why not join in the car crash set and wipe away the tears

Thursday night was Broken Hearts Club in Ballhaus Berlin again. It was a chaotic mix of all musics you'd normally never mix, and I loved it. On their website they define it as "a raucous fairytale mix of rock, sleazy disco, post punk, burlesque, whorehouse, torch songs, neo-wave, raging house and 80s pop"! Enough said, I'm there.

The dress code was black & metal this time. The people were gorgeous as always. Where do they find this many people with heart shaped cleavages and dresses like Melanie Griffith in Working Girl, and especially guys with an awesome "trashion sense".

My black & metal laundry:
top - Motivi
cardie - H&M
skirt - vintage from Kreuzberg
leggins - Ginatricot
shoes - Cheapo
chain - Motivi
rings - Bijou Brigitte
bracelets - Motivi, Boxhagener platz, my sister

The ever so stylish Berlin guru, Lise was there too, with a stunning pair of leather pants!

Oh boy.

My Berlin started in 1998

As a tribute to the 20-year-old free Berlin I've been browsing through my old photos from here. I first came here in the summer of 1998 to visit my sister, and fell in love at first sight.

I never really knew why I loved it here so much, the city really was quite ugly, it was no Rome or Paris, and everyone I knew hated the language. My Finnish colleagues still asked me two years ago, as I'd decided to do an exchange in Berlin, why would I choose to study fashion in Germany. Well, I guess they know it by now, as Berlin has become the new New York (according to an article in Spiegel) and even us Finns know it by now. I always thought it must be the people, that make the difference, and I still do.

Pics from 1998-2002, we'll see if you can recognise me. Rene couldn't.

So many things have changed... Loveparade has left Berlin. It used to be free and open for all. Just love, techno and street everywhere. No-one was worried about getting in or out. Ever since the World Cup 2006 all the events on Strasse des 17. Juni are closed by gates and so full of people it's impossible to get in.

Mitte used to be 'east' = poor, torn up, neglected by the DDR government, and not yet completely rebuilt after the war. Oranienburger strasse and Hackescher Markt were not touristy, instead there were underground clubs that weren't allowed to call themselves clubs, 'cos there was no toilet. Instead you had "a gallery" that had "members", who came to see a show and were served beer.

Those days Amrit was still a small chain with simple surroundings and paper menus, no huge buddha statues or neon lights like today.


My "member card" to the underground club Galerie Berlin Tokyo, which now serves as a toilet for the highly trendy and expensive restaurant Pan Asia.

Palast der Republik (on the background of the photo) was still up, ugly and toxic. It was a kind of symbol of the era, built on the site of the old Berlin Castle (which was torn down by Hitler, and now being rebuilt again). I find it sad that pretty castles deserve to rise up again, and poor ugly brown buildings get torn down (although being full of asbest probably gave it a nudge). I feel for the ugly toxic palace.

Some things have stayed pretty much the same. :)

S-Bahn-tickets used to be pink and cost 3.90 DM.

We mostly hung out in the west, 'cos my sister lived there. That was the place to be. Beautiful, well kept parks, buildings restored, coffee chains everywhere like in the Western world. For me as a teen-ager, it was wild enough.

Kreuzberg was wild back then.

Screwy bar (in Schöneberg) served the best frozen coctails, and the only cost 1 DM! (German mark used to be about 0,50 €.) I hear Screwy still exists, but I wonder if I'd still find it.

Ku'Damm (the highstreet of the west) was my favorite shopping street, but hey, I was sixteen, and little did I know. here's a pic from Ku'Damm with Anniina in the Christopher Street Day Parade, 2002.

And here's the pic where Rene went like "Are these some of your friends?" It's me and Reetta in 1999, after watching three 3D movies in a row in Imax. This is a good one to finish with!

The Wall & The Fall

I came back from Finland pretty fast so I wouldn't miss the event of the year. Last night we squeezed into the crowd on Pariser Platz, and stood in the rain all evening celebrating the 20th anniversary of free Berlin. I would like to thank my Lumix for taking these pictures dispite the humidity and my hands for pressing the shutter dispite the cramps of hypothermia. I have to say I was about to turn back and go home where my roommate was watching it all on the couch, but in the end it's nice to be able to say I was there. After all, the fall of the wall is the reason Berlin has developed into my favorite city on earth.

I came back from bleek dark November-Finland to an even rainier and colder Berlin. Yet, I love this city more than ever.



Although you've probably seen these guys on the news already:



20 years ago:



Today:



The great men and women include our own little Finnish president (Tarja Halonen, on the right side of Hilary Clinton), who just makes most people go like "awwww" 'cos she's so sweet, humble and as Finnish as possible:




Two great men.



I would've preferred Gorby to be followed by David Hasselhof, though. I hear he's said in his biography (not that I've read it) that he launched the fall of the wall, when he sang I've been looking for freedom on Alexanderplatz, but I was recently given different information. Gotta love that hairy chested superhero, never mind the rumors. The best that Jon Bongiovi has had to offer lately has been a song that sounds exactly like everything else and is called Have a nice day??!!!. My friend Tuomas would call that "the crappiest crap I've ever heard".



Handsome Italian dudes singing a pretty song makes the crowd wet themselves:



Happy b-day pretty city! I love you and I wont stop posting in your honor.

I'll soon compile a post for you from how I've seen this city throughout the last 12 years. I was a little girl when I first came to visit my big sis in the real world, and rapidly it became my other home... stay tuned. Love Maiju

dolled up sweet hearts in the night of Helsinki

The reason I went to Finland, was this party. My really awesome friends Jatta and Lari got engaged, and decided go on a trip around the world. I had the honor of being there when they found each other, so of course I needed to be there for this aswell. The party was in Helmi, and continued to Cuba café afterwards. A huge bunch of my friends was there, so for me the night was just the perfect ending to my visit. I'll miss those monkeys again!

Laundry:
sequen scarf: Glitter,
sequen tee: H&M,
leggins: Ginatricot,
boots: vintage from Mauerpark,
purse: my mom's
PS. I know Jatta's dress (in the middle) was from Ginatricot, 'cos I saw it in the window on the way home. :)

Photos: Me, Anna and Outi

ps. Check out also the previous post about Helsinki food and friends. I just posted it. :)

Organic moments in down-town Helsinki

On my short trip to Helsinki I noticed a cute old-style organic food store in Lasipalatsi. I went to get dad some treats for father's day. Even the personnel was adorable and told me about their suppliers. There's a lady who sends them freshly baked Karelian pasties from eastern Finland every morning by bus. Isn't that the best story ever? I wanna be that lady!

On Saturday morning I had a surprise visit from sweetie darlings Tiia and Tuomas from Lahti. We went to get some vintage-clothes from UFF that has 1 euro-days twice a year. Of course all they had left was XXL-leather coats and commercial t-shirts from Finnish telephone companies, but we made some funny bargains. The I took them for toasts and coffee in Corona bar, one of my favorites in Helsinki. They totally fell in love with the toasts and Johnny Cash playing in the background.

Tiia found this AWESOME shirt for 1 euro in UFF. So jealous:

This time I remebered to go buy some Finnish food that I know I always miss when I'm living abroad. And I got a LITTLE carried away. I brought Rene, my sis, some friends and myself shit-loads of chocolates, liquorice, rye bread, pea soup and christmas things, like ginger bread cookie dough, cookies, plum jam and 'glögi' (a hot juice you can mix with red wine/spirits).

I also bought my first audio-book ever, of a book from Jouni Hynynen, a Finnish rocker, read by himself on his soothing voice:

I've had a craving for Weetabix for like 2 years already, but I've forgotten to get them.

Dad gave me some self picked mushrooms from our summer house.

Dark times in the windy city

It's the time of the year, that's the only reason I've ever wanted to move out of Finland. I used to dream I could run away, have an asylum somewhere in the south for this these dark bleek months, and come back when the snow comes down, and stays on the ground without melting into black puddles. Yet I came here now, especially now, in November. "The month of death", marraskuu. And it's actually quite poetic.

Dudes stopping for a late snack on Tuesday evening:

The second night there was already snow in the ground.

Snow that turned into gleam when it hit the ground.

Coming home late at night, when mom had made me a bed and our giant-cat Jeppa was snoring by my pillow.

Next day there was more snow.

That turned into drops when it hit the window.

I paid a visit to my teacher, Annika, from the time i studied visual merchandising, and she showed me the new school and some of our old stuff was there. We had a really nice chat and she gave me some inspiration to go further with my career. :)

And then there was a bit more snow, falling in a parallel position. And a blue moment, when everything turns blue. That only happens in the north, they say.

And the street lights and cars turned the blueness into brown mud, no white-balance switches or other camera options have been changed here, it's honestly like 10 meters away from the previous picture:

And then I had some babies over for a visit!! We had a little wedding-planning session with good friends, Kick-soup, mom's apple pie, and the girls' home baked cinnamon rolls and chocolate cake. YUMM

Ilona.

Aarre.

Lol, they were so qute! Plus it didn't freak me out "at all", that both my highschool friends are having babies and I'm not...

Cafe's and bars worth your visit

Here are multiple ways and places to warm the bench on cold winter days, have a sip of juice, beer or coffee, the way you like it. Some more high end, some really humble, but all cosy and with good fresh stuff. Pic your favorite.

Barcomi's with Maiju on Sophienstrasse, Mitte. Expensive for Berlin, but really yummy sandwiches. See for yourself.

Scotch & Sofa with Saana and Rene on Kollwitzstrasse, Prenzlauerberg. Cosy and warm on a wintery night, they don't serve food but some snacks.

Laundry, in case you'd ask:
scarf - self made,
shirt - men's from H&M,
belt - vintage,
pants 9 euros from H&M

The original old Café Einstein with mom, on Unter den Linden, Mitte. Way better than the trendy chain-Einsteins. Reeeally expensive, so you should bring mommy along too. Really nostalgic and good too, feels like the cafés of Paris, and the mozzarella bufala is divine.

Turandot with Yvet, Sami and Pelle, on Bergmannstrasse, Kreuzberg. This was the cosiest bar we could find on Bergmannstrasse, that har recently become much more posh and polished than it used to be. Unfortunately you can smoke there, and everybody does, which I hate, but it's hard to find a cool place in Berlin that's smoke free. It's a great place for us kids to sit listening the stories of a legendary Rock-dude.