Now I have been in Berlin for a while I am able to count the days that are left more easily than the days that I have been here. Time has flown by and the city has become my cosy home. It is a funny process indeed. You arrive in a place, everything is new, you discover small things, curious things maybe boring things, but everywhere you go, you keep on discovering. However one day you wake up and you go out and you look at things and they are familiar. The same U-bahn station, the same guy selling the homeless people's magazine, the same kind of people on the train, the same street corners and so on. Of course I keep seeing new things but a homyness has set in my Berlin. I think it's a pity to have lived and not to have called Berlin your home at least once. I know when I'll leave it won't be a farewell but an 'Au revoir'.
I'll stop all this embarassing melancholy and tell you more about the odds and ends of the city, or maybe just about some mainstream experiences...
I can't help but compare Berlin to London or Paris, which are my capital references. Although these two metropoles are both unique it their genre, they have many common points they don't share with Berlin. When you get on the Tube or the Metro, or simply when you walk on the street, you should stop and look at how fast people are walking. When you arrive in these cities, you adapt to the rhythm, and as everybody seems to be in a hurry, so are you, even if you are not going anywhere precise, all you know is that you should walk fast. This is totally different in Berlin. The genral pace is calm. Everybody is relaxed and walks with tranquility. You would think people don't get stressed here. Well I don't and I love it.
I also want to report from a little trip I undertook last weekend. We went to Rostock and Warnemünde in the North, about two and a half hours by car. I'm an absolute sea-lover and when we crossed the dunes, looked the kind of wide horizon you only get over the sea, I realised how much I had missed it. Swimming in the sea, running in the sand, watching the sun set, I don't know what else you need for a perfect weekend. The bad weather the next day only made the sea look rough and deep, ok who am I kidding, as my experienced guide Alex explained it, the average depth of the Baltic Sea is about 55m.
But the place is terribly perfect if you want to get away from the crowd in Berlin. Tourist are a recurrent infection there as well, but you can actually find some air to breathe and some space to be.
But let's go back to urbanity...
There is one thing you have to do, if you want to be a real hype Berlin-visitor, you go for brunch on weekends. Indeed the cafés and restaurants of the famous Simon-Dach-Str in Friedrichshain are overcrowded with people enjoying open buffets for less than 10 Euros. When you say Brunch in Germany, they actually mean breakfast and lunch, so that the varieties of food include english breakfast, sweet puddings, fruits, waffle dough (up to you to make the waffles), bread roles, all sorts of salads and to my big astonishment, actual dishes, may it be pasta, curry or some potato bake.
Another thing that makes a stay in Berlin a really enjoyable experience, is the proximity of many lakes. Apart from the famous Wannsee, you can take a swim in the Müggelsee, the Schlachtensee, the Weißensee and many more. You can reach all these very easily with public transport and in certain places you even find sand beaches! It's probably the best option on days when the temperatures rise up to 37°C... we've seen that.
I will go back to enjoying the moments I have left to spend in Berlin, as I have miles to go before I sleep...
More on Berlin: Take 1 and Take 3.
I'll stop all this embarassing melancholy and tell you more about the odds and ends of the city, or maybe just about some mainstream experiences...
I can't help but compare Berlin to London or Paris, which are my capital references. Although these two metropoles are both unique it their genre, they have many common points they don't share with Berlin. When you get on the Tube or the Metro, or simply when you walk on the street, you should stop and look at how fast people are walking. When you arrive in these cities, you adapt to the rhythm, and as everybody seems to be in a hurry, so are you, even if you are not going anywhere precise, all you know is that you should walk fast. This is totally different in Berlin. The genral pace is calm. Everybody is relaxed and walks with tranquility. You would think people don't get stressed here. Well I don't and I love it.
I also want to report from a little trip I undertook last weekend. We went to Rostock and Warnemünde in the North, about two and a half hours by car. I'm an absolute sea-lover and when we crossed the dunes, looked the kind of wide horizon you only get over the sea, I realised how much I had missed it. Swimming in the sea, running in the sand, watching the sun set, I don't know what else you need for a perfect weekend. The bad weather the next day only made the sea look rough and deep, ok who am I kidding, as my experienced guide Alex explained it, the average depth of the Baltic Sea is about 55m.
But the place is terribly perfect if you want to get away from the crowd in Berlin. Tourist are a recurrent infection there as well, but you can actually find some air to breathe and some space to be.
But let's go back to urbanity...
There is one thing you have to do, if you want to be a real hype Berlin-visitor, you go for brunch on weekends. Indeed the cafés and restaurants of the famous Simon-Dach-Str in Friedrichshain are overcrowded with people enjoying open buffets for less than 10 Euros. When you say Brunch in Germany, they actually mean breakfast and lunch, so that the varieties of food include english breakfast, sweet puddings, fruits, waffle dough (up to you to make the waffles), bread roles, all sorts of salads and to my big astonishment, actual dishes, may it be pasta, curry or some potato bake.
Another thing that makes a stay in Berlin a really enjoyable experience, is the proximity of many lakes. Apart from the famous Wannsee, you can take a swim in the Müggelsee, the Schlachtensee, the Weißensee and many more. You can reach all these very easily with public transport and in certain places you even find sand beaches! It's probably the best option on days when the temperatures rise up to 37°C... we've seen that.
I will go back to enjoying the moments I have left to spend in Berlin, as I have miles to go before I sleep...
More on Berlin: Take 1 and Take 3.
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