ICYMI, What I'm Reading, and Berlin as a 'Life-Sized City'

Introducing a new blog feature

I picked up this book from Ocelot (“not just another bookstore”) in Mitte this week. Eight hundred years of history in under 400 pages. I’ll update when I’ve read more of it.

A few weeks ago, I experimented with a new format—a separate email-only newsletter featuring an excerpt of my usual main article with a link back to the website, plus a roundup of shorter links and updates.

I thought of it as a way to provide more variety and a mix of things to read. And a way to skip over the feature essay, if you wanted to.

It did not go over well. I think most of my subscribers didn’t even notice it in their inboxes!

So, now I’m taking a new approach.

Introducing—The Friday Wrap.

Every Friday, I’ll do a roundup of links and short updates that runs separately from my longer single-topic posts, and, sometimes, a link back to an article from the archive that newer readers might not have seen.

Most of my regular blog posts are so long that I end up leaving out the smaller updates and interesting odds and ends. So …. here are the odds and ends!

You’ll still receive all of my posts by email, or on the web or the app. You can read them in whatever way works best for you.

In case you missed it (ICYMI)

This is an article from a few weeks back about some of the YouTube channels I follow for travel inspiration.

What I’m watching

Berlin was featured on the YouTube series The Life-Sized City, hosted by Danish urbanist Mikael Colville-Andersen. Covering everything from the protests against the A100 extension, to the housing crisis and gentrification, it was an interesting profile of Berlin from an urbanist’s perspective.

And this two-year-old episode of Never Too Small (also on YouTube - it’s a docu series and a magazine) highlights the Schoneberg apartment of interior decorator Kateryna Gonchar.

I love watching Never Too Small for ideas for design, decoration and small-space living and I always like to be a looky loo inside other people’s homes!

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What I’m reading online …

Landon’s Letters: What People Actually Want Isn’t a Paid Newsletter

Janelle Hanchett: The whole story of how we moved to the Netherlands

At Home, Abroad: Stateside, again

Le Freak Chic: If I Only Had 24 Hours in London

Smart Living in Germany: How to Use Payback Points in Germany in 2025: Ultimate Guide (I am a new subscriber to this publication, a newsletter about how to save money, which has to be the most German English-language newsletter there is. H/t: 20 Percent Berlin.)

And what I’m listening to ..

This 2015 song by AnnenMayKantereit. I found it via Lea’s TikTok channel recommending good German music to help you “get fluent before 2026.”

I like it much better than the song about the small parrot.

And that’s, as they say, a “wrap.” At least for this week.

Thoughts? Let me know by leaving a comment or sending an email.