Summer in Berlin, it's alright PART II

♫ Alphaville – Forever Young

I'll start this part by mentioning three "must see" attractions which are located quite close to each other. Okay well, only one of them is a must-must-see, others very intriguing though.

On our first whole day we took an S-Bahn to Hauptbahnhof, the main railway station, and headed south, across The Spree river.

Moby Dick!

Reichstag
This is the house of parliament, the Bundestag. It's almost "right across the Spree from Hauptbahnhof" and worth seeing since the building is beautiful, though we only settled for viewing it from the outside. We saw groups of people going in and coming out, so I can probably say it's possible to get there – however, the security measures seemed to be strict, maybe for a reason.

I like these photos with my blurry face. :>

Brandenburger Tor
In my opinion, this would be the symbol of Berlin, the first of those. So it's a must see! Brandenburger Tor, being Tor, a gate, is a monument to walk through at least. However, although it's probably nothing but a gate, we managed to spend about two hours there altogether, not at one go, but still. We just took some... photos. Brandenburger by day, Brandenburger by dusk, Brandenburger by night...

Besides the historical gate and its architectural beauty, there may be other interesting things to see at the spot. Maybe something on the back side, towards Straße des 17. Juni (yes, that's a street), but more on the front side, where the quadriga is facing, where the is a square called Pariser Platz. So keep your eyes open! You are probably likely to see a whole bunch of tourists (and if you're strolling "alone" and with a big camera hanging around your neck like me, you might be asked to take a lot of photos for others), but there were many groups offering "attractions" to tourists. Many people dressed up so that you could have your photo taken with them for a few euros (old soldier uniforms with historical flags and such, but also Star Wars characters), a guy making huge soap bubbles, musicians, dance and acrobatics...

Brandenburger Tor, so beautiful that it attracts visitors from other galaxies!

The quadriga

And what I spent money on: a guy who had the uniform of a border guard and who was offering curiosity scraps of paper. For two euros I got a Brandenburger tor postcard with several interesting stamps (which he stamped right there in front of my eyes) such as a DDR VISUM Brandenburger Tor one and a Soviet Berlin related one, a print of 100 DM, a Brandenburger Tor bookmark and a hand-numbered one-day visa to cross the old border (with a DDR stamp too!). Of course they're just pieces of paper, but interesting enough, and I love the stamps! (And as a graphic designer I'm interested in many types of... prints.) And the price was not bad for a tourist who's interested in the history of the city. The dividing of Berlin is one of the most interesting things in recent history since even I have existed while the city was still divided (though I gotta say, back then I didn't care much).

Holocaust Mahnmal
The memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe is just south of Brandenburger Tor, very close to it anyway. Although it's a monument for a remarkable historical event, the site itself is not old: the monument was opened in 2005. It is "only" a huge bunch of concrete slabs put up in a grid pattern on a sloping field, but I found it very, very impressive. Some people call it a labyrinth, but no, it's a simple grid pattern. Just go deep in the middle of the area and you'll see how impressive it is! However, don't try to climb onto the slabs – it's neither very polite since it is a monument for murdered people nor very wise since the security will call you down at once. It's not very safe either. And no, I didn't try, but saw many people doing it.

Both big roads from Brandenburger Tor, the aforementioned Straße des 17. Juni (west of it) and Unter den Linden (east of it) are interesting and beautiful in their own right too, but more will come later. Unter den Linden also crosses Friedrichstraße (mentioned in my previous post) not far from Brandenburger. Until the next time – so long!

Summer in Berlin, it's alright PART I

♫ Iron Maiden – The Talisman

The first part of my Berlin trip journal! I'm not going to write day-by-day or anything, especially since many of those were extreme performances anyway; running from one place to another with a camera hanging around my neck all the time. Instead, I'm going to write travelling tips, hopefully someone will find them useful!

Public transport
When I first laid my eyes on the S and U Bahn route map, I just thought "bloody hell" and wished I wouldn't have to do it ever again. However, I was trying to find a way from the airport Tegel to our hotel. Well, I later found an updated version of the map which was only slightly different, but enough to make it simpler. As a graphic designer who made her thesis on using colors to convey information, I could still complain to the designer of the map, but well... :> Things get much easier when you try it in practice once or twice!

Seriously: using public transport in Berlin is ridiculously easy. We used the S (local train) and U Bahn (underground) daily, and relied mostly on those. We only used buses on our way from the airport to the city center and back (and in Potsdam). Same tickets are valid in all those forms of transport (and in trams, which we didn't use). It's also quite easy to get off at the right stop since the following stops or stations were displayed somewhere in those vehicles. Some U-Bahn carriages were an exception though, but it was usually easy enough to see the name of the station when the train was only slowing down. The trickiest part was finding your way out of the biggest stations! :> And if you were changing from S to U or vice versa, it was potentially difficult to find the right track – however, usually there were not too many different tracks for public transport, and by following the U and S letters in signs it was easy enough to find your way to the right place. That was particularly useful at bigger stations with long-distance traffic trains.

Besides, the trains were usually on time, and even if they were not, you never had to wait for long. I cannot remember what our longest wait really was, but waiting for the bus to the airport for seven minutes felt long after the local trains.

At the main railway station

The Warschauer Straße station, in the east (surprise)

Berlin Welcome Card
This is a good option for tourists to consider! Public transport tickets for a few days (a few different options, we took the five-day one since that's how long we were there), with the fare zones AB or ABC. The AB zone is probably enough for those who only stay in Berlin, and Tegel airport is inside that area as well. But since we wanted to visit the neighbouring city Potsdam, we took the ABC zone cards. 35,90€, and besides the unlimited use of public transport, you can also get a lot of discounts with the card. For example: We got 25% off the entrance fees to the TV tower and the zoo. And at least we never had to wonder how to use the ticket vending machines. Ah, extra saved brain cells.

Kurfürstendamm
This is a remarkable, big street in Berlin (on the western side). I'm mentioning it so soon since it was so close to our hotel. It is considered the most important shopping street too, though it depends on what you want to shop. :> If you're looking for high quality brands, then sure yeah, they all have stores there. Louis Vuitton, Prada, Rolex, Gucci... Not my cup of tea. Some H&M stores as well, but I wouldn't visit them in Germany. And on the other hand I didn't go there for shopping to begin with. A big and posh department store called KaDeWe is very close too, not in Kurfürstendamm though, but if you continue east from where Ku'damm ends and another street begins, you'll soon be there. Europa Center, another shopping center, is very close too, west of KaDeWe towards Ku'damm. There is quite an awesome cafe and restaurant on the top floor of KaDeWe! We only tried the cafe though. If you're into pastries and such, go try. Although the department store itself is expensive, I thought the cafe prices were reasonable. My piece of apple cake was less than four euros, but oh damn – it was HUGE. And seriously: there's a lot to choose from.

KaDeWe, only near Ku'damm

However, I thought the best thing in Ku'damm was Hard Rock Cafe! So yeah, if you're hunting for those experiences, it's on the southern side of the street.

Friedrichstraße
Another big street with shopping possibilities and some culture. The S Bahn station with the same name is located closer to the northern end of the street, between Hauptbahnhof (the main railway station west from it) and Alexanderplatz (the former eastern center) (with some S-Bahn stops in between). A good plan might be to go to the Friedrichstrße station and head south; you will find shops to visit, and you're heading for Checkpoint Charlie. However, if you choose to walk from the station to the checkpoint, don't do it just because "it's just a few U-Bahn stops away anyway" – it's much longer than it would seem. That's what we thought, and we were doing just that late on Sunday evening – couldn't pop to the stores. Checkpoint Charlie is the most famous East-West Berlin crossing point with those "YOU ARE LEAVING THE AMERICAN SECTOR" signs. American sector huh, pun intended with that McDonald's restaurant right at the border these days?

Yours truly looks a bit exhausted, but we had only
been walking for ten hours at that point...

The next part will follow as soon as I find the time to write it! I've been trying to update my portfolio as well, it's such a dull chore. Auf wiedersehen!

No reason to stay is a good reason to go

♫ Hammerfall – Glory to the brave

I hope my post title doesn't sound suicidal as it's not supposed to, it was just a good quote I found when Google suggested I look for "quotes about moving on". I thought I would be all hyped about realizing my dreams when I would get back to updating my blog, but well, life's a roller coaster. I realized one dream – visited Germany and Berlin for the first time. On the day I returned my boss called me (although I am on vacation, yes) to tell he would have to lay me off "for the time being due to economic reasons". Well, we all knew what the situation was, but I certainly did not expect this – I had (my favourite recurring) a project coming up very soon after the end of my vacation, but then... Things didn't go quite as expected.

I refuse to think there was something else behind it but the fact I was probably an expensive employee (though still remarkably underpaid). I know my place and the level of my talent and know it's not overshadowed by my workmates'. And although I was not fired and I figured they want to get me back as soon as they get more clients and more money, I'm not going to sit still and wait for that day. I think they think I'm doing just that – but no, although I liked the atmosphere and had some nice projects as well, I had been thinking of looking for a job where I could get a reasonable salary and some new challenges. I have no reason to do much in July since most companies in this field are on vacation, but I will soon start to look for a new job... It's probably about the time I listen to all the people who have told me to do that even while I still was working without a threat of unemployment or a temporary lay-off.

I will soon flood you with Berlin posts, but not yet. I took over one thousand photos during the five-day trip. I spent over twelve hours a day mostly on my feet more than once, and still didn't see everything.

Yesterday I went out with a friend couple to celebrate the lady's birthday, looking like that. Didn't bother to take an outfit photo as my SLR camera was somewhere with a memory card full of Berlin. I opted for double-buns after a long time again. :> I think I heard something about "fucking Mickey Mouse" once, but I was also complimented by another person who told me I'm stunning (why, thank you!) and since I was asked, I told I'm a graphic designer, and this person thought it made sense I have such a sense of style. Though I'm glad the conversation died quickly, I feel a bit sensitive talking about work-related things at the moment. :| Almost felt I couldn't say I am a graphic designer.

So yeah. I suppose I'll get back to posting about Berlin soon enough. Somewhere between fighting bureaucracy and trying to rediscover my self-confidence and find a new beginning with a new job. With such hopes, so long.

Greetings from the Middle Ages

♫ Dreamtale – Firestorm

We popped to the Medieval Market in Turku on Sunday. It was a nice trip, the weather was quite nice (=okayish for me, hot for the others) and company was awesome.

Now I'm going to flood you with pictures. Sadly, some of them turned out, eh, not so good. I had the energy to edit some, and while I was resizing those edited ones to be posted here, the software I used seemed to compress the jpg-files quite a lot! Of course you lose some data each time you resave a jpg file, but oh dear, I've done the same procedure innumerable times when posting photos online and never before have I seen such a radical change. So yeah, the images which were supposed to be the best turned out the worst with the hardest contrast and such. :> But I don't have time to redo the whole thing or otherwise I'd end up posting these photos when they'd be anything but fresh.

Some of the photos are not exactly from the Medieval Market but just generally from summery Turku.

Sometimes I try to capture the names of the places I've visited with dates or years printed somewhere as if in order to remember when I've been there. After taking this photo, it took me a while to realize it says 2011 in the shade.

A proof that yours truly was there for real.

The Gear Yard

We were watching from the wrong side,
didn't even figure out what exactly was going on...

Um, yum?

Home-brewed beer. I also tasted a bit, it wasn't as bad as I expected.

Poor little fellow was all alone in the corral.

I really liked the contrast between the fresh grass,
the blooming flowers and the dirty river Aura.

Have you ever been to some Medieval events? Other types of historical events? This was my first time visiting a Medieval event although there's a similar annual happening near my original home town. So long!

Drawing eyes

♫ Helloween – Mr. Torture

Lil' miss lazy blogger strikes back with the eyeliner review post I promised a while ago. I have even tried one new product after I mentioned I could write some reviews, so I will have, um, at least four eyeliners to write about.

If you've been following my blog for a while, you've seen enough photos of my face too and thus, know that I tend to apply quite a lot of eyeliner and it's been my trademark for ten years. Yet it's taken me almost ten years to master a style I'm happy with... :> And still I think my taste is developing constantly and maybe one day I'll look back on the style of make-up I had these days and just *facepalm*. Oh well, the road to success is always under construction!

When it comes to my skin, I suffer from acne and my skin is constantly oily, and it applies to my eyelids as well. It gives a real challenge to eyeliner products and I'm still looking for a perfect one!

I didn't take photos of my products because I lack some at the moment. Instead I'm trying to link to the product web pages on their respective manufacturer's sites. I didn't take photos of sample lines drawn either, because the differences aren't either that remarkable or couldn't be seen in photos. However, I've tried to state whether the finish is matte or shiny.

As for prices, I'm not stating exact sums I paid but an approximate price ratio based on the price per millilitre. Thus, the first product, which I consider "the very basic", shall get the price number 1 and the rest a number in the proportion to that number.

Gosh Eye Liner Pen
This is "the very basic" eyeliner – promised to be quick-drying and tear-proof which stays beautiful for hours, yet is not waterproof. Well, only the last two statements may be true. I'm not sure what slow-drying would be, but in comparison with other products I've tried, I think this is one of those slow-drying ones. At least it's the one I screw up most often by closing my eyes too quickly after applying it. As for tear-proof: I disagree. However, it may stay beautiful, if you're lucky. I've seen worse liquid eyeliners. I used this for years thinking this was very good.
The brush is comfortable and easy to use, works well for both thin and thick lines. I like it so much that I've saved and cleaned some caps to be used later after the contents of the bottle have run out.
Price: 1
Finish: Matte
Durability: ***
Ease of use: ****



Gosh Long Lasting Eye Liner Pen
For a while I thought this product was beyond awesome, but it turned out not to be perfect after all. I am not too fond of the shiny finish, but it stays well. However, lately I've also had to get disappointed with it, having had it melt on my eyelids even with good primer underneath. The tip is very thin, but easy to use. The liquid is also occasionally thin! I've had to shake the bottle a bit, or apply multiple layers. I think I used 1.8 ml in a month and thought it ran out quickly.
Price: 1.26
Finish: Shiny
Durability: ****+
Ease of use: ****


Gosh Intense Eye Liner Pen
I thought an eye liner pen with a marker tip would be awesome and wanted to try it. And yes, a marker tip feels strange at first but nice after a while... Until you would need more paint. Since the container is, like in marker pens, at the base of the pen, you would have to wait for the liquid to flow down and make the tip wet again. Unlike with actual marker pens, you cannot press the tip against the paper—err, your eyelid, because it will hurt. However, the tip is supposed to be tilted slightly in order to make the contents wet the brush tip again. Yet it doesn't quite work like that! At least I have to resort to tilting the tip against the back of my hand or something, and when it starts to get wet again, all the paint is at the base of the tip, and it's difficult to get the very tip of the brush wet so that you could continue drawing neat, thin lines. Sure, the idea was good. However, the lesson learnt: brushes which are dipped into the container work better than markers when it comes to lining your eyes. P.S: It's expensive.
Price: 2.5
Finish: Matte
Durability: ****-
Ease of use: **

Isadora Glossy Eyeliner Waterproof
I have a strange habit of staying very loyal to a certain cosmetics brand even if I hadn't tried many. I may be only relatively satisfied with the products I always use, not knowing if there could be something better out there... Thus, I dared to try this one recently. Said to be "super glossy", but I think it's less glossy than the Gosh Long Lasting one. And yes, it is waterproof – tested in the rain, stayed where it should. However, it's not as oil-resistant as I'd hope! Even with primer and Grimas eyeshadow, it can melt on my eyelids – even before the eye shadow does. Left me slightly disappointed, but it's at least as good as Gosh Eye Liner Pen, and yeah well, more tear-proof too. The brush tip is similar to that basic Gosh one.
Price: 0.97
Finish: Shiny–
Durability: ***+
Ease of use: ****

Extra: Grimas Water Make-Up Pure (palette)
I sometimes use this product as well, it's good for any body painting and works well as eyeliner as well. I mix it with water and apply with an old eye liner cap brush, and it works. Naturally, it's not waterproof but stays well nevertheless, and although it's water-soluble, it's not the easiest to remove with mere water.
Price: I cannot remember the exact price of a 15-millilitre palette, but I guess I won't be lying too much if I give it the number 0.2. Much cheaper than using actual eyeliner products!
Finish: Matte
Durability: ***+
Ease of use: Must be mixed with water or such, you need to get a separate brush. At home with good equipment ***** and on the go **.

I'm willing to try more products since I'm still looking forward to meeting the perfect one. What is your favorite? What would you never recommend to anyone?

Images: Sokos webstore. Finns can go shopping and check out more accurate prices too!

P.S: I think I have tried sleeping with each of these products on my face. :> This is what I call "the ultimate test", although the conditions for the product to endure are not as extreme as in the rain, while working out, sweating on a hot summer day... I never neglect evening beauty routines and removing make-up if I'm at home, but occasionally, when I'm spontaneously sleeping elsewhere, it's easier for me to sleep with make-up and remove it with appropriate products once I get my hands on them again.

The art of war

♫ Sabaton – Karolinens Bön

I've been a slightly lazy blogger, and slightly busy in real life as well. And if I was going to write about what special I've been doing lately, you might have a déjà vu after reading "I went to see Dreamtale live" for the fourth time. *giggles*

The theme of this post is warfare as a source of inspiration for artistic endeavours. Personally, I have very contradictory feelings when it comes to war and military related imagery. I'm quite sure most people can say they hate war and wish we could leave in peace and so on, and so do I. I'm also pacifist to the point of not being enthusiastic to try firearms if I ever got a chance (I'm talking about perfectly legal hobbies here). If I was a man, I would refuse to take military service, opting for civil service instead.

However, I cannot deny that warfare is a huge part of history, inspiration for stories, and probably even a remarkable part of human nature. It doesn't matter whether we are watching Star Wars, playing a sink ship game or reading some fantasy novel; war, battle or fight is often a part of the whole thing, not necessarily everything though. And why wouldn't it be? Two (or more) quarrelsome parties disputing in violent ways is often more interesting than peaceful conciliation. I also enjoy my regular dose of warfare whenever I've watching, reading or playing something.

This blog post is about real history though, not fictional wars. I've never been a fan of war movies or books, and I have been lucky enough to graduate from a Finnish comprehensive school, high school and university without having to read or watch The Unknown Soldier. I only had to watch a few scenes of the film in the Finnish film history lectures I had to take (which were probably the most horrifying compulsory lectures in university). And well, I can say I hate live action war films with a passion!

Some time ago I came across this DVD on sale, only for 5 €. Since I had seen it in a movie theater after its release and enjoyed it, I knew it would be worth my money. Yesterday we finally had a proper movie night and watched it, and well, it was still good.

Waltz with Bashir is Ari Folman's animated documentary film, released in 2008. It depicts Folman himself trying to complete a puzzle of his memories and recollections of his time as a soldier in the Lebanon War in the 80s. And it really is a documentary film, not a drama or an action piece "based on true events" – this means it doesn't have a real dramatic arc but consists of both interview and action footage like television documents. I think I once read how some professionals in the field wondered why Folman wanted to make this kind of film using animation, but I think the choice was perfect (not only because I wouldn't have watched it otherwise). The visual style of the movie is very interesting, and I think it portrays the soldiers' feelings very well: what it is like to be utterly scared, or to have a feeling of being on a vacation even at the front.

If there is a hole in your history knowledge and you don't quite know who were fighting in Lebanon and why, the movie won't leave you much wiser. It concentrates on the veterans' feelings, fears, memories and traumas rather than politics. I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in historical wars too, but first and foremost to those who haven't enjoyed other war movies like me.

And I guess the movie's success implies it is a good one; the front cover of the DVD states it was nominated for an Academy Award for the best foreign language film and it won the Golden Globe award of the same category. (Being an Israeli film, the main language is Hebrew.) One fangirl also had trouble sitting still back then in the movie theater when OMD's Enola Gay started playing in one scene. It's also a good war related piece of art!

I won't include everything I enjoy of this theme into one single blog entry, so I will move onto music now. Ever heard of Sabaton, a Swedish heavy / power metal band whose lyrical themes revolve almost solely around historical wars? Not only are the lyrics interesting, but their musical style combined with the frontman Joakim Brodén's strong voice makes their songs very enjoyable. (Most of their songs are in English but I also really like the Swedish versions of their new songs; somehow I think Swedish suits metal music.)


Primo Victoria is about the Invasion of Normandy, and the song which got me into Sabaton in the first place.


A Lifetime of War is from their newest album Carolus Rex which was released a few weeks ago. The lyrics are a good reminder of how insane warfare actually is.

I truly suggest checking out more of their songs or videos if you got interested. I guess I will stop here, though I might write more about the theme in the future, I already have something on mind. Until the next time anyway, so long!

P.S: Anyone else experiencing problems with Blogger loading CSS stylings? My blog background and linked fonts suddenly stopped loading, sucks!