Wochendende in Berlin

I am now back from our first weekend excursion-- we went to Berlin!

On Friday we have no interactive practice, so we are done with everything in Mannheim at noon. We were able to catch the 12:03 S-Bahn from the Schloß to the Hauptbahnhof, where we grabbed a quick lunch before our train leaving at about 12:30. We had reserved seats, so the five of us were in a nice compartment for the 5-hour trip to Berlin.

We amused ourselves on the train and finally found ourselves at the Berlin Hauptbahhof, a very big place. Our first order of business was to find our way to our youth hostel, the Amadeus Hostel. We bought our city transportation tickets first- we were able to get a group pass (for up to 5 people) for about 3.90 Euros a day per person. It is a bit interesting- it's almost like an honor system, because they don't actually check tickets when you get onto an S- or U-Bahn. Apparently tickets are checked ever so often, so you never know, but neither so far in Mannheim nor in Berlin were we ever checked. In any case, we navigated our way to Voltastrasse, and our hostel was right across the street.

I had never been to a hostel before, so I didn't know quite what to expect. All in all, it wasn't bad, but it was a bit dungeon or Alice in Wonderland-esque. After checking in and paying for both nights, we went to the room- we had to enter a code on a door (shh, don't tell anyone, but it was 654321) and go through about 5 different interior hallways (and smells) before we found our room. Although we had thought we were in a 14-room dorm, as we had booked, there were only 6 beds, none of them taken. The beds were simple wooden plank 2x4 beds, but the bedding was very clean. We claimed our beds with a couple non-essential items like flipflops or toothpaste, and then took all of our necessities and valuables along, leaving the rest, like clothes and toiletries, behind in our backpacks under our beds (our room didn't lock).

Joey was staying in a different hostel, so we headed with up to his, in a different part of the city, but not too far away. We asked someone there for a suggestion on where to eat, for it was around dinnertime. She suggested a little Italian place a couple streets down, and we set out. I must say it was one of our best overall restaurant experiences so far in Germany, but also one of the least expensive! The menu outside listed plates of spaghetti and other dishes for about 3 Euros, so we headed in. It was not busy, and our waitress was very nice as we explained that we were students in Mannheim and learning German. We all ordered spaghetti or something similar, along with soda for the most part (one of the things I will appreciate the most when we get back). Our first surprise was kostenlos (free) bruschetta, which was delicious, and very unheard of for free. When our meals came (and they were very good also), we also got an unexpected basket of bread. Finally, when we were all done, she took a picture of us and then asked whether we would like Schnapps on the house (auf der Haus?... I don't quite remember the phrase), so we all got a tiny glass of amaretto to drink. We really appreciated how kind our waitress was to us, and it was a great first impression of Berlin.

After dinner, we went and explored the Alexanderplatz, which is just a big block in Berlin with various shops and restaurants and things to see. It was fun to go at night, and we saw the Rathaus, which is like a town hall of Berlin. At that point, it was getting late, so we went back to our hostel and Joey went to his.

We met up the next morning with a full agenda. Joey brought us pastries from a bakery by his hostel for breakfast, and then we headed to the Reichstag, the German parliament building. On the way we saw the Brandenburger Tor, a huge gate that stands nearby. There was already a line to get into the Reichstag, so we had to wait a little bit, but then we were immediately taken up. The top of the building is like a big class dome, so there were some great views. An elevator takes you to the base of the dome, but from there you can walk up a spiral ramp to the very top. You could see a lot of Berlin, and we got some great pictures.

After that, we visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Denkmal). It was a large array of stone rectangular prism slabs of varying heights. They started off small, but then they grew taller as you went further into the monument. Fortunately the paths were straight, so you couldn't get lost, but it really felt like a corn field or something similar, since you can't see above anything in the higher sections. There are over 2000 slabs, so the size is very significant.

Then we headed over to Potsdamer Platz, one of the biggest public squares in Berlin. We explored there for a while, seeing the shops, buildings, the Theater am Potsdamer Platz, the Spielbank (casino), and other little areas in the vicinity. We went into the Arkaden, which was pretty similar to a mall, and had lunch there.

It was then on to Kaiser Wilhelm's Gedächtnis Kirche. The original church was built in the late 1800's, but it was mostly destroyed in a bombing raid in 1943. What remained was turned into the memorial (and still-used church) today. It was probably my favorite site in Berlin- the building is just so visually stimulating- it stands out completely from the new architechture surrounding it, and you can just see how it looks charred and very jagged and damaged. The reconstructed inside was also very interesting and beautiful.

Our next trip was to the Berlin Wall. We didn't go to Checkpoint Charlie, but we went to a section called the East Side Gallery, where there is art painted onto the wall for a stretch of over a kilometer. It was very interesting- and it's hard to imagine that the wall was destroyed only in my lifetime.

Our final event of the day was meeting up with a Berliner friend of mine, Svenja, who was an exchange student at my high school. We met in the Alexander Platz, which is apparently an expensive area, but we were able to find reasonably-priced German-style food. She mentioned that she had recently found Mac and Cheese at a grocery store, which she had never seen before in Germany. We went to the store nearby to check it out- it was the Galeria Kaufhof, which is a very nice department store that also has a wide selection of food (waaay more than the average Germany supermarket). Interestingly, we headed over to the "Internationale Spezialitäten." Then we saw a little American flag. Oh! Our food! Let's see what we eat on a regular basis. Among the selection: 10 different kinds of barbecue sauce, Cheese "Zip" (Whiz?), Peanut Butter brand Peanut Butter, Mac n' Cheese mix, 4 kinds of Swiss Miss, Regular and Strawberry Marshmallow Fluff, Hamburger Relish (?), Poptarts (6 Euros a box!), and Crisco. USA! That was definitely the funniest thing we saw in Berlin.

Finally we headed back to the hostel. To our unfortunate surprise, our room without a key had been locked, with us on the outside. We had no idea whether there were new roomies in there for the night. We knocked and pulled and twisted to no avail. We knocked on a door nearby and fortunately some English speakers emerged (they were British), and gave us the number of the hostel to call. Even though reception was closed, fortunately there was someone down there who was able to let us in. Our stuff was still in there safe, and we also had no roomates again for the second night, so the obstacle was (fairly) easily overcome.

After a restful night, we spent our final morning in the Pergamonmuseum. Although I'm not a huge museum person, the exhibits were interesting. Some of the notable ones: the huge Pergamon altar, the Ishtar Gate, and an extensive exhibit on Babylon, the myth and the truth. Most of the pieces were reconstructions, such a statue of Athena, but they were still very fascinating to see. We spent several hours at the museum and then headed to the Hauptbahnhof, where we ate lunch before our train.

We got back to Mannheim at around 7:30 pm. We definitely had a successful trip to Berlin, although there are still many things I wished I could have seen. Next time!