die Dachterrasse
One of the best things about our new apartment is the balcony. Our old place had a balcony - they're pretty common in Berlin, and in European architecture, in general, I think - but it was quite small. Just big enough for me and E to both sit out there at the same time. Our new balcony will easily fit a dining table and chairs for six. It's actually a bit weird to call them both balconies when they are such decidedly different beasts.
Luckily, the German language can help with that. The German word for balcony is "Balkon," but what we have is really more of a "Dachterrasse." Dachterrasse translates to "rooftop terrace" in English, and makes it sound a lot fancier than it is. I feel like "terrace" is sort of an inherently fancy word in English, but "Terrasse" doesn't have quite the same connotation in German. (At least I don't think it does - I have not confirmed this with a native speaker.)
Similarly, we live in a "Dachwohnung," which can translate to "penthouse" or "attic apartment" in English, and those two translations imply pretty different things. Literally, "Dachwohnung" means "roof-apartment" and describes the fact that we have the top floor apartment in the building. Our apartment is actually spread across the top two floors of the building, with a sloped ceiling upstairs (giving it that attic feel) and the balcony (or should I say terrace?) off of the downstairs living room.
Our Dachterrasse is on my mind today because it's one of the best rooms in the house and we want to make sure we continue to use it even as the weather gets colder. Just yesterday E assembled and installed a screendoor so that we can leave the main door open and enjoy the breeze without having to worry about the cat escaping. Of course, he did this just in time for a cold snap (it's been in the 60's the last two days), but it's still August so hopefully there are some warm days still ahead of us.
We've been looking forward to having people over for dinner on the Dachterrasse since we signed the lease and now that we're (very nearly) fully vaccinated, we just need nice weather. Or cozy sweaters. That could also work.