Saturday started out with another caviar and salmon omelette. Delicious! 

Scott wanted to visit the local flea market at the end of his street so we braved the cold and walked and walked.

Sadly, the flea markets were not happening so then we walked and walked some more to find a restaurant for lunch. This proved to be a difficult task as only hip students cafes and touristy take aways were here on Warschauer Strasse. So we decided to catch the S-Bahn to find another part of the city that might have better food offerings, only ending up catching the U-Bahn back to Neukoln. There we found a lovely Vietnamese restaurant called Kottidang. The food was amazing and warmed us up before another excursion to some markets.

As we were walking the wind was icy and the real feel temperature was -9C. We decided to Uber home and as it turned out, the other markets were not open either. 

We watched and really loved Clarkson’s Farm on  Amazon Prime when we were having some down time. It is hilarious and informative and we were thoroughly entertained by the show.

Time for dinner meant that we had to brave the cold again but the wind had died down and we just walked through some light sleet. We stopped at a Sudanese restaurant for a traditional soup.

Then went to a favourite Turkish restaurant where we consumed beef and eggplant dishes with Raki, wine and beer. 

Sunday was another cold day but no snow. In Germany, no shops are open on Sundays including supermarkets or Department Stores. The only highlight was dinner at Knödelwirtschaft SÜD where we ordered Goulash and Knödels – meatballs with various flavours. They were delicious!

On Monday I packed my bags for the long trip home and Scott fussed with housework. He sent the robot vacuum to do a thorough clean while we drove to the airport in a Bolt sharecar Audi.

The car park had more cars this time than on Monday night when returned from Lisbon. Snow was still built up around the perimeters.

Scott had to return to work and had a few meetings to conduct so we said our sad goodbyes and I went through security. I’m going to miss my personal chef, cocktail waiter, chauffeur and tour guide! I settled into the food court and ordered some shrimp and white wine. I wiled the time away by watching Reacher on Amazon Prime.

The Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt was delayed and we arrived at about an hour after expected. I thought this would eat into my ‘lounge time’ but as it turned out, it was a bit of a blessing.

I had to collect my checked bag which took over half an hour to appear and then I went in search of the Singapore Airlines check in counters. German efficiency dictates that the gates don’t open until exactly 3 hours before the flight. So it is not evident which counter to wait near! I asked a few people but they didn’t really make it clear. So I waited patiently and finally checked my bag in and asked about the lounge… she said I could go to the Lufthansa lounge…. Well that didn’t happen…. And the someone said maybe I could access the Air Canada Lounge… which sounded promising except for the fact that it was closed. So Singapore Airlines you disappoint me again!!!

I found a lovely restaurant near my gate and settled in with some food and wine. 

At least I knew that I could go to the lounge in Singapore and enjoy the Laksa I discovered on the way here! 

Once in Sydney I went to the old Uber pickup only to find that the Uber is now right at the exit and there is no need to cross the road….which I discovered after about 15 minutes of confusion. Now to get over the lag! 

Good night!