Eiskafe

Something I forgot to expect about Berlin is that, due to its hugeness, it's harder to wander vaguely in search of [a cheap cafe; an internet cafe; a bakery] than it is in many European capitals. In Dublin, when I was hungry, I could pass and evaluate literally dozens of cafes and restaurants before choosing one; here in Berlin, I might walk for 20 minutes without seeing a single food establishment, despite being on a huge, heavily-trafficked street. There are of course still areas where cafes cluster, but if you're not actually in one of those, it can be a hungry walk. What there are a lot of are places that sell ice cream. Maybe Germans want to hold on to the idea that it is still summer, or maybe tourists get hot while walking around between sights, but for whatever reason there are about 10 times as many ice-cream-selling establishments in Berlin than an any other European city that I've been to. You can tell when a place sells ice cream because there will be a waist-high fiberglass ice cream cone outside, or a giant chalkboard shaped like a banana split. One place on a corner had four fiberglass cones: two normal ones, one that was somehow the size and shape of a table, and one that was "melted" into a sort of chair shape. Ice cream is reasonably cheap here, so it would be nice to have such availability of it, if it weren't 10°C and rainy.

The bakeries here, once found, are every bit as wonderful as I remembered. I've eaten 5 pretzels in my 27 hours in the city so far, and once I'm settled in my apartment, I have some very delicious plans that mostly involve buying fresh bread in the mornings. Produce is also very cheap here, or maybe it is everywhere and I've never noticed it before, but this occurred to me as I bought some vegetables for the delicious curry that Jesse would later cook for Jane and me. Jane seems to have a very sweet arrangement in her apartment, one that goes approximately like this:

[as Jesse comes home from a long day of work, Jane is sitting in silk pants and a gold-thread dressing gown, sipping a mug of chai, and druming her manicured, ringed fingers on the table. Jesse is wet and tired from giving a 5 hour tour in the rain.]
Jane: Jesse! You're late!
Jesse: I'm sorry, ma'am.
Jane: Don't stand there apologizing; cook me dinner and apologize while slicing the onions.
Jesse [crying softly - because of the onions?]: Yes, ma'am.
[Jesse proceeds to cook a delicious curry, as mentioned before. He doesn't use any salt or water; both of those ingredients are provided by his tears. ]
Jane: Now begone with you. My guest [me!] and I want to eat in peace. I shall ring this bell when there is washing-up to do.
[Jesse puts on an apron and head scarf and heads off to clean the bathroom.]

So yeah, it's pretty sweet. I would totally just stay and live with Jane and Jesse if I could, but I've seen the look in his eyes when he sharpens the knives.