Sleep deprived at the Brandenburg Gate

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We flew out of New York after a delicious lunch in K-town, a harrowing missed stop on NJ Transit, and a mad dash through Newark. United was actually quite comfortable, and we watched Wreck It Ralph on those tiny chair monitors. But since this was a red-eye (flying out of NY at 7, landing in Berlin at 9) we tried to get at least a couple of hours of uncomfortable sleep in coach.

Berlin-tegal airport is small, but we were quickly introduced to the great public transit system. At 6,50 Euro a day we got unlimited rides on double decker buses and trains. They were clean, ran often, and had (accurate!) electronic displays that showed wait-times. It was a rather quick ride to Artotel, our hotel in Berlin, which certainly lives up to its name: we have three modernist pieces hanging from our walls that I can't quite decipher. . .

Powering through our exhaustion, we walked to along the "Fifth Avenue" of Berlin (H&M! Diesel! BMW!) to nearby Cafe Bliebtru, where we descended upon the breakfast buffet. They had fruit salads, pudding, meat and cheese slices, juices, and hot pastas, but most importantly, they had single serve packets of Nutella. Jackpot!

A few packets of Nutella heavier, we met up with our travel buddies at Brandenburg gate for our "free" tour of Berlin. It's similar to free yoga (Yoga for the People) in New York, in that you pay what you want at the end. Our guide was Louis, a psychology major from the Netherlands that never quite finished his post-graduation trek through Europe and has been in Berlin for the past five years or so: he's polishing off a masters in European History now. With that background, and his obvious experience as a guide, he told compelling stories about the history of Berlin. Some were more serious. We stopped by the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and he talked about the purposeful lack of symbolism in the monument. At the ordinary parking lot that was built over Hitler's bunker, he mentioned the conscious choice not to place a monument that hate groups might rally around. Other stories poked fun at Berlin's history. He told us how the the monument atop the gate was once of Eirene, goddess Peace, until it was taken by Napolean. After Napolean was defeated and the Quadriga restored, the square was renamed "Parizer Platz" (Paris Square) and the monument was dedicated to Victoria, goddes of victory: In other words, victory over Paris. He conveyed how unreal the bumbling public announcement was that led to the fall of the wall: no statement had been authorized, and the whole world (even the crossing guards) was caught unaware. We hit all the obvious tourist locations, starting from the Gate and ending on Museum Island. We crossed through Humboldt University (500 EUR is the annual tuition!) and the many churches. Great tour!

After a quick dinner of Currywurst and Becks at Curry36, we crashed at 7 . . . long first day.

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