I stayed 11 days/nights in Maria’s apartment “Bright Penthouse with a big Terrace” in Berlin’s city center (Berlin Mitte for short). Its location was excellent for my purposes, while attending the Berlinale 2019 film festival. It was 300 meters on foot from Friedrichstadt Palast where half of my booked screenings took place. And for the other half, the nearby Friedrichstrasse railway station where 8 important S-Bahn lines come together, was an important stepping stone to reach the other festival venues. Adding a bus stop before the front door as well as a subway station literally around the corner, traversing all of Berlin is easy from this place, be it for business or for touristic purposes. I could easily watch 3 movies per day without wasting too much time in fraffic. #####

The apartment is exactly as described on the AIRBNB website. Sitting room as well as both bedrooms are spacious, offering enough space to move around, and with ample closets and drawers to keep your own things organized without having to live out of your suitcases. Plus, there are two bathrooms, a smaller one with a washing machine and a larger one with a bathtub as well as a separate shower. I prefer the latter above showering in the bathtub, which seems common elsewhere in Germany. Something that is less spacious in this apartment, however, is Internet bandwidth, with Internet speeds 2.90 Mbps down and 0.7 Mbps up, allowing e-mail and simple website browsing but not suitable for serious work. The average tourist won’t mind, I think, but a business traveler like myself will need more. #####

All in all, the apartment was very suitable for me. Regardless, I made a list with some recommendations for improvement. None of these were very drastic, so I won’t repeat it here. Even if Maria ignores half of it, I will still consider this apartment as my pied-a-terre in Berlin for next year’s Berlinale festival.