One Friday night in Poland while checking my email I received a message from my friend Natalie. “Liz and I got tickets to Berlin; sorry I wasn’t sure if you wanted to go.” She gave me the flight details and I proceeded to be incredibly pissed at her for the next week and a day…. not that it mattered much because I did not see her until a week later. I hastily bought the tickets and luckily, even in my fit of my rage, I didn’t mess anything up. A month and a half later Natalie and I were on our way to Berlin, our second trip to Germany, to meet up with our friends Liz and Kat (who are studying in London).
The troubles started immediately after we landed. Even though I thoroughly looked up how to get to the city from the airport, actually BEING there proved that I could have done better. Luckily some Germans, seeing our confused faces and giant backpacks, helped us get the city. We arrived at about 11 PM and were not feeling hardcore enough to go out, so we went right to bed in preparation for a very full day of touring starting at 9 AM.
Natalie was overexcited to see the Reichstag, which I will admit I was not familiar with (it’s basically the parliament building), so we met Liz and Kat there. Before they arrived, Natalie and I went to the entrance to ask how visits worked. “Do you have a reservation?” he asked coldly and rehearsed. I looked at Natalie, sure that she did not. “No,” she answered flustered. “Then you cannot enter,” he stated with a look that sent us away from the entrance, defeated. Natalie was pretty devastated,… and pissed at Rick Steves.
I should explain Rick Steves. Mr. Steves is a travel writer with a guide book for every major tourist destination in Europe. Natalie and her family think he is the best thing since the internet, but I think he is just some guy who writes travel-guides. He is no better than anyone else who does it. Nevertheless, Natalie brings a Rick Steves book with us on every trip.
Memorial to Politicians who opposed Hitler. Not random at all
Reichstag
Brandenburg Gate
I digress. Liz and Kat arrived, we told them the bad news, took some pictures in front of the Reichstag, regrouped over coffee, then headed to the Brandenburg Gate. Even if you don´t know the name, it is the very recognizable symbol of Berlin and a united Germany.
Next on the agenda was the “Memorial to Jews who died in the holocaust.” Cue sarcasm. WHAT A GREAT TITLE! I will be honest and say I was unimpressed with this memorial. There is supposedly absolutely no significance to the number of columns nor the location of the memorial, it makes Jews seem greedy (we know that gypsies and political prisoners and homosexuals and others suffered- A LOT of them- I don´t if the Jews deserve a huge expensive memorial EXCLUSIVELY for them) and my list of complaints goes on.
Memorial for the Jews who died in the Holocaust
Memorial and a lil bit o' Reichstag
Next we went to Museum Island, which is exactly what it sounds like. I should mention that I left my wallet at home during this trip. This should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me or reads my blog posts depicting my many bouts of forgetfulness. This left me money-less and student-card-less in Berlin, so Natalie lent be about 120 euros. MAJOR NATALIE POINTS. This almost made us even for the surprise-your-best-friends-bought-plane-tickets-without-consulting-you-until-after-the-fact-email thing. Luckily, my friends IDs gave me youth cred and I got all the discounts without having to “prove” my current 4-year stage of sponging-up delicious, weekly, collegiate knowledge.
The first museum was Pergamonmuseum, famous for holding the Gates of Ishtar. Next we went to Neues Museum, famous for the Mask of Nefertiti, which we were not allowed to take pictures of. While there, Liz saw her friend Brian, who I had met before as well, who goes to BU and is studying in Copnhagen and visiting Berlin for the weekend. Yeah. That happened. I guess I should mention that before that, while we were leaving the first museum, Natalie saw her friend from BU who studying abroad and visiting Berlin. These encounters maintain their excitement for me. Brian and his incredibly attractive Australian friend invited us to meet up later at their hostel bar and go out together, an invitation we graciously accepted.
Pergamonmuseum
Tourin'
Gates of Ishtar! So cool
Neues Museum
Sometimes, Berlin is pretty
We enjoyed a lovely supermarket dinner that included a Natalie-and-Shelagh staple- Magnum Ice Cream bars. We were able to deflower Liz and Kat´s from their Magnum virginity too, which made them that much better.
I NEED TO BRING THESE TO AMERICA SOMEHOW
Natalie bought and ate an entire avocado as part of her dinner.
We headed to “The Generator” hostel to find a HUGE building which had about 200 rooms and 900 beds and the most impressive hostel bar I have ever seen. We met up with Brian and the four guys he was traveling with, enjoyed some yeger shots and wine and headed to experience the Berlin nightlife. We ran into a pub-crawl and naturally decided to follow them to their last destination, a modestly sized club for Spanish standards, with two dance-floors, one playing top-40 and house and the other, everyone’s favorites awkward oldies. We bounced between rooms until leaving at 6am when the HORRIBLE public transportation system that is the UBAHN and SBAHN opened for the day.
Just another possible engagement photo.
Kat, Natalie and I at the Generator Hostel bar
slightly rowdy.
Perfectly epitomizes Berlin's quirky nightlife.
Tied with the Boston T for worst public transportation I have ever experienced
The first order of the next day started far too early, at 11 AM, with the Jewish Museum of Berlin. The museum outlined every aspect of Jewish life including the holocaust, ancient history, and belief systems. I felt like I was in Hebrew School class all over again, but I will admit the architecture of the building was undeniably cool.
Most awkward trip picture. Too funny not to include.
The blonde one behind is Liz. hahahaha
Jewish Museum
Then, we went to Checkpoint Charlie and the Checkpoint Charlie museum. The museum was overwhelming to say the least- a hodgepodge of articles in German, Russian, and badly translated English. Although the museum was crowded, I did enjoy reading about some of the brave attempts and successes people had in crossing the Wall, which included the use of hot air balloons, pulley-systems, and kayaks.
Yay for famous checkpoints at the Berlin Wall!
Of course, we were in Berlin, so I was most excited about seeing The East Side Gallery, which is the longest section of the Berlin Wall still standing. Today, it serves as a venue for artists to display their work.
Favorite
We ended the day with dinner and giant beers with some German friends we made. Liz and Kat had to leave early the next day, so we said our sad good-byes and Natalie and I went to a boring art museum the next day (I am such a good friend I accompanied her, did not buy a ticket because it was not worth it to me, and waited in the café until she was done looking around). Right before we left, we FINALLY got to try currywurst, which is bratwurst with ketchup and curry. It was fairly delicious, but too ketchupy for my liking.
A piece of the original wall with original graffiti in Pottsdamerplatz
CURRYWURST NOMM Natalie loved it because she loves ketchup
Note my backpack, we really were not willing to leave without trying this stuff.
…and so, my second trip to Germany ended, a little less crazy than the first, but still had its- ahem- special moments. This was a brief summary of events, ask for the play-by-play next time you see me.
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