2010

My last blog, I see, was at the start of December last year, and now we're at the start of February. Two months... sorry.

So since then, I had a couple of weeks at work, then made the long and perilous journey back home for Christmas and new years. That was 3 weeks or so, which means I've been back in sunny Potsdam for about 3 weeks too. I'm gunna gloss over the 3 weeks in New Zealand, because most of you are kiwis, and stories set in exotic locations are much more interesting.

My flight back took me via Korea, not quite Seoul, but really close. I had an overnight stopover there, and the airline put me up in a (pretty nice, actually) hotel. It was really cold. Especially when I'd been in 25C the 3 weeks before. And I didn't have the best cold weather clothes, but I still braved the Korean subway system and found the city centre (not of Seoul, of Incheon - this city just beside Seoul). It was full of bright neon lights and icy footpaths. I did not see a single other tourist, all the people around seemed to be locals doing late night shopping in these brightly decorated clothing shops. With a bit of pointing and sign language, I managed to get some delicious Korean food (seafood pancake thing) that a friend had recommended (thanks Paul). That was Korea, I went back to the hotel and fell asleep with my backpack on.

Incheon town centre. There were actually lots of people - I don't know why there is noone in this picture...

"Simplicity Descending Life Line" in the hotel room on the 8th floor.

The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful, got back to Potsdam in the early hours of the morning, had a few hours sleep and went to work the next day. Turns out this wasn't such a great idea, and the next day I had a killer cold, so I took the Friday off and it was all good by Monday.

Now I thought Korea was cold - maybe it was -5C. The day I got back to Potsdam was -15C, I think. Since then it's been close to 0 a few times, but also down to -25C. Minus 25 degrees is cold. Even in -15C it's very dangerous to lick a metal pole. I learnt this the hard way. But cold also has advantages - snow, for example. Potsdam is still covered in at least 30cm of snow now, it's lying in huge piles on the sides of the roads. It kind of rained a bit last week so it's really crunchy and satisfying to walk on. My flatmates and I went sledding the other day too in Park Sanssoucci.

The institute in snow.

Icicles on the balcony.

Last night I went into Berlin with friends from work. Twice a year, all the museums and churches and stuff stay open until 2am, and you can buy a cheap ticket to visit all of them. We didn't go to ALL of them, in fact we only went to 4, but we didn't want to rush through heaps and see nothing. So we went to the Berliner Dom - an impressive cathedral I've posted photos of before, St Marienkirche - the oldest church in Berlin, the Natural History Museum - with the biggest dinosaurs in a museum, and the first dinosaur they found with feathers, and finally we finished up at the aquarium - which is HUGE and even has a tuatara exhibit. I know tuatara aren't fish, but the aquarium also had reptiles, amphibians and insects. A good night, lots of fun and lots of interesting stuff. Got back home at about 3, and had to get up by 11 today cos it's my flatmate's birthday and we had a big brunch so have been eating food ALL day.

Dome of Berliner Dom.

Dinosaurs!!!

That's the highlights - feel free to drop me an email bragging about the fantastic weather you're having.

Adam