Not much time, not much time, always the problem. I'm in Berlin, staying in a lovely hostel in the East side, very close to the longest remaining section of the wall. I had a bit of a nightmare day getting here on Saturday, train, plane, two buses and a taxi, but I made it, and the hostel, which has a restaurant and bar attached to it, made me a free "welcome drink" and a gorgeous salad with bulgar wheat and goat's cheese, so I've been settling in and celebrating Mark Philipoussis's victory at Wimbledon yesterday.

To give the extremely rushed version of events I went to a market selling lots of old school Berlin stuff and bought a funny little red velvet purse and an old spoon on Sunday, went to the Czech consulate yesterday to try to organise a visa to find, at midday, that they close every morning at 11 and don't reopen till the following day. Went to the Australian embassy to organise a statutory declaration stating that my signature has, miraculously, changed somewhat in the last 10 to 15 years. Went to the tiny Berlin Guggenheim museum, a very interesting solo exhibit, but, horror of horrors, I've forgotten the artists name. In the bookshop I succumbed to a red inflatable teddy bear. Need I say more? Bought my bus ticket for Prague, so will be spending this Saturday on a bus again. Last night I hit the halfway mark of Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov", which I endlessly mispronounce.

Today I had more success at the Czech consulate and need to go back on Friday to collect it. Also ventured to the Egyptian museum and saw the famous bust of Nefertiti, and the all but demolished bust of Akhenaten - a fascinating thing to see. Got caught in the rain twice, and ate Kaffee und Kuchen at Zoo station. Am in heaven with all the sour cherry everything here! Am going to continue having a quiet night with Dostoyevsky. I have become very interested in reading more about the ethics he developed - am surprised by how much I'm enjoying the spirituality of his works. Gorgeous.

Oh, and after a promising start, Arnaud lost in the second round. If I'd found out about it sooner than three or four days after it happened, there probably would have been tears.

Berlin.