Sunday night, July 22nd was a bit of a blur. I moved in, got settled into my room, and then moved out into another room, which at the time had a solid internet connection (now it doesn't). But the new room is nice and spacious and very comfortable. The hotel itself is in a neighborhood called Prenzlauer Berg, in the northern part of Berlin, straddling the former east and west. I am just slightly on the west side of where the wall used to be. The wall is such an interesting piece of history and is so present here... tourist maps have the outline of the former wall on them, there are numerous monuments throughout the city, and even going to the different neighborhoods in the east and the west more than 20 years later, you can still see differences in the landscape, the people, the architecture, and the overall vibe. Even my hotel is the product of two former buildings (possibly hotels) having become one. I joked that I was first in East Berlin, living in a smaller, darker, but cozy room with no access to internet, and then I moved to shiny fancy West Berlin, including a strong internet signal. Someone must have received word that I defected and shut off my internet. But I digress... Here's a picture of the hotel... they really roll out the red carpet ;-)
Monday, July 23rd: First full day in Berlin, completely on vacation. It was great! I got out my tourist map and marked all the places I wanted to visit the first day. It was a nice sunny day, and about 75 degrees or so. A bit like San Diego, but without the breeze. I headed down to Alexanderplatz where it's easy to walk to a lot of the main attractions. The first thing I noticed was the giant TV tower, and as I looked up at it, I noticed two men with harnesses attached to cables, scaling the tower. I took a couple of pics and a video for Eriden. I thought the looked a little like Spiderman. :) The tower is huge! 368 meters high. There is a bar and restaurant at the top with a revolving floor and 360 degree views. The students actually had their first group dinner there and I'll bet the views were amazing. I tried to go up a couple of nights later, but found out you had to get reservations well in advance and the line was quite long. Next time! :)
Anyway.. I ran into some beautiful fountains there and one that Mark had told me about, called Neptunbrunnen. It has a huge statue of Neptune in the center and four goddess-like women around him representing the four main rivers of Prussia. It's a beautiful fountain and a bit of a gathering place for tourists and possibly some locals as well. I took several photos. :)
Also in that square is the "Rothaus" the red house that was formerly the town hall. Heading towards the river, I could see the beautiful and impressive Berliner Dome, the old cathedral, which is the largest in Berlin and a huge tourist attraction, merely for it's beauty, I suspect.
Across form the Dome and in front of the Altes museum, is a large green grassy area called the "Lustgarten" Lust garden or pleasure garden. It's gorgeous and green and has a lovely fountain in the center, which children often play in, and I even saw some kids strip down to their undies and run around and through it, much like I suspect a few kids I know would have liked to have done. Also, while most people sit and chat or lay and think or read or relax in the Lustgarten, there are a few who take the definition quite literally and they just make out like crazy. I saw this quite a bit in Berlin, and noted that there must be something about Europe. You rarely see this in Balboa Park in San Diego or Central Park in New York. But maybe I just haven't been looking. Here, my eyes have been wide open, taking it all in.
The Altes Museum itself is a beautiful sight! It was built in the early 1800's and is just magnificent! The next day, I would go inside the museum, but Monday was just all about exploring outside and getting a lay of the land. After hanging out on the law of the lustgarten for awhile and grabbing a lemonade from a nearby cafe, I set off to find Brandenburg gate. It's a few blocks walk from the museums and on the way I passed a few other sites, like Humbolt University, which is quite lovely. It is one of the oldest universities in Berlin, and has quite a history. Among its famous pupils were Albert Einstein, Karl Marx and Friederich Engels. During the Nazi era, several thousand books from the library were burned, Jewish professors were fired, and many students were ejected if they didn't conform to the Nazi ideals. After the Nazis were defeated, the Soviets reopened the university, but it was split between East and West Germany, with the Soviets controlling the East. Post reunification, the university was also unified and all professors had to reapply for their jobs, with most going to West Germans. Today it is a prestigious and vibrant public university with students from all over the world.
Finally, I came to the Brandenburg gate, which was once a symbol of peace, then a part of the infamous Berlin wall, and finally is a proud symbol of a unified Berlin again. Tons of tourists of course go there to take pictures (as I did). And they have these guys dressed up as Soviet and American soldiers holding their respective flags, with whom you can take pictures. I took some pictures and hung out there for awhile, then began the walk back to Alexanderplatz and the fountain and finally to the U-bahn and back to my neighborhood. After all that walking I was starving, so I stopped at the cafe just outside my hotel and ordered.... currywurst. Everyone said you have to try it. So I did. And it was complete rubbish! Overcooked hot dog, slathered in some ketchup/curry powder mixture, along with some fries (which I devoured even though they weren't that great either). I had a couple of bites of currywurst, washed it down with some Pinot Grigio, and called it a night.
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