A Doll's House

Well, actually, it was a hotel in Berlin, where I stopped for two nights at the beginning of this month. I went there for a three-day conference of the German Association of Data Protection Officers (my work), and since the conference location was fully booked, my colleague found a smaller place on the same road.

This was one of the most unusal places I have ever stayed at: The hotel consists of 8 rooms, some of them en-suite, two shared bathrooms, a breakfast room, kitchen and reception/office room. It comprises the entire first story (not ground floor) in a building that dates back a little more than 100 years. Originally, it was a flat for military officers and their servants. 

After WWII, a group of women who had lost their husbands took up residence with their children. In order that they could go to work, they took turns in minding each other's children. Later on, out of that group of women and their kids, a sort of Bohemian mini community formed. Various artists lived there permanently, some only when working in Berlin, such as actors when filming in Berlin-Babelsberg. 

Eventually, the hotel was sold to a couple of youngish men who run it today. They have renovated what was necessary (mainly the bathrooms, I imagine) but kept the original furniture where it was still useable. The hotel has a vintage look and feel - largely because everything in there IS vintage, no replicas!

I was at first put in the wrong room, and just as I was getting ready to unpack, one of the young men knocked at my door and told me about their mistake. He carried my little red suitcase to the best and largest room - also the farthest from the entrance door, along a long, winding corridor.

Here is what became my room:

The view from my window went towards this suprisingly quiet inner courtyard, right in the middle of the huge city:

It was proudly announced that the mattress on my bed was brand new, and the bed was indeed comfortalbe and the room clean. Breakfast was also fine, with fresh fruit and everything else you'd expect. But...
...during the day, temperatures rose above 30 Celsius (in the 90s F), and during the night it was no cooler than 27 or 28 (in the 80s F). What with the building being relatively old, no a/c and the windows badly insulated, it was nearly impossible to sleep. I kept the window open all night, but there was as good as no airflow from the enclosed courtyard.

Still, this was a very unusual hotel, definitely a different experience from your average business hotel!

One of the shared bathrooms was open on the morning we left, giving me the opportunity to take these pictures:

The windowless corridor, looking towards the entrance door (on the right) and reception (where the chairs are):

One corner of the breakfast room. (The sink is not in use anymore, just left there for decorative purposes.

Oh, and why the headline for this post? When I sent my sister pictures of my room, she commented that it looked like a doll's house. She is right - I have seen old-fashioned doll's houses just like that, with flower-printed wallpaper and painted wooden furniture a bit on the large side!