So many gifts! — An Elegant Sufficiency

When we arrived here in Potsdamer Platz, we were disappointed to find that small shopping centre closed, but delighted to find one of our favourite pub/restaurants opened on the same street. Having arranged to meet our dear friend Ilja for dinner last night, where better could there be for a gemütlich dinner and catch up?

Before setting out however, Ilja produced a neatly wrapped package from his bag and gave it to me. Last year, we knew that he and his wife Marieke had sent me a birthday gift through the post from their home in Leiden, the Netherlands. Many weeks - months? - later, it had been returned to them in pieces, much to their dismay. This package had also been sent to me some weeks ago, for my 2021 birthday - the same, well chosen item - and had also been returned as “undeliverable”. Thankfully, this time it survived the journey to the UK and back to Leiden, and now, here it was in Berlin.

To say that I was thrilled with my gift is an understatement. These tulip vases have always intrigued me and I remember them well from a trip to The Hague some years ago. though I learned from Ilja that they are actually a Leiden “invention”. The chocolates originate in Leiden too and have a curious history, and to complete the theme, the wrapping paper depicts the Leiden streets. How thoughtful and how lovely - and how lucky I am to have such sweet friends.

We were up a little later this morning and with no real plans for the day, worked around a short list of places beginning with Unter den Linden. First, the S bahn to Brandenburger Tor then.

It’s always a busy place and today was no exception. We didn’t linger - we’ll be here on Saturday night for dinner, so we turned around and began to walk up the avenue, Unter den Linden.

First building of note was the Russian Embassy, which is huge. When we arrived at the “new” Brandenburg airport yesterday, the immigration hall just could not cope with the number of arrivals and the queues and crowds were enormous. (So much for social distancing, we thought…) The one lady managing the queues called in a loud voice as our British Airways crowd approached the passport check “UK passengers must take the line for the “rest of the world”. Oh dear. I wanted to say “but we didn’t vote for Brexit…we’re European!” but of course, we just joined the longest line of mostly Russians, which was moving v-e-r-y slowly.

Why was that? Well, of course we all had to show our German passenger locator forms and vaccination certificates. That must take longer than usual. But as we (finally) made it to the front of the queue, we went through in seconds. Strange. Except that my Hero noted the Russian woman in front of him was asked to provide her return air ticket too - something we did not need to show. Perhaps we are still on better terms than some?

Anyway, our next stop was the Komische Oper ticket office, just along the way from the Embassy. We have tickets for tomorrow night and received an email requesting we complete some track and trace details as part of their CV precautions. Being away from home, it wasn’t easy to print out the form, so we called in and collected a couple so we can be prepared. The photographs around the place reminded us of the fun production of La Belle Helene we saw here some years ago and we giggled when we thought about those cheeky lederhosen!

We can’t walk along Unter den Linden without popping into the Nivea store, can we? Filled with all things blue and white with that gentle perfume familiar to all of us who grew up with the well known cream, this shop sells all kinds of other products in the Nivea range, some everyday favourites such as the shower gels and skin care but also some we never see. A good potter around here resulted in a small haul of treasure, especially with Christmas on the horizon. As I paid for my purchases, the assistant asked which gift I would like: A make up bag or a multi tool? With plenty of make up bags at home, I chose the multi tool - who can’t use a new pair of pliers?!

Almost next door to Nivea is a Miele showroom. With a dishwasher and an oven on order, we were not browsing to buy but more to refresh our memories of what we chose! We had a look around and chatted to one of the advisers about a rather smart extraction hood before explaining that we had goods on order but disappointingly, they won’t arrive until well into the new year. She sympathised: This was a world wide problem (not a Brexit related one, thank goodness!) and German customers were experiencing the same delays. By way of apology and as a thank you for our patience, she gave us a gift…a bread bag!

Our next stop was a favourite bookshop, around the corner on Friedrichstrasse. Dussmann’s has a wonderful selection of books and music, but also lots of those small things that amuse, especially at this time of the year. My hero and I split up and went our separate ways, meeting up some time later.

Advent is such an important time in German culture and I always love the small things which pop up around now.

From there, it made sense to go to the OSKA shop, which is a bit out of the way but easily reached by tram from here.

We’d bought our travelcards this morning so just hopped on the next M1 that came. It wasn’t at all busy.

The store assistant in Oska was standing out on the pavement smoking when we arrived. She hastily put out her cigarette and came in to help, though it didn’t take very long to realise that there wasn’t really much to catch my eye this season, sadly. Never mind, it’s always interesting to look!

We went back to the tram stop where I just had to take a photo of this social distance advice. Both my hero and I are reading SJ Bennett’s books at the moment - easy holiday reading with the occasional mention of a corgi or two (or might that be a dorgi?)

As we walked along Friedrichstrasse, we passed a Birkenstock shop. I wanted to look at the shearling sandals, so went to the door to step inside, only to find the assistant standing smoking on the pavement. Second time today! Actually, they didn’t have the sandals in the right colour, so we didn’t linger. I might have apologised for disturbing her smoking time!!

Last but not least was WMF, our favourite kitchen shop at the other end of Friedrichstrasse. I received an email from them on my birthday as some years ago, we bought a set of saucepans from them and I enrolled in their customer club to achieve a significant discount. No longer supplied in the UK (you’ll guess why….sigh) I was about to throw the “birthday gift” coupon away, until I thought to check the closing date (end November). So, whilst browsing in the shop, when the assistant asked if she could help, I mentioned that I had a coupon. In no time at all, I was given what I feel sure is my very last birthday gift - a fine stainless steel whisk.

How sweet was that?

By now, we were both a little weary, so time for the U bahn back to Potsdamerplatz and a cup of tea. It’s been a good day and we still had dinner to look forward to. We decided to give an old favourite Lindenbrau a chance tonight, having checked that it’s still open. Eating (and drinking) in Germany is such fun!

Yes, still open and just as we remembered. The Cv check at the door was pretty rigorous though and we saw several groups turned away because they didn’t have proof of vaccination. The CV numbers here are rising quickly and we find we need to show our vaccination status frequently. (Interesting that, at home, no-one has ever checked at all)