Today was a major site-seeing day, filled with bus rides, U-bahn trips, and lots and lots of walking. Our plan was to do a long walking tour of Eastern Berlin but our first stop was back at the airport. I figured we'd be needing some euros and hadn't yet hit an ATM and I was informed the closest one was back at the airport, which was only a short shuttle ride away so Kat and I got our stuff together, ate a quick fruit bar for breakfast, and caught the shuttle a few minutes later.
Once there we quickly found the cash machine and I grab some euros for now and some euros for later to stash away just in case. Kat saw Starbucks sign and got excited about a chai latte, but it took us awhile to actually find the shop, which was hidden directly above us. We got our drinks and then went outside to catch the #TXL bus from the airport down to Hauptbahnhof, the large centrally located transit station near where our walk would begin.
We only had to wait a few minutes for the bus, but while we did the crowd gathered and waiting with us grew larger and larger. The weather so far has quickly alternated between nice and sunny to overcast, windy, and quite chilly. We dressed in layers with jackets and our packs and were quite comfortable, however we all crammed into the hot bus tight as could be and suddenly Kat and I were both sweating profusely and regretting having our warm drinks in hand. The ride into town was very unpleasant and it seemed that at every stop more people were getting on. At one point a large woman with a double-wide baby stroller and two children somehow managed to wedge herself in as well, crushing Kat against the glass in the process.
It seemed like forever before the pressure released and we were finally let out at Hauptbahnhof. We quickly doffed some of our outer layers and made a few adjustments to our outfits before heading out the back way and crossing the Spree river. Along the walk I snapped a few shots of Kat near a bridge flanked by griffons and then later playing with the water jets near the Chancellery.
The first major site on the list was the Reichstag, present day German parliament. We tried to walk around the building through an open gate but a policeman sitting in an idling car nearby shook his head "no" and waggled a finger at us so we turned back around. Nearby were memorials to politicians who opposed Hitler, to victims killed trying to cross the Berlin Wall, and to murdered Roma and Sinti at the tail end of Teirgarten Park. We then passed through the iconic Brandenburg Gate and saw an organ-grinder playing for the crowd gathered in Pariser Platz. Kat nicely gave the man a few eurolettes.
We tried to go into DZ Bank to see the interior designed by Frank Gehry, but it was closed down for some sort of event. Next we wandered through the very impressive and moving Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. What at first looks like an undulating field of concrete coffins turns out to be a labyrinth of columns as your walk among them and slowly descend as the coffins gradually rise above your heads and you become completely surrounded by them. After finding our way back out again we walked by site of Hitler's bunker and the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under the National Socialist Regime.
We were quite hungry at this point so we headed toward Gendarmanmarkt where a few good eateries could be found. We settled on Augustiner am Gendarmanmarkt where we dug into a big plate of beef goulash, egg noodles, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, and sausages washed down with a delicious radler and a dunkl. Fully refueled we pressed onward, looking around Gendarmanmarkt and then headed back to Unter den Linden. Following the long boulevard we passed by Humbolt University and crossed over to Museum Island. Finally at the end of the tour we reached the large TV Tower which you can see all the way back at the Reichstag.
Beyond the TV Tower was Alexanderplatz were we decided we were too tired to go on for the day and grabbed our first S-Bahn ride back to where we could catch our favorite bus, the #109, back to our hotel. Our little nap turned into a 3 hour thing and we woke up around 7:30. We weren't that hungry but we decided we should get ourselves out and about again.
We decided on heading back to Eastern Berlin and walk around an neighborhood called Prenzlauer Berg, which was supposed to have an interesting nightlife and pub scene. Things were pretty quite there on a Tuesday night, but there were plenty of options available for food and drink. We ended up at a very cool place called La Bodeguita del Medio Cuban Bar and Restaurant. We had a couple tropical drinks, some chips and salsa, a chicken quesadilla, black bean casserole, and my favorite: tostones.
After that we went in search of a late night waffle, but the place was already closed so we called it a night, grabbed the U-Bahn back to our bus stop and caught one of the last busses back to the hotel.
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