Berlin baby!

Monday, 7/11

We are now happily installed in our apartment in Berlin. I must say it is super cool. We are on the 3rd floor overlooking a happening but relaxed neighborhood very near Hackeschermarkt area. You know those movies where you see the independent young twenty-something drinking wine and listening to jazz in her New York studio apartment (you know like the first scene of every romantic comedy you've ever seen?), well the room is kind of like that! I've always wanted to stay in a place like this, but I know I could never LIVE in a big city long term, so this is like a dream come true. I get to play house and try on this hip life style for a week. So how did we get here? This morning after a more relaxed breakfast buffet in Köln, we departed for Düsseldorf, where we saw a tad of the city as we returned the car and walked ten minutes to the train station, stopping along the way to stock up on snacks for the train. The nearly five hour train ride seemed to go by quickly from our first class seats. We read our e-books and snacked happily, pausing occasionally to look out the window and observe the changing countryside of middle Germany. At one point, Greg pointed out, "Were on the prairie!" And truly the sparce and occasional trees that punctuated the yellowing grasses over relatively flat lands did resemble a prairie. We observed quaint towns with ancient looking arches and spires, as well as suburban looking clumps of newer homes. Despite the occasional cries of unhappy toddler in the adjoining car, our trip was fairly relaxing. When we arrived at the Berlin main station, we were impressed by the huge scale and stunning architecture of the place. Glass windows looked out on the parliament building (Reichstag) and an impressive skyline of the city, the station itself was five times the size of biggest mall I've ever visited and had more stores than you can imagine. Getting over our disorientation at being in the big city, we found the S-bahn platform and found our stop on the map. We were only two stops from our station and just a five minute walk from the S-bahn stop to our apartment. After getting the key at the cafe/ bar downstairs, we climbed three flights of an ultramodern stairwell made of concrete and reinforcing cables for a hand rail to open the doors to our spacious room. We have a huge bed, a couch, a flat screen TV, two closets (count 'em 1-2!), a dining nook with four chairs, a kitchenette (hurray, I can cook!), a desk with a fifth seat, a large bathroom with a big and long bath tub, and tons of windows, giving the whole place a light and airy feel. Greg was thrilled and I was pleased that I had booked us such a nice place at such an affordable price. The best part, we get to stay here for five nights! I actually unpacked and put my backpack away instead of using it as my dresser as I have since we left Tuscany. We walked to the end of our street and found a well stocked corner market and filled our fridge with breakfast items and cold beverages. We also bought some groceries so we can cook a few nights this week. But not tonight, because we were hungry immediately. Having an expansive diverse city at your fingertips, we knew we could find something we hadn't had since arriving in Europe, ethnic food of the non-traditional variety for the region. We settled on a Vietnamese restaurant that provided an effusion of veggies and tofu with just the right amount of spice. Oh how I had missed my precious tofu (clean protein) and delicious mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, onions, and more! Plus that wonderful heat that makes your nose run just a little...heaven! After dinner we wandered the neighborhood finding cool local hangouts, cafes, innovative and artistic graffiti on some buildings (always with a message, usually anti-establishment related). Back in our tower of spacious joy, a hot bath was calling my name, all knots from backpack hauling dissolved and I began to feel quite at home in this big city so far from home.