Goodbye to Berlin
Yesterday’s post on Elizabeth Taylor was the first in a few weeks. I thought I’d explain why.
My stepson, his wife and two nervous cats and two small boys were moving from Berlin (Prenzlauerberg district, in the former East sector) after many years there, working in the music business. They were going to Sant Cugat, 20km north of Barcelona.
Mrs TD and I flew over to help. I took a load of photos, quite sad to think we’d probably not go back to Prenzlauerberg. We’ll certainly revisit Berlin centre, though.
Here’s a selection of those pictures, my valediction to an interesting area of the city, full of psychogeophraphical surprises – there are statues, carved details, murals, Bauhaus design – all round this area. Like the area around the café mentioned below: workers’ accommodation designed by Bruno Taut (associated with the Deutscher Werkbund, which included Walter Gropius) in the early 30s.
Just look up or around: there’s always something worth lingering over. As I did in a post way back, my Berlin dérive...
Here’s the hof being used to store boxes before loading on the truck, with Berliners’ ubiquitous bikes parked next to them:
And here’s the removal truck:

The pumping station looked indifferent from the distance, but there were delightful architectural details, iike this Berlin bear over a doorway
And we had several coffees, muesli, croissants, bagels and cakes from our favourite café round the corner: Café Eckstern – which I wrote about affectionately earlier this year

Typical Berlin scene: hipsters have pimped this former police van and made it into something wildly different: the word ‘Polizei’ may not be visible in this picture, but it’s there, dimly surviving just below the windscreen.
Enough pictures for one post. Next time, Sant Cugat, after a LONG road trip with those traumatised cats.