A breakdown of my Berlin trip, for the benefit of my parents

Tuesday 12/17

Nadia Baker is a saint.  The woman picked me up at 3:50 am and drove me to Stansted Airport.  I had to ask her this favor, as the trains just didn’t start that early.  I had a 6:25 am flight on Ryan Air.  Nadia is a good and reliable friend.  When I looked for cheap flights to Europe, I picked both Berlin and Ryan Air because of the price.  In the future, I don’t think I’ll bother with Ryan Air if I can avoid it.  The rates are low, but they charge extra for everything.  The fact that I was staying a week and wanted more than just a backpack full of clothes added £50.  Realizing that I would be cutting it close that morning, I reserved my seat (they make everyone sit wherever they like), which added another £20.  In the end, it would be better just sticking with a better airline.  I’d fly BA every time, if I could, but I do admit that Stansted airport is a pretty convenient option for outgoing flights. 

I got to Berlin early, and though I found that I had misinterpreted which S-bahn station I would be at on arrival (I seriously don’t know how I messed that one up), I figured out the transit system pretty easily.  Thanks to my Streetwise Berlin map, I got to the hotel on foot without a hitch.  I am completely sold on Streetwise maps.  My hotel, Pestana, had a room ready for me even though I arrived very early.  The room was quite nice, and the sauna area was quite relaxing, but the gym and pool were far smaller than I’d hoped.  The worst part was the internet.  It’s advertised as free wired internet, but they mean free 128k, but broadband is extra.  That is false advertising.  The 128k didn’t even work.  Internet is crucial enough to my traveling that I do actually decide between hotels based on it.  This was the only disappointment.

I took a nap and a shower, and then I went out to explore Berlin.  I wandered around the Tiergarten, Potsdamer Platz, Brandenburg Gate, and a few other places in Mitte.  I took Melanie Hughes' advice for the first of many times and had a curry wurst and Kostritzer for dinner.  I was relatively tired and was going to go home, but I happened across the Komische Oper, which was showing Die Fledermaus that evening.  I was just thinking about checking out German opera, and I couldn’t believe my luck that good seats were available for such an amazing show.  I did go home and change into my nice clothes, but I returned in the evening for a performance in which I understood no words and could not follow the plot, but I absolutely loved it. 

Wednesday 12/18

Thanks again to Melanie, I made an appointment to tour the Reichstag at 10:30 am.  I had a late night and was very tired, so I regretted the early time for a while, but it ended up being spectacular.  I managed to find a place to grab warm apple strudel on the way there, and I spent almost an hour walking around the dome and learning the history of both the building and the surrounding area of Berlin.  The Bundestag was even in session, and I got to look down on it and in from the entrance.  They emphasize transparency as an important part of their government, and it dawned on me thinking about the suspension of Parliament by Hitler that they really hadn’t ever had a republic before 1920.  It was a monarchy, or a collection of kingdoms, or an empire up until that point.  The 1920’s weren’t exactly good for Germany, so it’s no surprise they didn’t fight harder to keep parliament.  That’s a perspective I’d not considered before. 

I headed over to Hauptbanof across the river to grab some McDonald’s (I’m more adventurous with dinner than with lunch), then I headed through East Berlin on the way to O2 world, where I wanted to get tickets for the Berlin Polar Bears.  On the way, I went into the DDR museum, encompassing the entire 40 year history of East Germany.  It was fascinating, and it was another Melanie suggestion.  I stopped by Alexander Platz, where there was a huge Christmas market.  They’re all over the place, actually, and I love stopping by.  I had a warm alcoholic drink called Gluhwein (mulled wine) and a pretzel.  The pretzels have been great, but cold.  I also walked along the East Side Gallery, which is an existing part of the Berlin wall.  I then realized that I’d forgotten my “Who stole my chicken?” shirt.  I really need to just put it in my side bag permanently.  The Berlin wall would have been a great place for a shot. 

After successfully procuring some hockey tickets for Friday, I took the U-bahn back home.  It was cold outside, and my ankle suddenly started to hurt pretty badly, so I spent the rest of the evening enjoying the downstairs sauna and pool.  It was amazingly relaxing.  I did make it outside once more for dinner, as I’d passed an Argentinian steakhouse on the way home.  The steak was not cooked correctly, but I will give them credit that it was the best steak I’d had in a while.  However, they brought me nonalcoholic beer.  I’m surprised that’s legal in Germany.

Thursday 12/19

I had a whole week to enjoy Berlin, so I gave myself one day to just enjoy the hotel amenities.  I have missed a few things while living in the Old Palace, and on the top of the list is a hot shower.  It gets warm, but it never gets hot, except for a few startling seconds now and then when it goes from burning to freezing. I will never underestimate the joy of a hot shower.  This is the first hotel I'd ever stayed in that had a wet and a dry sauna downstairs, and I decided to take full advantage of that fact.  There's not much to say about this day except that I napped in the recliner, I dipped in the pool, I soaked in the sauna, went back to the recliner to read my Kindle, returned to my nap, and repeated the process several times.  That's how a relaxing day goes by very quickly.

And let me just say that I love my Kindle.  I read "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson on this particular trip.  The man combines history and travel reporting in a way that hooks me in.   

Friday 12/20

I decided to start early this morning, actually setting an alarm for 7:00.  I booked an early bird ticket for the TV tower, yet again following Melanie’s advice.  It was €12.50, but it was worth the view.  There’s a rotating restaurant up there, and I decided to go ahead and get a light breakfast so I could sit down and enjoy the view for a while.  Hockey started at 5:00, so I dedicated the afternoon to museum island.  I went to four museums on one ticket, the National Gallery, the Neus Museum, the Pergamum museum, and the Bode Museum.  They all allowed photography, which was nice.  However, they were amazingly particular about my bag.  I couldn’t bring in water, which in itself isn’t unique, but I thought they just wanted me to empty the bottle.  I was wrong.  Even an empty bottle is bad, so they asked me to hide it.  All that seemed pointless, but I obeyed.  I didn’t get one room farther before another person asked me to shift my camera bag around to the front instead of on my side.  I’m sure there’s a reason, but it escaped me.  I found the German painters to be somewhat less talented than the rest of Europe, but the sculptors were quite good.  What I did like is that Germans seemed to like depicting real life, which is what I always liked about the Dutch as well.  In the Neus Museum, I saw the painted bust of Nefertiti, and I see why it’s famous.  It’s exquisite.  I was amazed at the fine detail and intact colors from so many thousands of years ago.  Talent is not a modern invention.  The Pergamum museum held a unique appeal, as I’d just been to Pergamum this summer.  They recreated the temple entrance completely inside, and I was struck by visualizing it where I was standing this summer.  Again, very impressive.  The museum also recreated the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, which was made of amazingly blue brick.  After museum hopping for several hours, I made my way down to O2 World for some hockey.  I saw about 4 periods in all, the last two of the first game and the first two of the last game, and had a wonderful time.  There was some seriously good hockey, and the refs were in complete control.  They threw around several misconduct penalties whenever players got out of control.  It kept the game moving quickly.  The fans were like soccer fans in that they were chanting constantly.  They never shut up, and they had a wide array of songs.  They even had drummers.  It was distracting.  I see the point in soccer, somewhat, because so little is happening they have to entertain themselves.  In hockey, it’s just a distraction.  The game moves too fast to keep singing.  One real highlight was that at intermission I could grab a bratwurst, a pretzel, and a Franziskaner.  Now that’s seriously good stuff for a sports game!  I also made sure to get a couple scarves, as that’s the traditional accessory for just about every sport in Europe. 

All told, I left the hotel at about 8:00 am and got back at about 10:30 pm.  I had a full day.

Saturday 12/21

I had one major sight left on my list, and that was the Olympic Park, which is way out on the Western edge of town.  I intended to take the U-bahn all the way there, but the train I was on stopped a few stops short.  It just gave me a chance to walk some more.  The approach to the stadium is quite beautiful, and I happened to arrive just before the one English tour all week was scheduled.  The tour was just for the stadium, but it covered the history of the whole complex.  It's one of the few big additions of the Nazi era that is still used and embraced.  Berlin was supposed to host in 1916, and they'd arranged grounds already, but those games never happened due to WWI.  The '36 games were awarded before the Nazis came to power, and it was actually ballsy for Hitler to spend a ton of money (this was the Depression, remember) on new grounds when old grounds already existed.  It turned out to be useful enough to still be around almost 80 years later.  It is also the first time I know of that the games were used for such explicitly political reasons, and ended up gaining huge significance beyond sports because of Jesse Owens ruining those political plans.  It set an interesting precedent.  The grounds eventually became the British headquarters during the occupation years.  It was nicely refurbished for the 2006 World Cup, and it nicely combines a historical presence with modern quality, much like the rest of Berlin.  

After touring around the grounds and taking pictures from the top of the bell tower, I left the park on foot to finally do some shopping at the Christmas markets.  Again, I followed Melanie's advice and headed to Schloss Charlottenburg for what was a great market.  I got a few gifts, some more Gluhwein, and some fresh mini donuts.  It was wonderful.  I encountered several sellers that spoke very little English, but a smile and some patience goes far.  They want to sell stuff as much as I want to buy it, after all.  

I spent some more time soaking in the spa, which was far more crowded than last time.  It also had several naked adults and two beautiful, bikini-clad Russians.  After trying to relax, but being a little defeated because of all the distractions, I finally decided to try going out on the town.  Berlin is a huge clubbing city, and I was keen to see if I might enjoy some real clubbing for the first time in a long time.  Wikivoyage and Melanie were my sources of information, and I found two or three that sounded interesting.  The kick was that everyone says the party doesn't start until midnight or later.  Luckily, Berlin is smart enough to keep the transit system running all night on the weekend.  Still, I stopped by two different places and wasn't tempted to stick around either one.  The party still wasn't going even at 12:45, and I didn't feel the energy to keep searching for a party after walking around all day.  So, satisfied that I'd given it a shot, I called it a night.  With the right group, though, I could easily see myself dancing the night away in Berlin.

Sunday 12/22

For my last day, I was happy to see that I'd pretty well covered everything I wanted to do.  I headed over to Checkpoint Charlie, which I'd actually seen once before, but I wanted to see if any of the kitschy shops nearby would have anything tempting.  They didn't.  I walked around Postdamer Platz and the Sony Center to see if I was tempted by activities or movies.  I wasn't.  I went for a walk along Unter den Linden away from the Brandenburg gate, mostly because Melanie had told me there was an incredible car on display there.  I didn't find it, but I did go into the Mercedes shop to gawk a little.  There was a big VW building that was closed and covered, so perhaps the cool car was supposed to be there.  I followed some pretty lights over to a pretty building, which turned out to be a war memorial/tomb of the unknown soldier.  It was really just a somber looking statue of what looked like a refugee and her child.  It's a beautiful and somber memorial.  Next door was the German history museum.  So, I headed in and ended up spending 3 hours in there.  It wasn't the greatest museum ever, but the topic was fascinating.  Germany has had such a complex history, and I didn't know too much about it beyond the past century.  I was kinda bored by the museum itself, but the topic kept me interested for hours.  By the end, it was 6:00, and I decided to head home.  I went out for one more German dinner, as there was a Bavarian restaurant just down the street.  The beer was good, but the pretzel and schnitzel were just okay.  If there's one thing that really disappointed me about Berlin was the lack of truly great pretzels.  Maybe I just wasn't looking in the right places.

By the time I got back to the hotel, I realized NFL games were on.  I had to pay 15 Euro for the internet, but I felt like chilling for my last few hours watching football.  The Steelers had the late game, and it was nearly 1:00 am when I saw a horrible call against them in the 3rd Quarter.  I went to bed, needing to get up in a few hours for my flight.  I ended up missing a very entertaining end of the game.  Let that be a lesson to me.  Steelers first.  Sleep second.  At least when I don't have to work in the morning.