Schnee

Snow.

A successful day of meetings with colleagues in the Berlin office, and I was greeted by snow as I stepped out of the hotel. There was some slipping and sliding due to my inadequate footwear. I haven’t been in the company of snow for a good while.

A very interesting walk at lunch with a team member who grew up in Bolivia and works on the South America desk. He showed me a campus of Berlin University close to the office which felt very atmospheric with a deep sense of history and very cold weather. The buildings are characterised by red clinker bricks, which are dense, known for the metallic sound when ‘clinked’, and have high thermal conductivity and poorer insulation. This doesn’t feel like the optimal brick for the bitter Berlin winter.

In the evening I went out walking but it was too cold and the streets were mostly deserted. Berlin has an über cool vibe so I can see why people flock here to live. Das ist gut. The winters would take some adjustment though, with thermals. Das ist nicht gut.