We arrived in the Berlin Hauptbahnhof about 5:30pm. It was already very dark outside. The main train station is enormous with about five levels with trains on the top and bottom (and a few in between) and the street on about the third level. We looked for the sign for taxi – given it was about a 10 Euro taxi ride vs two or three different forms of public transport and a bit of walking we had already decided on the taxi.  As the taxi driver weaved his way through the streets to Prenzlauer Berg, where we were staying, I noticed an awful lot of construction on the sides of the road like they were laying a lot of pipes – perhaps they are finally burying the pipes that run through many of the streets in the east about a story up. In some places, they have been lifted as the cross roads, presumably to allow trucks to go underneath. A long stretch about a kilometre from where we are staying is painted magenta.

We arrived at the apartments and collected the instructions from the café next door. First we had to key in a code to the front doors – Dan’s torch that I stir him so much for carrying everywhere came in very handy. The through the front into the communal courtyard – the standard arrangement in this part of Berlin – back into the back part of the building and up three flights of stairs to our third level apartment. Then there was another code for a keybox at the door and then to open the door. Opening the door was the hardest part. It took a few goes before we worked it out. The apartment itself was beautifully furnished but left enough in original condition with hot water radiators running about the walls, the original floors and windows to make sure you felt you were in Prenzlauer Berg rather than the more gentrified part. Like the building next door. The back courtyard here actually has a fence through it. The neighbouring building has been gentried with hedges gardens, new fittings, retrofitted balconies and even an external elevator. After dropping our luggage, we decided to take a walk down toward the U-Bahn station at Eberswalde Strasse to get some dinner. We passed quite a few restaurants on our own little strip of Oderberger Strasse, some of them even open on Sunday. Dan wanted to explore a bit more and eventually we came on a strip of what was essentially cheap eats, gritty bars and 24/7 small grocery stores (well mostly bottleshops with a few groceries really. Kind of like a 711 but with masses of alcohol on sale. I surmised this must be a backpacker area when I saw vegemite for sale in one of the stores. Eventually we came upon an Italian restaurant come cocktail bar. We both felt like pizza after one too many rich German meals. Dan had a meat pizza with olives and pickled peppers. I went really simple and had a Hawaiian pizza. We washed it down with a beer = a lager for me and pilsner for Dan. After dinner we walked back to the apartment and crashed.

Christmas themed activities – 16  War museums and model shops – 1.5  Design experiences – 2