Yesterday we walked from Charlottenburg Station to Yorkstrasse station, stopping at various places in between and culminating the journey with a mighty delicious dinner at a Turkish restaurant called Harif.

One hazard is that people won't tell you when you've ordered too much. You have to ask if the portions are sized for one person or for more people. A couple of times now, we've ordered a starter to share and an entree each only to be presented with three enormous dishes and some side dishes (salads or pickles) we didn't know were included. Such was the case with last night's haul. Now the leftovers sit in the fridge.

Overall, East Berlin wins: It's far more dynamic and stylish. By comparison, Charlottenburg and Schoneberg seem to lack character or variety. Charlottenburg, especially, seemed dated, with its wide boulevard of highest-end chain stores, many repeated every few blocks.

Today, we traveled to Friedrichshain. I didn't think that we'd make it over there during this trip, but it seemed better to walk the neighborhood than to spend the day inside a museum. Friedrichshain and the bordering part of Kreuzberg are soaking in hip. We saw fixies for the first time, and bunches of people clothed solely in black and/or baring tattoos and other body art. We enjoyed endless vistas of wild graffiti, which really put into perspective the decline of the Tacheles. And, although the guide books describe the architecture along Karl Marx allee as "bland," I thought it a quite beautiful, modern interpretation of neoclassical architecture, and it added yet to the multifaceted character of eastern part of the city.

Next time I visit, I'd like to spend more time in Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain and in the nooks and crannies of the Mitte.

Tonight we're in, eating all the leftovers accumulated over the last few days and enjoying the last night of being in the loft, itself a site for visiting.