ħaikus

I accidentally found again this nice campaign that I would like to share with you

I’m finally back in Berlin having some rest from all my traveling around Europe. I would like to say it was always nice and funny, but I’m really tired instead. If you consider that in Athens everything was about public relations as well as yesterday in Milan, while in Prague, after the difficulties to getting there, the hot weather and the tourists made my stay quite unpleasant, you probably understand how happy I am being back home (at least for these 3 days ).
Luckily, you were entertained by ilGrisa who wrote for me a couple of posts (thanks a lot Luca!) and now I don’t have to bore you with all my travel adventures. However, I kept some anecdotes for this post

My second day in Athens were supposed to be dedicated to sightseeing, and it actually started the best way: I woke up quite early (for central Europe time ), I used the huge bathroom and almost all its facilities (who can really afford a room like that, would be able to cobble clothes using the thread the hotel offered? I don’t think so), I checked out and I walked a lot around Πλάκα (Pláka) and Αναφιώτικα (Anafiotica) which lie below the Ακρόπολη (Acropolis).
As ilGrisa already wrote, it was rainy the whole afternoon and I didn’t see much more of Athens. Not too bad anyway, because, as far as I saw, the city isn’t really nice . Giovanni would say

Non sei terone dentro

which is probably true.
In the late afternoon I caught the really modern metro to the airport and I waited there for my flight back to Berlin with easyJet (for proletarians ). On the airplane a group of Germans was quite loud and annoying other passengers; I didn’t understand why they were arguing with each other, but eventually they asked my opinion when I went to the toilet:

Was the song Ruby Tuesday written by The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?

On Friday I didn’t work too much because I was already in Prague with my mind As you probably read, I had some troubles catching the train to the Czech Republic… I always dreamt to walk on the emergency lane of the S-Bahn, maybe taking some pictures: this was unfortunately not the case I ran and I ran and I didn’t see anything else than my target: the Friedrichstraße station.
About my trip to Prague you already read a lot from the previous posts. I had a great time with my sisters: we visit a lot of places, we tasted always good food and I personally enjoyed this delicious tea:

Kyoto Kinen
Memories of Kyoto.
A recipe from this lovely city of tea. The peculiar rather bitter taste of Matcha is softened in the cup by milk and sugar, making it extremely mellow. It is served hot in a 0.2 l. glass.

With my sisters I traveled by plane to Italy: the aircraft was full of Italians, especially from Bergamo with their disgusting accent . Do you already know this nice animation about Italy and Europe? (If you don’t, please look at it) I thought that the episode about the airplane landing was only a bad joke, well, it is not! I couldn’t believe!

My mother was so happy to see me even if just for a night because I had to be in Milan yesterday very early to meet Vodafone, MTV and then AllMusic. It was a quite stressful day even if only my boss and new colleague actually spoke with our partners.

Today at work I was surprised to see Sophie: she used to sit right in front of me and we got to know each other unfortunately only when she decide to leave Jamba. She was supposed to be in Amsterdam and actually she’s going to work again for Jamba but from a new office there

So here it goes. Pino will be back tomorrow late evening (I guess) and he will take back what is his– if the last sentence sounds a bit of a tongue-twister, it wasn’t meant to be.

His last emails are mostly about food leisures, rather than traveling. He stopped at a tea shop, where he tried a Japanese tea with milk. Not chai, of course, since - as everybody should know - chai is made with milk boiled directly with black tea, and spiced with cinnamon, cloves and a bit of ginger. I’m pretty curious to hear about this Japanese-style chai, as Pino just wrote few words about, not going into any details! Bad Pino, bad!
Pino and his sisters enjoyed few dinners at U Zavěšenýho Kafe, which has an open patio, and (I hope several) coffees at Café Kafíčko, one of the most laid-back and easy-going spot in Praha. I envy you so much for being able to eat — I would say scofanare — a couple of slices of the Eastern European honey cake, Medovnik.

Now, Pino should be already in Milan for business. Don’t ask, I just know he’s there for doing some Jamba stuff.

Pino wrote me a couple of emails, saying he’s in Praha and his sisters arrived yesterday late evening. He’s enjoying Prague, not that I had any doubts about, for Prague is for him almost a second home or better the (would-be) home away from home.
The city is packed because of pentecost holidays, and because it’s Prague so it gotta be packed. So he’s enduring not trying to blow the over-present tourists up and not shouting in the middle of Charles Bridge out of desperation, even though the scene would be hilarious.

Here the copy-and-paste from his emails … waiting for pictures I must say

Questa volta stiamo in un appartamento perchè le stanze triple erano tutte occupate. Gli appartamenti di Miss Sophie’s sono nell’edificio di fronte e pure una figata! Siamo in una mansarda enorme con tutte le facilities possibili.
Si muore di caldo, adesso siamo al castello e solo per entrare nella basilica di San Vito ci sono code interminabili.
Anyway no air condition which is why muoio di caldo anche qui dentro ma la sera si annuvola molto e si rinfresca con aria da temporale.
I turisti sono davvero troppi: è molto spiacevole girar per la città guarda, tu hai avuto un culo spropositato a vederla vuota.

Pino wrote me while on the train heading for Praha. He got quite an adventure on the S-Bahn on his way to Hauptbahnhof to catch the train– for reasons unknown the train was blocked between Hackescher Markt and Friedrichstraße, after waiting 15 minutes he got out and walked along the rail to the next station. I can quite see him walking, swearing and sweating on the elevated train-track, just hope he wasn’t alone in doing so. At Friedrichstraße, after considering what to do next he decided to ride to Südkreuz, and fortunately he managed to the train station just seconds before the train leaving.

And in his own words

La S-Bahn si è fermata tra Hackescher Markt e Friedrichstraße, dopo 15 min di attesa ho aperto le porte di emergenza, sono volato fuori e me la sono fatta a piedi sui binari. A Friedrichstraße non sapevo che fare, se prendere la S-Bahn per Südkreuz o farmela a piedi fino all’Hauptbahnhof. Ho scelto la prima. Sono arrivato al pelo e per fortuna il treno per Praga era in ritardo.

Somehow I’m back to (shortly) post on my blog, but I’m sure that ilGrisa will write something while I’m in Prague and then Milan in the next few days.
Wednesday I went to Αθήνα (Athens, Greece) traveling in business class for my first time ever: I had access to a classy lounge at the airport were I could eat and drink whatever I wanted, read different newspapers, connect to the Internet (obviously on a mac). The flight was quite pleasant: I usually despite flying but, ehy, it was business class and my wishes were always fulfilled
The steward also asked me whether I was flying to Athens for the game and whether I could write on a piece of paper a slogan for Milan AC in Italian language.
Landed at the modern airport of Athens I caught the metro to the city center and after a long trip I finally found my excessively luxurious hotel where I left my luggage and I took the last VIP-bus to the stadium with Axel who organized my whole trip.
We arrived at the stadium far too early and it was quite boring to spend time at the huge VIP-buffet until half past 9. Eventually came the time to finally take our places and enjoy the short opening act (actually it was nothing special). The tribune next to us was full of Liverpool FC’s supporter who enjoyed the match much more than anyone else (the Italians were sleeping). I would like to say that it was a nice experience even if I’m not sure I will repeat it anytime soon. IlGrisa already wrote how disappointed I was by the match’s result: Liverpool FC played far better than Milan AC.
When the match was over I had such a bad headache that I went directly to the hotel, where I asked for a pill and I was treated like a junkie I went to my room to have some rest and for the first time I realized how big it was (probably bigger than my own flat): I really felt out of water, I’m used to sleep in hostels and suddenly I had a suite whose comfort I could barely use.
I had a kind of flashback in that room: I could only think when one and a half year ago I dated Lauri at the Regent Hotel in Berlin (which was even classier)…
Pictures will be posted when I’m back from Prague.

When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm there’s a golden sky
And the sweet, silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain,
Though your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart,
And you’ll never walk alone.
You’ll never walk alone.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart,
And you’ll never walk alone.
You’ll never walk alone.

Having to wait for my tea to brew and having already taken care of my own blog, I can update Pino’s situation. He wrote he got home, just in time for sending a picture to his account on flickr and to write a fast email saying that he landed in Berlin. Tomorrow he’ll be in Praha, having a short vacation with his sisters for few days, after which he’ll fly directly to Milan for business.

Jumping from city to city is exciting, but tiring though. I don’t know whether to envy him or quite the opposite. All right, what kind of question is that?! Of course I’m envying him!

Here the only picture of Athens he uploaded… And I hope for more to come…

Pino wrote from Athens where he’s enjoying a chic hotel. I was supposed to write in his stead, but unfortunately I found myself bogged down with work; I’ll try my best to keep to blog up to date with Pino globe-trotting wide and large. This in his own words yesterday events

Sono arrivato ad Atene, ho impiegato 2 ore per arrivare all’hotel, non ho manco fatto in tempo a rinfrescarmi che già dovevo partire per lo stadio.
Ho partecipato al gran buffet con tutti i vip e dopo 3 ore è cominciata la partita. Noiosa e ingiusta: il Milan ha avuto il solito culo (2 tiri 2 gol) mentre il Liverpool ha giocato alla grande, praticamente da sola.
La Stimmung(non so come si dice in italiano) meravigliosa: io ero vicino ai tifosi del Liverpool che sono stati grandiosi!

Since he writes to me in Italian, his own words are in Italian. Roughly he says he enjoyed the huge buffet with vip’s and other (unknown) celebrities, but the game was awful with Milan winning over Liverpool, despite the latter playing a nicer and better game. But this is usual story for games where Berlusconi owned team is playing.

Today he’s already complaining — we all know him right, so no wonder on that.

Minchia che due palle: dopo una mattinata nuvolosissima si è pure messo a piovere a dirotto e così sono all’evil empire a guardar fuori dalla finestra. Ho girato un po’ qua e là e proprio male atene non è però insomma… C’e’ di meglio, senza scomodare la dea atena

The reason for complaining is that it’s raining heavily and continuously, to the point he had to resort to find shelter in an evil empire (TM) coffee shop!

He’ll be back in Berlin later tonight.

This one will be a crazy week for me.
Tomorrow I’m flying to Αθήνα (Athens, Greece) because of the Champions League’s final match and I will be back on Thursday night.
Friday afternoon I will travel by train to Praha (Prague, Czech Republic) where I will meet my sisters, Giovanna and Daniela, and I will stay with them until Monday.
On Tuesday I will probably be in Milan for business while I will fly to Amsterdam on Friday.
Kill me, please: I’m not going to survive anyway

This evening I’ll have my weekly Dutch lesson (oh fuck, I just realized that I will miss next lesson if I’m in Milan!) and for the first time in my life I did my homework in advance : am I becoming an old musty bourgeois?
At home, the new episode of Heroes is already waiting for me. Yeah! Afaik it will be the first of a two-part season’s finale.
Yesterday, btw, I watched a really juicy Desperate Housewives‘ episode: Bree is finally back, but she is… actually she’s not… because… and Edie… while Susan…

Yesterday Stefano and I met Yosefine, Daniel and another friend of hers, Thomas, at Morgenland for a brunch. I really love that place because they have a huge brunch with a lot of different food (from couscous to chicken wings, pasta, fruits, vegetables, shellfish and especially delicious crêpes) and the place is conveniently located in the heart of Kreuzberg with some tables outside, just perfect for sunny Sundays like yesterday. Jens and I discovered Morgenland a couple of years ago while we actually were looking for another place and since then we always had brunch there.
When we sat down Jens called me at the phone to have a brunch with him and Frank (his new boyfriend) obviously at Morgenland… Eventually they joined us there and we spent time together: it was really nice.
Later I had to go to Tegel airport to collect my ticket for Athens (yes, Olympic Airways still have the old ticket system ) but the counter was closed (it was supposed to be open). Just a waste of time…
We went home where Stefano packed his baggage and I watched Grey’s Anatomy (obviously with teardrops in my eyes) and later we traveled by train to Schönefeld where he had his flight back to Milan.