I'm going back to Berlin next weekend to see the in-laws. It'll be good to see them (honest!) and Berlin is pretty spectacular these days, especially since Foster's Reichstag dome opened. But what I'm really looking forward to is the shopping.
Berlin has come a long way since the KaDeWe (a sort of downmarket Selfridges) on the Kurfurstendamm was considered wondrous. Nowadays, I don't bother setting foot in boring west Berlin, but stick to the street life and small shops in the east.
You can pick up a return ticket to Berlin on buzz for around £70. And if you plan to shop you can make your fare back pretty quick - especially if you know where to go.
These trips have become a bit of a joke in our family. I wait till my legs are really hairy and the baby is popping out of the seams of her clothes then buy tickets to Germany.
On my last trip I had my legs waxed at an organic beautician's for £15, my hair cut for £18 by a tattooed 'artiste' under the railway arches in Mitte and bought a mixture of suits, tops and a raincoat from a selection of young German designers such as Ilka Fiedler and Anna Scholz in the back streets around the Hackesche Höfe market, in east Berlin. If like me, you live or shop in London, you'll know that you can't get your legs waxed with much change from £30 and women's haircuts are around £50 in central London. As for kids' clothes...
Sunday morning we're usually rummaging through flea markets such as Ankona Platz where you can find some of the best examples of east German kitsch, such as faded mustard-coloured plastic egg cups. Breakfast is usually outside at Kaethe Kollwitz Platz, where young easterners chainsmoke over their breakfast platters of cheese, boiled eggs, lettuce, black bread and olives.
But we don't just stop there. Our south London home is furnished in German bargains. When we moved house last year, we worked out it was massively cheaper to hire a Transit van for a weekend and drive it to the Metro store in Cologne via the Channel Tunnel and back than to pay British prices. We piled the van with stainless-steel fronted dishwasher and fridge/freezer and a sofa. The only steel-fronted fridge-freezers we tracked down in the UK cost £1,000; the one we bought in Germany cost £250.
If you want to buy Bosch, Siemens or Miele electrical goods, there's no point shopping in the UK - everything is at least a third cheaper in Germany. Many British shoppers are sick of the inflated prices of cars here, but white goods follow close behind in the sickeningly expensive scale. With the strong pound, it makes even more sense to go to the continent.
Next thing we'll be bringing back are bathroom sinks. I kid you not.
