The new apartment they had secured, from December 21st 2010 until January 16th 2011, was just down the road from Pariser Hof and further east into the the bohemian heart of Friedrichshain. It had narrowed down to two possible apartments they could have chosen - one back west in the Mitte area and this one. The Mitte one was unavailable for a few nights over New Year and so they'd have to move out, get a hotel, then move back in. Plus it was more expensive. There was no choice really. Further east it was.
Before leaving Pariser Hof they put together the puzzle. There were 7 pieces missing...
On arriving at the apartment (building number 11 as they were going into the year 2011) they discovered yet again Kaisers was just round the corner but more significantly, the apartment turned out to be on the ground floor and facing into the courtyard. This wasn't clear from the description and although new to Dave & Kate (they had never stayed in ground floor flats), something was very right about it. Although slightly bigger than Pariser Hof, this was the sparsest apartment they'd stayed in yet. The TV had no English channels and the reception was erratic anyway. There was little light in from the windows. This would also be their longest stay in an apartment so far. Could they hack it?
The nice German guy who checked them in asked where they were from. When Dave replied "Scotland", there was a few moments pause before the guy simply said "Paul Gascoigne". Dave nodded and laughed.
Once he left Dave & Kate stood around and surveyed the apartment for a few minutes. They didn't say anything, they felt like a couple of cats dropped into a new house, acquanting themselves with this unfamiliar environment. It felt bare but right.
They knew this had been coming. Months earlier when they spoke of Berlin over the winter, the term that kept coming up was "hibernation". They were about to hibernate for the winter and this was the perfect apartment to do that.
