(This building is cleverly title ‘The Old Museum’)
From what I learned during my time in Berlin, the Germans are very logical people and enjoy giving things very logical names. I therefore titled this blog in the appropriate German fashion to clearly state exactly where I was. I suppose the extended German title would be ‘I was in Berlin, where I walked around a lot, took pictures of important historical sights, bought some peanut butter, ate paella, and got rained on.
The End.
Just Kidding.
This snarkiness must be a rebellious outburst after dealing with so much German strictness. Just kidding, again.
So, now onto actual blogging. I left Dublin after an amazing breakfast of brown bread toast (it’s even better warm!) and jetted off to Berlin. I arrived in the evening and made my way to the hostel, navigating the not-incredibly clearly marked U-Bahn and S-Bahn to get there. I stayed at the Circus Hostel in Rosenthaler Platz and it was really nice. It was centrally located and big and clean, with a good and cheap breakfast. It actually felt more like a hotel than a hostel. While I wouldn’t want to stay in hostels like this all the time, this one had nothing on the atmosphere of my hostel in Belfast, it was nice to have a plush place to hang for a bit. Although my guidebook said that food in Berlin was cheap (and it was), none of the suggestions it gave sounded very stellar (bratwurst anyone?) So I headed to a grocery store to grab some supplies for dinner. I may have mentioned before that I absolutely love going to grocery stores in other countries, it’s so much fun to see the types of things they carry. I popped into Bio Company, an organic grocery store, and was delighted at what I found. Rows upon rows of organic yogurt, nut butters, produce, and cereals (muesli heaven, why has muesli not caught on in the states?!). Already stoked on the German grocery store scene I grabbed some ingredients and enjoyed dinner back at my hostel.
The next morning I was ready to tackle Berlin. I’d read about the main sights in my book, knew what I wanted to see, and had done my usual pre-excursion map overview to get my bearings. After walking for all of thirty minutes I realized that I wasn’t going to understand this city on my own (or at least without whipping out my guidebook every half-block) and returned to my hostel to join the free walking tour. I’d taken one of these in Amsterdam and it was awesome, so I had high hopes for this tour as well, and was not disappointed. The tour was given by a young English-German woman who had been doing them for nine years. We walked for about three and a half hours and saw and learned the history of all the main sights: Brandenburg gate, the Reichstag, Hitler’s bunker, the memorial of the murdered Jews, etc. This tour was awesome because not only did I learn about all the history of the buildings and the events that had occurred in Berlin, I also learned some of the lesser known facts and surprises of the city as well. For example, what now stands at checkpoint Charlie is one hundred percent not historical. It’s simply a tourist attraction that bears zero resemblance to the actual checkpoint. In front of the checkpoint there’s a big sign of and American soldier informing you that you’re entering the American sector. In the photo he’s all decked out in a full military uniform, complete with a gulf war medal… There’s also people dressed up as American soldiers who will pose with you for photographs (for five Euros) and will then stamp your passport with a ‘checkpoint Charlie’ stamp (for another five Euros), which promptly invalidates your passport. The best part of this all? The people who pose for the photos and stamp your passport are actually strippers. Oh the things you learn from talking to locals.
Other interesting parts of the tour included seeing Hitler’s Bunker, it’s actually a car park now with only a tiny plaque to show his dying place, and visiting the memorial to the murdered Jews. This iconic sight was certainly more impressive in person and the design really makes you think.
During the tour I had chatted with some of the other solo travelers and made dinner plans with an Australian girl. We stumbled upon a little tapas bar and had an absolutely delicious dinner of cheese, olives, peppers, crusty doughy bread, paella loaded with shrimp, and two pitchers of sangria, all for thirteen Euros each. Dear Lonely Planet, you may want to include this restaurant in your guidebook.
The next morning I headed off on a good long walk to see the East Side gallery. This gallery is a collection of street-art-esque murals, painted by local and international artists, directly on the largest part of the Berlin wall that’s left in tact, 1.3 kilometers I believe. It was awesome! The art was beautiful, plentiful, thought provoking, and certainly my favorite sight in Berlin.
Now, you may have thought/hoped/begged that I left discussing bread at great length in Ireland, but alas, I did not! Ha! I’d actually heard great things about German bread (much more than Irish bread), so I was, of course, determined to try it out. I stopped at a bakery during my rainy trek to the wall and grabbed two fresh rolls, both of the whole-wheat variety, one with seeds, one without. I topped them with swiss cheese and a crunchy apple and had two nice little sandwiches. So, what did I think of the bread? Honestly, it was fine, it was good, but I could have found it at home, at least in Oregon where we’ve got good bakeries a plenty!
Writing this post, I realize it feels different than how I wrote about Paris or Ireland. It felt much more methodical and without a lot of emotion (insert joke about the German temperament here). I think that’s because while I liked Berlin, I didn’t fall in love with it. In fact, and I heard this from other people I talked to as well, I had trouble figuring it out. The city lacks a true city center, it’s a grid of grey buildings, harsh and hastily rebuilt, confused between modernism and brutalism.
(The most beautiful building in Berlin is the train station, with an impressive view of the Reichstag.)
However, that being said, I did like Berlin, I would happily move there in fact. I think that there is something going on there that I just haven’t quite figured out. There’s a definite coolness to it. It’s clean, but with touches of edginess, surprising pops of color from impressive street art, juxtaposed against the grey walls and grey sky. It reminds me a bit of Portland actually, with bikes galore, great recycling, and a certain hipness.
(The wall falls to Euros – interesting!)
Here’s where I can praise Berlin with absolute certainly, and perhaps this is a better complement than being seduced by the sights of Paris or the tastes of Ireland. If I were to have children, I would not want to raise them in France and I would not want to raise them in Ireland, but it would be a privilege to raise them in Berlin. Just from observing the city, the families, the young people, the daily goings on, I was struck by the fact that Berlin was a friendly city, an honest city, and a happy city, and with all the struggles that Berlin has faced in the past century, having these attributes is pretty darn impressive.
Soleil et Café 