Chessboxing

Chessboxing is a hybrid sport that involves alternate rounds of chess and (you guessed it) boxing. Recently this video appeared on the Berlin Chessboxing Club's website:

SHOCKING!

Enraged by this insult I went to cheer on London at the match/fight/game (?). Michael and I arrived at the train station and were offered sparkling wine and a lift to the venue (my sense of outrage dwindled due to the good hospitality, and perhaps the alcohol).

We were stamped with the chessboxing logo...

...and waited for the match to begin (Who's that lovely lady? Why, it's me!).

After careful preparation...

...the fighters entered the ring...

...the real lovely ladies declared the first round (I've never seen two more bored looking girls in my life)...

...and the two men sat down to a four-minute round of chess

Each player has a maximum of twelve minutes to play chess during the whole game, and there are a maximum of eleven rounds, including the three-minute boxing rounds. The commentator explained the game and we could see the moves on a large screen.

Then it was up for a round of boxing.

Who is that lovely lady whose job it is to move the board in and out of the ring between rounds? It's Sabine, my house-mate and chessboxer.

The chess rounds became increasingly more intense as the fighters tried to slow their breathing, recover from the punches and focus on the task at hand, their sweat dripping onto the board. Understandably, most mistakes are made at the start of the round.

There were three fights, and it was interesting to see how the players tactics played to their strengths. I think I might take up the sport.

So, how do you move horsey?

Hola Orela

I was so excited about Orela's visit, but when she finally arrived I felt rather guilty. On the way to collect her from the airport I had a Sliding Doors moment and missed the train. Knowing the next one would get me to the airport a few minutes late I thought, 'Oh, please let her plane be delayed.' Due to a medical emergency the flight was diverted to Manchester airport. Orela arrived four hours late, tired and hungry (luckily, by the time the plane had landed the man suspected of having a heart attack seemed well).

Another reason for my guilty feeling was how everyone else seemed to have trumped me with their welcomes.

During her stay took a boat tour of the city

The slidey thingy (that's official boating jargon) protected us from the rain

We also took a trip to Potsdam, which delighted me by providing sights I hadn't taken in on my previous visit,

Princess Orela. How rude! I was supposed to be the princess and she was my Lady in Waiting. You don't play fair Orela Kingston!

We both loved this statue whose foot is the only part where the bronze is clean and shining.

The China House seemed even more spectacular, I noticed more detail this time round

I loved the people peaking out from behind pillars

We noticed the strange pods on this tree and asked a guard what kind of tree it was.

He explained that is was the American Trumpet Tree, and pulled back some branches to show us the flowers.

Talking Heads

The Moument to fallen Russian soldiers in Treptower Park

On her final night we went to the Sony Centre.

We took her to the Premier of a movie. Well technically we just went to the cinema on the evening that there happened to be the European premier of The Zookeeper, but we did get to see Kevin James (aka The Man From King Of Queens). Orela, as you can see, was shocked and fascinated.

Before the film we enjoyed some traditional German food

And a 'traditional' banana beer.

Cheers Orela! I loved having you over! Come back soon!

Karneval der Kulturen

There seems to be a festival every weekend in Berlin during the summer. A couple of weekends ago I headed to Kreuzberg to take in the Karneval der Kulturen - a celebration of multi-culturalism.

Spot the, erm, gimp

The little old lady across the road

대한민국

Inevitably it became a party. Minimal electro DJs are pied pipers in Berlin.