The exhaustion continues...
But that's not so much jet lag and lack of sleep anymore as the incredible amount of ground I'm regularly covering by foot these days. Today I walked all over Prenzlauerberg, which is one of the former East German neighborhoods. I like it a lot--plenty of neat buildings, fun shops, and of course history. I learned today what a Brettchen is: a small board, maybe 6"x9", on which one puts one's coffee and pastry for breakfast. I was sorely tempted to buy one of the ones I saw, with cool vintagey photos on them, but...I don't eat coffee and pastries for breakfast. Oh well. I got the magnets instead.
I ditched the hostel I started in after the price went up €10 because they were more occupied that night. Forget that. So I found my way (eventually) back to a hostel that had served me well last time, and I'm now happily ensconced there in Friedrichshain, another East Berlin neighborhood that I rather enjoy.
I'm eating well. Breakfast is usually a piece of fruit and a roll fresh from the bakery (preferably with either sunflower or pumpkin seeds--mmmmm) eaten with Tartex (flavored vegan spreads that I got as little single-serving samples). So far lunch and dinner have been found at Imbissstuben (oder ist das jetzt Imbisstuben mit der neuen Rechtschreibung?)--basically, tiny cafes serving non-chain fast food of all kinds. The Sudanese Imbiss I discovered last time right near the hostel is still there, and their vegan plate is just as tasty (and affordable!) as ever. Just down the street there's a hot dog-and-soup (?) place that offers vegan versions of all the dogs, and so today I had one with kraut, mustard, and French-fried onions. Soooo good! And they have much better soft drinks here. I never drink soda, but I had this great one yesterday that was flavored with herbs and wasn't too horrifically sweet, and today I had an Apfel-Kirsch-Schorle (apple and cherry juice with carbonation added, but no sugar). Yum! One of these days I will need to wander into a real restaurant, though, since I am getting tired of perching on little stools. It's more relaxing to ride the damn subway than to eat in these places, but oh well.
I continue to delight in the transportation system and ride it at every opportunity. It's also one of the few smoke-free places to be, so that makes it all the more appealing. I love the variety of design in the stations and of course the incredible ease of use. Take a couple seconds to figure out which train you need, go to the platform, and wait no more than 6 minutes for the next train. Usually more like 2-3 minutes. Hungry? Grab a snack from any of several bakeries or fruit stands in most stations, or get some chocolate or "student fodder" (trail mix) from the newsstands that are everywhere.
I'm taking lots of pictures, but since I have no way of uploading them y'all will have to be patient and hope along with me that I don't have any sort of catastrophic data loss between here and Seattle. Come to think of it, maybe I should do an iPod upload tonight just in case...
I ditched the hostel I started in after the price went up €10 because they were more occupied that night. Forget that. So I found my way (eventually) back to a hostel that had served me well last time, and I'm now happily ensconced there in Friedrichshain, another East Berlin neighborhood that I rather enjoy.
I'm eating well. Breakfast is usually a piece of fruit and a roll fresh from the bakery (preferably with either sunflower or pumpkin seeds--mmmmm) eaten with Tartex (flavored vegan spreads that I got as little single-serving samples). So far lunch and dinner have been found at Imbissstuben (oder ist das jetzt Imbisstuben mit der neuen Rechtschreibung?)--basically, tiny cafes serving non-chain fast food of all kinds. The Sudanese Imbiss I discovered last time right near the hostel is still there, and their vegan plate is just as tasty (and affordable!) as ever. Just down the street there's a hot dog-and-soup (?) place that offers vegan versions of all the dogs, and so today I had one with kraut, mustard, and French-fried onions. Soooo good! And they have much better soft drinks here. I never drink soda, but I had this great one yesterday that was flavored with herbs and wasn't too horrifically sweet, and today I had an Apfel-Kirsch-Schorle (apple and cherry juice with carbonation added, but no sugar). Yum! One of these days I will need to wander into a real restaurant, though, since I am getting tired of perching on little stools. It's more relaxing to ride the damn subway than to eat in these places, but oh well.
I continue to delight in the transportation system and ride it at every opportunity. It's also one of the few smoke-free places to be, so that makes it all the more appealing. I love the variety of design in the stations and of course the incredible ease of use. Take a couple seconds to figure out which train you need, go to the platform, and wait no more than 6 minutes for the next train. Usually more like 2-3 minutes. Hungry? Grab a snack from any of several bakeries or fruit stands in most stations, or get some chocolate or "student fodder" (trail mix) from the newsstands that are everywhere.
I'm taking lots of pictures, but since I have no way of uploading them y'all will have to be patient and hope along with me that I don't have any sort of catastrophic data loss between here and Seattle. Come to think of it, maybe I should do an iPod upload tonight just in case...