Ich bin ein Berliner

Erin and I finally made it to Berlin! After our debacle with Ryan Air in September with Dick, we almost gave up hope of making it there. Suddenly last week we realized that our time in Europe is coming to an end so we need to pack in as many trips as possible. So off to Berlin we went.

We arrived on a rainy Friday afternoon and checked into a cool hotel, the Archotel Velvet Mitte in the former East Berlin. It was located next to an old building that has been taken over by artsy squatters. The area we stayed in, Mitte, was home to a ton of cool shops, great little restaurants and interesting looking people. We wandered around in the rain for quite awhile, of course we forgot the umbrella. That night we ate at a great spanish tapas restaurant that instantly took us back to our great times in Andalucia last year.

On Saturday we walked, and walked and walked. We started at Potsdamer Platz, the european home of Sony and the Daimler Chrysler center, though I don't think they are really based there. In the middle of Potsdamer Platz we could see the remnants of the Berlin wall and cobblestones through the sidewalks and streets marking the location of the wall. It was amazing to see that in what used to be the "death zone" between the two walls, is now a commercial center rivaling any american suburb. It felt like we were in Bellevue WA, not the former home of the Berlin Wall; a little surreal.

Our walk continued by the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the amazing new government parliament buildings nearby, the Berlin Dome and other museums. It was a beautiful combination of classic european and modern post cold war. Really cool.

The most impressive site was the holocaust memorial near the Bradenburg gate. It consisted of about 2200 concrete blocks of varying heights, like coffins. They were built on uneven ground and while some were level with the ground others were almost 20 feet tall. Erin's interpretation best summed it up in that you could almost feel the changing emotions of those involved from the high of seeing light at the end to the depths of despair and oppresive weight of the dark times. It was hands down the most moving monument I've ever seen.

The walk also included the requisite stop to look at cool European cars. Since we're starting to get ready to go back, we're hot on the topic of cars. Plus we just saw An Inconvenient Truth and are reborn environmentalists. The problem is there are so few good cars for sale in the US that have good mileage, affordable price and environmental friendliness. Europe is full of good versions. We toured the Volkswagen showroom and found a few that would be great...but they don't sell them in the US. Oh well.

Saturday night was to be our "big night" on the town. So we took a nap and were ready to go at about 9 since some clubs don't even open until 5am. We were ready to rock! We went to one club and they were checking ids but Erin didn't have hers. So as we got close to the door he shook his finger and said "No"...Erin replied with "oh good, no id necessary?", and she hadn't even said anything about her id. He looked back angrily and said, "No entrance!" while others walked on past us. We were turned away for being too old. Such a bruise to the ego! So we showed them and went out to other places...but not if they were too loud...or we had to stand too long...so we went home early...although it was about 2am. No getting into the club "Delicious Donughts" that opened at 5am...and doesn't serve donuts. The other interesting "attraction" in our "cool" east berlin neighborhood was an endless stream of prostitutes on the street. All of whom were fake blonds, tight jeans, big down jackets with corsets on the outside of the jacket, fanny packs and big furry boots....but they seemed nice. Erin said she could tell they were prostitutes because of the fanny packs. We must have seen 300 women in the exact same outfit. I guess our idea of cool neighborhoods is a little different than some peoples.

Sunday was more walking around Berlin to see all the sites we missed Saturday. We saw an old church that was damaged by Allied bombs in the war and now sits as an empty shell next to two super modern structures. Very impressive. But it was in more of a normal West Berlin area that was particularly boring and felt like the US. We were lucky to have picked our much more interesting neighborhood.

Now we're back to work planning for our next trips. We're headed to Dublin next weekend for St. Patrick's Day! Can't wait.

More soon. I'll get pictures up as well...as soon as I find the card reader for the camera.

Ted