Chillin' in Berlin

Day Three: Berlin, Deutschland

Delicious bratwurst.

It’s now April 20^th, if you actually want to try and keep track of days, but they don’t really matter. What does matter is it was our last day in Berlin. Getting bikes again crossed our minds, but we decided today was meant to be more about detail instead of speed, so we walked. We saw the Alexanderplatz, Berliner Dom (Berliner Dome), Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall (what’s left of it), and the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburger Gate). The Dome is huge and super gorgeous, but we didn’t bother to go inside. Instead, we ordered bratwurst in rolls (the real German way) from a woman who was wearing her grill and sat in its shadow. Right across the street from the dome was a small park where people were lounging in the sun. Rachel and I first went there because it was a place to sit, but we soon realized it was once the basement of a building.

Just eating bratwurst near the Dom. No big thing.

Brandenburger Tor

One of the most interesting parts of Berlin was that history wasn’t dead, just damaged. We could see part of the concrete walls and where the rafters once held up the floor. Other buildings showed marks from bombs and the wall was an adamant reminder of how divided Berlin used to be.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Berlin is wonderfully convenient how it’s set up. Seeing all of the main sights is very easy because they’re all in line with each other. After Alexanderplatz and Berliner Dom, we headed west, passed the University with some other cool buildings (we didn’t know what they were called), and ended up at the Brandenburger Gate. I guess the gate’s cool, but after you walk through it, there’s not much else. We then headed south and saw the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which reminded us of a part of the Jewish Museum.

The weather was absolutely fantastic, so in the afternoon we grabbed some ice cream and relaxed for a bit before moving on. I also had pork rib with potatoes for dinner and this odd concoction known as “beer with sprite.” Now, I know people mix liquors with pop, but beer? The Germans naturally disapprove tainting the golden liquid in such a disgraceful way, but for those of us who aren’t big fans of the taste, it’s perfect. You still taste mostly beer, but it’s a little sweeter and easier to drink with a meal (if you ask me. I only recently turned 21, so having alcohol with meals is still a new concept).

Checkpoint Charlie... in front of a McDonald's. Coincidence?

That night, our amazing hostel had a boat party, and we were invited. We met people from Scotland, Mexico, and Turkey. We didn’t stay out too late because we knew we were traveling the next morning, but the reason why I came abroad was to meet new people, and we did.

Me in front of the Berlin Wall

Pedal to the Metal!

Day Two: Berlin, Deutschland

Rachel and I decided we never really wanted to sleep in very much because we were only spending a few days in each city, and didn’t want to miss out. We started on our first full day by waking up at eight. Our first task: to find some noms (food, if you’ve never heard me talk before). Berlin is set up kind of funny, and we would have to travel a tad to get to a place with substance. Since Germany is awesome like the States and drives on the right side of the road, Rachel and I figured the best way to get around was by bike. Rachel had found some info at the hostel about renting bikes, and we simply trudged down the street (I say trudge because it was a slight trek) to the bike rental. It was only €10 for a whole 24 hours, so we were excited.

Rachel on our bikes

 We hopped on and headed south. I led our feeble “pack” because I could read German and knew a few random words. Quick German lesson: “Sprechen Sie Englisch?[sprae-ken zee aang-lish]” will save your life. It means “Do you speak English?” Perhaps knowing “Wo ist die Toilette?[vo ist dee toy-let-teh]” as well, at least for emergencies (Where is the restroom). Most Germans speak English though, especially in big cities, so I wouldn’t worry too much. Ah, but being surrounded by German can give you a major headache. All of the signs trick you into believing you can understand them because of the similar alphabet, but it’s a lie. Especially if you’re like me where you’ve studied German long, long ago, so the German is familiar, but you have no idea what it means. Can we say, frustrating much? Most deffers (Oh, “Vielen dank”[feel-en dah-nk] is also good to know; it means “Thank you”).

Our amazing breakfast

Now that you’re a mini-beast at German, let me continue. We rode down to an area Rachel knew had some places for a bit of “früstück,” or breakfast (don’t ask me how they got that word. Sounds like “you stuck” though). There was a couple cute little cafés and we sort of randomly chose one. We picked well though, seeing as they gave us a beastly meal for €5 each. Our stomachs were soon full of fresh fruit, a boiled egg, and two croissants each smothered in Nutella. Rachel and I ended up ordering a lot of the same food throughout the trip partially because it was easier to just have me order that way as I could pronounce everything. We also have similar tastes.

The Jewish Museum

After that, we rode our bikes over to the Jewish Museum. It’s an amazing place, and definitely worth seeing if you’re ever in Berlin. I think the architect may have had a tad bit too much fun in designing it, but that’s all right. Rachel and I both have slightly short attention spans now for museums though, because most are free in London, so we skimmed over all of the reading things (yes, they had English, but still…). We went through everything though, and then hopped back on our bikes to go farther into the city.

Inside the museum. I did nothing to this picture.

Berlin’s Alexanderplatz makes it super easy to tell where the city center is. It’s like a huge pin stuck in the earth and you just head towards it. Don’t worry, you get to it eventually. We did a bit of souvenir shopping (the only shopping we do on the whole trip, just to let you know) and ate a late lunch. German food is fantastic. Don’t believe me? Well, this is what I ate: minced meat rolled in cabbage and drenched (yes, drenched) in gravy with bacon on top, served with potatoes and salad on the side. I also had a “Schokokuẞ” [shock-o-koose] for dessert. It was chocolate and mint ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Not only did this all taste delicious and fill us up, but compared to the prices in London, it was super cheap! Put simply, Rach and I ate our way through our trip, but we did so much walking (and biking) that we probably only gained muscle, which is what we both want anyway.

The Berliner Dom

We travelled back and returned the bikes before crashing in the hostel for the night. Somehow, Rachel and I always had something to talk about, and her company was the most enjoyable part of this trip.

Germany, HO!!

Day One: Berlin, Deutschland

All right, it’s been a tad bit longer than I wanted to write this blog, so I’m scrapping my first attempt and trying again… In other words, I’ve hit a moment when I just feel like writing what I remember and all the awesome stuff, but informally and probably random. Please do not be surprised if I end up ranting myself away into a void of confusing sentences. If I go there, well… whoops.

I’m going to write this all at once, but for your sake, I’ll split it up a tad so it’s not so overwhelming. My story begins on the 18^th of April (yes, almost a month ago. Ignore that). I took the day to finish up my last little run-arounds and whatnot before hopping on a plane and somehow flying down to Berlin, Germany. Now, if you’re ever in Europe, you must travel. Flights are super cheap (especially if you book even just a month in advance) and it’s beastly. A whole bunch of different cultures are just a hop-skip and a swim away (the swimming is kinda mostly for places like the United Kingdom. That whole being an island thing gets in the way sometimes). Flying to Berlin only took an hour. That’s right, you heard me, AN HOUR. That’s less time it took me to fly down to Washington D.C. from Cleveland, Ohio. I mean, I know the States are huge, but really?

I saw these on my way to my flight. Queen mask? Creepy.

Anyhoo, I got in super late because that’s how cheap flights work: they’re either really early or really late. You’ve got to be super lucky to get one at a “decent” time (or you know, pay more). The airport was small and pretty self-explanatory. You leave the plane, go through some dinky security and BOOM! There’s the door, have a nice day (note: this comes with a nice big friendly German smile). I went over to the information desk and found out how to take the trains into the city. Let me tell you before I begin on this: trains suck in Germany. They don’t always do what they’re supposed to. That said, I’ll continue…

It’s now about 11:30 at night, which I thought was an hour ahead because who knew Germany was an hour ahead of England? I didn’t, but fortunately, all I really needed to know was it was late. Any other information would have just been nifty. I started towards the train station, and a woman who had gone to the info desk before me came to speak with me. She was dressed as your usual European (scarf and messy bun with some nice clothes flair) and she was a tad bit shorter than me. Her accent was hard to place, but slightly French.

Turns out she was Swedish, but lived in France because she’s an opera singer. How awesome is that?

Her awesomeness aside, she was totally lost. She came to Berlin to meet a friend, but her buddy hadn’t helped her much, so instead she chose the random American…? Yup, there’s strength in numbers when you’re a tourist. At least you know they’re making stupid mistakes too. I told her what I knew about the trains, but then let her go. I had stayed too long in London to be overly nice (oops), but don’t worry, we ended up hanging out a lot more. I headed underground to find the train, bought a ticket and headed for the platform. Trains had gotten a lot less complicated after working with the Underground so long, so I was somewhat confident… until I came to a crossroads.

Two signs said they went to the right train, but they went in opposite directions. By the looks of it, they actually looked like they both headed up to the same platform, which helped… but didn’t. I was standing between the two stairs trying to decide which would be more efficient to try when a woman came up behind me. She was English, but had been living in Berlin for awhile. Her back story is she makes films and documentaries for a living, and she was just coming back from interviewing one of the ex-husbands of the woman her documentary was about. Turns out, the woman had a couple ex-husbands, and it sounded like the men told some interesting tales.

Berlin!

*took a pause here to nom on some fantastical Turkish delight and get sugar all over me…*

Ugh, okay, back to my story. The woman came up to me and asked if I was confused, which I guess was obvious because I literally kept turning my head back and forth between the two signs. She led me up the choice on my left and told me to take the next one. Turns out she was riding the same train, as well as the opera singer! The train came surprisingly soon, but and we hopped on. Then a message sounded over the PA system telling us something, but it was muffled and of course in German. The Englishwoman translated for us, and said the train was just going to chill a bit before heading out. “Welcome to Berlin!” the Englishwoman chuckled, “Where the trains are crap.” That last part I paraphrased a little, but you get the idea. I checked my watch worriedly because I knew I had a certain time to check into the hostel (which… oh man, it was awesome. Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself) before 11:30pm. Unfortunately, my watch was telling me it was 10:30… meaning it was already 11:30. I could call and tell them to wait, but my little watch told me I still had time, so I let it go.

Finally the train decided to leave, but then was like, “nah, I don’t want to go all the way to where I’m supposed to go because it’s late and I’m lazy… for a train.” So we had to hop off a little bit earlier than expected. I had no fear though, because the English woman easily led us two unfortunate tourists to a taxi, and since my hostel was on the way to where the opera singer was going, we shared it. The ride was barely seven Euros for me to get there, and I was happy to know I made it.

All right, now I can tell you!! I’m so excited, can you tell? I got my luggage (a little duffel bag I learned to hate by the end of this trip) and said good-bye to the nice woman, wishing her luck on the rest of her travels. I then passed through the East Gallery Wall and towards the Spree River, which cuts through Berlin. That’s right, my hostel was a BOAT. A boat full of awesomeness! If you ever go to Berlin, stay at the Eastern Comfort Hostelboat. Totally worth it; decently priced, nice accommodations, and an amazingly nice staff (well, it’s Germany, everyone’s nice…).

Me and the awesome boat/hostel

I went in and they were waiting for me, seeing as I was an hour later than I thought. Fortunately, my travel buddy, Rachel, had gotten there way before me and warned them I might be coming late. They said it was no problem, but did creep me out a bit when I walked in and they were just like, “Oh, you must be Mary!” What an experience, let me tell you. I know my name is common, but not that common, jeez!

(Quick explanation: Rachel had spent the previous week with her visiting parents, who took her to Paris. She decided instead of coming back to London, to just pop over to Berlin instead and meet me there. Her flight came in super early, so she learned a bit about Berlin before I arrived, which came in handy).

The moment all was settled, I climbed onto my bed and let the rolling waters outside lull me to sleep. I was excited for the next day, no matter what was in store.