Berlin
Thursday July 13, 2017
The overnight train from Munich to Berlin was a disaster and I regret it so much. The reservation system on German trains is so weird, and the seats we initially chose said they were available but obviously not when someone came and claimed it for himself. We had to move a carriage or two down, where a bunch of eight or so guys had settled in with a lot of beer and even a funnel. We shifted again, right down to the end where the bike carriage was and that was much better, until a bunch of idiots got on and talked the entire night. It made me so angry and sleep deprived. How can these people be so inconsiderate? The bus ride from Zurich to Prague was far more tolerable.
It was rather wet when we arrived in Berlin, and the accommodation wouldn't let us check in until 2.30pm. We managed to leave our bags inside and went out to explore the city. We went to Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Centre, which was really nice because it was all indoors. We found a dessert place and I had a massive serving of dark chocolate and vanilla ice cream with cherries, very much like a Black Forest cake, but it was too much and I didn't finish it.
I was exhausted from the lack of sleep and after checking in, I had a solid nap. We resumed our wanderings of Berlin, going to Checkpoint Charlie, Gendarmenmarkt, Museum Island and up to the New Synagogue where we had dinner.
Yesterday, we visited the Jewish Memorial, Brandenburger Tor, the Berlin Wall Memorial, Alexanderplatz, the Computer Game Museum and the dome at the main parliament building. We had a few hiccups along the way with some mistaken place names and failings in checking the opening hours, but we did a lot in the day. I had been desperately trying to find a place that sells Schwartzwalderkirschetorte - Black Forest cake - but I had had no luck, and I was getting desperate. Theo called upon Twitter to see if someone knew and we went out to KaDeWe, a massive department store with a gourmet food hall. I didn't quite get my cake, but I got a slice, and that was good enough.
Overall, Berlin was okay. A few things didn't quite go our way but the city does have some really nice sights and I could see myself revisiting someday. We have been a bit inundated with war-related things and weren't too keen on seeing more, but it is so integral to Berlin's history.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:28pm on Thursday July 13, 2017 :: 0 comments :: 