Any @RCArmitage fans? This is a must-watch!

2/9 @sandipb and I are ecstatic that even with our short time in this city, we were able to identify so many now-familiar places and understand references to ‘the meeting is at so and so’ street (strasse) and neighborhood.

3/9 We’ve just been lucky to have lived close to first the Alexanderplatz (with the famous Berlin TV Tower (Fernsehturm)), then the Landwehrkanal (spotted a lunch scene on the Van Loon Restaurant Boat), and now the Berlin Central Station (Haupbahnhof/Hbf).

4/9 Hbf – being at the center of the city, at least in terms of public transport connections – is close to a lot of prime buildings and attractions in Berlin.
Like the Parliament (Reichstag) Building.
And the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor).

5/9 The Pariser Platz at the Brandenburg Gate houses a lot of embassies and so is very important in the show to depict cross-country diplomatic relations.

6/9 The Museum Island (Museumsinsel), Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom), and the Victory Column (Siegessäule) are pretty accessible and close to us – all landmarks that provide picturesque backdrops in the show and add the quintessential Berlin identity.

7/9 The river Spree happens to run close to Hbf, ensuring a lot of prime shots.
We practically go to Hbf every weekend, either to walk across to Spree or to commute or to just grab a coffee/bite.

8/9 The best freakish moment in the show was when I identified a grocery store in the adjoining neighborhood Moabit from their vegetable lineup outside! I had just been at the store two weeks back!!

9/9 Also spotted in the show – Oberbaumbrücke, Molecule Man, Invaliden Park, Moabit, Arminius Markthalle, Moabit Prison Historical Park, Bode Museum, Humboldthain Park, and the murals on building facades all over the city

Originally tweeted by Dipika (@dipikabh) on July 28, 2021.

Originally tweeted by Sandip Bhattacharya 4 (@sandipb) on July 25, 2021.

Originally tweeted by Sandip Bhattacharya 4 (@sandipb) on July 25, 2021.

Stadler is a really big warehouse’ish store, just outside the S-Bahn ring; unlike Decathalon, it is a two-wheeler-only store for new bikes. It has a huge selection of different kinds of bicycles (city, trekking, mountain bikes, folding bikes) and related accessories.

What we liked the most is that they have an indoor bike test track, where you can really get a good feel of the bike and test its features.

Originally tweeted by Dipika (@dipikabh) on July 9, 2021.

The ‘namak mandi karahi gosht’ is now being cooked from a one-of-its-kind Icelandic lamb, apparently the “purest” lamb breed (Vikingyr).

Originally tweeted by Dipika (@dipikabh) on July 4, 2021.

‘Kirsche’ = Cherry
‘Kirche’ = Church

If I can just master these in the next six months and get the ‘ch’ and ‘kh’ right, I’ll consider it a win!

Originally tweeted by Dipika (@dipikabh) on June 30, 2021.

Figured out yesterday that we can use our apartment intercom to call the lift/elevator as well as choose the destination floor before leaving!!
(It will save us literally 10 seconds in the lobby, waiting for the lift )

Not to mention that we first had to get used to the elevator not having any floor buttons to press. We always needed to select the floor from the digital display ‘outside’ the elevator before getting in.
All the delivery guys have been equally stumped by this feature.

Originally tweeted by Dipika (@dipikabh) on May 22, 2021.

Are all apartments in Berlin/Germany designed for tall people or those with min height 160 cm?

A short thread from a short person:

1> At 155 cm, I need a step stool to comfortably reach the lowest cabinet shelf in the wall cabinet in the kitchen, and obviously a ladder to reach the remaining top ones.

All I now wish is for a ladder with wheels that I can operate using a remote control .

2> The bath tub wall is too high so again I need a step stool to climb into the bath tub…the height of the tub wall definitely seems like that for a default tall person.

3> The bathroom door is so so high that even if I somehow fit the over-the-door hook hangar, I will not be able to reach the hooks without assistance.
The over-door-hook hangar now hangs on the rails of the towel warmer

Originally tweeted by Dipika (@dipikabh) on June 19, 2021.

Having relocated in the middle of a lockdown (and the city has been under one for last so many months), we have yet to see Berlin in it’s real form. So many things are going to seem so different when places open up and more people are out and about.

Originally tweeted by Dipika (@dipikabh) on May 30, 2021.

Originally tweeted by Dipika (@dipikabh) on April 13, 2021.