Aug 4 Berlin

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By the time I got here, the temperatures were already close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, I was pretty set on visiting all the places on the one-day itineraries online. Also in the train station, I saw several signs directed to help Ukrainians (food, shelter, etc) as well as some people to help them. Throughout the city, I've seen more Ukrainian flags than any other city thus far.

 First stop...

VICTORY COLUMN

At the base level, there were models of Berlin monuments, many of which were built to commemorate princes or soldiers who fought in a battle, as well as invoke national pride. Interestingly enough, there were also models of monuments from Rome, Paris, and New York. 

On the next level is a mosaic. Then, after several flights of windy stairs, I reached the top level with a view of the city. The TV tower definitely dominated the skyline, along with some cranes. The view from the top confirmed that while Berlin is not the prettiest of cities, it is certainly big and bustling. It reminds me of Milan in the sense that it is not the most picturesque, but it has people from diverse backgrounds.

The wide street you see here is connected to a wide roundabout at least six lanes across. I rather precariously crossed that roundabout before discovering that there are underground passages. In one of those passages, there was a fiddler who braced his violin on his right chest. Pretty cool!

Next, I disappeared into those trees you see.

TIERGARTEN

Large park. Here people wear helmets unlike in the Netherlands.


After the Victory Column, I decided that I didn't really need to see more monuments.

POTSDAMER PLATZ / MALL OF BERLIN
So I came to the Mall of Berlin after reading online about its nice food court. There was international cuisine and two supermarkets but nothing that struck my eye.

The wall dividing Berlin used to run through the Potsdamer Platz

By this point, I was hot and tired, and since traveling anywhere practically takes 30 minutes, I decided to head towards the main attraction I wanted to see - the East Side Gallery.

On the bus, I passed by a store devoted to the unique pedestrian lights in Berlin as well as the well-manicured Museum Island.

EAST SIDE GALLERY
One side of the wall has pretty work from artists and the other side is either bare or filled with graffiti. If we ignore some of the defaced art, the East Side Gallery is a cool free museum.

Here is a sampling:




MARKTHALLE NEUN
Lots of international food here - Turkish, Tibetan, Georgian, Peruvian, and so on. Not much German though, which I preferred for this one day in Berlin


STADTKLAUSE
Cash only establishment, so I couldn't get the non-alcoholic beer that I needed. Instead I got some meatballs with bread and pickles. The meatballs were larger than I expected and were mostly ground pork and perhaps some onions too. Didn't really need the mustard on the side. Plus I thought the mustard was a little strong. Bread was a good rye and the pickled cabbage was nice too.


After returning to the hostel, I got my non-alcoholic beer and a salad.

My first experience at a hostel wasn't too bad. The Meininger chain has a combination of dorm and private hotel rooms, so the bedding was nice, the room was clean, and the room was soundproofed. I didn't have the deepest sleep but overall it was fine. The AC was running so keeping the windows closed was comfortable. Still got a few tiny mosquito bites though. The only other issue was the Nigerian guy in the room had no concept of quiet. Thankfully he went to bed pretty early, but his girlfriend called him at 7 AM. He didn't talk as loudly as last night, but she was on speaker, loud as could be. It was almost time for me to wake up anyway, so it was fine.

I had some breakfast at the hostel and headed to the train station where I picked up food for the day of traveling.



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