First Impressions of Berlin

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After settling into our hotel and watching a bit of Le Tour, we decided we needed 1) some Eis, and 2) to see some things since it was still early and light out and we were restless. So, we set out for Kant Eiscafé, which was not too far from our Pension, and looked interesting on the walk from the S-bahn station to the hotel.

On the way there, I joked with Cheryl that I was sure it was going to end up terrible, and that she'd be able to blame me. (In case you missed it, this is foreshadowing). We took a couple of seats on the sidewalk, and proceeded to wait. We had plenty to talk about, but it soon became clear that nobody was going to come ask us if we wanted anything, or even bring us a menu. We finally asked (what appeared to be) some locals at the next table over if we could have their menus, and they colorfully remarked that the service at the place was terrible ("not German-like"), and when they left, they wished us luck. We finally decided that it must be that we need to order inside, so we went inside and stood around the unmanned counter and waited and waited, and eventually a dude showed up and we ordered and went back outside. Sometime after that, a server came by and we told her that we had ordered inside, so she went away. More time passed, and Cheryl noticed that the guy was in there making orders for people, but did not appear to be making any Becher, so I went in, caught his eye, and said pointed at myself saying "Amarenabecher", and pointed at Cheryl saying "Amarettobecher", and then said "jetzt"; he nodded and I went back out to sit down. Even more time passed, and finally, just as we were about to give up and leave, the server brought mine to the table, and then enough time passed that we noticed its passage, and then Cheryl's order showed up. The best part? My glass had sticky syrupy crap all over it that dripped onto my clothes pretty much immediately, and Cheryl's Amarettobecher had strawberry ice cream in it, of all things. My ice cream was pretty bad (having obviously been melted and refrozen multiple times as evidenced by the giant ice crystals in it), and I didn't finish it. I wrote a bad review about the place on Google, and we moved on to the S-bahn to go to the Hauptbahnhof as a jumping off point for a foot tour of the Reichstag and its immediate surroundings.

So, we walked past the Bundestag and various other federal buildings and ended up in the giant open space in front of the Reichstag. Just a little history: this is the building that the Nazis had burned and then blamed it on the Communists so they could then try them for treason, execute them, and grab a bunch more power; see also Reichstag fire. I'm sure that's a simplification of what happened, but there's little question in my mind who was responsible for the fire, and that it was used as a pretext to purge the Communist delegates. Also, see also: Hitler was not a nice man, and the Nazis were not benevolent. Anyway, I got some photos of the place, which has been restored and looks really big and imposing.

Next we headed to the Brandenburg gate, which is also big and impressive, but alas, mostly inaccessible owing to the giant Hyundai fan park set up for viewing the world cup matches. We ended up in Pariser Platz, where we talked about the gate and the history, and where the Berlin wall went, and then we took a cute selfie of us with the gate in the background.

After a while, we started walking to the other side of the gate and happened upon the U.S. embassy in Berlin, which is big, ugly and kind of offensive, really. It clearly has a bunch of windowless rooms, and many people, including myself, are uneasy about what goes on in those rooms. It is bristling with cameras, and apparently the only way to actually see the inside of the place is to take its photograph, at which time, you will probably be escorted inside for some questions. I'm not super-impressed by the way the U.S. government tends to throw its weight around in the wider world, but I declined to take a picture at that time, though I'm probably going to go back and take one so you can see what I'm talking about.

Across the street is the Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas. I don't know how to describe this place. I just know that after some discussion about this and that, the weight of it all just came crashing down and I just sat on one of the "stelae" and wept, for quite a while. I don't know what else to say about that, but I do know this: neo-Nazis in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world are just fucking despicable posers playing at a game they haven't the intellect to understand; they just have no idea, and, frankly, I would like to find each and every one of them and punch them in the face and make them cry. I'm sure there are others who deserve as much, but Nazis are on my mind right now.

On one side of the street was a stark reminder of man's inhumanity to man, and on the other side of the street stood a symbol of my contribution to the same. As you might guess, my mood had taken a downturn.

So, I was done, and we were hungry, so we headed back to our neighborhood and stopped at a tapas place and had a delightful dinner with many different tapas, much sangria, and a delightful waiter, and then we strolled back to our hotel and that was that for day one in Berlin.

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Photos

The Reichstag
One big damn imposing building.

Cheryl, in front of Reichstag
Still damn big and imposing

Wurst :-)
Cheryl loves the name of this place.

Brandenburg Tor Selfie!
Look! It's us! And the Brandenburg Gate!