Going to Berlin

I woke up to the idea, that I could spend my day either in Hamburg or Berlin, yesterday. Though I know Hamburg better and have tight relations with the city, the way is clogged by annoying construction sides. So I hopped on the train to Berlin spontaneously.

My idea was to have lunch there over and go shopping. Now, it is important for you to know, that Hamburg is the world capital of Currywurst und Pommes (currywurst and chips). Berlin, however, dares to claim this title for itself. Being tied to Hamburg I ignored Berlin's peasant affectation, so that I have never had a currywurst in Berlin.

TripAdvisor and inhabitants of Berlin boast about Curry 36 making the best currywurst in the world. So my decision was clear to give it the opportunity to prove its skill.

I chose to try the original location where Curry 36 started in 1981. It even has an own Wikipedia entry. Tom Hanks, Sebastian Vettel, Joachim Gauck (former President of Germany) and Klaus Wowereit (former Mayor of Berlin) are on a long list of celebrities who dined here. People use to wait in long queues to get their sausages.

Berlin, I'm honest with you: I admit that you know how to make a currywurst. I don't get, why you sell them in quarters but I can handle your local colour. But really? The world best currywurst? It is not better than any currywurst at any subway station in Hamburg, just a lot shorter.

Demonstrations, accompanying police operations and construction sides demanded time to get to my next destination: KaDeWe.

See, it is a nasty alluring high temple of any sort of consumable addictions. There are temple guards in every corner and priests and priestesses of high sales are at your side enchanting you in the very moment you show a sign of interest for an item.

I could have lost the first hundreds of Euros in the entrance area for fragrances. Somehow I managed to push through this first trap. But the hardest temptation was already prepared to snap.

So many of them sitting together in one showcase. I love each and every of them.

This colour. It is hard to get. I guess that they are running out of production. For a second I really thought about pulling the trigger. But, you know, the family and how to explain to the wife ... I scraped together my resistance against magic and pulled me out of their spell.

My 14-year-old's grail pen (maybe next pen) is there in person. Such an incredible beauty.

"Dad, are you all right? This is a Montblanc." This is the very first Montblanc that attracts me at least a bit. It would probably fail the writing test like all the other Montblancs whenever I tried to find a connection to this brand. But I took a picture of it, what is more attention than any other Montblanc ever got from me.

I know you are waiting for the watches. I promise that we go there soon. Just let's boost us with some food and beverage first. A tiny can of tea for 30€ sounds like inflation. It is not. Moreover it is entry level only.

The whisky and wine aisles were another alluring try of seduction. But again, I passed the test.

Let's open the walk through the watches with Breguet. There was a beautiful Vacheron Constantin Traditionelle Tourbillon for 195,000€ too. I guess that the grand priestess of Vacheron Constantin wouldn't have noticed if I took a photo of it, as I was like air for her highness. Do you know, however, those temple guards who stand still in perfect calmness and balance in a corner, just piercing you to death with their overfriendly stare? Yeah, don't take photos here! So, that's why we start with Breguet.

The Glashütte Original Seventies is in real life even more beautiful than on any picture. But man, that is a thick one!

The lighting at the Omega department must be kind of self defense. Those are really beautiful, but I couldn't take a single good photo.

Montblanc has two departments, maybe more, in the house. Here they gether their watches and fountain pens.

Breguet, Glashütte Original, Blancpain, Omega, Vacheron Constantin, IWC, Montblanc and lots of others are there. But in the end my personal favourits are still Nomos and Breitling. My take away is, that I like a lot of watch faces, but looking from the side reveals, that I very much dislike how thick most of them are.

Did you miss Rolex? Well, it is like Montblanc in my fountain pen world: I don't care. While I was looking at a panda in their show cases, two couples in their 30th in fine attire (maybe one polycule: it is Berlin at least) passed by.

"Have you seen this Daytona? From last Christmas to now it plummeted by 45%."

"Yes, but the after market and grey market prices are stable."

<Laughing> "Of course they are. I tried to get a new one. No way. The staff simply refuses to work and get me in the chain. Rolex makes the grey market happy and thriving."

Off they walked.

Like me. I started my way home from KaDeWe being proud of myself: I fought back all temptations, survived all traps and only bought exactly what I planned to buy. On my way out of KaDeWe I had a last nice conversation and laughing with two Swatch priests who almost made me buy a Swatch X Blancpain. They were all available ready to buy. So were the Moonswatches.

On my way home I had enough time to read a book.

Almost on point twelve hours after I set off in the morning, I came home quite satisfied and happy.

BTW, now you see what the 24-hour-indicator is good for.