Leaving Berlin Part 1 of 8: Silly things I will miss a little

On Tuesday, at 2:40am (just imagine not knowing to the minute when someone typed something), my friend Jason commented on my blog link on facebook: “I hope someday you write about all the amazing fun times we've had between the C-Rex era and the leaving Berlin post. People are going to think it was all just shit in between, but we really had some awesome times!”

Oh Jason. We really, really did. The time between when this blog ended last year and Christmas was the best three months of my life. Steph and Cat were my first visitors to Berlin, and I remember thinking after an amazing weekend with them that it could only go downhill. But little did I know, two of the people we met on the Thursday when I dragged them from the airport to a bar*, would go on to be two of the best friends I’ve ever had, and that the following weekends would just get better and better and better.

I’ve tried to remember everything that makes Berlin so addictive and enjoyable, a patchwork of things that happened in that time, but I’m sure I’ve forgotten far too many things to mention.

So, part one: Silly things I will miss a little. I can live without them, but they have made things fun.

Prosecco

Prosecco in a can! More specifically Prosecco in a can at Another Country Berlin Bookshop where we go every other Tuesday night to do a quiz, and sometimes on a Friday to eat an amazing dinner. Prosecco in the supermarket for €1,50, which British friends marvel at when they come to stay. Prosecco in Sophie’s beautiful flat, sitting on her big black chairs, finishing off our make-up, debating where to eat dinner. Prosecco on the Kjosk Bus parked outside Gorlitzer Bahnhof which only costs €6 for a bottle, and which you can drink while teaching strangers how to play poker. I will miss being in a city of free-flowing Prosecco. It has been the best of times and the worst of times. I raise a glass to that! (Of Prosecco).

Dürüm Doners

When you are on your way home after a long night of partying like it’s 2009 (because that’s when you had a job) you really need a salty, sobering, meaty snack-meal. Chicken would be nice. Salad would be great. Some sauce would probably help that all mesh together a little better. Roasted vegetables and cheese would be a great addition. But more than anything, wouldn’t it be great if it was all wrapped neatly into a biteable little bundle that you could hold in one hand? Gone are the days of open plated meat that lays strewn across your kitchen the next morning, for here in Berlin is the delightfully neat and tasty Dürüm. Many thanks to Dom Walton for the late night introduction on a street corner to this delicious snack. I would like to note that while my consumption of this meal has probably been weekly, Kryspin has other ideas about when and where it is appropriate to eat a kebab, namely, at any time.

Sneak Preview Cinema

Back in Prenzlauerberg in October I didn’t have any internet in my flat and I would sit all day in a little café on Hufelandstr. Eva would be there playing on their piano, I would be liking things on facebook and the waiters would be eying us with the sort of contempt that always pushed me and my English café guilt into buying another coffee. On a rainy Thursday we decided we desperately needed to leave and couldn’t think of where to go but the cinema. It was then that we discovered that in Potsdamer Platz you can pay €5 to see a film on Thursday evening and the very best part is you have no idea what the film will be. It will be in English, and it will not yet be released in Germany, and the excitement of sitting in the cinema waiting and wondering has been enough to bring us back almost every week. I’ve seen many films that I would never have otherwise seen, and for the most part they have been pretty enjoyable. But mainly I just like the point when the lights descend and I squeal ‘OMG, what’s it going to be?’, Eva replies ‘I have no idea!’ and Sophie says ‘Shh! We’re in a cinema’ ;)

*This is a complete fabrication. No one has ever dragged Steph or Cat to a bar. They have always gone keenly, probably leading the way.