Pop Goes the World

My friend and I decided to run our very own Club Night

It's going to be a bit like Salla that I visited a couple of times and that has since closed down.

We're going to play some: kwaito, azonto, reggaeton, eurovision, Kpop, Greek and Turkish pop, chalga and much more!!

It's going to be in Firefly bar in St Paul's on Friday 9th August 2013. Come along and party around the world with us.

The Wurst Club

Another German sausage place as opened up near Bank.  It had not been open very long when I visited, which might explain why it took them so long to bring my currywurst and pommes over.  To be honest, it reminded me a bit of the episode of the Apprentice where the two teams had to run a fast food lunch place for a day.

Hopefully these were just teething problems due to having just opened, as the food was worth the wait.  There are no tables and chairs but you can stand at the counter by the window to eat.

 I didn't realise that my currywurst would come with a bread roll, so I was pretty full by the time I'd eaten all this!

The Wurst Club also sells a small range of German chocolates and sweets, as well as Club Mate to drink.

Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist is a German pub in Southwark.   Zeitgeist feels a bit like a guest who came to stay for a short visit but who got himself settled in quite comfortably and is in no hurry to leave.  The original name of the pub (The Jolly Gardener) is even still up.

If you are a fan of German football, then you really should visit Zeitgeist.  A big screen shows football matches, commentary and football news in a seemingly endless loop.  I had Krakauer sausage with chips and my friend had Wiener schnitzel with bratkartoffel.

International Cheese

International Cheese is run by an Irish/German couple and has three outlets: in Liverpool Street, Victoria and Marylebone stations.

They have a range of cheeses from around Europe including from Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland.

I stopped for a look and ended up chatting for about 15 minutes with the owner about the differences between life in Germany and the UK.

You can also check out a selection of the cheeses that they have on their website: www.internationalcheese.co.uk/

Bauhaus: Art as Life

I loved the picture that was used to advertise the Bauhaus exhibition in the underground so I thought I'd go along to learn more about this German art school movement.

No photography was allowed in the gallery so these are taken from the gallery guide,

The Bauhaus school was founded in 1919 in Weimar and was finally disbanded by the Nazi party in 1933.

The students had the coolest parties! They had one which had a metal theme and guests entered the party by sliding into the room down a slide.

007 Around the World

The Barbican is currently hosting a James Bond exhibition until September 2012.  These posters advertising the films around the world decorate the entrance hall.

Gesamtkunstwerk: New Art from Germany

I want to be a German artist too!  Some of my favourite pieces from the recent exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery.

 Ahnenbild by André Butzer

Untitled by André Butzer. This painting reminded me a bit of the work by Aboudia Abdoulaye Diarrassoub that I saw at the Jack Bell Gallery last year, 

 Geschwister by Isa Genzken

 Kinder Filmen 1 - Isa Genzhen

 Untitled by Georg Herold

 Untitled by Thomas Kiesewetter

Pretentious Crap by  Zhivago Duncan

All Possible Experiences by Kirstine Roepstorff

German School

Just came across this German school whilst I was out and about in Richmond.

http://www.dslondon.org.uk/

Stammtisch! The London German Language Meetup group

You can find them here: http://www.meetup.com/german-9/

A great way to practise conversational German! Everyone was really friendly and there were one or two other people with a similar level to me which meant we could go at a slower pace than others in the group (in my case much slower!)

Lituanica

Lituanica sells products from Russia, Poland, Latvia, Germany and Romania according to their website. They have stores in Stratford and Barking.

www.lituanicaltd.com

Bavarian Beerhouse

A mixture of both Bavarian and other German food can be found at the Bavarian Beer House in Old Street. I went along on a Monday night with Bibby's group of dining couchsurfers.  

I got a bit lost coming out of Old Street tube station and arrived to discover that there was a quiz going on! Our team came joint second and our prize was some novelty lighters in the same of beer glasses much like the one below.

 Two pints or 1.13 litres of Erdinger Russ - well actually beer plus lemonade.

 Special Wurst Platter - Bratwurst Schneke, Merguez, Kaseknacker with mashed potato and Sauerkraut.

Borough Market

Borough Market has a lot of different stalls from around the world with plenty of choice of products from Spain, Italy and France as well as a few things from Germany, South Africa and the Caribbean. I wasn't expecting to see a Grenadan stall though.  I bought some Grenadan liquer to warm up the rainy afternoon.

South African Biltong

German Deli in London Bridge

This German shop has lots of types of mustard and gummibears amongst its shelves along with plenty of other German products. It didn't seem too expensive either.

Supreme Courts of the World

There is currently a small display at the Supreme Court in Parliament Square about how Supreme Courts compare to each other and to the UK systems in 9 different countries around the world.

Europe in Meltdown

The Portobello Film Festival is a fantastic idea - a free film festival just down the road from my house! Thank you London!!!

The pop up cinema is under the Westway at the end of Acklam Road.  I anticipated that the cinema might be outdoors and took an extra layer of clothing and a flask of tea along with me.  I arrived just before the start of the films so didn't have chance to get any photos.

The films I saw in the 'Europe in Meltdown' shorts series:

- Rites, a Scottish film set in London about the relationship between a father and his son.

- Battenburg, another Scottish film about a creepy squirrel who lives in a strange house.

- Out of Erasers, a Swedish film about a strange scribble man who chases a woman through the city.

- Heavy Heads, a Danish animated film about a woman,a housefly and a sad man.

- Tejo, a Portuguese film noir thriller about an inspector investigating a murder.

- Homesick Scientists, a German film about a field expedition of scientists who encounter some difficulties.

- Upstream, another German film about a man who gets some advice from the river Elba.

- The beardless Garibaldi, an Italian gangster caper.

Photos from all the films listed above in order (except Rites)