Berlin

May 22^nd to 25^th 2015

Friday, May 2^nd

AKA The Arrival

And so the Eurail Trip commences!

First stop BERLIN!

Friday I left Strasbourg with one suitcase and a backpack (so much regret, I brought too much stuff) and it took me 7 hours by train to get to Berlin. It was a popular destination because it was a long weekend in Germany and so the ICE (German speedtrain) was packed packed packed, and many of us were standing and Deutschebahn was paying people to hop off and take the next train. The most amazing thing that I found was that German strangers socialize with each other on the train. Who needs Tinder, just hop on a German train. I am totally the type of person to strike up random conversation with strangers, but my German is way too rudimentary and so that made me shy.

Lisa is working in a small city 1 hour away from Berlin and her friend, Sandra came from their hometown all around 7pm and we met at Berlin Hauptbanhof, the biggest train station I have seen so far.

We were fortunate to have Lisa’s grandfather’s apartment to stay in for the weekend :D and not far from Warschauer Strasse where the parties are at. 

 To celebrate our arrival, a little sparkling wine we found in a shopping bag someone forgot on the train along with a pack of cigarettes :P

Guess which glass was mine...

Lisa, Michmich and Sandra

It is true that Asians are more yellow -__-

We settled in slowly and then hit the town looking for a cool bar stopping many times, once so I could get supper, and a couple times to buy beer.

Berlin, native city of the Döner Kebap! Was tastier here than anywhere I tried in France.

Drinking alcohol in public in Germany is fine. My first reaction to the girls opening their bottles in the streets was, don’t we need to find paper bags to cover that... Apparently not. Drinking beer in the streets is equivalent to drinking water in the streets :P

We explored the Warschauer Strasse area and saw many bars with terrasses and an old industrial area transformed into a hip party area with graffitis and art on the walls.

 Here is an example; look MJ as a kid :)

We settled down a couple streets further in a cocktail bar called Palm Beach. The floor was covered in sand and the cocktails were very fruity and delicious.

Here I am pretending I have an alcohol tolerance

Oh Michelle...

Saturday, May 23^rd

AKA Super Tourist Day

How we made our plans... 

View of the Fernsehturm (the famous radio tour) from the Bundestag

We started our day in the afternoon with the governmental buildings.

Kanzler Amt: The Chancellor's Building

The Chancellor is actually more active in the government than the president. It is a way to make sure there is democracy, because the president had too much power legislatively and in execution. The Chancellor is the executive power. The president has become about as symbolic as the Queen of England for Canada. The building has plenty of glass to symbolize "transparency" in the new democratic government.  

Bundestag/Reichstag, the Parliament. The top dome was redesigned after the reunification to also show this idea of "transparency" and to be more eco-friendly. German citizens are allowed to see the view from the dome (like the Big Ben in England for UK citizens) but there is a waiting list.

   

All the failed attempts to get a jump shot...

There was a memorial area for the murdered Jews during the war on our way to the Brandenburger tor. The water flowed from centre out and serene sounds were playing. It was really sad and beautiful.

We continued on to the Brandenburger tor (Brandenburg Gate) and the Pariser Platz (Paris Place). The most famous place probably of all of Berlin. 

We passed by Humbolt University of Berlin. This was interesting because one, I got free internet near it thanks to the awesome "eduoram" connection I get in all universities :D, two, but seriously, this is where the notion of geopolitics started, a subject I studied this semester in Strasbourg. 

Afterwards, we directed ourselves towards the Berliner Dom (the Berlin Cathedral). We didn't go in because you had to pay an entrance fee.

Car

 

Many colourful cars passed us by but my camera was too slow to catch more than one. These are called Trabi. There were popular cars during the GDR. It took sometimes 4 years to get one. The build is made of cardboard

Not far was the Rote Rathaus (Red City Hall)

While approaching Alexanderplatz, here is a close-up of the Fernsehturm

In the Alexanderplatz there is an atomic clock. Very science. Very cool. Beaucoup nice (shoutout to Ralph) ;)

There wasn't much to photograph, it was a commercial place and we were really hungry so we rushed to the food court in the Alexa Mall, one of the country's largest shopping malls (nothing much compared to North American standards haha).

Sandra had heard from someone that there is a Barbiebar in Berlin. In my head, it was more of a Barbie Café and so I thought it would be super bright and pink and commercial. I dressed in my pink heart romper to match the décor and relive my childhood, but I was surprised by a real bar atmosphere with Barbie in a more creepy representation. It was really interesting and cool and not at all what I was expecting. 

 

Me trying to match the decor :P

The most important thing, though was that they had amazing cake!

Sunday, May 24^th

AKA Carnival Day!!

Sunday, the day was dedicated to the Karnaval der Kulturen; the streets were blocked off and filled with stands (mostly selling alcohol) and shops and PEOPLE as a Parade with over 60 floats and groups passed by with dancing groups from different cultures and loud live music and sometimes club music.
Unfortunately, Sandra could not join us for the rest of the weekend :( But we will see her again in her hometown next weekend!

I am not going to lie, what excites me the most about carnivals is the cheap street food! 

Sunday had to best weather for an outdoor party. Lisa and I were surprised to see so many young people. Most seemed to be under the age of 30 and the blocked of streets were really long. It seemed like all of Berlin’s teenagers and young adults (plus probably many of other German cities) had assembled at the carnival. Absolutely crazy.

To cool off from the crowds, we went to the Berlin Mauer, the East Side Wall (nobody was there, all were still partying it up) 

Right next to the wall is the important waterway: The Spree.

Monday, May 25th

AKA Holiday = Relax Day

Once again, we took it slow after a good night's sleep to go see a couple more sites of the beautiful city. 

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Ominous and quite morbid

Me being sad

Our last touristy stop is the Hackescher Höfe (hof = courtyard)

Usually the courtyards are surrounded by shops. Before the war, these were Jewish dwellings, communities and businesses that worked very well. Everything is so sad here D:

I matched the setting so we had to take a picture

One of the shops was full of knick-knacks and I found these mint boxes very entertaining :D

An area of höfe was named the Rosenhöfe (the rose courtyards). Not many of the roses had bloomed yet so we had to take pictures with the ones that were open. 

Because big city is guaranteed to have the best ethnic food we looked for a Korean restaurant (because... you know... it's me) but we were not skillful with situating ourselves in Berlin and sat down at a Indian restaurant instead (still Asian food). Our last meal in Berlin ;'(

I'll see this amazing girl in her hometown next weekend. Not ready to say goodbye!

Auf Wiedersehen Berlin!