Berlin

Berlin appears as both a practical setting in Ingrid Bauer’s working life and the imagined destination of a winter visit that brings her closer to Sofia Papastergiadis. Through sewing, the city is associated with routine and creative independence; through the proposed Christmas journey, it becomes a scene for intimacy and ritual.

Work and Routine

Matthew describes Ingrid as attending kick-boxing classes in Berlin three times a week, presenting the city as part of her ordinary life rather than a distant ideal. Her sewing also has a presence there: Sofia learns that, as in the vintage shop, piles of clothes in Berlin await Ingrid’s needle. The reference connects the two settings through her work of transforming garments, without specifying where in the city she sews.

Ingrid’s practice is grounded in precision and structure. She studied geometry at university in Bavaria and values the needle for its exactness; symmetry, she says, helps her thoughts drift and sets her free. Berlin is one of the places where that practice continues, part of a wider sewing life that also includes parcels of clothes sent by a contact in China for redesign.

The Proposed Christmas Visit

Ingrid asks Sofia to visit her in Berlin and offers to pay for her flight so they can spend Christmas together. She imagines the city as cold enough to require a heavy coat, then proposes a horse-drawn carriage ride for tourists—a ride she likes especially when it snows. The route would begin at the Brandenburg Gate and continue to Checkpoint Charlie, giving the invitation a definite itinerary rather than leaving it as a general promise.

The carriage ride is also imagined as a courtship ritual. Ingrid plans to hold mistletoe over Sofia’s head, making the customary kiss seem to draw Sofia toward Ingrid while leaving the question of free choice delicately unsettled. In this scene, Berlin is not merely the destination: its winter streets and tourist carriage provide the setting for Ingrid’s carefully framed approach to intimacy.