Berlinisch

Berlin is a great city. It's not immediately apparent that this is so. All that grey concrete, and Soviet bloc residential building (Note: isn't Soviet Bloc a great term? Because all the buildings are so blocky!), and bleakness. Weirdly, Tim loved it. "Everything's so bleak!" he kept saying excitedly, as if this were a good thing. Tim does have a sunny personality, so perhaps he enjoys being a tourist in the land of the bleak. Anyway, there was heaps of it (bleak). 

But Berlin is also awesome. 

Why is it so awesome? Not just Berlin, but Germany. Never a country I was particularly excited by (can't speak the language, not really excited by the food, weather ambivalent) it turns out to be a joy to visit. Effortless. I love travelling, really so, even the shitty bits (face it, you've got to sort of love the shitty bits in a way if you love travelling at all), long waits in the rain, being too hot or too cold all the time (and always a bit sweaty), never being entirely sure about what you're eating, travelling on buses that have no apparent obvious destination or timetable, people being openly curious or rude or trying to sell things, trying to get a piece of the tourist action, and chancing it, always chancing it, travelling hopefully. But Germany is NONE OF THAT. Germany is LET ME TELL YOU THE BUS TIMETABLE. THE BUS COMES EVERY 5 MINUTES. HERE ARE ALL ITS STOPS. YOU MAY PURCHASE TICKETS EASILY. HERE IS A CHANGE MACHINE. Germany is all, HERE IS A MENU WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF PALATABLE FOODS ON IT. ALSO, WE SERVE GOOD COFFEE. Germany is WALK AROUND IN A GIANT CHICKEN OUTFIT AND NO ONE WILL MIND. Germany is holiday ease. Everything is easy. 

Here are some pictures. 

This is not Germany, but is in fact, Newcastle. Just to keep you on your toes. 

Late night train catching. Tim consults his travel guide. 

Let me tell you, never catch a late night train. They are full of weirdos. 

From one train station to another. This station shop in Berlin doesn't actually sell wieners. But we thought it was a funny name. 

Berliner Weisse mit Schuss! 

Contrary to what the colours would have you believe, this is a drink for adults. Apparently. Though the small child at the next table was very, very excited by our drinks. 

I spent a long time taking photos of food. 

There are probably 3 pigs on that plate alone. We ate a lot of meat in Berlin. A lot. It came with everything. Including other meat. 

Except one night, when we had Vietnamese food, with a lot of tofu. It felt necessary. 

Germany is full of old churches. 

Also, wurst.

The Berliner Dom!

Tim is amazed.

It is pretty impressive. 

Organs are frightening things. If that one came alive, I reckon it would be like one of the aliens in Alien. 

We were tourists wandering about in a city that was full of beautiful things. 

Let me tell you to what stage my German had got by Berlin, by the way. Not far. I'd got to that awkward stage where I was wildly adept at asking things that tourists want to know (Where is the toilet? How much is that? Can I have a pretzel please?) but totally inept at understanding replies, apart from the odd word which was really, really exciting, but conveyed no actual information. 

PS Pretzels are unbelievably delicious. I'd never eaten one before I got to Germany. And now. I love them.

The end.

The Brandenburg gate!!

Why I have a hexagon floating near my head, no one will ever know. 

It was sunny. But cold as hell. 

More wurst (with a smiley face)

This is what I had in my mind as Germany: lots of glass, metal, and impressive height. And capitalism. 

So much capitalism.

And the inescapable other parts of Germany.

I find Germany's preoccupation with, well, the entire 20th century disturbing. It can't be pleasant growing up in an environment filled with reminders of the mistakes of your forefathers, self-flagellating for everything that has ever gone wrong in your city. Germans seem particularly prone to self-blame in this regard. I don't seem memorials all over Britain regarding the evils of colonialism, yet bus stops all over Berlin just have random snippets of Nazi or cold war history injustice on them, with very descriptive and colourful epithets, like '"evil" "insane" and "horrifying" all over them. As a young German, it must all get a bit much, if you're just popping out for some coffee. 

We also went to the Museum am Checkpoint Charlie, which I can very much recommend. It's a fascinating place that's grown organically from its beginnings and is filled with Berlin wall memorabilia. The escapes people made from the east were pretty impressively inventive as well, as well as just plain mad.

Berlin by night was a peaceful place, all modern design and bright lights...

...with an ancient contrast behind it.  

Kartoffelsalat! (disconcertingly described on the menu as 'lukewarm'. Which it was.)

A 'typical' Berlin meal, according to our waitress. It defeated us. 

Breakfast was altogether more light and wholesome.

Tim had got hold of my camera by this point and was intent on creating blur. Here he is, creating blur. The bridge was a major crossing point between east and west and had a number of rather bleak memorials with sad stories around it. There was also a stretch of the wall, the East Side Gallery, which we visited. 

The pictures weren't very good :-P. 

But some were inventive. 

I loved Germany. Next stop: countryside. I hear it is beautiful, and full of exciting wine. Anyone for a campervan holiday there some coming year?