Berlin - Day 2
In an effort to have a somewhat healthier start to the day, we've bought some yoghurt, fruit and muesli to have in the hotel. We have a civilised breakfast at the hotel room's desk and then head out to embrace the city that smells like sewerage, unfortunately.
We've got a boat tour booked for a bit later in the morning, so we have some time to explore the city a bit more. We head in the opposite direction of where we spent yesterday and accidentally stumble onto Bernauer Straße, which is where we see some sections of the remaining Berlin Wall and what is now a memorial. There's is lots of green space as well as a lot of information on placards around the memorial. It's quite peaceful and understated and there are locals walking through with their dogs.
We hustle on as we've got a tour to get to. We board the boat and set sail. Our tour guide is relaying the information first in German then in English. He has a good sense of humour and we get some interesting information about German politics (they have a President and a Chancellor, but the President is more like a King meaning it's the Chancellor who is really in charge), the current housing situation (80% of Germans rent their homes, much of that from the state, and long term rental AirBnBs are illegal) and he points out bullet holes riddled along the banks of the river and buildings from the fighting during World War II, which we'll now notice everywhere in Berlin. It's not the most exciting of tours in terms of scenic landscapes, but we've learnt something at least.
Time for some midday sustenance. Jeff is aiming for a Subway but we get derailed when we see that everyone is chowing down on some delicious looking sandwich which is not Subway. We think we've found what they are all eating and we are right. Enter the döner kebab. Apparently, they originated and were popularised in 1970s West Berlin by Turkish immigrants. And thank goodness because they are incredible. It's kebab meat, chicken or beef usually, in the most delicious bread which is kind of like a crunchy focaccia, lettuce, tomato, red cabbage, onion, capsicum and some delicious garlic and/or spicy sauce. Jeff gets the beef döner and Courts opts for a chicken wrap. Both are extremely happy with their choices.
We always like to get to the highest place in a new city to see what its all about and the Berlin Cathedral (Berlina Dom) gives us a good option. €20 and many steps later and we get the full panorama. Its a very disjointed skyline, as expected, but charming in its own way, I guess.
Next up, some more history is required. We've realised we have a lot to learn about Germany's history in the World and Cold Wars. We arrive at the History of Germany Museum. The bulk of it is closed for renovations (which seems to be a theme around here, lots of scaffolding around the city and lots of places temporarily closed). The museum is offering a "Roads Not Taken" exhibition, which is kind of like a what would happen if this happened instead of what actually happened in history. Except that it either isn't or we've missed a part of the exhibition (with our track record with museums, it's probably the latter). There is a wealth of information around both the World Wars, atomic and nuclear warfare and German history in general, but it's pretty heavy stuff. We leave with our heads overflowing with information and not sure if it's made our understanding any clearer.
We head back to the hotel to freshen up for a Friday night out in Berlin. First stop is Pratergarten, a beer garden in a trendy suburb we haven't yet been to. We hop on the tram and because the ticket purchasing system is not straightforward, we treat ourselves to a free ride. It's only a few stops anyway. We hop off the tram and it's a short walk to the garden. It's a lovely sunny afternoon and there's already a good buzz about the place. We drink litre steins of beer, eat pretzels, sausage and sauerkraut. It's glorious.
As lovely as the afternoon is, we want to see a bit more of this area. Jeff finds what looks to be a dive bar on the map and we bop on over. We enter into what can only be described as an actual dive bar. You can smoke in bars in Berlin and they are making the most of it here. The bar tenders are even lighting up, which is so bizarre. There's a game of poker going on at one of the tables. According to the bar tender "you can do what you want, its Berlin!". Sounds good to me. We park up at the bar and getting chatting with the bar tender. We tell him we like Digitalism and he tells us he likes Dune Rats. The wheels start to fall off around there as we start doing shots of god only knows what between beers. One includes flames and a straw and I can't tell you much more after that. But we had a lot of fun.
We still haven't had proper dinner (the pretzel and sausage earlier were merely a snack), so we head to a nearby fast food place and get burgers and manage to get the guy behind the counter to play some Digitalism though the restaurant. Courts decides we should try and hit up a club, it's Friday night in Berlin after all. The bar tender gave us a recommendation so we head there. We have the worlds worst beer (Berlin Kindle, for the record) and a bit of boogie before deciding it's time to Uber back to the hotel and get to bed.
