In any case, here we need to jump back on to the S7, the same line we took an hour ago to go to Grunewald and Wannsee, only this time, there are a lot of people with luggage. They’re likely on their way to the Hauptbahnhof too, though not for dental floss. On our way to Hauptbahnhof we’ll pass by the government quarter with the Reichstag and its beautiful glass dome and the square-shaped Kanzleramt, the government building many say looks like a washing machine.

Once we get to the Hauptbahnhof it’ll be easy to get our floss and, seeing as that we’re here, we might as well buy some tea. It occurs to us that, in order to liven up our Sunday a bit, we could also stop by Claire’s to get some red plastic carnations or other for our hair, but it’s closed. Asking the saleswoman at the shoe shop next door we learn that on Sundays only stores selling food, necessary goods, and souvenirs are allowed to be open. Thinking for a moment about which of the three categories would contain shoes, we realize that they necessarily belong to the category of necessary goods. You can’t go around barefoot. That stated, we really didn’t think Claire’s would be closed on Sunday. At first we have to admit to being a bit shocked; but then everything was alright and we realized that, well, in a city which for a long time had been socialist, on a Sunday you’d put real red carnations in your hair. So let’s walk over to one of the flower vendors to see what we can find.

Translated by Alexander Booth