Guten tag y'all,
After spending an enjoyable day in Hamburg and a couple quaint nights in Lüneburg, Johannes, Clara, and I made a trip to Berlin. Hamburg was a great introduction to Germany and Europe with its canals, fancy architecture, and ridiculous cars (seriously, I saw 4 Ferraris, 2 Aston Martins, and 2 Lamborghinis, not to mention countless BMWs and Mercedes), but if Hamburg was a slice of Europe, Berlin was an entire pie. Here are the notes I took about our stay:
- Traveled to Berlin by train from Lüneburg, which took 2.5 hours by train, and found the hostel where we would be spending the night, a nice place called Seven East
- We walk around the corner to rent bikes for a day, which was very crucial. We wouldn't have seen half of what we saw walking or taking the Metro and gave me a real feel for the city, especially as I was the navigator.
- When I asked if I could have a helmet to go along with the bike, the rental lady looked at me as if I asked for training wheels (I know this for a fact because I asked that moments later). So I traveled the city sans helmet hair (sorry mom, at least I tried). The first time I ride a bike for about 7 years, give or take a few instances, and I have to navigate traffic in the third largest city in Europe without a helmet (and later, in the rain)... exciting!
- We started off towards the Berliner Dom, a large cathedral in the East side that's all blinged out in the traditional style. From the rooftop we could see all of Berlin
- We biked up to the Berlin TV Tower, the tallest tower in the city with the intentions of going to the top to see all of Berlin, but then we realized we already did that and decided to go to lunch instead.
- To get to the lunch spot, we rode all the way down (about 3 km) Unter Den Liden - the most famous street in Berlin. There are many government and old-fashioned buildings lining the street until we got to the Brandenburger Gate, which separated East and West Berlin along with the Wall pre-1990. It looks kinda like the Arc d'Triomph and is surrounded by the US, Great Britain, and French embassies, as well as Hotel Adlon, the most famous hotel in Berlin.
- We continued down past the President's house; Johannes and Clara had difficulty describing his position in the country, but I got the sense he wasn't very important - the Chancellor is the top dog in Germany.
- We finally arrived at Weitzman, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant famous for its Schnitzel and Spätzle, which is definitely the name of the German Cheech and Chong in an alternate universe. I had eaten Schnitzel everywhere I went, so I tried the Spätzle. It was freaking fantastic! Noodles with cheese tomatoes and mushrooms all mixed together and cooked in a way that they all stuck to each other and you had to use a fork and knife to cut out bites. Rejuvenated we cycled back up Unter Den Liden.
- When we got back to the Brandenburger Gate, we saw storm clouds rolling in. Johannes suggested that we head to the Sony Center, an open air covered mall that has restaurants and entertainment. With the rain just beginning to fall as we entered we bought tickets for Toy Story 3D in IMAX. Pixar didn't let us down.
- The rain had just stopped when we left, so we biked home and prepared for dinner. Again Johannes came up with a big suggestion: eating out at a Singapore/Malaysian restaurant on a trendy street. The food there was sooo good, cheap, and in huge proportions, I really felt terrible leaving some of my chicken with peanut and coconut milk sauce untouched. The final bill was 40 Euros, but my cousins advised me to tip only 2 euros (5%), because anything more may be taken as an insult?!? Whatever, I guess I'll take it
- We found a bar that Johannes could get into (he's only 16 and can drink in Germany, but not go into clubs, which you must be 18 years old for) and met a kid from Michigan who was visiting a German girl who did an exchange program at his high school. Naturally, with the world being as small as it is, his hometown was five minutes from the place we had the Lauer family reunion 3 years ago. (The night before in Lüneburg, I got a free drink after talking with the bartender, who exchanged in Argus, right outside of South Bend, IN) We stayed until 2 before heading back to the hostel to call it a night.
Today we biked around a bit in the Medieval section of town before heading to the train back to Hamburg, where I'll be seeing Hamburger SV play Chelsea!
Last note: for whatever reason, my German phone isn't connecting to Twitter. I'll give it another shot, but if this doesn't work I won't be able to post as often as I'd like to up there.
…
I wrote that all a couple days ago when I didn’t have an internet connection. Right now, I am sitting at Crepes A Gogo, a stone’s throw away from the Pantheon, drinking café au lait and eating a lemon crepe. I’ll update about the incredible Chelsea-HSV match and my Paris adventure soon with pictures.
Au Revoir,
Stephen “Scuba” Lauer
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