girl, interrupted

Ok, so this morning I thought I would be all intrepid and go out to take photos of my favorite places in Berlin to put on my blog.

I made it out to the Augustrasse only to find that the batteries in my camera were dead - batteries I had just bought! So much for German craftsmanship.

oh well. There's a silver lining in every cloud. I was on the Auguststrasse!- imho the coolest place in Berlin. I had coffee at Cafe Rosenrot - a small yellow building with green shutters, roses growing up the walls, and a small fountain with a statue of cupid. Birds were having fun hopping in and out of the fountain.

Tonight I am going to a barbecue at my brother Nick's house. The party I went to last night was a lot of fun. It was on a boat called "the Eastern Comfort" on the Spree. When you come in, you meet the host, Charles, who asks you what language you wish to (or can) speak. Then he introduces you to the appropriate group. There's tables and chairs both inside and out on the deck where you can sit and chat. They barbecue food on a large grill on the deck. It's all very bohemian, and the atmosphere is superfriendly.

I had a Beck's Green Lime Beer which was quite interesting and quite good too. Some of the people I met at that art exhibit reception put on by the Anglophile Society last week were there. It was nice to reconnect and get to know them better. I also met a lot of new people from various countries. Disturbingly, most of them were unemployed and apparently have been for some time (Berlin has an 18 percent unemployment rate). But they seemed, you know, fine, happy. Not miserable and starving. I am getting the impression you can get by on very little in Berlin.

This boat party is a weekly event, so I will definitely be going back. Hopefully, I will glean more insights on how people pull off this "destitute and happy" thing.