Berlin through the haze of a head cold

Last night I was a bit of a dud - we had a great traditional German meal with my Boston roommate Franz and his brother, but my cold got the best of me and I was asleep on Caitlin's couch by 11. I feel much better today, aside from not being someone whose pockets you want to explore (hello, wadded-up tissues).

I went for a short run along the canal that runs through Caitlin's neighborhood, Neukolln. Berlin has both a river and canals, and, apparently, has more bridges than Venice. Venice also spaces its bridges out so that you have to pass through the maximum number of knockoff leather goods markets, but I digress. On the bridges it was hard to tell I was in the middle of a city.

It's fully fall here, and I was a bit chilly after my run, but I toughed it out to stroll the Turkish market nearby that Cait recommended. On the way in I passed three German dudes playing traditional American country tunes, including "Sitting on Top of the World" (my favorite version, by Doc Watson [which I just heard him perform at the bluegrass festival last weekend], is here).

I also have video, which I'll upload when I can. The market itself stretched on forever - it was easily ten times the size of my little Divis farmer's market.

There were fruits and veggies and many stands selling bolts of cloth.

It wasn't exactly easy to make purchases, but through very basic German on my part, very basic English on the sellers' parts, and some good gesturing and pointing, I made it out with herbs, bread, cheese, pears, spinach, squash, fennel, arugula, and some beautiful eggplants.

And now I'm back at Cait's lovely apartment, to do some more work and have some lunch.

Oh yes, that is string cheese. I am a happy happy lady.