Tired. Woke late after a long sleep and watched some favorite demos. Around noon, headachey from lack of caffeine, we crawled out to the corner bistro for coffee and sandwiches.

While we were there a panhandler came into the cafe and approached Andrew for money. We couldn't understand a word he said and apparenlty he couldn't understand us (or wouldn't take no for an answer). He was persistent and escalated the interaction when Andrew didn't give him money. Eventually the man grabbed Andrew's arm and held it, like he was praying to it and then he began to kiss Andrew's sleeve, talking the whole time. Andrew moved to push him off and the man grabbed his hand. It was getting really creepy. So I moved to push him away, too. When he saw me raise my hand, he finally left.

The temperature has dropped almost 20 degrees. I was delighted to finally wear a coat. We needed a lighter day, so we stayed in the neighborhood.

Kunsthaus Techeles: a disappointment. All squat, no art. The graffiti so strongly associated with the venue was copious but primitive.

Prenzlauer: Blank but for the yuppiefied center below Danzigerstrasse. The forty-plus with kids and $250 shoes crowd were playing in the parks in the late afternoon. It was interesting to cross the seam between empty streets and bustling neighborhood. Graffiti everywhere and then suddenly boutiques.

I can't believe this city's love affair with graffiti!

All recommendations mentioned Monsieur Vuong's, so we dropped in there on our way back from Prenzlauer. It was easy and familiar: food we knew how to handle, strangely enough. We were glad for the Vietnamese coffee, thick and strong.