All posts by Helle Møller

Retired from a long working life as secretary/assistant in UN and EU institutions. Freelance stress counsellor and proofreader/copyeditor. Now living in Berlin.
The Life of a Danish Pensioner in Berlin

A food-waste and ugliness orgy

Share Button

I read about one of the big pumpkin farms in Brandenburg that they exhibit about 100.000 pumpkins, 500 different kinds, some weighing only 35 grams. Some of them are for sale, and dishes with pumpkin can be sampled in a bakery, a café, and a restaurant, where goose raised on the premises can also be sampled. And with joyrides for children.

Spargelhof Klaistow, Glindower Straße 28, 14547, in case anyone wants to visit – this is the last weekend, but I am sure they will be back next year, and are in any case doing something similar during asparagus season. Easily reached on RE1 and bus 641 (but keep an eye on the schedule – the bus only runs hourly).

I thought that might add some welcome splashes of colour on a grey and misty day, and also provide some images I would need for a photography course, illustrating the abundance in this part of the world in contrast to the abject deprivation elsewhere, so off I went to Beelitz.

I was prepared for mountains of pumpkin – not for the way they had been built into tasteless figures and the sight of all that food simply rotting.

The Life of a Danish Pensioner in Berlin

Events on InterNations and other activities

Share Button

Events on internations.org, in my whatsapp group for visiting wine bars and wine festivals, and playing bridge.

Breaking news (not InterNations related)

I have a Whatsapp group called Pub Quizzes in Berlin. If you are interested in attending pub quizzes, I think you can add yourself to it, or ask me by e-mailing me your phone number.

******************************************

Späth’sche Christmas Market 1 December

Pierre Boulez Saal 25 November

November 2024

25 November Classical Music from the 20th and 21st Century

10 November Birdwatching Tempelhofer Feld

9 November photowalk along poster exhibition 35 years fall of the wall

6 November opening of Christian Achenbach in Galerie König

3 November quiznight in Alte Turnhalle

2 November Hasenheide and Tempelhofer Feld with VHS

1 November gallery walk Potsdamer Straße

October 2024

27 October photowalk with InterNations photography group

26 October Six galleries and a movie

15 October three exhibitions

22 October Unerhörte Musik in BKA

September 2024

Three gallery walks during Berlin Art Week

Wilhelmhallen

August 2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

2 May: Trio con Brio

10 May: Photo Tour with Go2know

16 May: Das Kleine Grosz Museum

April 2024

12 April: Affordable Art Fair

14 April: A play at Schaubühne

16 April: Unerhörte Musik, BKA

23 April: Caspar David Friedrich in Alte Nationalgalerie

24 to 28 April: Berlin Gallery Weekend – two gallery walks – see separate post

30 April afternoon: Academy Concert

30 April: Unerhörte Musik, BKA

March 2024

5 March Unerhörte Musik, BKA Theater

7 March Pierre Boulez Saal

12 March Maxim Gorki Theater

13 March A Jazz Concert in a Jazz Club

20 March Photo walk Döberitzer Heide

27 March: The Holdovers (organised by me), followed by Indian dinner (organised by Rakesh)

28 March afternoon: The Zone of Interest in my favourite cinema

29 March EITHER Bridge at my Place, OR a jazz concert in B-Flat

30 March organ concert Konzerthaus

31 March Birds (and more) photography walk

February 2024

4 February: Green Border

5 February: Another Film-maker who needs no introduction

11 February: Spring wine fair in Hamburg

18 February: Photowalk in Gropiusstadt (not organised by me. Photos will appear in a separate post)

19 February: A Berlinale film

20 February: A Berlinale film

21 February: Two Berlinale films

27 February: Unerhörte Musik, BKA Theater

January 2024

4 January 11.00: Art between politics and society

10 January 11.00: Two exhibitions and a short walk in Kreuzberg – (Find the map of the walking route here).

18 January 18.00: Opening of a group exhibition in a relatively new exhibition space in Mitte

21 January: Photo-Pub (not organised by me)

CANCELLED: 25 January 14.00: Gallery Walk: 1. Galerie Dittrich & Schlechtriem, 2. Galerie Eigen & Art, 3. Galerie Weißer Elephant, 4. Alfred Ehrhard Stiftung, 5. ifa Galerie, and 6. Telegrafenamt, where Galerie König (Alexandrinenstraße) has opened a kind of satellite exhibition. Find a map of the route here.

30 January 11.00: Ken Loach’s latest masterpiece

31 January 12.30: Free lunch concert

LATEST NEWS

About playing bridge, and visiting wine bars and wine festivals in Berlin:

I was hoping to start one group on InterNations.org with the purpose of playing bridge, and another one with the purpose of visiting wine bars and wine festivals, but they would not let me do that (why am I not surprised?). The reason I was given was that those purposes are not specific enough. ??? don’t ask.

Consequently, if you are interested in playing bridge with an already existing small group of people, please find more information in this category.

If you are a wine enthusiast and interested in going out for a glass or two of good wine once or twice a month in a wine bar or at a wine festival, I have started a whatsapp group for the purpose. Please let me have your phone number on this email address if you would like to be added to that mailing list. Also see this post.

And finally, for opportunities for birdwatching and -photography, please see this post about bird-watching in English with VHS Volkshochschule and with NABU.

******************************************

By the way – is it a sign of the times (which Stephen Fry aptly calls The Age of Infantilism) that internations.org groups with silly titles such as “Berlin Good Vibes, Good Times Group”, and “Berlin Keep Calm I’m Just Offline Group” are considered specific enough (???) to be approved, but a group about playing bridge, and one about visiting wine bars and wine festivals are not specific enough to be approved? How the f… could “play bridge” be made any more specific? Or do they just hate me because I have been critical of them many times over the decades, and even left altogether a couple of times?

March 2024

7 March: Two world premieres in one of Berlin’s best concert halls.

December 2023

1 December 14.00: The annual pop-up mini art fair

5 December 16.00: Current Academy Students, Future Stars #1

5 December 20.00: New Music for Asian string quintet

13 December 16.00: Current Academy Students, Future Stars #2

November 2023

17 November 11.00: Same theme – two locations – #1

17 November 14.30: Same theme – two locations – #2

22 November 18:00: A meditative musical style

24 November 10.00: Breakfast and two photography exhibitions

28 November 20.00: New music for string quartet

October 2023

8 October: Guided tour of highlights of Pergamonmuseum: Photos to come in a separate post.

(Followed by “Vegan Sundays“, and a theatre performance suggested on internations but not posted as events).

10 October: Unerhörte Musik

12 October: Film in Human Rights Film Festival (not posted by me)

14 October: Gallery event organised by the photography group

If it does not rain, followed by:

14 October 17.00 hrs: IN THE WHATSAPP GROUP for Berlin Wine Enthusiasts: Winzerherbst Tempelhofer Hafen. For more information, e-mail me here.

20 October: Berlinische Galerie (Munch)

26 October: Art and Architecture on a day-trip to Wolfsburg. Städtische Galerie and Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg featuring works from Charkiwer Schule der Fotografie. FIND THE ROUTE HERE.

31 October: Unerhörte Musik.

September 2023

2 September: Museum der Bildenden Künste and Spinnerei Leipzig

6 September: Ephraim Palais

8 September: Guided tour before the official opening of Fotografiska

Interesting interior preserved (“unter Denkmalschutz”) from the Tacheles days, and promising, judging by the three opening exhibitions. Unfortunately, yet another new establishment designed to keep grown-ups out – with annoying “music” in most parts.

9 September: Wein- und Winzerfest am Dorfteich Lichtenrade

A good opportunity to sample wines from small regional, and beyond, wine producers in idyllic surroundings and a nice atmosphere. I had a most pleasant time with two other InterNations members who actually turned up on time (so I will probably do this again – despite a recurring issue which I could avoid by just going by myself):

When posting an event on internations.org, it is for some inscrutable reason obligatory to state not only a start time (obviously) but also an end time. Now, what to me, but since thinking has become so last century not to everybody, is blatantly obvious is that it is impossible to predict how long, or short, I or anyone else will want to stay in a place. Personally, I don’t like to stay anywhere for more than a couple of hours, max., but in some cases, I randomly allow for the possibility that others might when I state the obligatory end time.

Invariably, there are people who will arrive close to the end time, without having notified anybody that they will be late, and complain that there is no longer anybody there. If I allow too short a time span, others will complain that it is not worth it to go all that way for such a short time.

You can’t win.

***********************************************************

Berlin Art Week 13 to 17 September

See separate post here

**************************************************************************

26 September: Willy Brandt Haus and Vietnamese restaurant

(Sign up for the dinner here).

In my opinion

The most bitter pill to swallow …

Share Button

… especially for the planet, and for Ukaine (both now about to be thrown under the bus) – not to mention Gaza, is that who knows what might have been if stubborn Joe Biden had given his party enough time to find a suitable candidate ……

Favourite recipes

Beetroot jelly with wasabi foam

Share Button

This definitely needed some crunch, so I made poppadoms, and also fried some salmon skin in the same oil.

200 g beetroot

850 ml vegetable broth

2 bayleaves

1 star anise

1 tsp szechuan pepper

2 cloves

1 tblsp lemon juice

1 pinch salt

6 gelatine leaves

1 tsp wasabi powder

4 dl whipping cream

Soak four gelatine leaves.

Peel and grate the beetroot.

Simmer for about 25 minutes in 700 ml vegetable broth, bayleaves, anis, peppercorns and cloves. Pass through a sieve and measure out 600 ml liquid.

Melt the now softened and drained four gelatine leaves in the liquid. Distribute in four glasses and let cool, then place in the fridge.

Soak two gelatine leaves.

Heat up the remaining 150 ml vegetable stock and add 1 tsp (or to taste) wasabi powder.

Melt the now soaked and drained two gelatine leaves in the wasabi broth. Let cool till it starts to set slightly.

Whip the cream and turn in the wasabi.

I thought this required some crunch so served it with papadams. Probably highly unauthorised 😊.

The Life of a Danish Pensioner in Berlin

Nature, birdwatching and other walks in November

Share Button

17 November Jewish Cemetery Weißensee with Umweltladen Mitte

14 November Berlin Zoo between medical appointment and cinema?

10 November Birdwatching Tempelhofer Feld See separate post

9 November “Posterwall” See separate post

2 November Birdwatching in English with VHS in Hasenheide and on Tempelhofer Feld

Lovely walk in great company and the best November-in-Berlin weather possible. Saw many different birds – did not get a chance to photograph so many.

Bonus tip: We finished with a coffee in the very nice cafe in “Spore Initiative” – interesting place and architecture, close to U Bhf Leinestraße.

City walk with Eckehard Heiber, Empor Berlin, 3 November

Interesting as always, although a very large group in which there are always people who can’t keep their mouths shut while Eckehard is talking. Anyway, the weather was just as brilliant as the day before, if a little colder.

Here just a couple of unedited photos from my smartphone.

Afterwards, I went to Humboldt Forum to see the exhibition on Palast der Republic, which I found interesting.

Then an early dinner in vegan Vietnamese restaurant Sora on the way to quiznight “Let’s get Quizical” in Alte Turnhalle, where the team I was on came in fourth out of 22 teams. All in all, a perfect 72nd birthday :-).

Favourite recipes

Trips to plan for November, December, February, March and April

Share Button

IN PROGRESS

Again, purely for my own use, since Word documents accessed from several different devices are no longer synchronised (??) – at least this way I have everything in one place.

And don’t forget the Poland plans

December Dresden

6-8 January Munich (Lenbachhaus and Dachau)

January Rostock/Warnemünde

February Art Karlsruhe; the new museum in Wiesbaden;

April 5 and 6: Görlitz (two “lost places” photo tours)

April 13: Hamburg (Blende2 plus various exhibitions) (and Bremerhaven?

And a reminder to myself that when I moved to Berlin, I set out to visit as many towns and cities in my new neighbouring country – Poland – as possible. A certain pandemic, and a regime change, put a temporary stop to those plans, but now that Poland is back on my good books, it is time to resume those visits.

VisitedVisit againStill to be visited
GdanskByalystok
KrakowBydgoszcz
ŁódźCzęstochowa and Chorzow
LublinKostrzyn
PoznańPoznańKatowice
Szczecin (x 2)
Torun
WarsawWarsaw
Wrocław

Photography

Recent photography course assignment – 1) street art, 2) autumn foliage, and 3) ICM

1 Comment
Share Button

A total of five photos to be submitted to Blende2-Hamburg.

Despite the fact that I live in Berlin, with its endless amount of street art, I somehow do not think I will photograph any for this assignment.

As for autumn foliage, I’ll have to wait and see. So far, there is not that much of it around.

But ICM – I have done quite a lot of that, periodically, in recent years, and always find it fun, for a little while, until I don’t, and completely forget about it. But I am always happy when it come up as “homework” in a course.

Below are the results so far (to be continued for another couple of weeks) from which I will have to choose five photos:

Festival of Giant Kites, Tempelhofer Feld, 21 September:

Morning walk at Landwehrkanal/Urbanhafen 24 September:

Visit to Berlin Herbstrummel. Obviously a missing link in my cultural education, although it was a lot like a pre-Christmas fair:

My attempt to make a bundle of “pretty”, pastel-coloured prizes look creepy:

Visit to Tierpark Berlin 7 October:

And finally – an attempt at making a scene look more dramatic – not sure I succeede, plus the odd one out: a multiple-panel with autumn foliage, such as it was, since that was only getting started in Berlin a few days ago:

Favourite recipes

Chickpea flour pancakes

Share Button

These are easy and quick – and healthy -, and also great to take with you if you are going to be out and about and with no even remotely healthy food within reach but only those sandwiches made with refined wheat and filled with highly processed meat/cheese/whatever and E-numbers that are being peddled wherever you look when on the move in Berlin.

They can be frozen, too.

Mix 150 g chickpea flour with approx. 4 dl oat milk (or any other plant milk or animal milk, or even water. Start with less and add until you have the desired texture which depends how thin or thick you want your pancakes.

Then add 1 tsp baking soda (natron) and 1 tsp salt, and mix well.

Then add whatever you want as a filling. If you want sweet pancakes, add for example any kind of berry, and some maple syrup.

In this case, I added half a pack of broccoli, from the freezer, chopped; a red onion, finely chopped; two garlic cloves, finely chopped; half a tsp turmeric; a tsp moringa powder; a tsp dried methi leaves; a tsp ajwain seeds, a healthy dose of black pepper, and a pinch of chili flakes, and a tblsp nutritional yeast.

I could also have added for example some fresh herbs and some red bell pepper, or shredded carrot, zucchini, beetroot, ….

Then bake as you would any other pancake.

Here, two were cooled off and went in the rucksack for later, and two were served for breakfast with crumpled feta cheese and thick balsamico.

The Life of a Danish Pensioner in Berlin

Birdwatching and other nature photography walks in October

Share Button

IN PROGRESS

First, a multiple-panel I made for a photography course where the assignment was fall foliage, before that had really started appearing in Berlin:

5 October Moorlinse with VHS

My second (or third?) participation in this VHS birdwatching walk, led by Rob Crouch. I have also walked that route by myself several times, and once with a friend, since I now know it well, and even with my pathetic orientation skills do not have to bother with maps and am not likely to get completely lost. It is a very diverse walk with lakes, fields and forest.

There were not that many birds in Moorlinse when we got there mid-morning, but one great white egret I had not seen there before.

A bit later, while walking further on, we saw many geese arriving and descending towards Moorlinse, reportedly for a rest before continuing their travel south.

We also saw two herons circling (or were they actually storks?):

By the way, there were also some large caterpillars on the paths. Thank you to Agata for styling one of them for a photoshoot :-).

Stopped for a break at Karpfenteiche before proceeding towards Bogensee:

At Bogensee, I was lucky to get some photos of a great white egret. For a moment, I thought it might be the one from Moorlinse escaping from the onslaught of geese, but after the walk, I went back to Moorlinse and saw that egret still there, seemingly unperturbed by the geese.

Below are the kinds of photos I also find interesting, but I have included some pretty landscape photos above since those are what most people seem to like. (“Pretty” is not my kind of thing. I find most of it quite puke-worthy):

Somewhere along the way, we also saw a cow and a buzzard (the latter actually too far away to be photographed with my slightly limited equipment.

And finally, the view over Moorlinse after the walk:

And this youtube video, and this one.

7 October Tierpark Berlin

It may be a bit of a stretch to categorise a visit to Tierpark Berlin as a nature walk, but there are many different trees, bushes, grasses – in addition to the zoo animals. I went there in search of some ICM photos for the Blende2 assignment. Those will be posted in a separate post. Here are some of the more “normal” photos I took:

9 October NABU Spandau Bezirksgruppe – Vogel(stimmen)wanderung am Neunten, at Großer Spektesee

A super enjoyable walk in the most perfect weather.

Zoo Berlin 23 October (if a visit to Tierpark counts, then a visit to the other zoo also counts :-))

The sunrise as seen from my balcony on 26 October

A walk along Landwehrkanal to Urbanhafen just after sunrise on 27 October

And a photo walk ably organised by DJ in InterNations Photography Group – a very nice event, starting with a cup of good coffee in Mehringdamm, followed by a walk around and to the top of Viktoriapark, and ending with a tasty meal in Mama Rosas Taqueria in Mehringdamm.

Photographed two white flowers on the way there.

The Life of a Danish Pensioner in Berlin

Recommending a physiotherapist in Berlin

Share Button

Last time I needed physiotherapy, it was a less than positive experience. The first clinic I tried turned out to be totally disorganised, had not joined the 21st century yet (no computers!), so everything from phone numbers/addresses to appointments to notes and journals was scribbled on scraps of paper which were floating around everywhere and appointments were cancelled frequently without notifying me because they could not find my phone number (and of course they were not using something as modern as e-mail – this was about six year ago ……).

The next one I tried I just for some reason did not particularly like, and the sessions were really heavy going to get through. I remember seriously considering skipping the last couple (out of ten) sessions. It has to be said that they seemed competent enough, and I did feel an improvement.

This time, every session was a breeze. Praxis für Physiotherapie near Alexanderplatz was extremely organised in terms of giving out appointments, and the appointments were kept completely punctually. Valentin could not have been more competent, knowledgeable, pleasant, and plainly good company.

I have gone from hating to liking physiotherapy and if and when I need another ten sessions, I will definitely go back there.