Mary and Brian's visit

So we just had a lovely visit with Mary and Brian. It was great to see some of our American family as it's been too long since we have been there last. We still managed to pack quite a few things into the three days they were here, though with all we wanted to show them, and with all they wanted to see they could have been here for a week at least. Though it was still quite cold here we got a lot of sightseeing done and I'm posting some of the photos that we took. Above are Eric, Brian and Mary at the base of the Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz.

This is Eric and Mary at the fountain in front of the Rathaus (Town Hall).

Both Brian and Eric were in full posing form. Above is Brian showing the goat the horns of rock.

This is Eric with the famous Marx and Engels statues. He seems to like Engels better - Henry would be pleased.

This is Brian cowering in the "crotch of Communism" - Eric's words, not mine.

This is Mary and Eric walking in a tunnel underneath the Spree.

This is Brian in the DDR Museum, driving a Trabi, the East German car.

This is Eric reenacting the scorpion scene from Flash Gordon. Luckily it's only a bag of coffee beans.
Those two wee people to the right are myself and Mary walking in front of the Reichstag.

This is Eric and Brian in the dome at the top of the Reichstag.

To the right, beside the woman in pink, is Mary, in the dome of the Reichstag.

After all our sightseeing, Mary and Brian stopped off for some delicious crepes and ice-cream (we helped). This is Brian in post-Eis bliss, getting his back massaged by the funky plastic seat tubing.

So just some photos to give you a flavour of the visit. What we didn't get photos of were the fantastic cakes that we ate, the fabulous hats that were bought (by Mary) and the many beers that were drank. I do hope that it captured some of the fun that we had though. Truth be told it was like a mini-holiday for myself and Eric.

Thanks for the visit Mary and Brian!

Pomelo! Pomelo! Pomelo!

Meet my new fruit of the day, Monsieur Pomelo. I had never seen one before and they suddenly appeared in the supermarket a couple of months ago. (I got Eric to take a photo of it beside my head so you could get a sense of the size of it. It ain't small, that's for sure! Note the hungry glint in the eyes!) Anyway, since then it seems I have eyes for no other fruit. I am a woman obsessed (so much so I decided to blog on its tastiness)! So what does it taste like, I hear you ask. Well, it is somewhere between an orange and a grapefruit, basically like a sweet grapefruit.

It has this thick pith...

...but inside it is supremely juicy and tasty. And that's it. Not much more to say other than ooh Mr Pomelo, I love you, I do!

Happy Paddy's Day!

This brief blog is a belated Happy Paddy's Day to you all. This is the longest I've been away from Ireland - I haven't been back since October 2008! - and every now and then I still do miss things about home. Mainly the people and their wit, but also things like the beautiful Irish countryside and the way everyone speaks English (though I do find myself speaking Irish every now and then, usually when I'm trying to speak German)! Anyway, the film above kind of tickled me so I thought I would share. Big love to everyone, but especially those of you in Ireland!

Eric's Album Launch

So it was finally the night of the launch Eric's album, here in Berlin. After weeks of preparation, rehearsing and baking (see cookies and brownies above) - we were ready. We had the launch at a cool cafe near us called Cafe Hilde, which is owned and run by an Irish guy. They have music every Friday night there. It also is very relaxed and chilled out and so seemed the perfect venue for the launch.

It was a sit-down acoustic performance and I have to say that Eric was in top form. He was also lucky to be joined by several talented musicians we know here in Berlin...

...which included Shaun Mulrooney, brother of our friend Dee from Ireland, Tom Fanore, Cameron Wilson and co-producer and friend Fab Leseure.

Our friend Nina Hynes also sang with Eric on the song 'Running'. This beautiful song is a favourite of many of our friends from the album.

We were expecting about twenty to thirty people to come on the night and we ended up with about sixty or seventy. It made it a bit difficult for those in the back to hear as the place was packed out. But those who could hear seemed to really enjoy it.

This is a photo of Yael, the youngest member of the Eric Eckhart fan club.

This is a photo of me minding the video camera, with our friend Roula.

This is Yael again hanging out with her Papa, Nijen. Slightly blurred to the left is our friend Jonathan who also wrote a lovely blog on the launch.

All in all it was a fabulous night. We both said that it couldn't have turned out any better. We wish of course we could have had some of our American friends and family there too, but we felt you there in spirit. Thanks everyone for making it such a great night and a wonderful celebration of Eric's new album.

Eric's video

After much hard work Eric has finally released the first single from his new album 'This is where it starts'. For those of you who haven't seen the new video for 'Happy' here it is! Every time I see this video I makes me smile. We had such a great time making it. Also, there are funny little things like Eric's dancing and of course the swallowing of the feather. I also think it's funny that Eric looks a bit Asian around the eyes. They say that some couples end up looking like each other and maybe it's true (though Eric says it is just the bright lights)! Either way, I think it's a great video. We hope you do too!

Joe's Visit

I know it's about three months late but I finally got around to doing something with the nice photos we had of Joe's visit (most were Joe's, who had many, MANY!, fantastic shots of his journey around Germany, and some were mine). Anyway, it's do with my small, okay, not-so-small, addiction to a thing called imovie. It's a software that comes with my mac that lets me make movies. Yes, this is true! And it's one of these super easy-to-use softwares that makes you feel like a genius because really you never thought you could make something like a movie before. At least, that's how it makes me feel!

Anyways, below is the finished product. I had great fun making it. And best of all, it brought back lots of lovely memories of Joe's visit. I hope it also gives those of you who are thinking of visiting a taste of Berlin. Also, it's so weird looking out at the snow here and seeing the sunshine in the photos. I'm at that stage of winter where it's hard to imagine warmth and sun. It's good to remember that it does happen here in Berlin! Hope you like it. (If you are having problems viewing it, Eric recommends going to Youtube to see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQdoV20UEqM)

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Ah the first blog of 2010! A new year is finally here, along with a good few inches of snow and many resolutions (one of which of course is to write more blogs!). First off, a very happy new year to you all! Myself and Eric have been thinking about all our friends and family this Christmas and wishing we could have been with you all to celebrate it.

We still managed to have a grand ol' time and to expand our waistlines. We also had a nice New Year's Eve, which was spent having dinner with Eric's American friend Thomas who is over visiting. We also had some sups of bubbly and played a few rounds of Rummy. Then our German friend Sandra called in and convinced us to venture out to see the fireworks.

Now for those of you who don't know Berlin, this city on New Year's Eve is completely firework crazy and if you are in the wrong area it can be like a war zone. After last year, trying to dodge missile bangers and wading our way through clouds of smoke, I had planned spend the countdown cowering behind our sofa.

However after some persuading at the last minute I decided to try my luck and ventured out. This was all made possible by my earplugs, which actually succeeded in blocking out much of the noise. (When it comes to loud noises I'm pretty much like a cat and tend to jump out my skin). Anyway we walked down the road to Hackescher Markt by the river and I was able to withstand the celebrations without having a heart-attack.

We didn't stay out long, just half an hour or so but I got some good video footage with my camera. I have to say I do like the colourful bright sparkly kind of fireworks and we were lucky to see much of it. I made a small movie below for you all, and I hope you get a taste of what New Year's Eve is like in Berlin. Lots of love!