Berlin

After being in the countryside of eastern Germany for a few days, Berlin felt gigantic and a little overwhelming at first.
It is a huge city, after all, with more than 3 million inhabitants. But Sam and I quickly felt at ease since Steph speaks fluent German. Deanna came with us too, so we had a pack of Americans touring Berlin. Plus we were meeting up with some of Steph’s friends to make a total of 7.
We arrived at the main train station in Berlin and easily found a connecting train to the Charlottenburg area where we were staying.
After settling in to our hostel and taking a rest for a couple of hours, the four of us went back to the main train station and then walked toward the Reichstag, which houses the German Parliament.
At the Reichstag, we took an elevator up to the top of the building where there are great views of Berlin as well as a free audio tour describing the various buildings and monuments seen in the distance.
Berlin is an impressive city with so many interesting historical stories everywhere you look.
It’s hard to imagine that the city was divided for so long and that people were forbidden to walk from the Tiergarten under the Brandenburger Tor to the eastern part of Berlin.
We got a full lesson in Berlin history the next day when we participated in a free, three-hour walking tour that led around the main sites in the city.
We saw part of the Berlin Wall and the famous Checkpoint Charlie.
I’m glad we did the walk, mostly because of all the history and the stories we heard about what life was like in a city divided.
The best tale our tour guide, George, from Missouri of all places, told us about was people from the east trying to cross to the west.
A couple of guys from east Berlin dressed up in a cow costume, one as the head and another as the tail, and walked, slowly, across a field in the outskirts of the city to their freedom.
Simplicity usually is the best policy isn’t it?
After the tour we met up with Anna and Felix, who arrived in Berlin a day after we did, and had some lunch while watching the opening match of the 2010 World Cup.
Unlike the U.S., Europeans go crazy for the World Cup.
At the main train station, a couple of nearby restaurants set up huge outdoor screens and offered special drink specials for people who wanted to watch.
And outside of almost every restaurant or café we passed on the street there was a placard with the schedule of the games that day.
It’s awesome.
After our lunch we just strolled around the city and looked at all the old buildings. For dinner that evening Sam and I had a doner kabab and the Berlin staple currywurst, which is a basically a hot dog covered in ketchup with some curry powder sprinkled on top.
We had to try one since we were in Berlin, but I doubt we’d ever get another one.
Since that was the last night in Berlin for all of us, we headed to a riverside bar area where we partied until 2 a.m.
We had a great time, although not as good as a couple of fellows in the same area.
After drinking what appeared to be several beers, two guys walked to the middle of a 20-foot high walking bridge across the Spree River nearby, yelled out loud a few times and then jumped into the river.
Crazy Germans…