LH4116

Looking forward to the rest JV! Must say that the Westin looks nice, but I agree that the area isn't too fun. For a long time I've always thought that Mitte was the area around checkpoint Charlie, hence why I've never seen the appeal to it. But this time around I did get a chance to explore it further, and it did change my impression quite a bit. Took a long walk from Alexanderplatz to Mauerpark the other day, so I guess that was the real Mitte.

JVPhoto

Berlin Part 1











Not a lot of photos and anything fancy in the first two weeks in Berlin. Mostly because I wasn't doing anything "new" just my usual haunts, seeing friends, a few shoots, etc. Also I thought I had a little kink in my step before I left NY, that coupled with the sprint at LHR I had a bruised ankle for about the first 10 days there.



Lucky for me the first flat I rented was across the street from Mauerpark so I was able to go to the Flohrmarkt and find these Krücken for 5 euros to help me along with some Volatren & aspirin to keep the weight off of it.



I had not rented this flat before but I really, really liked it. Very simple and relaxed and great for me to do a few photos and portraits in. On the 4th (so 5th) floor, right across from Mauerpark and very quiet. Next time I rent something I would probably come back here. If anyone is interested I can give you the info by private message.





Keeping up with some of my favorite places & a few new ones.

Have to get tea at Mamecha Matcha Cafe on Mulackstraße as much as I can.

Bahn mi at Co Co in Rosenthaler Platz

Pho at District Mot on Rosenthaler Straße

Side salads at The Store in SoHo House

"Slowly made f*$kin' good food" at Til the Cows Come Home on Schönhauser Allee



Latte at Mein Haus Am See in Rosenthaler Platz.

Grains, juice, chia at Daluma in Rosenthaler Platz.

Insalata di Polpo at Trattoria di Strada before a movie at Postdamer Platz

Surf n turf pasta at Spreegold in Mitte

Chicken shwarma teller at Manoush in Kreuzberg


Not to say didn't do a bit of cooking myself.



Or amusing myself...


Or a Bulgarian special souffle made for my birthday by a friend...


Went to dinner on my actual birthday this year again at Alpenstück in Prenzlauer Berg.
Schnitzel, goat cheese & berries, venison, cucumber soup, all delicious and beautiful.



32 has never felt so good...




Even with all the food I've still been good and trying to pump it up and tone at the gym. A friend for the past 5 years has gone into personal training and is able to do it at a private gym space Athlin in Ku'dam. Takes me about 30 min to get there from Mitte but well worth it. Amazing space, 1:1, privacy...everything I was looking for. And it doesn't hurt that before a session we can also do a shoot.


And when at home...




It's Berlin so there was still plenty of vice between the hours of 1am and 8am.






Also some time to relax. Figured out at Sony Center in Postdamer Platz is usually where the "OV Original Version" of the films play so went and saw Minions one day.


Weather has been off and on but the day we decided to go to the Badeschiff it was closing at 2pm for a private event.


It's Berlin so getting around is always easy between the U, S, trams, busses that are frequent and with a big network. Easiest thing if you are there for a few days is the 7 day unlimited pass for 29 Euros...I think there is also a 5 day tourist one that might have some special feature.



When I go back in a few days after Amsterdam & Wien I have a friend visiting who has never been to Berlin so I'll probably do a few more tourist things w/ photos.

JVPhoto

KLM Y TXL-AMS

Flying without status!
(*Homer Simpson scream*)

Somehow I manage...
(Michael Scott)

Well I am all set to "backpack" in Europe.

Not quite. But certainly going lite.


No LH SEN lounge this time at TXL. But right below it in the cafe they had these beautiful salmon plates out that was better than the same 10am stuff I've had plenty of times in the LH lounge.


Leaving from the D gates you clear security in the more usual way vs. A gates at TXL which are in the ring that each gate has its own security line. Still with our mobile BPs we were from the main hall eating and airside in 7 minutes.

Our special Sky Team livery plane rolled in from AMS.


Pretty much at that time everyone started lining up. They did do priority boarding first. Everything else was pretty quick and they asked the back rows to use the rear stairs.



The door was closed over 5 min early before departure time. But we ended up leaving about 7 min after departure time because they needed to load more bags. One guy did the job while at any given time 5-6 cronies watched.


The flight was quick. They came through with water, juice, coffee, tea, soda and a little bag of salty or sweet snacks. Nothing remarkable other than the FA having to tell the guy in front of me in row 3 in J to get off his phone 3x.



Upon landing we tried to use our CCs at the ticket counter for the train. I have two cards with chip but not PIN. My friend has a travel card with chip but both didn't work so she & I got into line and waited about 10 min. Luckily though we realized we could get the 25 euro 3 day unlimited travel card so we got that and then were on our way to the Sprinter to Amsterdam RAI and then to catch the tram to Albert Cuyptmarkt where the place I rented was.



Our friend from Lyon had arrived an hour before and was already settled in*.

*We had not been to a coffee shop yet.

JVPhoto

Amsterdam







The last time I was in Amsterdam I was with two models who I was shooting that ended up (obviously) wanting to do nothing but bounce around to a million Coffee Shops and eat crappy food from the automats.
This time I was going with two close friends who I went to/worked at photography school with. We were going to enjoy that part of Amsterdam and also get some real sightseeing done.

Pretty much wound up doing the same thing, some Coffee Shops, some truffles in Vondelpark and much better food than the automats. At least we TRIED to go to the Van Gogh museum until we saw the line.



I used AirBnB to rent a place in de Pijp like I did last time. While I could tell from the photos online it was the actual place we rented, if it had shown up to meet me from an online dating site I probably would have pretended to speak a different language...sadly I cannot recommend it. If...WHEN I come back I would probably find a hotel. I figured we would end up cooking a bit more but all we really did was make breakfast in the morning.

Just the perfect place to wander around, of course there are a million places people will tell you to go. But, these are some things that I liked so maybe on your next trip the name will ring a bell and you'll decide to pop in when trying to make a decision.



Cafe Langeries just east of Rembrantdplein near the Amstel on the corner was a nice little spot to stop and have a macchiato while re-grouping.

Cafe Kadijk near the Science Center was an amazing Dutch-Indonesian place we had dinner at. Sits on a very lovely corner, great sunlight as it goes down and really delicious food.



Java meatballs, Eggs Auntie Bea, Randang Penang, chicken satay, lamb satay, Indonesian cake with black sesame ice cream for 90 euros.




When I was here before it was October, but being in the middle of summer the days are so long and lovely. For sure an amazing time to visit. In your own window or out in any of the park it seems like any Dutch who was off work was like a basilisk sunning on a rock.


(FYI we had not been to any Coffee Shops yet, he is just always like that)

The sun and a big window also gave me good excuse to make a makeshift studio to shoot portraits of someone I've been chasing after for almost a year.



How long does it take 3 30 year olds in Amsterdam to open a package of gouda?





We mistakenly thought Sunday would be a good day to try for the VG museum. That was a fail when we saw the line but we did stumble across a craft market in between the museums which also was flanked by some amazing food stalls. This 6 euro half sausage had the longest line so of course we tried that one. Excellent.





Another spot in de Pijp we found was De Waarghals which is a vegetarian restaurant that has been there since the 90s.
They have a pretty solid selection of vegetarian dishes but also have a monthly featured special. In this case it was "African" so it was a eggplant, parsnip, sweet potatoe stew. Along with that was the DW classic which was a mushroom pie. The small app sample and the yam coconut dumplings were also great additions.

JVPhoto

Swiss Y AMS-ZRH-VIE + Amsterdam & Zurich Lounges

Why book a flight through Zurich?
When I was flying LX J NRT-ZRH-LHR with my Mom for her surprise birthday trip our IFE wasn't working so the MdC gave us each a 200 CHF voucher for a future flight. I went to redeem them which ended up going to USD because I listed my residence as USA. When I went to book these tickets for this trip I couldn't use them since the payment is in EUR. So after an email to LX CS I got them re-issued and was able to book AMS-ZRH-VIE-ZRH-TXL myself and my friend coming with me (the other one went back to Lyon after AMS) for only an extra 65 Euro each out of pocket.



We were a quick tram ride down to Amsterdam RAI and then got on the Sprinter 2 stops to be at AMS in no time.
We had our mobile BPs and no checked bags and security was a breeze. I checked on the *A finder and was able to see that there is a 3rd party lounge we could use. The only other time I had flown ex-AMS was just AMS-TXL on KLM so I ended up just eating at that oyster bar to kill time.
Up the stairs and past the KLM lounge is the Menzies lounge which seems to take care of most *A.






Pretty basic, not many offerings. A little drab and tired decor. We only spent about 40 min in there before going to our gate, any longer I probably would have gone out to a cafe or bar in the terminal.



Boarding was on time. They called J/HON/SEN/*G for priority boarding. It was on my BP naturally, she's just a *S and no problem for her to board with me (i.e. like UA Group 1-5 boarding where if I am in 1 I can take 2-5 with me but the GA may have to over ride the scanner to let them in).
Ended up leaving about 25 min late.


Beverages and a croissant on offer. I just went with black tea.

We landed in the B gates and then would be leaving from the last gate in the next concourse A86. Half way through was the lounge which would also be my first time in this ZRH lounge. I have been in the Swissport in E, the non-Schengen D and the F. It was pretty crowded, but we found spots and I was surprised had a pretty decent selection of food...seemed better than the D lounge when I was there in April.








The Qatari VIP/Royals 747 parked over in the private jet lot.



Boarding was a bit delayed (Priority was fine) and then they said they had to do the count which meant we lost our time to start the engines and push back and we ended up leaving about 30 min late.



"Lunch" time now with a decent sandwich and some tea.



Loved seeing all the little Avros take off with their 4 engines. Don't know if I'll get on an LX one before they retire (would like to fly the CS soon) but was happy I did get to fly one from Cape Town to Kruger on South African.

Landed, deplaned and had about 20 min to make it to the S7 train which would take us right to the hotel and we were able to do that with about 5 min to spare. Pretty great timing...pretty crummy tram.

CaroFos

Amazing TR and wonderful imagery. Thank you for posting.

JVPhoto

The Imperial Riding School Renaissance Hotel Vienna

Doesn't the name make it sound grand and glorious?

Meh.

I wasn't expecting The Costes or Peninsula but all in all for 79 Euros/night and with Gold that included free wi-fi and use of the lounge for breakfast, tea, drinks, snacks it all wasn't that bad. Extra bonus for being 1 min walk from the S7 train which takes you to/from the airport in about 27min for a few Euros.
I'm sure I noticed when I booked it but could also walk to The Belvedere in about 10 minutes. We also walked to Stephanplatz in about 25 and made our way through Stadtpark.
So all in all good value, worthwhile location.

The rooms were clean and looked much newer than the rest of the hotel.




The lounge sat in the building across the driveway in the "Imperial Club" with big windows and lots of light. Friendly staff and was never too crowded.







There is a pool and fitness center with sauna and steam rooms. The pool seemed to be over run with kids and it was inside. Downstairs by the saunas is the gym which was PACKED with equipment but the mats and a few of the things were kinda dank. Also no water fountain. Nice bit being open 24 hours.



Since we needed two beds I think any upgrade was out of the question. I wanted a 3pm check out since we were taking the train at 3:18 but they said they could give me until 2pm and we could use the lounge to wait (and I used the gym) which was fine. I didn't think it would be that busy that they needed to turn the room right away but I noticed a TUI and Qatar flight crew there plus a full board of conference/banquet room event listings.

It was fine for me for 2 nights. If I come back to Vienna I would probably try something new.

JVPhoto

Vienna / Wien







The first afternoon we just wandered around and ended up going through Nashmarkt where we had some food and picked at a few things.

1E for 3 pickles


3E for a big Wassermelone Saft





We also wandered up around the cathedral and stopped in to buy some snacks and look for white chocolate w/ lavender at Julius Meinl.










I almost look like I have a soul.








The Belvedere (upper and lower for 20E) was a nice way to spend 2 hours. While I appreciate Klimt the work never really moves me and after seeing so much tourist crap all over the city seeing it in person was hardly a moving experience. Big fan of Egon though.







Afterwards we took the train up to Supersense which is a coffee shop and analogue camera/print/audio store. Really friendly staff and nice cafe to sit in. Poked around the back and thought about having a photo taken but I was scruffy and I like being clean shaven...especially for spending $ on a single shot.




After walking around more and stopping by a friends clothing shop we just stumbled in an Asian place called Kagin which had a decent 8E lunch special.



Following that it was a walk up to the Kunst Haus for the Joel Meyerowitz retrospective at the Hunterwasser Haus.



Really great show and really neat place. Walked down the street to the (gift shop) village as well.








We googled a few places and just across from the hotel is Vegetasia which is a vegetarian Asian/Taiwanese restaurant. You could tell they had some "issues" with one frazzled woman doing most of the work and what looked like a newbie. An American punk band was in there and it seemed like the new guy never placed their order after they waited about 20-25 min and had to order again. They made a little stink about it and feel they could have realized where they were and the situation. All in all pretty decent prices and pretty good food.


With a few hours to kill before we left the next day I wanted to go to a "real" Viennese cafe and a get a coffee. I had googled a few places and we decided on Cafe Sperl near Nashmarkt.






It had mixed reviews where some said they felt snubbed and others that they loved being left alone to enjoy. I thought it was a nice space, not super opulent but still had a grand old world feeling. Service from two older ladies was fine. Vienna Eis Kaffee and a Baileys Latte. We passed on the ApfelStrudel given our waistlines.



All in all it was enjoyable city. Would like to come back sometime and do another two days when it is a bit more temperate and not the high 30s.

JVPhoto

OS Y VIE-ZRH + LX Y ZRH-TXL & Lounges

Easy enough getting to the airport on the train right from the hotel. Was hot in the train and I had my phone in my front pocket. So when we get out to go through the automatic gates at security I see my phone is black and won't turn on. I guess it must have overheated so was going to a kiosk to print it out when it finally powered back on.
This is only the 2nd full trip I have used mobile BP. After an issue with one 3-4 years ago I said I would just always get paper tickets.



Once through we snaked around to the OS Senator lounge where it was "tea time" snacks until 4 which was just cold salads and things. Still pretty tasty. Was happy to see kombucha there even though it's not really the style of it I prefer.



Feeling a bit grubby from sweating all day in the heat and working out I saw the green light was on the shower so I went to the counter to have the lady let me in and rinse off and freshen up.


After a chuckle at how quick I was I also said I left it in good shape and will be easy to clean.

By the time I finished that the clock switched over and they put out some sausages.


The chaise lounge style seating at VIE seems to be too tempting for some.


Priority boarding was called up and we took our seats and pushed back on time.



Not quite the Do & Co catering OS is known for...


Yes I bite my nails before take off...must be from flying United so much.


Landed in rainy ZRH and made our way to the LX lounge after stopping at a souvenir shop to get each of our nephews something...I almost started mine's aircraft model collection but I think I'll buy something in FRA.



The lounge was a bit quieter than on the way in. Hot dishes were a curry rice and spaetzle with veg.



Unremarkable flight. The sandwich we had coming over was better than this pretzel (soft at least) that had about 7 pellets of very cold butter in it.

grandgourmand

Great photos, as always.

LH4116

I love it JV! Nice continuation! Intra-EU flights aren't too spectacular these days but it's stil nice to get a bite to eat, though it's a bummer that Austrian didn't showcase their Do&Co catering on the short routes. I believe it's possible to pre-order a meal, similar to what they serve in Business Class on some routes.

How were you able to get an OS flight booked on your LX vouchers? Normally airlines limit those vouchers to the own airline, despite being in the same group.

I visited Vienna for two nights back in 2013, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I suppose you didn't bother with the Sacher cake?

When I Travel The World

Great pictures and a great trip.
1 question, are you leaving NYC for good and moving somewhere else ? Or just taking some time off before returning ?

JVPhoto

It was an LX code share. I didn't pay much attention and it was the other week when I saw it was actually an OS flight.

There's no plan to be there in the next 5 years. Going to bounce between California and Thailand for a while. Of course I'm going back to NY for 10 days next month, 2 in Sept, 5 in Nov.

When I Travel The World

Gotcha, Well if you ever in San Diego. Give me a shout.

mentor of monty

As ever, loving your photography and lifestyle!