What a fabulous time I've had!

The haikus are just not long enough to do my recent experiences justice.

Going out in Frankfurt with Stefan and his schoolfriend (Lebanese kebab followed by supertasty 16 year old Lagavulin and mojitos followed by mad "dark techno" nightclub until four in the morning) really raised my enthusiasm for the city of Eurobankers.

It was so lovely to see Michaela, Tim and the boys again for the first time since I left Germany in March! I had a wonderful evening helping Michaela to sort out even more shit (as if I hadn't spent the six months I was in Germany in the first place going through cupboards, wardrobes and boxes to minimise accumulated crap).

The drive to Berlin was good fun, singing along to the Queen greatest hits albums and stopping for bizarrely tasty Italian antipasti in a Saxon motorway cafe.

And Berlin: what a city! Every time I've been here in the past, it's struck me as a place I would like to spend longer getting to know. Well, finally coming here for a few days and - even better - having Caro and Lasse to show me the sights and sounds (Caro being responsible for the cultural aspects ie Reichstag and Lasse for the evening's entertainments in Friedrichshain) has certainly left me with the impression that I could very much enjoy living here.

One of the more interesting sides of Berlin life has been the kebab shop at the end of Caro's road in Neukölln. Akim the owner is just lovely! Such a funny guy, and at the same time so commercially focused (the demonstration using empty beer cans of the relative merits of McDonalds and the totality of German kebab houses in terms of German social security payments will be with me for a long long time to come). And whoa! what an eye-opener some of the customers in that place were! Wednesday night was particularly memorable, with the dodgy drunkard German, the Tunisian waiters, the Italian layabout and the Russian ladies of the night.

Michaela and I are of the opinion that Berlin is most definitely a city that is worth living in for a while. We'll see if Caro's connections with people in these parts are something I feel I want to follow up after my travels.

I am so sad to be leaving this place. The only light at the end of the tunnel is the thought that I will most definitely be back here before too long.