Kersten or the staff won’t be there for my arrival – nice-  so they arrange to leave the key in the kneiper (corner pub) next door, called The Pinter. Ingenious cost-cutting because the pub opens late. It’s a recurring theme, the Germans are a tad – how shall we say this without seeming rude – thrifty, which in such cash-strapped times is rather refreshing, heartwarming, and perhaps even shaming on us Brits.

I stroll in at 9pm and am immediately welcomed as Herr Bryan. Must be the backpack. I’m handed a key by Maria, the short blonde-haired barmaid. I order a beer, the ubiqitous and rather disruptive Berliner pils. Four beers later and I’m ready to check out the room, thanks to an ingenious map from Kersten and instructions on how and when to check out. Bedroom 3, my bedroom, is 15ft across the shared lounge, which is 5ft from the front door, I’ll recognise it, apparently, by the big number 3 on it. Zwei Zimmer! There it is, there i is. Halleluah!

What’s more, although there’s no instructions on how to turn the key, the key works like a dream. As do the shared toilets, and the shared shower. Washed, shaved, refreshed I walk the 3.5 metres back to the knieper and a jolly good chat with Maria.

The knieper has an alternative air about it. The staff and locals are having a BBQ on the pavement outside; they offer me some sausage. I’ve already eaten “Pfifferlingrahmsupper mitt speck-zweibel-furfeln“. Ah, cream of chanterelle soup with bacon and mushroom, the knieper shouts as one. OK, they didn’t say that, but if they did it would have been awesome

Tim Berlin accommodation, Berlin drink, Entertainment, Prenzlauer Berg, Sightseeing, apartments, berlin Accommodation, berlin, Berliner pils, knieper

Soo-eun is a Korean stage and costume designer; by that I don’t mean she specialises in Korean stage and costume, even in cosmopolitan Berlin, that’s pushing it a bit. Come to think of it, there’s not many courses in Korean stage and costume design, although they are doing rather well at it apparently. Anyways, Soo-eun’s name kinda gives it away, nein?

Soo-eun has been in Berlin for three years, freelancing at the opera houses and theatres, she wored in Prague beforehand. She needs to rent out her room, by the month, or even by the week, if need be. In Berlin, everyone is seemingly a freelancer, and every freelancer needs  more money.

Her flat, according to the advert in the flatshare site www.easywg.de is right by the TV tower, at Alexanderplatz (Alex, for short), the mecca cum showpiece of the former GDR. Alex resembles Croydon, albeit with a f***-off 365metre-high TV tower, no Starbucks and little or no knife crime. It was the GDR landmark but one whose gleaming metal-panelled orb reflects a crucifix when the sun shines, nicht brilliant for a former country that banned crucifixes even on churches.

Great view from the lounge it may be – actually, it isn’t, you can only see the concrete stem, we are so near (which by the way is covered in graffiti adverts and slogans for Deutsche Telecom). You have to crook your neck up as if you are being lynched and then place your cheek right on the window to s much as even glimpse the top. Besides, there is nothing at Alexanderplatz here to do or see for Berliners; you know, real Berliners, locals like me.

I was lucky to find Soo-eun’s pad; as with many GDR blocks, the government saved money by putting lift entrances on every third floor. To access the 7th I have to grab a lift to the 6th and walk up. Trouble is, the 7th floor is a misnomer. There are a 7th and an 8th floor, but they are but a series of mini-landings accessed up stairs leading off the main corridors. Soo-eun’s flat is one of them. I’m hopelessly lost in a GDR council block. I need rescuing. Where is the Korean stage and costume designer cavalry when you need them.

Lovely as she may be, and cheap though the rent is (100 euros a week, beat that Croydon) the flat is sparse, too sparse, and Soo-eun works from home most days. her desk is plonked smack bang in the middle of the lounge, which has a TV in the corner and a small sofa opposite.

There, too, is no wifi – not in the plan. I re-emphasise that I was only looking and tell her I’ll have a think after seeing more flats. Besides, does she really want a flatmate, however temporarily who plans to roll in drunk every other night. “I don’t mind”, she says, “it will be good to have company.”

God, my guilt oozes for every pore.

Tim Berlin GDR, Berlin accommodation, Berlin walls, Berlin work, Entertainment, Mitte, Sightseeing, apartments, berlin, photos Accommodation, Alexanderplatz, berlin, Berlin accommodation, Croydon, Deutsche Telecom, freelance, Korean stage and costume design, Mitte