day today I didn't want to ruin the party with my strict and short budget. So, one exception for the special occasion today.

Sugar man and Sputnik

DAY 16

Aktivity:  For the first time this month I paid for the activity. We went to watch a movie - "Searching for Sugar Man" - awesome movie. A documentary about a musician - I don't want to reveal too much for people which haven't seen it - I highly recommend watching it.
We chose to go to a movie theater close by - Kino Sputnik - (Hasenheide 54, close to U-Bahnhof Südstern/U7) and we had to pay 7,50€ each. And the awesome thing is that they still have a discount card. If you go and pay to see a movie 4 times the 5th movie is for free. Also the movie theater is in a former factory building and very cosy.
They also offer the possibility for filmmakers to show their movies (not longer than 25 minutes) every 3rd wednesday of a month. You don't have to register and there is no pre-selection - you can turn in your movie 20.00h and the screenings start at 20.30h. The entrance is FREE and participating as well.

The movie theater is also participating in a project of the "Kinderkinobüro". The "movie of the month" can be seen for not more than 3,00€ and if you register beforehand on their website you and you are at least a group of 4 people you only have to pay 2,00€ per person. You can click HERE to check out their website.


Food:

Breakfast: Omelet with eggs which I bought from the budget

Lunch: no lunch necessary because the omelett was very filling

Dinner: half a chicken and fries


Transportation: feet

Total spendings today: 7,50€ Movie + 3,55€ = 11,05€ (ohoh!)

Palace of tears - Tränenpalast

DAY 15

Activitiy: Palace of tears.

If you wanted to go from East to West Berlin between 1962 and 1989 (the wall was build in 1961 but the Palace of tears was build in 1962) you had to go through this building. It now hosts an exhibition about the life in a devided Berlin. I actually still remember that I was crossing the border from West to East Berlin, it seemed completely normal that there was a wall around you and that when you wanted to go to the "Museum for Natural Science" with the kindergarten you had to bring your passport to go. But we from West Berlin could actually go the musuem on the East side.

Opening hours
Tuesday-Friday 9.00-19.00h
Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays 10.00-18.00h

Food:

Breakfast: Pumpkin-Potatobread with jam

Lunch:Königsberger Klopse (which I made and froze last week)

Dinner: nothing so far


Transportation: Bike

Total spendings today: So far, I haven't spent anything. But I am going out for beers now - I am still wondering if I should calculate that into the budget or not - because the actual challenge was to have food for the 30 days.

Half time overview:
If I didn't forget anything I have spent 47,66€ over the last 2 weeks which makes an average of 3,40€. Basically I only spent money on food because all my activities were free. It leaves a rest amount to spent of 52,34€.

I made the mistake of spending too much money on DAY 1. Today I felt like it's time to go shopping again - but I resisted. Instead I grabbed a pineapple, a pumpkin and 30 limes to drop them off in "Markthalle9"  because I read on the internet that they had a foodsharing-fridge there. But as it turned out they don't have it there anymore so I was going around on my bike with the food in my basket - passing at Oranienplatz. For more than a year - I think - there are refugees protesting, they basically camp there in tents. (I could drop of my food there.) They were saying they are in need of basically anything - but especially they would need heaters (they do have electricity) - so if you happen to have an electric heat which you could spare - you could drop it of there. If you want to know what they are protesting against - they have a blog - if you click HERE.

Tempelhofer Flughafen

DAY 14

Aktivity: I went to the former City Airport Tempelhof. So far it's free to go there and it's fun to bike on the runway, where the planes took off back in the day. I actually once went with a plane from Tempelhof to Prague - that was in the 90's though. Since it was closed in 2008 a lot of people like to go there to enjoy the open space you cannot find in any other city (prove me wrong). It's just awesome to breath the fresh air, feel the wind in your hair (that rhymes) and let go of despair (omg - it rhymes again).

Now just a few impressions from today and other times on the field:

Morning fog

Runway

Runway

BIKING on the (former) runway

Former entrance

Food:

Breakfast: 2 Brötchen - 0,20€ - one with plum butter and for the second one I got some free cheese at my sister's place...

Lunch: Red beet-pumpkin soup with Grünkern

Suppengrün, red beet, pumpkin

Cut everything and boil

puree everthing

put some cream - if you want - also salt&pepper

I boiled the Grünkern in a different pot and put it first on the plate

Guten Appetit - soup with the pumpkin-potato-bread which I made yesterday + butter which I still had

Dinner: possibly the same as for lunch - I don't got how my soups always get soooo much....


Transportation: Bike

Total spendings today: I went a bit shopping today: 3kg flour 1,05€, 1l lactosefree milk 0,95€, 6 organic eggs 1,55€ makes a total of 3,55 + 0,20€ for the Brötchen = 3,75€

Since it is half-time tomorrow - I really have to do some calcuations to see where I stand.

Skyscraper Hopping

DAY 13

Aktivity:

Today I wanted to broaden my horizon. How did I do that? Well, I call it skyscraper hopping and it's free and can be possibly done anywhere where there are skyscrapers or like here in Berlin - high buildings.

I just went up in random high houses and enjoyed the view:

You can even see the Teufelsberg in the backround

I also went to the library to borrow some books about Berlin. If any of them are worth reading I am going to let you know.


Food:

Breakfast: Pumpkin-Potato-Bread (I still had a pumpkin laying around, I also used one of the eggs from DAY 1 and flour which is empty now. Potatoes I bought a few days ago and yeast I also had one more dice from DAY 1)

Lunch: Currywurst mit Pommes (Fries and a sausage) for 3,10€ - it was actually not very good so I only ate half of it - manno!

Tea-time: cake for 0,90€

Dinner: Falafel 2,50€

Transportation: Bike

Total spendings today: I went way over the budget today - and it wasn't even worth it because neither the currywurst nor the falafel were really good. Total costs: 6,50€ :-(

Danish Christmas Market

Just a quick hint for the Danish people in Berlin:

In the Nordic Embassasies I found this flyer for a Danish Christmas Market from the Danish church in Berlin.
Location: Brienner Straße 12, 10713 Berlin
Opening hours: Saturday, 30th November 2013 - 12-18h, Sunday, 1st December 2013 - 12-17h

Stumbling into history

DAY 12

Aktivity: Today I thought I have to disappoint you because I was actually planning to show you how to listen to classical music for free. But I have a really bad cold and didn't feel like going out for an activity. But I was wrong. Thinking about an alternative I had an idea - it's a bit of an activity indoors with the internet but you need some input from outside.

If you haven't noticed yet - but history is right outside your door! There are (at least) 2 things you can turn your attention to:

1. Do you know why the street you live in is called what it's called?

 

Maybe you have noticed that some street signs have a little information sign on top giving some information about the street name. In the case of the picture I have "Paul - Lincke - Ufer" - Paul Lincke was a composer and a Berliner. After I checked him out on wikipedia and on youtube I actually figured that I know a very famous song he composed: If you want to listen to it click HERE and you can watch it on youtube.
The song is called "Berliner Luft" from a operetta called "Frau Luna" which premiered in 1899 in Berlin. I should maybe recommend at that occasion that there is also a "Schnaps" called "Berliner Luft" which tastes like peppermint and is also a good Berlin souvenir.

Basically you can do that with the street you live in, the neighbouring street or any street that you want ... I just learned that there were famous battles at Skalitz (Skalitzer Street) and Gitschin (Gitschiner Street) also Alber Fraenkel (Fraenkelufer) was a physician back in the day.

Fraenkelufer - brings me to the second point of interest. This is a bit tough though.

Do you notice this little golden square in front of the door at Fraenkelufer 34? If you gonna take a closer look you are able to see this:

The stone says: 

ERICH JOACHIMSTHAL was living here.

Born 1901

Deportetd  on the 19.04.1943

Murdered in Auschwitz

I always find it very disturbing when I stop at these so-called "Stolpersteine" (stumble-stones) because I find myself thinking about this guy for example, he was 42 years old when he was deported - that is not very old - what was he thinking when they were actually coming to pick him up? What was he bringing with him, who missed him after he was gone, how did he look like, what did he do for a living, was he a nice person, was he alone, was he freightened, what were his plans, did he have children, wasn't there a possibility to get out, why didn't he leave Berlin, why didn't anyone help him, why did nobody stand up for him, why did this happen????

I think these "Stolpersteine" are a very good project if you click HERE you get to the artist's (Gunter Demnig) website. It says on his website that anyone could sponsor a "Stolperstein" for 120,00€ - couldn't that also be a good alternative to a present for Christmas? Instead of buying something which might be very unpersonal you could help to keep the memory alive. There are already a lot of these stones everywhere in the city which I find is a good thing - to put names to the impersonal number of jews which were killed by the Nazis. On the other hand of course it is very sad, because you can visualize how many people in your neighbourhood were deported and killed. It's a very touching topic and I would like to recommend a book about it (Gudrun Pausewang: Reise im August ( I actually don't know if the book is available in English)) . It's just so unbelievable that people can be that evil. And my personal opinion is that we shall not forget.


Food:

Breakfast: Beans in tomatosauce and toast (I still had some dry white beans and tomato paste and the homemade toastbread.

Lunch: Fruit salad (with the fruit which I just bought on the market)

Dinner: Green salad with lactosefree Feta-cheese which I got from my mother (for free - does that count?) and one homemade frozen pizza

Transportation: Feet

Total spendings today: I went to the market and bought a crate of limes, 2 pineapples and a mango for 3,00€, plus a "Suppengrün" (vegetable mix for soup) a red beet and some ginger for 2,30€.
So, the total spendings today were: 5,30€

If you happen to have the same problem as me at one point - what to do with 50 limes??? You could check out THIS website to share your food instead of throwing it away. I haven't tried it, but going to now - and keep you posted about my experience.

Munch in Berlin

DAY 11

Today has been a very Scandinavian day I have to say!

Aktivity: This year on the 12th of December Edvard Munch would have turned 150. On the occasion of this big birthday the Felleshus (that is danish and means "house for everyone") of the Nordic embassies in Tiergarten is showing a little exhibition in the foyer.
The current exhibition is called "Munch im Comic" and shows some drawings of the comic-artist Steffen Kverneland which made a graphical-biography about Evard Munch.
You can buy the book in the publisher's shop (avant-verlag) if you click HERE.
I looked a bit around and went to eat a soup in the canteen after.

The Nordic embassies

Entrance of the "Felleshus"

Foyer of "Felleshus"

Exhibition "Munch im Comic"

 

Sour cucumber soup

Right next to the nordic embassies is the Mexican embassy. That could be interesting if you are looking for a christmas present alternative. Instead of buying something, you could think about getting an angel picture of yourself with these awesome wings which are right next to the embassy. The wings were a gift to Berlin from the government of Mexico-City on the occasion of the 20 year anniversary of the city-partnership between the two cities. The wings were made by the artist Jose Marín and it's officially allowed to take pictures - the artist even invites people to share their photos on his website which you can find HERE.

Wings of Mexico - Jorge Marin

Since I was already in the district of Tiergarten - I thought I could do something for my Canadian readers and present a possibility to buy real Canadian beer in Berlin. So I went to visit the food department in KaDeWe which is at U-Bahnhof Wittenberplatz (U1/U3/U2). I was looking around and found something for the Norwegians...

Voss - Norwegian water

...but nothing for the Canadians... I knew they had "Moosehead" beer at KaDeWe because I bought it there already. After I investigated a bit - I got this information: "Moosehead" is only available when the official "Kanada-Woche" is going on. And the beer which isn't sold during this week is available until it's sold out. Sadly I just missed the last "Kanada-Woche" (Canadian-week) and the last Moosehead as well. But I have great news: I didn't spare no effort and found out when the next "Kanada-Woche" is going to be: Canadians, get your calenders 2014 out and note down: the first week in February it is. To be precise, it starts on the 3rd of February 2014.


If you are at the KaDeWe anyways you might want to go up to the 7th floor and have a look at the view which you can get for free:-)

View from the KaDeWe towards Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche at Ku'Damm

Since the weather was very nice I decided to make a short trip over to Schöneberg to complete my scandinavian day. There is a Swedish shop in Berlin! Basically everything that the Swedish heart can wish for you can find here. And if your heart desires something which you cannot find here, you can ask the super friendly shop owners to get it for you. But first you want to check out what they already have which is a lot - the products range from orignial swedish clogs, smör, knäckebröd, swedish cookies and chips over to decorations like the famous red horses or the "be aware of the moose"-sign - mandatory for every fan of Sweden.

Swedish Gourmet
Bundesallee 139, 12161 Berlin
Opening hours: Mo-Fr: 9.00-17.00h
Saturday: 10.00-14.00h

Knäckebröd

Cookies, chocolate, clogs

Chips, chips and knäckebröd

I know that not only Swedish hearts beat a bit faster but also Norwegian's when they enter the shop. To check out their website click HERE.

The 11th of November is a special day in Germany. Not only is it St. Martinsday where kids walk around with lanterns while singing songs - but it is also the start of the carneval-season in Germany. In Berlin we actually don't really celebrate so much the carneval but traditionally you have to eat a "Pfannkuchen" also known as "Berliner" except in Berlin where we call it Pfannkuchen which means pancake. Speaking of pancakes - in Berlin we call actual pancakes "Eierkuchen" (eggcake).

Laternenumzug am Kanal in Kreuzberg in front of the "Urban-hospital"

Food:

Breakfast: Müsli with milk (which I still had)

Lunch: sour cucumber soup in the canteen of the nordic embassies. It tasted much better than it sounds:-) (costs: 1,20€)

Tea-time: Since it's St. Martins-day today - I bought a "Pfannkuchen" for 0,60€ which I had for tea as well as 2 slices of the homemade toastbread with homemade raspberry-jam (made this summer) plus tea (which I still had) and fresh orange juice from the oranges I bought on DAY 8.

Dinner: For dinner we had baked potatoes (bought on DAY 9) with paprika, zucchini, tomatoes, 2 eggs(bought on DAY 1), some sausage (which we still had) and some cheese on top.

very yummy and easy to make

Transportation: Bike

Total spendings today: "Pfannkuchen": 0.60€ + zucchini and paprika for 1,01€ (can I devide these costs if I shared the food with someone?) adds up to 1,61€ + the sour cucumber soup for 1,20€ = 2,81€