I feel like I've been off for ages, which is of course A Good Thing.
So Berlin was fantastic. So vast and sprawling, really two cities that have now been joined together, but not in a Dallas-Fort Worth or Minneapolis-St Paul way. It's east meets west - still - but in a good way. Before I went people were telling me it was rough and threatening, with drug addicts on every corner. I didn't see any of that. Christiane F was nowhere to be seen. It was beautifully clean, everyone was super-polite, there was loads to see and do, it was really easy to get around, relatively cheap and above all it was alive with history.
The east was truly amazing. Massively wide boulevards full of huge Sixties blocks, now listed and restored and quite trendy. I actually felt like I was in the Sixties. The TV tower in one eye, the Alexanderplatz in the other. And the smart, chic parts like Hackisches-Markt were nowhere to be seen in the elegant west, which was more like Paris or Helsinki. East Berlin was like nothing I've seen before. Not even St Petersburg, Prague or Warsaw could boast so much Soviet-era architecture that was still standing.
We walked for miles, mainly in search of antique and collectable shops Mrs F-C had tracked down via the net, so perhaps we saw bits of the city we might not have seen. Those shops were amazing. Like this one. We came away very heavy and lighter of wallet. The same goes for the CD shops. I've not got all I'll ever need in German schlager hits of the Sevnties, Krautrock, Eighties German New Wave and pop hits of the Sixties. Let me bore you with them soon.
So apart from both catching the norovirus all over Easter, a good time was had by all.
Now, while I've been away:
1. The new Who. Not that fussed. It's all rather kiddy, isn't it.
2. Can you still get Bird's Trifle in a box? I need it. And Dream Topping.
3. Masterchef: Dhruv to win. Alex is just showing off. I was glad no one wanted his sweetbreads.
So what's new with you?
