And Here We Are

This is our apartment.
This is also our apartment:

If you look closely at the bathroom, you'll see that it is sort of funny. It is, however, a fabulous aparment and just the right size for the two of us and the apartment is in a section of the city that resembles Moscow in a way that, frankly, took my by surprise. We live in what used to be East Berlin, so it's not surprising that the architecture and grid system is sort of Soviet, but I wasn't expecting it. The East, though, has done a good job of preserving some of the more grandiose, fourteenth-century buildings, too, though; it's not a black and white distinction between East and West. And despite the Soviet-style aesthetic, the palpable air of casual intolerance and violence of Moscow is not here, of course. Moscow was an Olympic-grade hater.
It's only been two days, so I haven't much else to say, except that we've probably walked about ten miles so far (or fifteen or so kilometers - I don't get the metric system yet, nor do I have a realistic grasp on the dollar-to-euro conversion). We've seen about a half mile of the Berlin wall, we've walked on Pushkinskaya - excuse me, Puschkin Allee - and we've been through at least enough of the city to see astounding postmodern design adorning the buildings, about a hundred hair salons and a statue of Lenin, neatly tucked into a little parking lot. People here have lots of dogs and kids. It's all very lovely.