Berlin bureaucracy

Monday was a busy day spent trying to establish ourselves in our new city.

After a little iPad fun, we were on our way.

When living in Germany, Switzerland and many European countries, one must register with their city. This must be done within two weeks of arrival in Berlin. Luckily, we were in the know, had booked an appointment last month and were on our way with a letter from our landlord showing we have a place to live, a registration form that our friend Simon helped us to fill out, our passports and our marriage certificate. We were also told we may need a translated marriage certificate, which we had unfortunately not received from our translation service yet. So we went to our appointment with our fingers crossed. Long story short, we arrived 30 minutes before our appointment time, we waited for our number to appear on the screen and were finished within 20 minutes of our appointment time with our Anmeldung!!

{Bürgeramt Prenzlauer Berg}

We then went to Alexanderplatz (mega shopping area in the former east) searching for new SIM cards, annual BVG (public transportation) passes and a bank account.

We quickly found out that we needed a bank account before getting SIM cards or the BVG pass, as they need to be paid using a German bank account. So we went to the DeutscheBank office in A’Platz, but they could not help us as we were told we’d need an appointment.

{Friedrichstraße DeutscheBank branch}

Then we went to the fancy DB office on Friedrichstraße hoping we wouldn’t need an appointment and again were told we’d need an appointment.

So we made one for Wednesday morning. Our goal is to then go to the BVG office followed by the TMobile store. More waiting…

{Berlin bear outside of DB}

Next, we boarded the train to go home…quite hot and tired from our excursion in 80+ degree weather.

Before getting home, I made my long awaited pilgrimage to the DM drug store to get our toiletries and odds and ends. It’s always been my favorite spot for souvenirs when we’ve been in Germany.

Meanwhile, Dave took the boys to our park. After I got home, I realized we had an Amazon.de order delivered. Since we weren’t home, they left it with a neighbor. I climbed up four flights of stairs to the top level to ring our neighbor “Schwartz” to get the package. I knew it was with her because the email from Amazon explained that it had been left with “Schwartz”. Something else different here in Berlin.

{Our test Amazon.de delivery was plastic cups for the boys}

I then went to the park to relieve Dave and so he could go to Rewe for some groceries (remember it’s closed on Sundays).

While there, we buried the boys feet and met a mom and her son. She was very friendly and welcoming.

But the long day wasn’t over. Our first babysitter watched the boys while we had a yummy dinner with our lovely Berlin friends, Lisa and Christoph, who have been extremely helpful over the past year encouraging us to make this move. We ate at Katz Orange. A place we’d highly recommend to those visiting Berlin.

{First date night at Katz Orange}

Whew! What an incredible and exhausting day.