A pretty perfect day

This is where my day ended, in Prezlauerberg . . .


But before we get there, let's go back to the beginning. I started my day with a run (after breakfast and coffee, of course), during which I realized a few things (as I often do on a run) :

1. I need to have my camera on me when I'm running.

2. During my run along the canal, I realized Berlin is the perfect place to be unemployed. At 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, the grassy slopes along canal were filled with people enjoying the sunshine, lying on the grass, making out, playing with babies, drinking (you can drink anywhere in public and at anytime), eating food bought at the kiosks installed at the bridges (very smart!) and generally not seeming to worry about work, coz, clearly, they weren't AT work and they looked happy!

3. It seems that 80% of German women between the ages of 20 and 35 in Berlin are either pregnant or have newborns.

4. Food is cheaper in the middle part of the Turkish market (which happens every Tuesday and Thursday, and spans a block along the canal at the end of my street). Smart strategy! Makes you wade right in.

Now for my day:

Breakfast (rye with feta and tomatoes. I love the German version of low-fat feta. In Canada low fat is 17% milk fat. The normal feta is 24% . Here, low fat is 35%!!!! Sure does taste good!) Typical breaky is taken on the balcony, and involves reading a friend's manuscript.



Then lunch: (I did run in between) Liz salad but with chickpeas instead of chicken.


Then, work. Writing stuff. This is the view outside the window in front of the desk. Most buildings have courtyards, as this one does. I love how the building frames the sky. I loved watching the clouds passing over over the tiled roof -- love how the orange tiles complement the blue sky.



Then: coffee break, of couse! Now back to the balcony, which is at the front of the flat.



There are no bad views!


In the kitchen, I'm re-heating my coffee when I realize how taken I am with another view:



Then: dressing up to go out. Wearing the boots I bought last time I was here. This is the first time I have worn them.


Oh, you can't really see the boots? Here they are . . . in Prenzlauerberg! I rode the bike here and did not get lost once!



Met my friend Eric in Prenzlauerberg to watch a film. Every Tuesday, there is an English movie night at this English bookstore, St. Geroge's. Saw a wonderful Polish film, funnily enough, with subtitles. An early film by Krzysztof Kieslowski who did Red, White and Blue. Imagine a tiny bookstore in which all the available space is taken up with folding chairs, with a screen hung from an archway, all of us crammed in together, speaking all manner of English (British, Australian, Canadian, American . . .) It was quite bonding to be an ex-pat with folks I did not know but felt I knew just because we all are in Berlin for our own reasons, yet needing to find others who speak our mother tongue, even if we are here to learn German . . .



But before the movie . . . dinner! Really yummy felafel (although they put the felafels balls on one side of the wrap and all the lettuce on the other, making it almost impossible to get both in a single bite.)



Prenzlauerberg is somewhat like Ronces. Known here, too, as breederville. It was once east Germany where the decrepit buildings were riddled with bullet holes, but all that's changed now, much in the same way everything along Queen west got gentrified. Except here you have cobblestone streets and beautiful old buildings and gorgeous cafés and restaurants and bookstores and clothing stores that make you wish you were so wealthy you could live here and never, ever move. Except in Berlin, wealth is relative. You don't actually need that much money to live really well . . .



This view shows the television tower that is a landmark at Alexanderplatz, one which helps me to navigate the city. And the other building beside it is an old water tower that people live in.


And, that, my friends, is another day . . . no deep thoughts, just some pretty views . . .