Tempted to get a dog but know that you can't look after it? Then don't come to Berlin. 3 months of living in Berlin and you'll be cooing over the thousands of dogs in the streets. 6 months in and you'll be googling potential breeds that you might be interested in and 9 months in you'll be waking up at 6 in the morning, going down 5 flights of stairs with your little plastic bag and desperately trying to pick up your new dog's poop; or you won't, you'll be leaving it for others to step in, hey, it's Berlin.
The disappearance of autumn
It's my first Berlin autumn, in fact it's my first real autumn in a long time. When I was living in New Zealand the seasons tended to go from summer to winter with only a little nod at autumn. A Berlin autumn, however, likes to assert itself as a proper season and not just a bridge between hot and cold. For months on end the leaves have been turning from green to brilliant golden hues and then drifting down in piles.