Birthday, Berlin

From the title of this post, one can imagine what I am going to write about.

My birthday started with a donut cake, then a phone call to Canada (it was still the day before my birthday Canada time), then breakfast in Berlin, Dinner in Budapest. Then morning messages from Canada the day after my EU birthday. It was quite a day (and I think my brain is still processing all of it!).

Well, you guessed it. This weekend was my birthday. and I also went to Berlin. And I also got Monday (my Birthday Proper) off, so a long weekend it was for me.

Before blogging about Berlin (which probably warrants a second entry), I would first like to thank everyone for their Birthday wishes. Literally, they came from every where (by mail, by blog, by phone, in person, on facebook, via email1, via email 2, via text message). Really, it is really nice to hear from everyone-especially since this was my first birthday away from friends and family. Although....the people I have met here have really made bpest fun for me, and are like a little home away from home.

So I thought for this post I'll tell the world what I did for my Birthday in Bpest.

actually, it started in Berlin, and ended in Budapest.

So let me take you back to Monday at 1 am. well, okay, let's start on Sunday.

Max planned to celebrate my bday on the Sunday. He got tickets to go and see a show at the Berlin Philharmonic. (it wasn't the symphony, but it was one of 3 orchestra's that call Berlin their home). It was a mix of the Berlin Orch and a Japanese travelling choir, singling Beethoven's 9th Symphony. The one that 'ode to joy' comes from. The philharmonic was really neat inside, and although was very 1970s inside, it sounded great! I took a photo (without a flash) (but it said not to, so I am not sure if I should post it or not).

The orchestra was really good and that with the choir and the four solo singers (who hit all their notes ... even the soprano).

When the orchestra started to play Ode to Joy (and the choir began to sing in German), I couldn't seem to shut off 'Drink milk love life to all freshness something blah blah driiiink milk" and "Hi I'm Carlos Delgado of the Toronto Blue Jays, Drink Milk!" from my brain. Those Dairy Farmers of Ontario, or the Milk Marketing Whoevers should be very proud! Even after the concert, I wasn't humming about Beethoven, I was humming about milk. I am sure that Max thought I was slightly deranged....as these commercials are obviously an Ontario thing.

After the concert, we went out for dinner to a nice German restaurant. By German I don't mean sauerkraut and sausages (which we did have the night before), I mean German food like roast and potatoes. As i could not get enough sauerkraut this weekend, i had a form of 'kraut anyway----After dinner we peaked at the dessert menu and well nothing really struck my fancy.......except for Basil Ice Cream with Strawberries. I wasn't sure if it was the basil part or the basil and strawberry part made me very intrigued by the whole thing. Although it wasn't birthday cake (which was the plan), we decided to share the Basil Ice Cream. Oh. My. Gosh. It was so good. You could tell it was home made and that they used fresh basil and cream, and man, that paired with the strawberries made the ice cream combo DEVINE and refreshing yet too sweet and ice-creamy!

As we didn't have birthday cake (which was the plan had there been a suitable cake) I challenged Max to find a piece of cake at midnight to ring in my bday.....although hesitant (as well, finding a piece of cake after 9 on a Sunday would have been difficult) he accepted the challenge....

So after my Sunday birthday dinner, we walked around down town Berlin for a while. The restaurant was in the area where there were lots of older buildings and museums and they were all lite up. PLUS Germany had just one their FIFA game so the streets were packed with people all waving German flags. It was pretty cool.

After walking around for a bit, we decided to head back through the city centre to check out the thick of the football celebrations, then we headed back to his house. By then it was nearly mid night. nearly my birthday.

We got back around 11 50, and while max was fiddling around in the kitchen I decided to check out German TV. Now, although German is not English, it is closer to English than Hungarian is, and so there were several words that I could recognise, which was actually quite nice.

then, at midnight max came out of the kitchen with my cake. well, sort of. He had succeeded at finding a Milka packaged donut, and what was some thing similar to a joe louis (what he found at the gas station (the only place open)). Then he stuck a table candle in the hole of the donut and added a poppy seed cake square thing. Although not typical, I thought it was cute (even if donuts really should not be sold prepackaged!). hehe. After we sample the array of gas station cake, I called home (S). Although it wasn't my birthday in Canada, it was in Germany so I thought it counted. Plus this was perhaps the only time where I would be able to call as I do not have a land line outside of my office.

Monday (my birthday proper), I was headed back to Budapest. We stopped at a German department store, KeDeWE, and I bought a birthday present to myself. A cute, little purple purse/shopping bag from Longchamps :). Although plain Jane, it is very pretty and I thought that now was a good time to finally buy it (i have been thinking about buying one since I was in Paris, four years ago). Plus, I qualified for tax-free shopping (so saved 20%). yeah!

When I got back to Budapest, I had enough time to check my email briefly (thanks for all the greetings!), shower, then meet a group of interns for a dual- Canada birthday and Intern Good bye party at this Hungarian buffet Etterium. It was all you can eat (and drink including wine, beer and champagne) for one flat rate (less than the entrance to Mandarin), and you had three hours from the time you arrived at the table), so we took our time, in fact, we took the whole three hours.

It was a really nice atmosphere, and I liked the fact that I could sample lots of little Hungarian dishes (some good, some, well, not really....for my taste buds at least). There was also a very funny pizza man who walked around the restaurant carrying a Pizza Pie, offering slices to everyone. He was very formal about it to, and the first time he showed up at our table I was slightly shocked as I didn't quite understand why a man dressed in white, with a bow tie, was offering me Pizza at a Hungarian buffet.....

As we were gearing up for dessert, the music in the restaurant started to fad, and a very loud 'Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday' English language version of the song came over the loud speaker. I was shocked and slightly confused. When I looked around the table, everyone was smiling and well, I knew that the happy birthday was directed at me.....Then out of the corner of my eye I say what look like a sparkler (my back was to the restaurant, as I was slightly mortified, I didn't really want to turn around, later I found out that the whole restaurant was looking and smiling, so i guess I am glad that I didn't turn around. at least I spared myself the instant flushed red look that would have happened had I turned around....).

Then a cake arrived complete with a MEGA sparkler. In fact, I do believe that the size of the birthday 'candle' would qualify as a firework in Canada. Still it was great and well, really made the night :) Thanks again! (for those interested: it was chocolate :)).

Some of the people took pictures of my shocked face, and when I get a hold of one i will send it along......

After dinner we went out to a pub/club near the Bpest Opera House and met up with some more interns. It was fun and a great way to end a my first Birthday Abroad. But really, it didn't end until this morning, when I woke up (Tuesday) and saw all the wonderful wishes that were sent and blogged to me over Monday night. It literally was the longest bday of my life, and I enjoyed it immensely.