Friday Favourites

Today I took one of my favourite Friday afternoon Berlin rambles.  Alan and I met our friend Gareth in Schoenhauser Allee and we went to Der Fischladen where Alan and Gareth had fish and chips and I went for the day's special of Gravadlax with Kartoffelpuffer and a large glass of white wine.  Once we'd eaten, the boys set off for the last Union game before the winter break and I headed in the other direction towards Schoenhauser Ecke, which I've always thought of as the beating heart of Prenzlauer Berg.

 

With five roads, three tram lines and an U-Bahn station, there's always plenty of activity here.

 

 

 

Looking towards Eberswalder Strasse Station

 

From there I walked down Kastanienallee, a street that many like to criticise but for which I have a long-standing affection.

 

 

The Prater

 

At Schwedter Strasse I turned towards Arkonaplatz and the Friday market.  As I'd already eaten I didn't succumb to the temptation of a whole grilled trout from the fish barbecue or a garlicky bruschetta from the Italian stand but it's a treat just to wander around and inspect the products on offer here.

 

Approaching the market through the little park, complete with 'Union' bench!

 

The market with the Zionskirche in the background.

I then walked to Zionskirchplatz, where three horse-drawn carriages came clopping by (I've no idea why), and down Veteranenstrasse, to Volkspark Weinberg - my favourite park at any time of the year. It's a lovely place to sit and read for a while or just take in the view.

 

Veteranenstrasse

 

Volkspark Weinberg

As I emerged from the park into Weinbergsweg, twilight was approaching.  For me this is the best time to be out in the city - I find it so very atmospheric in a winter's dusk.

Ambling back towards home, I paid another visit to the Scandinavian-themed Lucia Weihnachtsmarkt in the Kulturbrauerei.  In my opinion this is the most charming of the city's Christmas markets, and it's only a 15-minute walk from home.

The weather was dull but warm and dry - perfect for a stroll across Prenzlauer Berg and into Mitte.  I never tire of walking the streets of my beloved city, whether alone or in company, and the route I took today was one of my most tried and trusted favourites.  A real Friday classic.

Decisions, decisions

We’ve reached the tail-end of another year and I’m asking that perennial rhetorical question: where has the time gone?  I’m in exactly the same position I was in this time twelve months ago: speculating about the year ahead and wondering if I’ll still be in Berlin at the end of it.

 

Things seem to be falling into place here, most notably that we are picking up more work.  I’ve recently had the luxury of having to turn down work at the research centre in favour of a content writing job for a travel website. It meant that for four weeks I had days of working until midnight and had to miss a couple of literary events that I’d badly wanted to go to.  I’ve had no time for my creative writing, and the business idea that I’d been doing some groundwork for had to be put on hold but I can take it up again in the New Year. I’m also trying to complete an application for a freelance tax number, without which I can’t be paid for the travel website work.

 

But with one-way flights back to the UK booked for the end of March, we are now considering the possibility of coming back after a couple of months.  We had extended the lease on the flat until 31^st March and I’m thinking of contacting the landlord to ask whether we can move back in if he hasn’t found new tenants by the time we return. Not that I’ve any particular affection for the flat – there isn’t one piece of furniture that I would have chosen myself and I’m sick of the gigantic tropical plants we’ve had to look after. But it’s been a convenient base in a Kiez that we love and the landlord has been very quick to sort out any problems we’ve had.

If we are to come back to Berlin we will almost certainly have to decide whether or not to sell our house. I think we’re both about 65% in favour of taking that step at the moment.  It would mean we could invest properly in the language and integration course and look for an empty flat.  Besides accommodating someone else’s tastes in interior design, the other downside of living in a furnished apartment and not even being allowed to hang a picture is that it emphasises the temporary nature of our tenure here.  After two years of this I’m beginning to miss my own things. I always get slightly envious when I visit friends whose living environments reflect their own styles and personalities. I would love to have my posters and books and all the other things that were part of my everyday home life around me here in Berlin.  I’ve been longing for a pet too and we aren’t allowed to have one in our current flat.

So, decisions must be made, even if it means sitting in a pub with a notebook and pen itemising the practicalities and pros and cons.  At this moment there is, as ever, so much going on, nothing resolved, and everything still a work-in-progress.