Travel Day 803 – Detmold to Berlin, GERMANY
After spending a couple of weeks in the same place, it felt nice to have an Active Travel Day and to be finally moving again. This time my destination was my former home and favorite city Berlin, the capital of Greymany…
Very grey Sky over Berlin, Germany
This name was actually the perfect description as I came to realize when I arrived. For some reason Berlin seemed even greyer than the rest of Germany and the weather was worse too. The whole drive to Berlin had already been everything but pleasant due to the rainy grey weather and traffic jams, but once I arrived, I also had to notice the difference in temperature. It was actually a whole lot cooler than in the western part of Germany and much windier, which left me trapped in the apartment with no desire to step outside…
In the end it took me two full days before I finally felt ready to fight the elements and see a little bit of Berlin within the short breaks of the rain. During my travels I had timed my stays always in such a way that I constantly travelled during summertime. So after two years of constant sun I had actually forgotten how miserably depressing Berlin could be in the wrong season. Since I managed to be there at the wrong time, I had no choice but do what everyone else did: get a decent coat and join the indoor culture…
In the summertime everything seems to happen outside, but in the winter everything was reduced to indoor activities. On the one hand this could mean staying at home and avoiding the outside greyness altogether, but on the other hand most people still opted for an extended visit of a nearby bar or café. And most of these cafes were extremely cosy and inviting, to help you make the best of the grey wintertime. All you need was a coat that helped you get alive from one place to another…
While I walked around to find a cheap coat, I noticed a lot of changes in the area I used to live in. Prenzlauer Berg had once been a cool, hip neighbourhood with illegal bars and clubs, but today it seemed entirely renovated, gentrified, upscale, but most of all, family friendly. It was almost like a joke to me to see all the kids in this area which used to be occupied only by students and squatters. Today everyone had apparently grown up, had children and was making sure that everything was set up for their new specific needs. And so all the dodgy bars I knew had made way for posh cafes that even provided an area for kids to play while mom or dad were sipping their café latte…
Anyway, while most things had changed and left me feel awkwardly out-of-place, some actually still turned out to be the same. So I did find an old second-hand store selling everything and coats. They even had an old army coat in my size that I obviously had to buy. With this coat I finally felt ready to fight the elements properly. I also all of a sudden seemed to fit much better into the streetscape of Greymany’s capital. Everyone else was not only wearing coats as well, but in this case I blended in especially well, because my jacket was appropriately coloured in grey… : )
Leave a Reply