Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Berlin

We woke up early and went to Central Station to get tickets for the train.  Our first time using the Eurail passes we paid dearly for:
Since we started on July 8, we have until August 8 to use our passes as much as we want.  Even though we paid an arm and a leg for our passes, we still have to pay a reservation fee each time we reserve a train!  It's so bogus!  What's even worse is that we have 1st class train tickets, but some trains charge even more to let you sit in 1st class, EVEN IF YOU HAVE A 1ST CLASS TICKET!  It's criminal!
We were able to get a same day train for 35 Euro and got our tickets:
Then we got on the train:
1st class baby!
The big difference between 1st class and 2nd class is basically less people, more room, free (shitty) internet.  That's about it.  Although, if you ask me, that makes a huge difference when you're tired and cranky early in the morning.
We're here!
Tried a train station brat:
Not bad!
Our hostel is pretty nice:
I forgot to take a picture of the room, but it was spacious.
Then we went exploring.  We're close to the train station, so we went back to catch a bus into Alexanderplatz.
Alexanderplatz:
Pretty!  We walked around, but then got tired and went back to the hostel to sleep.

Day 2:  We woke up and wanted to see The Berlin Wall because that's all I know about Berlin (I know that's lame).  We took the bus and walked until we hit a wall.  We had no idea it was THE WALL until we saw people taking pictures.  It was very unassuming in the sense it had no plaque or commemoration signaling that it was THE WALL.  Nonetheless, we figured it out:
Artistic, huh?  Then we got to some adjacent wall, but not Berlin Wall any longer and saw some more cool graffiti art:

We walked until we saw a giant church:
Then we went for an authentic German meal.  The bar/restaurant we chose was really old and had the stale smell of originality, as well as some really old customers, so we knew we were in the right place.
Aaron ordered rolled beef stuffed with cucumber, bacon and onion with pickled cabbage and potatoes:
OMG insantiy!  It was fall apart perfect and the filling was to die for!
I ordered schnitzel (thin breaded pork cutlet) with potatoes and salad:
Also delish, but Aaron's really blew it out of the water.
Great, perfect, authentic German meal.

Kept walking til we got to Alexanderplatz (you know you're near when you see the needle):
We found a random park and were feeling frisky:
Can you find Aaron?
Yup, that one's easy!

Then we walked to the needle, found out you could go up and see the city from the top and decided we needed to go there immediately.
Ding!  We're here!
They have a bar and a restaurant up there, so we got a drink and enjoyed it in the clouds.
The gift shop had some needle-shaped stuff:
I accidentally broke something, so Aaron made us run before anyone found out.

Then we met up with a large group to do a pub crawl we saw advertised on a map we got.
I heard it was about 60 people in our group and we met up with another group making it probably about 100.  We got into 2 clubs and 1 bar free and without having to wait in line.  We also got a couple free tiny shots, all included for the price of 12 Euro each.  Honestly, I've done a few pub crawls and this was NOT a pub crawl by any stretch, but it was still fun.
I met a guy from Wisconsin and I kept calling him "Cheese," so when he found me at the bar, he said we had to take a picture:
We also met a really cool guy from Sweden named Olaf:
Overall, fun night!

Day 3:  We slept in and then decided to explore some of the city, which was incredible by the way.  See for yourself:
We passed a Jewish cemetery and Holocaust memorial:
That's probably the saddest sculpture I've ever seen.
I didn't want to take too many pictures because it felt sort of insensitive.

We found a random mask store (because what city is complete without a giant store of masks?):
Downstairs they have a small makeup effects studio, where you can get your makeup done for Halloween or a costume party.  We watch a lot of Face Off on SyFy (if you haven't seen Face Off, find it On Demand now!  It's so cool), so we were pretty into it.
Okay, enough with this foolishness!  Back to the beautiful architecture: 
Aaron wasn't hiding in that one, just FYI.  He did however, move while I was taking the panoramic and his jacket looks all bouncy.  Trippy.
Isn't Berlin just beautiful?  At this point, we were tired and starving, so we hopped in a weird wagon-thing and a guy biked us to our destination:
Hofbrau is a touristy, gimmicky restaurant where the waiters dress in traditional garb, you eat traditional food and there's traditional singing and dancing.  My mom recommended we try it out and while it wasn't the most authentic, off-the-beaten-path experience, it was fun and well worth it.  
We ordered the pork roast with coleslaw and potato dumplings:
It was very good.  The potato dumplings are like nothing I've ever had before.  They're really gelatinous, like Asian sticky rice.  Aaron wasn't a fan and I'm still not sure if I was either:
They didn't really taste like potato at all.  Hmm...interesting.  
While we were enjoying, we noticed everyone ordering the same thing: the crispy pork knuckle.  We knew we had to try it:
OMG!  The outside was crispy like potato chips and the inside was moist and tender.  Amazing!  
Then it was back to the hostel to pack for Paris!

Update:  I know I'm backtracking, so I thought I'd update you on what's currently happening.  We're leaving Paris tomorrow morning (7/16) for the South of France (Nice, to be more specific).  As usual, I'm going to try to blog when I can, but things are going to get more hectic (believe it or not) because we're speeding up.  More stops and less time in each means less alone time for blogging.  I'll do what I can, but it might not be much.  I promise once we settle in Spain I will definitely post EVERYTHING.

Paris has been spectacular.  Everywhere you look, you see something you've seen in the movies.  It's a hypnotic place, something in the air here just entrances you and it's just enchanting.  Bastille Day was yesterday (basically their Fourth of July) and there was a HUGE concert in the park right under the Eiffel Tower, complete with insane fireworks.  Unforgettable experience.  I will try to post ASAP, the Paris blog is not to be missed!

1 comment:

  1. Can't wait to hear more. Food looks delish. Crazy masks!

    ReplyDelete