Chapter One + Bergmannkiez

There are still cafés in Berlin I need to explore, but today I crossed one off my list; Chapter One (Mittenwalder Str. 30, Kreuzberg) is a little coffee shop off Gneisenaustraße. The coffee is well-made, the décor is simple and there is a window which went straight to my window-loving heart. After having inhaled two coffees each, Kathrine - who was my coffee date du jour - and I took a little roundtrip of Bergmannkiez. The area is loaded with beautiful old buildings, signs and atmosphere, and all the snow that fell yesterday only added to the magical winter scene.

Yum! And look at the tiles...

We went into the hidden courtyard, Riehmers (between Yorckstraße and Hagelbergerstraße) where you quickly feel like you've traveled through time...

Weekend dinners

On Saturday, I went to Alex and Rowan's Scottish night. They were celebrating Burns' Night which is a Scottish thing, and they'd made haggis and mash and slow gin. What a feast! Sunday, I threw a dinner at home with Esben, Nana, Mikkel and Anne, and it was such a good night as well. What a delicious weekend! I apologize for the photos, something is wrong with either my camera or iPhoto. The photos change themselves into some crazy colours and I have no idea what to do about it... Help is very welcome!

The haggis!

Alex was wearing a kilt! (Which, yes, you don't really see in this picture...)

The Danes in the palast.

Polar tendencies

Oh my god, it's so cold! One thing is the snow which I can live with (for a few days, that is), but another thing is the degrees. Oooohhhh... Living in an old apartment means being wrapped in blankets whenever I'm sitting still. It gets tiresome after a while. Other than that, life is good. My spirits are up again, and I enjoy life in the igloo.

On Friday, I had breakfast with Shirin and Max at Melbourne Canteen (Pannierstr. 57, Neukölln). Honestly, it's getting to the point where the amount of time I spend at that place is becoming a cliché. But I guess since there are no other decent breakfast spots in my area, I will just keep coming back again and again. Plus, it was such a nice way to initiate the weekend with those two!

I love these späti facades.

Friday afternoon was spent in front of the computer trying to get some things done. On my way home from the breakfast thing I bought flowers - something I  n e v e r  do, but I enjoy them immensely.

Friday night was spent in Wedding at Pablo's birthday. It was such a fun place! I had brought Esben and Nana, and we couldn't belive we'd wound up in the basement of a true Berlin knejpe where they happened to have 4 really old school bowling lanes. It was so old school that the pins were picked up by strings...

Today, the sun has been shining so lovely all day. What a vitamin injection! I dared to go out in the cold to do some shopping, and despite my ears freezing off I enjoyed the weather and this part of town. Berlin, I'm starting to come back to you.

Out for Korean

Yesterday, I was treated to dinner by Nana and Esben who are in town for a few days. We went to Kimchi Princess in Kreuzberg (Skalitzer Str. 36), where we indulged in kimchi, bibimbap, noodle salad and dumplings, and Korean beer of course. What a meal, and great company!

Nana and I photographed everything, and Esben got a little tired...

Yum!

JAN19-21

First of all; thank you for all your sweet comments and emails, each one of them makes my day! Winter finally arrived today, and despite my cold feelings toward snow, it felt pretty good. Now the back of my head can also catch up with the fact that it's winter and not a never-ending November. The last few days have been great and filled with good company;

On Sunday, Klaus and I walked up to Five Elephant (Reichenberger Str. 101, Kreuzberg) for a Sunday coffee in the cold. The wind has been icy the last few days leading up to today's snow showers, and it all started on Sunday.

Sunday evening, I went to Prenzlauer Berg to have dinner with Anne and Mikkel. They are leaving Berlin next week (nooooo!), but we had such a great evening with pancakes en masse, lots of wine and long talks.

Today, Cordula and I went down to check the local cake shop I accidentally discovered in my kiez (dangerous). It was good, and I had a German Eierkuchen, which is like a slightly thicker Danish pancake with strawberry jam and powdered sugar. A very nice winter treat + coffee. (Madame Zucker, Wildenbruchplatz 5, Neukölln)

Later, I took the U8 into town to meet with Anne for some shopping. We mostly just decided to go have coffee at The Barn, where we thought big about the future and gossiped a little. Very nice.

Pictures of coffee from The Barn is becoming quite a regular thing on this blog...

I love that space (Schönhauser Allee 8, Mitte).