Dorothea Pfann had performed her democratic duty, so now she was rewarding herself with a big tub of ice-cream.
"I voted for the Social Democrats, what else?" she said, as a trickle of strawberry slid towards her chin.
Balmy temperatures ensured a high turnout in Germany's federal elections yesterday, with 31 per cent of the electorate casting its vote before noon, a higher number than at the last election in 1994. In eastern constituencies, such as Ms Pfann's in central Berlin, the turnout was higher than average, perhaps because of psephologists' calculations that the national result would hinge on such districts.
Around the primary school in Koppenplatz, which had become a polling station for the day, most lamp-posts were covered with posters for the local Social Democratic candidate, Mr Wofgang Thierse, and for his rival from the ex-communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), Ms Petra Pau.
The PDS was banking on Ms Pau to win one of three seats in Berlin, thus ensuring that it would return to the Bundestag for another four years. Social Democrats warned voters that a PDS presence in parliament could make a grand coalition with the PDS the only possible government.
"They're just trying to frighten people but the people here won't listen. Germany needs a left-wing alternative because Schroder and Kohl are now just the same," said Mr Jens Kugler.
Like many in this constituency, Mr Kugler is a newcomer from the west, drawn to the lively cafe society that has grown up here since German unification. As they queued to vote in a drab classroom, most voters in Koppenplatz looked cheerful but few were tempted to give the Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, a fifth term in office.
"He's been there for 16 years. I can't remember anyone else as chancellor and I'd just like to see what it would be like," said Ms Annette Meyer.
Dr Kohl voted early yesterday after attending Mass near his home in Ludwigshafen in the Rhineland Palatinate. Some of the other voters at the polling station cheered the 68-year-old chancellor as he arrived, followed by 50 journalists and photographers.
"I'm in a good mood. We fought a great fight and I'm very confident," he said.
Dr Kohl's Social Democratic challenger, Mr Gerhard Schroder, had to walk across a 10-metre carpet made of old socks before he cast his vote in Hannover, capital of his home state of Lower Saxony.
The carpet was the idea of a group of unemployed people who claimed that politicians always walk over the "old socks", a slang phrase for the poor and downtrodden.
"That's what it will all be about over the next four years, fighting unemployment," Mr Schroder said.
Accompanied by his wife, Doris, Mr Schroder was surrounded by photographers and camera teams as he went to vote but he smiled throughout as he predicted a victory for the Social Democrats.
"I'm feeling well. I won't hide the fact that I'm a little nervous," he said.
Back in Berlin, Mr Rainer Fischer laid down his beer bottle before climbing the steps of the school at Koppenplatz to cast his vote. Wearing dark glasses and exuding an alcoholic hum, he was on his way home from a night of partying but wanted to play his part in the democratic process.
He voted neither for Mr Schroder nor Dr Kohl but for Chance 2000, a party led by the theatre director Mr Christoph Schlingensief and funded by celebrities, including the fashion designer Mr Wolfgang Joop.
"Kohl is a joke, Schroder is a joke and the whole election is a joke. So why not vote for a joke party," he said.