Recent trip to Berlin

Thought I'd better scribble down something about last weekend's trip to Berlin, since I found myself buried in a thriller I bought in Hugendubel, Berlin's answer to Waterstones. Staff there very friendly. I homed in on one and asked her to recommend German Science Fiction writers. Nothing really appealed, so I ended up on the "Krimi" pile, picking out "Tannöd" by Andrea Maria Schenkel. Great stuff, several narrators but all pretty straightforward people, or I'd be lost. Lovely to read Bavarian voices, which sound so much like Austrian ones and remind me of the year I spent in Kärnten in my twenties.

I've included a picture of surely the best ice cream (sorbet, actually) in Berlin. Eismaufaktur. For my talent at reading detective stories and other intellectually undemanding books to flower most fully, it has to be in a good cafe. How could it be otherwise?

The second picture is from a gallery I like very much near the spanking new Hauptbahnhof. Confusingly, the gallery is called Hamburgerbahnhof but has been converted, like the Gare d'Orsay in Paris. You can't really resist Anselm Kiefer's plane made of soft lead, can you? No doubt it means something serious but I think it is cute. I found myself in the position of having to explain Joseph Beuys obsessions with fat and felt to my friend Lesley, when I have limited sympathy with him myself. She seemed to like him, which is something.

I felt totally at home in Berlin (don't say it's because I have spent most of my adult life in flat landscapes!) and it is soooo tempting to try and find a job there.

I also discovered I love white Rioja, though I only had one glass. Gorgeous.