More Things to Love about Berlin

I disappeared, I know, I know! Sorry! Just so extremely busy, between all the work things and all the fun things. Here's a very small update, with more coming in the future...

As if I didn't already have enough examples of how this city is great:

Today unfolded as one of those perfect, relaxed and spontaneous weekend days. First I finished up some work, then collected my friend Carolyn, who's visiting from Zurich, and took her along to my friend Anton's gathering, where we first wandered around the grounds of one of Berlin's many random palaces (foreign visitors were suitably impressed), then repaired to Anton's for hearty soup and the season's first Glühwein (mulled wine).

Some more of my friends showed up there in the course of the afternoon, so Carolyn and I brought them along when we went to meet up with another friend, Patricia, who'd suggested we all come along to a swing dance party someone had told her about.

The party was down a side street, into the third back courtyard of a building and up three flights of stairs, the way marked with strategically placed candles. The space itself seemed to be some sort of workshop, with tools hanging from the ceiling and wood stacked in the corners.

First, a bubbly Swedish(?) woman gave us early arrivals a beginner's lesson in Charleston, then the band showed up and explained that they'd only just formed, hadn't ever all played together at once and in some cases had only just had the sheet music pressed into their hands today, but they'd figured, why rehearse in some practice room somewhere, when they could invite friends over and play for them instead?

The band was great, the energy was high, lots of people danced, and all my German friends who had never done swing dance before (did that whole American swing craze 10 or 15 years ago not reach Europe?) were completely taken by it, going so far as to swear they were going to drop everything else and start swing lessons.

The whole thing was free, with an honor system for dropping some money in a bowl if you took a beer, and most people brought along something to add to the huge dish-to-pass buffet. At one point I was standing by the buffet table, in this strange industrial space with tools hanging off the walls, eating a muffin and gazing out the window at the lights of the city, and found myself thinking, This is why Berlin is so cool.