Planet Procyon!
Apr. 27th, 2026 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeMy worst fears were confirmed on Wednesday, when my main client served notice. I do, at least, get paid until the end of May, but it will make things difficult until I find another client. I will still have some money coming in, but it won't be enough to break even as long as I stay in Germany. Still, I do have a fair bit of notice and a few irons in the fire. However, due to this, we have decided to cancel the cruise we had booked for mid-June. This is a shame, but we have only lost the deposit, meaning I'll free up around €2,000 to spend elsewhere. This is basically one month of general expenses so I think it was the right thing to do. Even if I do manage to get a new role quickly, the money saved can be poured into the mortgage. It was a difficult decision, but a logical one. All events in April and May will largely be unaffected as the bulk of them have already been paid for. I do have a few outstanding things to pay, but these are around 20% of the overall cost, and it seems silly to cancel them when I have already paid for around 80% of them. This means the UK trip for ConFuzzled will go ahead as planned, I just need to be more frugal in the interim.
This weekend saw Procyon and Baloki come to visit and we managed to tick off quite a few things we had been meaning to do in Berlin for a while. There had been talk of going to Halle (Saale) but logistically this proved tricky, not least because we didn't get up early on Saturday at all. This was partly due to staying out drinking. With Procyon and Baloki's flight not getting in until 10:30pm, then them having to deal with the new European passenger registration system that has been rolled out appalling, they didn't hit Spandau until well after midnight. This gave us the opportunity to visit the Fuerst Wiacek brewery for the first time since November, with us inviting Al out too. We met up at Siemensdamm at around 9pm and soon found ourselves ensconced on a table outside. They had a mystery beer on tap that they didn't know what it was - they had forgotten to label it when they had kegged it - but it was clearly some form of IPA which was nice enough. After this, we went inside where it was warmer and had a Schwarzbier before switching to the cans. Last orders kept getting later and later and so we ended up staying a little longer than imagined. We then headed back to Spandau with the plan originally being to take back a couple of cans of beer and drink in the flat. However, Al was with us, so we decided to go to the gay bar instead. To Be Free, sadly, is a smoky place but the barman knows us and was on fine form, insisting we drink shots and giving me two rather than one when Wolfie refused. Procyon joined us for a beer here but Baloki went to bed, checking into the Ibis before we had chance to see him. We had two beers here, with the barman hitting Wolfie on the head and ruffling Procyon's feathers quite often, before we stumbled back home via the Spati. The hangover on the Saturday was perceptible.
I felt a little bad waking up when we did as Baloki had clearly been up for some time. He came around shortly after noon and we struggled to rouse ourselves, needing showers due to the smokiness of the bar and tea to kick us into gear. Alas, my stomach struggled most of the day, the acid caused by drinking necessitating the need to visit the toilet regularly. This didn't hamper the day too much though as we first headed to The Mall of Berlin so Procyon and Baloki could slide down the slide that connects the fifth and third floors. We could have actually done some shopping, but this was the sole attraction, and we moved on from Potsdamer Platz up to Friedrichstrasse (via the U6 from Stadtmitte) as there had been calls to go on a boat trip. The crew eschewed the two-hour one in favour of the one hour trip, annoyingly scheduled for two minutes after we arrived. The lady who explained this was kind, but the traffic lights were not. To get to the other side of the bridge, we had to cross the other three sides of the square with the green man not showing for ages. Consequently, we got to the other side of the bridge just to see the boat set sail, with the man telling us we'd have to wait 90 minutes for the next one.
I regretted walking around the bars here instead of going to the boat directly, but it was good to check out the area, and we were to discover a hell of a lot more after the boat. However, with an hour and a half to kill, we decided to grab some food at Hans im Gluck. We had to sit outside under the fake trees and scaffolding, but we were fortunately just in time for the Mittagsmenu (by a matter of minutes). This saw me get the single smash burger, fries, a small beer and a cup of tea for around €16. It was all adequate stuff - there are better burgers in the city - but you couldn't complain for the price and the waiter was really friendly. The tea came with the beer - normally it comes after the meal but we were tight on time - and the little accompanying biscuit was a nice touch. Another nice touch was the pleasant toilet.
We made the boat on time where it was the kind lady standing guard rather than the man. She seemed to take to us and gave us a discount on the tickets. We were then ushered onto the boat, where we headed for the top deck despite the bitterly cold wind. The sun made sitting outside pleasant and while the Chinese man in front of us kept blocking our view somewhat as he was taking his own photos and videos, it was a nice pootle up and down the river. I thought we were going to go as far as Schloss Charlottenburg but we only traversed as far as Bellevue before doing a U-turn in the water. On the other side, we went past the Saint Georgbrau bar and Nikolai Viertel before coming to a lock that prevented any progress. This was why last year's beer cruise, we noted, went the other way as we could see the boarding station and Jannowitzbrucke station in the near distance. The cruise itself was quite good though as we picked our way through the main sights. Like when you are marching down a closed-off road, on the river, the buildings take on another form and look different. In many ways the architecture is even more impressive and we got to see the full majesty of the Bundestag, Dom, Humboldt and the Chancellery. There were quite a few people dancing, including couples doing the tango, in places while plenty of people waved at us or shouted abuse. The vibe itself was pretty relaxed and although we didn't get beer, it was just nice being sat in the sun. We didn't get an audio guide either, with me filling in some of the information.
We got off the boat at 7pm and there was talk of beer, although I didn't really want to drink quite so soon. We ended up walking north along Friedrichstrasse and stumbled across a load of things we had never seen before. The most impressive was the Friedrichstadt-Palast theatre, into which crowds were pouring for a show. Opening in 1994, the architecture has something of a 1920s style, with different coloured glass lining its incredibly ornate windows. Down the south side, we saw three cubic reliefs by Emilia N. Bayer, relating to the history of the Palace as a circus, theater and vaudeville theatre. Apparently, Friedrichstadt-Palast is the largest and most modern show palace in Europe and going for a show there would be good. We did notice that the Quastch Comedy Club is located in the basement.
From here, we ended up walking around discovering neat little courtyards, the remnants of old buildings that had clearly been destroyed in the war and a chocolate-covered licorquice store that interested Baloki but was sadly closed. Sometimes it's just nice to walk around a place casually and explore, and it's amazing that I've been to this area quite often, but if you don't go down specific streets, you often miss a whole host of things. As we were here, I took the guys to the Synagogue which was raided during Kristellnacht - it is now heavily guarded by police - while we liked the independent stores and vibe at Heckmann-Höfe. There is a small theatre down here and a man who was performing a show in one, and who was smoking on a stairwell, collared us for a conversation when he heard us speaking English. He invited us to see the show, but as it was in German, I didn't think it would work for our group. I did ask him if I could go to the kids' theatre though, as they put on many productions of Grimm's Fairy Tales, and he assented. This would probably be just about my German level. We also went to the Kunst-Höfe where you could buy art from an old-style cigarette machine for €4. There was one gallery open down here, but most of the shops were closed, so it did feel quite desolate.
We walked around the grounds of the Sophienkirche too before doubling back on ourselves. I wanted to show Wolfie Craftcore Brewing & Unverhopftbar Amélie but when we got there, it looked like a high-end cocktail bar and thus I didn't think it was for us. We had to ring a doorbell and wait to be seated, which didn't seem conductive to having just one drink. In the end, therefore, we went to The Castle, deducing that we could probably get a seat here on a Saturday night as the outside area is now open. This was the case and we managed to find a cosy table of four pretty easily. We had three drinks here, as well as some pizza and vegetarian nachos that Baloki had kindly bought, and we had a wide-ranging conversation. One thing, which was a common theme for the weekend, was Planet Procyon, a planet of raccoons designed by Procyon. We kept adding to it throughout the weekend, focusing on its terrain initially then moving on to societal things like whether the bins would be made out of 30ft aerated concrete and the small trains that the 12ft high raccoons would have to straddle. It probably got annoying after a while, but I just like the phrase Planet Procyon and we did talk about a load of other stuff too. This continued afterwards when we went to Birra. The seating arrangement here was not as conducive to a convivial chat as we were sat at the bar, but the beer was decent. Most of it seems to come from a brewery called Birrificio Lambrate, but Italian craft beer is decent and with 16 options on tap, I'd forgotten how good this bar is. Indeed, it was quite the contrast to The Castle, who have focused on providing cheaper craft beer at a lower price point. This is fine, but it's very much the lower rung of German craft beer and although it is much cheaper there than it used to be, the quality has gone down too. Anyway, due to the odd seating arrangement, we ended up only having one here before calling in at Manifest as we went past on the M10 tram. They were quite quiet so, again we only stayed for one, but it was a nice way to end the evening. Baloki was feeling sleepy though and we were heading towards tipsy territory, so we thought it best to leave by 2am. We did have some wonderfully thick rye-bread crisps with horseradish and garlic flavour from Ukraine here though and these would be worth coming back for regardless of the beer. Also, they still haven't got their card payment machine fixed here, despite it being down for almost two years.
Sunday was less of a struggle to get out of bed - we only went home and followed Mr. Spoon to Button Moon before bed the night before - and as we had made a plan for the day, there was greater incentive to wake up too. We'd also had some crisps rather than the kebab which was tempting, but ultimately best avoided. Baloki came around at around noon and after showers and breakfast, we headed out swiftly to the zoo at Zoologischer Garten. We were due to meet Sandy and her partner Kit here too, hence the greater focus, but we ended up going to the Elephant entrance when they went to the Lion one (the elephant one is more impressive anyway with huge stone elephants compared to the more titchy lions). After a little back and forth on Telegram, we managed to meet up by the meerkats. They were great fun - there were five of them scuttling about and playing with a grey ball - but I did wonder whether the Compare the Meerkat one had ruined the reputation of these creatures. We then had a pleasant walk around the zoo in the sun. The wolves sadly weren't playing ball, sleeping way towards the back of their enclosure so we couldn't really see them. We did try again about two hours later, but they had simply moved to a place that was equally far away. The wolf with the QR code in its body was a nice touch though. The bears were the same, with the polar bear enclosure seeing no signs of life for quite some time. However, there were some positives including the lions and tigers, who were prominently on view, along with the red pandas who scuttled over branches and around their cages with quite a lot of vigour.
Indeed the cat section was probably the most interesting, even if Reich der Jaegd doesn't really translate into Empire of Cats as on the map. The aforementioned tigers and lions were the highlight, but there were loads of other small cats scampering about in various environments too. Underneath here was the Creatures of the Night exhibition, which was fully dark, making visibility tricky. Indeed, I almost walked into a number of kids and one wheelchair user as I couldn't see where I was going. The little mice and the bats were the highlights here and watching the latter swoop about, with one just hung upside down next to the glass pane, was a definite thrill. One of them was eating some vegetables in a little warren. Another top sight were the penguins, seals and sea lions. The former were just swimming about in their admittedly rather green water, and you could even touch them as they glided past. The emperor penguins, meanwhile, just stood about arrogantly and shitting. Meanwhile, the sea lions were great fun, either darting through the water or lying on a rock. One of them kept looking at me and pulling faces, so I got some funny videos too.
We ended the day in the bird section, which Baloki decided to skip. By this point, Sandy and her partner had gone home, so it was just the three of us, with Wolfie having to stay home because of his feet. The birds section was quite good, particularly the central tropical bit which had free flying birds that swooped around you. In the corners of this giant aviary there were caged birds grouped by continents and I did feel sorry for them as there was clearly little flying space. One huge green parrot hurtled towards me, crashing into the mesh wire cage and making me jump, while there were a few birds which can only be described as enormous. In another area, there was also a place you could go inside that was done out like a beach with a scuttled boat, through which birds could fly around and crap on you. The blue seating at least protected you from splatter. We spent about thirty minutes overall with the birds before heading to see the hippos and rhinos. The former was just lying on a rock minding its own business while the latter was eating hay with its arse to us. We could watch it eat down one side though, observing its wart-encrusted body. There were also flamingos in various places and while I liked their pink bodies, I didn't care much for their snake-like necks. Speaking of snakes, we avoided the aquarium, partly because that's where they were, partly because it required a second ticket, and partly because it's undergoing renovation and I didn't think it worth it. In the end, we wouldn't have had time to do it justice anyway.
There were a few other places to see too including the petting zoo. This had some rather beautiful cows and rather smelly pigs, with the latter giving off a scent not dissimilar to that on the S-Bahn the night before. Apparently, there were kangaroos too, but by the time we had realised, we couldn't get to the other side of the park in time. I must admit, it was a little weird wandering through a nice park area so close to a major station, while seeing people on a walkway next to a canal behind an iron fence did make you think you were visiting a human zoo too. Of course, my favourite exhibit was the middle-aged men with wheelbarrow one - there were quite a few of those dotted about throughout the zoo. Aside from this, it was just a pleasant place to be in the sun - busy, but not too busy, with plenty of open space and opportunities to view various animals. Baloki also kindly bought me a Nogger ice cream, my first, which was a little disappointing but pleasant enough. In the gift shop as we left, Procyon and Baloki picked up a few souvenirs and I was bought a unicorn sticker set, which was nice.
We decamped to the Einstein Coffee House opposite Zoologischer Garten station afterwards as my dogs were barking and we wanted to formulate a plan for food. Sandy was talking about coming out and seeing us again, but in the end did not. Procyon went to see her this lunchtime en route to the airport, what with me having to do some work and Wolfie having a rather busy day with his job. I grabbed a delicious if overpriced white hot chocolate and small cakey thing from Einstein Coffee. Initially, we sat outside, but the wind was a little cold and Baloki requested going indoors. It was here that we realised that Wolfie wouldn't be joining us. To encourage Sandy to come out, we decided to head towards where she lives, singling out the Korean restaurant soopoollim on Ackerstrasse, just down the road from Brewdog Mitte (which oddly is still open). Seeing it shut at 9pm, we decided to make our way down there swiftly, getting there shortly after 7pm. At this point, Sandy confirmed she would not be coming out, so we went inside as a threesome. Alas, the restaurant was busy, but they did offer us a table outside, which we accepted. When the menus didn't come within 15 minutes, despite the waitress acknowledging we needed them about five minutes in, we decided to go somewhere else. This was a great shame as the restaurant was highly rated and had some interesting and unique Korean food, but alas what can you do? In the end, the trade-off wasn't good. We ended up going to Rice and Shine on Rosenthaler Platz, which had incredibly average peanut curry. It was fine, I suppose, but not as great was what soopoollim promised to be.
With the possibility of meeting Sandy after dinner still live, we ended up in Mikkeller for one. Here, we debated deep philosophical conundrums on our sense of self and whether we could change into our fursonas in real life. I mentioned Planet Procyon once more and hope I wasn't too annoying in hindsight, I just like the concept and at least it's a rather fun and benign one. After a pleasant drink, we decided to head back, giving up on Sandy coming out and wanting to spend a little time with Wolfie. We headed back via Hauptbahnhof, where we went to the Rewe to pick up a few drinks and snacks. I grabbed beer and Baloki got a cocktail mix without realising it needed orange juice to go with it. Consequently, it's now sat here undrunk. We got back home shortly after 10pm and in the end had a chilled evening. I introduced Procyon to Chucklevision and Bodger & Badger - the latter theme tune having become an ear worm once I mentioned it when we were out and about - and Baloki showed us the terrifying Angela Anaconda and a Sonic series that showcased where the Manic character came from. This was made in 1999 but seemed to be quite 1980s. I did enjoy the music stuff, but it was clearly of the era of trashy cartoons. Things seem to be a little better now. I am not sure what Procyon thought of Chucklevision and Bodger & Badger. Bemusement, I think. It was odd that the latter one involved a man in a beard wearing his wife's clothes. All a little slapstick, but a little grating for today's audiences.
Baloki left at around half past midnight and we stayed up with Procyon a little more before going to bed an hour later. This morning, Baloki came around shortly after 10am, fortunately when Wolfie had just finished his meeting. Sadly, there was an emergency at his work so he couldn't chat too much, meaning Baloki and Procyon left pretty swiftly. Their flight was at 6:40pm but they wanted to get to the airport super early due to the immigration chaos. Procyon had to go and visit Sandy too. Normally, Procyon leaves at around 7am to pick up a very early flight back to Liverpool but those flights no longer exist, hence the longer stay. I felt a bit bad about not being able to spend time with them today, but it is a Monday and work commitments are work commitments. Still, it was great seeing them and I look forward to seeing them again next month.
This weekend saw Procyon and Baloki come to visit and we managed to tick off quite a few things we had been meaning to do in Berlin for a while. There had been talk of going to Halle (Saale) but logistically this proved tricky, not least because we didn't get up early on Saturday at all. This was partly due to staying out drinking. With Procyon and Baloki's flight not getting in until 10:30pm, then them having to deal with the new European passenger registration system that has been rolled out appalling, they didn't hit Spandau until well after midnight. This gave us the opportunity to visit the Fuerst Wiacek brewery for the first time since November, with us inviting Al out too. We met up at Siemensdamm at around 9pm and soon found ourselves ensconced on a table outside. They had a mystery beer on tap that they didn't know what it was - they had forgotten to label it when they had kegged it - but it was clearly some form of IPA which was nice enough. After this, we went inside where it was warmer and had a Schwarzbier before switching to the cans. Last orders kept getting later and later and so we ended up staying a little longer than imagined. We then headed back to Spandau with the plan originally being to take back a couple of cans of beer and drink in the flat. However, Al was with us, so we decided to go to the gay bar instead. To Be Free, sadly, is a smoky place but the barman knows us and was on fine form, insisting we drink shots and giving me two rather than one when Wolfie refused. Procyon joined us for a beer here but Baloki went to bed, checking into the Ibis before we had chance to see him. We had two beers here, with the barman hitting Wolfie on the head and ruffling Procyon's feathers quite often, before we stumbled back home via the Spati. The hangover on the Saturday was perceptible.
I felt a little bad waking up when we did as Baloki had clearly been up for some time. He came around shortly after noon and we struggled to rouse ourselves, needing showers due to the smokiness of the bar and tea to kick us into gear. Alas, my stomach struggled most of the day, the acid caused by drinking necessitating the need to visit the toilet regularly. This didn't hamper the day too much though as we first headed to The Mall of Berlin so Procyon and Baloki could slide down the slide that connects the fifth and third floors. We could have actually done some shopping, but this was the sole attraction, and we moved on from Potsdamer Platz up to Friedrichstrasse (via the U6 from Stadtmitte) as there had been calls to go on a boat trip. The crew eschewed the two-hour one in favour of the one hour trip, annoyingly scheduled for two minutes after we arrived. The lady who explained this was kind, but the traffic lights were not. To get to the other side of the bridge, we had to cross the other three sides of the square with the green man not showing for ages. Consequently, we got to the other side of the bridge just to see the boat set sail, with the man telling us we'd have to wait 90 minutes for the next one.
I regretted walking around the bars here instead of going to the boat directly, but it was good to check out the area, and we were to discover a hell of a lot more after the boat. However, with an hour and a half to kill, we decided to grab some food at Hans im Gluck. We had to sit outside under the fake trees and scaffolding, but we were fortunately just in time for the Mittagsmenu (by a matter of minutes). This saw me get the single smash burger, fries, a small beer and a cup of tea for around €16. It was all adequate stuff - there are better burgers in the city - but you couldn't complain for the price and the waiter was really friendly. The tea came with the beer - normally it comes after the meal but we were tight on time - and the little accompanying biscuit was a nice touch. Another nice touch was the pleasant toilet.
We made the boat on time where it was the kind lady standing guard rather than the man. She seemed to take to us and gave us a discount on the tickets. We were then ushered onto the boat, where we headed for the top deck despite the bitterly cold wind. The sun made sitting outside pleasant and while the Chinese man in front of us kept blocking our view somewhat as he was taking his own photos and videos, it was a nice pootle up and down the river. I thought we were going to go as far as Schloss Charlottenburg but we only traversed as far as Bellevue before doing a U-turn in the water. On the other side, we went past the Saint Georgbrau bar and Nikolai Viertel before coming to a lock that prevented any progress. This was why last year's beer cruise, we noted, went the other way as we could see the boarding station and Jannowitzbrucke station in the near distance. The cruise itself was quite good though as we picked our way through the main sights. Like when you are marching down a closed-off road, on the river, the buildings take on another form and look different. In many ways the architecture is even more impressive and we got to see the full majesty of the Bundestag, Dom, Humboldt and the Chancellery. There were quite a few people dancing, including couples doing the tango, in places while plenty of people waved at us or shouted abuse. The vibe itself was pretty relaxed and although we didn't get beer, it was just nice being sat in the sun. We didn't get an audio guide either, with me filling in some of the information.
We got off the boat at 7pm and there was talk of beer, although I didn't really want to drink quite so soon. We ended up walking north along Friedrichstrasse and stumbled across a load of things we had never seen before. The most impressive was the Friedrichstadt-Palast theatre, into which crowds were pouring for a show. Opening in 1994, the architecture has something of a 1920s style, with different coloured glass lining its incredibly ornate windows. Down the south side, we saw three cubic reliefs by Emilia N. Bayer, relating to the history of the Palace as a circus, theater and vaudeville theatre. Apparently, Friedrichstadt-Palast is the largest and most modern show palace in Europe and going for a show there would be good. We did notice that the Quastch Comedy Club is located in the basement.
From here, we ended up walking around discovering neat little courtyards, the remnants of old buildings that had clearly been destroyed in the war and a chocolate-covered licorquice store that interested Baloki but was sadly closed. Sometimes it's just nice to walk around a place casually and explore, and it's amazing that I've been to this area quite often, but if you don't go down specific streets, you often miss a whole host of things. As we were here, I took the guys to the Synagogue which was raided during Kristellnacht - it is now heavily guarded by police - while we liked the independent stores and vibe at Heckmann-Höfe. There is a small theatre down here and a man who was performing a show in one, and who was smoking on a stairwell, collared us for a conversation when he heard us speaking English. He invited us to see the show, but as it was in German, I didn't think it would work for our group. I did ask him if I could go to the kids' theatre though, as they put on many productions of Grimm's Fairy Tales, and he assented. This would probably be just about my German level. We also went to the Kunst-Höfe where you could buy art from an old-style cigarette machine for €4. There was one gallery open down here, but most of the shops were closed, so it did feel quite desolate.
We walked around the grounds of the Sophienkirche too before doubling back on ourselves. I wanted to show Wolfie Craftcore Brewing & Unverhopft
bar Amélie but when we got there, it looked like a high-end cocktail bar and thus I didn't think it was for us. We had to ring a doorbell and wait to be seated, which didn't seem conductive to having just one drink. In the end, therefore, we went to The Castle, deducing that we could probably get a seat here on a Saturday night as the outside area is now open. This was the case and we managed to find a cosy table of four pretty easily. We had three drinks here, as well as some pizza and vegetarian nachos that Baloki had kindly bought, and we had a wide-ranging conversation. One thing, which was a common theme for the weekend, was Planet Procyon, a planet of raccoons designed by Procyon. We kept adding to it throughout the weekend, focusing on its terrain initially then moving on to societal things like whether the bins would be made out of 30ft aerated concrete and the small trains that the 12ft high raccoons would have to straddle. It probably got annoying after a while, but I just like the phrase Planet Procyon and we did talk about a load of other stuff too. This continued afterwards when we went to Birra. The seating arrangement here was not as conducive to a convivial chat as we were sat at the bar, but the beer was decent. Most of it seems to come from a brewery called Birrificio Lambrate, but Italian craft beer is decent and with 16 options on tap, I'd forgotten how good this bar is. Indeed, it was quite the contrast to The Castle, who have focused on providing cheaper craft beer at a lower price point. This is fine, but it's very much the lower rung of German craft beer and although it is much cheaper there than it used to be, the quality has gone down too. Anyway, due to the odd seating arrangement, we ended up only having one here before calling in at Manifest as we went past on the M10 tram. They were quite quiet so, again we only stayed for one, but it was a nice way to end the evening. Baloki was feeling sleepy though and we were heading towards tipsy territory, so we thought it best to leave by 2am. We did have some wonderfully thick rye-bread crisps with horseradish and garlic flavour from Ukraine here though and these would be worth coming back for regardless of the beer. Also, they still haven't got their card payment machine fixed here, despite it being down for almost two years.Sunday was less of a struggle to get out of bed - we only went home and followed Mr. Spoon to Button Moon before bed the night before - and as we had made a plan for the day, there was greater incentive to wake up too. We'd also had some crisps rather than the kebab which was tempting, but ultimately best avoided. Baloki came around at around noon and after showers and breakfast, we headed out swiftly to the zoo at Zoologischer Garten. We were due to meet Sandy and her partner Kit here too, hence the greater focus, but we ended up going to the Elephant entrance when they went to the Lion one (the elephant one is more impressive anyway with huge stone elephants compared to the more titchy lions). After a little back and forth on Telegram, we managed to meet up by the meerkats. They were great fun - there were five of them scuttling about and playing with a grey ball - but I did wonder whether the Compare the Meerkat one had ruined the reputation of these creatures. We then had a pleasant walk around the zoo in the sun. The wolves sadly weren't playing ball, sleeping way towards the back of their enclosure so we couldn't really see them. We did try again about two hours later, but they had simply moved to a place that was equally far away. The wolf with the QR code in its body was a nice touch though. The bears were the same, with the polar bear enclosure seeing no signs of life for quite some time. However, there were some positives including the lions and tigers, who were prominently on view, along with the red pandas who scuttled over branches and around their cages with quite a lot of vigour.
Indeed the cat section was probably the most interesting, even if Reich der Jaegd doesn't really translate into Empire of Cats as on the map. The aforementioned tigers and lions were the highlight, but there were loads of other small cats scampering about in various environments too. Underneath here was the Creatures of the Night exhibition, which was fully dark, making visibility tricky. Indeed, I almost walked into a number of kids and one wheelchair user as I couldn't see where I was going. The little mice and the bats were the highlights here and watching the latter swoop about, with one just hung upside down next to the glass pane, was a definite thrill. One of them was eating some vegetables in a little warren. Another top sight were the penguins, seals and sea lions. The former were just swimming about in their admittedly rather green water, and you could even touch them as they glided past. The emperor penguins, meanwhile, just stood about arrogantly and shitting. Meanwhile, the sea lions were great fun, either darting through the water or lying on a rock. One of them kept looking at me and pulling faces, so I got some funny videos too.
We ended the day in the bird section, which Baloki decided to skip. By this point, Sandy and her partner had gone home, so it was just the three of us, with Wolfie having to stay home because of his feet. The birds section was quite good, particularly the central tropical bit which had free flying birds that swooped around you. In the corners of this giant aviary there were caged birds grouped by continents and I did feel sorry for them as there was clearly little flying space. One huge green parrot hurtled towards me, crashing into the mesh wire cage and making me jump, while there were a few birds which can only be described as enormous. In another area, there was also a place you could go inside that was done out like a beach with a scuttled boat, through which birds could fly around and crap on you. The blue seating at least protected you from splatter. We spent about thirty minutes overall with the birds before heading to see the hippos and rhinos. The former was just lying on a rock minding its own business while the latter was eating hay with its arse to us. We could watch it eat down one side though, observing its wart-encrusted body. There were also flamingos in various places and while I liked their pink bodies, I didn't care much for their snake-like necks. Speaking of snakes, we avoided the aquarium, partly because that's where they were, partly because it required a second ticket, and partly because it's undergoing renovation and I didn't think it worth it. In the end, we wouldn't have had time to do it justice anyway.
There were a few other places to see too including the petting zoo. This had some rather beautiful cows and rather smelly pigs, with the latter giving off a scent not dissimilar to that on the S-Bahn the night before. Apparently, there were kangaroos too, but by the time we had realised, we couldn't get to the other side of the park in time. I must admit, it was a little weird wandering through a nice park area so close to a major station, while seeing people on a walkway next to a canal behind an iron fence did make you think you were visiting a human zoo too. Of course, my favourite exhibit was the middle-aged men with wheelbarrow one - there were quite a few of those dotted about throughout the zoo. Aside from this, it was just a pleasant place to be in the sun - busy, but not too busy, with plenty of open space and opportunities to view various animals. Baloki also kindly bought me a Nogger ice cream, my first, which was a little disappointing but pleasant enough. In the gift shop as we left, Procyon and Baloki picked up a few souvenirs and I was bought a unicorn sticker set, which was nice.
We decamped to the Einstein Coffee House opposite Zoologischer Garten station afterwards as my dogs were barking and we wanted to formulate a plan for food. Sandy was talking about coming out and seeing us again, but in the end did not. Procyon went to see her this lunchtime en route to the airport, what with me having to do some work and Wolfie having a rather busy day with his job. I grabbed a delicious if overpriced white hot chocolate and small cakey thing from Einstein Coffee. Initially, we sat outside, but the wind was a little cold and Baloki requested going indoors. It was here that we realised that Wolfie wouldn't be joining us. To encourage Sandy to come out, we decided to head towards where she lives, singling out the Korean restaurant soopoollim on Ackerstrasse, just down the road from Brewdog Mitte (which oddly is still open). Seeing it shut at 9pm, we decided to make our way down there swiftly, getting there shortly after 7pm. At this point, Sandy confirmed she would not be coming out, so we went inside as a threesome. Alas, the restaurant was busy, but they did offer us a table outside, which we accepted. When the menus didn't come within 15 minutes, despite the waitress acknowledging we needed them about five minutes in, we decided to go somewhere else. This was a great shame as the restaurant was highly rated and had some interesting and unique Korean food, but alas what can you do? In the end, the trade-off wasn't good. We ended up going to Rice and Shine on Rosenthaler Platz, which had incredibly average peanut curry. It was fine, I suppose, but not as great was what soopoollim promised to be.
With the possibility of meeting Sandy after dinner still live, we ended up in Mikkeller for one. Here, we debated deep philosophical conundrums on our sense of self and whether we could change into our fursonas in real life. I mentioned Planet Procyon once more and hope I wasn't too annoying in hindsight, I just like the concept and at least it's a rather fun and benign one. After a pleasant drink, we decided to head back, giving up on Sandy coming out and wanting to spend a little time with Wolfie. We headed back via Hauptbahnhof, where we went to the Rewe to pick up a few drinks and snacks. I grabbed beer and Baloki got a cocktail mix without realising it needed orange juice to go with it. Consequently, it's now sat here undrunk. We got back home shortly after 10pm and in the end had a chilled evening. I introduced Procyon to Chucklevision and Bodger & Badger - the latter theme tune having become an ear worm once I mentioned it when we were out and about - and Baloki showed us the terrifying Angela Anaconda and a Sonic series that showcased where the Manic character came from. This was made in 1999 but seemed to be quite 1980s. I did enjoy the music stuff, but it was clearly of the era of trashy cartoons. Things seem to be a little better now. I am not sure what Procyon thought of Chucklevision and Bodger & Badger. Bemusement, I think. It was odd that the latter one involved a man in a beard wearing his wife's clothes. All a little slapstick, but a little grating for today's audiences.
Baloki left at around half past midnight and we stayed up with Procyon a little more before going to bed an hour later. This morning, Baloki came around shortly after 10am, fortunately when Wolfie had just finished his meeting. Sadly, there was an emergency at his work so he couldn't chat too much, meaning Baloki and Procyon left pretty swiftly. Their flight was at 6:40pm but they wanted to get to the airport super early due to the immigration chaos. Procyon had to go and visit Sandy too. Normally, Procyon leaves at around 7am to pick up a very early flight back to Liverpool but those flights no longer exist, hence the longer stay. I felt a bit bad about not being able to spend time with them today, but it is a Monday and work commitments are work commitments. Still, it was great seeing them and I look forward to seeing them again next month.
