Berlin! Berlin!

Now starts the second part of the journey! The first stop on my three weeks of travel? Berlin, Germany! Berlin was an interesting city. I had heard that it was different from other cities in Europe, and so far I agree with that. Berlin was a little grimy and grungy, and it seemed to embrace that. A lot of people had tattoos and piercings and it seemed to fit in with the character of the city. I’m really glad I visited, but I wouldn’t want to ever live there.

One major difference between Berlin and the Netherlands was the weather. Both days we were in Berlin it was over 90 degrees and very sunny. Much different from the weather I was used to in Delft! We only had a day and a half in Berlin, but I think we made the most of it. From the dialogue there were a lot of people who chose Berlin as their first stop after Delft. Kyle, Kurt, Annie, Chase, Christine, and I all split an apartment together for two nights. In addition, Caroline, Will, and Tiffany also got an apartment for two nights. Peter stayed in a hostel for three nights, and another girl Katie was there for a night. Katie had studied abroad in Berlin last fall, so she knew some cool places that we wouldn’t have found out about otherwise.

On Saturday (8/8/2015) we took an 8am train out of Delft.  We had to transfer three times, in Den Haag, Amserfoort NL, and Hannover, Germany. The first part of the train journey was uneventful. I generally like taking the train. It’s a nice way to see the countryside. However, the last train from Hannover to Berlin was not as much fun. We didn’t think we needed to reserve a seat, so we didn’t. However, all of the seats were full when we got on. We walked up and down the train and we saw that some people were already standing. We didn’t want to stand for two hours, so we sat down in the dining car and got a beer. Behind us in the dining car was a group on their way to a bachelor party in Berlin. They spent the entire time on the train drinking and yelling. It was fun to watch and listen to at the beginning, but it got a little tiring after a while. We couldn’t hold a conversation at our table.

We got to Berlin around 3:30 and headed to the Airbnb. The apartment was in the Hackescer Markt neighborhood of Berlin. The apartment was nice and was in a centrally located neighborhood of Berlin. Right near the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn. Six of us split the Airbnb, so the cost wasn’t too bad either.

The Hackescer Markt near our apartment.

Balcony at the apartment

That evening Chase, Christine and I met some of our other friends in Berlin at the Badeschiff Beach Club (a recommendation from Katie). The beach club was a bar and pool right on the river in Berlin. It was really neat because the pool was in a barge right in the river! It was really hot that day in Berlin so it was nice to go for a swim. The walk to get to the beach club was interesting too. We got to see some of Berlin that I may not have otherwise seen.

Posters along the wall. I thought seeing all of these were kinda cool. 

Walk under the elevated railway tracks on the way to the beach club.

View of the pool barge at the Badeschiff Beach Club.

Fake beach along the river in Berlin.

After the beach club we decided to get dinner at a restaurant on a canal around the corner. The restaurant was pretty good and it was cool dining over a canal (It had been so long since we had seen a canal). However the service was probably the worst I’ve experienced yet. We had to ask for our check three times before she came over and just read us the total from her phone where she had taken the orders. All is well that ends well though.

After dinner we walked back to the S-Bahn to head back to our apartment. At this time it’s a little after 9pm and it’s getting dark. Now we’re beginning to see the real Berlin. Berlin has no open carry-law, and it seemed like every other person walking down the street was drinking a beer. We passed a stand on the side of the road selling shots. For a better description, it was an old trailer with graffiti advertising shots for sale located on the sidewalk underneath the elevated rail tracks. Obviously we had to stop. I got Chase to join me and we both got a shot of “liquid cocaine.” It was described as vodka, caffeine, an almond flavoring. It taste absolutely horrible. But when in Berlin, right.

When we got to the S-Bahn stop, we continued to embrace life in Berlin. The convenience stall at the entrance to the station sold 0.5L bottles of beer for 1.50 euro. Again, we embraced the city and bought some. It felt so weird just to walk around outside with an open beer. I kept thinking the police was going to stop us. But we weren’t in Boston so it wasn’t an issue.

Once we got back to the apartment we met up with the rest of the group staying there and headed out to meet up with everyone else. We ended up going out to a couple different bars in Berlin and I ended up staying out later than I probably should have. I didn’t get to sleep until after 3am. Towards the end of the night we went to this really smoky bar where every other person was smoking cigarettes. It was kind of disgusting. I don’t like cigarettes or cigarette smoke and the entire bar smelled like an ash tray. Once again I could tell that we were a long ways from Boston.

Sunday (8/9/2015) was our only full day in Berlin. It also was very hot and sunny again. I was committed to see as much as I could in one day, which may not have been the smartest decision. I got up around 9 and was out of the apartment by 10 30. I was on my own this morning, as I wanted to try and do things at my own pace. My first destination was Alexanderplatz where I found what I had been craving for the past 5 weeks: Dunkin Donuts. It’s like I was home. I was probably a little too excited, but its ok. I had been craving Dunkin for weeks, and now I finally found one. I got a large caramel iced coffee (which is the same size as an American medium. Classic America). It wasn’t as good as the iced coffee back in the states, but it was close!

It's like I'm home!

Coffee in hand, ready to take the city!

With coffee in hand, I started on my tour of Berlin. I walked around Alexanderplatz, the TV Tower, Museum Island, Under de Linden, Bradenburg Gate, and the Museum for the Murdered Jews of WWII before stopping for lunch. For lunch I got currywurst from a take-out (take-away, as they say in Europe) restaurant. It was pretty good. Currywurst is a normal sausage with a ketchup-curry sauce over it. It is a specialty food from Berlin.

Outside of the Alexanderplatz train station

Tram lines near the Alexanderplatz

The T.V. Tower. The tallest building in Berlin. It was originally built by the communists to show their power.

So much construction going on in Berlin! Since the water table is so high, all water pipes must be raised above ground during construction.

The Berlin Cathedral. I actually didn't know what this building was when I walked past it. I just thought it was really pretty.

Boats along the Spree River.

Green Light! The people in Berlin call him Ampelmann. There are whole gift shops that only sell items related to Ampelmann.

The red equivalent to Ampelmann. 

Brandenburg Gate. One of the biggest landmarks in the city.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of WWII. I thought it was interesting the wording that the Germans chose. It's not the holocaust memorial, because that would be to forward. Instead its the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of WWII. I wonder how long it took to pick an actual name.

Wider view of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of WWII.

After lunch I met up with Will, Tiffany, and Caroline at the East Side Gallery. The Gallery was cool. It was a several block stretch of the original Berlin Wall that had been covered in graffiti. The graffiti had been updated over time, so it still looked fresh.

East Side Gallery. I always thought the Berlin Wall was bigger.

Here I am!

Some of the murals along the side of the East Side Gallery.

Berlin! In case we forget where we are.

The crew in front of the wall. Note that there were two actual walls, not just one. The middle was the "no mans land"

Another mural!

After the East Side Gallery, we headed over to see Checkpoint Charlie. The checkpoint was the old border point in the Berlin Wall between the East and the West. Today it’s mainly a tourist trap complete with people dressed up like American and Soviet soldiers, but it was interesting to see. 

Checkpoint Charlie. I could have paid money to have my photo taken with the actor soldier. I decided against it.

Now leaving the American sector. How intimidating. 

They're watching over you!

The actual checkpoint building. Not as big as I thought it would be. Also it's in the middle of the road, so it was hard to get photos and admire the area without being distracted by traffic.

After walking around the checkpoint, I separated from the other three and went to check out the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie. It was really hot out and I thought a nice indoor attraction sounded nice. However, there was no AC and the museum was also really hot. Overall I was disappointed. The museum was cluttered with very little flow. I wasn’t sure what I was reading half the time. All of the information was posted in six languages, so it took me a while to find the English description amongst all the text. They even had an entire room dedicated to Ronald Reagan. The room included a timeline of his life, photos of him on his ranch in California, and a video playing a loop of his famous speech at the Berlin Wall. A little too much in my opinion. Next time I would skip the museum.

Exterior of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum

I met up with everyone for dinner around 5 30. We ended up going to a beer garden on the river for dinner. It was good! We got a meter of beer for the table, and I got the schnitzel. I had never had schnitzel before, and it didn’t disappoint!

Outside of the Georgebrauhaus where we had dinner. The river is just to the left.

This cool neptune statue in front of the restaurant.

Schnitzel!!

One meter of beer! So many beers! Don't worry, there were about nine of us.

As a group we decided we were up for one more attraction for the day. A few of us headed out to see the Berlin Wall Memorial. This is the largest intact section of the wall in the city. It was pretty interesting to see. They had a lot of informational plaques talking about the history of this specific neighborhood. Worth the last minute trip.

Berlin Wall Memorial! At night! Again, its still not as tall as I thought it would be.

I can't make it over!!

After a full day of sightseeing we all were pretty tired and decided we weren’t up for another night of going out. Instead we went to the American-themed 60’s diner down the street from our apartment. We all got milkshakes and nachos. I was happy with that. A nice end to our trip to Berlin. After that we said goodbye to those that we wouldn’t be seeing again and wished everyone well on their travels. It was interesting hearing where everyone was going the next day. Annie, Kurt, Kyle, and I were off to Munich, Chase and Christine were headed to Prague, Caroline to Copenhagen, and Will and Tiffany were off to Budapest. All seemed like great destinations!

Overall I enjoyed my time in Berlin. It was a very interesting city and I’m glad I saw it. The city seemed to embrace its character of being grungy and alternative, and I respect that. Berlin has had a very chaotic history in the past century, and I’m glad I was able to see how that has transformed the city first-hand.