TRAVEL NOTES::DAY 1 | BERLIN IN OCTOBER

I've never been to Berlin in October. July, August, December, and January, but never October. I made it to Berlin early this morning after having flown on three different airplanes to get here. The flight arrived before 8:00 with my daughter Saffron eagerly awaiting me. We took a taxi to the flat I rented for a week and spent half an hour or so marveling at the layout of the place.

The flat is on the top floor of a building on Kastanienallee. Windows are abundant and much welcomed as the light pours in from all sides. Saffron was investigating the place from top to bottom and was thrilled with the loft area.

Saffron proceeded to unpack whilst I managed to take a few photos of the flat before we settled in. For some reason, I forgot to photograph the red kitchen but did manage to capture the light pouring into the bathroom. 

Most of the day was spent in a sleep deprived daze. The worst case of sleep deprivation I can remember having experienced. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people who can sleep on planes. Instead, I watched three movies on the flight over from Newark.

The first movie I watched was "Blended", starring Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler. A romantic comedy played well by great actors. The first scene opens with a blind date going terribly wrong. Two single people with younger children, both not having gone on dates since high school. As the story unfolded, it showed the lengths the two went through to avoid each other, whilst continuing to put their children first which ironically ended up getting them closer to each other.

When I read the description of the next movie, I thought "Oh, another one of those going to New York and making it" kind of movies. I passed the movie over and then thought of giving it a try after having watched the first movie. I was not disappointed as I watched Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, and Adam Levine star in "Begin Again". A movie of starting over, rediscovering who you are, and ending up stronger in the end as a result of having taken a chance that happened to come along at the time it did.

By the time I reached the third movie, I simply wanted to sleep but could not. So, I watched "Labor Day" with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin. I found it dark and slow at times and did not get anything out of it in the way of a "lesson" I could ponder regarding life and the future. I remember passing up the movie on my flight over this past summer. As a last resort, I watched the movie this time but found myself nodding off to sleep for brief moments at a time.

I managed to convince Saffron to take a nap with me shortly after arriving at the flat. Since she was fully rested, she indulged me for a while but later took to drawing and colouring. Drifting in and out of sleep, I vaguely remember Saffron saying "Mama, I'm hungry. When can we eat?". "Soon", I replied.

Intending to sleep for a few short hours, I was surprised when I looked at the clock. "Is it really 14:55?", I thought. I verified it was the correct time on my computer and we readied ourselves to go out and find a store. Limiting ourselves to the few blocks around the flat, we managed to find a Bio store first, then a Kaiser's where we bought pretzel sticks, bread, and Butterkäse cheese which we enjoyed for a late lunch.

After our lunch on the balcony, we headed out once more before dark. I had an idea where we were in the city, as I've been in this area years ago, but was still in a sleep deprived haze. Making a left turn on the main street instead of the right we made earlier, we discovered the U- Bahn station Theodor-Heuss-Platz.

Pondering the great selection of tickets to purchase and realising I forgot Saffron's monthly subway pass, I decided we will explore riding the U-Bahn tomorrow. We continued up the stairs and found another Kaiser's. A much larger one. As we perused the aisles in the downstairs area, I started to remember I've been here before albeit years ago. Saffron was getting tired and simply wanted to go home, eat muesli for dinner, and play one round of memory game before bed. So we did.