Berlin

I visited Berlin for work reasons this week.  I had never visited before so I was interested in seeing as much of the place as I could.  Work kept me busy but I was able to see a bit of the place.

I was seeing beside the zoo.  During the second world war there was a large anti-aircraft gun in the zoo and it was heavily bombed.  Around 80 animals survived but were then promptly eaten after the Russians arrived in the city.  The zoo has subsequently been developed into one of the best in the world.  It is visited by millions of people every year and houses more than 1300 species.

Berlin has a population over 3.7 million people but seems fairly quiet.  The streets are not as busy as London, Birmingham, Edinburgh or Glasgow.  I was getting the S-Bahn every day and it was not crowded.  One morning the train was filled with children communicating in sign language.  The area around Zoo Station was busy but again not as busy as many other large cities.

I tried a currywurst from one of the vendors beside Zoo Station.  It's a grilled sausage with a ketchup and curry sauce, served with chips.  I heard that this local delicacy only came into existence after the war when the only ingredients available were tomato ketchup and curry powder.  I enjoyed the experience but I wouldn't make it a regular feature in my diet.

I took the S-Bahn over the the east of the city to visit the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag.  The area was full of tourists but again not overcrowded.  I then spent some time walking along Friedrichstrasse and looking around a rather nice German music and book shop.  We don't really have shops like this in the UK as much now.

One evening we were taken for dinner in a restaurant on Gendarmenmarkt.  It was lit up for a festival of lights in the city and I took some photos of the French church, the German church and the Konzerthaus.  I didn't get time to explore further.

I walked down Kurfurstendamm  or K-Dam a couple of times, window shopping with the Happy Mondays song Kuff Dam stuck in my head.  To block it out I listened to the new Cypress Hill record on my iPod.  It's a big, wide street.  It reminded me of streets in Poland.  I didn't buy anything but I sat and had a beer with a colleague outside a bar on the avenue and I ate a nice meal in a restaurant on the street.  They do beef well in Berlin.

With another colleague and his wife we stood and admired the remains of the Kaiser Wilhelm church beside Budapester Strasse.  It was well lit and it still has bullet holes from the war.  It was badly damaged by bombing in 1943.  The square around the church now has crash barriers everywhere after the actions of a nutter with a truck two years ago.

I didn't see much of the city and I would have liked the chance to explore more.  Sadly that is not always and option due to work commitments.  I may return at some point but there are a lot of other places to see and sadly time is not always available.

First impressions of Hamburg

I'm in Hamburg for a medical conference this week. I'm giving a talk about some research that I did in my last job. I wasn't really looking forward to it as much as previous conferences in more prominent cities (Vienna, Stockholm, Barcelona) as I had only every heard bad stuff about Hamburg.

I was most aware of Hamburg in the context of the Beatles. The Beatles were based in Hamburg for several months before they became famous. They honed their musical skills playing epic sets in the strip-clubs of the red light district.

Hamburg also has an international reputation for sleeze. The Reeperbahn is meant to be one of the most depraved red light areas in the world. When I planned my trip here I wanted to make sure that I stayed in a decent hotel and not some sort of jazzed up knocking shop.

I've actually done pretty well on the hotel front although it is costing me a fair bit. I'm stayiing in the 5 star SIDE hotel in the centre of town. I'm in one of the executive rooms which is rather nice. My room is bigger than several student flats I stayed in. Needless to say, the room is also much more comfortable. Very, very nice.

I was also fairly suprised by the centre of Hamburg. It is full of trendy, upmarket designer shops with all the major labels in attendance. Everything is very clean. The people all look fairly healthy. It is very different from my native Glasgow.

I've also been able to eat good food without breaking the bank. We found a nice wee italian place for dinner tonight and I had lunch in a soup place. All very satisfying.

I had a walk down the Reeperbahn with a colleague. It is full of titty-bars and grime. It contrasts sharply with the new town. Lots of skanky old punks and people sleeping in the streets. We didn't linger.

The conference starts properly tomorrow but I hope to see a bit more of the city. Nicer than I expected anyway. A pleasant surprise

Primavera Day one

I'm not normally the sort of person who would go to a music festival alone but the line-up for Primavera was so good I just had to go. I couldn't live with myself if I was in a city where Shellac was playing and I didn't make an effort to see them.

I headed to the festival site on the Thursday after giving my talk at the European Stroke Conference. The Primavera site is the Parc Del Forum on the coast. It was built for a large festival about 6 or 7 years back and it's basically a brilliant music festival venue. There are several amphitheatres that are perfect for open air shows and tarmacked ground that does not turn into a swamp at the first sniff of rain.

I decided to be almost psychotically sociable and tried to talk to anyone who spoke English. My friendly advances were knocked back a few times until I bumped into a bloke wearing a Hearts shirt who was recording the Fall. I hung out with him and his friends for the rest of the evening.

I last saw the Fall in 1994 at the Phoenix festival. They were playing from the infotainment scam back then and I loved it. 'paranoid man masturbates while listening to pearl jam in cheap shit apartment room'. Poetry. This time I didn't recognise much of the material but I enjoyed it just as much. I was pleased when they played their cover of Strychnine by the sonics. Proper garage rock. I look forward to hearing the tape.

Superchunk were OK in a sort of bouncey grunge pop way. I like them but I don't love them. Geraldo, a mexican bloke who knew the hearts fan, was more into them and said it was a good set (PS - Geraldo, if you read this message me in the comments section)

I watched broken social scene next. I own two of their albums but I had never really listened to them. It's a side effect of being a doctor. You have money that you spend on shit that you never manage to enjoy. Their set was OK but the feeling wasn't really there when I listened to the CDs at home in Glasgow. I should probably give them another spin.

Finally I watched pavement. I last saw pavement in 1998 at the Barrowlands in Glasgow just before they split up. They weren't very good back then possibly because of intraband bad vibes. This time they were much better. They seemed to be positively cheery and they bounced about the stage in a good way broadcasting their sunkissed fall-inspired tunes. I sung my heart out and tried to ignore the obese Spainiard who was attempting to initiate violent sexual congress with the rest of the crowd. He was either pogoing or moshing, I couldn't tell. I resisted the urge to twat him.

Day one was great and it got better

Barcelona

I'd been to Barcelona once or twice in the past, maybe 17 years ago. I have vague memories of the visit although I remember visiting the Salvador Dali museum. The Dali stuff blew me away back then.



I was in town this time for a mix of work and pleasure. I was giving a brief academic talk at a medical conference in town during the first half of the week and sneakily attending the Primavera music festival at the end of the week.



I arrived in Barcelona at 8:30am. I couldn't check into my hotel on the Passeig De Gracia straight away so I went for a walk around the centre of town. Most of the shops were shut as it was a public holiday. I walked down to the Modern Art Museum and hung out there for an hour or two.



The heat was fairly intense. I've spent a lot of time in Spain in the past but the heat always gets me. I just don't like the dry heat. I find myself eating less solid food and drinking a lot more water in that sort of weather. I guess I'm just more physically adapted to life in a cold, wet country.

There was a lot of anti-capitalist/anarchist graffiti on the shop windows in the streets near Placa de Catalunya. The current financial turmoil affecting Spain probably had something to do with that. The shops that I found in Barcelona were all fairly nice if both upmarket and expensive. I bought myself a new pair of trainers and a cap to protect my balding head from the sun. I also found a copy of a pixies CD 'the purple tape' which is out of print in the UK. It was only 5 euros so I was chuffed with that.

I also picked up a copy of an art book by Raymond Pettibon (of black flag/sonic youth goo fame). It was published to comemorate a Spanish exhibition from a few years back. I paid 50 Euros and it was selling for £120 when I checked the price in Amazon.

The underground system in Barcelona is pretty good. I had my eyes open for pickpockets but I only had one weirdo try it on. I was clearly a bit paler than everyone else on the street which clearly singled me out as a mark. Some bloke came up to me and started to engage me in disjointed conversation. He spun a bit of a sob story and managed to convince me to give him 2 Euros. He then started to ask me weird shit about how old I was so I told him to fuck off. I was slightly more polite in my lexical choice but i used my 'fuck off' Glasweigan tone of voice.

The Gaudi buildings are interesting to look at. My hotel was just a couple of blocks away from Casa Mila which just looks like it's melting. It reminds me of comic book art from the Nemesis the warlock series in 2000ad. I guess Kevin O'Neill was influenced by Gaudi and not vice versa.

Anyhow, enough rambling pish. Liked the city. Will go back. By train if I can.

A bit of a blur by Alex James

I think I picked this book up for 2 quid a couple of years ago. I have to admit that I called the whole Oasis/Blur thing wrong back in the day. I thought that blur were a bit of a comedy act and that oasis had more spirit. Time has revealed Oasis as a one trick pony while blur went from strength to strength.

I always thought Alex James was a bit of a fanny and indeed in many ways he is. He is also, surprisingly, a very readable and warm writer. His autobiography is a light, entertaining read and it made me smile in many places. Rather good for 2 quid. A pleasant companion for the first leg of my journey to Barcelona.

Glasgow to Barcelona by train

I've got a few bits and pieces to put up on this blog over the next few days. I had a great time last week. I was in Barcelona for a work related conference and I also managed to attend the Primavera music festival.

I had initially planned to fly with British Airways but my plane was cancelled due to a strike. I was a bit worried about booking another flight as there were ongoing problems with ash clouds. I decided to go by train.

The train journey basically went Glasgow to London to Paris to Barcelona. On the Saturday I travelled to Bristol because I couldn't get a train down to London early enough on the Sunday morning. I stayed overnight with my best friend from medical school and her family. She has a young son who I met for the first time.

On Sunday I caught an early train to London before jumping on the Eurostar to Paris. The London Eurostar terminal is very modern and clean. Much more comfortable than most airports. The Eurostar train was fairly nice too. It only took about 2 and a half hours to reach Paris. The train only seemed to be in the tunnel for 25 minutes.

In Paris I got a taxi accross town to Austerlitz train station. The sleeper train takes 12 hours from Paris to Barcelona. I was in a 4 berth compartment but luckily there was only one other person sharing. I managed to sleep for a few hours although I was wearing my jeans. When we arrived in Barcelona at 8:30am I smelled like a dog. Fairly unpleasant.

Overall, I enjoyed the journey and I would do it again. Much better than flying.

Public Image Limited live at the Academy, Glasgow

John Lydon is a culturally important figure. You may hate him but he is important. I like him. The Sex Pistols were important for music and for society. It's true. You may wish that it wasn't true but it is.

This was the second time that I have see Lydon live. I last saw him with the Sex Pistols during their 1996 reunion tour at the SECC in Glasgow. That was a great show. I'm lucky that I was there.

Public Image Limited was eagerly anticipated. I managed to listen to most of their back catalogue on spotify at work before the gig. I was psyched. PIL are musically better than the Pistols. It is unlikely that bands like Massive Attack, Orbital, Nine Inch Nails, LCD Soundsystem or the Rapture would exist without PIL. They made rock music and punk different.

Growing up in East Kilbride was good for music. I was able to hear most of PILs' albums when I was about 12 by borrowing them from the public library. There was a good second hand record stall in the Village where I bought a 3 inch CD single of 'this is not a love song' and a cassette single of 'world destruction'. Music was available and beautiful.

I loved the PIL logo. I used to draw it on my bag, desks, school books and clothing beside the Black Flag bars, the Minor Threat sheep and the Dead Kennedys DK logo.

The gig wasn't sold out. It slowly filled up with balding 50 year old men who probably hadn't been to a gig in years. I bought a PIL logo tour t-shirt and we found a decent vantage point. The support band, Fangs, were fairly good.

Standing beside me was a 50 year old Polish man who told me that he had waited 30 years to see Johnny Rotten. The Polish man now lives in Crieff and he was at the gig with his daughter and her drunken boyfriend. He told me that he started to listen to the Pistols on smuggled bootleg tapes as a young man. The music of the Pistols changed his world. He learnt English so he could understand the lyrics and then the lyrics made him understand that there was hope that there might be a life outside the Communist state. Johnny Rotten meant a lot to him.

We talked about my recent visit to Poland and my intentions to go back there some time. He hadn't heard much Pil music and I assured him that while Sex Pistols songs were unlikely the show would be excellent. He would go home a happy man.

My predictions were correct.

Public Image was the opening number. The sound was slightly dodgy initially but it was quickly fixed. We got a set that lasted for more than two hours and included Careering, Poptones, Death Disco, This is not a Love Song, Rise, Warrior and Religion. We even got Open Up.

The band was tight and for most of the show the sound was perfect. A lot of people were surprised at the good quality of Lydons singing. Lydon was of course the centre of the show and one of the best frontmen that you will ever see. He was funny and charming and honest.

The Polish guy was happy at the end of the show now that his 30 year wait was over. I was fairly chuffed myself. This was a great show and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I hope they play again. I hope the music of Pil gets the recognition it deserves.

Poland

I visited Poland for a wedding this week. It was a brief, flying visit and I would like to see more of the country some time.

An old friend was getting married to a Polish girl in Warsaw so I had to go. This was my third wedding in 6 weeks so I was totally skint. I could afford the flight but little more.

Warsaw has a sad history. I read a guide book on the plane over. 225000 people were murdered by the Nazis in one month in 1945 while the Russians sat and watched from the other side of a river. The Nazis tied women and children to the front of tanks to stop the Polish attacking them. The entire city was flattened. People are capable of bad things.

Frederick Chopin airport is very modern. Cleaner than Glasgow or Prestwick. What I saw of Warsaw did not fit my pre-existing mental image. The roads were wide and the buildings were in a good state of repair. It was sunny and warm and I was reminded of America or Spain. I didn't really get the feeling of 'communist oppression' that I expected.

The hotel we were staying in was OK. It was probably a fairly posh hotel for Poland. Drinks at the bar seemed to cost random amounts varying with how drunk the bar staff thought you were. None of the staff spoke much English although I guess my gruff Scottish accent never helps that.

The wedding ceremony was held in the local town hall. It was conducted by a man with a metallic medallion who looked a bit like a supervillain. I assume that he was the mayor. There are a lot of interesting traditions at Polish weddings, many of which involve vodka. The phrase 'one hundred years' was chanted recurrently as a blessing of good luck. The food was interesting. Thye most unusual thing was some egg soup served in hard baked bread. The food was still being served at the wedding well after midnight.

Polish women are amazingly attractive and I spent much of the evening chatting one with intermediate success.

I didn't get enough time in Poland but I might go back at some point. My friend may move there so I will have the chance in the future.

Stockholm and Sweden

I was in Sweden during the work for week. I'd never visited before and I liked it. I flew from Prestwich to Skatsva about 100km south of Stockholm before getting a coach into the city. It was about 1130PM when I arrived at Stockholm Central Station. I jumped into a taxi to get to my hotel.

The bus journey up to Stockhom was great, even though it was getting dark. The roadside trees and buildings were stunning. The scenery reminds me of rural Scotland but the clear sky made everything seem crisper. I kept thinking of 'let the right one in', the Swedish vampire film I saw a few weeks ago. I'm reading the book just now.

My hotel wasn't great. Due to an unforseeable credit card fuck up I had to pay for everything in cash. My room was directly above a rail freight loading terminal and shuddered every time a train went past. Lots of trains went past. I bought ear plugs as soon as I could.

The nights were short. Stockholm was only dark between 11pm and 3am messing up my sleep even more. One night I stayed out drinking in the city centre with some Irish people and it was dawn as I left the pub at 3am.

I had a lot of early starts for work so I was a bit sleep deprived by the end of the week. The hotel curtains couldn't keep the light out. The TV stations were filled with imported American comedy shows.

Everyone I met spoke English. It reminds me how crap I am. I wish I could speak another language. I could almost believe that I was in a British city. A beautiful, clean British city. No British city could ever be as beautiful or as clean as Stockholm.

Stockholm is on a series of islands connected by bridges and tunnels. Water flows around the old buildings that have not been bombed unlike other European cities. It's a m,ajestic, fairytale sort of place.

I didn't have much time to walk around the city because of work. I didn't get to any museums or art galleries. I did spend a day walking around the old town of Gamla Stan. I could have spent a few days there. I hope I get a chance to go back.