Ich bin ein Weichnacht Berliner
--Frohler Weichnacht from Berlin.
It's not snowing, there's no snow on the ground, it's fairly cold, but not unbearably so. This Christmas has been spent looking at the few surviving bits of the Berlin Wall, the Check Point Charlie Museum, several Christmas Markets, yadda, yadda, other stuff. Let's do this day by day shall we?
-Friday,
Four in the morning, wake ass up, make self somewhat decent, throw tolletries into travel bag and get ass to train station.
Seven in the morning, switch trains
roughly twelve twenty, arrive in Berlin, buy tickets for subway (which works on the honor system, so wouldn't work anywhere else in the world), check into hotel.
Head out to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, but stop for lunch first at a very nice little "Thai" place.
Peruse the musuem, which could use a new paint job on the walls, updated dummies (showing how they hid people in impossibly small places), and audio guides to reduce the amount of text that you have to crane your neck in order to see, plus getting rid of repetitive information.
Left museum around 5:30, came back to hotel for nap and shower, then got ready for the Nutcracker Ballet at the Opera House on Unter de Linden Strasse (Under the Linden [Trees] Street).
From seven to fairly late in the evening we watched a somewhat unremarkable production of the Nutcracker, although they did have live music for it (not quite an Orchestra, or if it was a relatively small one). The choreography was lacking, but overall the production was decent enough.
After ballet, we came back and ate at the hotel, then crashed and burned in preparation for the next day.
Saturday,
Went on a walking tour of Berlin where we saw, among other things, the Pergamon (just the outside), the Brandenburg Gate, the remains of the Berlin Wall (sadly none of the artwork is left on it), we stood on top of Hitler's bunker (which was filled in) and other points of interest. Our tour guide wasn't the best, he walked too fast for us to be able to ask questions and he was constantly saying, "Oh, I forgot to tell you about X"
We ate lunch at one of the Christmas markets known for its gourmet food. We had a marinated slice of pork with a vegetable side of green cabbage and potatoes, potato pancakes and apple sauce, for dessert chocolate covered strawberries on a stick. Das Gutte.
Came back and took a nap again
We were going to go out to see the gay and lesbian Christmas Market, but it was shut down, it was my mom's idea. Personally I'm kind of glad, I think she doesn't really know how to act appropriately, meaning she tends to focus more on the fact that they're gay and lesbian, rather than the fact that they're people. The whole military brain washing...maybe. So we just had dinner at an overpriced restaurant in the Sony Center and came back to the hotel to chill out.
Sunday,
Went to the Pergamon Museum out on Museum Island (Island formed by rivers, which I guess is technically a delta?). The Pergamon houses such wonders as the Pergamon, a temple of Athena, and the Gate of Ishtar (from Babylon). Yes folks, I have walked through the gates of Babylon, and technically so has my altar ego, Lola, Lola Morales, therefore making her an offical whore of Babylon. Bitches. Oh yeah, there was also an interesting statues, maybe three hands high of a satyr...well, being satyr-like with a goat. :-) It was interesting seeing the mother's reaction to that.
After Pergamon we had an amazing lunch. I had half a liter of wonderful beer and the goose with potato dumplings and red cabbage (the cabbage was better than the dumplings). We checked out another market, where I bought a new journal from Indonesia (they get a lot of stuff from the Middle East, really amazing stuff, I guess there's a big market for it here too). Then back to the hotel for a breather).
Went to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe at 8. I was disappointed with the movie, but it was kind of nice just to relax and be entertained. There were no, that is 0, kids in the theater, amazing. And all of the German women were in and out of the bathroom during the intermission (they have intermissions for all kids movies, and I think movies over 2 hours, it's a good system, get refill on snacks and beer, etc.).
And that brings us up to date. Oh yeah, I also saw a Chocolate Titantic replica, and also one of the Brandenburg gate, 'twas amusing. This keyboard is insanely stiff, so I'll be going now. At least Germans have all the same letter keys and most of the same special characters. Anywho, Avitasein.
It's not snowing, there's no snow on the ground, it's fairly cold, but not unbearably so. This Christmas has been spent looking at the few surviving bits of the Berlin Wall, the Check Point Charlie Museum, several Christmas Markets, yadda, yadda, other stuff. Let's do this day by day shall we?
-Friday,
Four in the morning, wake ass up, make self somewhat decent, throw tolletries into travel bag and get ass to train station.
Seven in the morning, switch trains
roughly twelve twenty, arrive in Berlin, buy tickets for subway (which works on the honor system, so wouldn't work anywhere else in the world), check into hotel.
Head out to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, but stop for lunch first at a very nice little "Thai" place.
Peruse the musuem, which could use a new paint job on the walls, updated dummies (showing how they hid people in impossibly small places), and audio guides to reduce the amount of text that you have to crane your neck in order to see, plus getting rid of repetitive information.
Left museum around 5:30, came back to hotel for nap and shower, then got ready for the Nutcracker Ballet at the Opera House on Unter de Linden Strasse (Under the Linden [Trees] Street).
From seven to fairly late in the evening we watched a somewhat unremarkable production of the Nutcracker, although they did have live music for it (not quite an Orchestra, or if it was a relatively small one). The choreography was lacking, but overall the production was decent enough.
After ballet, we came back and ate at the hotel, then crashed and burned in preparation for the next day.
Saturday,
Went on a walking tour of Berlin where we saw, among other things, the Pergamon (just the outside), the Brandenburg Gate, the remains of the Berlin Wall (sadly none of the artwork is left on it), we stood on top of Hitler's bunker (which was filled in) and other points of interest. Our tour guide wasn't the best, he walked too fast for us to be able to ask questions and he was constantly saying, "Oh, I forgot to tell you about X"
We ate lunch at one of the Christmas markets known for its gourmet food. We had a marinated slice of pork with a vegetable side of green cabbage and potatoes, potato pancakes and apple sauce, for dessert chocolate covered strawberries on a stick. Das Gutte.
Came back and took a nap again
We were going to go out to see the gay and lesbian Christmas Market, but it was shut down, it was my mom's idea. Personally I'm kind of glad, I think she doesn't really know how to act appropriately, meaning she tends to focus more on the fact that they're gay and lesbian, rather than the fact that they're people. The whole military brain washing...maybe. So we just had dinner at an overpriced restaurant in the Sony Center and came back to the hotel to chill out.
Sunday,
Went to the Pergamon Museum out on Museum Island (Island formed by rivers, which I guess is technically a delta?). The Pergamon houses such wonders as the Pergamon, a temple of Athena, and the Gate of Ishtar (from Babylon). Yes folks, I have walked through the gates of Babylon, and technically so has my altar ego, Lola, Lola Morales, therefore making her an offical whore of Babylon. Bitches. Oh yeah, there was also an interesting statues, maybe three hands high of a satyr...well, being satyr-like with a goat. :-) It was interesting seeing the mother's reaction to that.
After Pergamon we had an amazing lunch. I had half a liter of wonderful beer and the goose with potato dumplings and red cabbage (the cabbage was better than the dumplings). We checked out another market, where I bought a new journal from Indonesia (they get a lot of stuff from the Middle East, really amazing stuff, I guess there's a big market for it here too). Then back to the hotel for a breather).
Went to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe at 8. I was disappointed with the movie, but it was kind of nice just to relax and be entertained. There were no, that is 0, kids in the theater, amazing. And all of the German women were in and out of the bathroom during the intermission (they have intermissions for all kids movies, and I think movies over 2 hours, it's a good system, get refill on snacks and beer, etc.).
And that brings us up to date. Oh yeah, I also saw a Chocolate Titantic replica, and also one of the Brandenburg gate, 'twas amusing. This keyboard is insanely stiff, so I'll be going now. At least Germans have all the same letter keys and most of the same special characters. Anywho, Avitasein.