Janine, Nazis, lots of sun, an island, a dead person, breakfast with friends, laundromat, riding around on the bus without a plan and half of a crime scene on the couch... try to find a suitable headline for that.

'Nothing!'

That was my answer to Annette and Cord's question about what I did and experienced on Sunday. We hadn't seen each other all day, so they were curious about how my day went.

But there was nothing, I was genuinely convinced.

I took some time to reflect on this day that was filled with 'nothing' and was surprised by how exciting and intense 'nothing' can be.

I was invited for breakfast at Bille and Rainer's at 9:30 am, but I woke up early and decided to go out. My plan was to take a walk in Berlin-Mitte and have an early Sunday morning cappuccino.

First exciting realization: There's no such thing in Berlin-Mitte. If you're walking between 7 and 8 am on a Sunday, you're completely alone, it's super relaxed, very quiet, no cars, no music, no hustle and bustle... unfortunately, no cappuccino either. Nevertheless, it was really nice to have Berlin all to myself.

After the delicious breakfast, we took a detour on foot to the Spree Island. Wow: loads of sunshine, lots of beautiful women in airy summer dresses... (ahem... cough... I would like to mention that Bille was obviously the most beautiful of these women in the airiest of all summer dresses!)

Let's jump 2 hours back and 6 hours ahead:

On the way through Treptower Park to the island, the police were blocking off a section of the park with red and white plastic tape. In the evening, I found out from the news that a dead body was found there, and the police suspect a violent crime. How terrible...

The rest of the day, I took the bus... just riding around... looking around here, looking around there, stopping, having coffee, eating cake, reading, and moving on...

Coffee break at Ostkreuz, at Boxhagener Platz, at Oberbaumbrücke... and in Lichtenberg at the train station.

Wow!

There were only Nazis and broken people and broken Nazis jumping around, unbelievable! It was like being in a NS ghost train!

And just by looking at the election posters around the train station, you could clearly see which wind, which nauseating stench of pestilence was blowing here. Plenty of AfD, of course, but also NPD and a lot of 'Der 3. Weg' with slogans like:

'Healthy families instead of homo propaganda', 'Stop traitors of the people'

'For a German socialism'

It made me want to throw up!

Disgusting!

Fortunately, I ran into Janine! 🤗

And just like that, my world was free of Nazis again and any feeling of nausea was forgotten.

In a city with almost 4 million inhabitants, I ran into my 'waitress of the heart' at Oberbaumbrücke. She smiled at me, I smiled at her, we hugged each other, and in that moment, I made up my mind:

The Café Alibi in Kreuzberg is my favorite café in Berlin. 😍

Is there anything else to mention?

A visit to the laundromat. That's Berlin, that's Sabbatical Year!

In the evening, Annette, Cord, and I watched 'Tatort' (a popular German crime series). I have to be honest, after a day filled with 'nothing', we could only manage to watch half of the episode.

Then the lights went out for me.... 💤💤✨✨