Leaving Berlin Part 2 of 8: Things I’ll miss somewhat

Ice Cream is everywhere

In the summer ice cream is everywhere. In the winter it packs itself away and rents out its space to other food shops. I remember the cold week in November when the ice cream died across Berlin. But we had a great run. I think the man in the middle of Zoologisher Garten who sold ice cream knew exactly what I wanted before I got there, on my way home from work at the Kindergarten. Always €1 or less for a scoop and of course an important part of your five a day (I assume they were always chatting about five scoops of ice cream?). There was pretty much every flavour you could imagine, white chocolate and nutella and straciatella. I guess what I'm trying to explain in some abstract and poetic way is that... I ate a lot of ice cream. And it was good.

Alexanderplatz

When I walk out of the U-bahn into the dull grey surroundings of Alexanderplatz I feel, not like I’m home, but like I’m close. It’s the place where all my journeys used to end and begin when I lived in Prenzlauerberg. Waiting for 28 minutes in the freezing cold in the middle of the night for the tram (while eating a cheeseburger), buying phone credit that doesn’t really work, saying goodbye to all the friends who came to visit. If what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, then maybe what doesn’t bug you too much makes you fall in love a little. And I’m a little in love with the faceless Soviet architecture and the massive store fronts. And that giant empty concrete space which is probably at its most beautiful when it’s not filled with Christmas markets or protestors, but when it’s just nothing.

The Canal

There is a beautiful bridge named Admiral Brücke where we sat in the summer and ate pizza or drank beers. People would gather in the evenings and play music, or just sit and chat, and it was a great hub of Berlin activity, and a great place to meet before going out for the evening, or going home.

In the winter the canal froze over and looked even more beautiful than before. People walked and slid across it and the bridge, no longer fit for sitting, saw its wrought iron walls adorned with snow.

On August 28^th 2010, the day after I decided to move to Berlin, I walked along the canal for the first time, in the sunshine, listening to stories about the city. And on cold, dark winter nights in Horsham last March I would just focus on the canal in Berlin, remembering why I was doing all these things, remembering why I had left London and what I was trying to propel myself towards. I just wanted to walk along that canal. And I guess, in a way, I got there. I live right next door… for now.

Grimmstr

Kryspin spent two months living in a hostel, or as he liked to call it his “four bed apartment near Warschauerstr.” Well quite, but all those beds were in the same room.

The search for a flat in Berlin is notoriously tough (and Kryspin is notoriously fussy about these things) but finally he found a beautiful flat in Grimmstr with two awesome girls, Andrea and Nicole. And then, at Christmas, when his dear friend Helen was homeless, and his flatmate Andrea had to leave it seemed only natural to swap one awesome flatmate for another and Berlin flirted a little with me by offering an incredible apartment for two months. I almost thought it wanted me to stay.

I’ve spent so many evenings in the kitchen chatting with the people who came in an out of the apartment, sitting in massive comfortable armchairs, playing games or watching television (or writing this blog right now). We threw a great party here one night, which is something I’ve not been in a position to do since I arrived in Berlin, and we played my first ever game of Settlers of Catan, German edition, courtesy of my friend Henry, who also brought cheese. Board games and cheese, beat that! (You really can’t).

But without a doubt the best thing about living here is living with Kryspin, who likes to sit in the kitchen for hours on end playing film trivia quizzes with me. He can’t type, or spell, and I don’t know any of the answers, but between us we manage to win. If by win you mean get more than half marks.