I unapologetically used my parent’s visit to do things in Berlin that I wanted to do, but hadn’t yet got round to. That was for general touristy things, but for dining I unapologetically used them to visit establishments that I’ve been to many times before, to eat food I know they’d like.

So, this blog post is a guide to good eating in Berlin.

Tuesday (the first night) I took my parents to Hotdog World. This is on Bergman Strasse. It doesn’t sound or look like much, but it serves all-organic hotdogs and burgers to die for. I’ve eaten cheeseburgers the world over, and none beat Hotdog World.

On Tuesday (the last night my parents spent in Berlin) I left it up to them to find a place to eat. They decided to return to Hotdog World. I don’t blame them.

Wednesday (the second day) we were in Mitte, in roughly the right area, so I proposed Papa Panne Pizza on Acker Strasse. This place was a favorite of Pola and I, but due to it being far from home, and me being single now, I’ve not visited it for over a year. The pizzas are uniformly amazing, so deciding what to eat is always a long, agonizing process. We ordered two pizzas plus a tomato and garlic bread, and shared them around.

You normally need to call to book a table at Papa Panne, being a very popular pizza restaurant, but we turned up at about 5pm, way before it got busy. It felt strange being there with only two or three other table occupied.

On Thursday we cooked and ate at home. On Friday I ate at the Another Country bookshop, as I do every Friday night. My parents bought food from some stalls at the Karnaval Der Kulturen.

On Saturday we returned to the Karnival for more food. Here we are waiting for barbecued steak. Being a carnival celebrating other cultures, the selection ran to far more interesting items than sausage and steak. Kathy and Cliff told me about fish stalls, Indian food, dough balls, rice dishes, and much more.

I ate crepes with bananas and Nutella. Twice. Once in the rain, once not.

On Sunday, while I had other plans, I sent my parents to a Thai restaurant on Bergman Strasse. I can’t remember the exact name, but I think it’s something simple like “Thai Kitchen”. You order at the counter, and they deliver your food to your table. If you sit in the right place you can see them make your dinner from scratch.

On Monday we ate the Berlin favorite: Doner Kebab! But not just any kebab, the increasingly popular Mustafa’s Chicken and Roast Vegetable Doner Kebab!

Mustafa’s is a kiosk on Mehringdamm, my home street. The first times I walked past it (it’s right next to the Ubahn) I didn’t give it a second glance. Then someone told me it served the best chicken kebab in Berlin. The rest is unhealthy history.

Now the secret is out, and the queue is always stupidly long. I often feel like eating there, but waiting for so long outweighs the tasty benefits.

The people behind us in the queue had taken the train from Steglitz to eat Mustafa’s kebab. Yeah, it’s quite popular. The queue almost reaches back to Curry 36, a stupidly popular currywurst eatery, also on Mehringdamm, currywurst being the other classic Berlin fast food alongside donna kebabs.

Nom nom nom.

That’s it! I have other favorite food places in Berlin, but this covers the basics. Pizza alternatives: sliced pizza from Dolce Pizza, sliced pizza from Ron Telesky, great pizza and bad service at Il Casolare, good pizza with pizza-base-spinning shows close to home at Pizza Parliamento.

I’m home in Berlin, and I’m pretty busy. I’ll upload some photos and videos and podcasts this week, but for now here’s a photo me in one of my natural states.

I thought about it for a few seconds before replying: “Exactly ten years ago today.”

Which, to be honest, is only half true. Ten years (and now ten days) ago I didn’t know I wanted to be a professional juggler, but I knew I wanted to be a juggler.

Back in April of 2000 I’d only attended two conventions, both of them a Chocfest, a one day event in York. I’d had a lot of fun at both, but hadn’t made any effort to go to any others.

In 1999, the British Juggling Convention visited Durham, just a few miles from where I lived. I drove down to Cornwall instead, to go surfing.

In 2000 I lived in Scarborough, attending university, and could go surfing more often. More to the point, I’d got far more interested in juggling by then too. I discovered the BJC would be in York. And Anthony Gatto was the big name guest.

How could I not go?

So I went. The weather was terrible, so I slept in my car. The parade was awful too. But those were my only two complaints. Apart from that, I had a really, really good time. I have lots of good memories, but two are relevant here.

1: I saw Anthony Gatto training in the gym. He had the whole gym to himself, and did about two hours of juggling for the hundreds of people watching. I had my camera, so stated filming.

He equaled or broke a number of juggling records right there in the gym, without even trying hard. The only reason these records became official world records was the fact that I videoed them and sent the footage to the JISCON. 9 balls and 7 clubs are the ones that stick out in my mind.

2: I saw my first big convention show. And I mean it was a big show, not just for a big convention. Even to this day it is one of the best juggling shows I’ve ever seen, and I don’t say that just because it was my first.

Sure, Anthony Gatto headlined, but I’d seen him do more in the gym the day before, so while it was amazing, it wasn’t the best part of the show for me. Other things acts that stand out:
Ben Richter/Ben Smalls. He did two acts, one with balls and one with clubs.
The Gandini Juggling Project. Due to having a large group from performing daily in the Millennium Dome, Sean put together a two 12 person acts.
Jamie Fletcher, doing his classic 3 ball routine.
Curious Eyebrow, doing a hilarious random-prop-based comedy routine.
Feeding the Fish, with the first ever public performance of Aerotech’s programmable glow clubs.

The audience went crazy for the show, just as they had for Gatto practicing in the gym. I thought “I want to get that reaction!” Not that I want to be the center of attention (though I sometimes do) but I wanted to get good enough at something to be able to get that reaction.

At the end of the convention I set myself two goals:
1. To break a juggling world record for myself.
2. To perform in the biggest juggling shows.

And that’s what I did. In 2003 I set a new world record with Ben Beever, and passed more objects between two people than anyone ever had before. The record of 18 balls stood until we ourselves broke it in 2008 by passing 19 balls.

As for performing in the biggest shows, I did that too. In 2004 I performed in the BJC gala show. That year I also performed in the gala shows at the Nordic and Austrian conventions, headlined the Dutch convention gala show, was the final act in a huge EJC open stage show (though I’d also done that back in 2002), and won the Peoples’ Choice Award for my various turns on stage at the IJA summer festival. I’m probably forgetting some other appearances in 2004, but it was that spring and summer when I made the transition from “juggler who also juggles on stage” to “performing juggler”.

To me, these were the ends, but they became the means. Getting good enough to break a juggling world record made me a good enough juggler to become a professional. And when I had acts that were good enough to be booked for national and international juggling conventions, I was good enough to quit my job and take up juggling full time.

It’s been a good 10 years!

No, I was on a cruise ship that sailed past Stromboli. I’ve done this before, on the same ship, but this time the volcano was more active!

Really active!

Oh shit! Really active! It’s throwing rock into the air!

Look at this cloud pouring down the side of the volcano! No wonder we aren’t allowed too close on the ship!

Holy shit!!! MORE ASH AND ROCKS!!!

Back on Tuesday, this kind of volcanic activity actually seemed exciting to me. Now? Not so much. The very next day the Icelandic volcano did its thing, and Stromboli just can’t compete.

Here’s the captain controlling the ship.

Looking past the edge of Stromboli to the weird shaped island rock of Strombolicchio.

Another wide view of Stromboli.

Strombolicchio.

Strombolicchio from the opposite direction.

]]> http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog/archives/784/feed 1 http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog/archives/780 http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog/archives/780#comments Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:19:00 +0000 admin http://www.lukeburrage.com/blog/?p=780

I added an ePub version of Combat, my latest novel, to the download page. I created the ePub file using a new website service called ePubBud. It works on my computer and iPhone, but if you have any problems, please email me.

In this truck:

Meanwhile I’m staying with friends in Istanbul until… well, I don’t know. My next gig is on Wednesday, in the south of Spain, so I hope I can just fly straight there. There’s a place near Malaga I’ve wanted to visit for ages, but last time I was there I had a really bad back and didn’t feel like it.

It’s the followup novel to Minding Tomorrow. You can download it and read it for free, because I’m nice like that. Here’s the link to the Combat page on my website.

For those wondering why this post is also in the juggling category, the novel features a juggler as one of the main characters.

More information:
A near-future military science fiction novel by Luke Burrage.
Length: 52,000 words (equivalent to about 200 pages)
Release date: April 16th, 2010
Cover art by Stefan Kernjak.

Combat is the followup novel set in the same world as Minding Tomorrow. It follows the story of a secret military strike force as it comes to terms with new enemies and new technologies. It also tells the story, set eight years earlier, of a single soldier trying to make a difference in a new West African nation.

The events of this novel take place concurrently with those in Minding Tomorrow, and shares some characters and technologies. However, it is not a sequel, and can be read either before or after Minding Tomorrow. There are some mysteries in Combat that are answered in Minding Tomorrow, and some mysteries in Minding Tomorrow that are answered in Combat.

Of course, there are mysteries in both which will be answered in the third and last novel set in the same world.

In a few hours I’ll be heading to the airport on my next work trip. Three weeks at home in Berlin has been great, and I’ve got a load of work done. But the work I’m working on at home isn’t earning any money as yet…

Anyway, I’ve not been to India before, so I’m really excited about this. I have two days in Cochin, right at the south of India. Then, depending on my visa, I may or may not be able to spend a day in Mumbai. After that I’ll be doing Muscat (or Musqat, as it says on the map), and finally two days in Dubai. Should be good!

I also may or may not have good internet access for the next 9 days, so updates to the blog may, if I’m going to be honest, continue at the slow pace they’ve been arriving during the last month.

I’ve been away on a cruise for 10 days, on the Queen Mary 2, and only had internet connection enough for emails. I’ve been busy though, and have loads of photos and videos and stories to share, but they’ll have to wait until I get back to Berlin. Something I’m not looking forward to, by the way, as my itinerary says that my flight from here in New Zealand to Heathrow will take 26 hours 5 minutes. Not good!