Springtime in Berlin

Just a few musings...

Spring seems to happen earlier here than in Boston. We've already had 70° days (well, one, but it's still one) and it's light until almost 8 o'clock. The trees are leafing out, the flowers are blooming, and more importantly, the cafés have put their tables out. Actually, to be more accurate, the tables were out all winter for the most part, but nobody sat at them. Now the tables are, if not filled, at least in use. I'm happy to say that I have already enjoyed a Friday afternoon sitting out at some of those tables with some colleagues enjoying a warm sunny spring day. And what a great way to spend an afternoon!

Part of my thought on this is that it hadn't occurred to me until now how WIDE the sidewalks in Berlin actually are. Not at all unusual to have two or even three tables out from the store front and still plenty of room to walk past. This, combined with the relatively low height of the buildings--rarely more than 5 stories (cousin Jan suggests this has to do with the lack of bedrock to build on, only sand)--makes for a sense of light and openness that is pretty hard to find in Boston. It just feels more CROWDED there.

I think everyone here has some kind of seasonal mood affect. The light has changed really dramatically (even without Daylight Savings Time, which seems to happen at a more civilized point in the cycle than the ridiculous early March date that the US has gone to) and everyone seems happier. Although our principal showed me a weather forecast today from the newspaper which contradicted this: next to forecasts for "spring like weather" (that was the 70°) was the "health" forecast, which predicted that the warm temperatures would increase peoples' blood pressure, stress level, and general anxiety. Apparently the Germans aren't happy unless they have something to complain about...which might explain the concept of schadenfreude?