Berlin Pics

Odds and Ends of Berlin

And now that I am looking back on my first experience in Germany, trying to recount anything odd or peculiar or interesting or anything of that sort, one thing immediately strikes me.  The Germans drink beer everywhere.  I don't mean everywhere as in just odd restaurants like McDonalds or Burger King, but really just everywhere.  You can see people drinking on the metro or on the bench in the park.  And I am not saying this is a once in a while type of thing.  It Is very common.  Every time I was on the metro after noon I saw groups of twenty or thirty somethings with Becks in hand, casually drinking a bottle of beer like an American would down a bottle of soda in public.  They were not being obnoxious and were not drunk in public.  They were just enjoying their beer while going about their day.
Also, everything in Germany has been on time.  Typical.

Oh, and everything in Berlin is a replica.  I forget if I mentioned this, bit after the war everything had to be rebuilt.  Communist Russia wanted to show that their way worked better, capitalist Britain, USA and France wanted to do the same.  So buildings went up.  Fast.  They were all restored in their former style and made to look old, like they had been there all along.  Well, I can't complain.
Also, the Berlin wall is small.  Well, smaller than I thought.  The part that was remaining was pretty short, thing and raggedy, and not very imposing.  Apparently the barbed wire was removed because it only made it easier to get over.  It was something to grab onto.  Can you imagine?  When the wall was still standing, there were apparently actually two.  The space in the middle was the difficult part.  It was heavily guarded, there were a lot of watch towers, and there were obstacles.  All just to keep people in East Berlin.  Oh, and I know I said it was small, but that really was just in regards to the height, because it was long.  Remember how I went to Potsdam?  Well that is about 25 km outside of Berlin.  The wall went around that.  It measured 155 km or so.  That is almost 100 miles long.  Wow.

Berlin to prague train

That was mostly a lie.  I am bored and have another hour on this train until we get to Prague.  There is only so much Angry Birds I can play and I feel like I should write about what I am seeing.

Really I am torn between staring out the window to enjoy the view and writing about it, trying to capture what I am seeing in words since I can't through pictures.  I guess I could get out of the train cabin and take pictures, but photos through glass just won't do it justice.  Besides, I can't get any good angles from a train.  When I ride on trains and busses I always wish I could ask the driver to stop so I can get out and snap a few of the countryside.  I couldn't tel l you how many times in southern Spain and northern Italy I desperately wanted to document the scenery I was seeing, and until I can road trip through Europe with my own car, it will continue to happen.

Anyways, like I mentioned before, what's on the other side of the window has been very distracting.  The rolling tree covered hills and the river twisting in and out of them is almost perfect.  Add medieval cathedrals, castles or random residences crowning these hills every so often and you may think you could be on the verge of a fairytale, minus the damsel in distress (or charming prince in tights for you lady readers).  This just gets me more excited for Munich and Neuschwanstein castle in the Bavarian Alps especially.

More berlin

DAY 3

Our third day in Berlin pretty much started just like the second.  More waiting for the family to get ready.  More strudel from another German pastry shop.  More metro rides.  But this time the metro ride took us all the way to Potsdam (when I. Say metro in this case, I really mean the all encompassing light rail above and below ground that makes up the Berlin system). 

Well, Potsdam, besides being the upstate town in the middle of nowhere New York that my friend Maggie hails from, is also the home to all the Prussian kings' summer homes (read: palaces).

Now, these palaces are pretty much situated in various parks and gardens and are very spread out.  We started out in Sansouci Park and strolled around the royal grounds, passing gigantic Prussian buildings along the way, including Frederick the Great's  enormous and grand looking palace, the Orangerie, and arguably the most famous schloss in Potsdam (and most photogenic) this large, yellow palace with sprawling tiered gardens opening up below.

Hungry and exhausted from our many kilometer 

Sorry, as I type this I am on a train ride from Berlin to Prague and we are passing through this are with beautiful bluffs along a river dotted with what I think of as traditional German houses.  The scene is too picturesque.  It really is making writing this blog entry much more difficult.

... So yeah.  Many kilometers.  Well, let's see, where was I?  Hungry and exhausted we went into town which I am tempted to describe as quaint, but should really say it was touristy made to feel quaint.  Either way, we went to eat.  My mom luckily picked one of the only places that didn't have an English menu and the waiter only spoke German.  How neat!  Some of you may be thinking.  No.  Wrong.  This was not neat.  Let me put it this way.  I don't think an egg sandwich is exclusively German and I don't like egg.  Nor do I like bitter lemon drinks.
Disappointed with my lunch, my mom thought it was necessary to fix the situation with ice-cream.  It worked.

Satisfied, we went to Babelsberg, a town just to the east of Potsdam and walked in another park.  Meghan really wants to see castles while in Europe, and saw a castle like tower in the distance.  We walked toward it through fields and along the river up a hill to the tower, which was attached to this magnificent... it wasn't attached to anything actually.  In Meghan's opinion it was a "castle tease" but I can't imagine what she was expecting.  Not all castles are the fairy tale type with whole towns inside.  Yes, some are, but we probably aren't just goin to happen upon something like that.

Back in Berlin I bought my Interrail pass and we confirmed our reservations when something really awesome happened.  To skip some personal medical details, I ended up spending my last few waking hours in Berlin on a hospital getting treated for a really fun skin itch that I thought I handled in Spain a few weeks ago.  Luckily signs of my traveling are staring to show.  Sadly it's not in the form of being more cultured and worldly, but rather in the form of a very itchy rash.


On that note, I'm off to Prague for Easter weekend, hopefully without any more health problems.

One last thing.  I didn't get a currywurst in Berlin.  How upsetting.  Hopefully in Munich I can get one.

Last thing I swear.  I am getting really good at keeping up with my daily activities on this trip.  Yea for blogging the day of (or at least right away the following day)!

Berlin Day 2

Our second day in Berlin was perfect weather. 70s and sunny. I did not expect Germany to be like this.

We wake up early and... wait around. Unlike when I stay with friends at a hostel, we have one bathroom and everyone needs to look good (Meghan)with their hair did and make up on. I am not used to this after traveling with just a backpack for 8 months now. Nobody chooses a curling iron over an extra tee. Oh well. Instead of waking up, showering and heading out (or evev skipping the shower now and again and just smelling a little), I wait around, yearning to. Go explore Berlin more.

Finally we are on the road! We stop at this little pastry shop and I eat the best apple strudel I have ever had. I guess waiting around a little bit can be fine. We then catch a metro into town to meet up for the free tour at Brandenberg gate.

Like usual the free tour was great. Our guide was really informed... although he did have an abundance of awkward pauses. I think he thought this helped the really heavy stuff sink in a little. And there was definitely a lot of heavy stuff said. After the tour I said that Berlin had a lot of history, more than a lot of cities I have seen. This isn't really true since Seville, London, Madrid, Barcelona are all much older places. I think I got this impression because all the history was so tangible. World War II, the Berlin Wall, the Iron Curtain. It all happened so recently and its impacts are still felt.

But on the tour we saw a lot. Brandenberg Gate, the wall, Chechkpoint Charlie, Hitler's bunker, the Holocaust Memorial, Humboldt University where Einstein was once a professor, gendarmenmarkt and Museum Island. There was so much history and sites, I was tired. We ended with a beer behind Berliner Dom with our guide and the Richards. A perfect introduction to Berlin.

Hungry, we found a German restaurant and finally I ate some good beef. Sorry Spain, you just don't cut it when it comes to beef. We then walked Dow, to the Reichstag and the Teirgarten for sunset and headed hom tired and satisfied.

The next day: Potsdam.

One disappointment, I found out that we will have class following Semana Santa, instead of the class going on field trips which means no Portugal. Sad.

Berlin 1

4:30 I restlessly wake up, nervous that I will miss my flight. I toss and turn for an hour before I really have to wake up.
5:20 I wake up to my pleasant cell phone alarm. I go to the kitchen and grab the strawberries, yogurt and milk... The fixings for a great breakfast. I make sure Hillary is awake and then proceed to devour my perishables before I he ad on m y fifteen day (or so) journey across central Europe.
6:05 I make it to the meeting point ten minutes early. Luckily Hillary is five minutes ahead of schedule. Drowsily we make our way towards the bus stop to catch one headed for the airport.
6:45 we make it to the airport way ahead of schedule and pass through the Santander security without a scratch (except for Hill's lost fork.
8:05 we start to board our plane to Madrid. Here I come family!!
9:30 I see my family through the glass doors waiting on the other side. We hug. We exchange hellos and I missed yous and Meghan quickly brings me to see the spoons. There was an arrangement of spoons with all different faces drawn on them.
11:25 I board the plane to Berlin.
12:30ish We fly over the Alps. I debate with Hill if they are French or Swiss.
2:30 Our plane touches down in Germany.
3:30 We get to our apartment after a few mishaps with directions. The place is NICE. I could get used to this.
4:00 We walk into downtown Berlin. We pass Alexanderplatz, Berliner Dom, Museum Island and arrive at Brandenburg Gate after enjoying some bratwurst on the way.
7:00 I sit down to share my first beer with my parents. Note: I do not mean my first beer ever, but rather the first I shared with my parents.
10:00 Jetlagged my family falls asleep as I write my first post the day of, trying to set a precedent for this trip.

Plans for tomorrow...
Free walking tour of Berlin
Meet the Richards
Eat a currywurst
Drink more German beer