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Friday July 31
Flew in from Munich today. Like the other flight into Germany, you get off the plane quickly but it takes forever for your bags to actually get to you, even though you can actually see the plane from where you are waiting. Anyway....
Found our hotel with little issue and it was nice, pretty centrally located so not a far walk to the train or to area restaurants and shops.
We had a pretty quiet day after we arrived as Nat was starting to feel a little under the weather and didn't want to risk it getting worse. We had a beer across the road and then while i searched for a store to buy some water Nat went and had a lie down.
That night we just went up the road and had dinner at a movenpick type restaurant and called in an early night.
Saturday Aug 1
Today we went on a free walking tour of the city, and it was brilliant. Essentially the guides work on tips as well as try and get you to book on of the company's other tours. But this one was great, the guide was a student of German and Russian histor and was very passionate about it all and a lot of fun. We visited Brandenberg Gate, The Reichstag, Holocaust memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin Wall, Hitlers Bunker (which is just a parking lot now), Book Burning Memorial, and so many other sites it was great.
After the tour we went back to Checkpoint Charlie and to the Topography of Terror which was an outdoor memorial/museum outlining the history of basically Nazi Germany.
Needless to say we were pretty tired after all that and were struggling to find where to go for dinner that wasn't going to be tourist crap. We settled on a steakhouse, but it was booked up for another hour so we decided lets go grab a drink across the road in this mexican place, where after thinking about waiting another hour to hopefully get a table, we decided to just eat fajitas and drink some beer.
Sunday Aug 2
Today we decided to do one of the other tours (yes we got roped in by the 'Free' tour) but the one we did was actually the original one that was recommended to us and is how we found out about the free tour. This one was the Alternative city tour and it took us to places that no tourist really would ever go.
Stranded behind the Iron curtain for nearly 40 years, West Berlin developed it's own, unique identity and become a magnet for non-conformists in search of an alternative lifestyle. Sub-cultures, squats, and graffiti art become part of Berlin's distinct style, and with the fall of the Berlin Wall the scene didn't disappear, it simply moved east.
On this tour we explored the gritty, grungy, underground of the city. We were shown the clash between corporate expansion & counter-culture.
The squats were a little nerve racking and we were told to put our cameras away as the least they would do if you took a photo was to simply erase it, but cautioned us it would probably be far worse. Then 3 guys walked passed yelling that the people in the squat were a bunch of so and so's. in which our guide replied something in Gaelic and they then had a little conversation, which was comforting cause the guys seemed pretty angry and, oh yeah, carrying and swinging a hurley bat. Once we got to the squat he encouraged us to go in, and he said that he would stay outside, so everyone clearly hesitated, except for Nat who didnt really break stride. After people saw her go in a me scurry along behind her they too followed. It was interesting how they had built up the squat, but we didnt stay long as it wasnt the most welcoming atmosphere. We also went past these major techno clubs (old power station, and still looks like it) as well as we went by the place that was the birthplace of techno whcih was an old bomb shelter.
The artwork we say along the way was great and very interesting to hear the history and stories behind the grafitti. It ended at the east side gallery and there were some artists that had returned to fix up, or replace their original artwork from when the wall fell cause it was the 20th anniversary this year.
After all this we decided to got to a burger place that i had read about call 'The Bird'...if anyone goes to Berlin, you HAVE to go to this place for a burger...it is hands down the best burger i have ever eaten in my life.
Monday Aug 3
Today we woke to rain. We had decided to go to the Pergamon Museum today so with the rain it wasnt such a bad thing. The museum was cool and lots of interesting things. Berlin was such an interesting place with all the history and the fact that over 90% of it was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt, but it is so hard to tell.
That night we went to another restaurant that i had looked up called Le Cocotte. It was this little place that was really really good. we sat outside on this covered patio on this quiet little side street. The food was so simple but so tasty and exactly what you would want on a cooler rainy day, also would highly recommend this place to anyone going to Berlin, did i mention the burger from The Bird???Halfway through dinner this little boy and girl came around with a plastic bag and a big note pad. You could tell they were nervous and were sorting out their plan to talk to customers. They were selling horoscopes for 20 cents each. They had folded up these pieces of paper that they had written one on and then once you gave them 20 cents you got to choose one out of the bag. Ours said 'You will live a very happy life'. Very cute and funny and it was nice to see that people actually bought these from the kids, they start out skeptical but once they read them everyone smiled and laughed.
Tomorrow Venice
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