From my window I can see....

Having spent three months in Venice I've now arrived in Berlin to start the second part of my year abroad. It feels great to be back in a city that I know so well and it's exciting to be an environment that is so distinctly different from the otherworldly atmosphere of Venice. Although it's colder and greyer than the Serenissima, it certainly makes up for it with an abundance of Döner, beer and edgy haircuts. However still struggling to get to grips with the concept of cars again.

On my first night here I took a walk round Neukölln which was my 'Kiez' or neighbourhood last summer. At the time all my Berliner friends were saying that it was the up and coming place to be. It seemed like a lively place when I was living there, with several trendy bars and a large Turkish population which meant there was a wealth of shops offering exotic food and there is even a Turkish market twice a week by the riverbank. Having returned I can see the area has now definitely up and come. I counted at least a dozen new bars and restaurants within a small radius and there's even a hotel on Kottbuser Damm. Crazy.

A father of a friend very kindly let me stay in his flat for my first few days. It's a beautiful turn of the century building complete with richly varnished floorboards and high, white stucco ceilings. Something particularly exciting about the place is that it was home to the author Christopher Isherwood in the 1930s. Among other works his most well known is 'Goodbye to Berlin', a fictionalisation of his experiences in the city, chronicling the various debauched lifestyles of the characters he met. The book became the basis for the musical hit Cabaret, with Liza Minelli playing Sally Bowles who also features heavily in Isherwood's book.

We know that Isherwood wrote a lot of 'Goodbye to Berlin' while staying as this flat so it is particularly exciting when you take the first line, “From my window I can see...”. This is what you can now see from his window:

During my stay there I thought I'd take advantage of the imposing space to record a new ukulele video. It's a mash up between two songs that I learnt to play in Venice and I really like the way the two songs create a dialogue with one another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BK2SVa8uzI

I've now found myself a flat just round the corner from Alexanderplatz and from my window I can see......

I'm sharing with a friendly and smiley guy from Taiwan who's here to study at Humboldt. He cooked me lunch today which was delicious. My landlord, who lives in the flat below, is also a great guy. He works in the restaurant carriage of Intercity trains. He's just about to embark on a 3 month journey in Asia for the winter. This evening we sat in the kitchen and discussed his former employment as a judge and German politics while sipping peppermint tea. Very civilised.

It's a very comfortable flat and Bertie the beaver is well settled in already. Here he is all ready for bed.