No melting

It is getting bitterly cold in Berlin.

I've bought myself a very manly winter coat, and I'm beginning to think I might need gloves too...

Its the kind of cold which makes you dig your chin into your scarf, and stick your hands deep into your pockets, hoping that the biting wind won't find you there. The wind has much more of a free reign in Berlin than it does in, say London, and I think its because of the wide streets. On the Karl Marx Allee, for example, which runs two minutes away from my front door, and leads on to what used to be called the Stalin Allee, there are no obstacles at all. The wind speeds up like the bicycles which scare the tourists on pedestrian crossings. This enormous street was built for the Soviet parades, but now is lined with trees turning brown and off-white mercedes taxis rushing past me.

I like the cold, though. It makes walking into a local cafe even more cosy, and the hot chocolate with sahne (whipped cream) even more tasty. They say it gets even too cold for snow. Is that possible? All I know is that it was chilly enough for me to walk home with my Ben & Jerry's ice cream to watch the best movie of all time 'You've Got Mail', without it melting.

Yummy.