In Berlin

Our studio apartment is on Chausseestrasse, about a mile from Berlin ground zero, right at the Naturkundemuseum stop on both the tram and the underground. Our first few days were given to neighborhood explorations, shopping for groceries and staples, and also jet-lag recovery, but since then we have undertaken a few more adventurous trips, to a couple markets and to a museum of art nouveau and art deco decorative arts. And the obligatory walk to the Tiergarten Park, via Unter den Linden and the Brandenburg Gate. We are enjoying Berlin's very extensive public transportation system...trams, buses, both underground and surface trains...not as cheap as some cities, but certainly accessible, clean, efficient, etc., and they take you where you want to go.

Chausseestrasse looking up-town

And down-town; Chausseestrasse merges with Friedrichsstrasse
after a few blocks, crosses the river Spree, and then intersects with
Unter den Linden, Berlin's Champs-Elysees

Our apartment building...we're on the first floor, just above the
coffee shop; elevator to the underground is just across the street;
this is the former east Berlin, so everything, apart from a few
historic sites, is new, neat and shiny; and very up to date; except
our air conditioner, which will figure in the out-takes

The apartment complex is call Living 106

The complex consists of several buildings, and 78 units;
our building is the street frontage, but opens onto this
courtyard (auto parking in under the complex)

And then this one, surrounded by other complex buildings

The studio is reasonably large but just a long room divided by
furniture and a screen; here is the dining/office from the living
area

Kitchen, reception (even has a dishwasher)

Living area/media room

Bedroom; the bathroom beyond even has a combination washer/
dryer: luxury! With euro/dollar parity, $87/night

An older-looking building a block away

A few doors down the street is the Ballhaus Berlin, a
former cabaret of some note (I watched Cabaret on the flight
over); featured flirting via table telephone, as in the movie

Thus; famous regulars have included Bertold Brecht,
David Bowie, and Quentin Tarantino