Eating in darkness

To finish the birthday last night, we ate at one of Berlin's two darkness restaurants, Nocti Vagus. The only question Thomas asked me before he booked was "are you scared of the dark?" No, never have been. So it was a surprise that I met with joy when I heard what would happen.

Yes, the whole night would take place in TOTAL darkness, guided by our blind waitress Monika. It was an extraordinary experience to hone the other senses such as smell, hearing, touch and taste, to enjoy our food and our company, and to live for a few hours as some visually impaired people do.
After dinner, there was a group who sang of Christmas stories from around the world, with beautiful haunting voices.

The first thing I noticed when my entrée arrived was its smell (scallops). I found myself with my hands in my food quite a bit and there were inevitable moments of putting an empty fork into our mouths as we attempted to capture the food on our plates. Pouring wine was another interesting challenge... But by the end of the night, I felt like I was in any normal lively restaurant on a Friday night - how quickly we adapt to new circumstances...

Dark Restaurant & Dark Stage NOCTI VAGUS
Saarbrücker Str. 36-38
10405 Berlin - Germany

Phone: (030) 74 74 91 23

Liquidrom

Yesterday my partner and I celebrated part of his birthday at the rather divinely relaxing spa and sauna complex Liquidrom, famous for its underwater music in the circular relaxation pool... and that WAS worth it! It was both our first time here, located at the Tempodrom, near Anhalter Bahnhof.

I'd been told by a good friend about the musical pool, and despite at first feeling like I was in a floating disco, I can now also say that it's incredibly relaxing and had us both pleasantly exhausted after a good few hours there... If you're lucky enough to share this experience with a friend, make sure you tickle each other while floating on the water... it feels delicious!

Möckernstrasse 10
10963 Berlin

Open daily 10.00am - midnight
Friday & Saturday 10.00am - 1.00am

Papermade Heaven 2

There's a twin to Scatolina in terms of papermade bliss in Berlin and it's called R.S.V.P. in Mulackstrasse in Mitte. I used to work in the street, and so discovered the gorgeousness of this little stylish boutique, owned by Mieke Wander, with finely selected papergoods and accessories from all over... a must-see for paper freaks!

R.S.V.P.
Mulackstrasse 14
10119 Berlin-Mitte

Mon-Sat 12.00-19.00 Uhr

Papermade Heaven

This one is for my sister in Sydney... This little shop tucked in a side street of trendy Mitte in Berlin was introduced to me by a good friend here, with a fellow passion for all things beautiful. Scatolina is a boutique devoted to paper and here you can find all sorts of treasure... handmade, cutout, japanese, italian, european, books, journals, mobiles, lights, wrapping paper, anything you can dream of to feed your paper needs and desires... There's no website so you simply have to visit! Go forth and revel...

Almstadtstrasse 3, 10119 Berlin Mitte
Tel: 030 200 89 393
Scatolina@t-online.de

Mon - Fri 12-7pm, Sat 12-4pm

Rock Climbing

A new adventure started recently, thanks to my daredevil partner Thomas. He surprised me with an indoor Rock Climbing session. It's something I'd been wanting to try for a while now and it's something I'll be continuing with definitely. Very good for a girl who was scared of heights - I felt the fear but did it anyway, and that felt AMAZING!

We discovered 2 good places to go in Berlin, and last summer I went to watch an outdoor venue at the end of Mauerpark in Prenzlauerberg, from where my pics are taken...

http://www.diekletterhalle.de/

http://magicmountain.de/

Deep Living

Oh it can't be December already can it? I've been away a bit again with my partner, doing a wonderful workshop called Deep Living with James and Sarah Swank, bringing consciousness into the blocks which keep me from flowering into my full potential! It's intense and inspiring to go deep into this stuff.

Our teacher James speaks of Courage, Honesty and Consciousness as the 3 necessary skills to cultivate in order to live the life you want to live, being true to yourself. We "play" with these concepts in the context of people's deepest issues and I've been inspired to do trainings in this area. My partner also works with this. It's life-changing! Look out world, here I come : D