Blogs from Berlin, Berlin, Germany, Europe - page 151

Because I couldn't even make a dent in my itinerary of sights to see. Because I want to learn German. Because it's so cheap. Because the food is good..and cheap. Because the people are nice, and if the're not, it's usually only temporary. Because it's so weird. Because it's such a schizo city. In parts where it appears it's most ugly, a backyard reveals a beach volleyball court, or huge courtyard garden, or underground superclub. Because where it appears to be most beautiful, it really is, even if there's no living depth. I could go on. I went to the Sage Club on Thursday night, their famous rock night. Sage Club is located through a door that seems to indicate you're going into a U-Bahn station. Instead, you're greeted with several rooms of nightlife. There's the ... read more

After the first few days of meteorological madness, Berlin's skies seem to have settled down. I'd been debating what to do with my days as I'd earmarked most nights for clubbing and bars. Everything looked too educational for me. Too historic, too cultural. Where could I go where I could essentially take a day off for sunbathing and yet not feel like I boated a whole day? The Berlin Zoo (Zoologischer Garten) is the largest in Europe, which is as good an excuse to visit as anything. Also, it was nearly 80 degrees out and utterly pleasant. As I entered the main gates and paid my 15 Euro for admission, I could feel my brain switching to stand-by. WAIT. 15 EURO?? Are you kidding me? This place better have dinosaurs or snakebats or something comparabl... read more

We spent three days visiting Berlin, the capital of Germany. This is a very important and historic city! After World War II, in the 1940s, Germany was split into two separate countries, West Germany and East Germany. Berlin was also split into two halves, West Berlin and East Berlin. Many East Germans wanted to go to West Germany, but the East German government in the 1950s built barbed-wire fences and a high wall in the city of Berlin, called the Berlin Wall, to prevent East Germans from leaving the country. Then, in November of 1989, the borders were opened and hundreds of thousands of Germans from both sides were able to meet for the first time in many years! They had a huge celebration in Berlin at the Wall, and used tools to break apart the ... read more

We discovered that we both have a museum limit of one per day. Standing in one place reading all the exhibits really wipes out our feet and makes the rest of the day a lot less fun. Fortunately, we discovered this after we managed to see most everything we wanted. We started the day with a leisurely breakfast in our neighborhood near the Haeckescher Markt (no, for some reason, they don't use the "ä" on any of the signs for it). We then revisited the Brandenburger Tor and Pariser Platz for some better photos (I had camera-battery issues yesterday), plus a look at the Reichstag. The line to get into the glass dome was horrendous, so we skipped it, but did enjoy a street-performance-art piece involving a life-size fluorescent orange marionette operated by ~6 young presumably-Germans. ... read more

Or, perhaps, eine Ostberlinerin. (I can do the grating Boston accent, too, y'all know I can.) We have a spectacular studio apartment on Linienstraße in East, yes East, Berlin. Words cannot even describe how cool it is to be in the East and how ridiculously normal a place it is. The proprietors are Rick-approved and we're pretty sure he has steered us well. Today we took the IC from Bahnhof Altona in Hamburg to Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten in Berlin, a little over 2 hours. Bf. Altona is definitely the way to go if you want a seat on this train. Poor folks who got on at the Hauptbahnhof or later were wedged, standing, in the corridors and stairways the entire time. We added insult to injury by leaving our reserved seats empty while we sipped kaffee ... read more