A Room with a View

Yesterday I moved into new quarters in Berlin, a room overlooking one of the most picturesque courtyards in Mitte. When I discovered this courtyard a few years ago on one of my Berlin walks, I was enchanted. You pass into the courtyard from a busy street frequented by tourists, and enjoy the quiet of a bricked space with little boutiques and a cafe in double-level buildings (a “Remise”). On one side, an occupied house with its anarchic graffiti on the walls, and towards the back a taller building with some windows having “French balconies.” A good friend who teaches at the Kunsthochschule Weissensee came from Potsdam in her car to help me make the move with my two suitcases and various totes. We had lunch in the courtyard café afterwards, and I realized that if you sit still and listen – whether in the courtyard or in my room, you can feel the subway rumbling through underneath. In the afternoon I picked up the bike that a good friend in Bielefeld had brought to Berlin for me and took it to a bike shop to have the brakes adjusted. My neighbor the video artist cooked dinner in the evening and lent me bedding and towels. I would love to see the view from my window with snowflakes drifting across it.