Back to Berlin

Monday, 20 October

We tried going via Frankfurt, instead of threading the needle between Cologne and Düsseldorf. It made no difference in time or on our nerves: driving the Autobahn is horrible, as noted in blog entry from 1st April.

In this new, temporary place on the Grimmstrasse, there are some peculiar similarities with our the place on the Almstadtstrasse:

1. Here too we have a tower:
   
   (note cute crescent moon)
2. Very few cupboards, very few tables on which to plop things. A challenge for untidy people like us.
3. Aversion to carpets. All wood floors, meaning dust and dog hair and footsteps not absorbed. Elsa is adapting better than we are.
4. Aversion to lamps, love of overhead spots. Ditto on our adjustment problems.
5. Leather sofas. White at Almstadtstrasse, brown at Grimmstrasse.
6. Both have Denkmal or historical monument status. Almstadtstrasse was a residence for Jewish scholars and rabbis who were connected to a nearby temple that was destroyed by the Nazis. Grimmstrasse, was the old Urbanstrasse hospital. A large complex of brick buildings that is much handsomer than its modern incarnation next door.
7. Electric kettles with top problems. In the Almsadtstrasse, a saucer replaced the missing top and I was always burning my hand when I removed it after the water boiled. Here on Grimmstrasse, the top pops up when the water comes close to boiling (so it won't stop automatically) and when I try to keep it down, also feel excessive heat on my hand.

I'm not sure what the significance of all this is but the last similarity nudges into the realm of weird.