Before that, I was determined to get our new pictures in their frames and hung up on the wall to join my These are Things LA map (above). All I had to do was trim the mats a bit - which is a horribly tedious job and I completely understand why people pay good money for professionals - and for some reason, I took this one down for comparison purposes. And it promptly fell on me and broke. And I cried (#firstworldproblems) and gave up on the whole project. So began the day...
After I pulled myself together and Micha promised to buy a new frame the following week, we decided to bike to to the hockey game - the last of the European Trophy home games - and even left plenty early to allow ourselves enough time to be slow. Only to find out one block away from home that my back tire was not only flat, it very likely had a hole in it somewhere. (Cue my whining) So we did what any sane person would do on a Saturday and tried to find a bike shop to fix it. And, now I don't complain often about my new home country, but one thing that kills me is that stores aren't open on Sundays and half of them aren't even freaking open on Saturdays! It makes no logical sense!! Rant over. We tried four bike stores in our Kiez and not a single one was open past 1pm on Saturday. You can imagine my mood at this point.
We went home and I decided not to give up but to ride my (triathlon) racing bike instead and just hope no one would steal it. We pumped up the tires and were nearly ready to go when Micha realized his back tired needed a little air. And, as luck would have it, somehow in the process of unscrewing the little valve on his tire, the damn thing broke! The valve. And all of the air left the tire in an excruciating hissssssss sound as we stood there shocked and angry. I was ready to throw in the towel and stay home, but Micha rallied us together, booked a DriveNow car, and off we went at long last.
After the Eisbären lost - yeah, totally helped our moods - we headed down to the river right across from the stadium with Kai for a Trostbier while waiting to meet up with Sara and Christoph. Because who can stay grump with these kind of late summer views?
We did manage to have a lovely, entirely-too-many-beers-filled night in Kreuzberg, so friends pretty much saved the day. We had dinner at Ta' Cabrón and, while other ex-pats have raved about that place having the best Mexican food in Berlin, I have to wholeheartedly disagree. Their guacamole is too similar to something prepackaged and they don't use nearly enough spices for my taste. The two-hour wait for our food that night didn't help my opinion much. They did give us tequila shots as an afterthought, though we certainly came to regret that on Sunday...
(FYI, I still find Maria Bonita to be the best Mexican place in the city.)
I don't remember what was happening here, but it's the only picture of the night...
Sunday was mostly spent wishing away the after-effects of beer, or trying to nap away the hangover, and then trying to bake it away. (It only kinda worked.) It's funny, the older I get, the worse my hangovers get (which I think goes for most people) but each time it's kind of like an old friend from college visiting you. Old buddy hangover, who makes you feel like crap each time you meet up but nostalgia and wishful thinking keep you inviting him back again and again...
Chocolate chip banana bread won't cure your hangover, but it'll come pretty darn close.
Somehow we managed to rally in the evening long enough to meet our friend Chantal, who we met in the Philippines, for a couple beers at our favorite little microbrewery in Friedrichshain, Hops & Barley.
A tiny take on urban gardening in F'hain
Hops & Barley hopped on the neon bandwagon.
But only for a couple hours before I nearly fell asleep at the table.
Now just two more full work days before we leave for vacation and a visit with sister! Boston, I hope you're ready...
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