The time I drove an old broken-down car around Berlin

When we first arrived in Berlin, we saw a convoy of little old cars puttering around the city. It was Trabi Safari - a tour where you rent an old East German car and drive around following a guide, who gives you a tour through the radio. The Trabi or Trabant is an East German icon - a (relatively) affordable, compact car to rival West Germany's VW Beetle.

At first I thought it sounded all too scary - I haven't driven a manual car (or stick shift) in years, I've never driven in another country and Berlin's streets are pretty busy! But, as we spent more time in Berlin, I started to feel more relaxed, more like a local, and I felt like we needed an adventure.



So we turned up, chose our car (giraffe print, please!) and got a little introduction to the guide, the tour and the cars. Then we were told to get in. I figured this was the part where we'd do a bit of training - practice starting the car, drive around the carpark a bit, you know - no-one had even looked at my licence so surely they'd have to at least see if we could drive!

 

I got in the car and girl from Trabi Safari leaned in my window. "There's the gear shift. That diagram shows where the gears are. Do you want to practice?" I managed to move the stick through the gears, struggling a bit with reverse. "It's ok, you'll get used to it. Turn that key to start" I turned the key. The noisy engine spluttered to life, sounding like a lawnmower - which makes sense, because the Trabi uses a two-cylinder engine almost identical to that of a lawnmower. "Ok, have fun!" She grinned and moved on to the next car.

I sat there with James doing that nervous laugh that says 'isn't-this-fun-i'm-actually-terrified'. It's okay, I told myself. We'll start out on quiet streets so everyone can get the hang of it. The British and Australians are used to driving on the other side of the road, so they'll have to give us a bit of time to get used to that. The cheery voice of our Brazilian guide crackled through the radio.

"Okay everybody! Let's go! Follow me, we're turning right onto Friedrichstrasse... this is one of the most famous streets in Berlin..."
Yep, also one of the busiest. After stalling three times before I got out of the carpark (when was the last time I drove a manual?), I was out and in the traffic. Thankfully it was moving slowly and I made the decision to only use second gear, because changing from second to third was too scary for me. Yes, really...

Once we got to some quieter roads (I'd intentionally booked a Sunday morning tour so that there wouldn't be much traffic), I bravely attempted the second-to-third shift and didn't completely crash the gear box (except once) and started moving at an almost-decent pace.

I even got to see some sights!

This is my "I think I'm having fun but I can't tell because I'm too scared to think about anything else but driving this stupid car" face.

Had a little bit of roadwork to negotiate...

...and a little bit more...

At one point, the last car in the tour got lost. We pulled into a side street to wait while the guide car drove around looking for them. We took the opportunity to take some photos. I was in a great mood! I'd finally mastered the gears and all I could think was "I'm SO glad it's not me that's holding up everyone else... how embarrassing!"

I may have spoken too soon. When we set off again, I noticed my car was going slower and slower. Even in fourth gear (yep! I got brave enough to use ALL FOUR gears!) with my foot to the floor, it was struggling. As the second car in the convoy, I kept holding people up at every traffic light because it was so hard to get going.

This bridge is about the steepest 'hill' we encountered (Berlin is a city settled on a swamp so it's very flat). Our little giraffe car almost didn't make it - I kept picturing us rolling backwards and causing a Trabi pile-up at the bottom of the bridge!

Almost... there...

I was getting increasingly stressed and, very wisely, James decided it would be a good idea to stop taking photos and concentrate on calming me down. It eventually got to a point where we were pretty sure we were actually just rolling around Berlin, not driving. We waved madly at the guide car and everyone pulled over while he looked at our car.

Turns out one of the two cylinders in the engine had failed (is that the right word?) and I had been driving around the city with a mighty 13 horsepower. I don't know how much horsepower normal, modern cars use, but I think it's more than that. The guide offered to swap cars with us and led everyone back to the lot very, very, slowly. I'm sure I was really popular with everyone by this point.

So this is the little beige hero car that saved the day and got us home. It was much easier to drive than the giraffe car, so here's the lesson folks: never choose a car based on its paint job alone.

My drawings from that day's travel diary entry.

 

Relieved to have survived the adventure. My legs and hands were shaking!

James knows me well, and when he saw a waffle place across the street, he knew where to take me to recover. That's my souvenir DDR driver's licence next to my plate.

Once I'd got over the stress and decided that the experience was kind of fun in the end (I had said we needed an adventure!), I got a souvenir Trabi as a sort of trophy to remember the time I managed to drive an old broken-down car around Berlin.

I'm engaged!

While out for breakfast at our new favourite cafe last weekend, my boyfriend (now fiancé!) asked me if I wanted to go shopping for an engagement ring (YES PLEASE I WOULD LIKE THAT VERY MUCH). We had a wonderful day and found this beautiful 1920s art deco ring at an antique jeweller in the city, and he proposed when we got home in the afternoon.  Best day ever!

Actually, it turned into the best weekend ever because I was able to live out a childhood dream and go to a Hanson concert the next night! Tease me all you want but they were AWESOME and I am proudly wearing my brand new Hanson t-shirt right now.

So I haven't posted much because I've been a BIT distracted by fun wedding things - with us going overseas so soon, we need to plan the whole thing now or face trying to plan a Sydney wedding from the Philippines. Luckily I was one of those tragic creepy PRACTICAL girls who had already planned the whole wedding in their head before they got engaged. Makes things a lot easier!

This is a photo of the train platform after I opened my mail while waiting for the train (as I often do). Should've known better when I saw my mum's handwriting on the envelope, she'd stuffed it with confetti that exploded all over the platform once I opened it! Oh well, hope it made some bored commuters happy!

Harry Potter: It all ends

Last night (and early this morning) my friends and I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 at 9pm and part 2 at midnight.
It. was. AWESOME!

That's all. Go and see it!

Ten Photos - June

Another post where I share ten random photos I've taken lately.

This is the river near my house. There are walking/cycle paths along both sides and I love going there in the late afternoon when everyone is out walking their dogs. It's a nice way to forget you live in a city.

I have so many photos of the opera house because I go past it on the ferry on the way to the zoo. Seems rude not to take a photo of some sort, everyone else is doing it!

Another ferry photo.

On the weekend we had a Queen's Birthday party. I love the Union Jack so I was a bit enthusiastic about the decorations! note my very special Royal Wedding tea towel hanging in the window!

Had a big sewing day yesterday working on Window Shopper bags. See the new blue colour? It has a bright orange print.

I love the look of my Bell Street labels all together and decided to store them in a glass jar so I can look at them more often. I think it looks nice!

I said in my last post that I don't usually photograph my food, but this salad was so amazing I had to take a photo to remind myself to make it again! It was grilled apples with lemon juice, bacon, blue cheese and chopped walnuts drizzled with honey. Yum!

Remember Steven Bradbury from the 2002 Winter Olympics? He won a gold medal in the speed skating when everyone in front of him fell over. Last weekend we discovered him at Perisher trying out the new ice rink at Smiggins with all the kiddies.

I recently started making popcorn the old-fashioned way (on the stove) and I'm immensely proud of myself! Have you ever mastered something really simple and felt like you're some kind of genius? just me? Popcorn makes a great sewing snack. I clearly made too much in this photo though, I have since gotten better at working out how much to make.

Vivid Sydney Festival

On Thursday night my boyfriend and I headed down to Circular Quay to check out the Vivid Sydney festival. I'd already seen a bit of it with my parents the week before but I wanted to return with my camera and show James. Of course it was all ridiculously hard to photograph, but that didn't stop everyone from trying! I felt like everyone there had a camera, and we were constantly walking into people's photos! It was kind of funny.

The projections on Customs House were absolutely amazing to watch but all look pretty boring in photos. I guess it's because the amazing part was the way it all moved and changed - if you watched it long enough, it looked like the actual building was breathing in and out, transforming itself, crumbling down and building back up again. Had to be there, sorry!

I'm surprised the Bridge didn't put up any party lights. Try harder next year, bridge (but don't worry, I still love you).

The projections on the Opera House were my favourite part. They kept changing and there were lots of different styles - I liked this psychedelic one best though. There was also a good one where the sails looked like rainbow fans, opening and shutting. I could have watched them all for hours!

There was a fire show set to Katy Perry's 'Firework' and Stravinsky's Firebird suite. It was basically just lots of fireballs. Kept us warm though.

We headed to the Australian Hotel for pizza. I didn't take any photos - I know photographing your food is some kind of blogger cliche but it never occurs to me. I just want to eat it! So you'll have to just trust me that the Peking Duck pizza is delicious.

Testing night photography skills while waiting for the train.

Vivid Sydney is on until Monday 13th June. If you go on the weekend, the Rocks Night Markets are on too. Check it out if you haven't already!

Ten photos

I take a lot of random photos that don't really fit in to any of my iPhoto events or blog posts - you know those photos you take when you're bored, or playing with your camera, the ones that just sort of sit by themselves in a lonely little folder and get forgotten about? I have so many of these that I decided I'm going to start putting them all in a folder together, and every time that folder gets to ten photos, I'll post them here. Ok? Let's do this.

My boss recently got back from Bali and gave me this cute beaded basket/box. When I was little I had a pair of shoes covered in sequins and beads like this!


I made meringues to eat while watching the Royal Wedding. Did you watch it? We were lucky in Australia that it ended up being on in the evening so we didn't have to get up in the middle of the night or miss it while we were at work. My mum and I were on skype the whole time so we could have a kind of long-distance wedding party!


This pink VW is parked in our street all the time, I'm not sure if anyone ever drives it. Perfect subject for the 'select colour' function on my camera!


I took a photo of this outfit as a kind of 'note to self' to wear more colour, more often. I love working with bright colours but as soon as the weather cools down I tend to go for navy, khaki or grey! Bright colours are so much more fun.


Whenever I remember I like to get a $5 bunch of flowers to have in the house. I think my big vase broke so these had to live in my red jug, but I think they suit it.


When Dad and I were in Japan we were shocked at the price of these Hina dolls we kept seeing in department stores. Mainly because we knew that I had a set at home! My 'Japanese Grandparents' sent them to me when I was two and thankfully my Mum recognised that they were special and didn't let me play with them! There is a bride and groom, little furniture for them to sit on, flower vases, lamps, a screen and a music box. They are given to little girls as part of Hinamatsuri or Girl's Day.


There is a new installation thingy at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. From the outside it kind of looks like a mound of dirt with some grass growing on it, but inside it is really light and tranquil and... hard to describe.


Right in the middle of the installation.


My dad loves to cook Japanese food and this time he really outdid himself! Edamame, yakitori, gyoza, Japanese pickles, miso and cabbage with tongkatsu sauce. Yum!


This little elephant had his first birthday in March and the zookeepers put on a little party for him. He got lots of boxes of bananas, big ice blocks filled with treats and a big shiny blue ball (inside the cardboard box). After about five minutes he was completely overwhelmed and stood next to the keepers while the rest of the heard enjoyed his presents. It was all very cute!