Berlin: poor but sexy

First off, what a cool city. Too cool, actually. I headed to Berlin with about 40 other Dutch urban planners, architects, and entrepreneurs on a study trip. My company (read: I) planned the trip and we spent about 3 days examining their strategies around temporary use, among other topics, ie,  bottom-up initiatives, user-driven transformation, organic urban planning, vacancy, co-working, urban agriculture, innovation, participation, the civic economy. 

We also really wanted to explore Berlin's unofficial motto: Poor but sexy. Why? How? 

We'd arranged guided walking/cycling tours and discussions with Berlin leaders pertaining to the specific theme. Of course our goal was to learn and see, first-hand, what makes Berlin a special place in terms of the themes of our trip. We intended to discuss challenges, opportunities, unexpected results, and the history of temporary use, development, and public participation in Berlin. We hoped each site visit and conversation revealed a concrete lesson that we might be able to apply to our own challenges in Rotterdam. You can read more about this trip and the conclusions here and here. The highlights were: walking through Neukolln, the Klunkerkranich rooftop bar and Farbfelder garden project, the city model at the urban planning department, and of course cycling through the city to the old Templehof Airport, now used as a giant park and kite-flying hotspot. Yep, cool.

A quick trip to Basel and our first Michelin restaurant

[note: this is from July 2013!]

Elliot and I headed out to Basel, Switzerland, to visit his sister for a long weekend. It was so much fun! We had great weather, swam in the river, and enjoyed the French Alsace countryside for an afternoon too.

We toured the city and took the adorable little ferry across the Rhine.

The highlight of the trip was renting a car and driving into the Alsace. Mary treated us to our first Michelin Star restaurant experience at Auberge de L'Ille, the single longest-standing starred restaurant in France. It was an unbelievable 4-hour gastronomic journey.

Czech please!

We were lucky to have dear friend Gadiel come visit us before he headed to Switzerland for the rest of the summer. I always love having friends come visit, not only to show them a part of our life in Amsterdam but also to sit and laugh about good times back home--and get my dose of California gossip.

For a long weekend, we headed to Prague together. None of us had been before and we found super cheap flights and a hostel near the old city center. Perfect for 2.5 days.

Overall, we had a great time. I was surprised and enlightened by the delicious Czech white wines, the difficulty of the language, and vast amount of history and hardship that the Czech have endured. What struck us all, however, was how quiet the city was. Yes, there were tourists, but where were the locals? Already on the coast perhaps? For some reason, the city was hard to connect with. The activities seemed to focus inward, or indoors--literally, doors we couldn't seem to find. Nevertheless, a lovely city and a great time. Here are the highlights, in pictures.

⥥ Coffee and breakfast with a view (Cafe Bella Vida)

⥥ Walking around district 5 and near Újezd
⥥ Hiking up to Letna Park, for the view and the beer garden
⥥ Reading all the notes on the John Lennon wall

⥥ Crossing a 700+ year-old bridge with spooky statues and lots of other tourists

⥥ Climbing to the castle grounds

⥥ Eating lots of meat and potatoes, with delicious Czech beer or wine

⥥ After the Museum of Communism, a view of Wenceslas square, where it all happened...

⥥ Wandering through the Old Town streets