Berlin…a city of many stories and experiences including our own….a topic for many of our conversations!
We’ve been ‘living’ in an apartment on level 19 in Mitte for some 3 months. Formerly in East Berlin, it is one of several apartment towers built for purpose, function rather than form.
The local neighbourhood has access to supermarkets, cafes, restaurants, medical rooms, parks and playgrounds, malls, buses and trains, wide footpaths, green spaces and Gendenmarket.
We’ve become part of the passing parade and have befriended a local barista and wine bar waiter among others. Our diverse apartment neighbours have been friendly and helpful.
We have been within walking distance to many museums and galleries and short bus/train trips for €9 per month. We have enjoyed visits by family and friends and caught up with local friends.
We have travelled by intercity trains to Malmo, Vienna, Venice, Kassel and Prague and are now experienced at locating trains, carriages and seats…well almost!
Berlin is a reflective city seeking solutions to national and international challenges. The impact of war, past and present, weighs heavily on its psyche whilst climate change presents an existential threat requiring immediate responses.
The city continues to build and recreate past buildings with contemporary additions. Public museums are state of the art and provocative and informative.
Public transport is efficient and timely (4 minute wait on the ubahn). Masks are compulsory on all trains and buses across Berlin and Germany. Cycling is popular and increasingly electric scooters wend their way across streets and footpaths. EV charging stations are prevalent and electric vehicles are common and often small.
Cost of living pressures and housing provision are evident on the streets of many neighbourhoods especially in the former East Berlin. Germany will continue to play a leadership role in Europe and beyond though its internal challenges will occupy its ‘traffic lights’ government for the immediate future. Europe and the
