In Blake Edwards' classic movie adaptation of Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, the socialite Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn, the one and only) explains to her puzzled and amused neighbor Paul Varjak (George Peppard, also gorgeous) what to do when you have the mean reds, that could be probably described as a sort of panic attack or anxiety attack:
Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that'd make me feel like Tiffany's, then - then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name!
I like to think that, mean reds aside, we all have our own personal version of Tiffany's.
A kind of magic place where you can switch mood in a matter of seconds and feel safe, in peace and full of hope that, no matter what, everything is going to be alright, eventually. Every single time.
I am so lucky that I even have twice magic places: Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Dussmann.
Dussmann, Berlin's biggest and best-equipped bookstore, is spread over three floors in a beautiful building in Friedrichstraße, near Unter den Linden and Brandenburger Tor, where you go in with one book request and you then go out penniless with plenty of books you didn't know existed, and yet you are so much happier...
It doesn't matter how bad or rainy or weird or gray a day can be...
It is enough to drop by at Dussmann for one hour, and let the magic happen:
You can have a look at the books beautifully displayed in every corner of the store, that get changed on a regular basis depending on the season, the topic of the moment, a specific recurring theme, get inspired or discover something either absolutely new or that you have been looking for for weeks, and then sink into one of the chairs and the armchairs available everywhere with a couple of books to leaf through and...
BAAM! An immediate sense of relief, relaxation, and well-being follows. Even without buying a single book. Mission:accomplished.
Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that'd make me feel like Tiffany's, then - then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name!
[Nobody was able to rock the little black dress like this lady:
Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly,
dressed by Hubert de Givenchy, with Edith Head's supervision]
I like to think that, mean reds aside, we all have our own personal version of Tiffany's.
A kind of magic place where you can switch mood in a matter of seconds and feel safe, in peace and full of hope that, no matter what, everything is going to be alright, eventually. Every single time.
I am so lucky that I even have twice magic places: Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Dussmann.
Dussmann, Berlin's biggest and best-equipped bookstore, is spread over three floors in a beautiful building in Friedrichstraße, near Unter den Linden and Brandenburger Tor, where you go in with one book request and you then go out penniless with plenty of books you didn't know existed, and yet you are so much happier...
[Funny and quirky graphic books displayed
in the very well stocked English books department
located on the ground floor and on the first floor]
It doesn't matter how bad or rainy or weird or gray a day can be...
It is enough to drop by at Dussmann for one hour, and let the magic happen:
You can have a look at the books beautifully displayed in every corner of the store, that get changed on a regular basis depending on the season, the topic of the moment, a specific recurring theme, get inspired or discover something either absolutely new or that you have been looking for for weeks, and then sink into one of the chairs and the armchairs available everywhere with a couple of books to leaf through and...
BAAM! An immediate sense of relief, relaxation, and well-being follows. Even without buying a single book. Mission:accomplished.
[Who would you love to be, if you had to choose
between unicorns, flamingos, mermaids, and llamas?]
It is open from 9 AM to midnight Monday to Friday and from 9 AM to 11.30 PM on Saturday, so you have plenty of time for exploring the many departments, with books of any kind from all around the world.
And... here you have it, the chance of your life. Thanks to some fun books by Sarah Ford, you can either:
Be a unicorn & live life on the bright side
Be a flamingo & stand out from the crowd
Be a mermaid & be independent, be powerful, be free
Be a llama & stay a little calmer
What would you go for?
This one is for Eddi, a real-life Paul Varjak.
Tags: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Favorite places, Dussmann, Sarah Ford, Quirky books
What to read next:
That tiny little bit of Holly Golightly in each of us, and how to take care of it
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