Winter Wonderland

It happens like that.

You go a place, fall in love and stay - for years! You have your ups: romatic walks, great parties, interesting discussions, passionate nights and fascination, you have your downs: lonely moment, fights, feeling lost, sad, being broke and miserable.

But you hold on and really, after a couple of years you are still in love, and if not in love, at least, you still love them. Because you know them well, at least the important bits, you respect them and you have all those memories...

And then something happens. You go some place you've never been before and you just fall, or crash, head over heals into a new romance. It's exciting. It's interesting. It's a little un-real and scary. But mostly good.

It happened to me last week, people and I never thought it would - I am totally and utterly in love with Berlin.


KACHOOOM.


I always thought it would be Hamburg.

(And to be honest, it still might be, once I give it the chance... The few times I gave it the chance it paid off, I remember cranes, prostitutes, a shaman, fires at the beach, and the best toy train show in the entire world ever.)

But Berlin is beautiful - in a very subtle, RuPaul kind of way.

It's so interesting I am going to wee myself on a regular basis. And it is cheap. Hello.

I live in London right now, where the tap water is free, but gives me a rash. In Berlin, I could occupy my own two bed room ex-bunker or ex-stasi flat for 450 EUR a month and that includes a bottle of Jaegermeister and excellent plumbing.

Only a matter of time, really.

Today we spent the day in Winterwonderland/German Christmas Market in HydePark, which is fun, too, and with 8 quid a Stein quite reasonably priced for a British Octoberfest-mock-up (which I think it must be). It's the least christmassy thing I have ever seen. But I also love it dearly. They sell paella and pizza and have a massive spook house with an even massier slaughtered (fake, I might add) shark on the roof right next to "Santa land". It is all a bit weird. They do Gluehwein, though and play DJ Oetzi. I feel right at home.





PS: I secretly love Winter Wonderland so much, it is sickening. You should all go.