Britta's Letters from her life divided between city-life in German's capital Berlin and life in a Bavarian village

Tuesday 7 June 2016

The scent of Linden makes the bees pot-headed...

©Brigitta Huegel

Dear You, 
first week of June over - and no entry here!
If you come to Berlin: this would be a perfect time. The Linden (lime) are openening their millions of little flowers, soak the warm (well: at the moment: very hot) air, make your head giddy, make your soul sing with joy, your whole being can bathe in it - gorgeous!
(You see: it really gets me too :-)
And for a day that might not be filled with that natural drug, yesterday I bought a reminder in a bottle: at "Frau Toni's" near Checkpoint Charly they produce a room-perfume "Linde". Normally I abstain from all these scented things for the house - but this is simply great.
(A month ago I found there a real perfume - for me to wear - which contains a lot of "violet". It was the favourite perfume of Marlene Dietrich. Violet is very difficult to get in Germany - I told you that I found a sufficiently nice whiff in my preferred perfume 'Balenciaga - Paris". And now I found out, that Serge Lutens, who works for Shiseido and on his own, has created a very deep violet perfume, too - but: he only (!!!) sells it in Paris, in his own shop.
So:
one good reason more to go to Paris.
On the other hand: I would feel becoming dangerously near to an excentric man, whom I truly and deeply despised when I was young: an arrogant dilettante cook, Wolfram Siebeck. In the early Eighties he wrote that he 'always hopped on a plane to Paris' - every time he needed the little "haricots verts" (those very slim beans, almost as slim as knitting needles) - not available in Germany then.
At that time, hearing it I thought furiously about lamp posts and 'cake for hungry people'-quotes, and revolution, (later my mother's blue blood diluted all that and made me more gentle).
I hope that there are thousands of other good reasons to go to Paris - as many and as intoxicating as the scent of lime-flowers.




10 comments:

  1. All wonderful thoughts indeed. Warm greetings!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The perfume from the tiny yellow flowers of the Linden tree fills the air with a delightful smell of summer and much loved by the bees. However, be very careful not to park you car under them as their sticky sap is almost impossible to remove - admire from a distance.
    Go to Paris, get your perfume, and just enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Rosemary, the bees here get sometimes really drunk and fall to the ground. As to the sticky mass on the cars: no way to escape it - almost every road in Berlins are lined with trees - and you have to park your car somewhere...
      Paris: oh yes.

      Delete
  3. Now you gave me a good reason to go to Paris.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let's meet in Paris, Yael - just for a café au lait and a croissant!

      Delete
  4. Laura would like to visit Paris. Maybe next year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then you will tell us whether she loked the perfume or not, Joanne.

      Delete
  5. This was an all-encompassing post. I learned something. Then I reveled in recalling the scent of violets which I love. Then I laughed at your feelings about Wolfram Siebeck. My niece's daughter is in Paris for a school thing right now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Emma! I am utterly convinced that your niece's daughter will enjoy every moment - unforgettable as the scent of violets.

      Delete