Oh dear, I’d already written a short piece this morning but sadly the internet here wasn’t connecting and I’ve just found out that if you copy text, then close the computer down, there’s really no hope of you being able to paste it later.

Anyway…we left Gdansk on the 7:30 train yesterday morning. We met a lovely Anglo/Polish couple on the platform who were catching the train before us. It turned out that their daughter has a book about Lech Walesa just out and they proudly showed us a copy and a photo signed by Lech taken of him and Ronald Reagan. They got on their train and waved to us like departing old friends. A great memory to take back from Poland.

Then, some five and a bit hours later, we arrived in Berlin. A short taxi ride from Hauptbahnhof and we were stood here in this fifth floor apartment. This area, Potsdam Strasse is on somewhat of a cultural cliff edge. Go the lights at the crossroads of the street here and turn right. Within a few metres you are deep into the Turkish community. Supermarkets filled with strangely labelled goods who don’t stock milk. Yet, if you turn left at the lights, it’s all bistros, galleries and boutiques with two items of clothing in the window.

Yes, I’ll admit, there’s also the Wintergarten which seems to be an old variety theatre, all lit up at night with neon and enough light bulbs to keep a small power station going. I did also notice a strip club which doesn’t open till 10pm….I can’t see them getting any tade from me unless they supply cocoa and slippers at that time of night…Tales of our first long day in Berlin shortly…