I can’t say that I was enthusiastic about living in Schmargendorf when Annette first mentioned that her online searching had turned up an apartment there.  It’s not that I knew anything about the area, but the name made me think of Schmaltz, the solidified chicken fat that is enjoyed spread thickly on slices of brown bread.  My interest in the area was further tempered when I saw on a map how far it is from the more centrally-located, hipper locales like Kreuzberg, Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg. But the location looked like it would work well for Rani’s school, and it is close to the Grunewald park.  The apartment itself is wonderful, and — the clincher, in Rani’s opinion — the kitchen cabinets are bright red.

Outside the center of the city, Berlin feels to me like a tapestry of towns. As the city expanded over time, it absorbed what had been outlying villages with their own town centers and neighborhoods.  I read that “Schmargendorf” was first recorded as the name of our area in 1354.  Through the 19th century, Schmargendorf was a small farming village on the outskirts of Berlin.  By the turn of that century, the village had its own local administration, and in 1920 it officially became incorporated as part of greater Berlin.

This area’s historic town hall or “Rathaus” is adjacent to Mamta’s school, one block over from our apartment.  It was built in the year 1900, in a style that is described as “Brick Gothic, with elements of Art Deco.”  The building survived WWII largely intact, although the explosion of a bomb nearby blew out the original stained-glass windows.

Schmargendorf Town Hall

The “Rathaus” in former days

The Rathaus includes a restaurant in the cellar called — what else? — the Ratskeller.  In this case, Rat refers to a council or advisory board — like our hometown of Walpole’s governing selectboard — rather than to a rodent.

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Last weekend we headed north to the island of Usedom, on the Baltic sea coast.  Most of the island is part of Germany, but the border with Poland runs through its eastern end. During World War II, the Luftwaffe developed its V2 rockets in Peenemünde, a town at Usedom’s northern tip.

Usedom is one of the sunniest locations in Germany, and it has lovely beaches.  What were once small fishing villages are now primarily resort towns for a broad spectrum of visitors from Germany and abroad.

When we headed up to Usedom on Saturday morning, Rani got her first practice driving in Germany.

Several miles before the northern bridge onto the island, we ran into a monumental traffic jam.   After not moving more than a mile in over an hour, we gave up on our plans for a picnic lunch on Usedom, turned around, and found our way to the quiet hamlet of Lassan.

Lassan houses

The town dates back to the 1100’s when it was established as a Slavic fishing settlement. Annette told me that after World War II, relatives of hers ended up in Lassan after being turned back from the border with West Germany.  From the picturesque harbor we followed a path to a lookout tower with lovely views across the bay to Usedom.  The wind was blowing hard — almost too much for the two kites that Stefan had brought.  But the sun was shining, and we had a fine picnic.

Plattenweg (concrete plank road) from “DDR Zeit”

View across the bay to Usedom

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