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Josh’s European Adventure: Day 21 – Berlin, Germany

We slept a little later than yesterday and Linda was feeling a little rough this morning, I could tell it in her face.  We went down for some breakfast and Linda couldn’t eat anything.  This was another indication that poor Linda might have been a little hung over, poor kid.  Anyway I had a full breakfast like usual and took two rolls for Linda incase she wanted them later on.  At around 1030AM we left the hostel and went towards Alexander Platz.  Today we wanted to do a Fat Tire Bike Tour of Berlin.  Unfortunately when we got to the square and the area where the guides were they told us that financially speaking they couldn’t run the tour with just the two of us.  Linda was quite disappointed and I thought that it was complete bullshit and that these guys just didn’t want to work today and that it was too cold for them.

Instead of doing the Fat Tire Bike Tour, we decided to go up the Berlin Tower.  This was something that Linda had never done in all her times to Berlin, and while I generally don’t do it I figured that since it as a semi sunny day that we should do it, and so we did.  The ride up the tower in the elevator was really quick.  It was approximately 6 meters per second (1 meter is approximately 3.33 feet).  At the top it was slightly cloudier than it appeared to be on the ground but I told Linda that I thought it was fine out and that the windows needed to be cleaned and that they looked a little dirty, she disagreed and said it was the clouds.

We ended up spending about a half hour or so at the top and then when we got back down we went to an internet café to check a few things that we might want to do today in Berlin since our plans were foiled by the dumb bike people.  We decided that we would go to the famous and slightly touristy Checkpoint Charlie Museum.  I wasn’t sure what to expect but after spending at least an hour in the museum, snapping photos and learning about the situation in Germany post World War II when France, USA, Soviet Union and the UK split Germany into four parts and how overnight East Germany was formed with a wall that would run through Germany and then through Berlin created West Germany and East Germany.  The wall would run approximately 1300 or something kilometers (1.6 kilometers to 1 mile).  Bottom line the wall was long but definitely a lot shorter than one would expect it to be.  I am sure when people think of the Berlin wall they think of this 20 foot wall, but in reality it is probably 9-10 feet high, maybe not that high.  Anyway I found the museum, the history and the surrounding area of Checkpoint Charlie to be very interesting, insightful and informative.

From Checkpoint Charlie Linda took me to this very nice square and along the way we stopped at Mini Berlin.  It was cool to see all the new Minis and what a place like this sells with the Mini logo; shirts, shoes, jackets, and anything that the Mini symbol can be put on.

From there we happen to stumble on this very fancy chocolate shop.  What drew us in where this huge sized replicas made of chocolate of famous landmark buildings in Berlin; Brandenburg Gate etc…I ended up buy two pieces of chocolate, one milk, one dark chocolate to give to people when I got home.

Now it was time to head into the East side of Berlin, formerly part of East Germany.  One can usually tell when one enters “East” Germany.  This buildings start to look all the same, the area is grittier and the prices for everything start to dramatically drop.  We took several trains and ended at a place called the East Side Gallery.  The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall remaining today.  It is approximately 1.3 Kilometers long (almost a mile) and it is called the East Side Gallery because over the years people have created very cool paintings on this part of the wall.  After snapping several great photos of each other, Linda and I walked down the entire part of the wall.  We stopped along the way to admire the wall, chat and look around.

And once again we saw the two Argentinean guys who were staying in our room.  We have see these dudes like everyday in the most random places, very weird.  From the East Side Gallery we walked to Berlin Ostbanhof Station and hopped on the “S Bahn to the U Bahn to the H Bahn,” which means that it took us several trains to get back to Rosenthal Platz.

When we got off our final train Linda and I were both hungry.  We settled on a Mexican Restaurant located across the street from the hostel.  It was around 4PM and even though this was way to late to eat lunch and way too early to eat dinner, Linda and I did not care.  I ended up ordering Chili Con Carne and a veggie burrito.  It was way too much food and I’m sure that I would pay the price for that meal, whether it was later in the night or the following day.

Today would be a very relaxed, chill day.  Once we got back to the hostel Linda passed out.  I worked on a few things for school (ugh school work sucks, one more semester!) and that was it.  We wouldn’t leave the room again.  I think we both needed a relaxing day/night before our final full day in Berlin.  I didn’t mind even though at one point I was pretty damn bored.  When the lights went out in the hostel dorm room, I through on a movie and watched it for about twenty minutes before I turned off and fell asleep.



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