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Published: March 24th 2010
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We awoke today to another fairly nice day, though somewhat overcast. After again feasting at breakfast we headed out into the city toward our first stop, the GDR Museum. This museum captures the life of the citizens of East Berlin who lived in the Communist "German Democratic Republic" with hands on exhibits and recreations of a typical home, etc. Though my Easter European trip some years ago gave me a lot of experience with museums recreating life under communism, I did enjoy this museum quite a bit, save the annoying school groups. The fact that the Berlin East Germans were literally cut off from half of their city overnight makes the situation quite a bit different, literally a wall separating them from Western Life.
Moving on along we stumbled upon the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, Berlin's first neo-Gothic church built between 1824 and 1830. Inside it is no longer a functioning church but rather an exhibition of 19th century sculptures by various German artists. I was much more interested by the structure itself, built by Schinkel, but it was a nice arrangement of things.
After the church we decided it was time to check out a German grocery store to see
what treats it might have in store for us. Some highlights included aspic-central-station at the deli counter and cute little rabbit-shaped containers with salami in it. We ended up with just some marzipan and haribo gummies to snack on, but it was a nice visit.
Next was Checkpoint Charlie, the famous checkpoint between the West and East German zones. Charlie refers to the letter "C" as it was "Alpha, Beta, Charlie..." and so on to name the various checkpoints in the city. The place might be described as Disney-fied in the sense that the whole thing is a recreation and that it isn't even in the spot where the actual checkpoint was, but whatever. We felt cool re-entering East Berlin through the "actual" checkpoint.
Our next objective was currywurst, the famous German (particularly Berlin) invention of pork sausage sliced up and drowned in ketchup seasoned with curry. We went to Curry 36, supposedly the best place in the city, and had a lovely little snack besides my German disaster in ordering. Though it wasn't amazing, we obviously shoveled the sausages down our throat in mere seconds.
Continuing back toward the center we stopped for a few rounds
of beers at what turned out to be a very touristy but tasty place called "Mommseneck" that advertised having over 100 beers. I started with a delicious Weihenstephan Hefeweissen, then a Radeberger Pilsner. Afternoons as such, just reveling in German beer culture and talking and laughing have been the highlight of my time in this city hands down.
On our way back we ran into the Holocaust memorial, a massive square of concrete blocks. To be honest, I thought this was super lame. It was the HOLOCAUST, could you not have done something a little nicer?
Stopping back at the hostel for a few hours so some people could nap, and so I could have more beer and write this blog, we then ventured back out for dinner. The spot we hoped to eat at, the oldest restaurant in the city, was all booked for the night. The a**hole at the desk was kind enough to bark "there is no place here!!!" to make it clear. Instead we headed to the area surrounding Nikolaikirche and settled for Kartoffel-Laube, where every dish basically centers around potatoes. The menu was intimidating and all in German, so somehow I ended up
with a vegetarian dish. Thank god for the little bits of ham and the really good mushrooms. Mike and Jackie meanwhile had a carnivore's feast. I had a Erdinger Dunkel and a Schultheiss to drink, the former of which was dark and tasty and the latter very non-descript. For dessert we had incredible Kartoffelkuchen and Apfelstrudel with vanilla ice cream. Yum yum yum.
Another night in Berlin ended with all of us in a beer and food coma wanting to explode...
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I agree that the memorial to the Holocaust looks truly lame. The kartoffelkuchen looks very appetizing; is it a coincidence that the Polish word for potato is kartofel? The beer you're drinking is inviting; if I were with you, I think I'd even have one!