Friday, March 15

We woke up about 9:00 but Irma was not feeling well. I showered while she piloted the espresso machine in the room. Afterwards we planned a route to KaDeWe and I put the map and directions into Evernote.

We left, walking east along Kantstrasse, and stopped at a chemist for paracetamol. We sat in BagCo for a breakfast sandwich. We carried on walking and stopping at shops until we came to Beatte Uhse and then Karstadt, the Sokos to KaDeWe’s Stockmann. We spent hours there and eventually asked them to put a bright blue suitcase to one side.

We raced to KaDeWe via another chemist. Once we arrived we checked the suitcases and then went to the sixth floor where we had currywurst and beer. Several hours passed and the lack of oxygen, the heat and the ventillation made me start to feel faint. Or irritable. Or both.

We walked back on the other side of the road and Irma decided to have currywurst and pommes from a kiosk. It turned out to be outside Saturn, the first big electronics store we had seen. I went in while she stood outside eating and, while I was in there, I found the phone Auo wants.

Irma declared that she had not liked either currywurst and we walked to Karstadt, collected the suitcase and went back to the hotel.

Our room has the largest lampshade either of us have seen outside a science fiction movie. The lounge downstairs has about 1000 books and all of them are design related. This is a clue.

Soon we will go to eat in Pho Nguyen, a Vietnamese restaurant at 11 Savignyplatz, the square fifty metres from the hotel. Irma will introduce me to summer rolls, which are delicious. They are fresh, crispy and not fried.

We will have two beers. Irma will declare that she is tired and unwell and by 21:30 we will be in bed and Irma will be asleep.