May 2, 2010 – May 6, 2010
First stop: Berlin
The flight from Geneva to Berlin was surprisingly hassle free, and since we’d checked in online, we just proceeded directly to security. We grabbed some random food on the way and waited for boarding. We got to Berlin, consulted the metro map to figure out where we needed to go, and ended up at our hostel without difficulty. The Grand Hostel Berlin was definitely nice. It reminded me of the place we stayed at in Fes, in terms of the room decor and the amenities. Nothing will beat that stone bathroom of glory in Fes, but the bedrooms were nice: the beds, soft, and the pillows and comforter, fluffy. After checking in, putting our stuff away, etc, we decided to make use of the remaining light and go exploring before dinner. We ended up heading in the opposite direction we meant to go and found Volkspark instead of Tiergarten. Hah. It was a really cute park though, and we walked through it to the top of a hill, found a bunch of fairytale-esque spots, and wound our way to a street filled with restaurants so we could find dinner.
It was the Freedom Trail. It said so.
It took us to the top. By this time, the sun was setting, and we started our dinner restaurant search in full force. We found a restaurant that seemed like it served German food. The menu was all in German, and the people didn’t speak much English. William randomly chose something on the menu, and they said they were out, so he chose the dish right below it. I chose penne arrabbiatta because at least I knew what it was. Or so I thought. It turns out it’s a pasta dish in tomato sauce with a bunch of sauteed vegetables. Not spicy in the slightest, but wholly delicious. After dinner, we decided to take it easy for the night and went back to our hostel to plan for sightseeing the next day.
Sightseeing started at Pariser Platz, by the Starbucks next to the Dunkin Donuts whose sign was white (and not lit up pink and orange as it should have been). We joined a rather large group of tourists from various countries and our American tour guide who claimed to be from Atlanta even though his accent definitely stated otherwise to begin our 3+ hour walking tour around Berlin. It was way too cold for my Florida self (in the 50s) and drizzling. We got a short history lesson about the building of the Brandenberg Tor, the US Embassy building, and how the French suck. We walked a bit, saw the German Parliament buildings and came to the Holocaust Memorial. The design of the memorial is interesting – No one’s really sure what it’s supposed to be. It can literally represent what it will, but in general, it is supposed to be a reminder of the atrocities committed, located centrally so no one could ever forget…
I stood on the ground above Hitler’s bunker. I wondered if the people living in the apartment complexes realized that their parking lot was paved over. I looked at the seemingly innocent street corner at which Hitler’s body was burned. It’s all very surreal when you’re experiencing it. I felt as though I were walking someone else’s memories. We saw a segment of the Berlin Wall – I’m not sure what expression you’re supposed to have on your face when you are in such a picture. I’m pretty sure a smile isn’t the right one. We saw Checkpoint Charlie, the crossing point, the entrance to the American Sector.
When the tour paused for a food/beverage break, William and I decided it was getting late and ditched it to go to the East Side Gallery. Here are a few of the pictures I took of the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall.
For dinner, we scavenged around again, looking for an authentic German place. We found the House of 100 Beers and we found an Australian cafe… on the merits of, “but when will we get to go to Australia?” we decided to dine at the latter. William ate kangaroo steak and I had a vegetarian chili burger and potato wedges. Spectacularly delicious, it was.
And then we went to Dresden…
This seemingly quaint, cute town really loves protesting. We saw so many people with flag and posters and signs all over the city. I wished I understood German so I knew what they were busy protesting about. The city itself is segmented by a river. The Baroque sector is on the Alstadt side of the river, and it is the remnants of the old city before the fires and the bombings. The Neustadt side of the river has the hip/punk/grunge scene, the restaurants, the clubs, and the music stores… I confess, I spent a disproportionate amount of time in the music stores.
It was cute. I was freezing.
We literally wandered the city. We walked through the Baroque sector, saw the old Opera House, when to the Castle, which is now, of course, a museum also. We saw people dressed up, people selling rocks, and people giving away free soda for answering questions in German. We also found some really sweet alleyways and cool buildings and architecture. Here are a couple of shots from around the city.
I managed to find a little porcelain doll, tribute to the doll factories of Dresden which existed before the Allied aerial bombings of the city in WWII.
At night, we went to several lounges that we found right near our hostel, which was located in a rather convenient place. (I also found a tasty bagel cafe and had one of the best bagel sandwiches of my life.) We scoped out the scenes, had dinner at a little corner cafe, the name of which escapes me right now. I had German potato pancakes with honey, which is possibly the best way of preparing potatoes ever (and I’m including homefries in this evaluation). On our second day in Dresden, we found the open air market, proceeded to look at all the little stalls, buy a few gifts, and eat a good amount of food. I had crepes with nutella, chocolate, banana, and honey. We hit up the shopping centers that occupy all of the space, I kid you not, between the Baroque sector and the train station. Some of the stores we recognized and others we walked through just to get out of the cold/rain/sun/horridness the weather gods kept throwing at us.
I think I’ve used this word too many times now, but it really sums up Germany for me: DELICIOUS.
