Berlin. The land of ...weird.

Much has been forgotten about Berlin, so this might be a little cloudy.....

As with most countries/cities - finding public transportation from the airport to the city is an enigma. A few cities get it right: Amsterdam, Chicago, Tokyo. Berlin doesn't get it. After lugging our bags onto the bus, we maneuvered our way off onto an U-Bahn...and then to another U-Bahn. Finally there? Wrong. Our first place fell through, so we stayed in what seemed like the middle of nowhere - about 6 blocks away from the U-Bahn in southeastern Berlin. Get there - no air conditioning. doh.

I won't go into much about what we did, but we both weren't too impressed. Between the seemingly disrespectful aspect of the younger generation (nonsensical graffiti, destruction, and throwing bottles on the ground on public transport) and the sadness of the sites - I don't know. As a tourist, the place wasn't for me. I bet if I found myself there for some time - say 3 or 4 months - I could figure out the underside of Berlin. The clubs, art life, the food - I'm sure I could seek it out and it would be wonderful, but the short time span didn't allow me those luxuries, sadly.

Highlights:

• 6th floor of KaDeWe - the first one. omg. food heaven. Lo-Lin had to drag me out of there.


• Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche. This is a bombed out church. One of the few remainders from WWII.


• Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The outside is impressive and most people see this and leave. Underneath there is a very sad memorial.


• Joe's Beer Garden. near the Kaiser Wilhelm Church. First time I saw Liter-sized beer.


• Donar Kebap. The shop near our hotel was the best by far. The guy was extremely wanting to help us and give us the food that he had made - in the best possible manner.

Lowlights:

• Curry-wurst. I was led to believe that this rocked. Lame. Curry mixed with ketchup and bratwurst. lame. lame. lame. Curry fries were much better. Culinary disappointment!


• 40 euro ticket on the U-Bahn. I didn't pay it. It will probably come back on me at the most inopportune time.


• German people in general. They just weren't very nice in general. The beer staffer at Prader even grunted at me.


• Obama. I can't seem to get away from him. We arrived when he spoke in Berlin. We go to Brandenburg Gate and he's staying at the hotel next to it. If he was the President of the United States, I would be more respectful - but he's a junior senator from my home state, Illinois, acting like he is the leader of the U.S. That is disrespectful.

On to some pictures. 33 photos.