Himmelspagode in Hohen Neuendorf near Berlin

Phew, times passes fast and I neglected my blog .....
Here something to cheer you up. It's a very big but pretty nice Chinese restaurant North of Berlin. It might be far out but worth a visit.



Die Himmelspagode is a Chinese restaurant which offers buffet or choose from a large menu. It has a fantastic ambiance. It has two floors and especially on the weekends you have to make sure to reserve a table either by phone or online.



In the middle is a pond with turtles.
If you look down from the top floor, you look right into the pond.

Directions: You just follow the Autobahn A 111 and take the exit 2b Stolpe, then Henningsdorfer Chaussee, continue L171 direction Hohen Neuendorf. Then turn left in Oranienburger Strasse. You will see the restaurant on your right.

We've went with our family and enjoyed the food and each other's company.

 And a good cup of tea at the end.

Our odysee of house-hunting

One of the reason why my blog has been so quiet the last few months is that we've been busy looking for a bigger apartment. I've never imagined before that this will take so much time and sweat. It took us almost three months and 18 apartment viewings.  Altogether it requires an enormous amount of time. There was even one day when I viewed three apartments, one in the morning before work, one at lunch break as it was just a few minutes from work and then one after work. Needless to say that I've been exhausted.

The good news is, YEAH we got one apartment. We had to slightly higher our budget and make a few compromises. However it's a very nice apartment and I am very happy that the hunt is over.

The weird thing while house-hunting was that the landlords are looking for people with a steady job, good income but you should have time to view the house in the middle of the day in short notice. Maybe once in a while it's even possible to drop everything and come running to the viewing but then as it takes time I cannot do it all the time. The last few years the housing situation in Berlin has worsened. Nowadays is is very hard to find an affordable apartment which is not in the suburbs.

The sites I mostly checked were.
immobilienscout24

immonet
You can register and do a search request with your criteria.

When you phone to ask about the viewing you need a lot of patience and the landlords or estate agents are not in and don't answer calls and almost don't call back. Sometimes they reply to emails. Once you know when to view the apartment, don't be surprised to be among many others. Then if you're interested you will have to give your documents. This is mostly the same: copy of your passport (in case of foreigner a copy of your "Meldebescheinigung" registration card), copies of your three last salary statement, statement from your present landlord that you don't have rent arrears, Schufa (can do it online at meineschufa) sometimes you will have to sign an agreement that the landlord will inquire your schufa.

Then it's good to call the next day. Often the apartment was gone so quickly.
Of course once you got a contract you should read it carefully. You can also get it check at the Mieterschutzbund. If your'e not a member you will have to pay a fee. We've got one apartment offered which was part of the social housing scheme and in the contact it was written how the rent will increase once the subsidized money stops.  This would have been a very expensive flat at the end.

Anyhow, in case you're house-hunting at the moment, I wish you good luck and lots of patience!

Signs

It's been a while. Although winter has been cold I didn't find the time to write in my blog. Today I want to share with you some of my pictures of SIGNS I took on various trips  I always like to take pictures of the different signs hanging above shops etc. Sometimes they are very beautiful or original, often with a lot of details.

These ones were taken in France, Savonne:

This one is from Strasbourg:

These ones are from a small cute village along the wine route:

And these ones from Germany, Speyer:

Fichtelgebirge:

Winter reached Berlin

Hey, finally the winter is here and the snow. On Monday there was Blitzeis (freezing ice?) and lots of accidents. It was really slippery and one had to be so careful not to fall. Now it's cold (minus 5 C) and snowing. Ambulances are still full.
Just 2 weeks earlier I thought that we would skip winter this time and go straight to spring. But I guess it's good that way for mother nature and building snowmen. Here just one from Potsdamer Platz made out of Lego.