After a taxing morning, getting up “early” after a late night and travelling by overcrowded train, we were looking forward to some relaxation time. We arrived in Berlin around 2pm and this taxi driver didn’t know much English either (like in Leipzig), but he knew enough to point out the Berlin wall as we traveled past it to our hotel on the Spree River, a stone’s throw from Checkpoint Charlie in East Berlin. Irina and I were already excited about this hotel from the pictures we’d seen online and we were not disappointed!
The entrance to our hotel had a really great piece of Berlin Wall art. Inside, the lobby was quite large, with a pile of electric guitars on one side and the lounge beyond with pink shapes in the air and weird chairs (I didn’t get any pictures of that, but you can see plenty on the nhow berlin website). The staff were all wearing pink and black (the men with pink ties, the ladies with pink flowers in hair) and quite helpful. I later discovered they had a video game room and an “office” where I was able to book and print my train tickets to Munich on Friday. When we got into our room, we were similarly impressed: it was quite large, with plenty of room for our bags by the door, a golden couch, chaise lounge, electric piano, room separator/large TV, giant bathroom with large bath area and separate shower room, as well as a full closet and a second half-bathroom(!!!). The hotel also had a nice gym which we used once and 3 different types of saunas, as well as an art gallery (and nice touches like artistic elevator ceilings, see left-side of this paragraph).
After we got settled, I walked over to nearby Mamo Falafel, where I had some fresh-made falafel, with various toppings and fries. I saw a street juggler on the way and some bits of the Wall, starting to get a good feeling about Berlin. I returned to our room, where Irina was already napping and laid down for a little while myself, then got up and had a very relaxing bath with music and a book. After bath and naps, we decided to walk around Kreuzberg area, past interesting bars, shops and a fancy European McDonalds, to dinner at Viasko, a nice vegan pub-style restaurant. On the Spree river bridge, we saw some street musicians playing quite excellent rock and roll (in English); they were better than many of the bands I’ve seen at clubs, but I didn’t get their name. We slept pretty well that night after our 4+ mile stroll to/from dinner.
In our second day, we wanted to take it easy, so we slept in and decided to stick close to the hotel. We walked north for lunch at Yoyo Foodworld (vegan schnitzel) and walked around that area (Friedrichshain). We discovered 2 of the shops we wanted to visit were no longer in existence, but had a nice walk anyhow, hitting a few random shops. When we got back, Irina got a massage in the room and I entertained myself in the lobby with free wi-fi. For the evening, Irina had a leisurely meal at the hotel while awaiting our guests, 2 of Steffi’s friends that we’d met briefly in Leipzig, who were staying at a hotel a few blocks away. I got a vegan pizza delivered from Sfizy Veg, which I ate in our room and rushed down to find a commotion in the lobby – teenagers swarming all around two young identical men with tall blond hair in black & white outfits. Apparently, these were celebrities from the X-Factor who were staying at our hotel – “Jedward“. While I was distracted by the Jedward experience and looking around for Irina, I ran into Jesica and Alan. We got a table, then Irina found us and we had a lovely evening, chatting and drinking until late. Jesica is a British transplant (from American midwest) and Alan is staunchly British, cringing at our American English, e.g., silent-h “herbs”, but we were quite happy to converse with some friendly English-speakers.
On our third day, we finally began to use the public transportation, taking the S-Bahn on Warschauer Street to one near our lunch place, Kopps, which was delicious. We also did a little shopping there and walked past a lovely street market, which had the dreaded spargel, and then on to Central Station (Hauptbahnhof). From there, we walked over to the Hamburger Bahnoff Museum, which was a treat. First, we entered a dark, cavernous room with light sculpture, then saw architectal works, abstract art, creepy doll art, then the more familiar American pop art collection, including a few Lichenstein and Warhol pieces.
After the museum, we headed to the Friedrichstadt Palace (theater) and I tried to find some place vegan-friendly nearby but to no avail. Irina ate outside an Italian restaurant where I joined her for a small salad and some broken glass (my embarrassing accident), then we went into the Palace for our show. Yma was an amazing cabaret-style performance, featuring aerial arts, dance routines (different styles). acrobatics (e.g., running up walls with help from large trampolines) and even some synchronized swimming, which was of course hosted by a fabulous drag queen. Afterwards, I was starving and we made our way in the pouring rain back to Kopps for a late dinner. Chatting with the waitress after our meal, we discovered she was friends with Amara, a friend of mine in Boston (who had previously lived in Berlin, but not at the same time as Kiersten, our waitress) – small world!
On our fourth and final day (we had only a few hours after checkout, as our train was leaving 2-something), we did the rush tour, grabbing quick lunch again at Yoyo Foodworld, doing some shopping at the nearby Chappati and then discovering the amazing Spree Graffiti park on our way back to the hotel (which my ex-Berliner friend Amara had raved about, but we hadn’t researched the location of). We had been planning to cut through an alleyway on our way back towards our hotel and the Berlin wall, only to discover a number of beautiful graffiti murals in a neighborhood seemingly abandoned and/or inhabited by squatters. After a quick walkthrough and photo shoot, we made it over to the Berlin Wall “East Side Gallery” and saw more art murals there, walking past the old Checkpoint Charlie (glimpsing the boat hotel that Alan and Jesica were staying at), then back to our hotel just in time to catch a cab to Hauptbahnhof for our train to Munich.
More pictures from Europe on flickr (Berlin starts here).
